The Carling Cup Final Preview: Time to end the wait 26 February, 2011

Well it’s been a long wait but tomorrow we can eradicate the phrase ‘Arsenal have won nothing since 2005′ with 90 minutes of football. Birmingham City stand in our way and they will be fighting for the trophy just as much as we will, it’s huge for them and they will be thinking they’ve beaten us before and they can do it again. This season we’ve beaten them 2-1 and 3-0 and are definite favourites for tomorrow. This might not be the biggest competition out there but it certainly one we want to win. I see it more of a stepping-stone to greater things, if we can win tomorrow it’ll be a big confidence boost for the lads and hopefully inspire us on to greater things. Opta research has shown that a Carling Cup win can improve a teams results in the league.

Birmingham will be pleased that Stoke managed to take out two of our most dangerous players for tomorrow. Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott will both miss out and I’m gutted for them. The captain has a small hamstring injury but Wenger says it’s too risky to play him tomorrow. Cesc has wanted to win a trophy with Arsenal for years, he was on the bench the last time we lifted silverware in 2005 and he would’ve been hoping to play a vital part in any new successes. He says he’s come to terms with not being able to play and it’s for the best. As much as we would all like to see him lead us out an aggravation to his injury could mean he is out for 4 or 5 weeks as opposed to one or two games which is the current diagnosis. He should count himself lucky – Theo Walcott is out for two or three weeks with his ankle strain and is very unlikely to face Barcelona. So at least he can have some consolation of getting himself fit and ready for the Champions League second leg, plus there’s two more chances of a Wembley cup final this season so don’t worry Cesc!

So with Fabregas ruled out tomorrow Robin van Persie will be looking to inspire us to victory as stand-in captain. However Wenger says the role of Cesc in midfield will be taken over by Wilshere:

“He’s had very good game. His confidence has grown, his responsibility has grown, certainly. Our game goes naturally through Fabregas. When he’s not there, it will go more through Wilshere.

The way of the game is simple: it goes always through the team’s strong points. So that the game goes through Wilshere is a good thing for him because it means the players around him have confidence in him. He will enjoy this game.”

Jack has been brilliant for us this season and I have no doubt he will be ready for tomorrow’s Wembley cup final. I remember watching him in pre-season and him standing out but he’s gone from strength to strength and established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet. Jack says he wants us to win it for Cesc and invite the captain up to the podium to lift the trophy. Just because he can’t make the final doesn’t mean he hasn’t contributed to our Carling Cup campaign. He’s been brilliant in this competition, he scored the goal that secured our place in tomorrow’s game so it is a shame he can’t make it but he’s made a massive contribution to the team and if we can go all the way tomorrow there’s only one man I want to see lift that cup.

So with that injury news in mind, I think we will line up like this:

Szczesny
Sagna – Djourou – Koscielny – Clichy
Song – Wilshere
Nasri
Bendtner – van Persie (c) – Arshavin

That is a team more than capable to add the first item to our 2011 trophy cabinet. Of course we’ll miss Cesc but Nasri has shown time and time again that in his absence he can do just as good a job in the role and as Wenger says, Wilshere will control that midfield. The only other option I see is Diaby coming into the midfield with Nasri moving into that three-man attack. It depends on how Arsene wants to play it and also how well Diaby has recovered from his injury.

Birmingham have a few selection problems of their own. Alexandr Hleb was stretchered off last weekend and is a doubt for tomorrow’s game. From seeing what he can do when he’s in form first hand I’d prefer it if he doesn’t make it. They’re also without David Bentley and Curtis Davis who are both cup-tied and Scott Dann is out for the season. Cameron Jerome looks like he will be fit but I expect Obafemi Martins and Zigic to start up front. Obviously Zigic’s height will be used to try cause us problems but if Djourou and Koscielny can repeat some of those great recent defensive partnerships we should be alright.

Birmingham are going to give it a real go, to win tomorrow would be a dream for their fans and there’s no doubt they’re not going to roll over and let us win. Alex McLeish says they will stifle Arsenal and try to disrupt our game. That has worked in the past for them at home but I think tomorrow, in a neutral stadium, the better footballing side will prevail.

I can’t wait to be walking down Wembley Way tomorrow afternoon. It’s something that has given me goose bumps since a very young age, old stadium or new. We were there a couple of season ago in the FA Cup semi final and that was special, tomorrow will be our first cup final at the new ground and I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t think anyone tomorrow will be thinking ‘it’s just the Carling Cup’, 90,000 fans will be on the edge of their seats singing their hearts out and 22 players on the pitch will be giving everything to win that cup.

I’m already buzzing with excitement but I have to try and get an early night tonight, my coach leaves Bournemouth at 9.45am tomorrow getting me to Wembley super early about half 12. However I have a feeling there’ll be tens of thousands others milling around. It’s set to be a great day out and the time has finally come for this Arsenal team full of potential to go all the way and win their first competition as a team.

I’m hoping that after tomorrow the phrase will now be ”Arsenal have won nothing apart from the Carling Cup since 2005′.

Wherever you’re watching, enjoy the game and make yourselves heard for The Arsenal.

Come on you Gunners!

The Shawcross Redemption – Starring Aaron Ramsey and Ryan Shawcross 23 February, 2011

This is a tale of punishment and retribution. The struggle of a young Welsh boy on the path to righteousness before he met an evil force dressed in stripes. What happened that fateful day changed the lives of all around them and forever more, all associated with the city of Stoke were dirty tackling, long throwing, rugby playing, baseball cap wearing, not that sort of playering, walk off crying cunts. But this day brings redemption, the return of an old foe to fight once again, and fight they shall.

Coming soon to all good DVD stores.

For the Stoke match preview click here.

Stoke Preview: Do It For Aaron + Koscielny & RVP Out 23 February, 2011

I can’t believe that this is the first meeting of Arsenal and Stoke since that infamous challenge that saw a young rising player take a major career-threatening setback. I was there last season and it will be exactly a year ago on Sunday. Very timely then that Aaron Ramsey returns to us this weekend and could be playing in 7 days against Leyton Orient. We’ve seen the affect of a terrible leg break can have on a player with both Diaby and Eduardo really struggling to continue their development and are still plagued my niggling injuries. Next to go through his rehabilitation is Ramsey who has had two loan spells in the Championship and makes his long awaited return as an Arsenal player this week.

It’s a shame that he couldn’t have made it a week earlier and played tonight but that would’ve brought up all kind of emotions. I don’t think Wenger would’ve played a distraction like that. Instead it’s a chance for his teammates to step up and be counted in a battle against a team that has become one of our most hated opponents. The relationship between Stoke/Tony Pulis and Arsenal/Arsene Wenger isn’t the happiest of ones and there will be no love lost in the fight for three points. It’s not just the Ramsey injury but rightly made comments about their more rugby than football tactics and crimes against fashion for baseball cap wearing twats.

It’s odd how a terrible injury can bring a team together. After losing Aaron in the game we went on to fight for a 3-1 victory and were looking good for the league, we allowed ourselves to forget the trauma of drawing to Birmingham after Eduardo’s similar anguish. We were able to turn a terrible loss into an inspiration for togetherness and the Do It For Aaron campaign was launched. Eventually our efforts died out and we dropped out of the title race but it brought this team together and it was great to see them fighting as one.

