Barcelona Preview: Cesc decision made tonight & Gallas might start 31 March, 2010

Well tonight’s the night, in a matter of hours time all the build up can stop and we just get down to a simple game of football. It’s been one of the most anticipated games for a long time and a tie that many fans have wanted to see since that infamous night in Paris. Just a handful of players have survived in both sides from that final but both sets of fans remember what happened that night. We were 13 minutes away from the most famous win in our history but it was snatched away from us. I, like I’m sure many of you have still not watched that game back. I’ve got up to our goal but that’s it – I don’t want to see any more.

Tonight is not about revenge but it’s a chance to set the record right. The visitors will be favourites again but we don’t care about that, we know we can beat absolutely anyone what we get it right – we just have to make sure tonight is one of those. It’s a chance to beat the team that stole the Champions League off us and a chance to prove our coming of age against the toughest challenge.

The team news we were all waiting for yesterday on Fabregas was inconclusive. A decision will be made as late as the pre-match warm up but was rated 40% yesterday afternoon. I have no doubt that Cesc will be desperate to play and I have a feeling that he will make it. His father seems more positive that the manager, saying:

“The blow hurts a lot less now and it seems to be just a knock, nothing more serious. I think Cesc will play. Although he may not be at his best he will do everything he can to be part of it.”

We’re all praying that you make it Cesc so just do everything you can! He missed yesterday’s training session but is in the squad. So too is William Gallas who could make a shock return tonight. He was described as a doubt for the 2nd leg last week, but now he might even make the XI tonight, which is great news. Wenger said he’s had three days training and looks good. It’s come as a bit of a shock but all our defensive issues with whether Campbell is fit or not might have an unexpected solution. Arsene says Gallas ‘has a chance’ and says he will have a chat with him tomorrow and make a decision. However after watching the press conference yesterday I feel good about his chances.

If he doesn’t make it though we’ll have to hope Campbell has recovered well from Saturday. Thomas Vermaelen is a certain starter after sitting out this weekend through suspension and he says he doesn’t mind who he plays with. It must be disturbing having your partner change all the time but it doesn’t seem to bother ‘The Verminator’ who has played with all three of our centre backs.

I’m going to make an educated guess that both Cesc and Gallas make it tonight meaning we could line up something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) – Diaby
Nasri – Bendtner – Arshavin

It’s quite an attacking line up but Wenger says we will not change our game to suit the opposition. If Fabregas doesn’t make it then I guess Nasri will slot into the captain’s place and Eboue or Rosicky will come in on the right side of our attack. With that XI above it would mean a bench including Walcott, Eduardo, Eboue and Rosicky which are all great options to have. I thought Eboue might start tonight because of his penetrative qualities but there is still the chance that he will be preferred to Sagna. However I feel that certainly in the home leg, not conceding is more important than winning and the more defensive Sagna would be the better option at right back.

As for Barcelona we already know that Iniesta is out, Arsene thinks that they will miss him but admits that with Barcelona if one good player misses out another will replace him. They certainly have a lot of individual talent but Wenger made a point yesterday of focusing on them as a collective threat rather than pick out names, as did Vermaelen. He says they have too many good players just to pick out a few and we will be concentrating more on our strengths than theirs:

“I believe what you want from your team is not to worry too much about the strengths of Barcelona but more focus on our strengths, our qualities, be brave, go for it and then we have every chance.

We want to turn up and have a great performance. My team is on a fantastic run, even if we had a disappointment in the last minute on Saturday. Overall if you consider what this team has done in the last two months it is absolutely exceptional and I want that game tomorrow to be at the level of what we have produced recently.”

It’s a great way to look at it but I still believe we will be weary of what some players are capable of. You can’t talk about Barcelona without mentioning Messi who is an extraordinary talent. We need to keep him quiet one way or another because he is capable of a moment of brilliance any moment. Bendtner has described him as ‘crazy’ – hopefully he has a breakdown this afternoon and is admitted to a mental institution. Thierry Henry will obviously get a mention too returning to his former club but Wenger says we must remember how talented he is. Before and after the game there will be handshakes and happy memories but once that whistle goes we will do everything to beat him and his side.

I really don’t know what else I can say to build up to tonight’s game. The fixture itself should be mouth-watering enough for you to have butterflies in your stomach already. I haven’t been this excited for a game in a long time and I’ve just found out I’ve got a ticket!

We have to remember that this is just half of the tie and we still have to go to the Nou Camp next week whatever happens tonight. The best result would be to not concede and get whatever we can at the other end. I’d take a 0-0 now, that’s what we took out to Milan a couple of years ago and look how that affected the tie. However I see goals tonight, both we and Barca are such threats going forward but we’re a bit weak defensively. We just have to be solid at the back and try keep as much of their threat out as possible. As long as we’re still in it going into the second leg and we all see a master class in football tonight I’ll be happy.

I mentioned in my last post about turning the stadium red & white tonight, I’ve got my colours on already so remember to do your bit. Also bring along your scarves and flags and wave them like mad man. However most importantly, remember to sing your fucking heart out. I want the majority of fans not being able to speak at work tomorrow because they’ve fucked their vocal chords. I’m talking about non-stop singing from the first whistle until the last at the top of your voice. I hope you guys join me otherwise I’m going to look a bit mental on my own.

Well enjoy the game wherever you’re watching it. COME ON THE ARSENAL.

Pre-Barcelona Stuff: Atmosphere, Fabregas & more 30 March, 2010

As you can imagine, things are pretty busy round here in the build up to the biggest game Ashburton Grove has ever seen. You could say last year’s second leg Semi Final against Man United had the same sort of excitement factor but we get to play United a few times a year – Barca is a once every few years sort of occasion. It really is going to be something special and for once the media is bigging up an Arsenal match!

I have no doubts that the atmosphere is going to be electric but we’re being reminded that we need to show good form tomorrow night. I’ve heard us make some incredible noise at the new ground, it’s a shame it doesn’t come out every week but that can be worked on. Tomorrow night I’m expecting another cauldron of sound – we need to be singing from half past seven right through to the final whistle. Whether it’s pro-Arsenal or jeering the visitors every time they have the ball it’s all going to help. Barcelona are arguably the best team in the world but they won’t be happy about coming here and we need to make them as unwelcome as possible.

We’re being asked to get in the stadium extra early tomorrow and I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for some reason. If we could have a pretty much full house quarter of an hour before kick off that’d be brilliant. So if you’re going, forget that last pint, leave work as early as possible and get in the ground. We’ve also been asked to turn the stadium red and white so make sure you get your colours ready, also scarves, flags and whatever else you’ve got – bring ‘em along. RedAction have echoed the club’s request and have also these three banners on display tomorrow night: 1, 2 and 3. They’ve also asked anyone else with flags to bring them and/or get in contact with them (redaction.gooners@gmail.com) about hanging them from Club Level.

This game was always going to draw a lot of attention to Cesc Fabregas and there are loads of articles on Arsenal.com about him today. However the most important story at the moment is the matter of his fitness. He is a doubt and we will get further confirmation on him this afternoon in the pre-match press conference. At St. Andrew’s he did not look 100% and was obviously feeling that kick to the knee in the first half but insisted he could play on. I’m expecting the same sort of commitment from the skipper again tomorrow – I don’t see him declaring himself unfit, not for this game. Cesc would play through the pain to be apart of this match and although I have everything crossed that he’s ok I have a feeling he will be alright.

Obviously there has been more transfer speculation linking him back to his boyhood club but he has brilliantly waved it away yet again:

“We don’t need to talk about my future. I don’t understand all the rumours about me. I’ve always said that I’m happy at Arsenal. I can say a thousand times that I won’t go to a Spanish club, but nobody believes me. Arsenal is my home and I don’t have any plans to leave.

I know they will be two exciting games. We will, of course, give everything, and you know if you want to win the competition, you have to be ready to play anyone.

The last round of the Champions League was interesting and it shows you can never underestimate any opponents in this competition. It should be a warning that any team left in can beat anyone else – even if the reputation is lower maybe than Real Madrid, Chelsea or Liverpool, they can still win.”

I fucking love you Cesc. Tomorrow night is going to be a homage to ‘El Capitan’; not that he needs reminding what we think of him but win, lose or draw he’s going to be so proud to be captain of this football club. Hopefully he puts in a performance that reminds Barca just how badly they want him back.

A bit of early team news regarding the visitors and I’m sure you’ve heard that Iniesta is out. It’s no huge advantage but they will certainly miss him, he’s an important player for Barcelona. Also Thierry Henry has cleared up where he stands with a new statement saying it will be ‘strange’ to play against us but he will give everything for Barca if he’s selected. That’s a bit more like it, apparently that controversial interview was filmed before the draw and released afterwards to make it look worse. Naughty Sky Sports. He’ll get a great reception tomorrow for sure but I’m not expecting him to play, it depends how the game goes of course but he’s almost certain to start from the bench.

