Well in a couple of days managers will be able to get their chequebooks out to strengthen their squads for the season run in. Also, this provides an opportunity to get rid of some disappointing players and weakening veterans. The latter seems more likely in the case of our club.

Half way through the season and we’ve far exceeded any predictions, including my own. Top at Christmas is something we would’ve all have been dreaming of back in August but I for one never thought it’d happen. January gives teams chasing the title a chance to improve their squads and gain an advantage on our rivals. Wenger said recently he wouldn’t be bringing anyone in but I’m sure there’ll be one or two departures.

Outs:

Gilberto Silva is one player that could be on his way out of Arsenal this January. It would be really sad to see him go but to be honest, it’s now or in the summer. I was surprised when he wasn’t named captain at the beginning of the season but he’s lost his place to a re-born Mathieu Flamini. He rarely gets a game now, a few Carling Cup appearances have been his only run in the side. He hasn’t been in the squad for the recent games and you have to think that maybe we’ve seen the last of the Brazilian captain. When he has been given an opportunity, he hasn’t been terrific either; he doesn’t look as good as he did last year and this is probably a lot down to his lack of games.

He’s simply a squad player now, he wont earn his place back in the team, he’ll only be there if we have injury problems and he could get games in the league cup. He can’t be happy. He’s been linked with a move to Italy, Juventus have been named. We’ll just have to see what happens over the next month.

 Lassana Diarra is another midfielder that hasn’t seen a lot of games this season. He was signed on the last day of the transfer window and I was really exited. However he personally thought he could come straight into our side and expects to be selected. We’re lucky enough to have a great collection of midfielders here and he’s got healthy competition.

However he’s not happy with that and has spoken out on a couple of occasions about how unhappy he is with the situation. To be fair, he has played a few games for us, yes, a lot of them have been in the Carling Cup but you’ve got to start somewhere and a young player like him can’t just expect to walk straight into our starting 11. I really like him, and he could be really good, but if he doesn’t sort his attitude and patience out then he can leave, we’ve got enough players in his position anyway, but I do hope he stays.

Jens Lehmann is pretty much a dead certainty to leave next month. He started the season as no.1 but after some really bad errors that cost us points he got ‘injured’ and Manuel Almunia hasn’t lost his place in the side since. Wenger got fed up with his mental attitude and sloppy errors and dropped him. Every corner of free kick you’d just hope that Jens doesn’t lash out at any player simply stood near him.

He’s had a fantastic few years with us and as much as some of you might not like him I’m sure you’d still wish him all the best in the future. Almunia’s doing really well so he won’t really be missed in goal, but certainly as a character. It looks like he’ll be heading home to Germany, I think Dortmund are interested. We’ll see where he ends up pretty soon but I’d be very surprised if he was still with us come February 1st. 

Ins:

‘Ins’ you say? Bwhaha! You must be joking?!

It’s hardly the biggest surprise that Arsene’s said he won’t add to the squad next month. Mr. Wenger said the only chance of him bringing some one in would be if he was “offered the bargain of the century”. Oh well. There’s noises that Ronaldinho might want out of Barca, if we were offered him on the cheap that might happen…we could do with a left winger.

In all seriousness, we have got Johan Djourou coming back from Birmingham which’ll feel like a new addition. Arsene did say a while ago he might be tempted to buy a defender next month but now we’ve got Johan back he’s not going to.

So in conclusion, Lehmann will go, Gilberto might and we wont bring anyone in. I’ll write a West Ham preview tomorrow, until then. 

Well what a strange game that was. On a day when Manchester United lost to West Ham we had the chance to re-claim our place at the top and go two points clear. We did revert back to 4-4-2 and Bendtner got that starting place everyone was hoping for. He was partnered with Eduardo and Adebayor was given a well deserved rest, as was Rosicky who had Diaby take his place on the left wing.

We started really badly. The first half was very poor. Everton were making the most of this and were playing good, confident football and just knocking it around us like we weren’t there. They were putting pressure on us and after 20 minutes they won a corner, packed the box and scored. The corner came in to the back post, came off Bendtner’s knee and Cahill put it in with his studs.

The home side deserved the early lead and we were getting very frustrated. We didn’t get any better as the half went on, Everton carried on pressuring us with their one-touch football and I was really worried. Half time came and if we carried on playing like this in the second 45 then we had no chance. No one was making any difference for us and something would have to be changed if we didn’t sort ourselves out.

However, we got an early goal in the second half to bring us right back in it. In the 47th minute Clichy picked up the ball deep on the left and played a great long ball, which fell absolutely perfectly into Eduardo’s stride. The Croatian/Brazilian shoed great skill and composure to take it down with his chest then lift it over Howard. 1-1 now and we were right back in it, did we deserve to be? Who cares?

We managed a second goal just ten minutes later and it was the same combination. Clichy had possession on the left once again and looked to pick out Eduardo. His was another good one which was helped on by the head of Bendtner. Eduardo made sure he got there first, skillfully passed the defender (sort of like Bergkamp did in that goal against Newcastle) and cool as you like slotted it in. These two goals are a fine example of what a top goal scorer this guy is. He’s probably the best finisher we have and cane handle himself better than anyone inside the box, it’s just everywhere else he needs to work on. He’s sort of like, give him the ball in the box and he’ll stick it in.

The fact that we’d taken the lead had clearly upset Everton because we probably didn’t deserve to, it’s just down to the vision of Clichy and the skill of Eduardo. However we were leading and the home side had work to do. We were still being frustrated and we weren’t playing amazingly. It was getting heated and cards were dished out all over the place. In the 73rd minutes Bendtner picked up a second yellow for a bad challenge on Johnson. He can have no complaints with it, it’s just a sign of his immaturity. He’ll learn from it.

Clichy, Flamini, Fabregas and Eduardo also got booked. Mathieu’s yellow means he’ll miss the Burnley match through suspension. Six minutes from time it was made 10 men each when Arteta stuck his elbow in Cesc’s face. Fabregas made a meal of it but if he hadn’t then maybe he wouldn’t have been off and they’d still have the man advantage? It’s just the way the game is today and ass much as I hate to see Fabregas rolling around like Eboue I understand why he did it.

Before that second red card though, we scored our third though Adebayor in the 78th minute, just a few minutes after he’d come on for Eduardo. We only had 10 men but it didn’t matter because it was entirely route one football. Almunia’s goal kick went long and was heading straight for his opposite number, but a mix up between Howard and Yobo allowed Adebayor to cheekily come in and nick the ball to simply tap it into the empty net. A hilarious goal and one that won us the game.

