Back to business + RIP Rocky 31 March, 2011

Did everyone have fun in the international break? No, neither did I. I watched England’s game with Wales and most of their game with Ghana but I still wasn’t convinced I’m much of an international fan. I mean if I can’t celebrate our goals then something must be wrong, right? It was good to see Jack Wilshere involved though but I spent most of the time worrying he’d get injured off one of the many hard tackles flying in on him. He does seem to attract bad challenges but luckily he gets up every time, I just wince every time I see someone go in though hoping that it’s not this one that breaks him. He came through it though and as far as I’m aware he’s good to go for the weekend.

There were fresh quotes on Jack’s potential involvement in this summer’s U21 Euro Championships. As you would expect Wenger doesn’t want him to go for fear of burning him out but it looks like he wants to play; and there’s not a lot we can do about that I’m afraid. He’s had a busy season this year and it’s his first full season too, the rest this summer would be really beneficial to him and we’ve seen time and time again what it can do to players who don’t get a proper rest. Fabregas and Walcott are most recent examples of our players that have devoted that extra time to playing for their country and it has affected their fitness badly. For once it looks like we have a player that can actually stay fit but I don’t want that to change simply down to a passion to play.

He says he’s going to talk to Stuart Pearce, Fabio Capello and Arsene Wenger about it but I don’t think anything will change. Stuart Pearce wants the best squad available to him and Capello will see it as beneficial for England – neither of them care one bit how it will affect Arsenal. Why should they really? England is their concern and any other team their players play for has nothing to do with them. Arsene will argue our case but I don’t see him stamping his foot down and refusing to let Wilshere go, that could piss Jack off and you don’t want an unhappy player. Maybe right now all he wants to do is play games but I don’t want this to be something he’ll look back on and think maybe he should’ve sat it out.

On the subject of Jack Wilshere, It appears he might be becoming a father at 19. No idea how valid that Sun article is but if so I guess congratulations are in order.

Any international break would not be complete without a Robin van Persie injury scare. He scored for Holland as they beat Hungary 5-3 but was withdrawn at half time after taking a knock in the first period. All our players will be back at London Colney today so we will be making our own assessments and I expect confirmation on his condition today or tomorrow. Fingers crossed because we really need him now. From what I’ve read and seen it looks like it could just be a bad dead leg but you never know with van Persie… We’re just going to have to wait and see, I’m eager for a story to pop up on Arsenal.com any minute but I guess no news is good news right? Please Robin, be ok.

If he pulls through then I think we may have passed an international period injury free. I don’t want to say that with too much confidence just yet but there is a chance we may have seen a miracle before our very eyes. I spoke previously about Bendtner twisting his ankle but it turned out to be okay and he ended up playing 90 minutes at the weekend and 76 minutes on Tuesday night.

Jens Lehmann was also in action this week, he played for the Arsenal reserves who lost to Wigan 2-1 after Ignasi Miquel’s red card. If you read our official match report it sounds like it was a solid comeback for Jens but read it anywhere else and it sounds like he had a dodgy game. Apparently he went rushing out for some ridiculous ball Almunia-style and only escaped conceding thanks to a goal line clearance. I don’t expect Arsenal.com to slate any of our own players so it’s to be expected that they reported the game in the way that they did. What should be clear though is that Lehmann is not the answer to our problems, he’s simply a reserve ‘keeper and I’d be very surprised to see him start ahead of Almunia this weekend. No matter what happened in the game, conceding two goals to Wigan’s reserve is hardly something to be proud of. Aliadiere also started for our reserves on Tuesday, he’s back at the club trying to get some fitness but some of the things I’ve read sound like he’s desperate for an official move back to Arsenal. Now as nice a guy as he might be, if Middlesbrough don’t want him then surely Arsene isn’t mad enough to be tempted by that one. I know he’s made some odd signings in recent years but Arsene, not this time please.

So in a couple of days time we play Blackburn and it’s back to the title race. I can’t wait. We’ve been away from Premiership football for too long and I’m glad there are no more pointless breaks between now and the end of the season. Going into the game we will already know how Man United have done as they play at Upton Park in Saturday’s early kick off. West Ham have a knack of getting points off them so I’m hoping they can do us another favour this weekend. If we can close the gap this weekend it will be a massive boost. More on this game in the next couple of days.

Now before I go it’s time to pay some respects. As I’m sure you’re well aware today is the 10th anniversary of David Rocastle’s death and it is a day of mourning for Arsenal Football Club. A true great of not just of the club but also the game, was lost to cancer at the age of just 33. There are many tributes doing the rounds on Arsenal blogs today but I’m afraid I can’t offer you anything as good here; as much as I try I can’t remember ever watching him live as a kid. I was quite young when he was still playing for The Arsenal and even watching back old clips of him in action doesn’t rekindle any memories. I remember his death though, it was a very sad time and I remember being told that an important Arsenal legend had died. I think it’s a real shame personally that I can’t remember his playing days because he was so highly regarded by fans it would be nice to have something to think back to. However it shows the nature of Arsenal Football Club that his name is still sung proudly around Ashburton Grove and many of those voices are probably in a similiar position to me. It is a true loss to the Arsenal family and that can’t be escaped, no matter that I cannot remember him personally I still feel a connection to him through the Arsenal family.

There is some great stuff on the Arsenal website today to remember Rocky. There are some touching videos here and a great photo album here.

10 years on and he is still remembered and celebrated as a true great of Arsenal Football Club. RIP David.

“Oh Rocky, Rocky! Rocky, Rocky, Rocky Rocastle!”

International Injury no.1: Bendtner + Djourou & Szczesny news 23 March, 2011

It was inevitable really, wasn’t it.

I had hopes that we might escape just this one international period without injury but just three days into the break we have a player being taken to hospital. Nicklas Bendtner has twisted his ankle in training for Denmark. The striker was doing shooting practice when he picked up the strain and had an ice pack on the ankle immediately. He was soon taken to hospital for scans and I’m hoping it’s nothing too serious.

The one thing we need at the moment is numbers, we cannot afford to deplete our squad any further. Whatever you think of Nicklas he will be vital to the run in, he got an assist for the equalizer at the weekend and he’s great to have in the box when chasing goal. Striker is the one position where we don’t have too many injuries but we know how quickly that can change, I’m hoping Nick has had nothing more than a nasty fall and he’s back out playing for Denmark as soon as possible; after all he could do with the match practice and a good performance for his national side could bring him back to Arsenal with even more confidence.

I expect we’ll hear news on his ankle in the next 24 hours.

Moving on to another injury and I got a bit of a shock yesterday when I saw Ray Parlour declare Djourou out for the season on his twitter after a trip to the training ground. However in the afternoon news went up on the Arsenal website that his shoulder isn’t looking too bad and he’ll be back in training in a month.

I don’t know who to believe to be honest, the optimist in me wants me to believe Arsenal.com because a return before the end of the season for Johan would be a big boost. However I know that you have to take any ‘official’ Arsenal injury news with a pinch of salt so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Romford Pele knows more than Arsenal are letting on. I don’t know, we’ll see.

Also on twitter yesterday, Szczesny was saying he’s got a scan on his finger on April 5th. That date represents exactly 4 weeks since the Barcelona game where the injury was picked up and then he says if it’s good news then it’ll be two weeks before he can go back to full training. So in an ideal scenario he could return for the Spurs game which is 6 weeks and 1 day since the injury but I wouldn’t get your hopes up so soon, lets wait a couple of weeks and see how the scan goes.

He has still been training though. His finger is only in a splint so it’s not stopping him from getting down to London Colney and working on his distribution and a bit of gym work. Good to see he’s still busy. His kicking is probably the weakest point of his game so I’m glad to see he’s using this time to work on it.

By the way I’ve compiled a list of all the Arsenal players on twitter and you can view that here. It’s pretty handy for getting early injury news like that but also having the chance to win great competitions and learning that Jack Wilshere loves a bit of Gossip Girl.

In other news Alisher Usmanov has upped his stake in Arsenal but only by a small margin and I have to admit I’m a lot less worried about Jabba the Hutt taking over the club than I was about three years ago.

We’ve got 14 players away on international duty, that’s one down and 13 to go. Keep them fingers crossed. Unless you’re Wojciech Szczesny of course and leave them fingers alone.

It’s such a nice day in Bournemouth today so I think I’m gonna head down to the beach. I’m out of here, thanks for reading.

Possible leaked 125th anniversary home kit pictures – 2011/12 20 March, 2011

I did previously link to another leaked photo but it now looks like our new  home kit could be this. Emphasis on the word ‘could’, I have no idea how genuine these are but they look pretty real to me.

If this is the real deal, I guess i like it but I doubt I’ll be buying it. It’s too similar to our current shirt (which I love) and I don’t really see the need to spend £50 just to get a shirt that has got some leaves round the badge. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong but I dunno I kind of expected something a bit more special. It says ‘Arsenal’ though so I guess that’s all you can ask for with an anniversary kit.

I guess we’ll get confirmation on the new kits in the summer but until then this might be what we’re wearing next season. It would look good with some red and white stripy socks and matching gold Premier League patches on the sleeves…

As for the away, well Arseblogger said on his twitter that the new away could be based on this blue lightning kit from 1995:

That could be interesting! I had that kit when I was a boy with Wright 8 on the back so I’d be tempted to get that again over the home. We’ll see ay.

