Archive for the ‘Arsenal’ Category

Foot in mouth, nail biting, nervous twitch and a mild heart attack – that is what the current Arsenal team to do us. A goal down, a come back and a last minute winner, and we’ve done it four times in a record breaking go now! With the league our only competition left, you would think it would be easier for us to focus on the games, and Arsene looked very focused, and he also handed Oxlade another start ahead of Gervinho.

The very impressive Rosicky remained in the starting line up and we played what could be considered right now (on current form & including injuries), our best eleven

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs

Arteta – Song

Walcott – Rosicky – Oxlade

Van Persie

Newcastle are no mugs, and they set up well, playing 4-5-1 with Demba Ba up front – when Arsene bought Nasri from Marseilles all those years ago, it was a match up between buying Nasri or Ben Arfa, and at the time, Arsene chose Nasri. However, the other Frenchman went on to sign for Newcastle, and himself, has been quite impressive since he joined them. One career threatening injury aside, he has shown that he’s a very good player. And it was his trickery and valiant left foot that caught us out, going past Gibbs and Koscielny and slotting in at the near post past Szcznesy… normally an area any keeper would be disappointed to concede through – but the pace and direction of the shot were worthy of the goal. Arsene – here’s an idea, send Benayoun back to Chelsea, sell Park, and buy Ben Arfa. Nice.

53 seconds later, Van Persie got onto the end of a cross from the impressive Walcott, who seems to be doing a few more things right nowadays… and lashed the ball past the annoying Krul (who got more annoying as the game continued)… smack, bang, wallop, goal 33.

After that goal, any confidence that Newcastle had and any frailties we had disappeared. It was Arsenal all the way. Oxlade was marshaled well, making him relatively quiet. This is what happens when you have multiple dangers in your team – the opposition have to mark certain players, giving space to others.

Newcastle did defend well, and sometimes bent the rules in terms of aggression, but as always it’s us to us to try and get the winner and after various different exchanges, an exciting game to say the least, the vice captain stepped up to the plate on the final minute of stoppage time to bundle the ball in to make it 2-1.

Arteta spoke about the winner and said:

“We all kept believing, we were all at it and we had the chances and thankfully in the end we got the points. ”It was massive [to get the equaliser when they did] because the longer the game goes on without it, the more frustrated you get. ”It was a great move and a great finish again from Robin. Credit to the team because we never give up even when we are losing. The crowd were fantastic again, so thanks to everyone. ”We are now only one point behind Tottenham and three ahead of Chelsea, so we are in a much better position than four or five weeks ago. We are really happy.”

And Arsene took time out to talk about one player and one player only… Mr Theo Walcott:

“Theo Walcott was outstanding. From the first to last minute he was great. I feel it was his best performance for us. Against Milan, Theo was hitting top form and he has continued it tonight. He played with intelligence and power. Newcastle gave the impression of a strong team and to come back quickly was important,” the Frenchman added. The equaliser was provided by Walcott. We speak many times of many other players and he deserves great credit this time because he was exceptional.”

Whereas we may find Theo a little frustrating at times – he tally of 13 assists and 8 goals this season has been vital, especially when 11 of those assists were scored by RvP… Theo is only 22 so we can expect more from him, more consistency, but the good thing is that he is coming to some sort of form now….

That’s it from me today – over to Tottz tomorrow for the Wednesday digest!

Howdie Folks,

I have to say that the Premier league is a crazy competition. A few weeks ago, we were looking at the possibility of not getting a UEFA cup spot next year, but a few weeks on, after wins against Liverpool and Sp*rs and a win but more importantly a valiant effort against Milan in the Champions League, we’re suddenly looking in much better shape.

This weekend has seen Man City lose but more importantly for us, seen Liverpool and Sp*rs lose. And Liverpool seem to be dropping off the radar a little, leaving three clubs – Sp*rs, Chelsea and ourselves. Chelsea are now level on points with us, but we have better goal difference, but to put a long story short, we’re pretty much joint 4th. And we obviously want to be clear by some points. With Sp*rs slump in form continuing, it means that we could get to one point from them if we beat Newcastle on Monday.