That’s probably about enough for a pre-match-preview-taster-preview. This afternoon’s press conference will give us a load more news and hopefully it’s good regarding Cesc – and Diaby who is also a doubt. It’s set to be a great night however as it stands it doesn’t look like I have a ticket. So if you know anyone with a spare get in touch!

Speak to you tomorrow in the preview. Thanks for reading.

Birmingham 1-1 Arsenal – 27/03/10 – (Premier League) 28 March, 2010

Well what a disappointing day yesterday was. Us conceding in the last minute to drop two points in the title race and Chelsea and United boosting their goal difference with big wins against Villa and Bolton. We’re making it very hard for ourselves this year but we’ve come back from behind before so you never know we might do it again. Next weekend there is a game between the top two which I cannot choose a word from my thesaurus to describe the size of. However by the end of that we will have some idea what our chances are.

I’d just quickly like to explain the late match report. I’ve currently no internet connection, which makes it very difficult to update the blog. The next two weeks or so aren’t going to be very productive blog-wise I’m afraid. I also decided the other day that I am going to Barcelona – a 27 hour coach to Barcelona which means leaving Sunday morning and getting back Thursday evening so I will be away most of next week too but more on that nearer then.

I went to St. Andrews yesterday but the lack of a proper computer set up means I can’t upload any photos from the day! (There’s a couple on twitter though). The train left Euston at quarter to 12 and arrived in a surprisingly sunny Birmingham for lunch. I met up with some guys from the Arseblog forum with whom I helped put up the Arseblog ‘Do It For Aaron’ banner, I hope you saw it.

The game started off quite cagey and neither side produced that many chances in the first half. Howard Webb was doing his best to stop play whenever he could and seemed blind to Birmingham’s dives and quick to blow the whistle at any contact from Arsenal. It was almost as if he was distracted by a voice in his headset… Alex Ferguson perhaps?

Anyway our best chance of the first half fell to Theo Walcott who gambled on chasing down a long ball and it paid off as the ball bounced and spun into his path. However Joe Hart was off his line fast, Theo tried to get the shot away as soon as he could but by then the ‘keeper was almost in front of him and couldn’t steer it either side.

0-0 was probably a fair reflection of the first half. Although I’d say we were the better side we hadn’t done enough to merit a lead really. However that wasn’t my biggest concern at the break; after about half an hour Cesc took a clattering to his knee and was hobbling about all over the place and looked certain to come off. However the captain simply walked it off, went to the sidelines for a bit of magic spay and played on. He didn’t look himself though and for the remainder of the half you could see him carrying the knock. I was almost certain he would be taken off at the break, especially with Wednesday in mind but it didn’t happen.

We were better in the second half. We started to get the ball going and creating more chances. However it was still 0-0 and the nerves were starting to kick in. There’s been a lot of talk recently about us scoring late goals but pretty much since the hour mark went I was a nervous wreck pacing around in circles in the stand, sitting down, standing up again and generally looking like an idiot. I don’t care if we’ve got a record to boast about – if we’re not leading with less than half an hour to go I start to get worried!

It went on and on and I was looking over to the bench every two minutes wondering when we were going to do something to change the game. We had Arshavin, Nasri and Eduardo all warming up on the touchline nearest me, any of them would’ve done the job. I thought Fabregas would’ve come off by now but it just shows you how important Arsene thought yesterday was. Despite clearly injured and not playing well he kept him on in the hope that he could do something special and help us break the dead-lock. He’s now a doubt for Wednesday night which is just brilliant isn’t it. In the end Nasri and Arshavin were brought on with 20 minutes to go and it added a bit of pace to our play.

Samir is in fine form at the moment and he made a real difference straight away. Not to take anything away from Arshavin who looked much improved when there was an urgent need for a goal but Nasri was fantastic. He looks completely apart of this team now, he and Diaby were great in midfield and were involved in most of the moves we were creating.

Abou had the ball in the back of the net but the whistle blew before he shot. It was a good finish but most of us knew that it was disallowed before it went in. No one seems to know exactly why though; at first I thought Webb had forgotten about playing the advantage and were awarding us a free kick on the edge of the box where Fabregas went down but to my disbelief it was awarded the other way. The only man who knows why is a Scottish voice in Mr. Webb’s ear.

The 80 minute mark came and it was still goalless. We had to really go for it now and Eduardo was ordered to get ready. However just as he was pulling off his tracksuit we had the ball in the net again and this time there was nothing the ref could do about it. It was from an identical position as Diaby’s but this time Nasri shot and the finish was just as good as the previous, across the face of the goal low into the far corner. I went fucking mental, all those minutes of stress and we were finally in the lead with 9 minutes to go. Eddy was told to get his tracksuit back on.

We looked like we’d won it and we really should’ve consolidated it soon after. We had a few really great chances, one was a squared ball to Arshavin who spooned it wide, Fabregas hit a good free kick but was too close to Hart and there was one more which I think was a Nasri chance but I can’t remember – I didn’t feel like watching the highlights back.

Birmingham looked like they were going to witness a rare loss at St. Andrew’s until the very last minute when fuck knows what Almunia was thinking. I still haven’t watched it back and I only caught a bit of the replay of the goal scored down the other end of the pitch. Almunia seemed to block a shot that somehow went over his head and then fell into the net with it. I couldn’t fucking believe it. Everyone was speechless and there was probably quite a bit of damage to the ground after yesterday with everyone kicking seats and punching walls in frustration. I’ve heard that the flag should’ve gone up for offside before the goal was scored but I don’t even want to know about it.

So in the end it was a very familiar trip to Birmingham City, gifting a point in the very final minutes of the game and it might end up being where our title challenge disappears just like in 2008. It’s just so disappointing when we had it almost won like that to lose two points.

We’re still in the race but we’re heavily relying on the top two dropping points now. We probably could’ve afforded one draw in this run in and many believe Birmingham Away was our toughest test. No one in the top six has won there this season so when you look at it like that it’s really not the end of the world. We’ve just got to keep our heads up and keep going as we were. Next up in the league is Wolves at home, which should be a perfect opportunity to get back on track.

Before then though there’s the small matter of Barcelona on Wednesday, what a game that’s going to be. I’ll preview that at some point in the next couple of days, until then.

Birmingham Preview: No one will be rested for Barcelona 25 March, 2010

Bit of an earlier match preview than normal but I don’t think I’ll get round to it tomorrow so here you go. Plus Wenger’s pre-match conference was on the Thursday again so there’s plenty to get on with. I wanted to try and avoid talking about Barcelona in this preview but it’s such a huge game it’s kind of inevitable. Today Wenger has been trying to play up the importance of the trip to St. Andrews and showed no signs of thinking about the midweek game. He spoke about how we have worked too long and hard to get into this position to risk dropping points now just to keep players fresh for Barcelona. It’s been widely suggest (even by me) that Sol Campbell will be rested this weekend but Arsene was quick to deny it:

“I will pick him for the next game because for me the next game is an important one. I don’t consider Barcelona for the next game. At the back we need to be solid to win this game [at Birmingham]. We fight the whole season to be in there and this is a priority.

I believe my players are very intelligent and if we were distracted it would mean we were not [intelligent]. The best way to prepare for Barcelona is to win the game before. We have fought like mad until now to be in the position we are in. It’s ten months preparation, fight and work to be where we are in the championship so we want to take advantage of that and win the Birmingham game.”

He’s right too, I thought we should rest Sol because he’s shown that he can’t play two sets of 90 minutes in a few days. However we’ve worked ourselves into a great league position and if we started resting players now and paid for it imagine how frustrating that would be. In an ideal world we would get ourselves into a comfortable position and then take off Sol in the second half and hope he’s ok for Wednesday. That’s probably what Wenger has in mind but we’ll have to see what happens.

There’s also been talk this week of Nicklas Bendtner not starting at Birmingham but that was down to injury. He twisted his ankle this week but Wenger thinks “he should be OK” despite not training. Apparently he could train tomorrow and then a decision will be made for Saturday but Arsene seemed confident about his availability. I hope, 1. He makes it, and 2. He fully recovers from his ankle problem.

William Gallas might also return to training tomorrow as he returns from a calf problem. Wenger says he won’t be fit for the Barcelona 1st leg and it was too early to know whether he’ll make Wolves next weekend but could travel to the Nou Camp. Arsene also said that contract talks are on hold for a few weeks as the games come thick and fast. I wrote recently that I thought Gallas would be leaving and I still believe that he would’ve signed already if he was staying but Arsene and myself alike still hope that he decides to stay. I thought that he could possibly have been out of action because of this new contract stall but I think we’re in too much of an important position to drop a first team player. Either way I hope he returns for what’s left of this season as soon as possible.

