Apologies for the lateness of the blog this morning, it was a late night yesterday watching Jay-Z and Kanye West in action!

There’s not much news out there this morning for me to really report or discuss. Jack Wilshere has had another operation, this time on his knee, which will keep him out for 2-3 months but keeps him on course for a return at the start of next season. I presume this is the same ‘on course’ that he was on for a February, March, end of season return? I’m no medic but something doesn’t seem right about Jack’s on going injury issues. Time will tell I guess.

There’s no further comment or news on RVP so little point speculating of believing the press hacks who are trying to sell papers through fabrication.

Now it’s over to you…

I’d like to get your thoughts on the season gone. Below is a quickfire review of the season questionaire,have a ponder, haver a think but I’d really like to read some of your answers on what has been a testing season.  Please numercially bullet point your answers below and I’ll collate and review:

Enjoy! ~ @Tottz82

1. Player of the season (without RVP!)
2. Most improved player of the season:
3. Most Disappointing player of the season:
4. Goal of the season:
5. Your moment of the season:
6. Funniest incident of the season:
7. Lowest point of the season:
8. Player you’d like to sign this season (be realistic!)
9. Player you’d like to see sold this summer
10. What Tottnum player would you like sign?
11. What Man United Player would you like to sign?
12. Finally Yes or No, will RVP be an Arsenal player next season?

 

It’s somehow as you were from last week but probably not in the manner many of us would have predicted .

In a show of true Englishness, Arsenal and Tottnum seem to be caught up in a rather odd contest of politeness:

‘I insist old fella you first… No, no please after you.

OK an odd picture to make my point but neither Arsenal nor Tottnum seem to want to take advantage of each other’s inability to win a game right now. Arsenal yet again underestimated and/or showed complacency against ‘lower’ opposition and were punished even after leading twice. All three Norwich goals were preventable through application of basic defending. After being one goal up, Ramsey and Song overlooked their defensive responsibilities and Norwich cut through our defence a number of times before finally scoring. I’ve noticed how Gibbs’ gets away with poor positional sense through his pace, however the one who loves to frustrate many defensively is Vermaelen.

To make it clear, I’m not saying Vermaelen is a weak link or not good enough, I just think he gets caught up in his own hype of being a ‘frustrated striker’. When Vermaelen wants to be, he’s a beast of a defender and a true captain. However if you watch the third goal again you will notice how TV5 has completely switch off and is standing square to the ball over the top. At times I really think he forgets that defending is his priority and attacking is the luxury.

Arsenal Football Club should never ever score three goals in a home game and not come away with 3 points. It’s about mentality; it’s about taking the opposition seriously and getting the job done.

I was as frustrated, angry and annoyed as I have been walking away from a game this season (and I’ve been to a few of those this season!!). There was no way that Tottnum would let an opportunity to go two points ahead of us go easily, especially against a rotten Villa team. I was very happily very wrong. Tottnum could only manage a 1-1 draw at Villa after being and goal and eventually one man down. With Newcastle losing to City and Chelsea losing to Liverpool last night, it was quite an odd weekend.

The requirement on Sunday is no different to what it was a week ago, we must go to West Brom, in Roy Hodgson’s last game, and get a win to secure third place and automatic qualification. Can we beat WBA? Of course we can, do you trust us to? Of course you don’t! We are our worst enemy.
Sunday is a cup final, bigger than the Carling Cup Final lost last season. There’s a lot more at stake on Sunday than an oddly designed three handled cup.

For one last time this season Arsenal, it’s time to stand up and be counted. Put everything on the line, blood sweat and tears. Treat WBA with the respect they deserve but be merciless when putting them to the sword.

I’m making no comment on the internet rumours doing the rounds about Yann M’Vila, it’s not confirmed and it’s not a priority right now. Marking Odemwingie, Shane Long and Chris Brunt are.

Come on The Arsenal!!!!!!

@Tottz82

Did you know we’ve signed Podolski?

Yeah I’m a bit late on that one aren’t I but if you remember rightly, I said in January that I felt there was something in the Podolski links… no one remembers do they? I’ll just shut up then!

OK well I’ll state this now so write it down; I believe we will soon sign M’Vila and Vertonghen and we will potentially follow it up with a couple of young yet experienced squad signings. Time for Arshavin, Vela, Bendtner and Denilson to finally make their way.