There was just time in the 94th minute for Tomas Rosicky to make it 4-1 to The Arsenal. Ade won the ball and took it out to the left, played a nice one-two with Diaby to cut inside the box then Abou played a short on to Rosicky. Tomas took a touch, waited for the defenders to make their move then shot into the bottom corner. It was quite a nice goal actually, a typical Arsenal move.

So we won 4-1, the score line is a bit flattering but in the end we deserved to win. The first half was shocking but we fought well to come back. Not the best performance but three points takes us back to the top for the New Year. Hurrah!

Thanks for reading.

The big news going into tomorrow’s game is that Gallas is fit but Eboue and Walcott don’t travel. Van Persie still hasn’t recovered, he’ll miss West Ham too. With Wenger announcing that Theo and Eboue are rested it looks like Hleb will go back to right midfield and we’ll probably revert to 4-4-2.

There’s a number of options Wenger could be thinking of for tomorrow, he could still stick with a five man midfield with one of Diaby, Diarra, Denilson or Gilberto starting. Or maybe Eduardo’s going to start on the wing but I’d guess it’ll be Hleb.

Up front Bendtner might get a deserved start. He’s done really well when he’s come on recently and a lot of fans believe that his efforts merit a starting position. Adebayor will play tomorrow but if we are going to go with a 4-4-2 formation then I’d pick Nicklas ahead of Eduardo as the second striker. I know that typically Bendtner and Adebayor wouldn’t be started together as they play in similar styles but so what. If Nick doesn’t get the start I’ll be quite disappointed but we can still use him from the bench.

It’s too hard for me to guess what Wenger’s thinking for tomorrow’s starting line up, but this is what I’d do if it were up to me:

If the Bendtner + Adebayor problem is too much then I’d suggest even putting Eduardo up top as his partner. Not that I have anything against Ade but I really believe in Nicklas at the moment.

Wenger could still go with a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 if he wants, Diaby or Eduardo would start on the wing in place of Eduardo. Things haven’t clicked in the last couple of games and a change would be welcome, that’s why I think the 4-4-2 should be brought back.

Everton is a must win game in my eyes. The draw against Portsmouth was only an alright result if we pick up wins in our other games; we can afford a draw now and again. The game’s at 5.15 and live on Setanta.

And finally, Wenger’s said he wont be adding to the squad in January which is a bit of a shame but you can’t be surprised. There probably will be some one on their way out though and Arsene won’t stand in the way of Jens Lehmann if he wants to go. I’ll talk more about this transfer window soon.

Thanks for reading.

Not the end of the world guys. Seriously, a draw against Portsmouth really isn’t that bad. Man United only managed the same at Fratton Park. Yes, we’re down in second place now, but as Wenger said last night, “One-point difference is not a big deal.“

We started with that same 4-5-1 formation but this time it didn’t work. Cesc was again fairly anonymous and Eboue, well Eboue was just Eboue and you know what I think about him. Adebayor wasn’t on form, he just didn’t seem to be getting the opportunities and just lacked that extra something. Hleb was ok but like Ade he didn’t have just that little bit more that would’ve helped us in the final third; he showed some good bits of skill and vision but not enough

.Portsmouth are usually an attacking and skillful side but Harry Redknapp decided he could only go for a draw against Arsenal and his team defended very well and frustrated us, they had a few chances of their own but you have to say we had the better of it.It was just one of those games really, either side could’ve nicked a goal but it probably wouldn’t have been a fair reflection on the game. To be honest with you, I didn’t properly watch the whole game, it was my mate’s birthday, I did make sure we went to a pub with the game on but I couldn’t exactly be glued to the screen for two hours. I did also catch the highlights though (of which there were very few).

Our first chance came inside the first minute, Eboue crossed but Cesc was just a bit too short for his ball and nothing came of it. We could’ve opened the scoring after half an hour; Rosicky found a little bit of space outside the box and curled a shot perfectly towards the opposite top corner. It was going right in but David James made a good save to pluck it out of the air. Although people are saying Tomas didn’t have a great game he did look like the most likely to score; he had two or three good chances but all of which just didn’t go in.

0-0 at half time was no surprise and the rest of the game went on without a goal, there was some chances in the second half but nothing major. Most of the action came in the final 5 or 10 minutes. Previously to this Eboue had been subbed for Diaby and an ineffective Hleb came off for an on form Bendtner.

The biggest scare came when Benjani went clear though on goal after catching out the defense. Almunia came charging out to put him off and the Pompey striker tried to round the ‘keeper. This gave Clichy just enough time to get back and did brilliantly well to tackle him and we were over it. Gallas made his way back to the line I don’t think he would’ve had much of a chance if Gael didn’t get to him.

Other than that, it was all us. The best two chances came to Rosicky and Gallas. Tomas got the ball just inside a busy area and shot low toward the far corner. The call curved agonizingly wide and I screamed in disbelief. But this was nothing compared to Captain Willy’s chance. He somehow got the ball on the edge of the six-yard box with his back to goal, he panicked and shot on the turned and the ball went over the bar. Easily our best chance and even though we might not have deserved the lead this should’ve been 1-0 Arsenal.

Just one more thing. Gallas picked up an injury in the game, he carried on played but looked uncomfortable. I pray that he’s going to be ok because if we went out of the team at this time of the year we’d be in deep shit. With Toure off to the African Nations Cup, if we had Gallas out too it’d be a disaster. I hope he’s alright.

Anyway it ended up 0-0, which is fair enough. United go top by a point but it’s no biggie. We travel to Everton on Saturday; I don’t think it’s on TV so you’ll have to find it on the internet or something. Build up to come. Thanks for reading.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you’ve all had a nice day and Santa brought you everything you wanted; he did for me…we’re top of the league. It’s back to the wonderful world of football tomorrow as we travel to Portsmouth in Boxing Day’s late kick off. They’ve done quite well this season and have caused a lot of teams problems. However they’ve lost their last two games against Spurs and Liverpool. They’ve been very good away from home but at Fratton Park they haven’t looked the same team.

I’m fairly confident about tomorrow, although they’re not a bad side, I’d be quite disappointed if we didn’t take all the points. We’re on a high at the moment and Portsmouth will not be looking forward to our visit.