Who would have though hey? I would be a happy man if we finished third – third means guaranteed qualification for the Champions League and ultimately, it would allow us to plan better for the summer, plan better in terms of fixtures, competitions, the transfer market and more.

Things may already be changing in terms of our recruitment policy, with the interest we have in Lucas Podolski. Arsene is not usually someone who comments on players if they have not yet been signed, but last week, he devulged some information on the Cologne striker:

‘He is a good football player above all. He can play for us because he can play central, he can play right and he can play on the left. He has 96 caps for Germany and is 26 years old which is the best age. He is available at a reasonable price if we can reach an agreement, but at the moment we are nowhere near. I don’t want to disappoint people and let down their expectations. Let us first see what we can do.’

Interesting words from the gaffer and if he does join, it sounds like he will play  alongside Van Persie, meaning that it could lead to change in formation. Podolski got sent off on the weekend for a headbutt, maybe that will lower his price?

For now though, it’s a matter of Arsenal vs Newcastle.

Newcastle are no mugs this season, and the duo of Cisse and Demba Ba are capable of scoring at any time if we let them. We need to be on top top form to ensure we can win tomorrow. It’s essential that we do not let our recent wins get to our head. We need to be up for this game both defensively and attackingly – and team news from Arsene over the weekend is that we have Arteta, Ramsey and Santos back in the squad.

Personally, I’d like to see Rosicky maintain his position behind Van Persie – he’s been in excellent form in the last few games and deserves the recognition and place in the starting line up… My XI would be:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs

Arteta – Song

Walcott – Rosicky – Gervinho

Van Persie

With the likes of Santos and Oxlade on the bench with Chamakh and Park (if things go unbearably wrong). There is a lot of calls for Oxlade to start, but we must not forget that we have Gervinho, whose first half of the season, we should remember, he really was someone who I thought would come on leaps and bounds and he is such a talented player, that a run in the team would give him more confidence and get him back to the form he was in earlier in the season.

Arsene spoke on Oxlade and whether he would start against Newcastle and the boss said:

“His feet are on the ground but we have to manage him in a responsible way as well. The problem when you have a talented player like that is that everybody wants him to play every single game. If you do that then he will be injured.

Fair enough, and where we have options like Walcott & Gervinho, perhaps Oxlade should be on the bench for now. Someone who can come on a make a difference if needed. Someone who can learn, watch and absorb. There is no doubt that the player has a lot of talent, but Arsene is right, he has to be managed in the right way.

That’s my digest for now, big game tomorrow. A win will see us 1 point behind Sp*rs. Let’s make it happen!

x

Beating Milan 3-0 at the Emirates is an amazing feat. Beating them under the pressure to beat them is another thing altogether and getting so close to overturning such a big deficit is a valiant effort to say the least. It was an uphill task in the first place and it had “frustrating game” written all over it.

We were depleted and the only team we could play was the one that we all presumed we’d play:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Jenkinson / Gibbs

Song – Rosicky

Walcott – Oxlade – Gervinho

Van Persie

It made sense.

The stadium was electric with hope. It was focused, excited and the crowd had belief. The belief increased after 6 minutes and beyond everyone’s expectations, Koscielny nodded in from a corner. 1-0 to the Arsenal and so early on, game on friend. Milan were potent in the previous round and a lot of that was due to our inability to perform. They do have players capable of scoring at any time and Ibra was trying his best to ensure Milan got one goal, a killer punch, but our defence was solid and credit to Szcznesy for some good saves.

But then it was 2.

We’d been attacking well and a marauding run by Walcott ended with a cut back which was only cleared to Rosicky who scored his second goal in the last three games. Bang wallop in the goal.