Before we get too bogged down in the fantasy league of the summer transfer window we’ve got two more massive games coming up before the season ends.

The point away to Stoke on Saturday was an acceptable point. Acceptable meaning Stoke away is a never easy place, mainly because they are far and away the most despicable club, fans and players in the Premier League. They refuse to play any sort of football but will rely on their kick and throw tactic that they’re ever so proud of them. I will state publically I rather see Tottnum win a game that Stoke. As for their fans, I just pity them and their lowly existence.

With Newcastle losing (and heavily) to this crazy Wigan team, a point was again a point gained rather than two points dropped. No team in the top six has won at Stoke all season.

Next up is Norwich in our last home game of the season. If Arsenal can not beat a Norwich team who are pretty much on their summer holiday, then we do not deserve to be in the Champions League. Simple. No team news so far but I’d expect a close to an unchanged side if anything Ox getting a run out ahead of Yossi.

We’re just under two weeks away from the final game of the season but event’s yesterday may have made our trip to WBA a bit tricky that originally planned. With Roy Hodgson being named the new England Manager yesterday, we will now face WBA in his final home game. A potential banana skin? You’d hope not but if we’re not 101% focussed on the task at hand, you never know.

It’s been a pretty quiet week away from the Podolski news for Arsenal. Other teams have some big games tonight that could affect us but I’m choosing to ignore them as our fate is still in our own hands.

Have a great Wednesday!

@Tottz82

Bit of a short sharp blog today as I was hooked on the Champions League semi final between Barca and Chelsea.

First things first, The Arsenal.

Last Saturday’s game against Chelsea was well, erm, quite boring for London derby. Chelsea held the ball better than us, we looked like a team that was nervous and unable to actually retain possession. That said two the best chances in the first fell to the Arsenal. The first a free kick whipped in by Theo, RVP was only able to stab the ball onto the post. The other chance was from a RVP free kick that fell to Koscielny, who with his back to goal had a free header on to the post.

The second was a bit of a non event. Arsenal weren’t at their best and Chelsea seemed reluctant to try and score a winning goal that would reduce the points gap in the league.

In the end the game petered out in a goalless stalemate which left many in the ground scratching their heads about how that result should be taken. Well, come 1930 it was actually a good point. QPR had beaten Tottnum in the late kick off so it was point gained rather that two points dropped.

The winners of the weekend were Newcastle, who took Stoke apart to move 3 points behind us with a game in hand. With Chelsea also going through to the final tonight, the team that finishes 4^th (unless Chelsea) will need to sit through the Champions League final praying that the opposition do them a favour. Only 4 English teams can enter the Champions League next season even if one of them is the winner. Therefore, 4^th place can be replaced by the winner if need be.

Simply, we seriously need to finish 3^rd. In my opinion, we need 2 more wins to secure this.

Lastly, a massive congratulations to RVP who was named PFA player of the year on Sunday and completed the double by being awarded the Football Writers Association player of 2012. He has been an absolute pleasure to watch this season, Thank You.

FWA chairman Steve Bates, chief football writer at The People, said: “Robin was the overwhelming choice of our members this season and deservedly so after a magnificent campaign for Arsenal.

“The quality of his goals, attacking movement and consistency in a turbulent season for the Gunners has been eye-catching. The considerable size of his majority in the votes cast by our members reflected the general view that he has been the season’s most outstanding individual performer.”

Have a look of his best of montage for the season… I hope he has a couple of moments still to add in the last 3 games.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/van-persie-named-footballer-of-the-year

That’s it from me, apologies if this is shorter than you hoped but the message is simple… We need to finish 3^rd or cry like John Terry at the end of the Champions League final.

Have a great Wednesday.

@Tottz82

“I remember when – without being disrespectful – I first arrived here, there were some games when I was thinking less about whether we would win or not and more about who would score for us and how many we would get.

“There were some games like that in my first couple of years, but those days are 100% finished because the so-called smaller teams have improved so much.

“That QPR game was a wake-up call for us.”

Robin Van Persie – 10th April.

*Sigh*

I really thought writing my blog with a negative tone was a thing of the recent past, oh how naïve I was.