None of that needed to happen though and I’m still disgraced with Ryan Shawcross. All that ‘he’s not that type of player’ garbage was absolutely ridiculous. It happened with Eduardo too, both Shawcross and Taylor got loads more sympathy than the victims of their reckless violence. Just because our ‘foreigners’ aren’t England heroes like Rooney, Terry and Gerrard, the media seemed to back the perpetrators. It was ludicrous. Poor old Ryan Shawcross having to sit our three matches of his beloved game of football, think of trauma he must’ve gone through seeing a man’s leg snap in half. The boy needs a pat on the back and a warm cup of tea. Fuck that shit, Aaron’s been out for the best part of a year, had to endure unimaginable pain, months of rehabilitation and all under no certainty he would make it back playing again. All that just because he was trying to get the ball. Fuck you Ryan Shawcross, fuck you English tabloid press.

This might be the first meeting of Stoke and Arsenal since that day but don’t just think this is a one-game thing. Fans don’t forget, Stoke have found themselves right up there with the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea and I hope we give them a tough time tonight. Thankfully Aaron will return and he’s found himself some form at old club Cardiff, I’ve heard he’s been their best player recently, which is good. He scored last night and you can watch that goal here; Jay Emmanuel-Thomas also involved in the move.

Moving on to tonight’s game and we have van Persie, Koscielny and Diaby out, Robin has a hamstring issue which hopefully is not a bad one and Koscielny a back injury. Both could be back for Sunday though apparently. Djourou returns to the squad so I expect to see him start with Squillaci. When picking the team you have to at least take into consideration that Stoke’s approach will be aggressive. Wenger says he uses his intuition to pick the XI and he will have the best experience with who will handle this game better. I can only really see Theo Walcott losing a place in this game due to the nature of the opponents. He does seem stronger that he did last season or before but I have a suspicion he might be used from the bench tonight. I’ve always liked that option of bringing Theo on with 20-30 minutes to go anyway. So here’s my guess at the team:

Szczesny
Sagna – Djourou – Squillaci – Clichy
Song – Wilshere
Fabregas (c)
Nasri – Bendtner – Arshavin

The loss of van Persie is a shame but I believe the threat of Fabregas, Nasri and Arshavin should be good enough. It’s a big chance for probably Bendtner to impress from the start. I wasn’t pleased with Chamakh on Sunday so I don’t think he will start but this morning I was thinking back to earlier in the season when he was banging in the goals, they mostly came at home and he struggled a bit away. Still, with him being out of form and this match being against Stoke City Rugby Football Club I’d be surprised to see him start.

Arshavin’s been good though of late and Wenger describes that recent drop in form as a human loss of confidence. He’s very much on the road to form and has had a string of much improved displays. I’d back him for another goal tonight if I were a betting man. In fact I’ve just looked up the odds and he’s 11/2 first goal scorer or 13/8 to score anytime. That might be worth a quid or two from me. I was surprised in looking at those odds that Chamakh had the shortest odds, maybe they know something I don’t!

Tonight is another game in a very busy schedule, Arsene reckons it’s the busiest he’s ever been and we’re just starting to show the ill effects of all these games. We would never have drawn against Orient if we didn’t have to rotate the whole team and now we have these niggles with Djourou, Koscielny and RVP. It’s the manager’s job to find the right balance between rotation and delivering the wins and hopefully we’ll just about manage it. We don’t have another midweek break for three weeks with the FA Cup replay and Barcelona game coming up so hopefully we can avoid dropping points and players in that time.

We’re the only Premier League game tonight so it’s a chance to make some ground. I’m sure you know this game was rescheduled from December. I was actually on the way to the ground when that blizzard hit North London and I was surprised they left it so long before calling it off, never seen snow like it in London. We can go just a point behind United if we win tonight. They will have a game in hand over us but it’s great to be so close and put that kind of pressure on them.

Enjoy the game everyone that’s going, I can’t make it tonight but I’m going at the weekend. Ah bollocks I thought I’d make it through a whole post without mentioning Wembley, we need to forget about that until tomorrow and focus on the task of beating these despicable cunts.

Thanks for reading, come on you Gunners.

Leyton Orient 1-1 Arsenal – 20/02/11 – (FA Cup 5th Round) 21 February, 2011

Well I don’t really want to say I told you so, but I was kind of expecting this kind of a result. Those that read my match preview will know that I talked about the need to deliver a professional, winning performance to put the struggles of Leeds, Huddersfield and Ipswich behind us. Well that didn’t happen and Leyton Orient can famously be added to the list of lower league teams that have got something off Arsenal (yes we beat Huddersfield in the end but it wasn’t straightforward).

Orient are just 5 miles away from us so playing Arsenal I imagine is a bit of a dream cup fixture for them and they will rightly be loving their last minute equaliser. I didn’t stay in the pub to watch the home celebrations but I expect they had a bit of a party. They will all be massively looking forward to the trip to Ashburton Grove too and just as they did yesterday, they will give everything to get a result. However I agree with Alex Song that we will go through with the match at home. We’ve had our shock and we should this time be good enough to see them off comfortably. It’s just the nuisance of another game that’s all, it will be played on Wednesday 2nd March which means we have Stoke this Wednesday, the Carling Cup Final on Sunday, the Orient replay the following Wednesday, back to the league at home to Sunderland that weekend and then we fly to Barcelona. We really could’ve done with the midweek break next week but at least we’re still in the competition.

We made 10 changes to the team that started against Barca and once again it really showed. Only Alex Song kept his place after he was substituted in the second half last Wednesday. It was a chance to rest those tired legs that fought so hard for our 2-1 1st leg win, so much so that we didn’t even bring on a single substitute yesterday with the bench made up of players who had started in the week.

We completely controlled the game but never really made ourselves dangerous enough with it. The goal eventually came when Bendtner’s cross met the head of Rosicky. You’d expect that kind of goal to be the other way around but I was pleased for Tomas to get a goal after a bit of a drought recently. I thought the opener would set us on our way to more but it never happened. There were chances but you can’t say we were as dangerous as we usually are.

An Orient reply always looked likely while it remained 1-0, I thought we just might be able to get away with a win this time but the goal eventually came late on. You can’t have too many complaints with it but Almunia wont be happy with letting it go underneath him like that. Tehoue skipped past the defence in the 88th minute and shot powerfully but it was right down Almunia’s sight and he was lucky that the Spainiard didn’t do better. Manuel didn’t do himself much good to try and earn that first team place back I’m afraid, he was decent against Huddersfield I thought but that one mistake late on yesterday will cost him any good reviews this time around.

The main positive from yesterday was that Ignasi ‘Iggy’ Miquel came through his debut with a good performance. I have to admit I was a little bit worried about our reserve captain making the step up yesterday, I haven’t heard the greatest things about him from his recent reserve games but he did well when it mattered. I suspect he’ll get another chance a week on Wednesday in the replay. You can watch his post-match interview here.