They lazy bastards at Arsenal.com couldn’t even be able to work on Christmas Day so I have no injury news. The latest looked quite good with only minor problems to Walcott and van Persie. Theo had the flu, I don’t know if he’s recovered from that yet and Robin had that muscle problem that made him miss the Spurs game; Arsene said he could be out for this game too so I very much doubt that he’s going to bring him back unless he’s made a very quick recovery. Theo could be in the squad though.

I think it’ll be the same line up as our last game, the 4-4-1-1. Almunia, Clichy, Gallas, Toure, Sagna, Eboue, Fabregas, Flamini, Rosicky, Hleb and Adebayor. I’m pretty sure of that line up and I’d be quite surprised if it was anything else. The only possibility would be Bendtner earning himself a start, which wouldn’t be a bad decision.

I really don’t know what else to write. I could go on and on feeding you useless stats about Arsenal and Pompey but I can’t be arsed and I know you probably wont read it anyway. Plus it’s Christmas Day, I have some more drinking to do and see what crap is on the TV. I’ll speak to you on Thursday, thanks for reading and Merry Christmas.

Not a great deal of news this Christmas Eve. Just two stories that are really of any interest. The first being Jens Lehmann’s confession that he’s lost his place in the Arsenal side. I think we all saw the pictures of him sitting on the bench while Manuel Almunia, who Jens just cant get enough of criticising saved a vital penalty. When Keane’s spot kick was saved, I think that was the very moment Almunia cemented his place in the first eleven.

I do really feel sorry for Jens though. He was an amazing ‘keeper but absolutely mental. You had to love his degree of inanity but as an Arsenal fan it was sometimes very scary. He was capable of pulling of magnificent saves, yet five minutes later do something really stupid, and in the first few games this season that’s exactly what happened and it cost us points. Here’s what he said about a move away from Arsenal:

“I should know more in a week, so that I can make a decision in the first days of the New Year. I’ve listened to something, but at the moment I can’t say much about it.”

He also said that he hasn’t spoken to Man City who have been linked with a move. The most likely option would be for him to go back to Germany. He needs first team action, which is completely understandable, so good luck to him. He won over a lot of Arsenal fans, I was one of many that weren’t happy with him as the next David Seaman in our team but I grew to really like him. His highlight of his career was the 2006 Champions League run; it’s just such a shame that when he made it to the final he was dismissed so early. If he never got sent off God know what might’ve happened in that game.

Right, that’s my Lehmann tribute. So yeah, it looks like he’s off next month. Cheers Jens.

On the other end of the scale, a player who is just emerging into the team is Nicklas Bendtner. That header on Saturday will give him so much confidence that he can really do with at this stage of his career. I’ve always like Nick, I used to go and watch him play for the Arsenal reserves regularly. He and Arturo Lupoli formed a great partnership and were banging in the goals. It’s just Nick’s attitude that’s sometimes annoyed me…

He’s a young player and often he or his dad used to come out saying that they demand a first team place for Nick of he’s off. He’s only young and still developing and you can’t, at that age, just expect to walk into a team that’s top of the Premiership. I think he’s come to accept that now and he’s just getting on with it. I haven’t heard anything from him or his dad about wanting a starting place. He’s completely changed his tone now and he’s saying all the right things:

“I’ll do whatever I can and won’t rest until I get into the team. That is all I have on my mind and all I think about. I’m staying here no matter what happens. My feelings this year are with the club and I want to play for Arsene. Moving now or going on loan would not be what I want.”

That’s great to hear, because I was always worried that he’d move on but he looks like he’s got potential. I don’t think he’s quite earned himself a starting place yet but we know what he can do and it wont be very long until he’s an important part of our team.

Right I’ve got to go now, but have a great Christmas Eve, don’t get too drunk. I should speak to you tomorrow, I usually get stuffed drunk bored in the afternoon and wonder over to the computer. Until then my friends.

We started with the same side that beat Chelsea. Van Persie wasn’t even in the squad; he’s picked up a small muscle problem, which is very annoying. Wenger said that he was tempted to play him today but didn’t want to risk him and he’ll possibly be out for the rest of the year. Or not, he doesn’t know yet.

At kick off it still hadn’t sunk in that it was the North London derby, usually I’m so exited and nervous about this game but I never really thought about it. We started the game very quickly and Flamini had a shot hit the side netting after two minutes. I thought this was going to be an indication of an exiting, fast paced game to come but oh no.

The first half was not good at all, neither side really playing great football and hardly any decent shots on goal. It was incredibly frustrating; I didn’t know what was going on. I was worried that Spurs could take the lead because with the way we were playing we would’ve found it hard to fight back.

After half an hour we finally had a decent shot. It was Eboue who’d had enough of just passing it about, he side footed the defender and then took a shot. It wasn’t a great effort but it was a relief to see us actually having a go.

5 minutes to go in the first half and I’d had enough, plus I was hungry. But I caught the best chance of the half on the screens inside. Sagna won a corner and Fabregas took it. Toure rose above his marker and met the ball with a decent header towards goal. It wasn’t very far away from Robinson though and it was a fairly comfortable save.

So it was 0-0 at half time and I was not a happy bunny. We were playing crappy football and nothing at all was happening. I knew that Wenger would have something to say in the break though and I was confident we could come out in the second half with a better performance.

And we did. As I was walking down the stairs to my seat Adebayor made it 1-0. It was a great move, so much better than anything we saw in the first half. It was all Fabregas’ work. He picked up the ball around the half way line, played a pass into Rosicky and continued his run. It came to him near the edge of the box and Adebayor was making an overlapping run round the left and Cesc spotted him. He played a cheeky little back heel into Ade’s path and he smartly finished low under Robinson.

It seemed like a different game now once that goal went in. The crowd we making more noise and we were openly havening shots on goal. Our attacks had purpose and you thought we could easily get a second with this momentum.

However the best chance of the game fell to Keane. Lennon with some good work on the right played a short little cross to the pikey and he shot against the bar from three yards out. What a let off, and what a stupid twat for missing from that close. But Spurs’ equaliser wasn’t far away. In the 66th minute Keane made up for that miss with a nice little assist for Berbatov. He was right on the line and played a back heel to Berbatov in the area and he shot high which beat Almunia at a tight angle. It was a good goal to be honest and now we had a game on our hands.

18 minutes from time Tottenham won a penalty. It was from a free kick swung in and the ball was bouncing around in the area. Toure committed a sloppy foul and the ref pointed to the spot. I couldn’t believe it, and I couldn’t watch. As Keane placed the ball on the spot I just looked at the away fans section as cheers went up around me. It was a shit penalty and Almunia went the right way. Get in.