Tomorrow is the first day of the international break, our players will be jetting home to reunite with their national teams. It might be awkward but remember to keep those fingers crossed for two solid weeks in the hope that we get no more injuries. News is going to be pretty slow Arsenal-wise so I’ll try my best to keep the site updated in the meantime, but I guess no news is good news.

Feel free to spread these photos to your friends using the Facebook and Twitter buttons below. Also if you missed it my write up from my trip to West Brom yesterday is here. Thanks for reading.

West Brom 2-2 Arsenal – 19/03/11 – (Premier League) 20 March, 2011

Another match, another disappointment, another drama. Well it would just be boring if we strolled to a win every week wouldn’t it?

We could’ve really done with a win yesterday to end the bad spell we’ve been on and go into the International break with our confidence back but in the end we were lucky not to lose. A draw is a bad result but with the circumstances yesterday I suppose it’s not the end of the world; it could’ve been much better but it could’ve been a lot, lot worse. At 2-0 down I didn’t think we were coming back and I said to myself I’d be happy with a draw so I guess I can’t complain too much. We had chances to win it at the end and a goal then would’ve been absolutely massive but it didn’t come so I guess we just need to be glad we didn’t drop all three points. We’re still in the race for the moment.

My day started at half 11, getting the train up to Birmingham. The city centre was a loony bin; I saw all kinds of lunatics in my 10 minute walk from Birmingham New Street station to Birmingham Moor Street station than you’d see in a week in London. Well I guess that depends where you go! But little did I know the craziest motherfucker was to come, a crazy Spaniard about an hour into the match itself…

I got to The Hawthorns pretty early, I was there just after 1 o’clock and I was surprised to see the West Brom players walking to the stadium from the facility over the road. Good for the home fans getting a few autographs and that, bad for me as I had to endure the deformed face of Scott Carson up close. I stayed though to see if Carlos Vela was about and then hung around to see the Arsenal coach arrive and watch the players get off the bus. It’s not a sight I get to see much anymore, I used to watch the players get off the coach at Highbury, quite liked cheering the players in. Anyway if you’re interested you can watch a video of them arriving here. It was my first glimpse of the man, the legend – Jens Lehmann.

Inside the ground they were showing Tottenham vs. West Ham which was quite inspiring for a few lots of anti-Spurs chanting. A West Ham goal would’ve gone down a treat, and despite at half time the West Brom big screen saying The Hammers won 1-0, it was not the case and it finished 0-0. Nice to see them dropping points as always and we made our way to our seats in high spirits.

Whilst watching the scum I received the team news that Ramsey was starting via some kid in front of me jumping up screaming as if we’d just scored a cup final winning goal. I mean I understand he is liked amongst fans but fuck me that was an over reaction to 21-year-old who hasn’t started a Premier League game in over a year. I don’t know, maybe he had twenty quid on Aaron starting, then the reaction might’ve made sense. I was there at Stoke when he was Shawcrossed so I feel a sense of attachment to him too but I don’t exactly think he’s going to be our saviour right now. Aaron was joined in midfield by the defensive (and I use that term very loosely) partnership of Denilson and Wilshere.

Denilson has been bad recently but fuck me he was awful yesterday. He couldn’t hit a pass with any accuracy, conviction or creation. He looks like he’s completely lost any confidence and his defending was even worse. His idea of defence is loose your man, chase back and him then foul him. Surely he can’t play again this season and I’m glad Wenger shared my view as he was brought off at half time.

Any good feelings about the game or hysteria about Aaron Ramsey’s start were quickly diminished. West Brom won an early corner and Reid beat none other than Ramsey to the header and they were 1-0 up after two minutes. I wonder how that kid felt about his favourite Welshman now. Not a lot you can say about the goal, it was a good corner and a good header, I thought we could’ve done better to not concede the set piece in the first place, Sagna missed the clearance completely giving Koscielny no choice but to nod it out.

We only really had one chance to reply in the first half. Clichy put in a good cross to van Persie who’s looping header hit the bar and fell to Ramsey who couldn’t put it in from 3 yards out. Carson did well to get a block in but I hoped Aaron might’ve placed it in the corner rather than hitting it straight at the ‘keeper.

At half time we found ourselves in a very similar situation to 2004. Having just been knocked out of the FA Cup and Champions League we were trailing to Liverpool in the league and needed a big second half performance. Apparently that day Thierry Henry had some inspirational words to say in the Highbury dressing room but yesterday I couldn’t imagine any one of that squad grabbing the team by the scruff of the neck at half time. Maybe Jens Lehmann but he’s hardly in a position to be bossing anyone around just yet being at the club about three days.

It told and we didn’t exactly come out in the second half raring to go. The only boost of confidence was Denilson’s departure for Chamakh, which meant Nasri dropped back into midfield. I thought Marouane had a good half actually; he’s been a bit disappointing since RVP returned and took his place in the side but he was one of my men of the match yesterday. He was getting involved, looking for the ball and making moves, which unfortunately cannot be said of a lot of players. I have no problem with a lack of quality or skill but I love a player that puts the effort in and that’s exactly what Chamakh did yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised. He could still do with a goal though, he got an assist for Arshavin’s goal but if he could rediscover that goal scoring form from early in the season it could be vital to our title hopes. I wasn’t so impressed with Andrey Arshavin yesterday, he is miles ahead in the vote for Arsenal.com’s man of the match but he was pissing me off yesterday. It was just the typical Arshavin performance – do nothing all game, amble around and then two bits of magic and he’s a hero. He never got going until we were 2-0 down and that was true of most of the side. Why the fuck do we have to wait until we’re losing by two goals to actually have a go? It’s like we had no motivation, is the Premier League title not motivating enough? For fucks sake…

Anyway, Ramsey was taken off for Bendtner in the 56th minute as Wenger tried to do something about our game. I thought Aaron had an alright hour, he needs games to get back to his best but he can’t do a lot when the players around him aren’t helping and I think that was his problem yesterday. We were 1-0 down but we weren’t creating or doing much, maybe having Bendnter, Chamakh, van Persie, Arshavin and Nasri on the pitch would force something out of them. However it wasn’t the substitution that inspired us, it was another West Brom goal.

They went 2-0 up two minutes after that change and what a ridiculous goal it was. The ball was hoofed up field more in hope than anything else, Odemwingie had just Squillaci to beat but Almunia made it a whole lot easier for him by charging out of his goal for no apparently reason, getting nowhere near the ball. The West Brom striker  just had to take a touch and score into the empty net. I’d almost forgotten about this side of Manuel’s game, he made some good saves at Old Trafford and the Nou Camp but for every four or five good stops there’s a moment of madness. I don’t know what the fuck he was thinking, we were in trouble but Squillaci was there and if he had stayed in goal then Odemwingie would’ve had some work to do to try and find some room for a shot and Almunia might’ve saved it then. Instead he ran out of goal with no real confidence and made it easy for him. If you’re going to come out, you have to 100% commit and sprint to the ball, not just jog out and hope for the best. There was some calling for Lehmann but I don’t think he is the answer. I mean Jens is a legend but he’s just as crazy as Almunia and I wouldn’t put it past him making the same mistake yesterday. Not just that but he’s been out of football for ages and there’s a reason for that – he’s here simply in case Almunia gets injured so I’m not saying drop Manuel. He’s all we have so we can’t moan too much about yesterday calamitous error, all we can do is just get behind him and hope Szczesny recovers soon.

At 2-0 down it looked pretty dire and to be honest I thought we were going to lose seeing the way we’d been playing. There were a few Gooners who had seen enough and were making their way out. There was still half an hour to go though so there was still time to turn it around if there was some miracle. I was saying in my head that I’d be happy with a draw now, at 1-0 down I still thought we might come back and win but at this point I would just be happy with a point. We only needed a goal to inspire us and that came with 20 minutes to go.

We started actually showing some urgency after going two down. I was frustrated it had taken this long but at least we were playing now. Arshavin suddenly decided that he wanted to play and he was instrumental in our fight back. In the 70th minute he played a one-two with Chamakh, took a touch inside the area and finished brilliantly in the far corner with his left foot. That’s the thing with Arshavin, he can have an awful game then out of nowhere score a brilliant goal! We put the foot on the pedal even more and just seven minutes later we squeezed in the second. Arshavin did well on the left wing getting past two defenders and managing to put in cross. It fell to the back post, Bendtner got a knee on it before it went out and it fell to van Persie who slid in and the ball trickled across the line. It was a scrappy, scrappy goal but one we worked hard for and we’d got it back to 2-2.

We spent the remainder of the game pushing and we could’ve got a third but it never came. To come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 would’ve been brilliant and incredibly motivating for the rest of the season but in the end it didn’t come and I guess we just have to be thankful we got those two goals. To lose yesterday, well it would’ve been fucking shit to say the least. The team’s attitude was not right and I hope that it gets sorted out in the two week break we’ve got now. We’re lacking leadership and fight but hopefully that will return when we get some players back after these internationals. Fabregas, Walcott and Song are all due back for our next game, which will be a massive boost; we really miss the different qualities of those three players – Creation, leadership, pace and the ability to defend. However we always go into international breaks in this sort of situation – just as it looks like we’re nearing some degree of a full squad another group of players go and get injured. My money is on van Persie to come back crocked but my fingers are heavily crossed he can escape injuries just this once; we could do with a bit of luck.