Arshavin had another similar performance to what he’s been producing of late. He’s looking much more lively than he did a couple of months ago and it’s great to see he’s doing it consistently at the moment. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about his strike partners; Bendtner struggled a bit, he’s trying which is good but a lot of things weren’t coming off for him and it looked a little bit to me that his self confidence was getting the better of him possibly. He needs games but it’s hard when you have in-form colleagues; namely Nasri, van Persie and Walcott. I was interested to see how Chamakh did and I thought he had an awful game, he might even be our most out of form player at the moment. He could hardly string a pass together yesterday and Orient had him played out of the game. He had a great chance to score sliding onto a low cross but he couldn’t get enough on it. Again, he needs games but I don’t see him getting loads any time soon unfortunately. In midfield Denilson had another poor display, he really hasn’t won over many fans this season and yesterday was another example of why. I can’t see why Arsene keeps putting him in at defensive midfield when he’s so shy to a tackle, get back or any other quality a defensive midfielder would have. He really needs to sort his game out otherwise he’ll soon be at the bottom of the list fighting for just three midfield place.

So we’ll pick this one up again next week then. We’ve got a second chance to right some wrongs and hopefully this time we can get through to the next round with ease where we will be making the trip to Old Trafford. What a juicy fixture. Next up it’s Stoke on Wednesday night so I’ll preview that one in the next couple of days, until then.

Leyton Orient Preview: Forget Barca – we must focus 19 February, 2011

It’ been a great week to be an Arsenal fan, today has been the first day where I haven’t been watching countless videos and flicking through all the photos from the Barcelona game. It really was something special, it’s a match no Gooner will forget in a hurry.

But we must.

Well, the players and staff need to anyway. All too often I’ve seen us loving a big result and then in the very next game drop points because we just expect to turn up and win. We’ve cut it out of our game more this season but I can still see examples looking back at the results. In September we beat Braga 6-0 before drawing to Sunderland. We bounced back the next game beating Spurs 4-1 in the Carling Cup but then followed that by losing 3-2 to West Brom at Home. After Christmas we had a great 3-1 win over Chelsea but then we go up to Wigan and draw 2-2; I went to both of those games and it was very frustrating to see but not surprising.

You can say we might’ve been tired or that it’s not the same because there were many changes to the team but it’s not about individuals it’s about Arsenal Football Club. There has been many occasions where we expect to just turn up and win because we’re better on paper than the opposition, but we all know the game isn’t played on paper it’s played on grass. It’s what happens out on that pitch that counts and if you’re not up for it then there’s a chance you’ll lose. We’ve been close to slipping up recently against Leeds, Huddersfield and Ipswich by underestimating our opponents.

There’s no doubting we put in that extra effort when we play teams such as Barcelona, which is to be expected. However we should be trying to play our very best in every game no matter who the opposition is. Leyton Orient will be the lowest ranked team we’ve played this season and I’m hoping that has no affect on how we play. We won’t have our strongest team out but I’m talking about effort, I want to see us playing as well as we can to see us through to the next round of the cup. Not just do enough to get the job done – do our best.

I don’t want to sound like another boring old moody Gooner because I’m proud not to be one of them, I’m just saying I hope we have put the great result in the week behind us and are fully focussed on the task at hand tomorrow. They might be a mid-table League One side but that shouldn’t matter, it should make them easier to beat but it shouldn’t change anything about the way we go about our game.

Anyway, moving on now! It looks as if we’re fully fit apart from obviously Fabianski, Vermaelen and Diaby as Djourou and Walcott have recovered well from Wednesday. However I think anyone with a slight doubt, minor niggle or tired legs will be rested. We should have a good enough squad to give some players a rest but I fear major rotation upsetting the side.

I’m sorry to sound so negative if it looks that way, I don’t mean to I’m just being overly cautious. Wednesday’s win has just got me even more hungry for silverware and although we can joke about the quadruple, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t consider that as our target. Wenger says we are going for every competition so we must focus in every game whether it be Europe, league or the cups.

Wenger says we will be focussed tomorrow and it’s that article that has prompted this post. Wenger says:

“We can gain more respect from everybody if we turn up on Sunday with absolutely full commitment then people will say this team is ready to have a real go and not choose the competition or the games. When you are a top-level competitive man or team you go absolutely 100 per cent committed into every game.

The media give more importance to some games than others but for us to win trophies we have to take a distance with that and be able to switch from one competition to another with exactly the same commitment.”

That is what I’m trying to say. If we can show the same application tomorrow that we would in any other competition then it shows our professional approach. I didn’t like watching us struggle against Huddersfield, Leeds and Ipswich and I don’t want to see us make the same mistakes again.

I have no idea how Wenger is going to pick the team tomorrow but I would guess at something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Gibbs
Song – Denilson
Rosicky (c)
Bendtner – Chamakh – Arshavin

Wilshere, Fabregas, Clichy, Djourou, van Persie and Walcott could all do with a rest but I would like to see most of them on the bench if they don’t get to start. That team there is more than good enough to put on a good performance and it’s another chance for some to impress. Almunia could do with the games if we want to keep him sharp, Arsene likes to rotate the ‘keepers in the cup so I think he’ll start as he did against Huddersfield. Arshavin has been improving recently but that whole front line would benefit from having a good game; Chamakh said in the press recently he feels tired at the moment and doesn’t blame the manager for being on the bench with RVP in the form he’s in. Well it’s a chance for Marouane to show what he can do again.

To be fair I literally have no clues this week what the team is going to be so it’s hard to talk about it now. I’m interested to see who Wenger picks. Whoever it is though I hope they have the focus and the determination needed to overcome the problems I mentioned. Forget who Leyton Orient are, they’re just another 11 men who we need to beat. Chelsea we’re knocked out in hilarious fashion today (HAHA Ashley) so that makes us slightly more favoured for the FA Cup. Win tomorrow and we go a step closer to another trophy of the still possible quadruple.

I’m looking forward to the game. I hope we stuff them, feels like we haven’t had a big win in a while and after Newcastle it would be nice to actually complete one. Orient will be massively up for this, the O’s are situated just 6 miles down the road for us so it’s a big derby for the fans and players. I hope we rise to the occasion also and do the job.

Come on you Gunners.

Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona – 16/02/11 – (Champions League K.O. 1st Leg) 18 February, 2011

What a special night we’ve had this week. A bit late you might think for a match report but as Arseblogger so proudly stated today, it’s alright to bask in this victory for a little bit longer!

I said before the game that I would just be proud of us if we played well but I got more than I asked for. I wasn’t confident of us winning, I knew we were capable of it it’s just whether we had the composure and luck on the night. Before the match I had no clue which was this was going to go, it could’ve been 1-0, 0-1, 2-0, 1-3…anything. And the game was sort of like that, it could’ve been more or less for either team but when the whistle went we were on top and we beat Barcelona. That’s all that matters for me right now, I can say I’ve seen us beat FC Barcelona – the best opposition side I’ve seen in my era. That’s special, and I won’t let whatever happens in the away leg take that away from me, that victory is ours; it’s for the fans, for the players and for the manager. We’re in a decent position to knock Barcelona out but we’ll come to the second leg in a couple of weeks.

My day started with a quick lunch and then I was off to the bus stop to get down to Bournemouth station for my train to Waterloo. It felt a bit odd making my journey this early but I wouldn’t have wanted to do it any other way, every big game we’re in I go down ridiculously early just to soak up the atmosphere, I love it! I got to the pub at Arsenal about 5 where I met fellow premature Gooner, Goonerholic for a pint or more before the usual lot arrived. There was a bit of a last minute panic in the last half hour before kick off as lasagnechef snr. called to say the traffic getting into North London was a nightmare and he wasn’t going to be able to make it. A gutting feeling, he missed out last year and now again this year thanks to some accident. Shit happens unfortunately but through one person’s misfortune I was able to make someone else’s night. A friend of a friend who was with us in Barcelona last year took the spare, back in April he made it all the way to Spain, all the way to the Nou Camp to be denied access with a perfectly legitimate ticket. I can’t imagine how gutted he must’ve been to get all that way to not get in for the sake of a ticket that wouldn’t scan, so I’m glad that in some way I could help him make up for it on Wednesday night.