And about two minutes later we scored! At the time of the penalty Bendtner was getting ready on the side. We went down the other end and won a corner. Nicklas came on for Eboue and went straight into the box for Cesc’s corner. Bendtner made a run towards goal losing his marker and rose about 10 feet in the air to head us into the lead. He’d been on the pitch 4 seconds and with his first touch he scored. That has to be some kind of a record. Ashburton Grove erupted and you knew we’d won it now.

You just knew it would happen like this. Spurs always give themselves hope to throw it all away, the stupid cunts. Hitting the bar, missing a penalty. Oh dear, oh dear.

We hung on for the remaining 15 minutes to take the lead and it was a happy birthday for me. There was just time to sing happy birthday to our favourite friends as the away section quickly emptied.

Nicklas and Manuel will be happy with yesterday. You wouldn’t have thought at the beginning of the season that those two would be the heroes of the day at the start of the season, would you? Fabregas was very quiet but he still came away with two assists and some good little moves. Flamini had a big game and Gallas looking strong at the back.

Well we beat Tottenham again, not as easy as thought it might’ve been but we still did it. Top at Christmas, lovely. We’ll play them again in the Carling Cup but next up it’s Portsmouth away on Boxing Day. Thanks for reading.

I’ve been so exited today about Arsenal vs. AC Milan I haven’t even thought about tomorrow’s North London Derby! I’ve just got off the expedia website booking my travel to Milano, I just need a ticket now! If anyone wants to give me one for Christmas that’d be nice.

Anyway, the Tottenham game. They’re doing alright at the moment, Ramos is doing an ok job since he’s joined and he’s brought the scum out of the relegation zone; not quite 4th, as they hoped, but bless. They might be doing well (in comparison to how they started), but we’re doing even better. We’ve just beaten Chelsea, we’ve just gone through to the Semi Finals in the Carling Cup (which will be against them) and we’ve got a fully fit squad.

I’m sure they wont be looking forward to this trip at all. Juande Ramos visited us earlier in the season with Seville and came away with a 3-0 loss; another one of those would do just nicely. I haven’t even thought about the possibility of losing this game; the idea of it is horrifying. However, something would have to go seriously wrong for us to not at least draw this game. After all, they’re a bottom-half of the table side.

I don’t know whether Wenger will go 4-5-1, 4-4-2 or even 4-4-1-1. He’s gone with a five-man midfield a few times recently but I think having two strikers would be better for this game. Spurs have defensive troubles at the moment and this could be exploited with a skilful partnership of Van Persie and Adebayor. Also, Eboue picked up a bad knee injury against Chelsea, but he’s managed to pass today’s fitness test. This is the team I’d go for anyway:

To be honest, I think we can embarrass Tottenham tomorrow afternoon. Just looking at that team…Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor and more…we just have far too much quality for them. I’m hoping for a very happy birthday and a 10-0 win. No, seriously, I’d guess at a 3-0 win, van Persie with two and Ade with the other.

Right, it’s 10:40pm, Friday night, and I’m still not at the pub. Plus I really don’t know what else to write. Enjoy the game tomorrow. Wish me a happy birthday too, if you want to come buy me a drink you’re more than welcome. Match report on Sunday, thanks for reading.

Well well well…AC Milan. What a draw. I’m a little bit lost for words from the excitement! It’s a tricky tie, no doubt, but we will have chance. A big chance actually, we have a fairly decent record against Italian teams over the last few years; we lost to Milan in 1995 but we were a completely different side then, obviously. I said before the draw that I really want to go to the away leg of whoever we get in the knockout stages. Plane ticket prices are going up and up as I type so I better get on with this blog. Here’s the rest of the draw:

Lucky fucking Chelsea…These games aren’t for another two months so we’ll look forward to those in the new year.

In the news we’ve got Patrick Vieira saying that this team is better than the one he was a part of. Here’s what he said:

“Arsene has done some great things and the players are responding to him at the moment. When I left, Fabregas had the chance to be selected. And he has since blossomed. Titi has left and Adebayor has never scored so many goals. Van Persie also feels he is like a leader now. In my time, we had a great team. We played well and were physically strong. But this current team plays better football than in our day. Whether that means they are going to win something is another story. But whatever happens, Arsenal are one of the two or three teams in Europe who play the best football.”

Cheers Paddy. He’s right, a lot has changed since his departure but we’ve changed and youngsters have been given their chance and it’s paid off. We could’ve drawn Inter in the Champions league but Vieira’s side drew Liverpool and I bet Patrick cant wait for that.

Carlos Vela says he cant wait to come play at Arsenal. We bought him a few years ago but wasn’t eligible to work in England so has been on loan but next season we’ll finally have him in our squad. He’s currently on loan with Osasuna and he’s doing really well in La Liga. I saw some highlights from when he played Real Madrid and he looked very skilful and dangerous. He’s a striker naturally but he played a lot of that game out on the left wing and I suspect that what Wenger might do with him.

Another one of our players on loan, Johann Djourou will return to Arsenal next month. We’ll be very short for centre backs next month with the African Nations cup so he was always going to come back or Arsene would have to bring some one else in, he may still get the chequebook out but getting Johann back is good for us. Senderos has been a bit shaky so he’ll be looking to make his way to the first team.

I’ll have a preview of the Tottenham game up tonight. Talk to ya later.

Well you have to be so incredibly proud of our boys. It was great performance from such an inexperienced side. To hold out, even though a strong Blackburn team came back to level the score it was amazing. After they made it 2-2 I did think the worst, but I’m so proud of how they came through. And with 10 men!

We started with the side I predicted in the preview and Senderos captained the boys. We started really well and Blackburn were shocked. Diaby opened the scoring after 6 minutes, with his left foot!. It was Bendtner who crossed the ball in from the right, which found Diaby’s run. Abou stuck the ball with his right foot but sort of hit it against the ground so it bounced over Friedel. It was a good goal but I don’t think he meant it. That’s not the first time Bendtner has supplied decent cross either, it was good of him to spot Diaby’s run and play the perfect ball.

We were 1-0 up after only 6 minutes but it’s not like we didn’t deserve it. The home team just looked stunned and didn’t know how to deal with these quick, intelligent and fearless young players. Three minutes after the first, Bendtner should’ve had a fine second. He cut inside on the left and send a curling shot towards the opposite top corner, the ‘keeper was beaten but the ball just hit the bar but what a goal it would’ve been.