Vermaelen as we know is suspended this weekend so I believe Song will start at the back. We could partner Campbell with Silvestre but not only is that incredibly scary but it could mean we have two knackered centre backs ahead of Wednesday rather than one; I fully expect Silvestre to be on the bench and I think the starting XI will look something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Campbell – Song – Clichy
Denilson – Diaby
Fabregas (c)
Nasri – Bendtner – Arshavin

If Bendtner doesn’t make it then it could mean an emotional return to St. Andrews for Eduardo Da Silva. We all know what happened the last time we went there and I’m sure on a personal level he would like to go there and give a positive performance. It’s just over two years ago he broke his leg there and we’re still seeing some side effects from it now. He might get the start ahead of Bendtner and I wouldn’t bet against him getting a goal. Wenger says it’s on his mind but he has mental strength to not let it distract him (also if you click that link there’s some video highlights of today’s press conference).

The 2008 trip to St. Andrews is seen by many as where we lost the league that season. I think we were five points clear of the top going into that game but Eddy’s horrific injury distracted us and we went on to drop two points in the final minutes of the game. Everyone remembers Gallas walking off to the other end of the pitch when the penalty was awarded instead of defending, furious with his team mates and then sat alone on the grass long after the final whistle. Everyone felt the same as Gallas did that day and it was almost obvious that we were going to lose the league from there.

Wenger doesn’t agree that’s where the title was lost but says today’s side would’ve coped much better. He spoke about Ramsey’s break at Stoke, which is such an obvious example of how this team has matured this season. Not only will we be going to Birmingham this weekend a lot stronger mentally but also we’re going there with a bit of revenge for what happened in 2008. I’m not saying we’re going there to break legs but to win the game! Two years ago we lost the league at Birmingham, this weekend we might feel a step closer to winning it.

Just quickly before I go there was another update on van Persie’s injury. He’s now just two weeks away from seeing action and about three or four weeks away from full fitness which is fantastic news. Arsene reiterated not to expect too much from him but it’s great that he could be getting a run out in just a fortnight. It means it’s unlikely he’ll travel to Barcelona but he might be in the squad that plays Tottenham.

That’s it for today. I’m going to Birmingham on Saturday so follow my twitter for updates and pictures from my trip and I will write about it on here probably Sunday. Thanks for reading.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS.

Henry’s controversial interview + Cesc, van Persie & Vermaelen news 23 March, 2010

On Friday Arsenal were drawn with Barcelona in the next round of the Champions League and it’s set to be one of the most exciting ties of the year. The two sides are widely regarded as the two most entertaining football sides in the world but only one will progress to the semi finals. There are strong player connections between the two sides with Cesc Fabregas leaving Barcelona as a youngster and constantly linked back to his boyhood club and Thierry Henry who left Arsenal in 2007 to join the Spanish champions. Well the former Arsenal captain has had his say on the game and unsurprisingly he feels a bit divided:

“Whenever there is a draw for the Champions League I’m in pain. I’m not saying I won’t try to fight or whatever because that’s the way the game is. But I don’t want to play against Arsenal.

It will be weird for me to step on the pitch, even if it’s at the Emirates and not Highbury, with another shirt on.”

He was also asked whether he would celebrate a goal if he scored against us to which he replied:

“Forget about it! No. I said to you when it’s the draw I am in pain. I do not want to play against Arsenal, simple as that.

The bond that I have with the Arsenal fans I will never get anywhere else. Because I don’t think I will ever play for another team for that long.”

You’d expect Titi to show some degree of love towards Arsenal in the build up to this game but I did not expect him to come straight out and say he doesn’t want to play against us. You can see the video of the interview here. I can understand that when the draw is done he hopes that Barca doesn’t get Arsenal and I wouldn’t expect him to celebrate if he scored for his new team either but I feel like his comments are a bit too strong. Obviously it’s kind of nice for us to hear but imagine if one of our players did something similar; say we drew Zenit Saint Petersburg and Andrei Arshavin came out with similar comments. I don’t think it would go down too well with the Arsenal fans. It’s not as if this is the first time Henry has spoken about Arsenal either, I don’t know how Barca fans feel about him but I’d imagine they aren’t over the moon.

I worry for him that this might cost him his place in the side. He says he doesn’t want to play against us anyway, but whether that’s literal or not I don’t know. However he might’ve helped Pep Guardiola’s decision already. He’s a professional and I wouldn’t expect anything other than him to give 100% for Barca if he gets on the pitch but he might not even get that chance. It’d be great to see him back at Arsenal and I’m sure he’ll get a great reception whether he plays or not.

You can compare his interview with Cesc’s who has shown no such loyalty to his former club:

“If you want to win this competition, you have to beat everyone who is coming. If we had been drawn against Bordeaux or Lyon we would have taken it the same way. Barcelona is a great team, but we always go with the same mentality and that is to win.

We are going to play against the best team in Europe, probably in the world. The boys are really looking forward to it as it is another opportunity to play against a great team in a great stadium. It will be very exciting.

At the moment we have won nothing. We are not thinking about being champions. We are only thinking about Birmingham next week. There is a lot of time to think about Barcelona. Our first priority is Birmingham and that it is the sign of champions, taking things game by game.”

So professional, such a legend. I have no doubts that he will give absolutely everything against Barcelona and if he scores I have no doubts about him going absolutely mental. He’s right though – our next game is Birmingham not Barcelona so we need to concentrate on that first.

We will be without Thomas Vermaelen for the trip to St Andrews after the red card he received on Saturday. We did try to appeal the decision but it was turned down. I was surprised to hear yesterday that we tried to get it lifted, it was a soft card but I thought the risk of a ban extension for a ‘frivolous appeal’ would put us off. We went for it anyway and thankfully the FA considered it a legitimate appeal and kept the ban at just one game.

It means we have just Campbell, Silvestre and Song to choose from this weekend and I think it will be the latter two. Sol will be preferred to start against Barca and there’s no way he can give two top performances in such a short space of time. I think we’ll face Birmingham with Song and Silvestre at the back and save a fully fit Vermaelen and Campbell partnership for next Wednesday night.

Finally today there’s an update on Robin van Persie who is back in training but said to be at least a month away. That means he could play our last two or three league games and in the latter stages of the Champions league if we get past Barcelona. However even then he will be lacking match experience. We can’t rely on him for the rest of this season I’m afraid, we can just treat him as an added bonus for our final few games.

That’s it for today. More later this week as I try to forget about Barcelona and think about the tough trip to Birmingham. Thanks for reading.

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham – 20/02/10 – (Premier League) 21 March, 2010

With the Champions League draw on Friday I think a lot of fans found it a bit hard concentrating 100% on the game ahead against West Ham. I’m sure all the talk in the pubs before the game was about Barcelona and I was sat here on my laptop checking flights and prices right up until kick off yesterday. However there was a very important Premier League game to deal with and Arsene Wenger had a job to do keeping the players concentrated on that.

We’ve seen us lose the focus before but we got off to the best possible start scoring after just five minutes. We could’ve had the ball in the net even sooner but in the end a good move ended up with Denilson driving the ball low inside the post.

Arsenal are deadly after scoring an early goal. It means the opposition’s game plan goes out the window and they have to come out and play us leaving gaps for us to exploit. I think Zola was always going to send his team out to play football but they had to find a goal now. I thought the floodgates would open but we couldn’t seem to find that second goal.

We were playing some great football, some of the build-ups were incredible but it was the very final ball that was lacking sometimes. We had a couple of balls flashed across goal but this time there was no Bendtner in there to tap it in.

Just before half time Alex Song lost the ball, I sighed and said to my mate, “I can’t believe we’re only 1-0 up, we need another badly.” Just as I said that a ball was sent over the top into Franco and Vermaelen had let him get goal side of him. Thomas didn’t pull his shirt or trip him but Franco went down under the pressure and the linesman started waving his little flag and called for a penalty. It was very, very harsh and to make things worse Vermaelen was shown the red card for being the last man. He looked confused and upset and rightly so, he did nothing wrong but do his best to try get into a tackling position and put him under pressure. It’s just one of those things though, he could do nothing about it but head to the showers.

Almunia guessed the right way and got a strong hand on Diamanti’s penalty. The Grove erupted, more so than for the opening goal because they know that if he’d scored it would’ve made for a tough second half with 10 men. He didn’t score though and we went in at the break leading. We were unlucky to concede the penalty and lose a player but Almunia’s save made us realize how tight it was. In the second half you wouldn’t have known who had 10 men, we pulled together and put in a performance worthy of the win. Last week Hull were in an identical situation with Boateng being sent off but they failed to keep it together. I’m proud of how we performed yesterday.

They was a bit of a gap between the defence and midfield sometimes where Song would’ve usually been but every time we coped and kept it out. We realized we didn’t need to push for a goal as much as were doing in the first half so sat back a bit but still picked them apart.

Wenger brought on Diaby, Sagna then Eduardo to add a bit more balance to the 10-man side and it helped. In the end the second didn’t come until the 82nd minute but it did come in the end and that’s what mattered. Upson was very lucky not to get a second yellow for his handball in the box; the ref deemed it intentional enough to award a penalty but not enough to produce a card, explain that.