Man United have got injury problems of their own and I think this break comes at a good time for them too. The lucky bastards got a last minute gifted goal yesterday to win 1-0 so they’re five points ahead of us now having played a game more but that game in hand we have is away to Tottenham and that’s hardly a guaranteed three points.

As frustrating and heartbreaking these sort of times are, it sure is exciting and I’m glad we’re in the mix. Thanks for reading.

West Brom Preview: 3 points needed before internationals 19 March, 2011

This is it now, there are no other distractions with cup competitions; we have one sole aim – to win the Premier League. Ten games stand between us and the title. Some very tricky ones, some winnable ones but today we start with a trip to West Brom and it’s one of the 10 I’ve highlighted as ‘must win’.

They’re a tough side and I know that because I was at the game earlier in the season when they went 3-0 up on us. They were under a different management then and they showed that they weren’t afraid to attack. They now have Roy Hodgson at the wheel but the players will take confidence from the way they were able to break us down in September. They know we are fragile at the back and they know that today we’re coming to the Hawthorns with a depleted defense.

Wenger says he’s not worried about Squillaci but I have to admit I am a little. I mean I’ve seen him do well and I’m confident he can step up his game again but what I’m worried about is if he can be consistent for 90 minutes of the ten remaining games. It’s a big chance for him to make his mark in his debut season and I’ve got my fingers crossed that he forms a solid partnership with Koscielny now. It’s not just down to those two though, the whole side must not forget their defensive responsibilities. That’s Denilson, Wilshere, Ramsey, Diaby, Nasri, Rosicky, Bendtner and especially Arshavin – not only do they need to be looking forward but also when not in possession we need to close every team down quickly and win the ball back. I’d love it if we could emulate Barcelona performance against us in the Nou Camp where we found it so difficult to keep the ball never mind attack.

We have a few injures for today so the side might look something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Clichy
Wilshere – Denilson
Nasri
Rosicky – van Persie (c) – Arshavin

Bendtner could also come into that side at the expense of Rosicky but I’m not sure, Arsene likes the option of Tomas at the moment and he is better at tracking back than some of the others.

West Brom’s current form from the last five games is: LDDDW. That last win was against Birmingham City, it was a big win for them and they’ve had two weeks to prepare for this game. They’ll be ready and confident that they can nick something today to help their fight against the drop. It’s not going to be easy today but I still fancy us to win. We need to start well and put them under pressure from the first minute whilst not forgetting to defend with everything we’ve got. An early goal would be brilliant, I’m not saying by any means that West Brom are going to hold out for a 0-0 but the longer it remains that way the more tense it’s going to get.

I’m off to the game today, in fact I better wrap this post up quickly as my train is at half 11. I’m really looking forward to it, every game in the Premiership is massive now and I’m sure the Gooners will be in full voice today. It’s also going to be a chance to see Jens Lehmann in the flesh, the last time I saw him he was waving to the fans at Ashburton Grove to chants of ‘Leee-man! Leee-man!’ I’m expecting something similar today. I’ll report back on the game tomorrow but you can follow my trip over on my twitter – twitter.com/the_cannon.

Enjoy the game however you’re following it. Let bring back those three points from Birmingham. COME ON YOU GUNNERS.

News round up: Injuries, signings and bans 18 March, 2011

There’s quite a bit to go over today so I’m just going to jump straight in, been putting off this post for a while thanks to the Guinness headache this morning but it’s all good. There was a fresh press conference yesterday so naturally there’s fresh injury news:

“Cesc Fabregas is out for the game on Saturday. He should be back after the international break, maybe, he has a chance, but he is not available for the weekend. Walcott is not available for the weekend and he has no chance [for England]. He is not available for England.

Johan Djourou is out for at least six weeks. There’s a little chance [he will play again this season], he has an arthroscopy on Monday and we will know more about the damage in his shoulder. But anyway we hope we will have good news but no matter what happens he will be out for six weeks.

For Thomas Vermaelen the season is over. In fairness he has not played since September, I never expected him to be fit before the end of the season. He is not out on the field yet and it is impossible [for him to play] after six months without competition. I am confident he will have a full recovery but for this season we cannot rely on him.”

So nothing new on Cesc, Theo and Johann; I’m looking forward to the former two making it back after the international break but as for Djourou he would be a timely bonus if he can make it back for May. The news on Vermaelen doesn’t come as a huge shock, as Wenger said he has been out of practice for so long even if he recovered now he wouldn’t be fit and ready in time to play. It’s a real shame and I hope Thomas comes back raring to go in pre-season.

It’s incredibly frustrating for a fan though. We’ve been told ’10 days’, ’4weeks’, ‘another 6 weeks’ etc. etc. throughout the season being left suspended in hope that he might return. I know that he’s had setbacks that the club couldn’t predict but when Wenger says, ” I never expected him to be fit before the end of the season,” you can’t help but feel like you’ve been lied to. I was a bit pissed off with Wenger yesterday because I know he lies to the media a lot but on something like this I feel like I’ve been given the run-around on expecting him back. Not just that but if he knew that he was going to be out for the season why didn’t he strengthen the squad in January? That’s just negligence.

Well having since seen the video footage from the quotes I feel a bit better, I don’t think he’s saying he knew all along he’d be out for the season but I don’t know. I still feel a bit frustrated that he didn’t bring in a central defender on loan in January because now we find ourselves in a situation where we are in a title-winning position with 10 games to go and we’re playing our 3rd and 4th choice defenders. Arsene likes a gamble but this one doesn’t look like it’s going to pay off at the moment. If Koscielny and Squillaci can form a solid partnership between now and then end of the season then me and a load of others will be proved wrong but I’m getting a bit fed up of us taking these risks. As he said there’s still a chance of Djourou coming back after 6 weeks but how am I supposed to believe that after this?

Edit: Also forgot to mention that Abou Diaby is somehow injured again. Incredible that he’s injured yet again. Maybe his muscles run on a meter system and Arsene has run out of change. I dunno.

Anyway moving on and UEFA announced that Wenger and Nasri will face a one-match ban for their comments to the referee at the Nou Camp. I don’t know if we’ll bother appealing that as it’s such a small ban but I’m sure Arsene isn’t over the moon at being fined €10,000 for simply speaking passionately about that terrible, terrible decision. That’s all in the past now so lets just leave it but it means the manager and Nasri will likely miss the opening group game of next year’s competition.

It was also announced this week that Alex Ferguson will face a five-match ban in the league. Wenger thinks it won’t have an affect on Man United but every little helps and Ferguson is one of those managers that hassles the referees all game to get his side a decision. It might come to our advantage, it might not. The ban does mean that he could miss the game when United come to The Emirates, however their Newcastle game has still yet to be rearranged and if it comes before our game it might mean he misses that one instead and returns for the game against us. We’ll wait see on that one.

Also, the Champions League draw was made today and United play Chelsea. I was only interested in the draw to see how the fixtures will affect our title rivals, obviously they haven’t got far to travel by drawing Chelsea but the matches could affect team selections in the surrounding games. I’m not naive enough to think Ferguson will rest players in the League but fatigue could affect their performances. The first leg comes after their West Ham (a) match, which is followed by a home visit of Fulham, and then the second leg is a few days later but their game on the weekend after that is in the FA Cup. I guess we want United to beat Chelsea and cause further fixture congestion, if they did progress their semi final against Inter Milan or Schalke will be a few days before they come and play us with the second leg just three days later. So if they knock Chelsea out of Europe it might give a slight advantage for us when it comes to the league.

I’ve missed the excitement of a proper title challenge, looking so much at an opposition’s fixtures!

Moving on then and it was officially announced that Jens Lehmann has joined the club to help sort out our goalkeeping crisis. It’s an exciting move for the fans and I can’t wait to see Jens’ crazy warm-ups tomorrow. I don’t expect him to play much however if he did make an appearance in, or after the Liverpool game he would become the club’s oldest ever player. The record is currently held by Jock Rutherford at 41 years 159 days. He’s interested in breaking a record at the club but his main aim is to bring the Premier League title back to Arsenal. You can watch his first interview back at the club below.

Wenger says he will get the best out of Almunia and I guess that plus the motivational side of his game is just as important as his new role of back up goalkeeper. Szczesny or Mannone could return in May so Jens might find himself third choice before the season is out but that wont matter to him. His presence in the training ground and the dressing room will hopefully inspire the players to get the results we need. He mentions in that interview that he joins Gael Clichy as the only current players who know what it’s like to bring the title to North London. Hopefully that experience can be shared by the current group of players come the end of May.

He’ll be on the bench for tomorrow’s game away to West Brom and I’ll be there happily cheering his name once again. It’s not about Lehmann though, it’s about three points – tomorrow is a massive game and I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond at the Hawthorns. I’ll be there but I’ll preview the game in the morning before I get the train up to Birmingham.

Speak to you tomorrow.