After the QPR game I wrote my column with a glass half empty half full analogy. While frustrated at the result (and paying £50 for the ticket!) I reflected on the positives of a strong run of form with 7 wins in 8 games. Unfortunately I can’t share the same sentiment today after Monday night’s result against Wigan.

The confidence before the game was tangible and why not, Wigan had never scored a goal at the Grove let alone got a point. However, good friend @Palerme12 and I discussed the role fans play in the complacent approach off the pitch by enjoying songs and quips about ‘Mind the Gap’ etc. If as fans were getting a bit ahead of ourselves, how can we then have a go a when things go badly?

I’m sure I don’t really need to dissect the game as we will have seen and read enough since Monday, so here is a quick summary.

After a bright 5mins and a couple of chances Arsenal got hit twice on the break in 2mins while Arteta was off the pitch injured. Both goals seemed too easy, Wigan cut through our non existent and sloppy defence to stun the home crowd. While stunned we were confident we could get back into the game, and we did in the 22^nd. Rosicky, the only player who comes out with any praise, whipped in a deadly ball which Vermaelen headed home.

Arsenal created half chances but went in at half time level. Unfortunately we had little to offer in the second half, a Santos shot is the only chance I can really remember. We threw Gervinho and the Ox on but we got little change from a well organised and drilled Wigan defence. If anything Wigan created the better chances in the second half, one in particular from a simple throw on that cut our defence wide open only for the very impressive Victor Moses to rush his shot. In the end Arsenal lost and deservedly so. Many have complained about time wasting tactics etc, what would you do if you were in the bottom 5, playing at Arsenal and leading? All is fair in love and war.

So where did it all go wrong, were we complacent? No, not this time for me. If anything the feeling I had in the ground and when I look back on the game is a team who hit the panic button for 80mins.

Going two goals down in 7mins stunned the team but losing Arteta ruined our set up. Ramsey came on and suddenly we had three central midfielders who wanted to push forward thus leaving gaps in behind exposing the defence.

Even though we got a vital goal, Arsenal never settled down and played the game that has served them well in recent months. We were too eager to get forward and played a pass too quickly or chose the difficult ‘hollywood’ ball. Players were constantly out of position while searching for the equaliser, Vermaelen Santos and Sagna were caught up field, RVP once dropped so far deep he collected a square pass from Vermaelen on the half way line. What frustrated me was that there was no instruction from the bench or at half time to calm things down and ‘out football’ Wigan, instead Pat Rice and the Boss were showing the same panicked emotions as the team. Wigan were happy to defend against this ruffled team and won every header and second ball. A frustrated Arsenal headed down the tunnel a defeated team while the majority of the crowd remaining in the stadium applauded worthy winners Wigan off the pitch. A touch of class even in defeat.

The game, for me, changed when Arteta got injured. Not only was he off the pitch for both goals, we lost our shape as we lost the player who has completed the most passes in the opposition half in the entire league. The calming influence that makes the team tick over was gone and we played like a team who lacked composure rather than suffering from complacency.

There is no official news on Arteta yet but I’d be surprised to see him again this season. With that potentially being the case, who would you play in the middle against Chelsea?

It’s Chelsea up next and we really are determined to do things the hard way. We need Chelsea to go into our game with an eye on their away trip to Nou Camp, so really a score draw would suit us quite nicely tonight.

Unfortunately we’re looking over our shoulder again, bring on Saturday.

Come on The Arsenal! Seriously come on now!

@Tottz82

Another week, yet more drama and you get the feeling there’s plenty more to come whether you want it or not.

Debs covered off the City game fantastically yesterday so I won’t elaborate too much on it but what a day that was. I was oddly confident going into the game as I knew City had to play for the win and when teams attack Arsenal at home, we’re at our most dangerous. Arsenal didn’t let me down; they were hungry for the ball and drove forward at every opportunity while City seemed to be a team potentially affected by United’s 2-0 win versus QPR.

After a number of efforts against the post and misses on the line, Arsenal finally got their goal. ‘Panic buy, passed his best’ Mikel Arteta won the ball back off Piazarro and fired an unstoppable effort in the bottom left corner. Not for the first time this season, cue pandemonium. Relief to get the goal we deserved, a goal to beat the City money boys (Na$ri) and a massive three points. The stadium instantly mocking City by celebrating with the Poznan was one of those moments that you’ll always laugh about, my lasting image was looking up from my seat and seeing the club level box above me joining in too. Brilliant fun.