Wave after wave gave the crowd hope and before half time, an excellent run through the defence saw Oxlade being brought down in the area and after some deliberation, the ref pointed to the spot. Van Persie duly tucked away his 32nd goal of the season.

Half time, 3-0.

Three goals before half time meant that there was a buzz about the Emirates – a real hope that we could do the impossible. But that is where the blog ends – the second half was that “frustating game” that we all didn’t want. Arsene threw on Chamakh and Park but nothing we could do could penetrate Milan’s defence in the second half.

We had chances, for sure, with Gervinho striking at goal and Van Persie unable to turn in the rebound. There was an inevitability about the last ten minutes where we looked exhausted, we gave a lot a spirited performance, but not enough. We ended the game 3-0 and the fourth was a goal too much.

Arsene was very proud of the performance, as I am sure we all are…

They can only be proud of their performance. I felt we were a bit short. We had no midfielders at all on the bench. We suffered a little bit when we got tired in the second half. We were a bit more fatigued. I’m sure we would have scored two or three more goals in the second half. But to put the performance in is fantastic spirit and restored some pride after our first tie. Unfortunately we go out.”

Arsene also singled out Oxlade and Rosicky as two outstanding players on the night, and I’d have to agree:

For a guy who has never played at the top level in central midfield, he started in a Champions League game and he did well. He tired a bit in the second half after his injury, and he got less of the ball than he did in the first half. When he got the ball, you always think something could happen. He can play all of the places across the pitch, in midfield to wide. You could see he has suffered physically, but also that he has the class to be in there. I have to give credit to Tomas Rosicky for that. He was again outstanding here. In all of these games, he was one of the most influential players, and he does not always get the credit he deserves, so I would like to take this opportunity to give him credit.

We are on a good run at the moment, and today’s game was testimony to the form we’ve been in recently. We need to take this form into the Newcastle game this weekend and keep at it until the end of the season.

All I can say is well done boys…!

Tomorrow sees us play AC Milan having suffered a 4-0 defeat at the San Siro.

It is really mission impossible.

I’ll start with quote from Arsene and then share my thoughts with you afterwards:

“I can see on your [reporters’] faces a lot of scepticism, so it is important we do not share that. It is important we have a strong belief and that we show we have enough belief to make what looks impossible, possible. We do not have to speculate on any weakness of Milan because they are a good side.  But we know that only one thing gives us a chance, and that is to play a top-class performance for 90 minutes. That is what we will try to put in.  The task is a very high one, the level of the performance that is demanded is very high as well, but we want to be top-level performers and that is what the target is tomorrow.”

The task, should we choose to accept it is to beat Milan by 5 clear goals, or 6 if they score. It means we need to win 5-0 tomorrow or 6-1 or any difference by 5 goals. Simple as. Personally, I think it’s a stone too far away. In Milan, we didn’t need to concede the last two goals, but we had a broken mentality, we were mentally weak, and went home with nothing, well -4.

Tomorrow, the motivation will be there, I’m sure – it will be one of those games that we have nothing to lose. And “nothing to lose” is a good type of game to play. Arsene will play everyone who can possibly play and make a difference. What would you do if you were Arsene? Would you rest the first team and resign the loss, would you risk the first team against a team that have the likes of Gattuso and other battlers in their ranks? We’ve finally got to fourth place in the league – any major injuries could disrupt our top 3 / 4 challenge – but then again, we could get injured against Newcastle or Milan – they say you should never play the game in fear of injury.

Arsene commented on whether or not he would rest the team:

“It is not an argument for us. We want to have a real go tomorrow, we want to make it possible. I would not be very credible to tell you we want to score five goals and then leave Robin van Persie out. We will not accept going out of the Champions League because we want to stay in. We will give it our best shot tomorrow.”

