We’re looking up the table, Villa are looking down 23 March, 2009

We go into this international period with a 3 point lead over Aston Villa, in fine form with Villa falling apart. It’s looking good for us and the 4th spot is definitely ours to lose now.

We’re in high spirits and you won’t blame Wenger’s ‘crazy’ title ambitions. He knows that it would be a miracle if we did do it but miracles can happen. We just need to concentrate on our games and keep winning and just see where that takes us. Wenger says he just wants us to get as close as possible. With Liverpool, Chelsea then Man United all still to play in our league run-in we have a chance if not to get ourselves in the mix, to have an impact on where the title ends up.

Over in Birmingham, things aren’t quite so optimistic at Aston Villa. Here are Martin O’Neill’s latest comments:

“You would have to say now there won’t be much of a threat from us to Arsenal’s position. It’s no fluke that the top four are where they are and we are in a dip right now.

We are not as strong as those four clubs. I have said it many times before and I will say it again – we still have a lot of catching up to do. It is still reachable as Arsenal have many tough games to come. But they are getting some of their injured players back and it’s going to be very, very tough.”

Sounds very pessimistic from O’Neill but he is right. I’ve been saying it all along that we were due all our stars back at one point and we’re going through that stage at the moment. Any coincidence we’ve gone through this run of form? Everyone is set to be back after the International break, fingers crossed no one picks up any fresh problems with their countries.

Emmanuel Adebayor has been called up to the Togo squad this week despite not being fit enough to play for Arsenal. He maybe be due to return for our next game against Man City but still… It does show how important he has become for us – someone who sees themselves as the best player at the club. We were certainly in no rush to bring him back for the Newcastle game; instead we’re quite happy to play Bendtner who is now on the same goals tally as Ade for the season.

Wenger has said he hopes Newcastle avoid the drop. He has said he “likes the people” and he “likes the consistency of support. Well I’m not backing down from what I said yesterday – they are a dirty bunch of players and if they have to resort to elbows, headlocks and unnecessary challenges I have no time for time. Wenger’s right, they do have to talent to keep themselves up, why don’t they apply it? Take Steven Taylor for example, I can admit he is a good defender and stole the show at the back for Newcastle on Saturday and kept his side in it. However that blatant deliberate elbow on Arshavin will not leave my memory – nor will all the other examples from him and his team mates.

What pisses me off is that even though Taylor clearly set out to hurt Arshavin and it was caught right in front of a camera – nothing will be done. If that was Cesc Fabregas you can bet your arse the whole country would be protesting. Why? Is it because he’s not English? Well maybe some players can learn a thing or two from our ‘foreigners’. Rant over.

Abou Diaby has come out of Saturday’s game with some praise and has been compared to Patrick Vieira by Arsene:

“There are similarities. They are the same stature and the same size and have the similar style. Also Patrick is from Senegal and Abou is from Ivory Coast. But there is a lot of room for him to get where Patrick was. He is only 22 years-old and Patrick is a good role model for him.

“In the first half I was not always happy with his performance. There was not a lot wrong but our positioning in the middle was not right some of the time. We were on the back foot and did not protect our defence. But in the second half he did well. Abou has power coming through the middle of the park and he showed that on the goal.

That is interesting for me. I feel there are similarities with Vieira and I feel he is growing at the moment.”

I’ve always thought Abou had a bit of Paddy in him. The way he runs and the way he passes the ball are almost identical to Vieira’s body language. He has to work on playing like him though, you do get to see glimpses of it but all he needs it a bit of consistency. Like Wenger said, he wasn’t brilliant all game on Saturday but he was good. He needs to just stop getting injured and put a string of games together – this is his chance.

Well I’ll leave you to it for today then. Things are bound to get a bit quieter now as we move further into the international period. I will do my best to get something written for you! If you look below this post there is a new piece from our new contributor, Sandy. Give it a read and let us know what you think.

Right then, see you later.

Could Arshavin be the missing piece? 23 March, 2009

Andrey Arshavin has been a sensation since he joined, no one doubted the boy had talent but few would have expected him to hit the ground running the way he has, and he is not yet 100% match fit!

Arshavin seems to offer Arsenal a new dimension to their play. We already have creative players in the team but he is the only one who seems to be able to create chances from absolutely nothing and look threatening ever touch he gets.

Our defence is starting to look reasonably solid with Gallas and Toure working well together of late and our midfield looks more piercing with the return of Theo. Our striking options are increasing with Eduardo back playing and Adebayor due back in a week or two and it just makes me wonder could Arshavin be the man to link all this together and finally bring silverware to the Emirates?

If Arshavin continues to produce the displays he has so far then there is no doubt we are going to create more chances and break down teams easier than we have in the past, but the real test will be when we come up against one of the big teams to see if he can handle the attention he will get from the likes of Vidic and Terry but I don’t think the Russian international will care who he is playing against and will continue to torment.

The only regret I have about Arshavin is that we didn’t sign him sooner. He would have been a great help earlier in the season and it would have been great to see him play in this seasons Champions League for us.

This is the first piece from me, Sandy. I might drop in a piece or two from time to time. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading,
Sandy