Blackburn were having chances of their own but you have to say it was all Arsenal, and we got the second goal just before the half hour mark. Denilson picked up the ball in space and saw Eduardo running ahead of him, the young Brazilian played the perfect curved pass to Da Silva which was just ever so slightly too far away from the Blackburn defender. Eduardo took the ball and it was a cool and calm finish from the oldest man in the squad past Friedel. 2-0 up, I couldn’t believe it, it was incredible and I thought there could only be more goals in this for us.

However, just before half time Santa Cruz got one back. A dangerous cross was whipped into a busy box and the Blackburn striker stuck his leg out to divert it in the back of the net. This gave them a lifeline at the break and they took advantage of it. They came out very strong in the second half and were causing the kids problems. They weren’t allowing them the same space in midfield as they did in the first half and they quickly stopped any runs down the wing.

They so nearly equalized two minutes in. Santa Cruz was sent through on goal but Fabianski had adopted a position near the edge of the box and managed to get a hand on the ball. This was just enough to spoil his run and Alex Song got back to clear the danger. Phew.

However the goal did seem likely to come and in the 59th minute Santa Cruz did get his second. They had a free kick from midway into our half and crowded the box. Bentley whipped a ball in and the Blackburn striker rose above everyone else to score above Fabianski.

From going two goals up to being back level again was terrible to watch. I thought the worst now and thought they surely must go on to win. However fair play to the kids as they got stuck in and tried everything to not concede and try and retain the lead. Both set of players looked really up for this and you could just see the passion on the pitch. This all got a bit too much for young Denilson near the end of the game so when he saw the opportunity to break David Dunn’s leg, he went for it. He was shown a straight red but I’m sure he’ll have learnt a lesson from that…if you’re going to do it, finish the job.

So we went into extra time and you could tell that the boys where knackered. Nacer Barazite replaced Randall in the 80th minute but early into the first period of extra time Nacer went down with a bad injury. It appears that he dislocated his shoulder but he was down for some time and was stretchered off with a gas mask. Hope he’s alright.

Not long after that though, we made it 3-2! Song was the provider, the played a good pass forward to Eduardo who went through and showed his maturity and goal scoring ability to give us the lead again. It was brilliant! I was so proud to see how we’d fought back and now we just had to hang on to the lead.

In the second half of extra time we were under constant pressure with Blackburn piling everyone up into the box, including Brad Friedel. Song and Hoyte made heroes of themselves with some of the blocks and tackles they made. The whistle finally went after 120 minutes and we’d done it! You could see how much this win meant to this young side, and now they’ll be facing Spurs in the semis.

You have to be so proud of them, they’ll have no problem against Tottenham and I’m sure I’ll be following them to the final again, probably against Chelsea(’s 1st team).

Fabianski made some great stops and good clearances from crosses. Senderos was good but Song was better, he seems to be improving with games and how wrong we could’ve been about him. Denilson was amazing the middle, but Diarra was even better, he put in a man of the match performance which Wenger will appreciate. He was asked after the game about him leaving but he seemed pretty happy with that game and sounded like he’d had a chat with Wenger. Diaby was awesome too, I’m a big fan of his and he played a big part on Tuesday night. Up front, Bendtner and Eduardo were class. Those goals will have given Da Silva that much needed confidence and hopefully he can now get some goals in the league.

It really was inspiring stuff and I’m really looking forward to the semi finals now. We’ve got the home leg on the 8th/9th Jan and the away leg on the 22nd/23rd Jan. But we can put the Carling Cup to one side now, as we face them in the league on Saturday. Thanks for reading.

I’ve only just had a chance to sit down at the computer but I’ve got to go now. I’ll have the match report from the fantastic Blackburn game up tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll manage.

It was a great game, nd if you missed it, then you shouldn’t have. The kids showed great determination and at times played the full-stregth Blackburn side off the park.

I’ll do the write up tomorrow morning. Until then.

It’s an extremely young and inexperienced squad that travelled up to Blackburn today for tonight’s Carling Cup clash. Only Nicklas Bendtner and Phil Senderos we in the squad of two days ago. With players still recovering from the Chelsea game and with Spurs on Saturday it was always going to be a young team.

I’m not expecting us to win this one, I have to say. You have to think that Blackburn will be far too strong for such a young side. However, you can’t be so sure. They’ll play with so much determination and they will be fearless. They’ve got nothing to lose and they probably realise they will be big underdogs, but I bet they’ll be proud to represent the first team and they’ll do their very best.

The bigger names in the squad include Diaby, Senderos, Diarra, Eduardo, Denilson and Bendtner. Theo Walcott was due to start but he was unwell today and was excluded. Here’s my guess at the team then:

When I actually pick a team, I think that group of 11 players could beat Blackburn and it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise ever. It’s a very young bench though, but I bet they’ll be dying to get on the pitch. I’ve gone for Randall at right midfield; don’t ask me why, I don’t know either.

Man of the Match Gael Clichy gets rested for Armand Traore. Arsene’s been talking about him saying how much he’s matured and he’d have no hesitation starting him in the Premier League if something happened to Clichy. I like Traore too; I hope he does well tonight.

I’m sure Blackburn will go with a full strength squad and they’ll fancy themselves for this. I’m not too bothered if they win, I’ll get over it. However if we win it’d be amazing. Not just because I want us to do well in this competition, but I’d love to see the look on Robbie Savage’s face when he’s beaten by a load of kids.

I’m quite looking forward to this now. Good luck to the kids. Thanks for reading.

I knew it! Rarely I go into a big game like this believing we can win. I had a feeling it’d be 2-0 with Gallas and van Persie scoring. Robin came very close to scoring in the second half but in the end the one goal was enough and we got all three points. And we’re still top of the league!

We started with a pretty much full strength 11. Van Persie started on the bench so Hleb supported Adebayor and Eboue took over on the right wing. Ashley Cole started for Chelsea in his first return to Arsenal. As you can expect he got a great reception.

It was a cagey start, but it always is in games like this. We were knocking the ball around well and were trying to work an attack. We got in decent positions a couple of times around the box, passing the ball around as we do, but Chelsea managed to clear it one way or another.

Almunia had a fantastic game. His first save came form a deflected Wright-Phillips shot in the 13th minute. It was a comfortable height but you’d expect most ‘keepers to push it away but he held it very well.