An in depth look at the title run in 15 March, 2011

Well since we last spoke we have been knocked out of the third and final cup competition going. I really hoped that we might’ve be able to go on in the FA Cup this season, especially seeing the midfield that United started with but our defensive frailty, bad luck and inability to take our chances came to haunt us again. Van der Sar had a great game and kept them in it on many occasions but with the amount of possession, chances and attacks we had we should’ve really scored.

It’s over now though and there’s not much point dwelling on it. It’s strange to think that we only have one competition left to play for but we just need to get on with it. There’s 10 games left in this title race and we have a very good chance to lift the Premier League trophy if we can perform. United have nine games left of their league campaign but also have the FA Cup and Champions League to concentrate on so that might work in our advantage. It’s the one positive you can take from being knocked out of all the cups in quick succession.

So instead of criticizing the manager or the players I thought I’d be a bit more positive and weigh up our Premier League chances. After all, it is the biggest prize our of all four and if we were to pull it off then the FA Cup, Carling Cup and European competitions will be completely forgotten. Here is the fixture run in for the rest of the season.

So from that you can see we still have to face Liverpool and Tottenham before United come to us, plus we have some tricky away trips to the Reebok, the Britannia and Craven Cottage where we have dropped points before. United have got more home games than us but one of those is against Chelsea and they also have some tough away trips to West Ham, Newcastle and Blackburn. I think it’s quite an even run in though, maybe slightly leaning towards United because they rarely drop points at home but the match on 1st May is the big one. We’ve got six big games before then but I still feel that the title will be won or lost in May.

We look the busier of the two teams from that graphic I’ve made but what it doesn’t show you is that Man United will probably be playing European football midweek between some of those games plus they still have to fit in a trip to St. James’ Park in that schedule. So it’s really us that has the clear path to the end of the season with only the Tottenham match left as a midweek game; otherwise we will have full week breaks between each games, which is really important for our fragile looking side.

You could look at those fixtures and try to predict the results and see where we end up but that’s pointless at this stage. Anything can happen in the final few weeks as every team scraps for those vital last points. I could look back at the form book and see how well the two sides have performed against each team they have to play but it’s all meaningless now. It comes down to who wants it more and who is willing to give every last breath to earn the points each week. The facts are that United have 60 points, Arsenal have 57 but with a game in hand – it’s neck and neck and anything can happen.

I don’t want to say each game from now on is a cup final because we’ve shown that we don’t do very well in those but every single match is vital. We have to make sure we win 95% of the ‘lesser’ games, i.e. West Brom, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Stoke, Villa and Fulham. On paper those are all teams that we are better than and we should beat; too many times we drop points against those sort of sides but we can’t afford to let that happen now, we have to beat the teams below us it’s as simple as that. As for Liverpool, Spurs and United we are capable of winning all three of them but I’m realistic, they’re all going to be tough games especially as the opposition needs the points just as much as we do. I’d take 5 points from those three games now but you don’t know what we’ll need yet. Hopefully we don’t get to the end of April and we’re in a position where we need to win all three of them.

As for the squad available to do it well who knows what we’ll have. Year after year I’m astounded by the injuries we get and I’m sure if by some miracle we could stay fully fit all season we’d win the league and maybe even the Champions League but it doesn’t work like that. At the end of the season one name is engraved on the Premier League trophy and never has it said anything like: ‘CHELSEA (BUT ARSENAL HAD LOADS OF INJURIES THAT YEAR SO IT WAS A BIT UNFAIR)’. We’ve just got to deal with it and put out 11 hungry players that will fight for a win.

Goalkeeper
Who else gets injuries to three of their first team ‘keepers? Honestly! We’re left with just Manuel Almunia now but he’s shown against Barcelona and United that he can make some good saves. It looks as if we are bringing in Jens Lehmann as a back up to Almunia but I hope he’s no more than that. He’ll be a great character to have around in this run-in but unless we’re unlucky enough to get another goalkeeper injury he should move no further than the bench.

Defence
Vermaelen has pretty much missed a whole season and I’m not holding my breath about seeing him again. I heard whispers about him maybe being available for maybe our final few games but we’ll just have to wait and see. In his absence Djourou has stepped up and done brilliantly but he is now apparently out for the season after dislocating his shoulder at Old Trafford on Saturday. Also, what a freakish incident that was…just our luck… However there are rumours coming out of Switzerland that it might not be as bad as first thought and he could still play a part this season. We’ll see about that one but it would be great news as currently we have just Koscielny, Squillaci and Miquel available to play central defence, Song is out too but when he does return we miss him too much in midfield to think about playing him at the back. Koscielny is the only one we can count on in the centre of defence at the moment so we have to hope he can pull out more of those great performances week in, week out. I should also mention the brilliant Sagna and Gale Clichy who has also be looking near his best again. We need those two to keep doing what they do also.

Midfield
I mentioned Song already and he can’t come back soon enough. We’re struggling without a proper defensive midfielder in our set up but hopefully we just have one more game to play now without him. Wilshere has been incredible this season and the efforts he has made so far are enough to make him my player of the season already. It’s a shame to see someone work so hard and give so much in a team that doesn’t give half the effort he does sometimes so I don’t know where we’d be without him. Fabregas is ham-strung yet again but hopefully he’s not too far away from recovery as we could do with a bit of Cesc-magic before he (probably) packs his bags for Barcelona. One last push please Cesc. Ramsey is ‘like a new signing’ for this final part of the season so hopefully he can come in and do well but not just that – he can also provide a bit of competition for places which might hopefully improve the performances of Denilson, Diaby and Rosicky. As for Samir Nasri well he’s been a bit quiet recently but if he could re-find some of that form then he will make a massive difference, along with Wilshere he’s a definite contender for player of the season so we need him back to his best, scoring and creating goals please.

Forwards
We’re missing the attacking threat of Walcott right now, I guess he is still due to come back after the international break so I’m looking forward to his return. On the other side Arshavin did look like improving but put in a rubbish performance at Old Trafford so I wouldn’t be so bothered about him not getting in the side – we need players that want this. As for the central striker well I don’t have a lot of confidence in Chamakh at the moment but maybe he still has goals in him, also Bendtner could do with some goals to his name but he is currently sick with food poisoning but maybe he’ll be okay for this weekend.

I’m still not quite over Robin van Persie’s sudden fitness for the Barcelona game but it does appear he is ready to go after 90 minutes against Man United. You never know, there’s still time for him to get injured especially as he goes away with Holland next week but if he can stay fit we’re a lot more dangerous going forward. He is without a doubt our best striker at the club and he reminds us of that every now and again. He was on a good goal-scoring run but recently he’s let that drop a bit, a goal this weekend might put him back on his way.

It’s all well and good picking out individuals and asking for a hero to come along and bring us through but I also think it’s important this team fights for this as a team. We have a group of players here at should be hungry starving for success so if they are not ready to fight for the result every weekend then really I don’t know what to think. Some fans might be pissed off with the way we’ve dropped out of the cups this years but it’s about pulling together now for this title run in. I’ll be there at The Hawthorns this weekend and I’m looking forward to another vital Premier League game.

Build up to that one to come in the next few days but I’m hoping inside our London Colney training centre this week there are some serious talks about fighting for this prize.

Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed todays post don’t forget you can share it to your friends on Facebook or your followers on Twitter using the buttons below. I haven’t actually used them myself yet so I don’t know if they work!

Beating Man United will put Barcelona, Birmingham and Busacca behind us 12 March, 2011

What a week we’ve just had, not only the disappointment(s) of being robbed of a win against Sunderland last weekend but obviously going out of the Champions League in controversial circumstances on Tuesday. It’s been a week of terrible refereeing decisions against us and you know what, I just want today’s game to not revolve around the man in the middle. Unfortunately, Arsenal vs. Man United provides a perfect stage for an egotistical referee to make some headlines for himself but I’m hoping, please, just not today.

Anyway, that’s that out the way and hopefully it’s not something that needs bringing up again after the game. I won’t be here with a match report as I’m actually in Germany this weekend so I’ll just have my usual thoughts on Monday or Tuesday about the game when I’m back from Dusseldorf. I’m just about to set off for Gatwick now so I’ll be watching in some Irish Pub there this afternoon.

I feel that this game has become all the more important in recent weeks. When the draw was made, yes it was a massive game, it always is but what has happened since then has made it even bigger. Before both teams might’ve been expected to field a weakened line up and rest a few players but now I’m thinking both us and United will really go for it. If we had won the Carling Cup I don’t think the need would be as great for the FA Cup. Also if we had somehow beaten Barcelona then it would be fair to say that our priorities would be Europe and the Premier League. Now we have just this FA Cup game standing between us and a semi final plus the chase for the League Title. They’re two big chances for a trophy and I really think we need to win something this year to put behind not only that record but the losses against Birmingham and Barcelona.

As for United well they obviously didn’t win the Carling Cup either but they have still got a chance in Europe. They’re stuck in this title race with us but thanks to two losses on the bounce it’s right in the balance and they can’t assume they’re going to go all the way. Like us, the FA Cup to the represents a significant opportunity of silverware this season with Man City being the only top-four challenger standing in the way. Arsenal and United will be looking to avoid ending the season trophy-less so todays’s game has become much more important.