A week after losing to QPR, Arsenal reacted in the way we needed them to especially given how tight the race for the Champions League is shaping up. With Tottnum losing, Chelski drawing and Newcastle winning; Arsenal sit in 3^rd place by two points, ahead of Tottnum and Newcastle and Chelsea 4 points a drift. Arsenal have a game in hand tonight at Wolves, in fact Arsenal will play three times in the Premier league before Tottnum kick a ball again. I’ll let the mathematicians work out where we ‘could’ be come 3pm on 21^st April.

On to tonight’s game against Wolves. Arsenal go into it without Koscielny who picked up his 10^th booking of the season against City, thus resulting in a two game ban. Djourou will come straight into the side and while many will cringe in fear after his performances back in January, you should remember these sub-standard performances were at right back rather than his natural centre back position. With Gibbs feeling the fatigue from a long period out, everyone’s favourite maverick left back, Santos, will replace him. I expect further changes too given the effort put in to beat City just three days earlier. Don’t be surprised if Chamakh, AOC and Ramsey get a run out too.

After the non performance and apologies from the QPR game, we should not under estimate a Wolves team who are literally scrapping for their Premiership life; what do they have to lose going for a win against the mighty Arsenal? Just ask Norwich.

RVP yesterday wrote:

“I remember when – without being disrespectful – I first arrived here, there were some games when I was thinking less about whether we would win or not and more about who would score for us and how many we would get.

“There were some games like that in my first couple of years, but those days are 100% finished because the so-called smaller teams have improved so much.

“That QPR game was a wake-up call for us.”

Wise and honest words from the captain but I feel like I’ve heard different forms of this before only to be let down in subsequent games. Captain Robin, ‘actions speak louder than words’, 6 points from the next two games against Wolves and Wigan are vital, over to the boys.

And finally… to the clowns that govern our game, The FA. After plenty to digest and review after the double header over the Easter weekend the following decisions were made:

An apology from Mike Riley to Wigan.

After the linesman failed to raise his flag for not one but three players in an offside position when Chelsea scored their first goal, the Head of Referee’s Mike Riley, issued an apology to Wigan boss Roberto Martinez. While this doesn’t put right the wrong, the apologetic gesture from Riley should be seen as a positive move from the FA and referees.

The FA uphold Shaun Derry’s red card.

Soon after Riley’s apology the FA announced it would not be rescinding the red card shown to Shaun Derry at Old Trafford. For those that haven’t seen it, Ashley Young was a yard offside when the ball is played into him, the lineman fails to spot the offside and lets play continue. Derry, in an effort to get back into position after correctly playing Young offside, places a hand on Young’s back and the United player pirouettes to the ground in a theatrical fashion to win a penalty. The referee decides that it was a goal scoring opportunity and sends Derry off.

With a couple of days to consider their options the FA could have taken a similar stance to the Wigan situation and rescinded the red card as acceptance of the incorrect decision. No chance, the FA decides to uphold the decision regardless of the fact the goal was given due a player CLEARLY in an offside position.

The FA chooses not to charge Mario Balotelli.

Have a look at this picture:

Not worthy of retrospective action?

According to the FA, one of the match officials saw the incident therefore they can not take retrospective action. Really? But what about Ben Thatcher’s elbow in 2006? What the FA are saying is they are spineless in making the big decisions and dealing with serious foul play that risks serious career ending injury.

Man City boss, Roberto Mancini apologised for the tackle after he saw it on the TV and accepted the FA should look into it. So the opposition manager urges the FA to look into a tackle he has apologised for as it was dangerous, yet the arrogance of the FA means they won’t take any further action??

The FA are completely and utterly spineless. A joke of an institution governing our game through hypocrisy. While they refuse to rescind false red cards and take action on serious foul play, they will spend time pleading for a reduction of Wayne Rooney’s ban after he kicked a player on the floor playing for England.

The Respect campaign my arse.

Bring on Wolves and Wigan!!!

Come on The Arsenal.