Tempers started to flair after half an hour. Cesc was driving into the box when Terry came flying into Fabregas. It was a terrible challenge and both Terry and Lampard came away with bookings after the mini-brawl. At the time I thought this good for us as two of their better players were on a warning. However, a few minutes later Terry limped off after a marvellous challenge from Eboue. He’ll be out for three months now and that might prove a big blow for Chelsea’s season. Well done Emmanuel.

Late in injury time of the first half we broke away from a poor goal clearance. Chelsea knocked it out for a corner so we’d have one last chance to attack before the break. Fabregas took the corner, and it was a good one. Cech came out to try and clear it but missed leaving Gallas with an open goal. He easily rose above Ben Haim to score, if that was John Terry marking him it could’ve been a different story.

The place went mad; it was an absolutely crucial goal. I have to say the crowd did really well yesterday; it’s one of the noisiest home games I’ve been to which really inspired the lads on the pitch.

In the second half things opened up a lot more. Chelsea went 4-4-2, which gave us room in midfield to work our stuff, and it was just generally more attacking a free-flowing football. Almunia made another great save on the hour from Mikel’s shot, from outside the box.

Eboue got injured with 20 minutes and this allowed the perfect opportunity to bring van Persie on. Eboue did alright actually, I sarcastically talk about injuring Terry but he was useful around the box, working well in tight spaces. Van Persie gave us a bit more going forward; with Chelsea pressing, our counter attacking football was very dangerous. Robin played off Ade who stayed as the front man.

After 74 minutes the best chance of the game fell to Shaun Wright-Phillips. A ball came in over the top of the defence and the ball fell straight to him 3 yards out. He lashed at the ball and pulled it wide. Thank God. He should’ve scored, there’s no doubt about it. His finish was bad though and we stayed in the lead.

A few minutes later we broke from the back and the ball ended up at van Persie’s feet after a squared ball from the right. It wasn’t right into his path though and he had to take it on his weaker foot. The ball went over the bar but it was a great move and it would’ve been a brilliant goal. He got a chance to make up for it though in the 85th minute. Rosicky went through on the left and squared it again to Van Persie, this time he made no mistake in the finish but the flag was up. It was Tomas who was offside on the original ball. The replays show that he was slightly too early, it was a 50:50 decision that could’ve gone either way.

Two minutes later we should’ve scored again Ade’s little cross from the left fell beautifully to van Persie who connected with a decent shot but was straight at Cech. The rebound fell to Cesc who certainly should’ve made it 2-0 but somehow he too shot straight at the Chelsea ‘keeper and they had avoided a second goal conceded.

In the 89th minute it was Chelsea’s turn at goal. Shevchenko found himself unmarked on the edge of the box and called for Lampard to cross. It was a good delivery straight onto the ex-AC Milan striker’s head but the finish was poor. He headed down, with no pace and Almunia collected. The ball went straight up the other end and Adebayor scored a perfectly good second. He had two defenders to beat and he muscled past Ben Haim to slot the ball in the bottom-right corner. I celebrated, I thought it was a great goal and a well deserved one for a good performance but the referee pulled it back. I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t know what for because he wasn’t offside. He said that there was a foul on the build up to the goal but I don’t think so, it should’ve been 2-0.

Just into extra time Gilberto gave away a free kick to the visitors in a great position. Shevchenko lined it up and it was a great hit. It was going just underneath the bar with some pace but Almunia made another fantastic stop. It was right above him but he managed to see where it was going between the crowd and put it over the bar. If it’d gone in it would’ve been a bad error by Manuel, but that’s the fine line between being a goalkeeper.

95 minutes gone but there was still enough time for some controversy at the other end. It was another perfect opportunity for the second but Ashley Cole actually made a great block. Bendtner cut inside and could’ve had a shot but squared to the unmarked Cesc who wrong-footed Cech and just as he was about to pull the trigger Cole came flying in. Cesc thought fuck it, and tried to break Cole’s leg with a scissor challenge from behind. It was a beautiful moment, you could compare it to Grimandi’s challenge on Davids in DB10’s testimonial. If any of us were on the pitch we would’ve done the same thing; that was a tackled of an Arsenal fan.

Anyway, he failed to break his leg and Cashley retaliated with a shove to Fabregas’ neck. Cesc’s reaction was Eboue-esque and very unlike the Spaniard but he only did it to run down the clock, Chelsea might’ve had another attack if he didn’t. Cole got up, then went down, and then rolled around for a bit…twat. Cesc was booked but he didn’t care, the whistle went and the players went mad and we followed. All a bit confusing but we’d won the game!

It was another Ashburton Grove classic. We beat Chelsea, Cole’s comeback was great. With Gallas getting the goal it was even better. And just to rub it in that little knob’s face, Clichy was man of the match.

I hope you lot enjoyed it as much as I did, and I hope we’ll see something just as good next week. We deserved to win, good performance and great to see Cesc, Matty, Hleb and Robin back. C’MON THE ARSENAL. Thanks for reading.

Not ‘do’ in an Ashley Cole sort of a way, ‘do’ as in win, comfortably. I just have a good feeling about this. I’ve heard that the whole squad trained together and everyone is very competitive for places. Apart from Theo Walcott of course who will miss this one. I’m guessing it’ll be a full strength team. Wenger has said all week that he’ll make a decision but never ruled them out. If Chelsea go into the game thinking we’ll have second string players out but then line up with Cesc, Flamini, Hleb and van Persie it’ll shock them.

Cuntski have Essien and Drogba out. Fantastic news. Toure and Gallas will have to deal with either Shevchenko or Kalou which I think they can handle.

United play Liverpool in the early kick off. It’ll be a big weekend for us. We could be sitting top, 4 points clear 24 hours from now, but we could also be in 3rd. Tomorrow could make or break one of the top four’s season, and I’m betting we’ll come through it with flying colours.

So here’s my guess at the team.

After all the hype that gone on this week, I think we’ll actually see our best side start against Chelsea. My biggest doubt would be Fabregas, if he doesn’t start it’ll be either Denilson, Diarra, Diaby or Gilberto and honestly I cant choose between them, they’ve all got qualities we’ll need tomorrow afternoon.