We all know the story, Cesc put it down the middle and we ran out 2-0 winners. We should’ve put this tie to bed in the first half but we showed good character to defend the one goal lead with ten men and in the end it was a well earned three points. We’ve dropped far to many points to West Ham in recent years so it was nice to win convincingly.

Just a quick mention to some individual players – Song had a great game, he had to play in two positions but did extremely well in both. I can’t believe how far he’s come in the last few years, such a vital player now. Denilson started ahead of Diaby but both had really good games. Denilson’s early goal probably did his confidence good and had a great shift in midfield. Abou came on in the second half and looked brilliant, some of his first touches sent the opposition flying in the other direction, it was pretty special. Cesc and Nasri were their usual excellent selves, it’s great to have the captain back. Almunia and Clichy look like they’re out of that bad patch of form and Campbell still looks like he hardly left, a bit slower but just as good a tackler and just as strong. Arshavin was the only disappointment really and it was the same old story – he was good on the ball but very lazy once again and looked quite unfit. He came off for Eduardo late in the game and by that point he looked shattered. I can’t believe he’s been like this all season, he has no excuses. However he’s still so valuable to the team and will always get in the starting XI, but just imagine if he worked his socks off for 90 minutes – he would be unstoppable.

The win put us top of the league overnight but Liverpool couldn’t do us a favor at Old Trafford today so United are top by two points. However Blackburn have just held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw and they stay in third, be it with a game in hand. I was really hoping that Liverpool might get something today but I’m so happy that at least someone dropped points today.

We’ve got another week off now. Next up it’s a tricky trip to St. Andrews and I’m going, hopefully it’s a bit better than the last time we went there.

Thanks for reading.

New home kit reaction and team news 18 March, 2010

First up here is the leaked poster for the new 2010/11 home shirt that was published last night by Gunnerblog and Arseblog (click to enlarge). The initial reaction is quite frankly, wow. Nike have been pissing around with our kits for years but if any fan had the power to design a shirt I don’t think it’d be much different from this. I’d almost go as far as far as saying it’s perfection – red shirt + white sleeves + cannon = Arsenal. I heard a while back that they actually employed a fan to help design our 125th anniversary commemorative shirt and working closely with Ivan Gazidis too this is what Nike seem to have come up with.

We can’t fully guarantee that this is the new kit for next season, Gunnerblog has the valid point that it could be too good to be true. I’m surprised that Emirates would allow a small sponsor on the home shirt but I guess Ashburton Grove is plastered in their name anyway. If this does come out though then I’m certain it will sell extremely well, I’ve never seen such a reaction across the blogs and twitter to a new shirt. Everyone loves it. If this is it – Nike, I will be having some of that thank you.

That poster has a release date of 1st June 2010 so expect official confirmation nearer then.

On to team news now and it seems that Fabregas and Rosicky will be fit for Saturday. However William Gallas is still no nearer a return which is making me believe more and more that he will be off this summer. Here’s the latest update from Le Boss:

“Cesc and Tomas have a final test tomorrow morning. They should be available for Saturday. From the last game we don’t lose anybody. So normally we should have Fabregas, Carlos Vela and Rosicky back. Plus of course we have Song coming back from suspension.

However William Gallas will not be available this week or at Birmingham. It is going on and on. It is a concern. It is an endless calf strain and so we need Sol Campbell and Mikael Silvestre to be highly ready to help us out.”

That was said this morning before training so we’ll get a more detailed picture tomorrow when I believe we are holding the press conference. Great news if Fab’s back, I think we’ve missed him and I’m sure he’s hungry to get back playing so I look forward to that. As for Gallas well either he’s really done his thigh in, he’s off in the summer or both. It’s a real shame whatever the reason is because we need him and Vermaelen at the back for this title run in. It’s looking likely that he might not even feature again this season meaning we’re going to have to face City with a weakened back line and have to play Campbell or Silvestre at White Hart Lane. Arsene’s not going to tell us whether he’s leaving or not so we’re just going to have to be patient and hope that he does return.

Tomorrow morning it’s the draw for the Champions League quarter and semi finals so in 24 hours time we will know our possible route to Madrid. The teams we can draw are Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Bordeaux, CSKA Moscow, Inter, Lyon and Man United. At this stage the draw isn’t seeded however I do know we are unable to be drawn against Chelsea who for some reason are ineligible. Obviously there are teams in there that you’d like to avoid and teams in there you wouldn’t mind playing but I stand by what I said before – I don’t care who we get. In the Champions League you’re going to have to face the big boys at some stage or another so why not get it over with in the quarter finals. If you lose now it saves a final upset but if you win it gives you so much confidence and can propel you all the way; I think a lot of our success in 2006 came down to the early wins against Real Madrid and Juventus.

So with that in mind I wouldn’t mind us getting Man United or Barcelona. It’s going to be an exciting draw, I would say make sure you’re tuned in at 11.00am but it never really starts until at least half past.

Ok well I’ll try get back on here tomorrow night to digest the draw and preview the West Ham game.

Until then.

Midweek round up: Late goals and more 17 March, 2010

This week’s unexplained absence is going to remain unexplained because I just straight up don’t have an excuse. Let’s see what I’ve missed anyway, well of course there was the 2-1 win over Hull. I only caught the second half but from what I heard we started very well and really should’ve been leading by a few in the first 45. Arshavin scored a great goal but then we were back level thanks to the linesman who missed a clear offside decision and we all know what happened from there.

The second half was incredibly hard to watch. Even though we were playing against 10 men we were struggling and the later and later it got I thought this might be it for our 09/10 title challenge. As 89 minutes came I’d pretty much given up but then 6 minutes of injury time were announced and I was a nervous wreck. Just as the board went up my stream dropped and I was frantically rushing around the room trying to get Sky Sports News on whilst at the same time urgently trying to find some sort of stream. The goal was announced on the TV behind me and then a minute later I watched Bendtner tap in off Denilson’s long-range shot.

I didn’t go as mental as I thought I would, I think I just collapsed in relief. I had been pulling my hair out for the past 20 minutes but we finally did it in the 93rd minute. It means we are well and truly back in this title race and now suddenly Arsenal.com is on some late-goal-scoring love-in. Wenger says we are the kings of scoring late, there’s some stats on goals scored in the last 15 minutes, Alex Song’s had a word on it and there’s even an article on some famous late goals that helped us win the title in the past. We are now officially Heavyweight Late Scoring Champions of the World and I now expect us to score in the last five minutes of every game from now on.

This could all be tactical, if opposition teams are scared knowing that we can score any minute it might cause them to lose their shape in games. However this news is nothing new, we’ve always scored late goals it’s just that Bendtner’s was a very, very important one. A lot of the time it’s down to our superior fitness and in the final minutes we find it a lot easier against tired legs. Hull had to play with 10 men for the whole of the second half and although it might not have showed that was because they were having to make up extra ground to cover for their lost man.

It’s good that we can keep going until the end, it makes it hard to get points off us but at the same time it’s not very good for my heart. I wish sometimes we’d just go and score a bit earlier to save me pacing around the room panting and sweating.

Since the result, Phil Brown has been sacked which is just absolutely beautiful. We’ve been waiting for a long time for this and he’s looked on the verge of going for a very long time but it feels incredible that we were the ones that pushed him over the edge. The last thing that orange saw his team concede a last minute goal scored by Arsenal pushing them further towards relegation. The feeling is quite indescribable. I wish him the most terrible of luck in the future and hopefully he has to seek a new career path elsewhere outside of football.

Cesc Fabregas is back in training and should be fit for West Ham. I was kind of expecting him to, to be honest but it’s nice for The Mirror to confirm that for us though. I’d be a bit worried if he didn’t because he’s already missed more games than we expected him to. I felt like we missed him at Hull, we needed his creativity and spark. With neither him, Nasri or Rosicky on the pitch for the final stages of Saturday’s game we really struggled and in the end the goal came from quite an unorthodox source. Hopefully we’ve got the skipper back fit and ready for Saturday.

We should all be fairly fresh for this weekend with no mid-week game. I’m sure you probably know Chelsea got knocked out of the Champions League last night so there are no doubt some tired legs today. They’ve got until Sunday to rest before they go away to Blackburn. United play on Sunday too but have all all week to rest before they face Liverpool; A Liverpool side that will have played Monday and Thursday this week. Hopefully they rest players tomorrow night for the massive league game at the weekend. It’s hugely importabt for both sides and hopefully there’s a chance Liverpool can take a point or three away from Old Trafford.

So with both out title rivals not playing until Sunday we can go top on Saturday by beating West Ham. We’ve also got the draw for the next round of the Champions League this Friday to look forward to. It’s set to be an exciting weekend of football. More build up etc. to come.

Thanks for reading.