@Tottz82

No real surprises in our line-up too, after Gervinho picked up a knock, with Szczesny; Gibbs, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna; Benayoun, Arteta, Rosicky, Song, Walcott; van Persie all starting.

The first half was full of Arsenal chances- we could have had a penalty early on, as van Persie was felled in a City sandwich, but the referee blew gave a corner. City had a bit of bad luck early on, as Yaya Toure had to come off , as he’d hurt his knee in a collision with Song. Van Persie could have scored after 16 minutes as well, but Vermaelen forgot what end he was at, and cleared the ball off the line! Or rather, van Persie hit the ball in Vermaelen’s direction, but as he was on the line, it bounced off him and on to the crossbar.

Balotelli really could have finished Song’s career off with a leg breaker, not even 30 minutes into the first half, but luckily Song’s foot wasn’t planted, so he was able to pull it back without any damage. Balotelli wasn’t even booked for it, as the referee missed it. I really don’t know what he was doing on the pitch really, but he was more harm than good- to both teams!

The only two City chances in the first half  I could remember were one from a corner, with Balotelli’s effort cleared in the box by Gibbs, and the other, Szczesny was out of his area quickly enough to snuff out any danger.

It’d been all Arsenal, and City were lucky it was still nil nil at half time, and that they were still with 11!

The second half pretty much carried on from the first, and maybe City wormed their way back in just a little bit, but not much to really trouble City. With Spurs drawing the day before, it was really up to us to take advantage and go two points clear.

City did have one decent effort in the second half, but Szczesny watched the ball closely and tipped it over the bar. Can’t remember who’s effort that was, but it was a decent one.

Robin had another frustrating evening, having a fabulous first time effort from a Sagna (or was it Song?) come off the post. Even more frustration for Robin, having an effort rightly (boo!) ruled off for offside. Good goal though, but he went JUST a bit too early, before Song was able to release the ball. Good combination.

The next major effort we had, howewe did not score, I will never know! Sagna played the ball into Theo, who went for placement. It was the perfect shot for that ball, but Hart was not having any of it and palmed it away. Vermaelen was following up and really should have scored, but only managed to direct it into the path of Benayoun, but his body position was all wrong, and even though he was literally on the line, no joy.

It was one of those crazy no-goal situations that make you wonder if was just going to be one of those nights. A third 0-0 against City at the Ems in a row. But there was no real threat of a City win, however. It was entirely up to us how many points we took from the match, and it was beginning to look like it’d just be the one.

But thank God, Arteta had other ideas. He nicked e ball off a City player, advanced to the box and let one rip from long range! It was curling away from Hart and nestled perfectly into the bottom corner of the net, 3 minutes from time! Fabulous fabulous goal to win the match! Loved the fact that we did the Poznan- Man City’s usual goal celebration- afterwards. Awesome!

And to crown it all off, Balotelli FINALLY got his red, after a tackle on Sagna. Second yellow. He really should have gotten it months earlier! Crazy dude.

Ramsey should have put the icing on the cake in the final minute of injury time, but like the commentator said, he missed it by a MILE! It was a counter-attack after a City free kick just outside our 18, I think. It was a poor one- into the wall- and we countered, and after beating the last man, Ramsey REALLY should have scored, or at least passed to Robin who was in a great position, but he did neither. The game was already won though, so I guess we could forgive him that. Like someone joked on twitter, Kony could breathe a sigh of relief! Apologies if you don’t get that reference!

All in all, that was an amazing match for us, the only sour point being Kos’ yellow, as it means he misses the next 2 matches. No matter, we’ll handle it, I’m sure. (I hope!)

I always view City matches almost as Derbies these days, given our recent history, so getting a win is always especially sweet. And we can laugh at Nasri, as that win almost guarantees that they won’t be winning any trophies this year. Should have stayed, mate. But I guess he has his bank balance to console himself.

I wish I could write a bit more, but I need to dash!

Spurs lost today, meaning if we win on Wednesday away to Wolves, we can go FIVE points clear, with only five games to go. How sweet would that be!?

Come on, Arsenal!!!

‘It was all good just a week ago’

I never thought I’d use a Jay-Z lyric to kick off my weekly Arsenal blog but that line sums up the overall situation.

Last week I wrote about the ‘easy win’ against Villa and how we’d really started to click into gear. Well the gear popped out, car stalled and the exhaust backfired on Saturday didn’t it? The reaction by the fans has been familiar once again, a split of perspective.