I’ve had enough of all the build-up. I just want this match to start now. The stage is perfectly set, we lost our last league game but that was a different team and we’ll have learnt from that game. Chelsea will believe they can beat us, but they’re going to have to play very well. I think Cole will suffer in this game. He’s chickened out before but it looks like he’s finally going to make his return to North London. In the Carling Cup final last year he was running round like a little twat kissing the badge in front of us. But that was with the backing of thirty-odd thousand Chelsea fans in Cardiff. Let’s see how big and clever he thinks he is when there’s 60,000 Gooners against him. He’ll choke.

Right I’m off now. Thanks for reading people. Enjoy the games tomorrow and cheer on the boys from the bottom of your lungs wherever you’re watching around the world. See ya.

In today’s pre-match press conference Arsene has given all Gooners hope in saying we could be seeing some of our best players returning for the vital clash with Chelsea this weekend. However, he did say Theo Walcott has picked up a slight knock and will miss this match and possibly Tuesday’s. It’s a shame because Theo did really well the other night and it would’ve been lovely to see him take the piss out of Cuntley Cole on the right wing.

Here’s what Wenger said about our injury situation:

“Who will make it, I don’t know. We know Robin van Persie will be available. As for Mathieu Flamini, Cesc and Alex Hleb, the signs look quite good but we have to make a decision. Theo Walcott is out with a little knee problem. That is a question of days and we feel he should be OK for Tuesday maybe.”

Arsene also said that if Fabregas was passed fit, he would play. However I have on good source that it looks unlikely. Out of Hleb, Flamini and Cesc, he looks the least expected to return but there will be a late fitness test on all three.

My hopes are good for them to return. The noises coming out of the Arsenal camp sound good. All three (plus van Persie) are in full training fighting for their place. I’m sure they are fit enough to start, it’s just whether they could play 90 minutes. It’s too much of a risk to start them if we’re going to have to sub them before the end, at the potentially decisive point in the game.

I’ll write up a proper preview tomorrow as to what team I think it’ll be but it sounds goof for now anyway.

In other news Arsene’s been talking about Avram Grant, the mafia looking cunt. And how he thinks its more important for the fans to get behind the team, rather than focus on Ashley Cole.

Also, we’ve been linked with a left winger called Nikolay Dimitrov. He plays for Levski Sofia and their executive director says they’ve known about Arsenal’s interest and he’ll have to travel to London to sort things out. Their coach seems willing to let him go and he said ‘he’s very happy for him’. Sounds promising to me.

Right, I’m off now. Happy Friday.

We did our job; we beat Steaua in the hope that Seville would slip up in Prague. It looked good at half time when news came through that it was still 0-0, but it finished up 3-0 to the Spanish side and we finished the group in second place. The 13 points we achieved (a lot of which with a second string side) would’ve given us top spot in other groups but Seville did well to claim 15 points. That means we’ve got tough opposition waiting in the next round, we’ll play one of Porto, Barcelona, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. Abou Diaby doesn’t mind facing a top team and neither do I. It’ll be good if we got Porto but last year we got the easier draw and lost to that team, PSV.

We fielded a very mix and match side, our two players returning to action, Van Persie and Diaby both started, as did Lehmann. Gallas & Senderos were paired as I though and it was Sagna and Traore at full back. Diaby (not a left winger) made his return at left midfield and was joined by Denilson, Song and Walcott. Van Persie started up front with Nicklas Bendtner.

We started really well and Theo Walcott especially looked exiting, powerful and hungry. He nearly scored inside 120 seconds thanks to a Van Persie through ball. We didn’t have to wait long for the opener though. Abou Diaby marked his comeback with a goal in the 8th minute. Sagna sent a sweeping ball in from the right and Diaby made contact with his foot to make it 1-0 to The Arsenal. It was a good finish by Abou.

Diaby nearly got another 4 minutes later with the help of a Bucharest defender. His long-range effort was deflected and looked like it was going perfectly in the top corner but their ‘keeper pulled off a fine save.

We were all attacking putting enormous pressure on the Steaua defence. Walcott was doing a fantastic job down the right. I was really impressed with him last night. Van Persie had a couple of decent efforts too.

Our second came three minutes before the break. Van Persie with some good skill on the edge of the box played in Bendtner who passed one player then slotted the ball in the back of the net. It was a good goal by the Dane who was also an impressive figure last night.

The second half wasn’t quite as good as the first. We were brilliant in the first half and were putting loads of pressure on Steaua. They were lucky to only be two goals down. Walcott might’ve a hat trick but now if he was more composed in front of goal.

We weren’t bad in the second half; we just didn’t seem to go for it as much. We started the half well. We had a few chances from corners and free kicks but nothing came of them. Van Persie was replaced by Eduardo in the 65th minute to a great reception. A fairly good come back for him and hell be looking to make an impression against Chelsea. Diaby and Sagna came off 10 minutes later, they were replaced by Eboue and Diarra. Eboue went in a right back and Diarra in the middle. All three subs didn’t really do a lot that I can remember.

Just before that second lot of subs the visitors got a goal back. A cross was whipped in and Zaharia headed in past Lehmann. The goal came at a bit of a shock but Bucharest and their fans loved it and they were now searching for an equalizer. Ovidiu Petre nearly got it when he hit a screamer from 30 yards. Luckily the swerve of it took it just wide but Jens was beaten.

We had a couple more chance before the end but it finished up 2-1 to us. The result didn’t matter in the end as Seville came out comfortable winners in Prague. However it does set up and exiting knockout round for us. I’m going to try and get to the away leg of the tie. The draw is made the day before the Spurs game on the 21st. I’m sure we’ll all be glued the TV for then.

But now we can concentrate on the league for a bit. We’ve got Chelsea on Sunday which’ll be a huge game for us. Match Preview to come tomorrow. COME ON THE ARSENAL.

Edit: Oh wait, match preview won’t be tomorrow, the game’s on Sunday. Match Preview on Saturday. Build up tomorrow!

I wasn’t really looking forward to tomorrow night’s game, I thought it’d be a negative side and we’d probably end up losing. However today Wenger said it wont be a bad side, he say’s he’ll ‘find the right balance between not losing and keeping a strong team.’ Arsene also says it’s 50:50 whether we win the group or not.

However the big news was the return of three players. Jens ‘Absolutely Mental’ Lehmann is set to start with Robin Van Persie and Abou Diaby returning back to the squad. We don’t know whether or not those two will start but Arsene suggests they’ll probably make an appearance.

“You will see Jens Lehmann in goal tomorrow. This was decided three weeks ago so it is independent of anything else. This man is super-professional and an example for everybody.