So we got in eventually after a bit of a nightmare and the ‘Emirates’, as I’m now beginning to get used to referring it to, was absolutely rocking. When the teams came out it was a wall of noise and a sea of red and white flags to greet the players. Just like last year it had the feeling of 60,000 excited and hopeful Gooners ready to sing their team all the way home.

The noise last night was probably better than last year in parts. There were quiet periods of the game when it looked like the game was slipping away from us and nothing seemed to be going our way but we picked ourselves back up again and the noise late in the second half was incredible. Just watch this for instant goose bumps.

I was looking for us to start well and we did getting the first decent chance of the game very early in. I believe it was Fabregas who played a chipped ball over the Barca defence for van Persie who’s shot was blocked well by Valdes. It was a good start and you could tell we were more than up for it. The visitors had plenty of the ball but we were expecting that and had our ways of trying to deal with it. Barca’s passing was too good though and with that kind of quality it doesn’t matter how resilient your opposition is, you will create chances eventually. In the 15th minute Messi was put through by Villa and the Argentinean’s little chip over Szczesny trickled just wide of the post. It was heart in the mouth stuff as you saw the ball roll towards goal, from my angle you couldn’t tell whether it was in or not so I was more than relieved to see it go wide.

Just before their opener we had a great chance on the break. Walcott fed Fabregas on the right who crossed it in for van Persie who had an open goal and a back tracking defence to beat but Abidal stretched and just got a head on it to take it away from Robin. Just a minute later Messi weaved through our defence and put Villa through on goal, he simply slotted it under the ‘keeper and it was 1-0 Barca. It was a shame to see them score but they had been the better side and you couldn’t deny them the lead.

At the time I thought it was offside and along with everyone around me and the linesman on our side was getting some abuse. 10 minutes later Messi bundled the ball in the back of the net with a header but it was flagged offside. I have since seen that he was onside so maybe that heckling with the official paid off and influenced his decision. Barcelona fans wouldn’t be very happy with that if they were reading but it’s the nature of playing at home, fans can influence decisions.

At the break I was in a similar position to last year – in admiration of Barcelona’s football. There’s no doubting that they really turn it on in the first 45 minutes and it was the case on Wednesday. Unlike last year we couldn’t keep the clean sheet up to the break but I was still confident we were still in it. We were unlucky not to have gone closer ourselves but we could’ve been two or even three down at half time on a bad day so I wasn’t too upset. I tried not to think too much about conceding an away goal but it was inevitable really. Anyone that manages to not concede against this Barcelona side is either incredibly good at defending, really lucky or they’ve got those really small 5-a-side nets or something.

We started the second half well, had a couple of shots early on but Barca soon took control again. They had a few chances to extend their lead but every time we escaped conceding. Szczesny looked composed and was making himself big in front of goal; he was helped by great performances from Djourou and Koscielny, the latter having probably his best game for the club and a strong contender for man of the match.

With just over 20 minutes to go Wenger went for it. The visitors took off Villa (striker) for Keita (defensive midfield). We did the opposite taking Alex Song off who was riding his luck a bit on a yellow and brought on Arshavin. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I was starting to worry we weren’t ever going to get back into it. I know we always leave it late but I can’t handle us leaving it late! In the 77th minute we made another sub, Bendtner replaced Walcott who had a decent game but was obviously targeted along with Fabregas by Barcelona and wasn’t allowed much space or time. So we had three creative midfielders in Wilshere, Nasri and Fabregas and van Perise still coming through the middle. He was flanked by Arshavin on the left and Bendtner to his right a bit more infield with Eboue making runs up the right. It was an attacking formation but one that paid off.

A minute after that sub, we equalised. Gael Clichy with a right-footed chipped assist believe it or not put Robin through into the box. He was at a ridiculous angle but caught out Valdes blasting it inside the near post. It took half a second for Robin, the rest of the players and the fans to realise it had gone in, but when we did we went mad! Finally, the breakthrough. A slice of luck there that RVP’s shot went in but he definitely meant it, he’s one of few players confident enough to go for a shot like that and if you don’t try you don’t get.

The visitors were rattled and the fans were urging Arsenal forward. All we needed was that opening goal and we were away. 5 minutes later we won the ball in our final third and quickly got it to Fabregas who spotted Nasri free on the right and sent him right through to attack the opposite box. When the defence caught up with him I though for a second that the chance to counter had gone but Samir picked out the pass I don’t think any of us saw and Arshavin came charging in with a composed side foot curler into the opposite corner.

I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t know what to do with myself. I went absolutely crazy, one minute I was on the floor of my seat and the next second I was up and had fallen over into the row in front! Everyone was celebrating with no limits and you can’t blame a single person, we’d just taken the lead over the beat side in the world and were on the brink of a famous victory. It was jubilation like we’d just seen the coming of age of this side. I looked to might feet to search for my flag, this one one souvenir I wanted to keep! It had somehow survived my trampling and I tucked it into my seat to be safe

There was one little scare before the end but we held out and completed a 2-1 victory. Magic. It meant so much to everyone, players and fans and I’m so glad I was a part of that. Everyone was so happy (and relieved) at the final whistle, however someone behind me had bloody nicked my flag hadn’t they! I found another but you can’t help but think when you see grown men walking out of there with five or six flags in their hand that eBay was going to be busy in the morning…

It was a great performance from the lads. We were outplayed for large portions of the game but we stuck to our game plan and it worked. We were devastating on the break and we showed we can match Barcelona’s build up pass for pass. The second was described by the ITV commentator as ‘a Barcelona goal, for Arsenal’ but we score goals like that all the time. You can draw comparisons with the Catalans and us but we’ve shown before we can play just as well as them.

Jack Wilshere was incredible and I’m so proud of our 19-year-old. He had a challenge from Koscielny but he’s definitely my man of the match. Fabregas was quieter than you would’ve hoped but Barca knew how dangerous he was and had him on watch. They weren’t expecting the teenager to be so brilliant though and he bossed the midfield. A midfield made up of some of the best players in the whole World. This is only his first season in the first team and there is much more to come from him. Well done Jack, we fucking love ya!

The all round performance was superb, we did everything we could and I’m so, so proud of us. Nights like these just make it brilliant to be a Gooner, we might not be the very best but when we really get to it we can be special and compete with anyone. We’ve beaten Barcelona and not a lot of teams can say that.

We go into the second leg with belief that we can do the job and we’re in a great position to. The away goal means Barcelona will still be favourites but if we can keep the defence as tight over there and get a goal we’ll give ourselves a massive chance of knocking out the big boys. We might have Vermaelen back for that trip too. As Cesc points out, it is only half time but I say just enjoy this one off victory for the moment and look forward to the second leg in due time. We’ve by no means won this tie but we’ve shown we’ve got what it takes.