The glass is half empty:

Yet again Arsenal have bottled it. With an opportunity to increase the gap to 6 points before the Spuds played on Sunday, Arsenal put in a limp performance against a team fighting relegation whose fans sung ‘You must be sh*t, we’re winning at home’.

During the week the players and manager were more than happy to sing their own praises about turning (another) corner and quotes about how they knew they would be fine in the end. You would be forgiven for wondering if such complacency and arrogance had entered the minds of the players as they failed to perform. QPR were hungrier for the ball, they didn’t even have to bully or kick us as we were happy to play into their hands. With 68% of possession during the game, Arsenal rarely created the kind of chances our recent form expected. When you play a Mark Hughes team captained by Joey Barton, you expect to leave the ground angry at rough house tactics or some form of bullsh*t by Barton, sadly I left the ground annoyed at my own teams lack of fight and acceptance in the manner QPR had beaten us. A worrying feeling.

As expected Spuds didn’t refuse the gift presented to them on Sunday morning and beat a brave Swansea team. So we ended the weekend level on points with Tottnum and ahead of them in the league by a single goal. Unfortunately you then look at the run ins, Tottnum face Sunderland away this weekend in their toughest remaining game. Arsenal now face the prospect of homes games against City and Chelsea and a trip to our old friends in Stoke.

90mins of complacency may have just taken us back to where we’ve just come from.

The glass is half full.

7 amazing wins in a row has completely transformed our season and unfortunately all good things must come to an end. While a defeat at QPR is a pretty frustrating thing, 7 wins from 8 games is nothing to get down about. At the start of this run Arsenal sat 13 points behind 3^rd place with a very tough run ahead of them. Wins at Sunderland, Liverpool and Everton have shown that the team can go to traditionally tough grounds and pick up the maximum points. Would losing at Everton but beating QPR have made people feel any better? You know I think people would be more accepting given it was Everton who beat us. Odd but true.

The fickleness of fans is a common part of football. On Saturday many were keen to point the finger of blame at Thomas Vermaelen and question whether we he was good enough at centre back. These were obviously the same people who lauded the TV5 defensive performance and goal against Everton as well as screaming the house down when he scored that last gasp winner against Newcastle. Slips happen in football, it’s how we react to the slip that matters. On Saturday we didn’t score again but the team can react as a collective and show the league we mean business when we play City on Sunday.

Eight games ago we would have prayed to be sitting in 3^rd place even if it was by a single goal. However expectations change and as football fans it is easy to get carried away with where your club will end up when on a run. City fans were signing ‘1-0 to the Champions’ when we left their ground in January, wow they must be feeling pretty stupid right now.

Arsenal, the manager and the players have done fantastically well to get themselves to 3rd place. 7 wins from 8 games is an extremely respectable return and if we can repeat the run again, we will be in the Champions League place. Will we finish 3^rd? It’s not as impossible as it seemed in February that’s for sure.

However full you see you glass to be, we’re all aiming for the same thing. It’s time to repeat the run starting this Sunday.

Come on The Arsenal!!!

Comments welcome – @Tottz82

So after all that chat about maybe putting pressure under Spurs to slip-up in the later game, we chose to balls it up and give them the opportunity to close the gap, which they did with a 3-1 win over Spurs, bringing it to just one goal-difference point.

It’s easy to point to the QPR match as a winnable game- with reason- but we seemed to forget that it was a London derby, and with Mark Hughes in charge- apparently our record away to his teams is awful- the warning flags ought to have been waving. They were- we just didn’t take any notice. Maybe we were just high on the euphoria of being on such a long run.

Watching the match highlights again, and from my recollection from Saturday, QPR started the brighter, and it was no surprise they scored early on. It was a good finish by Taraabt- his first Premier League goal-, but Vermaelen didn’t cover himself in much glory. He had a bit of a nightmare the whole match, it seems. Fingers crossed we don’t get too many more of those in the future!

That was with only 22 minutes on the clock, and QPR kept pressing, with us (fans) pretty much just praying for halftime! But we equalise before halftime, however. 15 minutes after their goal, and 8 minutes before halftimepretty internally came out of nowhere. van Persie set Theo up, but his effort came off the inside on the post, but he was perfectly positioned to slot in the rebound. 1-1, thank you very much!

