Until Chelsea scored their first goal against Arsenal yesterday, the match was even. 0-0 looked to be the half-time scoreline. Neither team had really threatened. Chelsea had a move that saw Sagna successfully launch a last ditch tackle on Anelka who was bearing down on goal. Meanwhile, Arsenal had a Nasri shot well saved by Cech.

Arsenal were more pressing (as home teams should be) and had the majority of the ball. Chelsea looked solid and organized in defense with midfield players coming back to defend at all times.

The match looked like a stalemate until the 41st minute when John Terry received the ball in the Arsenal half. Denilson tracked him, stood off and allowed Terry to make defense splitting pass to Ashley Cole who was unmarked. Terry’s pass went between Arshavin and Sagna. Both players were marking thin air. Perhaps Sagna was trying to play offside. But he never raised his arm to indicate that he was.

Cole played a low ball in between Gallas and Vermaelen, for Drogba to side volley home. It was a great finish and a very well worked goal by Chelsea. However, Drogba was free. No-one was tight on him. Gallas and Vermaelen were marking thin air. From a defensive point of view, the goal was embarrassing.

Denilson is the first defender. His job is to pressure. He stood off John Terry. Arshavin was in no man’s land. He’s not covering Denilson or marking Cole. Sagna is marking nothing. If Denilson tackles Terry, Chelsea are fucked. Instead, Arsenal get fucked.

1-0 to Chelsea – the team with best defensive record in the Premiership. Straight away this fact enters my mind and with it a realization that Arsenal have an uphill task ahead. No way back. Not against the defense Chelsea has. Then two minutes later Chelsea get their second goal.

Vermaelen own goal.

What a joke this goal was. Ashley Cole swings in another low cross. Gallas misses it. The ball then hits the knee of an unsighted Vermaelen and spins into the top right hand corner. Almunia is nowhere. This time Nasri allows Cole to cross after being caught ball watching when Anelka was being harassed by Song.

Game over.

The difference between Arsenal and Chelsea is:

Anelka/Drogba verses Eduardo or Vela.

To compete against defenders like John Terry you need strength, muscle and height. Carlton Cole or Bendtner are the types of players you need, not an off form Eduardo. Instead, Arsenal’s attack looked small, young and fragile.

Defense.

Every Arsenal cross was easily eaten up by Chelsea. I lost count of the number of hopeless, floated balls into Chelsea’s penalty area for our tiny forwards. Why didn’t we send in some low crosses, just like Ashley Cole did? Arsenal’s defense is obviously using zonal marking but not with great success. Nasri and Arshavin know how to attack but defending is obviously their weak spot.

Question remarks remain over certain Arsenal players.

Almunia is not commanding of his area. The second Chelsea goal showed this. Where was the communication between him and Vermaelen? When he comes to catch a cross he leaves my heart in my mouth. Lehmann didn’t!

Eduardo is off form. Play him against Manchester City on Wednesday night and see if he can change his fortune, because right now he’s below the standards that Arsenal fans are used to from him.

Walcott. You wank over playing for England so much that you fuck your body up in the Euro Under 21 Championships in late June. You then break down in pre-season, come back two months later and then get injured again. What the fuck have you done for Arsenal? I’ll tell you what – two runs against Liverpool at Anfield. The first was two years ago in the Champions League. You ran the whole length of the field and set up that lanky cunt Adebayor. We then lost 4-2. Then last season you did the same thing and set up Arshavin, yet we only drew 4-4. That is piss fucking poor. When Fergie realized that David Belion was all pace and nothing else, he got rid of him. What do you get? A new five year contract. Walcunt needs to step up to the plate.

On a plus note, I thought Traore played well. None of the goals came from his side.

Keep it Arsenal

It seems as though derby season is upon us; there have been quite a few this weekend and next weekend the most anticipated match in Roma’s season (and the greatest derby in Italy) gets underway. But, before we can start our countdown to a good Biancocelesti thrashing, we have to deal with all the derbies (and mundane regular matches) going down this weekend. Shall we?

Football:

Somebody get this guy a Red shirt.

Liverpool 2-0 Everton (The Merseyside Derby) – Well, the Scousers went head to head today as strugglers Everton took on strugglers Liverpool. It was a battle of the underachievers, with both Rafa Benitez and David Moyes’ sides badly needing the points and morale boost that come from a derby win. In a season when both sides have fared so poorly both in league and European competitions, it comes as no surprise that today’s match was decided not by a particularly heroic individual effort but by a particularly atrocious performance. A pair of grievous mistakes from Everton defender Joseph Yobo gifted the Reds a 2-0 victory, much to the dismay of the Toffeemakers’ fans at Goodison Park. Yobo put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute, putting his foot out and tipping a long-range effort from Javier Mascherano (which was veering well wide of the net, I might add) past Tim Howard and into the back of his own goal. It was a typically scrappy derby match, and Russian wiz Diniyar Bilyaletdinov nearly leveled the score 6 minutes later in the beginning of what was a very back-and-forth first half. Everton found the back of the net twice and were twice disallowed, but the home support were buoyed by their side’s performance and were left singing at the half despite the score remaining 1-0. However, they wouldn’t be singing at fulltime – their side failed to equalize in the second half with Pepe Reina denying the Blues over and over again, seemingly through sheer determination and a bit of luck. When it finally occurred on 81′, the second error from Joseph Yobo would all but put the game out of Everton’s reach. The Nigerian whiffed on an aerial clearance, leading to a shot from Albert Riera before Dirk Kuyt buried the rebound to make it 2-0. Ten minutes later, it was the away support who were singing as another Merseyside derby came to pass.

Manchester Utd 4-1 Portsmouth – Ah, our first non-derby match of the weekend. Still though, there is a bit of history here – the last time Avram Grant came up against Sir Alex Ferguson on the touchline was in the 2008 Champions League final, with Chelsea just one slip away from being crowned Champions of Europe. Despite being runners up in that competition and in the EPL, Grant was sacked as Chelsea manager, left to ponder what could have been. Yesterday he made his (unofficial) return to coaching, this time as manager of strugglers Portsmouth, who are looking to turn their fortunes around after going through 3 owners and 2 managers already this year. Fergie himself had to watch the match from the stands, as he is currently serving a touchline ban – luckily the match was quite a spectacle, abundant with soft penalties and controversy. On 25′ the visitors were awarded a somewhat questionable penalty which Wayne Rooney buried from the spot. The Fratton Park crowd could not complain too much, though, as 6 minutes later their side was awarded an even more inexplicable penalty which Kevin Prince Boateng was able to convert – apparently awarded for some rather run-of-the-mill shirt tugging by Nemanja Vidic. The teams went into the half level, but it would not take United much longer to find their stride. Within the first 8′ minutes of the second period Wayne Rooney would complete his hattrick with a low shot on 48′ and a second penalty on 53′. Ryan Giggs would top it all off on 87′ with the 100th Premiership goal of his career, making it 4-1 United and ensuring that Avram Grant will have Fergie-related nightmares for a while yet.

Tottenham 1-1 Aston Villa – It’s always difficult to come down after an incredible high. No, I’m not referring to my own struggles with substance abuse (fictional, I assure you), but rather the 9-1 victory which the Spurs were able to achieve over Wigan Athletic last weekend. Instead of repeating that incredible feat, the Lilywhites were held to an unremarkable draw at Villa Park. Gabriel Agbonlahor gave the home side an early lead on 10′, but Michael Dawson was able to level for Tottenham late in the match to earn his side a point and lift them to 3rd place in the English Premier League. Not an overly impressive performance from Harry Redknapp’s side, but they did just enough to keep themselves in the Premiership race.

Chelsea 3-0 Arsenal (The London Derby) – Realistically, there are more intense traditional rivalries in London town; historically Chelsea and Arsenal have been less concerned with each other than their other London neighbours. However, the rise of Chelsea into the big four of Premiership football means that in recent years these two sides have been forced into competition with one another at the top of the table and as a direct result their rivalry has become much more intense. Today’s London derby turned out to be an absolute rout from the Blues, who have been in tip-top form all season under Carlo Ancelotti, decimating Arsene Wenger’s depleted side who have been just shy of top form of late. It was another episode of the Didier Drogba show at the Emirates, with the big Ivorian grabbing the brace to all but destroy the Gunners and keep his fantastic record against Wenger’s side alive – Drogba has found the net in each of the last 9 matches played against Arsenal. Drogba opened the scoring on 41′, firing from close range into the top of Almunia’s net after some impeccable service from Ashley Cole. Just 4 minutes later Cole would again play the role of provider, but this time it was Arsenal man Thomas Vermaelen who turned the ball into his own net – giving the home side plenty to think about as they retired for the halftime interval. Just after the break Arsenal should have made it 2-1 when Andrei Arshavin blasted a rebound past Petr Cech and into the Blues’ net, but the goal was disallowed for an alleged foul on the Czech keeper by Gunners man Eduardo. Despite some dangerous efforts, Chelsea dominated play for much of the second half; their persistence paid off on 86′ when (guess who?) Didier Drogba struck again from a free kick just outside the area, blasting past the wall and away from Manuel Almunia into the back of the net. Ultimately, Ancelotti’s side would cruise to a relatively easy win, taking advantage of a depleted and demoralized Arsenal side to further their dominance atop the Premiership table. Chelsea have now recorded wins this season against all of their fellow big four sides – a positive omen if there ever was one.