He [Van Persie] is OK. He will be in the squad tomorrow. I have not yet made a decision if he will start but he could play some part. The other players who were out before are still out except Abou Diaby. He is in the squad and maybe he will play a part in the game.”

Good news. This pretty much means that Van Persie will play against Chelsea. I’m hoping Flamini makes it back too; it doesn’t look so promising for Fabregas and Hleb but we’ll see.

This is an interesting development in the Lehmann case. I thought he’d played his last game for Arsenal but could he be staying at the club after all? Last time Manuel got a run in the side Jens came back even stronger. Let’s see what happens this time.

The team is really hard to guess with Wenger saying it’ll be a mixed side but here’s my complete guess:

I think Bendtner and Walcott have to start, whatever position. I think this could also be an opportunity to test the Senderos/Gallas pairing ahead of Toure’s departure. I don’t really know who would go out on the left wing; it could be Eduardo, Van Persie, Walcott, Diaby, Denilson or even one of the reserves.

We need Slavia Prague to do us a favour against Seville for us to be able to come top. We need to better Seville’s result is Prague for us to finish the group 1st. There’s some tough opponents in the second round waiting for those who come runners up so it’d be great to avoid them. It doesn’t really matter though; we came top last year and went out to PSV in the next round. If we’re serious about this years campaign we need to beat the top teams anyway. If we come top, I want Celtic, if we come 2nd I want Barca.

I’m quite looking forward to tomorrow now. Enjoy the game.

It’s the news we all wanted to hear. Wenger has revealed we could be getting some of our best players back for that extremely important game against Chelsea. Arsene says that Matty Flamini has the biggest chance of returning with Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby also close to fitness:

“The one who has a realistic chance is Flamini. One who could be in the squad is Van Persie. Diaby could be in the squad too. We don’t know about Cesc and Hleb.”

From the sounds of that we could have Flamini starting with Van Persie and Diaby on the bench but Hleb and Fabregas will miss out. I’m sure we’ll get more details on the fitness of these guys nearer Sunday’s game. It’s great news though, the thought of playing Chelsea with anything like the side that lost to ‘Boro is quite scary even though Wenger says yesterday’s loss was not down to the players we had missing. Hmm, I’m not so sure. Yes, it wasn’t a great performance but we would’ve won comfortably if it weren’t for injuries.

I’m really looking forward to the Chelsea game, so is Gael Clichy. However, we’ve got Champions League action before that on Wednesday night. It’ll probably be a slightly weaker side with qualification already secured. It’s only the matter of coming 1st or second now but Wenger says he doesn’t really mind.

One play who I’m expecting to start is Lassie Diarra and Captain Gallas has been talking about his ex-Chelsea team mate. I’m a big fan of Diarra and I like to see him get games. He’s got a big opportunity at the moment with Cesc and Flamini out and this could be his last week to prove himself. I’m looking forward to a big game from him Wednesday night.

I’ll write up a preview for the Steaua Bucharest game tomorrow. Until then.

I don’t usually like to write a match report immediately after we’ve lost a game because my emotions are a bit wild. But screw it. Both we and Liverpool broke our unbeaten Premiership runs this weekend and we’re now only a point clear of Man United.

I’ve seen us play shit before, but we were absolutely fucking terrible today. Shocking. There wasn’t a single player having a good game, and even if some one did something creative. There was nothing on the end of it.

We started with Eduardo up front for some reason. I said Bendtner should’ve started but no. He came on at half time for Da Silva who was completely anonymous again.

‘Boro got off to a good start and were 1-0 up inside 4 minutes. Toure gave away a silly, silly penalty. And Downing or some one put the ball in the back of the net but Almunia should’ve saved it. We never got back into the game. Absolutely dreadful. I can’t really give you minute-by-minute highlights of what happened, because nothing did happen. Middlesbrough looked like increasing their lead at times, which was just unthinkable.

The first half wasn’t as frustrating as the second. I thought we still had plenty of time to come back.

The question I put to the team was whether they’d learnt any lessons from the last two games. They had a little bit, I mean we weren’t so much under pressure, and at times we looked like we were going to create something. But we didn’t.

We went 2-0 down in the 74th minute. Game over. No way back. Didn’t really pay much attention for the rest of the game. We got one back with the last kick of the game, Rosicky was the scorer. Good finish by him but we all know that goal meant nothing.

As there’s not really much to discuss about the game. I’ll give a mention to some players:

Almunia - Can’t really blame him. Could’ve saved the penalty I suppose.
Sagna & Clichy - Not themselves. They’ve been excellent this season but both had their worst games so far. Often found themselves with the ball but didn’t know who to pass to with the lack of movement.
Toure - Worst game in a long time. Completely to blame for the penalty. Wake up Kolo.
Gallas - Possibly our best player, did all he could from the back but had a lot to deal with.
Eboue - Absolute cunt. I’m getting to the stage where I hate him. He’s been getting better recently but he made up for it all today. Should’ve been sent of twice and was just a general idiot all over the pitch. Diving useless fairy lanky knob. Don’t want to see him play for us. Hopefully the FA will see look at the video replays and give him a ban.
Walcott - Better than Eboue anyway. He really tried but he couldn’t inspire anything. His passing wasn’t good; he’s got to work on his game ahead of next week.
Gilberto - Another bad game for him. Caught in possession all the time, falling over, bad tackles, the lot. Nothing good to point out for him. I bet he doesn’t feel too good about himself this afternoon. Sorry Gilberto, thanks for all the good times, but goodbye.
Denilson - I was praying for him to be brought on but he didn’t make a massive difference like I’d hoped. Up there with one of our best players today. It was frustrating him watching him try but not pull anything off.
Rosicky - Tried to be creative. He wasn’t that bad to be honest but he had no support. Good finish at the end
Adebayor - Awful. Learnt nothing from his mistakes in the last game. He still thinks he’s Thierry Henry or something. Being top scorer in the league got to his head. Probably should drop him but we cant afford to and we wont.
Eduardo - Who? Another bad game for him. Can’t have done his confidence any good. Didn’t get into the game at all.
Aliadiere - Could’ve done with him today. He had so much desire about him game and worked his socks off. Got a great reception when he came off.

The worst performance we’ve seen in a long time. The worst match report too. A proper one here.

We’ve got Chelsea next weekend. If we play like that again we’ll get embarrassed. Hopefully we’ll have some players back for this one, we missed them so much. It’s the Champions League on Wednesday though. Build up to come.