I really thought we’d press on from there, but other than a Ramsey daisy cutter that missed the far post not by much, I’m not sure we threatened much in the first half.

Second half was an improvement on the first, but not enough of an improvement. We almost took the lead at the start, however, but Gibb’s effort effort flashed just wide.

We  were definitely much better in the second half, but QPR pretty much gave as much as they got. But still, with the quality or both teams, you’d think we’d find a way to win it. Hell, I was confident we would.  But we didn’t. I wonder if that’s not exactly what happened. Even though we were losing, the players probably thought, “yeah, it’s QPR, I’m sure we’ll get the winner”. Not saying they didn’t try, but maybe they didn’t try enough. Complacency. But then it’s easy for me to sit here and analyse after the event, but I guess we’d never know. Anyways if it was, I hope we’ve learnt from it.

But back to the match.

We did have a few chances in the second half, with Paddy Kenny saving well after Robin was one on with him. We kept trading blows, and it was a matter of whose defence would crack first. Ours did.

Vermaelen lost possession on the edge of the box after a slip, and Mackie was able to slide the ball to an unmarked Diakite, who’d had a free run into the box and was in acres of space. 66 minutes on the clock. I remember twitter was screaming for substitutes, and we eventually made a couple. Arteta and Gibbs off for Chamberlain and Chamakh. Gervinho had earlier come on for Ramsey, right after QPR’s second. Joey Barton almost added a third for QPR, and a bit more embarrassment for us, but Szczesny’s fingertip save prevented that. Phew.

And that’s how it ended. 2-1 to QPR. No one would deny that they deserved that.

As for our performance, I think it’s one of those ones where each player needs to personally analyse their performance- identify where it went wrong and sort it out. I doubt there was any fundamental problems, apart from our usual defensive frailties, but I’ll stick my neck out and say that it was just a badlady at the office. Nothing more. We just need to dust ourselves up, and move on to the next one, but it definitely was 3 points unnecessarily given away without enough of a fight. Disappointing really, but credit to QPR.

And speaking of next, we’ve got Man City visiting the Emirates. Their last 3 visits to us in the league have seen us beat them 2-0, and then draw the last 2 nil nil. I read a stat earlier today that if City do not win Sunday- fingers crossed they don’t- it’d be their longest non-winning streak away at a particular club. I think I read 22 years, but I could well be out of range. Here’s hoping they don’t get that monkey off their back on Sunday. With the whole Nasri debacle, as well as Ade and Toure previously, it almost feels like we’ve got something to prove. All I care about is a win, to be honest. Our best case scenario is to finish 3rd thisseason, and 3 points will go a long way into securing this.

Incidentally if we win, and if Man United win as well, they’ll be going 8 points clear of City, and without jumping any guns, effectively hand United the title. Seeing as we have no chance of winning the title, that makes no difference to me whatsoever, but anyways, I’d rather United not City, won the league, so beating City will be doubly sweet. But first thing first, we’ve got to win. And we can win, depending on if the team turn up at 100%. I can’t think of any reason why they won’t. If anything, I can probably think of a million reasons why they would. We’seeding out on Sunday. Here’s hoping it’s notanother drab nil nil!

Come on, Arsenal!

We’ve got Szczesny in goal, and with Koscielny back, we’ve got our first choice(?) back four in Sagna, Kos, Vermaelen and Gibbs.

In midfield, after a bit of confusion, we’ve got Song, Arteta, Ramsey, with Rosicky and Walcott supporting Van Persie.

We’re on a fabulous run at the moment, in the league- 7 wins in a row! We can make it 8 in a row away at QPR, but like any away game, it won’t be easy. But with that line-up, we’ve got every chance!

Chelsea are in action same time as us, and hopefully come full-time, our 8-point lead should still be there, and if possible, increased, as Chelsea are away at Villa.

Spurs are in action tomorrow, home to Swansea. A six-point gap will surely put pressure on them, so hopefully we take all three today, and they drop some!

Who would have thunk it, a couple of months ago, that third place would be ours to lose!? Fingers crossed we don’t lose it!

8 minutes to go until kick-off now. Come on ARSENAL!