Manchester City 1-1 Hull City – Oh, and City drew their 7th straight game after Shaun Wright-Phillips’ opener was cancelled out by a late penalty converted by Jimmy Bullard.

Calcio:

Inter 1-0 Fiorentina – Oh, Inter. I am growing to hate you so. In a game when Jose Mourinho’s side played poorly and were well-met by an organized outing from Cesare Prandelli’s men, it would be a penalty kick which separated the two sides in the end and allowed i Nerazzurri to go 8 points clear atop the Serie A table. It’s so typical of this side to underachieve thoroughly and then get by on the skin of their teeth that I shouldn’t be surprised, but yet I am disappointed each time a more deserving team outplays them and ultimately falls, especially due to this sort of misfortune. I’m not saying that the penalty wasn’t there, but had it not been for Gianluca Comotto’s hotheadedness, or had Alberto Gilardino buried his one-on-one chance against Julio Cesar instead of hitting the post just moments earlier, then Inter surely would have dropped points on the evening. In the end, Diego Milito’s penalty made the difference in a match full of could’ve-beens for La Viola that was perhaps ultimately a shouldn’t-have-been for La Beneamata.

Genoa 3-0 Sampdoria (il Derbi della Lanterna) – The Genovese derby, or il Derbi della Lanterna, as it is known, always produces some fireworks. This year’s was no different, as i Grifoni demolished i Blucerchiati in a game that had as many goals as it did red cards. Omar Milanetto opened the scoring for Genoa on 10′ with a spot kick after Reto Ziegler executed a clumsy tackle in the box. Genoa’s Giuseppe Biava was sent off for handling the ball as he fell to the ground, Sampdoria’s Marco Rossi received two yellows, and his teammate Fabrizio Cacciatore received a straight red late in the match. Meanwhile, Genoa’s Marco Rossi (yes, there are two of them) scored on 53′ and Raffaele Palladino capped off the victory with a spot kick on 75′. An eventful and exciting derby, and also a hard-fought one, which I’m sure an inspection of Antonio Cassano’s shins would tell you. They really don’t like that guy, eh? I bet Lippi calls up the whole team come June.

Cagliari 2-0 Juventus – La Vecchia Signora ha perso contro… gli Isolani? Cagliari managed to pull one (better yet, two) over on their visitors at the Stadio San’Elia today, snatching all three points from a rather toothless Old Lady. I think I’ve waited long enough to say this – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has certainly been a huge flop at AC Milan this season, but realistically, what has Diego done for Juventus’ offense lately? I’ll tell you what he did today: not enough. Their confidence shattered by a midweek loss to Bordeaux, Juventus fell about play clumsily and were victimized by a sharp and determined performance from the Sardinians. The home side opened the scoring on 30′ when Nenê unleashed  35-yard screamer that blasted into Buffon’s top corner. Juventus struggled to respond, and with their own Brazilian Diego firing well-wide before the half, went into the break with a much-deserved 1-0 deficit. After the interval, Amauri thought he had grabbed a quick equalizer for his side, but the goal was correctly disallowed for offside, leaving Cagliari keeper Federico Marchetti more than happy to pick the ball out of the back of the net. Cagliari also had fair claim to a spot kick after Martin Cácares handled the ball in the area, but the referee adjudged it ball-to-hand and play continued. A late goal would come to pass, but it would not be the strike that Juventus needed: substitute Alessandro Matri turned Fabio Cannavaro absolutely inside-out before slotting past Gigi Buffon in the 89th minute. Both Diego and substitute Alessandro Del Piero would miss absolute sitters for the visitors in added time and Juventus were forced to swallow their second humbling defeat in 5 days, dropping to 8 points behind league-leaders Inter.

Vucigol had me praising the heavens with his 44th-minute header.

AS Roma 2-1 Atalanta – An ugly, nervy, but ultimately deserved away win. I couldn’t be happier. Though dominations at the Stadio Olimpico like the one last weekend over Bari are a joy to watch, they are expected – those are the games that we will always win, because the magic of the Olimpico rarely fails us. However, it is matches like today’s at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri D’Italia that are must-wins for i Giallorossi, because they are the ones where we so often lose our nerve and drop points against teams we would easily beat at home. It’s not called an advantage for nothing, you know. Luckily, Roma was able to pull out a comeback win against gli Orobici today after Fabio Ceravolo gave the home side the lead on 13′. Roma looked decidedly lackluster for huge spells during the first half, but were able to grab a set-piece goal just before the half as Mirko Vučinić nodded home a corner from David Pizarro on 44′. Simone Perrotta was able to give his side the lead 20 minutes later, ghosting into the box unnoticed to head home a cross from Vučinić. After gaining the lead, i Lupi simply fought to maintain it. The substitutions of Jérémy Ménez for Rodrigo Taddei and Roberto Acquafresca for Cristiano Doni changed the entire complexion of the game; suddenly Roma were on the backheel and fighting only to maintain their lead while the home side heaped on piles of offensive pressure. For the most part Roma held up nicely under the waves of attack; Riise almost scored an own-goal on 85′ but instead cleared the ball nicely, while Atalanta had a legitimate appeal for a penalty on Juan two minutes later which was happily waved off. Finally the fulltime whistle blew and Roma were able to take a much-needed 3 points home to Trigoria. We’ve finally cracked the top 10! Rejoice ironically – but only for a second. We have il Derbi della Capitale to think about.

Udinese 2-0 Livorno – The other Bianconeri were able to achieve a much better result this weekend than Juventus. A cracker of a free kick from Antonio Di Natale opened the scoring on 29′, bringing his total for the season to a round 10. 7 minutes later, Antonio Floro Flores doubled his side’s money, heading home after a build-up that was again largely the work of Di Natale. The one-two punch was more than enough to subdue the Tuscan visitors at the Stadio Friuli and le Zebrette ran away with the 2-goal win. I almost feel bad for Sersi Cosmi, fervent Romanista that he is, until I remember that it was his cursed side which sent us on the downward spiral earlier this season from which we are just now recovering (ie, getting Totti back). But then again, Udinese was a part of that spiral too… Aw, to hell with the both of them.

The Hunter finally found his gun!

AC Milan 2-0 Catania - AC Milan were given a golden opportunity to leapfrog Juventus in the standings this weekend, with i Bianconeri dropping points at Cagliari and i Rossoneri overcame Catania in Sicily to make the most of that chance. Leonardo’s side were held to a goalless draw by the Rossazzurri for 93 minutes, but Milan ‘flop’ Klaas-Jan Huntelaar finally made good on his promise to score an added time brace and catapult his side into second place. First the Dutchman sent a low strike in after some lovely control by Filippo Inzaghi, and then only seconds later after the restart he struck again, chipping Andújar beautifully to make it 2-0 for Milan. Well, the Hunter certainly took his time, but it seems that he has finally found his form for his new side – and his timing couldn’t have been better.

Futbol:

Ibra done good.

Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid (El Clásico)- Well, it might be called El Clásico, but there was nothing ‘classic’ about Spain’s biggest derby this evening. Barcelona and Real Madrid played out a scrappy game in which neither truly came into their stride or were able to showcase their own particular brand of football. Despite injury concerns, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were all able to feature in the game, but the big Swede would be the only one to make his mark on the match. The Camp Nou was buzzing with energy as 98,000 of los Culés welcomed their most hated rivals to their home ground. Madrid, however, were not daunted, and were the first to impress, with Xabi Alonso and Kaká putting in perhaps their most impressive performances in the shirt of Los Blancos to date. Cristiano Ronaldo played for a solid hour, but was clearly not at full fitness and unable to terrorize the Barcelona backline as he might have wished. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi caused all sorts of trouble but was ultimately kept fairly quiet by Real Madrid’s defense, who put in a surprisingly solid performance. It was the combination of the substitute Ibrahimovic and Dani Alves which would prove deadly, as the diminutive right-back put in an inch-perfect cross which Ibracadabra struck home with authority to put the home side ahead on 55′. However, that would be the only goal of the match, and besides red cards for both Sergi Busquets (63′) and Lassana Diarra (90′), there was not much other action to speak of. In fact, in light of the last Clásico, in which Barca drubbed Madrid 6-2, tonight’s match was a bit of a dud.