I always get excited about playing United; it’s the old school rivalry. I think it’s going to be a great game and the winners will have that psychological upper hand in the title race too. They will also be rewarded with a game at Wembley in the semi finals and as much as they might want it, I want it more. A chance to go back to Wembley so soon would be very welcome to quickly help erase those memories of the Carling Cup final.

Arsene says he will play his strongest team however we have got a few fresh injuries to deal with. Fabregas has done his hamstring again and Szczesny is out for six weeks with that finger injury. Almunia had a blinder against Barca so I’m not too worried about him taking over again but he is now our only fit ‘keeper. Mannone is on loan with Hull but he’s also injured so Wenger has said he might have to make an emergency loan. More on that when I hear but the name ‘Jens Lehmann’ has been talked about recently and that would be hilarious! It’s so crazy it might just work but at the moment that’s just fan speculation. Wenger has praised Almunia’s professional attitude having spent so long in the reserves and on the bench and now his time has come to potentially earn his place back until the end of the season. Whether he chooses to stay on after that is another matter but 2011 is in Manuel’s hands now. Literally.

Robin van Persie is fit though which comes as a bit of a surprise to me because I never really thought he’d be 100% for the Barcelona game so it must mean he has completed a genuine early comeback. It’s just a shock that it’s come from Robin! So if Arsene says we’re going to play our strongest possible team then I think it might look something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Djourou – Koscielny – Clichy
Wilshere – Diaby
Rosicky
Nasri – van Persie (c) – Arshavin

I’ve said this before but personally I’d have Nasri swapped with Rosicky in Cesc role but Wenger has avoided that recently. Bendtner could start maybe ahead of Robin if he’s not fully fit to start or on the wing so don’t surprised to see him.

United will undoubtedly play their strongest possible side too but Nani got injured last weekend and Ferdinand is still out. Vidic will return to the side after being suspended for the Liverpool game.

I’m looking forward to a traditional Arsenal vs. Man United encounter. It’s always something special and a game that’s been fought right until the end. There have been some great memories in this game but also some moments to forget. Hopefully we will play our best side like Wenger said and we’ll avoid another thrashing like we’ve had in the past as that could be further damaging to our confidence. Like I said though, I just hope that today doesn’t become about the referee again and we can just enjoy a proper game a football without any controversy. A win would be great, I’d love that; however a draw would be a decent result as I fancy us against them at home. If it is a draw there is a bit of a worry as to when we’ll actually play to the replay because of upcoming fixture congestion but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. A loss, well that would be a bit rubbish obviously but if we do lose then please let it be by a slim margin. I can’t call this one, it’s a really even match up on paper so it could come down to one moment of magic. Lets hope our top magicians in Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie have dusted off their wands and are ready to pull a rabbit out of the hat. That all sounded a bit dirty didn’t it? Unintentional, I promise.

Right I’m off to Deutschland now, enjoy the game wherever you’re watching.

Come on you Gunners!

Barcelona 3(4) – 1(3) Arsenal –08/03/11 – (Champions League K.O. 2nd Leg) 10 March, 2011

I’ve had a couple of days to calm down about this result but nothing has changed for me, I might not be as angry but I’m just as frustrated as to the manner of our Champions League exit. It was set to be an incredible night of football at the Nou Camp, two great footballing teams coming face to face yet again but the match was ruined by one big headed idiot with a whistle and some cards.

Robin van Persie was a surprise starter which was great to see but just as surprising was the inclusion of Tomas Rosicky who was obviously deployed as a better defensive option that Arshavin. We knew that we’d be on the back foot for most of the game but we defended resiliently in the first half. Barca were all over us but every time we managed to keep them out and they could hardly test Almunia who replaced Szczesny after just 18 minutes. Memories of Paris ’06 came back with Manuel coming on after Lehmann’s red card but on Tuesday night Almunia was our man of the match and kept us in it in the second half. Hopefully Wojciech is alright but Almunia showed just why he has the no.1 on the back of his shirt.

In the first half some of our defending was last-ditch but we managed to keep them out. They always looked dangerous but we were giving everything to keep them out. It looked like we would go into half time keeping it at 0-0 but one silly, silly mistake from Cesc Fabregas gifted them the ball on the edge of the box and they worked quickly and brilliantly to make it 1-0. If he’d have just booted it clear we would’ve made it to half time still leading in the tie but it wasn’t to be and it meant we needed to score in the second half.

We’d found it very difficult to hold any kind of possession in the first 45. Every time we won the ball we soon lost it to Barcelona and we’d be on the back foot defending once again. We’re used to this now though and we had a lot of men behind the ball when not in possession. We played like I’ve seen many teams play against us before and it’s just a shame that after all that hard work one error and we’re behind.

I wasn’t too worried though, I knew we’d improve as the game went on. All we needed was one goal and we’d be winning on aggregate again and that goal came in the 52nd minute. Nasri won a rare corner and van Persie whipped in a dangerous ball which Busquets stuck in the back of his own net.

1-1 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate and the game was turned on its head. It meant Barca needed two goals to go through and we really had something to protect now. This was ours to lose and we had a massive chance of going through. It meant that they would have to come at us and with 11 men we could both be strong in defence but dangerous on the counter.

However it was all fucked up by one idiot of a referee. You all know what happened, a second yellow for van Persie having a shot ONE SECOND after the whistle was blown. It’s a joke, I have never seen anything like it before. Fair enough if it was four or five seconds later and Robin had blasted it into row Z then the ref might have a case but Robin had no idea he was offside, he never took his eye off the ball and it was a genuine shot on goal. He argued with the ref that there was no way he could hear one whistle amongst 95,000 fans and even if he had by the time the whistle had went he was already lining up the shot. I don’t think there was any fan, player, manager or even official inside that ground that would’ve booked him for that, this man had an agenda and he wasn’t going to back down.

If a Barca player had done the exact same thing the idea of a booking wouldn’t have even crossed my mind. Not in the slightest. I couldn’t believe what he’d done. Not only was it a joke of a sending off but also it had totally ruined the game. We were leading at the time but when we went down to 10 men I said that whatever happens now I will never be able to justify it because of that decision – we’ll never know if we could’ve knocked Barcelona out or not, that’s the annoying thing. With 10 men we didn’t have a hope, not only was there one less man behind the ball to defend but there was no longer an attacking threat – nothing for Barca to be wary of on the counter and they could pick us apart with ease. Maybe we should’ve put another striker on straight away but we needed as many men defending as we could at this point.

Yes, Barcelona were magnificent but you never know what might’ve happened with 11 men. That is what’s so frustrating. Wenger said afterwards he was sure we’d progress without that sending off – I think we definitely had a massive chance.

Despite Almunia’s best efforts Barcelona eventually scored and then got another from the penalty spot. At 3-1 we still only needed a goal to goal through but with 10 men and a knackered side we still didn’t have much of a chance. Cesc and Rosicky were replaced with Arshavin and Bendtner but it didn’t make much of a difference, it was now even easier for the home side to keep the ball and we could only muster one chance and that was when Wilshere put Bendtner through but Mascherano tracked back well and got something on it. Maybe Bendtner could’ve shot first time, scored and undone the injustice of the red card, that would’ve been sweet but on the night it just wasn’t to be.

So it ended 3-1, 4-3 on aggregate but it didn’t feel like we’d been properly beaten. If that had happened with 11 men on the pitch then I’d have no problems with being beaten by a brilliant side but you just never know how it might’ve gone if we weren’t robbed of a player. Yes we didn’t manage a shot on target but we held out Barcelona for an hour with all our players, it wasn’t until we lost Robin that they were able to break through much easier. Credit has to go to Almunia for keeping us in the game as long as he did. Well done to him.

Cesc revealed after the game that he picked up an injury after 15 minutes and that would explain his poor performance. He was anonymous. He also said this on his twitter:

I take full blame for the result tonight. One of the worst moments of my life. I apologise.

He doesn’t need to beat himself up about it but I can understand his disappointment.

There was some afters with the referee in the tunnel and Wenger and Nasri are facing a UEFA charge for their actions. I’ve got no problem with that, if I was allowed access to Massimo Busacca after Tuesday’s game I would’ve given him a piece of my mind and more.

We have to move on, that’s all we can do. We go out thinking that we might’ve had better luck on the day but in the end it went against us. It could’ve been a completely different story though, a ref that was so happy to dish out the red card saw these hands around the throat in the first half and decided to do nothing about any of them instead booking Robin a few minutes later for a reaction to these incidents. It would be nice if UEFA had a look at those images and did something about it but in the long run it won’t really change anything to us so I’ve lost the will to care now.

We’ve got a massive game on Saturday now and I feel that it’s vitally important we do well there. A loss will be quite damaging to either side not only obviously from going out of the cup but the damage to confidence that would go with another defeat, and one against a title rival. After everything that has happened this season we really could do with some silverware. We have a great chance in the two remaining competitions we’re in and picking up a trophy in May will make the whole season go down a lot better.

Being out of Europe might be blessing in disguise, we can now concentrate solely on domestic matters. I still believe that we can make 2011 a winning year for Arsenal.

Build up to the United game tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Barcelona Preview: Score and we have a big chance 8 March, 2011

Tonight is the night. I’ve been excited/nervous/anxious for the past couple of days but now the time is here. I just can’t wait for tonight’s game, I’ve been looking at twitters, videos, blogs and forums frantically trying to get myself up to date ahead of the game. I’ve even had to have a couple early beers just to calm myself down!