Hull Preview: Another tough trip up north 13 March, 2010

Sorry I didn’t get a chance to write yesterday, just means it’s an untraditional match-day match-preview, so with kick off just hours away I’ll try keep it short. There’s no more team news since Thursday so we’re no clearer on those ‘doubts’ I talked about the other day. Cesc is pretty much ruled out, Wenger said it’d take a ‘miracle’ to get him back. Rosicky, Campbell and Sagna were set to be assessed yesterday but we won’t find out until about half four today whether they made it or not. I have a feeling Sol will be ok, Wenger dropped a hint saying he’s recovering well. As for Rosicky and Sagna I can only guess that they will be on the bench. Song as we know is suspended so I’m expecting Denilson to come in at defensive midfield.

Recently I have sometimes noticed us playing with two slightly deeper midfielders and one further forward. It’s mainly been the other way round this season but I think we might play with two deep again today. It adds a bit more security and with Song out we couldn’t probably do with that extra cover. Here’s how I think we might line up:

Almunia (c)
Eboue – Campbell – Vermaelen – Clichy
Denilson – Diaby
Nasri
Walcott – Bendtner – Arshavin

Nicklas Bendtner will be looking to continue his goal-scoring run. He just seems to always be in the right place at the right time at the moment and even though he missed a lot of chances last weekend he still showed the strikers instinct to know where to be. Nasri, Arshavin and all our other creatives know where he’s going to be and hopefully he can carry on where he left off against Porto. Wenger reckons he’s developed well since coming back from injury:

“If you look at him now and three to four weeks ago, he is a different player. A few weeks ago he looked out of shape, heavy running, heavy feet. It is already different as he plays games.

What is important for him is that he is not injured. As a top-level player, first when you need to have a good run and you have a good run it is important.”

Arsene has had to back under performing players a few times this season asking for patience on those that have just returned from injury. Theo Walcott has been the most obvious example but he had a great game last weekend and will be looking to continue that good form. If he wants to go to the World Cup then he has to do the business here with Arsenal from now until the end of the season. Last weekend was literally his first good game since he’s come back though so he’s not there yet but another good show this afternoon and he could be well on his way back.

Nasri should continue in the middle with Cesc’s absence. He did so well there on Tuesday night I don’t think anyone will have any problems with that. It’s a shame to be without Fabregas but I think we have enough quality in our side to beat Hull without him. They are sitting second from bottom and just got heavily beat by Everton last weekend. They’re not doing so well at the moment but they’ll still give it everything at home. Just like Stoke a couple of weeks ago it’s another tough away trip up north. They will pressure us, stop us playing our football and no doubt kick us as we know it’s perfectly acceptable to kick Arsenal because we’re foreign and don’t like it.

I know we won’t take any bullying though and any physical behavior will be dealt right back to them. It’s going to be a real battle at the KC Stadium today and I’m looking forward to it. Every game counts from now until the end of May and every three points is so vital. Lets go up there and show them who’s boss. COME ON YOU GUNNERS.

I think Gallas is leaving + Cesc, Sagna, Sol & Rosicky doubts for Hull 11 March, 2010

Happy Thursday to you whatever you’re doing. It’s certainly a happy Thursday for me, had two deadlines yesterday and today so am off to get very drunk tonight. But before I do, time to update the Arsenal news and there’s been a fair bit today with Wenger’s press conference.

The issue of William Gallas was brought up who is consistently injured at the moment with no time frame on him coming back. His contract is up in the summer and despite months of talks we look no nearer a deal. We’ve seen this thing time and time before when a player is destined to leave in the summer Arsene immediately removes him from his plans and he no longer plays. I’m not really sure that’s a good thing that Wenger does but that’s another argument. Basically, I think that’s what’s going on with Gallas at the moment anyway.

He might just genuinely be injured and I might be completely wrong but it looks all too familiar to me. Gallas has been unusually quiet since his captaincy has been taken away and I’ve always had a suspicion that he might move on once his contract is up. Roma have been strongly linked to take him this summer but apparently we want to keep him though, this is what Arsene said today:

“You [the media] can link him with who you want, because he is out of contract and can talk to whom he wants. I do not know if he has spoken to Roma but he is speaking to us and our desire is to keep him here. I think he wants to stay here, all the rest is difficult to know whether it is true or not.

I am not concerned. He is under contract until the 30th June. We have not found an agreement yet. I will meet his agents again next Thursday and we will try to find a solution. I would like to keep all that secret. It is very difficult for me to come out [and discuss the contract talks]. I feel I have to respect both parties and not to come out about the details of negotiations.”

The thing is I swear recently he said talks were happening this week, whether they were delayed, we still couldn’t come to a conclusion or Wenger is plain lying to us I don’t know.

I really hope we keep him though. Vermaelen and Gallas is a great defensive partnership and I’d hate for us to have to find a new centre back this summer. We haven’t really noticed his loss yet because Sol Campbell has been doing so well for us but he is no replacement for Billy. He can’t string two games at the moment, which is no complaint but he’s just not an option for a first choice centre back. Plus I don’t see him still with us next season. Campbell is a perfect back up but if Gallas is leaving he’ll need replacing. Wenger might see Djourou as that man but he hasn’t played all season and will need assessing when he can play again. He could be the answer but we need to see how he returns. I think I read somewhere that he’s back in a month but I’d be surprised to see him this season.

Unless Gallas is off.

I’m just speculating really, I don’t know, but I have a hunch that he’s off. I’ll be a bit gutted because he’s been brilliant since he gave the captaincy to Cesc but if he wants to go then I wont have any problems with him. We’re just going to have to wait and see, hopefully we can come to some sort of agreement before now and June, if not Wenger’s going to be busy with his cheque book this summer.

Cesc Fabregas is out of the Hull game. Well Wenger says, “chances of playing are 0.5 per cent – that means unless a miracle happens, he will not play. At the moment, he is out of Saturday’s game.” It’s a shame because Cesc hates Hull as much as we all do, he’ll be gutted that he will have to sit out but I’m glad we’re not rushing him. All we can hope for is that he comes back strong against West Ham the weekend after.

Song is suspended, Rosicky is a doubt, Sagna has an ankle problem and Campbell is a doubt. They’re all replaceable players but it’s still a shame, decisions will be made on them tomorrow. I expect Nasri to continue in the middle with Cesc out, he did a great job the other night so I don’t think anyone will have any problems with that. If Rosicky, Sagna and Campbell all miss out then we have Walcott, Eboue and Silvestre to come in but hopefully a least a couple of them will be fit. Hull will be tough, a lot of teams have dropped points there this season so we need as fully fit squad as possible.

I’ll preview the game in full tomorrow so I’ll speak to you then. I’m off to get drunk.

See ya.

Arsenal 5(6) – 0(2) Porto – 09/02/10 – Champions League 10 March, 2010

I pretty much said yesterday that it wouldn’t be another 4-0 and it would be a tough game but I was quite wrong. We got that early goal and that was it from there really, there was a period in the second half when Porto looked like getting back in it but we simply outclassed them at the end of the day. I said it’d be a memorable night one way or the other and it ended up being a classic 5-0 victory.

Our first came after just ten minutes, the ball went all the way through to Arshavin who was dispossessed right at the last minute but the ball came straight to Bendtner. He put it away and looked delighted to finally see the ball in the back of the net after the weekend he’s just had. Bit of a lucky goal in that three players went in on Arshavin and the ball went straight to Bendtner for an easy tap in but we’ll take it, just as Porto took their goals in the first leg.

15 minutes later it was Arshavin and Bendtner combining again to make it 2-0. Andrei’s low ball across the face of the goal was turned in for the Dane who was now on a hat-trick with less than half an hour gone. How fortunes can change.

We were playing really confident football and should’ve put the game to bed with a third in the first half. We had a number of chances but the best one surely fell to Arshavin who was unmarked at the back post but couldn’t keep his shot down. It was almost too easy for the Russian, I guess that can be his only excuse for smashing it over the bar.

So just 2-0 at the break, a great half but Porto weren’t out of it yet, just one goal from them and it would go to extra time. The visitors knew how lucky they were to still be in it and went in search of a goal, the first 15 minutes of the second half were quite tense and the closest we came to conceding all game. They had us pegged back and Arsenal and Porto players alike were all too conscious that one away goal would swing the balance of this tie again.

We needed someone to lift us up, get possession again or maybe even score us a goal. We didn’t look like creating much though.

It took a magical piece of skill from Samir Nasri in the end who scored a fine individual goal just after the hour. If you haven’t seen it, you really must. He took on three defenders from the right wing ending up one-on-one with Helton. He was at a ridiculous angle though and I thought he surely had to cross it but he had other ideas somehow tucking it inside the far post with power. What a goal, one of the best seen at the new stadium for sure and that was game over. 3-0 meant Porto needed two goals now and although not impossible it was a long shot.