Sevilla 2-2 Málaga (Andalusian Derby) – Sevilla’s closest (and fiercest) rivals are Real Betis, against whom they contest the Derby of Seville. However, with Real Betis currently languishing in Segunda División, Sevilla’s closest rivals in the interestingly-named Autonomous Community of Andalucía are perhaps their neighbours in Málaga, who are currently languishing at the bottom of the Primera División. So, we have the Andalusian Derby; and while the rivalry might not be as intense as El Clásico, I personally found the game itself to be much more entertaining. At the Estadio Sánchez Pizjuán Sevilla were looking to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat in midweek to Romanian side Unirea Urziceni, but they certainly did not get off to a good start. Although in a bizarre incident Málaga substitute Albert Luque was shown the red card from the bench, it was still the visitors who took the early lead. Fernando opened up the scoring for the visitors on 22′, and Duda made it 2-0 just before the half after being set up by Fernando. It seemed as though Málaga were headed towards all three points, but a spectacular second-half performance from Luis Fabiano ensured that the spoils were shared in Seville this weekend. The Brazilian struck first on 58′, heading home past Gustavo Munúa, and then on 72′ struck again, smashing the ball into the lower corner of the net to bring his side level. Both sides fought hard for an equalizer, and Sevilla came closest right at the death with a point-blank header from Fernando Navarro that Munúa probably saved by accident. In the end, each team would come away with a single point in a 2-2 draw that was anything but uneventful.

Fußball:

Bayern München 3-0 Hannover 96 – Well, it seems that die Roten have finally regained their lost form, overcoming midtable side Hannover 96 with ease in a match that featured goals from two of their most talented young stars. Thomas Müller tapped in from close range on 19′ to open the scoring, but Bayern looked shaky at times and were not convincing in their possession of the ball. Constant Djakpa caused all sorts of trouble for Phillip Lahm up the flank, and drew a good save from Hans-Jörg Butt, but was unable to affect the scoreline before the stroke of halftime. Ivica Olic made sure that the visitors got off to a good start in the second half, rising at the far post to meet a Danijel Pranjic cross with his head and double Bayern’s lead. For the rest of the half the home side did everything they could do to reduce Bayern’s lead, but to no avail – it would ultimately be Mario Gomez who would get the last laugh, beating the offside trap on 90′ and slotting home to make it 3-0 for his side. This victory sees Bayern rise to 4th in the Bundesliga standings, while Hannover 96 sit at 12th.

Someone control this guy!

Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 VfB Stuttgart – Leverkusen exit this weekend sitting three point clear atop the Bundesliga table, and it can largely be contributed to one man: Stefan Kießling. The 25-year old striker has been absolutely on fire for his club of late and bagged a hattrick this weekend at the Bayarena to cement his place atop the German scoring charts as well. Kießling struck on 22′, 59′ and 87′, while Eren Derdiyok added a goal of his own on 38′ to complete a 4-0 drubbing of a lacklustre Stuttgart side.

Werder Bremen 2-2 VfL Wolfsburg – Edin Dzeko’s double was not enough for the reigning Bundesliga champions to grab all three points away at the Weserstadion. Each time the young Bosnian scored to give his side the lead, the home side were quick to equalize, and ultimately the two squads cancelled one another out and had to settle for a point apiece. Hugo Almeida and Per Mertesacker were on hand to restore parity for their side, with the latter scoring at the very death in the 91st minute of stoppage time. The sharing of points means that Werder Bremen now sit at 2nd place in the Bundesliga standings, while Wolfsburg remain 8th.

]]> http://eighteen86.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/the-moment-has-come/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:05:41 +0000 wengerknows http://eighteen86.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/the-moment-has-come/

There has been so much written word circulating about our clash with Chelsea.  That tends to happen when two members of the “Big Four” play each other, but with the majority of the other “Big Four” being duds in terms of football excitement, the media really enjoys covering any match we’re a part of.  That’s not me being partial.  I’m convinced Arsenal v. any of the other three clubs are infinitely more intriguing game, on footballing terms, than any other match up.

So with that, the multitude of information to absorb, including the late breaking news that Robin van Persie is most likely finished for the season, I’m just going to free form the preview with a lot of points instead of a coherent whole.

- Wenger has stated that the “moment has come.”  He has used this type of language before, during the Champions League semi against Manchester United last year.  We know how that one turned out, as a Kieran Gibbs slip negated any chance of us progressing to the final.  He is saying it, because he thoroughly believes it.  We’re a point in the season where we’ve been devastated by injuries, suffered lapses of concentration, and in the process been written off.  Believe me, after today’s news, nobody will be pushing us for the title.  That is when you either take a stand or you shrivel up and die.  Make no mistake, this is at the least a “must not lose game.”  We must, as a team, as fans, refuse to lose.

- Fixtures between relegation candidate teams are usually referred to as “six pointers.”  All matches for Premier League title contenders are six pointers, especially so when facing a direct rival.

- We defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last year with a shock Robin van Persie double, one of the goals being blatantly offside.  What we’ve seem to forgotten is that Chelsea humiliated us at the Emirates in the return fixture.  That match saw us concede the most goals we’ve ever conceded at the Emirates.  I have not forgotten.  Just like I have not forgotten that Nicolas Anelka refused to celebrate his goal against us.

- Which brings us to Nicolas Anelka, one of the few Chelsea players who I do not hate with a passion.  The other player I feel that way is Michael Essien.  Anelka has aged gracefully in all facets.  He’s truly a class player, and he will be a deadly link up outlet in the game.  The reason why the diamond formation has worked at all is not because Frank Lampard is a classic no. 10, it’s because Anelka makes the attack click.

- Michael Essien is the only player I really covet from any other team in the Premier League.

- Didier Drogba has played 10 matches against us.  They have won 8 times and drawn 2 times.  Some of this is down to Philippe Senderos.  Some of it is down to the fact that he’s a big time player, and he fancies playing against us.  Tomorrow will be the first time he plays Thomas Vermaelen.  We will see if Vermaelen is truly a world class defender or a class below that.

- It will also be the first time that Chelsea face us with Alex Song as our lockdown midfield enforcer.

- John Terry has been walking around with his chest out, feeling as though the team is back to their Mourinho days.  Well, the first year Chelsea won under Mourinho, they conceded only 15 goals.  They’re halfway there already.  They lost to Wigan Athletic, and no offense to Wigan, close call aside, Mourinho’s sides did not lose to sides like that.  But that’s fine by my book, I like arrogance as much as the next professional.  They’ve done nothing to merit their status as front runners, others have merely faltered.

- On good and bad luck, Chelsea were outplayed, fairly comprehensively in my eyes, by Manchester United and still got the three points.  We outplayed Manchester United and they snuck out with three points at Old Trafford.  That’s football.  Name another sport where you can dominate a match and lose.  There is none.

- A couple of weeks ago, I spoke about how Chelsea were having injury problems.  Well, Drogba and Lampard recovered and we lost van Persie and Gibbs.  I guess it’s my fault for tempting the gods.

- Carlo Ancelotti was not a good league manager in Italy.  He won a title, but his main accomplishments are in Europe.  From what I can tell, his European touch has rubbed off on their side.  We’ve yet to see if he’s carried over his league form, but methinks the funeral parlor man will have real tests in the upcoming months, starting with the next two weeks.

- The African Cup of Nations will not affect Chelsea while their players are away.  Look at their cream puff schedule.  They can easily handle those teams without the African quartet.  However, it will affect their side when they return.  Players have a difficult time coming back from that tournament, just look at Kolo and his malaria.  But likewise, we’ll be losing Song and Eboue when we actually need them and they’ll return fatigued.  Clearly, it’s worse for us than it is for them.

- Chelsea’s transfer ban will do nothing to the club, as Wenger categorically stated. All it did was bring attention to a young player who may or may not have been worth the fuss. With rumors that Chelsea will be signing Kun Aguero for 50 million pounds, just what was the point of the ban? Aguero, on his day, is a super player. Not sure that he’ll make it here, but at least his progeny will have super genes.

- William Gallas is a warrior.  And unless his eye is completely shut off, he will play tomorrow.  He relishes the big games, and he will want to play against Chelsea.  Kolo’s pot shot at him was both disrespectful and unnecessary.  How many ex-Arsenal players have to go down that route?  And where are all the pundits who were writing that Arsenal was wrong to sell him now?  Eating that nasty bird.  That’s where.

- Armand Traore struck me as being a useful player last week against Sunderland.  Despite words to the contrary, I felt as though he could be a decent understudy to Clichy.  That being said, Gibbs seemingly helped neutralize the left side of Standard Liege, so his loss will also be felt.  But let’s not forget that Armand Traore is a devoted professional and was once and still is a highly rated prospect.

- The diamond formation for Chelsea is far less effective when Frank Lampard holds the keys.  In that respect, maybe it is better that he has recovered.  Deco and Joe Cole can operate on the tip of the diamond, but Lampard is struggling with it.  That does not mean we can discount his work rate and his affinity for shooting missiles from middle range.