Reading about all the Gooners out in Barcelona at the moment has been hard for me, I’m insanely jealous! I was there last year and it was an incredible trip, all I can think about today is imagining myself there. Although I’m 900 miles away in Bournemouth I feel the same emotions I did in Catalonia last April. I can’t even make it up to London tonight to join the rest of the Arsenal fans but I’ll be making my voice heard in Bournemouth even if there are just a couple of people in red and white shirts scattered around.

I can’t work out our chances tonight, we go into this game with a lead but we’re going to the most difficult stadiums around and will be made automatic second favourites. I’m okay with that but I think everyone knows we have a good chance of completing a historic victory. Obviously a win will put us into the quarter finals, a draw will also be good enough to see us through and a 3-2 or 4-3 loss will do it too. We won’t go into this game looking for a draw though, we certainly can’t hold out for a 0-0; not only is it against our style but I don’t think we have the quality to do it either. If we score just one goal Barcelona need three so I think this will be more our approach – we’ll be patient but we’ll be looking to add to our lead as a goal or two will give the home side a real problem. Plus, it’ll mean they’ll have to come out and attack which suits our passing and counter-attacking game.

I think Wenger will send them out there just to be patient and careful initially, it’s one of those games that you have to play by ear and see how it goes. The tactics will undoubtedly change throughout the game so we just have to see how it unfolds. I think we’re going to need to score though, for Barcelona to not score at home is some kind of freak occurrence, it’s only happened twice this season so we’re going to have to look to test their weakened defence. However if we do get a goal or even two, as I said it really looks good in our favour. I’d be very surprised if we kept a clean sheet tonight but I’m sure a certain Wojciech Szczesny will have something different to say about that.

The defence will need to have a good game and I’m confident they can do well as they have been in good form recently. We’re missing Vermaelen but Djourou and Koscielny have formed a solid partnership of late and we have Sagna available too who missed the first leg. We’re without Alex Song which is a shame so it’s up to either Denilson or Diaby to step in and have one of their better games. I’m not very confident in Denilson at the moment so I think Diaby will get the nod ahead of him tonight; defensive midfield isn’t really his strongest point but he’ll have to play well tonight.

As for the rest of midfield we’ll have Wilshere and Fabregas fit and available. Jack was man of the match in the first leg and we need him to play like that again tonight. He ran the midfield and against Barcelona that’s some achievement. If Jack and Cesc play well tonight then Arsenal play well.

Up front it’s a bit of a dilemma. It’s fairly certain that Nasri will play on one wing but it’s who accompanies him I’m unsure of. You’d think Arshavin is certain to start on the other side but his ability to track back will be tested tonight, it might be safer to go with Diaby or Rosicky because you can trust them to defend a bit better but then you miss Andrey’s talent. Also the Russian’s impact in the first leg was quite damaging and Arsene might chose to play him from the bench again.

As for the main striker role it could be any one of Bendtner, Chamakh or van Persie. I’d say it is least likely to be Chamakh but you never know, he has a good goal scoring record in the Champions League and he might be our man tonight. Bendtner will be disappointed if he doesn’t start but he couldn’t score against Sunderland so how well will he do against Barca? He scored in the Nou Camp last year and his height might be an advantage against Barca’s depleted defence so might be a good option still. And then there’s Robin van Persie who travelled to Spain yesterday and was due to have a late fitness test this morning. If he’s fit then, 1. It’s a miracle, and 2. He will be a big boost to our team. I think the likelihood is that he might be fit enough for a cameo performance but would we start him and bring him off early or have him as an option from the bench? I think the first goal will be really important tonight and dictate the way the game is played so if he is fit I’d be inclined to start him. Only Wenger knows how his star striker is doing so I can only guess but here’s how I think we might start:

Szczesny
Sagna – Djourou – Koscielny – Clichy
Wilshere – Diaby
Fabregas (c)
Nasri – van Persie – Arshavin

If Robin is not available then I’d go for Bendtner in that same line up. I’d also start Arshavin but drill into him the importance of tracking back, believe it or not I have seen him do it before and tonight is one of those nights where he has to put a proper shift in. if it knackers him out and we have to replace him in the second half then so be it but I think it’s really important that he plays, gets back when needed but also uses his pace, trickery and shots up front to help us earn that vital goal.

Barcelona will be missing both Puyol and Pique so it looks like Abidal and Busquets will deputise in central defence. That doesn’t mean they’ll be easy to beat but it’s certainly an advantage. However they did have Puyol and Pique missing last year and it didn’t matter too much as they were Messi was so lethal in attack that night.

That’s the nature of this game though; it’s going to be a case of who can score the most goals. It’s sounds a pretty obvious statement to make about a football match but it’s true! Both teams will have to defend to the best of their ability but it’s all about attack tonight. As amazing as a boring 0-0 will be I just don’t see it happening.

It’s going to be a great spectacle of football whatever happens. I’m going to wrap this up now and just say enjoy the game wherever you’re watching. We might be the underdogs but I believe we can do it.

COME ON ARSENAL.

RVP makes Barca Squad + Sunderland & Bad Refereeing 7 March, 2011

What a result at Anfield yesterday! I always hoped that Liverpool would do us a favour but I never expected them to win 3-1. Whatever way you wish to look at it we’ve closed the gap on United this weekend. Yeah it’s frustrating that we couldn’t win and be even closer to the leaders but overall I’m not too upset. The gap is now just three points and we have a game in hand.

I wasn’t able to watch Saturday’s game, I followed on twitter and listened to the last 10 minutes on the radio. I’ve since seen the highlights and it we were terribly unlucky not to have nicked a 1-0 win. Arshavin should’ve had a penalty and that goal he scored proved onside too, plus there was us hitting the bar and a few saves from the Sunderland ‘keeper. However Szczesny made a couple of vital stops too so you could say we were lucky not to have lost, with United losing yesterday it was much easier to deal with Saturday’s result.

By the sounds of it we didn’t really play that well anyway so you can’t complain too much. We just need to get back to winning ways against West Brom in a couple of weeks.

It was a bad weekend for refereeing. We had both that penalty decision and the wrongly given offside to complain about but there were all sorts of bad decisions over the weekend’s games. It’s incredibly frustrating to see goals taken away from you incorrectly but I can sympathise with the officials, that offside must’ve been a hard one to spot and the push on Arshavin in the box wouldn’t been difficult for the referee to see especially with Andrey doing his best to stay on his feet. It’s not the refs I am pissed off with, it’s FIFA. On a day when it was announced that snoods would be banned there was further controversy to spark a debate about video replays. It’s pathetic. I couldn’t give a shit about snoods, I’m about as indifferent with them as players wearing gloves so I don’t care if they’re banned or not but it’s typical that they’re so quick to sort that problem out than address the massive issue of technology in refereeing.

There was a FIFA meeting recently about the subject with a panel looking a number of propositions for goal-line technology. FIFA set a couple of requirements, that it be 100% accurate and that the information be relayed to the referee within 1 second. Fair enough it should be 100% accurate but what difference does it make if the decision takes up to 5 seconds? Anyway, they said none of the entries were up to FIFA’s standards and we continue with a game that is behind all the other major sports in terms of technology and accuracy. It’s a joke. Tennis and cricket haven’t been affected by the introduction of technology; it’s ridiculous that football is so far behind.

Anyway there’s no point me rambling on about it but surely there must be a day when we don’t have to talk about the referee because major decisions are corrected by video, infra-red or whatever it is. It wouldn’t matter so much if these decisions weren’t so important; say we lose the league this season by one point then we are out of pocket millions of pounds because of one incident of poor officiating. We shouldn’t have to have those thoughts in the back of our minds.

I’m not blaming the Sunderland result solely on the referee, it just so happens that FIFA banned snoods this weekend and a silly decision like that sort of rubs it in your face a bit when they’ve just denied technology again. There’s nothing we can do about it though, it’s going to take something drastic for FIFA to change their minds.

Moving on and it’s literally just been announced halfway through writing this post that Robin van Persie is in the squad for tomorrow night. He appeared in the photos of us training earlier today and I was thinking what a great option he would be if he was in any way fit and he has been added to the squad that is flying out of Luton today. He must’ve made some kind of animal sacrifice late recovery considering he isn’t due back until the beginning of April and Robin never makes an early comeback.

We’ve sent 19 men out to Spain today but the squad limit is 18 so either Arsene hasn’t quite made his mind up yet or there will be a very late fitness test on Robin which seems quite likely. I keep thinking about last year’s game against Barcelona, the first leg. We had a handful of players make unexpected returns in that game and it turns out we took a risk because they weren’t actually fit. I’d be surprised to see Robin start tomorrow night, I think it’s more likely that Wenger thinks he might be alright to play half an hour or so and will start him from the bench. Either way, it’s fantastic news to see him apart of the squad and having him involved certainly improves our chances of going through.

Cesc has been pretty much passed fit for tomorrow, Wenger described him as 90% so I expect him to start. I always thought he’d make it back for this one and it’s very important that he has. We missed him last year so hopefully we can do a bit better with out skipper available. Unfortunately Alex Song has been ruled out which is a bit of a blow especially when we’re going to have to defend well. I’m not sure yet who we’ll bring in to replace him but I’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

All day I’ve seen people I know making their way out to Barcelona and it’s horrible to watch. I should be there!!! To say I’m jealous is an understatement. I’m properly excited about this game already, I can’t wait for tomorrow. There’ll be a match preview at some point tomorrow so I’ll speak to you then.

