In England, Arsenal's Gunners went after their first English Premier League victory of the calendar year on Saturday. They took on Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates Stadium.
This one didn't go Blackburn's way from the very start. The club gave up a goal in the first two minutes off a poor clearance. Arsenal's Theo Walcott took the ball with room to work and squared for Robin Van Persie's scoring strike. The Gunners shot out to a 1-0 lead.
Blackburn managed to equalise after an Arsenal foul. Morten Gamst Pedersen fired a free-kick over the wall into the top corner. But Arsenal returned fire with back-to-back goals to lead 3-1 at half-time.
The hosts had their fourth right after the restart Mikel Arteta scored, then Walcott fired home the team's fifth. Van Persie got his third goal and Arsenal's sixth just after the hour mark. And Arsenal star Thierry Henry came onto the pitch at 68 minutes.
He's the team's all-time record marksman and added to his tally with his first League goal since he returned to the club. Henry scored in the 90th minute.
Arsenal marked its biggest win of the season and climbed from seventh to fifth in the EPL standings, 14 points behind league leader Manchester City.
英超第24轮开始本轮最早一场比赛的争夺。阿森纳在主场最终以7-1狂胜布莱克本，报了首循环输球之仇。队长范佩西上演帽子戏法，沃尔科特也完成助攻帽子戏法，张伯伦初次在英超赛场进球就独中两元，阿尔特塔也有一球进账，亨利最后时刻锦上添花。维尔马伦半场结束前击中立柱。布莱克本一度将比分扳为1-1，后卫吉维特中场前因对范佩西铲球犯规被红牌罚下。阿森纳取得2012年首场英超胜仗，排名暂时升至第五。