- Then again, clashes between the Big Four rarely come down to offensive brilliance.  They come down to the small moments.  I find it somewhat laughable that Manuel Almunia is talking about ensuring that “we” don’t make any small mistakes.  His rash throw 18 months ago during a match against Chelsea started an attack which led directly to a goal.  If he doesn’t make a mistake against United, we could have walked to victory.  He has been okay since he’s come back from his chest infection/family bereavement.  I suggest that he is the one who should not make a mistake.

- As much as I’d like not to see Cesc associate himself with Gerrard, I can’t help but think his statements about our club are 100% genuine.  Let’s never think about his future while his present is so thoroughly with Arsenal.

- Theo, I’m looking at you.

- A few months ago, we were deprived of having Gallas (through injury) and Arshavin (through ineligibility) in the Champions League semi.  Now, it looks as though Robin will miss out.  When will the stars align for us?  These injuries are taking a toll.

- With Robin van Persie’s devastating injury news, an alternate formation may need to be developed over the next few weeks.  I can’t say something like that for sure, but now, more than ever, somebody needs to step into that breach.  That player has to be Andrey Arshavin.  There have been numerous reports about his depression following Russia’s exit from the World Cup.  I sympathize.  But this is the moment where he proves that he can be one of the all time greats.  I believe he has that potential, and he must prove me right for our season to stay on track.

- I love this club, and I will support it until the day I die.  

Victoria Concordia Crescit.

It’s a fun-filled week after that excruciatingly long (in my mind) and pointless (ditto) International break. I won’t spoil too much (up here) because there are a few matches to take joy from today and I wouldn’t want to steal my own thunder by spilling the beans right away. So I’m just gonna take it slow and leave the best posts to la -

ACF Fiorentina 1-0 Olympique Lyonnais – Well, La Viola have sealed their Group of 16 qualification! Fiorentina will be joining their French compatriots (ha!), having defeated said Frenchmen by a single goal at the Stadio Artemio Franchi this evening. It would be Juan Manuel Vargas who provided the difference for the home side, with a spot kick on 27′ after AC Milan almost-signing Aly Cissokho downed Marco Marchionni in Les Gones’ area. However, I think the true credit for the victory belongs to Sebastien Frey, whose stellar display between the sticks saved Cesare Prandelli’s men’s collective behinds time and time again – their defense simply is not the same without Alessandro Gamberini marshalling the back line. Oh, one other minor detail regarding their match: it eliminated Liverpool  from the Champions League. Humble Fiorentina move on, while the Scousers are sent home to cry in their… scouse. Beating up on a French team and an English team with the same result? Two birds with one stone, I say. All that’s left to do is seal first place with a victory at Anfield – normally a tall order, but hell, I’m feeling good about it right now.

Your clock is ticking, Rafa!

Liverpool 1-0 Debrecen – Need I even bother? Does it matter? Liverpool have been knocked out of the Champions League as a result of La Viola’s win over Lyon (for those of you who may have skipped the above paragraph) David Ngog put the Reds ahead early in a game which they started confidently – the Frenchmen was first to the ball within the box on 4′ to poke home and give his side an early 1-0 lead. Rafa Benitez’s men put in a spirited performance in the first half, but by the second they were well away what the score was in Firenze and, with their destiny out of their hands, seemed content to simply boot the ball around. Now completely out of Champions League running despite tonight’s victory, the only heart that the Merseysiders can take is in the fact that they can get their revenge on Fiorentina by spoiling their 1st place hopes at Anfield in 2 weeks time. It seems strange after a victory, but Rafa Benitez unemployment watch, anyone?

Rubin Kazan 0-0 Dynamo Kiev – Rubin Kazan were crowned Russian champions earlier this week, but were unable to work any magic in snowy Tatarstan tonight to bolster their European hopes. Both the Russians and Ukrainians seemed aware of the importance of the match, which could have seen either rise to within grasping distance of Round of 16 qualification, and both sides started the match with tense and tentative play, unwilling to give ground but unwilling to push too far forward as well. The visitors actually dominated the play for much of the match, carrying possession and keeping the Rubinovye on their heels. However, it would be the Russians who came closest to scoring in the 90 minutes, with Oleksander Shovkovski being forced to swat away an acrobatic attempt from Alejandro Dominguez just before the halftime interval. In the end, neither side would get ahead, but both still have a chance of qualification thanks to the result that Barcelona and Inter achieved at the Camp Nou this evening.

Xavi will haunt Jose's nightmares for weeks.

Barcelona 2-0 Inter – Ah, the European Inter we know and hate – and the European Barcelona that we know and (some people) love. Italy’s most dominant team domestically once again failed to show up on the European stage, and were beaten black and blue (get it?) all over the pitch by a dominant Blaugrana side in Catalonia. It was all Barcelona from the very start, as the home side started early and didn’t really slow it down until the match was more than won. I Nerazzurri were reminded of their own glaring deficiencies as they found themselves unable to deal with Barca’s more technically proficient midfield (Xavi, anyone?) and perhaps the more forward-thinking tactics of Pep Guardiola. Barcelona struck twice early in the match, with Gerard Piqué side-footing in a corner on 10′ and Pedro volleying into the top corner after some beautiful team build-up on 27′. To illustrate the point of Catalan dominance, Inter didn’t even get their first shot off until 35′, and Victor Valdés wasn’t called into action until almost halftime to make a routine save on Il Principe, Diego Milito, who wasn’t looking very princely tonight. The scoreline could have been a lot higher if not for the world-class netminding of Julio Cesar, who proved a strong last line of defense against Barcelona’s constant onslaught. Though not exactly a blowout, Inter’s match has shown once again that Jose Mourinho’s men simply do not have the quality or the mentality to succeed in European football. Mourinho himself spoke of the large gap in quality after the match, citing individual talent as a key area in which La Beneamata simply could not compete. I tend to agree, and with creative genius Wesley Sneijder sidelined that gap becomes even more apparent, but I also think it comes down to tactics. Barcelona always play football on their own terms, with brilliant passing and constant movement, while Mourinho’s men play a more tentative game, content to simply grind out wins while expressing only momentary flashes of genius. Regardless of this result, it seems that both these sides will be advancing to the next round (unless Inter lose at home to Rubin Kazan in a fortnight), but to be swatted out of the Camp Nou so easily is surely a blow to i Nerazzurri and especially their loudmouthed tecnico.

Arsenal 2-0 Standard Liege – A run of the mill match for Arsenal – a Beer and Waffles speedbump, if you will. The Londoners cruised past their visitors at the Emirates Stadium on the strength of 2 first-half goals from Samir Nasri and Denilson on 35′ and 45′ respectively. Manuel Almunia was saved his blushes once by the grace of the woodwork, but other than that it was mostly smooth sailing for the Gunners, who have apparently bounced back nicely after a half-arsed defeat to Sunderland on the weekend. As predicted/warned waaay back when, Arsene Wenger’s men have topped Group H with ease.

Unirea Urziceni 1-0 Sevilla – This one’s just up here for its comic value. Sevilla have looked strong all season, both domestically and in European competition, but have fallen for the first time in these group stages after the Romanians were gifted a win through an Ivica Dragutinovic own-goal and the help of the woodwork. The match’s only goal came just before the interval, with the Serbian defender heading an incoming long ball directly into the back of his own net. Comic gold, that (when it’s not happening to you, anyways). Though the Andalusians continued to dominate much of the play throughout the second half, they were unable to overcome that deficit and ultimately fell to the home side in Bucharest. Dragutinovic’s own-goal may have helped the Romanian side to qualify, as they now sit second in the group behind Los Rojiblancos with 8 points. Interestingly, Urziceni have only score 6 goals in this competition, and 3 of those have been own-goals gifted to them by their opponents! If these guys make it through, they’ve definitely earned it.

These are th- Well, you get the point.

So last night saw us face a team we managed to throw a 1 goal lead away to not a fortnight earlier. The advantage we had in our own stadium was of course going to play a part in this encounter. Sadly I was not present, I have a cold and my shoulder is painful beyond belief so I decided not to travel but to stay at home and watch on Sky.

We started the game well and our passing looked fluid, Eboue came in for Sagna, Nasri started in place of Bendtner and Gibbs replaced Clichy. Yet the team looked no different, our bench weak? we lack depth in our squad? get to fuck. Our team plays like the same unit no matter who out of our top 16 or so players starts, which is no mean feat and a great compliment to Arsène and his coaching staff.

Our first goal arrived on 26 minutes, Cesc fired a shot at goal and it managed to beat the Alkmaar keeper. I was shocked it went in, and I suspect so was Cesc (he did look a bit pissed off after he scored, not sure why). Alkmaar responded to the goal by upping their game a little, but this only allowed us to expose them a bit more.

Just before half time, in a goal reminiscent of the second in the NLD, Nasri was clean through and rifled a shot into the bottom corner. Our 17th goalscorer of the season I think, wow! We were 2 up and pretty comfortable, but having been in that same position in other games at half time I suspect the team talk reminded the players of that fact.