Thanks for reading.

Sunderland Preview: Win and we’re a point off the top 4 March, 2011

There’s quite a few headlines around about some game we’re playing in Spain next week but that’s next week, can’t we just leave that until Sunday? We have a game that’s just as important tomorrow, it’s only Sunderland but a win could be massive in our title ambitions. In fact every league game from here on in is hugely important, every point dropped will become vital now. Thanks to Chelsea’s win over United the title is actually in our hands, if we don’t drop any points from here until the end of the season then we will be Champions. Unlikely as it is, that is the scenario. We still have to play the current leaders at home on the 1st May and that is set up to be an unquestionably massive game.

It is important to win as many games as we can until then though, we have to play both Liverpool and Tottenham before then but we know we can beat them. We won’t be looking too far ahead though; I know Wenger likes to take each game as it comes. We will be focussed on winning the next game and then start thinking about who is after that. First up it’s Sunderland at home and that really is a game we should be winning. Yes they will be tricky but you have to beat these type of teams if you want to triumph. It was 1-1 when we went to The Stadium of Light in September and we struggled against them the season before but I would be disappointed if we dropped points tomorrow.

The team will be keen to get a win under their belts too after last weekend. We had Leyton Orient on Wednesday but that was not the team that played at Wembley. Tomorrow we will see a similar group of players who suffered heartache against Birmingham and it’s important to get back winning straight away.

Alex Song and Robin van Persie will be both be missing from that side through injury. RVP is looking to return for the start of April but Song is currently a worry for Barcelona. Koscielny was a doubt for tomorrow with a hamstring problem but he has made it back in the squad, I don’t know if Wenger will risk starting him if he’s had problems in the week but I guess he wouldn’t be in the squad if he wasn’t capable. Aaron Ramsey also returns to the squad for the first time in over a year, I’d be very surprised to see him start but you never know, it’ll be great to see him back out there in an Arsenal shirt though. Walcott is obviously still as out too, as is Fabregas so I think we might start like this:

Szczesny
Sagna – Djourou – Koscielny – Clichy
Wilshere – Diaby
Rosicky (c)
Nasri – Bendtner – Arshavin

It would make sense to play Ramsey with Song out and have him instead of Rosicky but I think Wenger has faith in Tomas at the moment. I don’t think he’s been doing that great personally but he’s been starting consistently so he might be there tomorrow too. If it were up to me I’d have Nasri in the Cesc role with either Rosicky or someone else in the top line. Bendtner will be looking to carry on where he left off against Orient. A goal tomorrow would be good to keep him on a bit of a run going into these games without van Persie. I was pleased to see Chamakh score too but I think Nicklas will be preferred to him.

A win tomorrow will put us within a point of United who travel to Anfield on Sunday. You’d like to think that Liverpool can get something out of that game especially with Vidic and Ferdinand unavailable. I’m really enjoying this traditional Arsenal and Man United title race, it’s just like old times and hopefully it can be our year.

I’m off to Oxfordshire for the weekend so there won’t be a match report I don’t think. They don’t have the greatest of broadband connections in the countryside so I don’t think I’ll try my patience with a stream. I’ll be back Monday to discuss what happened over the weekend and start looking forward to Barcelona.

Have a good weekend everyone. Come on The Arsenal!

Arsenal 5-0 Leyton Orient – 02/03/11 – (FA Cup 5th Round Replay) 3 March, 2011

Job done.

Well that’s really what should’ve happened in the first leg but in the grand scheme of things the replay might not have been such a bad thing. We’ve given some Leyton Orient fans the time of their season, we’ve earned their players a trip to Las Vegas, we’ve been able to put the Carling Cup final defeat behind us, we’re through to the next round and we’ve not fatigued any players. So everyone’s happy! I spoke before this game saying that this was not only a chance to forget last weekend but for the players that couldn’t finish the job at Brisbane Road to put things right. And so they did, it was a similar line up (if not weaker than last time) but they performed much better in front of 60,000 52,000 Arsenal fans.

It was also important for Chamakh and Bendtner to get on the score sheet and so they did. Nicklas with an impressive hat trick and all round display and Chamakh with the opener after 7 minutes. It was a bit of a tap in to make it 1-0 but he had to get it right and scoring any kind of goal can be enough to boost your confidence. I hope it’s the first of many. The second came after half an hour, Gibbs’ cross didn’t have a lot of pace on it but Bendtner got a great loop on the header to beat the ‘keeper. Was quite a good finish actually and I was pleased to see him get another headed goal. His second and Arsenal’s third came just before half time, I was just saying how hungry Bendtner looked before he curled one into the opposite bottom corner. Another great finish.

He completed his hat trick just after the hour from a penalty; Gibbs made a great run into the box but was brought down and Nicklas finished well from the spot. He was brought off a few minutes later safe in the knowledge that he’d done well and will get his chance again on Saturday. I know it was only Orient but it’s important for Bendtner to find some form at the moment so I’ll be interested to see how he does at the weekend.

The 5th came from none other than The Cannon favourite, Gael Clichy. That’s two Arsenal goals for Gael now and it was quite a good finish too. He came on for Bendtner and played ahead of Gibbs on the left wing and showed just what he can do in an attacking position. Who needs Theo Walcott ay!

So 5-0 it finished, lovely. It was a good little run out for the players and that’s exactly what it was – a run out. Leyton Orient were far easier than they were at home, they looked a decent side last night other than their defence but even with the second team out we were far superior. There was a debut for Conor Henderson who did a decent job on the wing, he looks like he can deliver a decent set ball too. Miquel carried on from where he left off at Brisbane road with another solid performance but I wonder how well he would do in the Premier League. Diaby returned from his injury/suspension with a good hour shift. He should’ve made it 3-0 after a good run through the defence but his shot went just wide. He was the main man in the middle of the pitch last night, when he plays well he really is a good player but far too often he’ll mess it up by doing something stupid or unluckily getting injured. He’s a good midfielder so it would be nice if he can hold his place in the side for a bit. Rosicky didn’t have the best of games again, he was brought off in the second half injured but he’s fine, just felt a bit dizzy after a knock.

So we’ve got Man United in the next round but we’ve got two massive games before then. A win against Sunderland can put us within a point of United who travel to Anfield on Sunday without Vidic and Ferdinand so fingers crossed Liverpool can nick something there. Then on Wednesday night we’re playing someone called Barcelona or something before we have to go to Old Trafford the following Saturday. From being in all four competitions just a few days ago we could find ourselves in just one in 9 days time but if results go our way then we could be on track for an impressive treble. It’s a massively important and exciting week and a half for Arsenal and we have to hope we can do it.

It’s a shame we don’t go into this next run of games with all our players fit and available but that’s football and that’s Arsenal. After United we have West Brom away and then a two-week long international break, Arsene hopes that van Persie will return for the Blackburn game that follows that break. Theo might be back for Blackburn too but he has a chance to return before the internationals. As for Cesc well it looks like he’s out of the Sunderland game but we’re still hoping he’ll make it Barcelona. He’ll have a final test on his hamstring on Monday.

Build up to the Sunderland game tomorrow. Until then, thanks for reading.

Leyton Orient Preview: A chance to right the wrongs of last time 2 March, 2011

There have been many highs and many lows this season. The highs have included beating Barcelona and Chelsea but the lows have been pretty low: losing to Spurs, Newcastle and West Brom, that 4-4 draw, Sunday’s cup final loss and drawing with the lowest ranked team we’ve played all season – Leyton Orient. That late goal conceded at Brisbane Road means we have an unwelcome replay to play tonight and it’s a chance to sort things out from the first leg. It was a much-changed side for the first game and it’s set to be a very similar XI with the injuries and schedule we have. Yes, they might’ve struggled against them before but I think at home and with a second go at it they should be able to do the job. Well you’d hope so anyway, it is still League One’s Leyton Orient.

We were always going to rotate but a few changes have been forced tonight. We know van Persie got injured this weekend and I’m now hearing he will be out for more like six weeks than the initially quoted three. Here’s Wenger with the latest team news:

“Unfortunately, we had bad news on the scan and he (van Persie) will be out for the next three weeks for sure. It could be longer. The shortest delay we can imagine is three weeks, he is definitely out for Barcelona.

Alex Song has a knee problem as well. From his scan we had good news, it is only blood from a kick on the outside of his knee. He is out for Leyton Orient and has a very small chance for Saturday. But he has a good chance for Barcelona.

Koscielny has a tight hamstring. There is a little bit of fatigue in there as well so we will give him a breather.

Almunia needs games so he will play but Wojciech is alright and will be on the bench.

Diaby was not in the squad on Sunday. I was cautious with him. He has missed many games this season and I did not want to take a gamble with the intensity of a cup final. He will play on Wednesday night.”