Just quickly some injury news and Djourou hurt is back in the game and will sit out Sunday’s FA Cup game. Walcott has a mild hamstring problem but should be okay, I can imagine us resting him and anyone else with niggles anyway. I’ll preview the Leyton Orient game tomorrow.

Thanks for reading guys. Ooh to, ooh to be, ooh to be a Gooner!

Barca Preview: Play well and I’ll be proud 16 February, 2011

There’s no doubting that Barcelona are the best side in the world, they were when we played them last season and they still are today. However they’re up against a team they rarely see, one that plays them at their own game and one that is year after year improving. We are much better now than we were last season, apart from the obvious 10 or 11 months of maturity and belief but we are much fitter than last year. Last March we went into the game risking Gallas, Arshavin, Fabregas and Song and we were without van Persie. This time around we are fully fit apart from Vermaelen and Fabianski and you could argue that we have a better ‘keeper in Szczesny. Sagna will be missed, he’s suspended tonight; I’ve seen Eboue put on a good performance before and I’ll be expecting nothing less tonight from him.

The only doubt today is Samir Nasri, he has made an early recovery to make the squad but is he ready enough to start? Wenger says he is medically fine and I expect him to make the XI; it’s a welcome surprise having him back in the team but he’s made early recoveries before without setbacks so fingers cross he can do it again. That’s about as far as team news goes for tonight, I’m pretty sure we’ll line up as follows:

Szczesny
Eboue – Djourou – Koscielny – Clichy
Song – Wilshere
Fabregas (c)
Walcott – van Persie – Nasri

Wenger says we go into the match in ideal condition. Well I would say ‘ideal’ if we had Sagna and Vermaelen available but lets not get picky – we were fucked last year. We’re fully fit and at least this time around we can play them fairly and with 90% of our best players available. Barcelona should be without inspirational captain Puyol tonight so that is a big loss for them too.

I was at this tie last year and we were played off the park in the first half an hour. I remember a string of great Almunia saves keeping us in the game in the first half. This is a typical tactic of Barcelona, they like to shock teams in the opening stages by coming out of the traps flying. We were spectators for the first half an hour but that can’t happen tonight; we need to be closing down every man allowing them no time on the ball, we must be quick to every second ball quickly collecting any misplaced balls, we need to be tight in defence and really concentrate in every position of the pitch – especially those opening stages of the game. We need to get possession of the ball ourselves, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try keep the ball a bit in the first half and take the game to whatever pace we like. Put them on the back foot and you never know maybe give them a shock or two.

The formation needs to be impeccable tonight. The back four needs to have a big game that goes without saying but Wilshere and Song have a big job to do too in front of the defence making it difficult to play those intricate passes we’re so used to playing ourselves. Always with Barcelona the talk is on Messi but we can’t just concentrate on him – Pedro is a threat and the midfield pair Iniesta and Xavi with be up to their usual tricks in midfield. We need to close them down and not give them that time to play.

The visitors will be worried about our threats too though you know. They might be a confident bunch but they know what we’re capable of and they damn sure know we won’t be easy to defend. They see our main threat as Theo Walcott, they just couldn’t handle him in last year’s quarter finals. We’re all looking for another massive performance from Walcott, yet another great Champions League display. He can get in behind Maxwell and whip some dangerous balls into the box for van Persie. Speaking of the Dutchman, it’s great to have our best striker, in form going into this game. He’ll be looking to continue this good little scoring run he’s on at the moment and no doubt he’ll be as fired up as usual for this one.

We all know what we’re capable of, it’s just a case of producing the goods. We need to summon the sprit of the great performances this season such as the one against Chelsea. Not summon as in some kind of dressing room voodoo ritual, just belief in oneself that we have what it takes and to rise to the big occasion. I’m confident we will do that to be honest and if we do put in a display to the best of our ability then we’ll have every chance tonight.

The atmosphere last year was just incredible. It was spine chilling. It will be the same tonight and I can’t wait for it. It’s a shame we can’t produce it more often but there’s no doubt the players will respond to the noise and we will be behind them with every kick, pass, tackle, shot, defence, marking and set piece. We will be their 12th man and we have to make that count here.

I’m off to the station after lunch to get my early train up to London from Bournemouth. I realised yesterday I arrive at the ridiculous time of 4.20pm but at least that gives me three hours of wondering around, soaking up the atmosphere… and the beer. The club and RedAction are urging fans to get inside the ground as early as possible tonight, would be nice if everyone was seated by 7.30. There’s a little surprise on your seat for you there and some brand new match build up on the big screen. Not only all that but we need to noise going from well before kick off.

It’s going to be a hell of a game. I predict an open game, which is going to be hard to watch but ultimately thrilling. I’d love to see us win, if we did it would be one of the great night’s at the new stadium but all I’m looking for really is for us to do our best. Play to the best we can and I’ll be proud of them because I know what they can do. This is our night to prove ourselves against the very best and I’m itching to see how we do. Focus lads, we are behind you.

Come on The Arsenal.

All eyes on FC Barcelona 14 February, 2011

I didn’t catch all of the weekend’s victory over Wolves this weekend so I didn’t think I’d attempt a match report for that. I was meant to just watch the first half of the Newcastle game but ended up watching all of it; so this week I thought I’d try watching just 45 minutes and see if we did any better. Anyway, by all accounts it sounded like a fairly simple victory and Wolves, who just beat United, were no match whatsoever for The Arsenal. It was the perfect preparation to the biggest game of 2011 so far – Barcelona, again.

There were no injuries this weekend, which apart from the three points was second on the agenda. Robin spoke about a knock on his knee but I don’t think that’s anything to worry about. I remember going into the Barcelona tie last year we had a number of first team players out which was a bit of a worry but they were surprisingly rushed back into the starting XI. You’ll all remember Fabregas getting injured after the equalizing penalty last year and I don’t think we saw him again the rest of the season, Arshavin came off after 15 minutes, Gallas went off at half time and Song was out injured for a few games. None of the gambles paid off last time and Wenger says he will be taking no risks this time with Samir Nasri although he is now fit and playing:

“He’ll have tests, one on Monday, one on Tuesday. He has worked very hard in the last week. Physically he is ready, just is there a risk to have a setback. I will not take a crazy gamble.

Who isn’t desperate to play. But there is another game in three weeks. We also have Leyton Orient, the Carling Cup Final, we have so many games coming up it is important not to be stupid.”

Having him in the team would be a boost of confidence. He’s not due back for another week but Samir has a history of recovering from injuries quickly and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start on Wednesday night. The most likely scenario is that he would be on the bench I think but we’ll see, Wenger will look at the results from his scans today and tomorrow and make the right decision.

He doesn’t have to risk him, I think he would be a nice option to have on the bench but I wouldn’t start him if he’s not ready. Luckily Arshavin has improved his form a fair bit recently and he might’ve earned himself that starting spot. Andrey has always been more up for the big games too which for one week only might work to our advantage. So we’ll just have to wait and see on Samir but I’m fairly confident with his replacement if he can’t make it.

Thomas Vermaelen is our other high profile injury worry but he certainly wont be available for Barcelona. Wenger says he’ll be playing with the reserves in two or three weeks which could possibly see him return for the 2nd leg. As apposed to Nasri, Vermaelen’s injury has stuck around and stuck around causing him countless setbacks so I’m not going to hold my breath on Thomas being around for the trip to the Nou Camp but you never know.