Which makes me think Arsene will go for broke. Are we capable of scoring 5 goals? Yes. Are Milan capable of conceding 5 goals? Maybe. So based on the injuries, we know we’ve lost Arteta, Benayoun and Diaby, we know we already have Ramsey, Coquelin and Wilshere out… it’s going to be a thread bare midfield, but I think we’ll see the following line up:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Jenkinson / Gibbs

Song – Rosicky

Walcott – Oxlade – Gervinho

Van Persie

Gibbs is a doubt, and if he doesn’t make it, then I’d expect to see Jenkinson deployed at left back. I think the boss will choose Oxlade behind Van Persie, rather than throw a Chamakh or Park in – both players severely lacking match practice for sure.

Tomorrow really is mission impossible. If we do it, it will be our greatest victory in the modern era. If we don’t, let’s not over-react. The one thing I pray for is no injuries. No matter what happens, it will be a great atmosphere at the Emirates tomorrow night for sure…

Til then…

Our form is a so variable, we are becoming very unpredictable. Before the start of the Liverpool game, the commentators literally said “I wonder which Arsenal will turn up”… Our form changes through out the game too – one minute we look like we’re in total control, but the next minute, we look like we can concede any time the opposition go forward.

When you look at the squad, you don’t know why we have such inconsistency. We have had such a disrupted squad in the last couple of months, going from no full backs to no centre backs. Even in yesterday’s game, Diaby’s short appearance, Oxlade playing in the middle etc – it does make for a consistent outcome… One thing is for sure – having a Gibbs and Sagna in our team does make a huge difference… Will the Arsenal ever have a consistent team playing week in and week out, I don’t know.

However, we do have Robin Van Persie.

And that means, even against the run of play, we always have a chance. A chance that we can score. RvP’s form has been sensational this season and his two goals from two shots yesterday – both sublime in different ways. Accolades have to be given to Alex Song and Bacary Sagna for two excellent assists – both players scoring 8 out of 10 in the post game player ratings.

Arsene spoke on RvP after the game…

I must say we will do anything to keep him. I cannot say much more because I have said that many times. I am very proud that he has grown after having seen him arriving here timid, and today being the player and leader he has become. He is playing under big pressure in every game because he knows he has to score. He has shown exceptional development, not only as a player but as a human being. He is up there with the best players in the world.

If we do lose RvP this summer, I am sure there will be a fans backlash. As a team, I am pretty sure we can’t afford to lose him. We need to build a team around him. The boy has scored 31 goals this season – in our worst season – and that says something.

Arsene confirmed what RvP said after the game – it wasn’t one of our best games – but we have to dig deep and the moment of quality from Robin proved the difference.

It was vital for us to win the game. Liverpool had a very good first half and we were not in the game – what was flattering for us was to be 1-1 at half time. The second half was much more level. We had some good chances as well, they had maybe one from Martin Kelly. But they had no clear-cut chances in the second half. They had to win the game, and we know that we have Van Persie who can deliver something special. Overall it was not one of our best games, but we refused to give in and we played as well as we could. Our goalkeeper and centre forward made the difference.

With Sp*rs losing at United today, there is a real possibility that we could catch them – we are fourth on 49 points and Sp*rs are 3rd on 53 points. Personally, I didn’t think we’d be anywhere near them at all, but the results have gone our way more recently and suddenly we can look up instead of down the table.

We have Milan midweek in a game that is all but lost. We have quite a few injuries at the moment too, with Arteta, Diaby, Wilshre, Ramsey, Rosicky, Benayoun, Djourou, Squillaci, Mertersacker and Gibbs all out injured. So we’ll have to look at playing a slightly different team and / or formation…

We look decimated after the game. I don’t know who will be available on Tuesday night. Maybe I will play with six strikers as we have to score goals!

At least the boss has got a sense of humour. But whoever we play on Tuesday night, it is going to be an uphill struggle. Scoring 4 past Milan is not going to be easy, well we’ll have to score 5 to win. And not concede!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a Milan preview… but for the moment, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Arsenal win, Liverpool, Chelsea and Sp*rs all lose.

Adios for now….

First of all, apologies for lack of blog in the last couple of days.