Arshavin, who looked a bit more involved that in previous games, helped set up Cesc for our third of the night. A lovely through ball allowed Cesc to run clear and rifle a shot into the net. He ran over to the fans and looked a lot happier at this goal, 8 now this season for Captain Fantastic.

With resting players in mind Cesc and van Persie came off not long after to allow Eduardo and Ramsey to get in on the action. And get in on the action Eduardo did, an audacious backheel set Arshavin free who hit a ball across the area to Diaby, who controlled the overhit pass well and rifled into the net. 4 goals, again.

Rosicky made a return to action coming on for Arshavin and it was good to see him return from injury as I was worried he might miss a lengthy period again.

A few words on Diaby, he played pretty well last night. Looked interested, looked to be trying hard. Why can he not do that all the time? Unlike Alex Song, who again tried really hard and put in another excellent performance in the DM role in front of the back 4.

Alkmaar got a late consolation goal, which I think will annoy Almunia as he went the wrong way for the ball. But it was a resounding victory for Arsenal, and as I said in the title of the post sometimes we make it look so easy.

Qualification is almost guarenteed form the group barring some freak results in the last 2 games we are in the knock out stages. I am away this weekend so will probably only give a brief blog update or some twitter action on the game against Wolves.

Prior to this game Robbie the pikey had said that Spurs had a better bench than us, their squad was on a par with Arsenal. Rat boy Bentley was buzzing about this game. Twitchy Redknapp said that the gap had closed.

Following the result yesterday it’s safe to say they were all talking bollocks. Whilst it was not a vintage performance from Arsenal, we did outplay them for good periods of the game. Arsène said earlier in the week that derby games can change the mindset of a player and effect their game, I think it did that. We were not as free flowing as we usually are and I think the prospect of a league loss against the scum from up the road (for the first time this century) was playing on their minds.

We started the game fairly brightly, but so did sp*rs to their credit. Chances fell to Arshavin, who had a poor shot and then a chance for Fabregas who we all thought had scored until Gomes managed to produce a rare save. Rat boy was lucky to be on the pitch, he fouled Vermaelen and received a talking to and also had a deliberate handball, match of the day neglected to show either incident not wishing to dispel the honest English pro image of our game. Diaby was not playing well, he was back to his poor game with passes going astray and him being out of position and not chasing back. The crowd were starting to groan and some nervousness was developing as we entered the last 5 minutes of the first half. However an innocuous throw on the right side of the pitch resulted in a cross from Sagna, whose crosses have been great recently, allowed a free van Persie to tap towards goal which was comically allowed in the net by Gomes. 1-0 to the Arsenal. We went wild in block 6, jumping around and hugging each other. Whilst still celebrating sp*rs fucked up at the kick off and Cesc managed to round 3 players and score our second goal, we had started cheering before the ball was even in the net. The delight on Cesc’s face (see yesterdays image I posted) was clear to see. We were 2 up against the scum. Come on Arsenal!!!! 11 playing seconds had occurred between the goals, fantastic.

I was slightly nervous of only having a 2 goal lead, this game last season and recent events caused this, and as the game kicked off for the second half I said to myself “one more goal please”. That third nearly came on two occasions, Eduardo and Diaby both had good chances to put the ball away but were thwarted by keeper and defender. Our third came from good refereeing, Clattenburg (who had failed to book a number of challenges by sp*rs) allowed play to continue following a foul on Eduardo that the linesman flagged for. Everyone stopped, even Sagna, but he then carried on whilst the defenders stood still. Another great cross, palmed on by Gomes allowed van Persie to score his second of the day and our third. We could relax a bit more now the game looked ours. Eduardo had a chance later on but to our and Arsène’s disappointment (he threw his jacket at the bench at this point) he shot well wide when he should have at least hit the target. But no worry we ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.

So they are up with us still? Are they fuck. Tottenham top 4, maybe next year…..

Arsène plumped for Almunia in goal which I think was the correct choice given the importance and pressure of this match, and he played well. He looked more assured coming for crosses. However this story this morning points to a family tragedy causing him to miss some games, perhaps no more needs to be said about his non-selection.

Whatever we think though we can revel in a defeat of our closest (geographically, not footbally) rivals and extend our run of not losing to them in the league. Come on you Gunners!!!!

Almost exactly a year since the teams last met at the grove, the wounds are still there from that 4-4 defeat. Yes I did say defeat because that’s pretty much what it was in all honesty. I remember being stunned by their fourth goal, I rolled my scarf up and put it in my pocket. The walk back from the ground to the tube was a quiet one.

This season the wheels are yet to fall off roflenham’s campaign, but the better they think they are the funnier it is when they fall to their rightful position in the league.

Our line up should pick itself provided we don’t have any injuries overnight, a back four of Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy is likely but I would not object to Gibbs starting on the left. In the middle I expect Song, Cesc, Diaby, but Nasri could be used or come on as a sub later in the game. Our front line of Arshavin, van Persie, Eboue is likely, but Eduardo may feature in that three. Which ever way the outfield 10 goes I feel confident.

What I am concerned with though is who plays in goal. Fabianski is out, so it’s down to Mannone or Almunia. Arsène says he has chosen his keeper for Sp*rs, I hope it’s Almunia. No disrespect to Vito but this is a big big game, we cannot lose this one. A win is pretty much a must otherwise that lot will be world champions all over again, like they think they have been so many times in the past. We need a strong keeper at the back, whilst it can be debated Almunia is not all that, he is the best we have.

This, it goes without saying, is a massive game. A result here must take precedence over everything else that has happened recently. Forget throwing away the lead in two games. Forget what some former player might be saying. Think only about beating them by a number of goals. I hope Arshavin has a brilliant game, he knows how much this derby means to us fans. I want to see him with his finger on his lips as he waddles to the corner flag after scoring a couple of screamers.

Come on you Gunners, do this for the fans!

Currently, Arsenal lack a world class goalkeeper.

We have the demoted Manuel Almunia, a world class backup goalkeeper.

We have Lukasz Fabianski, out injured since the Valencia preseason friendly.

We have Vito Mannone, an inexperienced Italian goalkeeper who doesn’t play like an Italian goalkeeper.

We have Wojciech Szczesny, an even more inexperienced goalkeeper with a great build and tons of potential.

I’ve already said enough about Almunia. I don’t believe he’s capable of being a world class goalkeeper. Even at the height of his Arsenal powers, he wasn’t even close to getting a cap or a call up to the Spanish squad. That he tried to qualify for the England team tells you more about the state of English goalkeepers than it does the quality of Almunia. To me, Manuel performed best when motivated to displace Jens, who was a fantastic goalkeeper. When he got there and he attained some security, his performances haven’t been as steady. Unfortunately for Manuel, I’ll always remember him for giving up two goals to Barcelona in the Champions League Final. You may think I’m being harsh, but you’ll never convince me that he couldn’t have done better. He’s been out with a “chest infection,” and now that he’s back, he must be unhappy to not be playing. Cheeky Wenger is, how many players have had “injuries” in the name of real rotation?

Vito Mannone has committed two errors in the last two Premier League fixtures. The Birmingham one didn’t affect us in the long run, but the West Ham one sure did. But I’m not going to be too hard on him. He is extremely young, and he didn’t play much football at all when he was nurtured at Atalanta. Blinder against Fulham aside, the mark of a true number one goalkeeper is dealing with all chances at all times. When you play for a big club, you only have to make a few saves per game. But when you have those shots against you, you must deal with them superbly. People can extol the virtues of Shay Given, but were he goalkeeper for Arsenal or Manchester United, things may be different. Look at what’s happened with Ben Foster. Vito is one for the future. He is still not commanding when it comes to communicating with the backline, but he is brave and has a good build. I wish he would show a bit more anger at times, but that’s just a personal preference. He’s just not really ready yet.

The same can apply to Szczesny. I think he’s an extremely intriguing prospect, but he’s had even less playing time than Mannone. Some say that they rate him as highly as Mannone. He is a colossus and played well in the last Carling Cup tie. Keep an eye out for him.

Which brings me to Lukasz Fabianski. Many are unconvinced by him, and they have a decent right to think that way. He has given up near post goals, and his birthday performance against Chelsea in the FA Cup was disastrous. That being said, at the age of 24, he has been capped by Poland 14 times. He was handpicked by Wenger over false hopes like Craig Gordon. He has outstanding reflexes. He plays with the aggression that I like. He was handed a three year contract at the end of the last season. I really believe in this guy. I think he should be given a chance to be the Arsenal No. 1 and see what he’s capable of. Only a stretch of games can illustrate if you have a winner or a dud.

And if none of these options work out, we may need to buy in January. Who is available? Beats me, although names like Manuel Neuer and Akinfeev float around. But to me, we’re a goalkeeper away from being world beaters. Whether or not the solution already plays for Arsenal remains to be seen.