Arsene Wenger thinks we are in a better position than last year going into this game. He mentions the problems we had with unfit players last year but we won’t have that issue this time around. Sagna, Fabianksi and Vermaelen would’ve played if they had been available, as too would’ve Nasri if he doesn’t make it but other than that we are full strength with players coming into form. Szczesny is still proving himself but doing well, Djourou is in the form of his life, the midfield trio are as good as ever, Walcott is scoring and assisting and Robin is getting goals for fun. That’s without mentioning Clichy who’s been miles better recently, Arshavin who has also improved or  player of the season so far, Samir Nasri.

Arsene also talks about putting Barcelona under pressure when they are in possession. Jack Wilshere has been backing this up with these comments:

We’ve got to change our game a bit against Barca – we need to get in their faces and, if you like, be a bit nasty with them and get the ball back.

And when we’ve got the ball we have to keep it – keep it as well as they do.

This is something we proved we can do against Chelsea, Song says that should be the model for our performance on Wednesday. I know Chelsea weren’t in the greatest form when we played them but it was a fantastic performance from us, classy yet professional and we need to do that again this week.

I see no reason why we can’t reproduce a similar performance to that one and the fans will be right behind the team with every kick of the ball. I was there last year and the atmosphere was incredible, the best I’ve tasted at the new stadium and I have no doubt we’ll produce that again. Conceding an early goal would be a bit demoralizing but we’ll cross that bridge if we get to it. I’ll be there this week and I can’t wait, kick off is 47 hours away  but I’m buzzing for it already.

More build up to come before the big game. Until then.

Newcastle thoughts, Bergkamp new Ajax assistant & 2011/12 Home Shirt Photo 8 February, 2011

Well Saturday’s game was interesting wasn’t it? Quite a bizarre game of football and one that you might never see again – two teams scoring four goals in separate halves. It meant we were on the losing drawing end of a four-goal collapse to a team in the Championship last season.

It’s a bit late to go into it all now, I’m sure you’ve read countless opinions of the referee, the red card, the collapse, the whatever. I haven’t watched the highlights or any post-match interviews back since the final whistle on Saturday afternoon and I hope you don’t hold that against me.

The first half was magical, Theo scoring after 45 seconds, Djourou a minute later, we were three up before the 10 minute mark and got another before half time. It was brilliant to watch and it really could’ve been more. Being a Gooner, at 2-0 I’m never comfortable, 3-0 is good and 4-0 should be plenty enough a lead for us but if anyone was every going to let a lead that big slip it would be us. The whole thing seemed inevitable really. Djourou’s injury just a few minutes into the second half and Diaby’s sending off a few minutes later had us scared shitless. With the out of form and confidence, Squillaci at the back and no Denilson, Diaby or Song protecting the back four we looked very week – even at 4-0 up.

Two dodgy penalties, a screamer and some other goal later and we find ourselves level. Watching it through it seemed like as soon as the first goal went in there was no stopping us conceding. It was strange; it was like there was no way we were going to hold out. The home crowd got right behind their team and guided them to a massive point. Without a shadow of a doubt, we would’ve won easily if this were at home. Those two penalties would never have been given without the roar of the home fans and possibly with a bit more noise for us / a bit less noise for them we would’ve seen out the victory safely. However when Newcastle did come to us this season they beat us, so I don’t know what to say.

What’s done is done and we have to move on now. We can’t dwell on this and maybe the international break came at the right time. Thankfully Chelsea and Man United lost making the whole weekend a lot, lot better. For United it was their first loss of the season, allowing Arsenal fans to breathe a massive sigh of relief and our famous unbeaten season record stays intact for another year. After the weekend we’re 4 points off United, 1 ahead of City (with a game in hand) and 6 in front of Chelsea. It does beg the question, ‘what if we could’ve held out for the win?’ but shit happens and I would’ve taken us drawing and United winning before the weekend started. Time to move on from it and win on Saturday.

OK well what better way to move on and raise a smile than talk of Dennis Bergkamp. You might have heard this season he took his first step into management by becoming the manager of the youth team at Ajax Amsterdam. Well he’ll be taking another step up the ladder next year as Ronald de Boer says he’ll be Ajax’s first team assistant manager. A lot of Arsenal fans foresee Dennis as our savior as manager one day, it would be a great story. He’s on his way to management now and you never know he might make the role day. There is still one big problem though – will he ever get over his fear of flying? To become a manager of a team such as Arsenal he would surely have to overcome his fear but you can’t just expect him to do that. We’ll see. Maybe by the time the Arsenal job is available we won’t have to worry about European trips. I’m joking

You might’ve seen an image before of Arsenal’s possible new home shirt for next season but today I found this, a much clearer photo of what seems to be our 125th Anniversary shirt. This leak is from artey sport is the same shirt as the one I saw before which for me pretty much confirms it as our shirt for the next season.

I’m not really sure what to make of it, for so long we’ve wanted red shirts with white sleeves back but this current season’s shirt is so perfect it’s hard to like anything else. This one above is very similar to what we have now actually just without the white neck and red trimming to the sleeves, and obviously with that new badge. I’m not really a massive fan of that badge, it’s a bit cliché and I don’t really represent it with Arsenal. I much prefer this rumored design from last year but I guess on a whole it’s much better than other recent kits we’ve had so I’m happy. What do you think?

Right it’s international week this week as I’m sure you’re aware and here you can see everyone that is away trying to avoid injury. We were just about recovering from all our injuries the other week and now it seems we have quite a few missing so the last thing we need is more. Defense is the biggest issue at the moment – Koscielny, Clichy and Sagna are all in Paris for France’s game against Brazil and we need all three of them to return unharmed. Please. Tomorrow night Walcott and Wilshere’s England will face Bendtner’s Denmark in Copenhagen. I’m hoping for a 2-1 win with all three Gunners scoring but I’d be happy for a 5-0 England loss as long as everyone comes back unharmed.

Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Kieran Gibbs, Johan Djourou and Aaron Ramsey have all withdrawn from their national squads. Cesc and Robin have both been excused with the flu, I’m not sure why Gibbs isn’t playing but Djourou and Ramsey are obvious. I’m glad to see that our top two players have not been allowed to travel, especially with Barcelona next week but I hope they’re fine for the weekend.

Before I go just a quick mention of PokerJunkie.com, I’m not much of a poker player myself but it’s a good website for checking out all the online poker rooms available – good for the amateur like me or the more professional looking to compare sites. So check them out for winner poker.

Well that’s it for today. Thoughts on Newcastle and that new possible home kit in the comments section please. Thanks for reading.

Time for Szczesny to become The One and Only 3 February, 2011

There have been rumors all week about Lukasz Fabianski being ruled out for the season, and they’re true. Arsene confirmed today that he will undergo surgery on his shoulder in Germany and that means his season is over. It’s a terrible shame for Lukasz as he was just about establishing himself as Arsenal’s no.1 this season. It’s now a chance for Szczesny or Almunia says Wenger:

“The competition for the places at the moment will be between Wojciech and Almunia. Wojciech will play the next game.”

So Chesney Szczesny has the head start and he will be hoping to become our number one and only. The 20-year-old promising ‘keeper has been preferred in recent games to the more experienced Spaniard and I expect that to continue. Almunia played the FA Cup game against Huddersfield so maybe Wenger’s plan is to keep Manuel in goal in the cup and see how Wojciech gets on in the league.