However before Porto could think how to score two without conceding we made it 4-0 and it was time for them to head back to Portugal. Just three minutes after our third Arshavin broke off a Porto corner and had Eboue in support. Andrey held the ball up well, played the perfect ball to Eboue who rounded the ‘keeper and put it in the back of the net. A great counter attacking goal from one end to the other in seconds finished to perfection.

The fifth was the last kick of the game when Eboue went down in the box and we were awarded a penalty. Obviously Bendtner was going to take it and even though the goalie went the right way it was far enough in the corner to complete his hat-trick. I think everyone felt really chuffed for Nick last night, he didn’t get a lot of grief on Saturday for his missed chanced; everyone just accepted it was one of those days. Last night he paid us back for our faith. They were three fairly easy goals to score but just like at the weekend he finds himself in the right place at the right time which is striker’s instinct. Well done Nick, keep up the good work.

Arshavin had a great game last night playing a major part in three of the goals and being an all-round general nuisance to the Porto defence. He was beating players, setting up goal scoring chances and he was even getting up for headers! We’ll forgive him for that sitter in the first half, glad to see him hitting form again just at the right time.

Nasri was excellent too, he had big boots to fill with Cesc Fabregas out but he did a brilliant job of it. He bossed the midfield, provided that special bit extra in the middle and played inspirational football to carry the team on – all qualities that we love our captain for so much for. Cesc must be feeling a little less special today! Of course I’m joking but after last night I feel pretty lucky that we have the two of them in our side and both of them are still so young. Wenger said Nasri will revert back to the wing in our next game but he showed us that he can fill in whenever needed. That great individual goal together with that chipped assist against Burnley and it’s been a good few days for Samir. He looks really special at the moment and is quickly improving.

So we can start looking forward to the draw for the next round now and after the game Wenger said he wouldn’t mind an English team. He said it would be a great chance to show what we can do and forget about those recent losses in the league. To be quite honest I do not care who we get in the next round; You look for the ‘easy ties’ but there are no easy game at this stage of the competition. So bring on Man United, bring on Chelsea, bring on Barcelona – I don’t care. When we play like we played last night and have our players back from injury we can beat anyone in the world.

Thanks for reading.

Porto Preview: Need to overcome 1st leg loss for first time in 30 years 9 March, 2010

Tonight is a massive game but it hasn’t really sunk in for me yet. We haven’t overcome a 1st leg defeat in 30 years and if we don’t keep a clean sheet tonight we need to score three to go through. When you look at it like that tonight is going to be really tough. Either way tonight is going to a memorable night.

Last time Porto came to the Grove we beat them 4-0 without much of a problem. There’s no doubt that they are a better side at home but tonight with a Champions League place in their hands I think they will play a lot better. They will remember that defeat well and won’t want it to happen again.

We might find ourselves in a position where we have to score a few goals though. Our defence is, let’s face it, not great this season and to keep a clean sheet in Europe is a tough task. We really have to try tonight though. If we can shut up shop at the back then just a 1-0 is good enough to go through, concede one and then we have to score two just to take it to extra time and I don’t even want to think about us letting in two.

We’ll be without Gallas at the back but we have Sol Campbell stepping in, if it wasn’t for his goal we’d be all but out of this tie already but that away goal gives us hope tonight. Sol had a good game apart from the accidental back pass in the first leg and will be looking to build on that again tonight. I have no problems with a Campbell + Vermaelen pairing and I’m hoping that together with Almunia they can keep that clean sheet.

I told you yesterday that there’s no Cesc either. He’s out with a hamstring problem despite wanting to play through the pain. We’ll have to cope without the captain tonight and I believe we can. Nasri will probably step in for him and he’s just as capable.

Up front Bendtner will lead the line again hoping to put away some of those chances he missed at the weekend. Wenger said in his pre-match conference we’d have to make a late decision on Arshavin who has just come back from injury. I hope he makes it though, he got a good goal in his half hour on Saturday and I’d back him to do it again. Walcott will want to continue his good form with his man of the match performance at the weekend but with him playing 90 minutes just a few days ago I think he might start from the bench. With this tie having the possibility of going to penalties we need everyone in tip top condition. I’m probably completely wrong and Theo will start but what do I know? Here’s what I think it’ll be anyway:

Almunia (c)
Sagna – Campbell – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Nasri – Diaby
Eboue – Bendtner – Arshavin

A decent enough team even without Fabregas in there. I believe that we can do it tonight and over turn a first leg loss for the first time since 1st November 1978. As I said it’s going to be a memorable night either way – I was there a few years ago when PSV knocked us out after a first leg away loss. That hurt and is still in my mind but hopefully in the future we’ll look back on tonight with better memories. No one’s expecting another 4-0 but wouldn’t it be great?

I think we’ll be lively but cautious right from the whistle tonight. We must score so we have to go for it but at the same time conceding could prove very costly. We’ll be getting forward for sure but hopefully we’ve learned our lessons from the Man United and Chelsea games and wont get caught on the break so easily. Porto know that if it stays at 0-0 they are through but there’s no way they can play for that. They’ll probably sit back, play their own football and try catch us out just like United and Chelsea did so we need to concentrate tonight and not show any gaps. An early goal would do us a world of good.

We’re on Sky Sports 2 tonight so I’ll be down the pub for this one. Enjoy the game those of you going, RedAction has been campaigning this week for fans to try and get in the stadium early tonight whether that means one less pint at the pub or leaving work a few minutes early. It’s not very nice seeing us kick off to a half empty stadium. With half the atmosphere and late arrivals coming in throughout the first ten minutes of the game it’s a bit distracting for the players too. So if you can, try be at your seat for 7:30pm tonight and cheer the boys on to a famous European victory.

COME ON YOU REDS.

Fabregas out of Porto game, Gallas still at least a week off 8 March, 2010

There was some team news today ahead of tomorrow’s 2nd leg against Porto and I’m afraid it’s not good news:

“Cesc is ruled out for tomorrow’s game. He has a hamstring problem and we could not even take a gamble with him. I was hoping [he would recover] after the game because we were cautious with him. He was not adamant about coming out of the team but still he has damaged his hamstring and we cannot take a gamble on him.

However we have gained Sol Campbell back in the squad and Alex Song too, who was suspended against Burnley.”

Le Boss said Gallas wont be back either and, “he has no chance for the Hull game as well.”. Campbell is back though after resting this weekend so I’m not too worried about our defence.

It’s a massive blow to lose Fabregas though, it always is, but I think Arsene has made the right decision. There is no need to risk his at this vital stage of the season, he’s so important to us
and we would be gutted if we risked him tomorrow and then had him out for three weeks with a full hamstring problem. We’re right in this title fight and these remaining games are all vitally important. I don’t think we’re prioritizing the League over Europe, we’re just not taking the risk of putting Fabregas out for a stretch of games when he could just miss this one.

Nasri had a good game on Saturday and I believe he will slot in like-for-like in place of Fabregas. He has mainly been playing wide in our front line but Arsene has praised his versatility. He’s a visionary like Fabregas and I believe he can do his job tomorrow night without problems.

With Song available we should have a strong enough midfield even without our captain. I will fully preview the game tomorrow afternoon.

Wenger said today in the pre-match conference that we haven’t practiced penalties despite the strong possibility of a shoot out tomorrow evening. He says that penalties missed in training can cause uncertainties in players minds on the night. I see his way of thinking but I’m glad we have practiced penalties before; the manager says we usually practice penalties in training anyway.

I’ll save the rest of the talk for tomorrow. It’s a massive game and it’s going to be a tough test. We’re 24 hours away from either being knocked out or dreaming of Champions League glory once again.

For now I’ll leave you with this video of Chamakh’s goal for Bordeaux last night. Not great quality but you get the idea. I’m a bit excited about this guy’s arrival in the summer but I don’t know what to expect from him yet.

Thanks for reading.

Arsenal 3-1 Burnley – 06/03/10 – (Premier League) 7 March, 2010

Not really the kind of comfortable win we had in mind yesterday, if we won by four or more goals we could’ve gone top briefly but we got the three points and that’s what really mattered. It was another uncomfortable game at the Grove with the two-goal cushion only coming in the 90th minute.

It was a mix and match team with Tuesday’s game against Porto probably in mind, the last thing we need right now is more injuries. So of course Cesc Fabregas got injured and taken off before half time – It’s just our luck. He felt a hamstring problem and came off mainly as a precaution but is now a doubt for Tuesday.

However just before he came off he still had time to finish a great goal. A nicely worked move around the edge of the box was finished by a beautiful one-two between Fabregas and Nasri, the Frenchman chipping the ball over the defence and Cesc scoring between the ‘keeper’s legs. A really special goal but it was long coming.

We only led 1-0 at the break and although we hadn’t played all that well it could’ve been more. We were punished for not taking our opportunities when the visitors equalized early in the second half. Eboue clearance was headed back towards goal but no one thought to stop it and it went straight through to Nugent who finished past Almunia. Burnley had not threatened at all and this goal had come purely from mistake but the scores were level.