As for Liverpool today in the Carling Cup, it’ll be a mixture of players from the Reserves and the First Team. Liverpool will have been buoyed by the result against United, but our young players are hungry and our team wants the result after the last two disappointing draws. We play at home, and that gives some of our more enthusiastic fans to experience Arsenal football tonight. I look forward to this very much.

I thought that the game against West Ham would not be an easy one, but most certainly one we could win. All was going well in the first half. Two good goals; the first a great cross from Sagna allowed van Persie to score following an error by Robert Green, the second from a corner and a centre back headed home, Gallas this time. 2-0 up coming to half time, just another goal or two and the game is put to bed.

Except the players seemed to read that as “the game is put to bed”. Much like against Alkmaar it would appear our players thought their work was done. Foot can come off the gas, it’s not like we would make any errors to allow West Ham back into the game. Give their home support something to shout about and spur them towards an equaliser.

Oh but hang on, we did make some errors. A generous free kick was palmed away by Mannone. Sadly not palmed away into touch but palmed into the 6 yard box pretty much into the path of Carlton Cole. Goalkeeper error pure and simple. Vito had done well, in the main, but that error was not something any professional keeper should make, regardless of his place in the pecking order at a club. It is impossible to say Almunia or Fabianski would not have made such an error, but I would hope they would have more quality not to do so. This experiment cost us a goal, it let West Ham back into the game.

At 2-1 down there was a light at the end of the tunnel and credit to West Ham, they raced toward it. One penalty claim was turned down, the second was given. My West Ham supporting friend sent me this message on twitter;

Never a pen in a million years!

It was a weak decision from the ref. But we have to take these things, once the decision is made you have to put up with it. But why did we risk being there in the first place. Song, who had been on the whole good, made an error and caught Cole on the ankle, he went down and gave the ref the option of giving the penalty. Had there not been a goalkeeping error earlier in the game giving that penalty away would not have been so costly. But it was. Penalty duly dispatched and it was 2-2.

Where is that killer instinct? If the team truly feels every game will be like the 4-0 against Wigan or the 6-1 at Everton where they can score for fun and not get any resistance from the opposition then they are way off the mark. The Premier League is possibly the most open it has been for a number of years, if ever, any team can beat any team. Just look at the results we have already witnessed this season. Our players need to be on top of their game for the whole game. The philosophy of we will outscore the opposition so defence doesn’t matter is all well and good, but you need to outscore the opposition for that to work! We needed to be 3 or 4 up to put a game like yesterday to bed. West Ham are fighting already, this early into the season they need to be given their league position, sadly our players didn’t take that into account.

The result yesterday might as well have been a defeat for me, unlike Alkmaar where I was minded to feel it was one of those things, to let a lead slip twice in two games is unforgivable. Our next game is at home to the scum, it’s not like we have let a lead slip against them at home recentl….hmmmm. The players hopefully got a good bollocking from someone, they need it. I was pretty pissed off when the final whistle went yesterday, I hope the players felt the same. I think the only way they can show how much they are annoyed is to thoroughly trounce the next team we face in the league.

Yours, annoyed of Block 6.

So it’s West Ham tomorrow, last season we won 2-0 away to them and whilst we might not keep a clean sheet I can see us winning tomorrow. I expect Eduardo may get to start, but Arsène may stick with the Arshavin-van Persie-Eboue front three. I would expect Eboue to feature, either at right back or as the right side of the front three. But we don’t need to rest any players in reality given that the next game is Saturday and there will be mostly youngsters playing Wednesday in the Carling Cup. Bendtner was still rated as 50/50 yesterday, if he does get deemed fit I doubt we will see him start.

On the goalkeeper front I wonder if we might see all three feature in our next three games, tomorrow Mannone, Wednesday Fabianski and Almunia will return for the North London Derby. It will be interesting to see whatever way Arsène decides to pick the man in goal.

We really should have a more positive look in tomorrow’s game. I think the laid back approach we saw when 2-0 against Birmingham and 1-0 against AZ Alkmaar will not be there. Hopefully that has given the team a kick up the backside to tell them it won’t all be easy wins this season to get a trophy or two. A quick start with a couple of early goals then apply more pressure rather than let the game come to us would be nice to see. Hopefully they have all been told something similar in the last few days.

The game is live on Sky tomorrow, so hopefully an entertaining afternoon is in store, comedy if Liverpool get beaten but if they win it means we have a great chance of closing at the top of the table, our game follows so there is a chance to get some points to cement our place where we rightly belong. Unlike some of the pretenders who are starting to cock it up. Enjoy the game wherever you are watching.

A quick update to the 50/50 chances of two of our players. Tomas Rosicky will not make Sunday’s game following training today. Nicklas Bendtner however still has a chance and will be fully assesed after training tomorrow. Senderos “could be available again” you have to ask why he hasn’t been previously. All three keepers seem fit, when asked who would start Arsène had this repsonse;

“I do not know…come to the game on Sunday and you will see”

Which sort of says to me that it won’t be Almunia. If he was going to drop Mannone for Almunia I doubt Vito could have any real complaints, but there must be more to this.

More thoughts on the West Ham game tomorrow probably.

Arsène gave an interview with the official site today prior to the players giving him the bumps and the birthday cake being served.

For Sunday’s game against West Ham we can expect Eduardo to be in the squad, Rosicky and Bendtner are 50/50 to feature, Walcott is definitely out. Samir Nasri “probably needs another game, against Liverpool” before he can be fully in the first team, so I suspect he might not feature on Sunday even on the bench.

On the long term front Denilson is another 4 weeks away, but Johan Djourou won’t be back until March which is a long time away and a shame for the young Swiss defender who would have been a good backup and probably have been called upon in a rotational sense by now.

Arsène was also asked which of our three keepers we might see at the weekend. He mentioned that Fabianski needs some more time but he was very hesitant on who might feature. He stuck with Mannone on Tuesday as “Manuel was not fully ready” and “Mannone had not let us down”. It remains very interesting as to what is going on on the goalkeeping front.

So the decision Arsène had to make which I alluded to here yesterday morning was to stick with young Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone rather than pick Manuel Almunia who, it would appear given his place on the bench, is back to match fitness. Interesting, but given the form that our third choice keeper has shown it is understandable. There was also a start at right back for Eboue and Theo Walcott also got his first Premier League start of the season.

However Theo’s afternoon was short lived. A strong/robust/letting him know he was there challenge early in the game saw Theo on the ground and clearly in pain, he was treated on the sidelines for a while and my initial reaction was that he wouldn’t return. However he was soon back on and almost immediately had a chance for a fine goal but Birmingham keeper Joe Hart made a good save. Walcott was replaced however by Arshavin just after the half hour and Arsène later said he expects Theo to miss the Alkmaar game.

Our first goal came from Robin van Persie, that is now 4 in 4 for the Dutchman, a pass from the impressive Alex Song saw van Persie get in behind the defence. The ball seemed to get caught in his feet, but he was able to control it and fire a fine shot into the net. We had barely finished celebrating when our second goal came, a Rosicky ball across the 6 yard box was missed by van Persie and Walcott but Abou Diaby was there to fire it into the corner. 2-0 and time to relax?

Relax was what Arsenal seemed to do, Birmingham got more into the game at this point and there was a slight sense of frustration growing in the crowd. I suspect this is partly to do with our current free scoring ways, but as passes started to go astray there were the inevitable groans and concerns from the northern section of the stadium. Birmingham scored following a Mannone mistake, he came for a ball that was looped into the 6 yard box, failed to collect and it fell to Bowyer who scored. From our initial view it looked like he may have been fouled, but replays later showed it was more error than being impeded that resulted in the goal. We still look vulnerable in defence, this needs fixing, but the caveat to that is that none of the other top 4 teams are solid at the back yet either.

The second half started a bit flatter from our point of view, there were chances but none of them seemed to go our way. Birmingham were edging into the game and had a good chance for an equaliser had Mannone not scooped the ball away from two advancing players. Soon after this Mannone collected a ball in the area, he swiftly threw it to Cesc. At this point the crowd roared with encouragement, it was good to hear. Fabregas ran up the middle of the pitch and played the ball to Arshavin on his left. The Russian took the ball just inside the edge of the area, used the defender to partly block Hart’s view and slotted the winner home. Pure brilliant Arsenal counter attack, no team does this as well as us.

Another 3 points, against a team that we struggled with 2 seasons ago. Things continue to look good. We are on a great winning run, and are yet to draw a game this season, this momentum is building for us and hopefully we can keep that going.

Players of note yesterday were Kieran Gibbs who performed well at left back. Song and Diaby also looked good in midfield, there are those internet warriors who will say “they would look good against poor opposition” and yes they should do but they can only perform against what is in front of them and I feel these players deserve credit for their improvements. I really think we will miss Song when he is at the ACN. Mannone, whilst at fault for the goal, overall played well. You cannot say for certain that Almunia would not have made the same mistake, he has done similar things before. I still wonder if Arsène will reselect him or stick with Vito, Manuel did not look happy sat on the bench yesterday.