3 birthdays, 2 hospitals (don’t worry, everyone is okay) and 1 baby = me out of action for a considerable about of time.

I’m back from today and what a day to be back….

Liverpool vs Arsenal, 12:45 kick off…

Which is literally in about 3 hours from now! I’ll kick off with a quote from captain fantastic, Robin Van Persie:

That result meant that we won three Premier League games in a row in February. The Spurs game came after a really good late win at Sunderland, while you saw our attacking capabilities in the 7-1 win over Blackburn. We have lots of challenges and interesting games ahead, facing Liverpool and Newcastle early in March, but that’s what you love about being a footballer – it’s good fun and you can only thrive on it.

And part of our recent uplift in Premier League form (let’s not talk about the FA cup or CL)… is down to the players on the pitch enjoying themselves – which is a very important part to the way in which form works. Today is a pivotal game. We’re currently 4th in the league table – and we want to stay there – well, 3rd would be a better aim, but you catch my drift – it’s all about qualifying for the Champions League. If we could get the three points today, it would see a 10 point gap between us and Liverpool, and you’d have to say that it would therefore knock them out of the race, leaving 3rd, 4th and 5th to be fought out between us, Chelski and Sp*rs…

But a loss could equally catapult Liverpool back into the reckoning. For us, this season, this game is a 6-pointer!

Looking at team news, the official injury list reads as such:

Vermaelen (doubt – ankle), Van Persie (doubt – groin), Rosicky (doubt – back), Ramsey (ankle), Santos (ankle). Mertesacker (ankle), Coquelin (hamstring), Djourou (thigh), Squillaci (groin), Wilshere (ankle).

Alex Song hasn’t yet returned from International duty, so it’s a little worrying getting a first XI today. If all the injuries are confirmed, then the kind of team we will be playing will be:

Szcznesy

Jenkinson – Sagna – Koscielny – Gibbs

Arteta – Benayoun

Walcott – Oxlade – Gervinho

Chamakh

And to be honest, that team looks very unbalanced and very poor… holes everywhere…

Personally, I think Van Persie, Vermaelen and Diaby could all be back in contention, so if that is the case, then we could potentially field this team:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs

Arteta – Diaby

Walcott – Oxlade – Gervinho

Van Persie

Much stronger spine there…! But the one player I hope that does come back and mysteriously able to place is Alex Song, as without him, we don’t have any real defensive cover.

Arsene commented on Liverpool’s poor home form, which does give us a little hope:

“Liverpool are a team who are in the fight for the Champions League places, and that’s why this game is so vital for us,” said Wenger at Friday’s press conference. “They always have a big support and I have a big respect for their crowd always because they are behind their team. You know when you get up there that you have to be prepared for a game with a big pace and a big drive from Liverpool. So you want to play your game and not hide.

But this game strikes me as one that means form goes out of the window. It’s a fight for fourth. The real test is today.

Come on you Gooners!

It’s a cold day in February… and it’s a cold day for the Arsenal.

Having lost 4-0 to AC Milan midweek and then 2-0 to Sunderland yesterday, as an Arsenal fan, it really does feel like an all time low. It was a weird game. We started well. We seemed to have a lot of gusto, will and our formation was solid, but it seems “self-destruction” is the ailment of the moment. We played Fabianski ahead of Szcznesy, as it was a cup game, but the rest of the team seemed line a decent collection of players. Gibbs missing out, meant that the fit again Coquelin took his place at left back and we lined up as follows:

Fabianski

Sagna – Djourou – Vermaelen – Coquelin

Arteta – Song

Oxlade – Ramsey – Gervinho

Van Persie

We did start really well, but 8 minutes into the game, Coquelin got injured. Not good considering our options on the bench and his injury meant the return of Squillaci to the team, Vermaelen out to left back. And with Djourou and Squillaci (our 4th and 5th choice centre backs) at the back, we literally lost the plot. The worry down the centre of defence was very bad, Vermaelen playing out of position also unbalancing the team – and honestly, we never recovered. Morale was very low considering the Milan game, and Sunderland capitalised on that fact by “having a go”. They were over physical and the referee was very lenient on them, but that is something we have come to expect. In reality, when we had the ball, we didn’t do too much with it.