With Bendtner refusing to put any chance away we were looking for someone else to pick this game up and win it for us. Nasri had a great match but Walcott decided yesterday was his game and after the season he’s had and what was said about his performance for England I think yesterday will be one of his proudest man of the match awards. He looked dangerous and lively down that right hand side and was really causing Burnley problems. It gave him confidence and just past the hour he cut inside and executed a nice low curling shot into the far corner to make it 2-1. It was a really good goal but hopefully not his last this season.

He said after the game he feels fresh, like he’s only just had his pre-season and is raring to go. Well yesterday was a great way to start that and I hope he can re-capture some form. Burnley might be one of the easier competitors but it will have done his confidence a load of good.

Bendtner was replaced with about 15 minutes to go and he had a really odd game. He had a good afternoon in terms of getting in the right positions, causing the defence problems and supporting our attacks but he had a terrible shot on him. He could’ve easily had a hat trick yesterday and that’s no exaggeration. He had four or five chances literally laid on a plate for him that he couldn’t put away. It’s easy to look back on them now and almost laugh and think that next time he will put them away but had we dropped points yesterday he would’ve got a lot of stick. It was just one of those days though and he shrugged in disbelief when he was taken off, I’m sure next time he’ll have a better run of luck.

Eduardo replaced him and by this time Arshavin had already come on for Rosicky. We needed another goal and Burnley reminded us of that by almost making it 2-2. In the end the comfort goal came right at the end and it was Arshavin the scorer. It was a brilliant strike inside the near post from the left, the sort of finish he’s showed us he’s capable of so many times before but yet we haven’t seemed to see in ages. More of that please Andrey.

So yeah it wasn’t a perfect day but we set out to take three points and that’s what we did. Job done. All we can do now is take each game as it comes and try to grind out a win every time – that will win us the league.

I mentioned before the game about the various Aaron Ramsey banners going up around the ground and it was great to see them on TV. I must say I thought the atmosphere would’ve been a lot better, it seemed a bit quiet at times. I don’t know it might’ve just been me listening on TV but it didn’t seem that loud. We really need to get behind the team at this stage of the season and I’m sure Tuesday’s crunch match with Porto will be a lot louder.

With a 2-1 loss to overturn and with Fabregas possibly out it’s going to be a really tough game. Build up to come over the next couple of days. Thanks for reading.

Burnley Preview: Do It For Aaron 5 March, 2010

This is the sign that members of the Arseblog forum including myself have contributed to and will be unveiled at tomorrow’s game against Burnley. Credit to everyone involved, look out for it tomorrow. RedAction have also commissioned this massive 18×15 footer, they’re asking for contributions and if you’d like to get involved and have a chance of winning it for yourself go here. Apparently there’s another banner being done by the Gooner Forums so it’s set to be a big day for Ramsey tributes. “There’s only one Aaron Ramsey” was loud and clear at the Britannia and I expect it’ll carry on well into tomorrow’s game.

This whole idea of ‘Do It For Aaron’ starts now. In 2008 there was the same notion of winning the league for Eduardo but the title challenge crumbled at the very game in which he busted his leg and it never really happened. However this time around we’re stronger and we really can win the league for Ramsey. Last weekend’s tough away win at Stoke was the perfect catalyst to get us going for this run in. It’s time to pull together, take every single game as it comes and win it. I heard a great line this week, ‘You can break our bones but you can’t break our spirit.’ Let’s prove it.

Wenger says we can’t put a date on Aaron’s return, we just have to wait and do everything we can to help him return in the best possible condition. He will be out for a long time that’s for sure, but he won’t be forgotten and I hope that all this support he’s getting will make him feel a whole lot better.

So obviously Ramsey is out of tomorrow’s game – so too is Campbell but Diaby is back. Sol could be back to play Porto on Tuesday but obviously all this regular football is taking its toll on the 35-year-old. I never expected him to be able to come in and play 90 minutes of every game, however when he has been called upon he has been fantastic. He haven’t missed Gallas at all so I hope either he of Sol is back for Tuesday’s massive Champions League game. With Gallas still out it means Silvestre will partner Vermaelen in defence tomorrow who played 90 minutes for Belgium in the week but should be fit enough to cope. Alex Song is suspended but Denilson and Arshavin are back in the squad so we have options again. Song is out for two games which is a blow but this rest might do him some good as we go into this vital run. So here’s how I think we will start:

Almunia
Sagna – Silvestre – Vermaelen – Clichy
Denilson
Fabregas (c) – Diaby
Nasri – Bendtner – Arshavin

I know I’m repeating myself but I’d like to see Eboue start again too, he’s doing really well recently. I don’t think Walcott will play though, Wenger has had to back him again after a poor performance for England in the week. This season I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that the promising 16-year-old we signed a few years back will not turn into the world beater we all thought he might be. He’ll be a decent enough player and will always be on the fringe of our first XI but he is not the replacement to our old no.14. I hope I’m wrong though.

Tomorrow is a game we really should be winning. Burnley have an awful away record picking up just one point on the road this season and are sitting second bottom above Portsmouth who beat them last weekend. They should be easy for us tomorrow and a strong win will look good to back up our hard fought three points last weekend. A 4-0 will put us at the top of the Premier League; well at least until Man United travel to Molineux in the late kick off, hopefully Wolves put out a full strength team this time.

It’ll be no walkover though, we’ll have to work for the three points but if we get an early goal then we should be in control of this game. Burnley will be coming here knowing they’ve taken points off us before and a memorable performance tomorrow could kick start their fight to stay in the Premier League.

I have a felling it’ll be a good game to go to tomorrow and I’m gutted I can’t make it. After going up to Stoke last week I’m full of the Gooner spirit at the moment. I’ve worn Arsenal shirts pretty much all week since last Saturday! Enjoy it those of you who are going, look out for our banner and show your support.

Let’s do it for Aaron now. COME ON YOU GUNNERS.

The Clock End returns next season + news round up 2 March, 2010

Ivan Gazidis has made a massive difference since his arrival and from a fans point of view his ‘Arsenalization’ project of Ashburton Grove has been very successful. We’re set to go another step further next season though as the Clock End clock is going to be restored inside the stadium. It’s four years late to be honest but it’s finally happening which is great news. The clock is already inside the ground but in a very odd position on the back of one of the big screens. I never saw what the problem was getting it fixed facing the pitch behind the south goal but it seems Gazidis has finally sorted it out:

“We want to bring the clock back into the stadium and we will move back to having a Clock End, a North Bank, and East and West stands. We want to make sure it is the best stadium in the world, five, 10 and 15 years from now. We want to make it not just a technological marvel but a place that our fans can feel the traditions of the club.”

Awesome! Those coloured quadrants are pathetic too, I was a bit upset when I saw how the stadium was divided when we first moved there but glad it’s finally being put right with North Bank, Clock End, East Stand and West Stand names. It’s another revelation in Gazidis’ Arsenalization programme and I’m really looking forward to seeing them in place next season.

Ivan has really worked out how to get into the Gooner good books quickly hasn’t he? He’s making himself quite a popular figure behind the scenes at Arsenal. Almost…too popular. It’s like he has something horrible up his sleeves and needs to get everyone to trust him first. What’s he going to do? Hmm, I’ve got my eyes on you Gazidis.

The players are all off on a ridiculously short, meaningless, boring and probably injury-filled international period at the moment. Tonight there are some Irishmen and Brazilians at the Grove; apparently it’s 1-0 to Brazil at the moment. I couldn’t care less to be honest, just don’t mess up our lovely pitch.

Tomorrow Fabregas’ Spain take on France and England play Egypt at Wembley. You can see the full list of players away with internationals here and the kids on U21 & U19 duty here. Lets just keep everything crossed that no one picks up any knocks this week, the last thing we need is more injuries ahead of this title run in.

We really are back in this title race again. We’re been ruled out three times but have kept crawling back/Chelsea and United keep fucking up. Gael Clichy insists we were ever out of it and says that we always planned to just keep going. I guess the media ruling us out has taken the pressure off us a bit and allowed us to crawl back into position. We have all the hardest games behind us now; the most difficult game left this league season is Man City at home. We also have to go to Spurs there’s a tricky trip to Birmingham too. However all three of those are certainly winnable and you’d have to think we’re going to take three points from all the others. If we don’t then we don’t deserve to be champions anyway.

Vermaelen has vowed to win the league for Ramsey. It’s a horrible thing to have to go through but it can really spur us on. The race for this title has started and we need to continue our winning run at home to Burnley on Saturday. Build up to that to come later in the week.

Doesn’t Johan Djourou look weird? He says his recovery is going well but looks unlikely to return this season.

And finally, Francis Coquelin has been talking about his move from central midfield to right back. I’m a big fan of the kid; he’s very enthusiastic, fast and has a hell of a shot on him. I’ve seen him a few times at Underhill and he looks very good. I think we have our next right back after Sagna lined up already.