Tuesday sees us play at AZ Alkmaar in the third game of the Champions League group stage. More on that game in the next couple of days. Meanwhile we can bask in our league form and console ourselves that we did not concede a goal to a beach ball!

In an ideal world there would be no issue for Arsène as he picks today’s starting 11. His number one keeper is reported to be back to full fitness. It is a natural choice to select him over his third choice keeper who has stood in for a few weeks.

However, this is Arsenal and things are never really that simple for us. Before his “chest infection” Manuel was not at the top of his game. He had made one or two good saves but he also looked a bit shakey and nowhere near the form, and confidence, you would expect of a first choice keeper in a top Premier League side. He contracted a “chest infection” and some of the Arsenal forums went into meltdown (again) with the prospect of our third choice, and as yet untested, keeper Vito Mannone starting between the sticks. However young Vito did very very well. He surprised many people, I include myself in that, with some outstanding performances. We would not have won the Fulham game without his performance, there is no doubt about that. He is young, and his decisions show that sometimes but he has stepped up to the plate when asked and has been a great deputy.

So today Arsène has a real headache. Does he drop Vito who is on form? It is a natural choice to do so, but Alumina did not really have the form before he missed the games. Is this the wake-up call that Manuel needed? I suspect he had become comfortable knowing that the much younger keepers behind him in the pecking order provided very little in the way of competition, but one of them has certainly proved that to be wrong. When the teamsheet is announced today it will be very interesting, and something that at the moment I am unable to call.

Tomorrow sees the first visit of Birmingham to the ‘grove since Eduardo’s feet were too quick for honest pro Martin Taylor. I understand that both players are unavailable for tomorrow’s game due injury. I can still recall when it happened, I was sat in my lounge watching the game on sky, when the tackle went in it looked a tough challenge but I will never forget Cesc stood over Eduardo with his hand covering his mouth with a look of shock on his face. I said at the time “that is bad” and I was right. Eduardo had a very serious injury which had the physios from both teams not been so quick in attendance and given their assistance he might not be playing today, let alone be able to stand on two feet. That game changed our season. There was the shock of the Eduardo injury, that did have an impact on the squad, then there was the Clichy slip (in truth has he really recovered since that and the slip in the NLD) followed by the Gallas sit down. All these events conspired against our then push for the title. We drew so many games after that, the momentum was gone. I genuinely think that had the Eduardo injury not been so severe and the result been different we would have won the league.

But that is in the past now, we have moved on. This team seems to have a stronger mental attitude than that of 2 seasons ago. Whilst no-one can say what effect such a freak injury would have on this, or indeed any, team what we can say is the team spirit seems much stronger this season.

Tomorrow we face another poor Birmingham team. The Championship is their level, no doubt about it. They have been poor defensively all season and I understand they have not scored a goal before the 75th minute. We need a strong attacking performance like we saw against Blackburn, put the game to bed before the hour mark and we can continue our confident run. We will win tomorrow’s game, it will be fitting to do so with a number of goals which will hopefully exercise some demons as well.

In an update on team news Almunia “could” return, but Nicklas Bendtner is out and Carlos Vela has (at the time of Arsène’s press conference) not returned from international duty. Abou Diaby “should be ok” but Clichy will definitely not feature. Andrey Arshavin however has returned ok and is expected to feature tomorrow.

I will hopefully give a few updates on twitter before the game and during half time. An Arsenal win would be a great tonic to two weeks without any interesting football. Come on you gunners!!

On the Thursday and Friday following an international break, the club generally goes into damage assessment mode. The question is never, “Is anyone hurt?” But, rather, “Who is hurt, and for how long?” Last month, I posted my recurring international break nightmare. It is also the time to forgot all the “Cesc-to-anywhere-but-Arsenal” stories, which for some reason continue to get Gooners all worked up.

Gael Clichy is out due to an ankle problem sustained while playing for France as is Abou Diaby. Also, Eduardo’s long trip back from Kazakhstan rules him out for Saturday. But, strangely enough, we have more good news than bad at the end of this interlull… strange days, indeed.

Fabianski is available after corrective knee surgery and “will be in the squad.” Manuel Almunia is “50-50″ for Birmingham, according to Wenger. Samir Nasri was finally back in full training this past week and he has been tentatively scheduled to make his return in the 4th Round of the Carling Cup at home to Liverpool on the 28th.

The return of the keepers is probably the most welcome news. Mannone has done well and I think we can all feel a bit more confident in our 3rd keeper but Almunia and, especially, Fabianski are absolutely essential to the club and we are lucky to have had Mannone take his chance and show the Boss and us his potential.

His shot-stopping was great but like most young keepers, he needs to work on his decision-making; his failure to come for the ball on the first Blackburn goal being the most glaring example. But I have faith that he will have learned alot in his brief spell in the first team and should a recurrence of the situation happen again, I would not be overly concerned about Mannone getting a run of games.

In other news, Arsenal has released an official iPhone app. It costs £2.99 or $4.99 and is available now in the iTunes store. It includes match and interview videos as well as full player profiles and the official news feed from the website.

Also, Arsenal are restarting their Friday night programming which was originally available on ArsenalTV before the Setanta debacle. It will now be seen on ArsenalTV Online live every Friday night and includes the usual “Arsenal Live” with Dan Roebuck, Stewart Robson, and Ray Parlour at 7pm GMT. That will be followed by a 15-minute “Spotlight.” And then it is capped off with the “Fans’ Forum,” hosted by Tom Watt. For those of us in the States who are not at home at the time of the live broadcast, I think I can say that it would be fantastic if the club archived the episodes so they could be watched later.

Arsenal Station would also like to congratulate Robin van Persie and his wife on their new baby. And, finally, Stan Kroenke has increased his shareholding this past week to 28.9%. Arsenal Station will comment on this development later on in the week.

That’s pretty much it. This post is the equivalent of coming back from a layoff with a light practice session. Arsenal Station had a couple of very interesting guest articles from Ted Harwood and Brett Chase and it’s now time to get back down to business. So it’s Birmingham on Saturday and then off to Holland for the Champions League fixture with Ronald Koeman’s AZ Alkmaar on Tuesday evening. Up the Arsenal!

]]> http://block6gooner.com/2009/10/15/return-from-internationals-injury-news-and-kroenke-shares/ Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:09:29 +0000 block6gooner http://block6gooner.com/2009/10/15/return-from-internationals-injury-news-and-kroenke-shares/

So the players are back from the international break, not sure why it’s a break as 20 of our squad were involved in some form or another. Perhaps international disruption is a more apt term?

On the injury front there has been some good and, as is par for the course with Arsenal, some not so good. Goalkeeping wise Lukasz Fabianski can be included in the squad but Almunia is 50:50, what sort of chest infection did he have? TB?? Gael Clichy and Abou Diaby both picked up ankle knocks and are doubts but the latter is more likely to be able to feature, so I would expect to see Kieran Gibbs play left back at the weekend. Cesc will play following his return to Spain for personal reasons. Samir Nasri is also on his way back and may feature in a few weeks in the Carling Cup game against Liverpool. Bendtner and Arshavin are yet to return so there is no definite news on them, but there are currently no reports of problems with them anyway. Eduardo is still out with his thigh injury, but in a way that is good given our opposition on Saturday.

In financial news Stan Kroenke has increased his share holding today, he bought a further 90 shares and now holds 28.9% of the club. I suspect he will either continue up to the non-takeover limit or he will just go for the full blown takeover. There was a story, in The Times I think, last week about him not having paid for all of the shares yet (something that I previously blogged about following a Private Eye article) but I can’t find that story at the moment. I think the gist of it was he simply took control of the shares from other shareholders on the promise to pay them at a later date, rather than borrowing the money. Interesting times ahead I guess…..

More on the Birmingham game tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia yesterday saw his dream of playing for England in the next World Cup move one step closer to reality after it was revealed he had finally bedded serial WAG Danielle Lloyd. Proving to Fabio Capello that without a doubt that beneath his exotic exterior beats the heart of a true England player.

It is alleged that Almunia, who qualifies as an English citizen having resided in England for five years, nailed Ms Lloyd, who has ankles for ear rings, after a chance meeting with the model at London’s trendy Mayfair nightclub last Saturday.

“He really is joining a very elite group,” said Sun columnist and one man pun machine Matt Foye, “Jermaine Defoe, Teddy Sheringham, Jamie O’Hara and Marcus Bent and half of the male population of Essex all have carnal knowledge of Ms Lloyd. I think this is final proof Manuel is a true Englishman, now lets just hope he can keep a clean sheet in South Africa and get his hands on some real cups! “

In the name of professionalism Crab Football contacted Ms Lloyd’s agent today to check the veractiy of these rumours only to be told that Ms Lloyd had had ‘a busy week.’ However they did recall seeing the buxom bimbo in a clinch with a gentleman who ‘looked like a homeless musketeer mixed with a skunk.’

