Cardiff edged out in five goal thriller against Arsenal

Last updated : 02 September 2018 By Michael Morris

Cardiff City 2 - 3 Arsenal.

The goals finally came but not enough to earn any points

Hopefully now those who have been less than impressed with Cardiff City's goalless start to the Premier League campaign will have a decent word to say about us.

The Bluebirds gave Arsenal a game today and were unlucky not to come away with a point. With two defences making errors it was left to the front men to make the difference and with Arsenal fielding Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£56m) and Alexandre Lacazette (£46.5m) they were always going to have the advantage.

But Danny Ward, (costing Cardiff less than £2m, and playing his first Premier League game since he was a baby back in 2009), almost upstaged his more expensive peers.

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Harry Arter fired over, after a calamitous Petr Cech kick out, when he should have scored and further efforts from an acrobatic Bobby Reid and Junior Hoilett also went over the bar.

At the other end Cardiff conceded when Mustafi had a free header from Aaron Ramsey's corner but City persistence paid off when Victor Camarasa scored the first goal of the campaign with a powerful shot past a helpless Cech.

Fair play to the fans who made quite a racket before the goal and who went ballistic after the goal.

The defensive errors kept coming though and Aubameyang found enough space to beat Neil Etheridge. But todays Cardiff City never gave up and Danny Ward nodded in off the post to level again.

But as the game entered the closing stages Lacazette fired home from a tight angle to earn all three points.

Not before Sean Morrison headed over in added time though. If he had scored it would have been fully deserved.

Arsenal had massive possession but most of that was all around their own half, their defence will be punished by better clubs and they are dirty. Enough people moan at Cardiff being a physical team but the number of times they gave away cynical fouls and took yellow cards to stop City from attacking was a poor reflection on a side that is supposed to be one of the more attractive sides to watch.

Now we have an international break. When we return in two weeks it's Chelsea v Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge. Can the Bluebirds end Chelsea's 100% record?