It’s a massive chance for the young Pole and I expect him to grasp it with open arms. He has the backing of the fans, all he has to do is not fuck up. I say ‘all’. It’s rare for a top club to go with a guy as young as him for their first choice ‘keeper but it’s worked before for Real Madrid with Iker Casillas. I don’t want to draw any comparisons or hype up Szczesny too much but it’s obvious this guy has talent and if he’s willing to put in the effort, 2011 could be the year he cements himself as Arsenal’s no.1.

I hope Manuel Almunia will be quietly working away to earn his spot back too though. There’s nothing better than competition for places and I would love nothing more than Wenger to have the headache of selecting one of the two every week. All it takes is a couple of mistakes and you can lose your place as a goalkeeper, however on the same scale it only takes a great save, a vital stop or a penalty save to escalate a ‘keeper to a fans’ favorite.

All we can do is wish both Wojciech and Manuel the very best and hopefully this is the year we find our first proper replacement for Jens Lehmann. And if it is the Pole, I would love nothing more than hearing this ringing around the Grove:

He is, the one and only!
We’ve got Wojciech Szczes-ny!

On to other news and there’s been a load of reaction to David Moyes’ comments at full time the other night about Cesc Fabregas apparently saying something to the referee at half time worthy of him being sent off. I never mentioned it yesterday because it was quickly dismissed as nothing but at today’s press conference it was unsurprisingly brought up again. Cesc issued a statement saying he respects the officials and he was upset at half time as was 60,000 others but the referee made no comment of anything wrong in the tunnel so that’s that. He didn’t exactly deny it but why should he have to, it was just an honest statement declaring his passion for the club. Today Wenger had a bit more to say about it and he doesn’t sound over the moon with Moyes:

“I believe it is wrong for Moyes to come out with what he pretends to have heard in the tunnel. If I come out with what I have heard in the tunnel in the last 10 years you would be amazed. I think there is a rule in our job to never come out with what is said in the heat of the moment. That usually is respected by everybody.

If Cesc is guilty, he would have been charged. He has not been charged by the FA, there is no action against him, so I don’t see why we should spend any more time defending someone who is not guilty. For me, the incident is closed. If you play football with your friends you sometimes go in at half-time and say something that you are not very proud of 24 hours later, but it is in the heat of the moment.”

David Moyes has a history of trouble on the touchline (as does Arsene to an extent) and this whole thingseems like bollocks to me. He’s obviously pissed off with losing a goal lead and it’s just him trying to deflect attention away from the result. It all stinks off Phil Brown and Hull City’s attack on Fabregas when we beat them and I couldn’t give a toss. I love that Cesc shows passion for Arsenal whether it be arguing with the referee in the tunnel or not. It seems a lot of attention is on our captain at the moment and people aren’t exactly happy with him. I think he’s being picked on a bit in the media and Wenger agrees:

“Yes. We are long enough in the job to know that somebody picks on you for a while, and you are in the heat of the moment. But for me what is the most important is the player behaves well. When Cesc is on the pitch, he tries to play football – I cannot say everybody who plays against him tries to do that.

For example, some people reproach him for not exchanging shirts with a player after the game – but I hope he will not exchange shirts with players who try to kick him for 90 minutes and them come to say ‘please can I get your shirt’. I think that is a normal and natural reaction. Overall this guy is an example on the football pitch and shows you how to play football.

Cesc is 24 this year, he has played 250 games in the Premier League – at that age, it is absolutely remarkable. He has gone through a lot, difficult moments, but has always come out stronger – this guy is a fantastic leader.”

That incident with the shirt swapping he’s referring to was against Huddersfield… Yeah I think it was Huddersfield or Ipswich. They’d been kicking and fouling him the whole time he was on the pitch and then they get all pissy about him not giving them his shirt at the end. Give me a break. He can do what he wants with it.

I love Cesc as the Arsenal captain and if everyone else hates him – I couldn’t care less! He does everything possible to lead us to victory and that’s what I love about him. I’m sure none of this will affect him in the slightest but when rubbish like this gets reported I feel the need as an Arsenal blogger to stand my ground for him! We love you Cesc!

Moving on and there was news on Walcott and Song’s injuries ahead of the weekend, Alex will miss the Newcastle game but Theo is alright. I did hope that Song would be back in time for this but he’s probably still got a bit of bruising and hopefully he’ll return next weekend against Wolves.

Koscielny has been called up to the French squad for the first time. Well done mate, don’t get fucking injured.

And finally, those who applied for Wembley tickets have to check their application today. It was everyone who had less then 3 away credits and entered their memberships into the ballot last week. I’ve heard quite a few people say they’ve missed out but I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know both my memberships were accepted and I’m going to Wembley! I’m looking forward to the big day in three and a bit weeks and I hope all my readers who applied got theirs too.

That’s it for today, hopefully I’ll get a chance to write again before Saturday afternoon’s game but no promises I’m afraid. Until next time.

Arsenal 2-1 Everton – 01/02/11 – (Premier League) 2 February, 2011

There’s nothing better than coming from 1-0 down to winning 2-1 in the second half. It’s up there with my favorite kind of match, not quite in the same league as winning the league at White Hart Lane but you know what I mean… I was at the Grove when we beat Man United 2-1 coming from a goal down to win with a late Henry header and the place went mental then, alright Everton is not quite the same as United but by all accounts the place was rocking last night.

The atmosphere was helped by the referee, Lee Mason who never really had control of the game the whole 90 minutes. Constant breaks in play, now allowing advantages, blowing up for silly challenges, getting decisions wrong here, there and everywhere. The biggest talking point of the night came in the 24th minute when Saha scored and had all kinds of experts reading up on the offside rules. I’m not going to go through what happened as I’m sure you’ve seen it by now, if you haven’t click here. My immediate decision, as a Gooner is that is was blatantly offside and an absolute joke of a goal. However having thought about it I can see why is was given, the fact that Koscielny’s attempted clearance was deliberate makes it more than just a deflection and maybe that means Saha received the ball off an Arsenal player. But Laurent wouldn’t have attempted that if he wasn’t there so surely that means Saha was interfering with play? It’s a tough one, I can think of reasons for and against giving it but thankfully we won the game and I’m not still sat here ripping my hair out over it.

We hadn’t played well up until the goal but the nature of the opener lifted us a little. Apparently the replay was shown inside the stadium, which is the norm with all goals scored and the decision was clear to all the fans, players and officials to see. There was uproar from the home fans and players and Mason consulted his linesman for confirmation on the decision. Now if that’s not video replays I don’t know what is! I know we don’t replay offside decisions because that can interfere with a decision but this was a goal so it got shown and everyone was able to make up their own mind on it. Anyway, it was given and we had to pick ourselves up. For the remainder of the game the atmosphere sounded great, as it should be every game. There was noise behind every challenge, attack, defence, everything – the fans were there. It made me a bit jealous actually about not being there but I’ll be there in two weeks today for Barcelona and what an atmosphere that was last time.

It remained 1-0 at the half time break but I was still confident we’d get back. Alex Song picked up a knock in the first half and he was replaced by Diaby, hopefully Alex is alright, it sounds like he just got a bit of a bad dead leg.