Arsene said a fair bit in the press; he seems to have felt that we were totally committed and gave 100%. I’m not too sure. I think we carried over the poor attitude and poor performance from the Milan game. But the boss did say this – very worrying that Arsene has to say things like this. You know it’s bad!

“At the moment it is best to let people talk, criticise, analyse and destroy and on our side it is important to show internal strength and resilience and come out with a strong performance in our next game.”

It’s been 24 hours (or there abouts) since the loss, and you’ve probably read it all – well about the game at least. But the problems we have at the club are quite big at the moment. It’s obvious that there is a serious lack of confidence and a seriously low morale. We feel sorry for ourselves and it’s not a good place for us to be. But the interesting thing is that we have a mismatch of random and not so good players. The fact that we’re buying players on the cheap and paying them loads is a really detrimental type of management. And that where it all starts. The board’s lack of desire, the manager’s new style of management and the excuses that come out.

Yes, we have a stadium debt to pay off – but that has got nothing to with the lack of self motivation in Europe last week. I mean, have you ever seen 11 players more disinterested in a game? And the question you have to ask yourself is where does the severe lack of desire come from? As a player, on tens of thousands of pounds a week, and a club that accepts poor performances and mediocrity, where does the desire to win come from? It has to come from within and without leadership and inner desire to win, it leaves us short of something – and that something is what has caused us to lose so many games this season.

The next question is how do we fix it? Well, really, it’s an attitude change. If the board and the manager don’t change their attitude and approach, we will soon turn in a very mid-table club. The board need to want to win, there needs to be the desire to push forward. The pressure to win and want to win has to come from the manager too – the philosophy of the bargain, or the hope of potential, is something we need to abandoned. Arsene brought in Benayoun this summer after the fans called for experience. But that’s not what we meant. We meant someone who can win games and has experience of leading teams to victory.

We’re out of the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and the Champions League. We’re fourth in the Premiership and we’re lucky that we are fourth – it’s not down to us that we’re fourth – we’ve been lucky that other teams below us haven’t been great this season either – but that’s not for us to worry about. This season has been a shambles and it’s pretty much all lost. We have to play for fourth. But then we have to rebuild properly in the summer. Attendances at the Emirates are at an all time low, the performances do not excited. We literally only have one world class player in Van Persie.

We have 6 days until the North London Derby. Arsenal owe us a performance, simple as.

Today is a day where we can change the mood. On Wednesday, we literally didn’t turn up – it’s the worst performance I have ever seen in Arsene’s reign – I’d say it was worse than the 8-2 at Old Trafford, because then, we tried, whereas on Wednesday, we literally didn’t even try.

“You can find 100 explanations [why] we had a poor performance and an off day. We lost against a good Milan team, not an exceptional one. Unfortunately we were punished severely.”

Exactly, an average Milan side beat a very poor Arsenal side. I am not going to analyse it any further today, for we need the focus, the fans and the players all on today’s game.

The FA Cup, Sunderland vs Arsenal

Today is a BIG game. The players know it – the post Milan news was that the manager was livid after the game. The FA cup is our last chance of a trophy this year and he wants the team to react in the right way today and get back to winning ways. I’d expect us to field the strongest possible team today. The boss spoke yesterday on how important the game is – the defeat on Wednesday effectively means that we are in two competitions now – the cup and the race for fourth. To be honest, I don’t think we have the squad that good enough to compete for the European Cup – in fact, if Milan can beat us 4-0 this season, just wonder what would have happened if we played Barcelona – hold on, perhaps we may have given a cr*p if we played them – but the defeat in Milan showed us that the lack of confidence, the desire to compete wasn’t there – so better we’re out now, so at least we can concentrate on salvaging our season.