So that means both Szczesny and Koscielny will sit out after their last minute error on Sunday however that has nothing to do with why they’re not playing tonight. I had a bookmaker email me odds about who is going to be Arsenal’s goalie next season after what happened at Wembley which is ridiculous, it’s was simply a mistake and both Szczesny and Koscielny will be back in the team no problem. Wenger has been saying that Laurent has suffered more than Wojciech from what happened and I’m not surprised at that really. The Pole seems like a pretty self confident guy and I would’ve thought he’d shake off that error and recover well from it. As for Koscielny well I hope he learns from the mistake and is back at the weekend as good as ever. We all know he’s a good defender and one mistake isn’t going to change that.

So tonight I don’t think we’ll be much changed from the match at Brisbane Road. Not sure if Sagna will keep his place or not but Song will come out and Diaby will come in which would mean we could look like this:

Almunia
Eboue – Miquel – Squillaci – Gibbs
Song – Diaby
Rosicky (c)
Bendtner – Chamakh – Arshavin

I wouldn’t be too surprised to see any or all of Nasri, Wilshere, Sagna, Djourou or Clichy start tonight, only Wenger knows how many he will rest tonight. However as I was saying I think it’s a good chance for the ‘second XI’ to sort things out from the first game. It wasn’t a great performance but that have a chance to sort that out.

Rosicky played the Cesc role on Sunday and I was a bit surprised about that. Nasri does that job really well when Fabregas is out so I thought he would’ve been there for the final. I was a bit shocked that Rosicky was even starting to be honest and even if he did I thought he’d be wide on a three-man attack. I guess Arsene will deploy him in central midfield again tonight if he is to play, hopefully he does a bit better tonight.

It’s a big chance for Chamakh and Bendtner with both Walcott and van Persie out for a few weeks. Nicklas has scored a few recently but hasn’t quite found the form that he thinks he’s capable of. However I’ve been unimpressed with Chamakh of late but he has a chance to find that form from earlier in the season again. If he can get back to that then my worries about losing Theo and Robin to injury will be a lot easier to deal with. He was keeping Bendtner out of the team not too long ago if you remember. Here’s hoping he has a good game against Orient.

I’d be intrigued if Wenger played some of the names I mentioned – Nasri, Wilshere etc. You’d like to think that we could beat them with the team I named but you never know at the moment. Tonight is a chance to put Sunday’s loss behind us but another loss tonight would be quite damaging. We need to win. Not only to progress in the competition but also to give ourselves a bit of confidence again ahead of an important league game this weekend. Every game becomes vital now and it starts tonight.

I’m not up for any games until West Brom away now so I’ll be watching either over the Internet or on ESPN. Those that are going need to really get behind the team because the need you tonight. I’ve seen a lot of people selling tickets this week which suggests to me that people aren’t really up for going after the weekend; I hope that’s not the case but whoever does end up filling those 60,000 seats need to make some noise for the boys.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the game.

Arsenal 1-2 Birmingham – 27/02/10 – (Carling Cup Final) 1 March, 2011

It’s probably about time I stopped avoiding writing this match report and just got it out the way. Sorry for the lateness by the way, I understand people like to read about my trips but you’ll understand the feelings behind putting this one off. What can you say really? I think everyone expected us to win the cup and it’s still a bit of a shock to me these past couple of days that I haven’t been able to change that tally of cups in the website header above. The more experienced Gooners of us might’ve guessed it though, I heard in the pub after the game that, that’s 5 out of 7 League Cup Final losses now, which is some record. Considering we’ve played the likes of Swindon, Luton and Birmingham now as part of that record it’s not something to be proud of.

There’s nothing we can do but pick our heads back up and get on with the three competitions we’re left in. A few rounds ago in the cup when United got knocked out and we became clear favourites I talked about it being must-win because losing to any of those teams would be quite moral damaging. Well we’ll just have to wait and see how that loss affects us but I’m hoping that it becomes a lesson learned and we make extra efforts to bounce back immediately from it. Having another match so soon after this one might turn out to be a good thing you know.

I should point out now that I’m not angry about Sunday, not in the slightest. I’m jut disappointed. Disappointed we didn’t win, disappointed we didn’t play to our best ability, disappointed we’ve lost another of our best players to injury and disappointed that we lost to such a horrible goal. There’s nothing that can be said about that 88th minute goal apart from it was a massive mistake, Birmingham had the biggest slice of luck in the club’s history and luckily for them a little cock up late on laid the trophy on a plate for them. If it was a decent goal then fair enough you have to say well done but to lose it like that is just sad.

My day started with an 8.30am alarm clock, which is unheard of territory on a Sunday for me, but unsurprisingly I found it pretty easy to get up on a day like last Sunday. I had to catch the 9.45am coach out of Bournemouth and I made it to Wembley Park for lunch time. It had been a glorious morning on the way up and the tweets from Gooners in London also sounded like they were looking forward to a typical sunny cup final. However some time whilst I was on the tube the clouds came out of nowhere and it gradually started pissing it down. Was it a sign that it wasn’t going to be our day? Maybe. Not to let it damped my spirits, pardon the pun, I found the corner of a pub umbrella to stand under until the time came to head into the ground.

The pre-match atmosphere was as you’d expect, lots of singing, drinking and dreaming of a cup-winning party. Inside the ground it was amazing too, apart from the price of the pints that is… It had been a long time since I’d been to an Arsenal final, in fact exactly four years previously in Cardiff for the Carling Cup Final. I was loving the surroundings and I was looking around Wembley looking for where the cup gets presented hoping we’d be up there at the end holding it high. In the end I never found where it was and I never stayed to see us walk up the famous steps.

We started the game quite slowly I thought. You could tell it was a final and we weren’t going to take too many risks. I kind of hoped that Wenger would send us out all guns blazing, I mean it was only Birmingham we were playing and I fancied us to scare them. In the end we allowed them into it and they opened the scoring. I seem to remember the move starting from Sagna sloppily giving the ball away and Koscielny having to clear that attack out for a corner. It might’ve not been that occasion but we were having one of those days were our passes seemed to be going everywhere. Anyway the corner came in, it was headed back towards goal and Zigic guided it past Szczesny. It was a bit crap to know we’d have to come from behind but I was confident we could, and we did.

Jack Wilshere almost got a great equaliser with his shot from outside the box hitting the bar but we did well to keep the attack going and what a finish from Robin for the goal. Just our luck though, he got injured in scoring it and was taken off early in the second half. He’ll be out for three weeks too, a massively important three weeks. It’s just the way it goes being an Arsenal fan though – we’ll lose a handful of our best players when they’re just getting into form.

In the second half we were much, much better. We had the control of the game and by far the majority of the attacks. I thought we’d got another goal for a second when Rosicky’s early drive went just passed the post. That was probably the closest we came in the end. Ben Foster had a good day in goal too.

Probably due to our constant attacking I thought the half flew by and I checked the clock to see we were running out of time to score. I was just about getting used to the idea of extra time and that’s when Birmingham scored. The silence around me compared with the sea of blue shirts jumping wildly opposite was something you never want to see but unfortunately, it’s football. The less said about the goal the better, you’ve all seen it, I just hope Koscielny and Szczesny learn from their mistakes. Laurent will probably learn now that despite what your ‘keeper is saying if the ball is loose in your box with two minutes to go in a cup final and the ball is clear for you to boot away, you fucking boot it away.

I stayed for the remaining few minutes and tried to shout the team on but when the whistle went I pulled my hood over my head and made my way into the queue for the stairs. I took a second to appreciate the players as they stood/sat/crouched all dejected on their own and then made my way back down Wembley way. I was in no mood to watch Birmingham celebrate and from what I’ve heard anyway the players didn’t take long to come appreciate the crowd either. I don’t really expect them to but there were some people that have come a long, long way for that game spending a whole lot of money and the least they could do is come give us a clap. To be fair they were just as gutted as we were and like most people in that end they were keen to get out of Wembley as quickly as possible.

I made it back to Bournemouth about midnight. My train from Waterloo wasn’t until 10pm you see as I’d given myself enough time for possible extra time, penalties and celebrations in case there was the need but in the end I missed out on all three of them so it meant four hours to kill in the pub afterwards.

So we lost, and that’s that. What now? Well, a lot now! We have Orient in the Cup tomorrow night with United away in the next round for the winners of that. We have the second leg of Barcelona in the Champions league going into that game with a 2-1 lead. And we have the Premiership, with United just losing at Chelsea tonight we are in touching distance of them and well and truly in a title race. Whether you’ve forgotten about Sunday or not it’s exciting times for Arsenal and we have to get back behind the team. We’re still on for the treble you know!

The only disappointing thing though is the injuries we’ve picked up in the last week. As I mentioned already, RVP is out for a minimum of three weeks, Theo has probably another fortnight out and Cesc is still a doubt for Barcelona. It’s a bastard to lose such important players at times like these but there’s nothing we can do so it’s up to the others to fill their boots. Missing both Theo and Robin is a big blow so Bendtner and Chamakh really have to prove their worth; it’s time for Nicklas to show how good he really is and Marouane needs to find that form from early in the season again.

The old clichés like ‘you win some you lose some’ and ‘shit happens’ were invented for days like Sunday. There’s no point dwelling on it though so lets get behind the team tomorrow night and show we have the maturity to move on from defeat. I hope to be back at some point tomorrow with a preview for that game.

Thanks for reading, chin up fellow Gooners.