Afternoon folks… and it’s that time of the season that we’ve all been waiting for… the Internationals are finally over for a while and if I’ve calculated it correctly, we have approximately 4 weeks of Premier League, Champions League and Carling Cup football to look forward to until the next break…
Tomorrow sees us take on Man City away at their ground… and the contest this year may be more fiery than usual as Man City have spent quite a lot and are aiming to get into the top 4 this season… many people thought at the expense of us… due to our lack of buying this summer. Man City versus Arsenal is the first big test for the opposition and of course a test for us, no doubt – after losing to Manchester United, we need to bounce back at Man City and ensure we make a statement to the league by winning the game and getting three points on the board.
It will be a tough one, the players City have bought will put them into a different league then they were last season, where we lost 3-0. But I am confident about the game and confident we can win – we’ve seemed to have improved our game by selling the bad thorns and allowed our team to gel better. The signing of Vermaelen has been a God send, so we’re in better stead this season despite the loss of Adebayor and Toure.
The departure of those two players has been much of the talking point in the news today. Personally, yes, they are both good players, but Adebayor was a bad apple and Toure was not on form at all and wanted to go – Arsene has spoken on the two and so has Mark Hughes, so let’s here what the gaffer had to say:
“There are no hard feelings for Toure or Adebayor. I always wish my former players to be happy. It is part of life that players move on. That is not a reason that you want them not to be happy. I am extremely confident they will be and wish them well.”
Arsene also commented on whether we he regretted the sale.
“I do not regret losing him. I believe we lost a great player, but we have other great players behind. I believe in Eduardo, [Carlos] Vela and [Nicklas] Bendtner and we of course already have [Robin] van Persie as a big asset in our team. We have a good striking force, we have [Theo] Walcott who can be turned into a striker so we can cope with that [loss]. I personally do not think that Adebayor was obsessed by money. I must say that to be fair to him. If you consider the Premier League, you cannot say we are one of the bottom clubs financially. We have very fair financial potential.”
Personally, I understand we could do with the money and reality, don’t think we are worse off because we have other players – something quite apparent is that Adebayor does have a bit of a knack for scoring, and his form at Man City is reminiscent of the “eager beaver” form he showed last season.
Of course, Adebayor is a little bitter, and I’m sure he’d still like to be at Arsenal, but the financial reward available at Man City was considerable, so maybe he’ll prefer to be there. He has stoked up the fire a little as he’s been in the press saying how much the Man City fans love him, and he seems to think he’s an angel and always been an angel in the whole saga at the Emirates, but it sounds like he’s totally forgotten all the issues around his time with us.
The Mirror sums it up perfectly:
Adebayor’s finest – or worst hour – came in Vienna on the eve of the Euro 2008 Final, when he told the television cameras how keen he was to stay at Arsenal only to completely change his tune when he sat down with newspaper reports in the same room 45 minutes later. What made it worse was Adebayor’s repeated claims to Arsenal that he had been misquoted – something the club accepted was blatantly untrue when they were presented with a transcript. The Arsenal fans knew it, and even though there was plenty of stick for the media when the striker signed a new deal before last season began, the mood soon changed.
Anyway, enough about Abebayor, let’s take a look at the line ups, and we’ve got an injury concern over Arshavin, who’s let everyone know it’s not his groin (as it was pre-game) but his knee this time. He’s out until the Wigan game, so it’s a blow for us nevertheless.
Okay, here goes:
Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song – Denilson
Bendtner – Cesc – Eduardo
Van Persie
The good news, is that Rosicky should be on the bench after coming through the International game against San Marino – but Arsene has confirmed that Theo will not make it.
The line up for Man City sees Tevez definitely miss the game, but news is that Robinho is back, so the line up should look like this:
Given
Richards – Toure – Lescott – Bridge
Barry - Ireland
Wright-Philips - Robinho - Bellamy
Adebayor
I can’t wait for tomorrow’s game… it’s going to be a big test, but I’m very confident that we’ve got what it takes to win the game.. Sp*rs vs United tomorrow, so it’ll be an interesting day at the top of the table…