“It is more important now. It was always important but, because we had a big disappointment in the last game, it becomes more important. The Champions League and FA Cup can collide a bit and, schedule-wise, you see that again this year – you go to Milan, you go to Sunderland. But especially after what happened on Wednesday night it is important to have a great performance. We are in fourth position and we have an opportunity to qualify for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. It is important that we are up for it and do not feel sorry for ourselves because of that [one] performance. It can still be a positive week and we will see how we deal with the Milan game in the second leg later. What is important now, first of all, is not only the FA Cup but as well the response and the mental attitude of our team. They are at stake as well. That is something that is very important for us.”

Arsene spoke of rotating the team and refreshing a few positions, I think he has to have a hard look at the squad – it’s a strange one because we played 9 of our first choice squad against Milan, with only Wilshere & Gervinho the players who would have played if fit… But looking at today’s game, we need to focus on playing an attacking formation – a 4-3-3. With Gervinho back, Oxlade rested and Koscielny injured, my guess at the line up is:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Djourou – Vermaelen – Gibbs

Song – Arteta

Oxlade – Rosicky – Gervinho

Van Persie

Arsene is going to start Gervinho I’m sure – he can be very effective and after the loss in the ACN finals, I’m sure he will be eager to put on a show.

“He was very down when I spoke with him on Monday, now he is better and hopefully he can contribute on Saturday. We don’t know [what impact the Africa Cup of Nations will have]. I see Yaya Toure played on Thursday night for Manchester City and sometimes the best thing to get things out of your system is to play a game and have a performance. When you are young it is important to focus on the next game and show you are a good player.”

With Gervinho back, I hope it adds an extra level of pace and directness to our game. We no longer have Henry in the ranks, and I have to say that he did pass expectations in his performances when he was here, and we have a few different players in the squad now – Oxlade having proved he can make a difference at this level. But we do need more than just players – we need the desire that was missing in Milan. The desire that flows through the team at every level. The desire that make you win the first ball AND the second.

On the game, Arsene did give us some fighting talk.

“We have put together a good series of results and we can consider that night was just an off-day. Therefore we are focused on what we have done well recently because we go into a battle now in which we need confidence, belief and great commitment.”

Let’s believe.

Until tomorrow, adios for now…

After the dramatic win on the weekend, we’ve had a sudden, but different outlook on the rest of the season. Whereas a week or two ago, we were looking at 7th, finishing outside of Europe, we’re now 4th and ready to push forward in the league to solidify 4th as ours. We have recently been given back some of our injured players, and the rise of Oxlade and the return of Henry to the club have added some additional strength in depth to the squad. It’s told, and our results have been a little better for it.

Tomorrow, we take on Milan – at the San Siro – and it’s a chance to showcase our talents and re-establish the faith. It is certainly the tie of the round, and it’s a game that will be watched by millions. Vice captain, Thomas Vermaelen is really excited about the tie – as he should be, and spoke about it to the press:

“We are all really excited. It is a big game – an important one too – so it’s a good one to look forward to. For everybody it will be special so it will be a great evening.  Of course they have a great history and they have won it a few times. They still have some good players and they are a solid team. They are also doing well in Serie A. It won’t be easy but I am confident that we can qualify. The San Siro is a great stadium of course and it will be a great evening. I think it is probably the best game of the round and a lot of people will be watching.”

And that’s right – it’s a profile game with some big names – outside of our squad, the pitch will entertain the likes of Pato, Robinho and Ibrahimovic, and we all know what they can do. It’s up to us to stop them, and with Per Mertersacker out through injury, it looks like Koscielny and Vermaelen will be our central defensive partnership with either Coquelin or Gibbs playing at left back.

The line up could well be:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Coquelin

Song – Arteta

Walcott – Rosicky – Oxlade

Van Persie

Rosicky has been preferred to Ramsey in recent games, and the Welshman has looked jaded recently – his cameo appearances are good though and coming off the bench, he can add a lot.