And that’s it for today. Remember to keep those fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossed for those players away on international duty. You might want to do that in the privacy of your own home though, you might get some odd looks.

Thanks for reading.

Stoke City 1-3 Arsenal – 27/02/10 – (Premier League) 1 March, 2010

I’ve had a few days now to calm down, think about the game and get my voice back but two days later I still feel like I did just as the game finished. Saturday has made me immensely proud to be a Gooner and I feel like that game was some kind of landmark in our season.

Obviously the main talking point from the game is the terrible injury to Aaron Ramsey so I’ll get into that first. He fractured the tibia and fibula in his right leg thanks to an awful challenge by Ryan Shawcross. The club has confirmed that the operation was successful but have yet to put a time frame on his return. It’s still very early days yet but he’s likely to be out for around a year and we can only really expect him to be gradually introduced towards the end of the 2010/11 season. It’s a massive speed bump in the 19-year-old’s career and I’m sure I speak for all of us when I wish him the very, very best recovery.

He’s a great prospect and is set to be a big star at club and international level, hopefully in a years time he can continue his good progress and get back on track. A broken leg is very disruptive in a footballers career though; it’s almost two years ago to the day that Eduardo suffered that awful leg break and he’s still paying for it now. It’s not just the obvious waiting for the bones to heal but your muscles need to get used to regular football again.

There has been a lot of defence of Ryan Shawcross since the challenge, possibly even more sympathy for him than poor Aaron Ramsey. The player did look upset leaving the pitch but so fucking what, he still did it! In Stoke’s official statement they said ‘there was no malice in the challenge’ which I understand, I never would say he went in there to intentionally break his leg, but for sure he went in knowing he was going to hurt him. It’s been covered a lot on the blogs in the past couple of days and I know everyone’s saying it but if you haven’t been reading Arseblog in recently then you really need to. Everything ‘blogger says is absolutely spot on and there’s no point in me repeating it here.

He’s right about saying the media have Aaron’s blood on their hands, just turning a blind eye to this ‘it’s ok to kick Arsenal, they don’t like it’ nonsense. We’re used to it now but this is the third broken leg in 4 years and it’s got to the point where it’s unacceptable now. We know that most teams will give us a physical game and so do the media, they love it – but you have to draw the line when people’s careers are being ruined like this. Wenger says he doesn’t believe in coincidence, this is far more than that now, no other team has suffered injuries like this so consistently.

The reaction has been sickening in some cases. The Stoke fans we shouting at him him to get up at the time of the challenge and signalling gestures at him as he was stretchered into the ambulance. I don’t expect anything better from that scum anyway, they really showed what they’re like on Saturday. The media hasn’t been great either, there’s been a handful of stories backing us up but far too much defence of Shawcross and this physical style of football that it’s somehow ok to play against Arsenal. I’ve heard ‘he’s not that kind of player’ so many times in the last few days, but he fucking is. This is the second leg he’s broken in his career and came close to doing Adebayor’s ankle in the same fixture last season. All this shite about he’s a kind, loving, family boy who went home crying to his mother after the game is laughable. That doesn’t excuse you. Ironically he has been called up to the England squad for the first time who met at Arsenal’s London Colney training centre this morning. I bet there was an interesting atmosphere for him there.

So it’s a three-game ban for Shawcross and a year out plus a halted career for Ramsey. Hopefully this new broken leg will go some way to help protecting not just our players but all victims of this kind of football. The discipline system needs changes to rule this kind of thing out. I just feel bad that we’ve had to wait until someone’s got really hurt before anything’s been done.

To be honest though I don’t think anything will change. There was more reaction to Eduardo’s dive against Celtic than the broken leg he suffered at Birmingham. People just don’t like Arsenal, get used to it. I don’t know we’ll have to see but this story is far from over.

A few on us on the Arseblog forums are getting together to produce a banner that should hopefully be displayed at the Burnley game. I’ll post up a picture of that if I can. I’ve also heard that RedAction are doing something similar. All it takes is for something bad like this to happen to bring the team together and new we really have got someone to fight for – lets do it for Aaron.

—

I really should talk about the game, I know it sort of falls into insignificance after an incident like that but it really was a big game in our season. As I stepped onto the train up to Stoke, Chelsea vs. Man City was kicking off at Stamford Bridge on the other side of London. It was a big chance for Chelsea to drop points and I was checking my phone every 10 minutes to see the score. 4-2 it ended as I’m sure you know and the game that evening at the Britannia was now massive for us. With United playing in the Mickey Mouse Cup that weekend it meant we could go two points from United and three from leaders Chelsea with a win.

The Gooners were buzzing and the pre-match spirit was high ahead of the game. We we’re directed off the train to some student’s union bar before catching the bus to the ground an hour before kick off. The away support was in full voice as ever and there was a feeling around that we could win here for the first time.

I thought that Stoke’s only real threat to us was Rory Delap’s throw and he fucking did it again in the 8th minute. ‘Here we go again’ I thought. The throw came across the box and fell to the back post Pugh headed it in. My initial thought was offside but it was perfectly legitimate, we just cannot defend that throw.

We needed to bounce back quickly but it took us some time. For the only point in the day the Arsenal fans we’re reduced to a murmur. However as time went on we started seeing more of the ball and the travelling support got behind the team. Around the half hour mark we were piling the pressure on and I thought that we really needed to get a goal here while we were on top going into the break. And we did, a great Fabregas cross from the right and an even better looped header from Bendtner into the opposite corner of the goal and the South Stand erupted. What a goal.

So at half time it was all level at 1-1 and looking back through my twitter on Saturday I said the second half would be action packed, and I wasn’t wrong. We should’ve had a penalty early on when Ramsey was brought down in the box. I was stood right at the top of the stand but even from where I was it looked a clear foul. The referee never gave it a thought though and we had to play on.

We were piling on the pressure and really going for that goal to put us in the lead. Stoke couldn’t do anything and were reduced to fouling us, and in the 65th minute this happened…

Just the other side of the halfway line I saw two players go in for a ball and then everyone around him go mental calling for the physios. From all that way away everyone could see it clear, one of our men on the ground, leg in the air and his foot dangling from the end of it. Straight away everyone knew it was a break but for a second or two I couldn’t work out who it was. At first I thought it was Cesc Fabregas but then I saw the skipper confronting Shawcross with Vermaelen. It became clear that it was Ramsey and it did not look good for him. Everyone looked distraught around him, even Vermaelen looked like he did not know what to do with himself and I didn’t think he was able to show human physical emotions.

I must say fair play to Glenn Whelan who stayed with Aaron the whole time trying to keep him still and held his head whilst he was sick.

The Arsenal fans were obviously upset and Shawcross was subject to a lot of abuse. There was a few trying to get on the pitch at the front but the stewards held them back. All the while the home fans seemed to be loving the fact we had a boy down on the ground with his legs in pieces.

It meant there was a very hostile atmosphere once the game finally got underway. The crowd was really going now but the same couldn’t be said on the pitch, there was hardly a tackle for five or ten minutes and both teams were playing very cagey football obviously at shock at what they had just seen.

However after time, the big names such as Campbell and Fabregas showed why they are so important to this team and took this game by the scruff of the neck and said ‘we are going to fucking win this for Aaron’. Rosicky, Walcott and Eduardo had all come on now and we were really going for it. It was spine tingling watching us show that amount of passions and hunger, I was watching a team that wanted to win the league.

When the ball struck Pugh’s hand in the box and the penalty was awarded just as the board was about to go up for injury time we celebrated as if we’d just scored the winner. It was far from that though, Fabregas had to step up and take one of the most high-pressure penalties he’s ever took and fair play to the captain the stuck it away. I’ve never celebrated a winner against a team as shit as Stoke as much as I did then ever before but it felt like a massive goal in our season.

I never saw how much time was added on but I knew it would’ve been a lot and it wasn’t over yet. We kept going though and even added a third. We took a short corner but Fabregas found a gap and we worked a great little move ending up with a tap-in for Vermaelen. What he and Campbell were doing up for a corner that late on with the score only at 2-1 is beyond me but they were fucking mental along with everyone in the stand behind the goal.

3-1 it finished up and what a result it was. Fabregas called the players in for a huddle at the end and it felt like a massive result. I guess I was a fan of the Gallas-led huddles we had before but they seemed a bit pre-meditated and more like a chore than an actual display of our team spirit, but Saturday’s one was real. We really came together and wanted to show that at the end of the game.

I’m sorry for a really long post so well done if you got through all of that but I really feel like this was a landmark game. Many of these players have been in this situation before at St. Andrews when Eduardo broke his leg but we weren’t going to collapse like we did that day. We came together; we grew up and showed our spirit. On that day in 2008 in Birmingham it felt like we lost the league, two years later in Stoke it felt like we’re a step closer to re-gaining the title.

So proud to be a Gooner at the moment. COME ON YOU GUNNERS.