Fortunately the Football Association’s resident expert, Tom Steadman, was on hand to clear up any confusion, releasing a statement on the FA’s website stating that the markings on Almunia’s body are consistent with previous attacks and that Cappello was considering selecting the shot stopper in his next squad.

“We were going to select Ben Foster….. but y’know…..” said a shrugging Fabio Capello.

Copyright 2009 Crab Football. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. This is fictional.

Last season’s home game against Blackburn saw Andrey Arshavin’s first goal in an Arsenal shirt, and what a goal it was. Another goal like that would be fantastic tomorrow. Blackburn was also the first fixture that Arsène Wenger managed the club in, it would be fitting that following his feat of being the club’s longest serving manager to follow that up with another victory.

The walrus will put his team out to do a number of things; 1) foul us 2) frustrate us with 10 men behind the ball 3) foul us 4) foul us. We need a nice early goal to get things going. Whilst the crowd were very good against Olympiakos whilst waiting for a goal I think the frustration of no goals against a poor Premier League team might not be as welcome. But a goal in the first half hour would set us up fine and then the flood gates can open.

In team news Eduardo is missing, he has aggravated a thigh injury which he keeps doing. This is a bit of a worry, I can’t find anywhere if it is the thigh of the leg he had broken, but he needs full fitness for a run of games. Even though we have a wealth of attacking players it is no good with a few of them constantly in our injury emporium. Theo and Bendtner return to the squad. I would expect Theo to be a sub and not to start as he is still getting back to match fitness but there might be a start for the big Dane given Eduardo’s absence. Vito Mannone will continue in goal as Alumunia “has still not recovered” cough cough, from his chest infection.

Arsène also said that Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski will return to training before the end of the international break so hopefully they will both be back in the squad come December.

Arsène has also been talking up his successors in midweek, the most interesting (for me anyway) is Thierry. Our very own Pep Guardiola? Who knows, but stranger things have happened in football.

Here’s to an Arsenal win tomorrow against a shitty team managed by an alleged bung taker. Come on you Gunners!

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Every picture tells a story.

The over-used cliches that fit the picture above would fall well short of doing justice to Vito Mannone’s performance against Fulham.

“I believe we will give him 10 out of 10 because everything he did was right…Until the next game he is No. 1. In this job you have to go from game to game.” AW

I won’t cheapen this post with a gratuitous attack on Manuel Almunia; however, it is clear that Wojciech and Vito are improving fast. Arsene has awakened this morning with a good headache – the kind that doesn’t hurt. The goalkeeping position has been a serious issue for me but there seems to be competition now. Hopefully, that will improve our chances of remaining competitve when it matters most.

Rookie keeper Vito Mannone played a game yesterday that my colleague has called “The best Arsenal goalkeeper performance he’s seen in years”. I agree. Vito was the undisputed Man of The Match.

The victory was well earned. Roy Hodgson and his Fulham side are no mugs. Let’s be clear, leaving Craven Cottage with three points was massive. Fulham were up for it. They fought hard and remained disciplined throughout. A lesser Arsenal side would have (and have left) disappointed.

The match was the first for The Little Magician after recovering from injury. He played a bit part however. He was either not up for it or still trying to find his rhythm. I hope that Andrey is not disinterested in playing against the less fashionable sides. We’ve seen big performances from him but there have been matches when he’s not got out of third gear. The chance he missed in the 22nd minute was well defended by a late tackle but we’ve come to expect him to finish from those positions.

The First Half featured a fine save by Vito from an Andy Johnson header on 15. When the rebound fell to Clint Dempsey, Mannone showed excellent reflexes to keep the score level by getting in front of the striker’s effort. A sign of things to come for the frustrated Cottagers. Cesc could have done better with his chance on 18. As mentioned earlier, Arshavin’s miss on 22 was notable. Vito did very well to stop Zoltan Gera’s effort on 36.

All in all it was a fairly even First Half with Fulham perhaps getting the nod on points if we’re speaking in boxing terms.

We had more of the same dogged, physical effort from Fulham in the Second Half. It started to look like the kind of game where we’d be OK settling for minimal damage and a draw. Credit to Fulham. They are a decent side.

And then, on 52, Song intercepts an errant pass just right of the center circle in Arsenal’s half , feeds Diaby who touches to Cesc. Our Captain lofts an inch perfect ball to Robin. His first touch is Robinesque. He finishes with his right foot, beating Schwarzer far post.

Fulham F.C. 0 Arsenal F.C. 1

The score would remain that way thanks to the heroic efforts of Vito Mannone. On 56, he denied Johnson’s fine header. Gallas was guilty of leaving Johnson too much space. Vito to the rescue.

On 67, Gallas helped out with a fine last ditch tackle to prevent Zamora from netting. On 77, Diaby lost possession in his own half, again, to allow Fulham another chance to test the rookie keeper. Mannone was up to the task as he dove well to keep Andy Johnson off the score sheet. Zamora was also denied later before Eboue and Bendtner missed chances to make the game 3 or even 4 nil. It would have been cruel but they really should have done better with their chances.

A good win. No doubt about it.

I just want to make a note in closing that Alex Song’s sweet footwork on 88 to keep possession should be recognized for the excellent piece of skill while under pressure that it was.

Picture from BBC Sport

Yesterday saw something unusual of late for Arsenal, a performance that was not our best but resulted in 3 points away to a lesser team. We haven’t seen that in a while from our players. Perhaps, and I am not getting too excited yet, there is something with this team.

Fulham will feel hard done by not to get a point or more from yesterday’s game. I listened to the game on the radio and it sounded like Fulham had the majority of goalmouth chances in the first half, watching the highlights confirmed this. Whilst we had more opportunities in the second half there were still plenty of chances there for Fulham. Some commentators will say the Fulham’s lack of goals or killer instinct in front of goal was the issue here, but it was not.

We owe the 3 points to one player, Vito Mannone. Arsenal’s third choice keeper made a number of reactionary saves and outstretched dives to keep the ball out of his net. The commentary team on the radio were singing his praises and when I saw the highlights I can see why. I suspect he probably saved 5 chances of a goal which some keepers would have not have. He is young, at 21, which will no doubt hinder his decision making, but his reactions are right up there. Arsène has a real dilemma now, but I think that has been taken care of for Tuesday night as Almunia is still out, but I suspect longer term Almunia and Fabianski are a little bit concerned given the performance yesterday from our young Italian keeper. After the match Arsène called the performance 10 out of 10 and he was right.

Our goal was pretty sublime, Song played the ball to Cesc on the right just beyond the halfway line, Cesc took it forward then played a lovely ball over the top to van Persie who controlled it then stuck it in with his chocolate leg. A perfect Arsenal goal. Hopefully Robin now has his shooting boots on and will bang a few more goals in.

Andrey Arshavin made his return from injury and apart from one or two chances he still looks a bit flat. I’m not too concerned at the moment, but I think we were spoilt by his 4 goals at Anfield and sort of expect similar heroics week in week out.

But what we can take form today is that we won, played a bit “ugly”, didn’t concede a goal and are climbing up the table. Next up is Olympiacos at home on Tuesday in the Champions League. More on that tomorrow I would expect when the press conferences have taken place.

The Fulham away fixture last year has mixed emotions for me. It was my first ever Arsenal away game and I had heard Fulham was quite a good stadium for away fan atmosphere for us given how “local” it is. Sadly the performance on the pitch did not match the quality in the stand. Arsenal were poor and lost 1-0.

This season I hope, no I expect us to win at Fulham. Yes they have had a reasonable start but we don’t have those first few weeks nerves to deal with. The team has a good amount of confidence and given the performances we have seen so far there is no reason to doubt an away win is on the cards.

In team news Theo is back in training but is unlikely to feature at the weekend, Andrey Arshavin however will be available which will provide another attacking outlet for us. Robin van Persie will have a late fitness test after having a problem in the week but is expected to be fit for Saturday.  On the goalkeeping front Manuel Almunia has still not “recovered”, Arsène interestingly had this comment during his press conference:

“Almunia is still short, still a week away. Normally Mannone [would deputise] but we are 48 hours away from the game.”

Normally Mannone, will we see Wojciech Szczesny I wonder (and yes I did have to look his name up!) given the good reports from midweek in the Carling Cup?

In some other news Arsène has said he has no plans to retire which I think is a good thing, yes we have no trophies but the way he makes the team play and what he has brought to the club are surely reason enough to have him continue at the helm.

The Champions League tie against Olympiacos has gone to general sale, I can’t recall a group stage game doing this before. A sign of the times?

Anyway here’s to 3 points at Fulham. Not sure I will be able to watch the game as my only source (other than a pub) for ESPN will be at work and I can’t really sit in his lounge drinking his my beer can I????