It’s Henry’s last game (for the forseeable future) as an Arsenal player, and although he’ll be on the bench, I think we’ll see a glimpse of him… it’s his farewell game after all… but the player is fully focused:

“I have not thought about it. I just want to help Arsenal on the night. I am an Arsenal player for one more game. Milan is Milan. It is another type of game and it is never easy to win away in the Champions League. All we wanted was momentum [from the Sunderland game], to try to get wins and clean sheets.”

It will be sad to see Henry go, it’s been very nice having him around recently. But, go he must do… but he’ll be back. I don’t know when, he probably doesn’t know when… But he’ll be back!

Tomorrow is the Milan game, let’s get behind the team.

Tottz is back as usual for tomorrow’s blog… so until then Milan, have fun!

Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle all lost this weekend; it’s not going to happen every week. Normally when it does happen, we fail to win… and for large parts of yesterday it felt like that. Everton 2-0 against Chelsea, United having beaten Liverpool earlier in the day and Newcastle away at Sp*rs later in the day – and we couldn’t capitalise… until of course, the last minute of the game. Oh yeah, who’s the daddy? Thierry Henry. And what an impact the player has had – the winner against Leeds in the FA cup and now the winner against Sunderland to turn 1 point into 3.

The starting XI saw the return of Sagna, but outside of that, it was status quo – Oxlade ahead of Arshavin from the start.

Szcznesy

Sagna – Mertersacker – Koscielny – Vermaelen

Arteta – Song

Walcott – Rosicky – Oxlade

Van Persie

Sunderland under Martin O’Neill have been good, in fact, they’ve been in a crazy run of form. So, the fears were there that we could be turned over. On the 70th minute, we went behind to a McClean goal after Per Mertersacker inadvertently broke his ankle. Arsene announced after the game that Mertersacker will out for a while…

It was unfortunate. Mertesacker told me that he got a shot in his ankle and couldn’t move at all anymore. We are a bit worried about his ankle I must say because he goes home on crutches. He has done some ligament damage, but how big that is we will have to check tomorrow. For sure he is out for Wednesday.

And at 1-0 down, it was doom and gloom. Ramsey on for Mertersacker and a reshuffle of players – Henry having already come on for Oxlade, and it was 20 minutes get an equaliser. But we didn’t have to wait that long… as with 5 minutes, the Welsh wizard got us back into the game with a striker from distance. The ball hitting both posts before crossing the line. 1-1. Suddenly there was a thought that we could actually go on to win it… but time was running out…. 10 mins to go…. 5 minutes to go… into stoppage time… But then…

2-1 to the Arsenal.

What can be said? Henry with the winner. Wow. Awesome. Fairytale stuff.

He finished the story of the legend today in the championship; I hope he will add some in the Champions League on Wednesday now. It might haunt me again because then people will say ‘why did he not stay?’ It just shows you as well that these players never lose it. Exceptional talent survives. You have that with Giggs and Scholes at Manchester United and Thierry here. It is just a luxury to have a player like him on the bench.

Enjoy the victory…. no more words from me today. I’ll be back tomorrow for some more reflection.

But for now, we’re 4th… suddenly things look a little better.

The blog has taken a hit over the last two days due to work commitments, but the weekend is here and it’s time to look ahead at today’s game. Today’s blog is solo late that we already know the team line up….

Szcznesy

Sagna – Mertersacker – Koscielny – Vermaelen

Arteta – Song – Rosicky

Walcott – Van Persie – Oxlade

Arsene’s pre match chatter was all about how we have to be completely up for it. I really hope we are ip for it…

“Points are going to be dropped this weekend among the contenders for fourth place. Just as long as it is not us. “We know what is going to be expected and we know that we are in a position now where we just want to win our games. That is the case until the end of the season. We have to be absolutely, completely up for it and to be focused to win.”

Personally excited to see the front three, they have a certain swagger going on…

More after the game, cone on you Gonners!!