We had a few decent attacks in the opening stages of the second half but we couldn’t trouble Tim Howard enough. You could see the players’ frustration. Our temper was reaching boiling point, there had been a bad atmosphere on the pitch since the beginning and that Saha goal didn’t help. There were 8 yellow cards in the game and I’m surprised there wasn’t a red.

After the hour a quiet Rosicky was replaced by Arshavin and a few minutes later Wilshere was brought off for Bendtner. Both players on yellow cards were taken off as a precaution and their replacements did a great job.

With 20 minutes to go Cesc lofted a dangerous ball into the box and Rodwell’s clearance header went behind him for Arshavin to pounce on to and finish well for the equaliser. It was similar in ways to Saha’s goal but Andrey was clearly onside from the start. A great goal and another step in the Russian’s push for form.

Just six minutes later we got the winner but we had chances to get it even earlier than that. The move for the goal started with a van Persie free kick which was well saved by Howard and put out for a corner. Robin went over to take the corner kick, delivering a great ball into the box and Koscielny came storming through to head into the back of the net. A great corner and Arsenal went mental, it was great to see the winner mean so much to the players, and indeed the fans but that is the nature of coming from a goal down. Love it.

We saw out the game and got a vital three points with Chelsea and United both winning yesterday too. It’s results like that that show the sprit of champions. We hear that phrase a lot but in recent years you would’ve seen that Arsenal side get frustrated and blow it. We’ve matured, we know we’re capable of scoring and we completed a great comeback against a difficult Everton side.

It was a great result for Arshavin too as he was voted Arsenal.com man of the match by fans and there were some nice words from Arsene afterwards about him too. Diaby had a decent second half too I thought, he showed some good football but you can tell he’s still a bit rusty and just needs games.

The only bad news though is injuries to Theo and Song. This always happens; just as it looks like we’re clearing up our injury list there are a few more names to add to it. I hope those two wont be out for too long but Arsene confirmed Samir will be out for 21 days which almost certainly rules him out of the Barca game in just 14 days time. It’s a shame but we can’t dwell on it, we have Arshavin, Diaby and Bendtner who look to be improving at the moment and they’ll all be fighting for that starting place now.

Next up it’s Newcastle on Saturday. Build up and your usual to come up until then. Thanks for reading, come on you Gunners!

Deadline Day Madness + Everton Preview 1 February, 2011

As expected we saw out the January transfer window deadline without being involved in any deals. The only news really is that we signed 18-year old Japanese forward Ryo Miyaichi but he’s going straight to the Eredivisie to play with Feyenoord for the rest of the season. There was one exit yesterday,  Nacer Barazite joined Austria Vienna. It’s always a shame to see youngsters not make the grade at Arsenal so best of luck to him in his future.

That’s about it really, we’ve sent a whole load of players out on loan this window, too many to list but Vela went to West Brom, Lansbury extended his loan at Norwich, Mannone carries on at Hull until the end of the season and Emmanuel-Thomas joined Aaron Ramsey at Cardiff, Aaron of course just there on a month’s loan so will be back with us soon.

I realised yesterday that I’m happy with the business we have done. I know we’re not perfect but I couldn’t possibly tell you who I would want to come in that were actually an achievable transfer. We could’ve done with another central defender yes, but you can’t expect a new man to come in and gel into the team straight away. Also, I said before the window opened that if we didn’t bring a defender in then it might be a good sign about Vermaelen, hopefully his recovery isn’t too far away now and once he’s fit I’ll be happy with the state of our squad.

It helps to have a mature, experienced head in the transfer window such as Arsene. We’ve done some deadline day deals in the past, got a surprising bargain now and again in this way but yesterday was just madness. The panic saw some inflation like I’ve never seen before and I’m glad we weren’t involved. A few days ago Chelsea suddenly fancied a striker and decided to go for the non-Champions-League-cup-tied, Premiership-experienced Fernando Torres. So I think that finally got done for about £50m – a player that has been off form for a long time. So then Liverpool went about trying to get a striker in and for some reason had their hearts set on Andy Carroll who goes for an absolutely insane £35m+. That is beyond a joke. I know he’s scored a few goals this season but come on, he is not worth half of that. I know Kenny Dalglish had a bit of cash to spare with the Torres transfer but for that kind of money you could’ve got any number of top players. David Villa signed for Barcelona for less than that recently – it just shows how fucked up the transfer window can get when a billionaire, an English player and the Premier League get involved. Ludicrous.

I’m happy we’re not involved in such nonsense. I love that our club is run the proper way, offer me a billionaire backing and I’ll tell you to shove it up your arse every day of the week. No we might not win the Premier League every season, but I’m so proud that we find ourselves up there with all those clubs with the cash and can compete with them without spending hundreds of millions of pounds. You’d never have that same pride if you won the league on a video game with some kind of money cheat, the same principal applies here.

So anyway, our squad stays the same and we push on in all four competitions.

Lets move on to tonight’s game and it’s back to the league as we face Everton. The boys have had just a day’s rest since the Huddersfield match but I expect it’ll be a different team tonight. The passing of the deadline also means that Manuel Almunia will be with us until the end of the season and he’ll be in the squad tonight. I’ll be interested to see whether Wenger gives the starting spot back to Szczesny or whether our traditional no.1 gets his place. I have a feeling it’ll be the young Pole, I’m starting to get used to him between the posts, so much so that for the first time I was able to type out his name in the last sentence without copying and pasting.

Sagna, Djourou and Clichy will return from their rests at the weekend. I also expect Fabregas, Wilshere, Song, van Persie and Walcott to reclaim their starting spots. The only decision to make is who will replace Nasri? Do we give Arshavin his chance back? On Sunday he was obviously trying to improve his performance so maybe we should give him the opportunity to do it again. Or do we go with Bendtner? He’s scored two in two and he will rightly feel he deserves to continue in the side. Or it could even be Rosicky, coming in for Nasri as a like for like player. I’m pretty sure it’ll be one of those three and I have a feeling Arsene will go for the guy in goal scoring habit:

Szczesny
Sagna – Djourou – Koscielny – Clichy
Song – Wilshere
Fabregas (c)
Walcott – van Persie – Bendtner

We’ll miss Nasri but we have to show we can perform without our best players. When Cesc has been out Samir has stepped up, now someone else has to show they can fill the void left by Nasri. I’m confident enough even without him in the side, we have enough creative players to cope. If we were without both him and Fabregas I’d be slightly more concerned but I think we’ll be alright.

As for the visitors well Everton have just drawn with Chelsea at the weekend, they were 1-0 up before conceding and forcing a replay so which ever way you see it they might be up or down from that. Last year they came here and drew 2-2 so they’ll come here with the belief they can get something again. They could have Anichebe back for the game but Tim Cahill is probably not ready to play yet after just returning from the Asia Cup with Australia. That means Jack Rodwell will probably start.

They’re only 5 points off the relegation zone so they’re desperate for points along with all the other clubs down that half of the table – but so are we. We’re 5 points off United at the moment with the same amount of games played, they face Aston Villa at home tonight so hopefully Villa can get something there but we have to just keep winning as much as possible so we are there ready waiting when they do slip up.

I’m finding it a bit odd that the game isn’t on TV tonight but I will be at home attempting to find this on a stream somewhere. If I find something decent I’ll post it up on my twitter.

Come on you Gunners!