Posts Tagged ‘premier league’

The home form has been positive this season, much in contrast to last season and that's one of the major factor's to why we're sitting top of the league. Apart from Birmingham, Milan and Man U, we've won all our home games this season and we're definitely favourites for today's game.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa

Arsene is looking forward to the game, and after the week we’ve had, it’s a game we need. Of course, another game against a midlands club is interesting as the last encounter cost us 2 points in the league and one of our of best players. Today is all about focus and all about playing to our strengths. We need to attack well and defend well. Adebayor needs to find his scoring boots, Cesc his passing range, Hleb his wizardry and Walcott needs to keep the form that saw him score two goals last Saturday.

Arsene speaks: 

“They are welcome tomorrow. We know they require full concentration. At the moment that is what we want and what we need. It has been a difficult week because we have been deeply hurt by what happened on Saturday. But we have recovered and are ready to focus on tomorrow’s game and we will get a strong response from the team. That is the number one priority and it is a good test for us tomorrow to see how well we can respond under difficult circumstances like that and to see how well we have recovered from it.”

Line Up and Team News 

The first XI is pretty much established and we know all know who Arsene will pick if everyone is fit. Today’s line up is the same as last week, with Bendtner replacing Eduardo in the starting line-up and Diaby replacing Bendtner on the bench.

Manuel Almunia
Manuel Almunia has been consistent this season and seems more agile than Lehmann. He has made some good saves and won us some points this season. Lehmann has done well when called upon, but his performances have seemed aged and reminiscent of Seaman’s last year at Arsenal. Quick Stat: Almunia has played 23 of the 27 premier league games this season.

Bacary Sagna
With all the other topics surrounding the club, the dropped points and the Eduardo inury, everyone has forgotten a little unsung hero. Sagna has played against Milan and then against Birmingham so hat’s off to him, his performances have been remarkable.

William Gallas
There has been quite a bit of fuss about the Gallas “sulk”. For those of you who aren’t aware, after the game last Saturday Gallas sat on the pitch with his legs crouched and arms crossed. He sat there for two minutes shaking his head. At the Friday press conference, Arsene said that “Ideally he should not have responded like that” but continued today “His leadership qualities for me are outstanding, even if on that occasion he used his commitment in the wrong way. You want people in this job who care.”. I think that sums it up. More here.

Philippe Senderos
Philippe Senderos’ form has in February has been commendable. With Kolo off to the African’s nation tournament, Philippe has stepped in and played well. He played in all 5 games last month and got a goal to his name. Although he had some shaky performances at the beginning of the season, he is now showing some of the form that ousted Sol Campbell out of the team.

Gael Clichy
Clichy had played admirably this season and has shown that he does have a hell of a lot of stamina. He has run up and down that left and he’s probably got the hardest job in our team as we don’t really have a left winger that he can work with and who can help him out. You often see Flamini arriving later on the scene, and Hleb or Rosicky tracking back-ish. He seems a little bit tired and two mistakes (one and against Man City and then the penalty against Birmingham) have shown that he is tiring as the season comes to an end. I wouldn’t mind to see him have a rest soon when Toure is back and play Gallas at left back, with Senderos and Toure in the middle, just for a game or two to give him a rest… more on Clichy next week.

Theo Walcott
Theo’s presence in the first team is kicking off. With injuries to Eduardo, Van Persie and Rosicky he will see more time in the close season. He will play on the right of midfield today against Villa and from that position he scored two goals against Birmingham last week. If he can be consistent in the final 11 games, then he can prove a very useful player on track to the league title. As discussed in Wednesday’s blog, he could play an increasingly bigger part in our quest for the title.

Mathieu Flamini
Flamini has been one of the stars of our season. His all out action and defensive qualities have seen him replace last season’s player of the year, Gilberto, in midfield. He has yet to sign a contract and we all hope he signs very soon!

Cesc Fabregas
Cesc has yet again shown his qualities and consistency this season with some excellent displays in midfield. He has contributed over 10 goals this season and although they have dried up recently, it’s a good return from him and he’s scored some crackers and some vital goals at the beginning of the season. He was the most obviously affected player last weekend and his reaction to Eduardo’s injury was the signal to how bad it was.

Alexandr Hleb
Hleb has been outstanding this season. His dribbling skills are phenomenal and he recently talked about being set free after Henry’s departure. He has the ability to float around the pitch, pass well and get to the byline. His has very much improved over last season and I predict his form in the run in could be a major factor in us winning the league.

Emmanuel Adebayor
Ade has scored 19 league goals this season and that’s an excellent return. One has to wonder if Van Persie had been fit how many goals they could have scored as a partnership although take nothing away from Eduardo and Bendtner who have scored when called upon.

Niklad Bendtner
Today sees Ade and Bendtner reunited up front. They’ve got a tag of not liking each other that much, but I think the press have taken it out of proportion. Today will be a good insight into their real relationship and I believe they can score goals together. I’ve been impressed in their partnership when they’ve played, Sp*rs aside. Let’s hope Niklas can start performances, if he can, it will be a serious aid in the absences of VP and Eduardo.

Our starting line up today looks like this:

And I suspect the bench will comprise of Lehmann, Hoyte, Gilberto, Denilson and a fit again Diaby.

The other combination, depending on tactics could see Walcott up front and Diaby on the left. I’m not sure if Arsene would rush Diaby back straight into the team and it would be a bit harsh on Bendtner. Gunners Live examined this formation on his blog yesterday. I’m sure we’ll find out in a few hours…!

Yesterday, The Canon looked at all the above options and the possibility of Ade starting up front by himself – we all know that I prefer a 4-4-2 wherever possible, but then again, I’m not the manager and that for a good reason.

Today’s game will require an effort from the crowd. Let’s make it a game to remember, I’m sure Eduardo will be watching in some manner…. The Online Gooner talks to every fan who is attending the game and it’s inpirational stuff.

Injury News 

Van Persie is out for today’s game but has been training for the last three weeks. He and Djourou trained with the first team yesterday but  both are lacking match practice. Arsene is not going to rush back Van Persie and I don’t blame him as every time he has returned this season he has quickly got re-injured.

Toure looks like he is back although won’t be risked today, I thought he would be back for the Milan game, Arsene says he may not be. He spoke in his Friday pre-match press conference:

“Kolo Toure seems to think that he has a chance [for Tuesday],” Wenger added. “But it is a small one and he is definitely not in the squad for tomorrow.”

Rosicky catalogue of injuries are worrying and he is still out with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.  Arsene said:

“Tomas Rosicky is not back either. He got a bad kick in front of his knee and it affected his hamstring. For a while he had pain in the knee and the hamstring. He looks now to recover but he has no chance for Tuesday.” 

Away from tomorrow’s game…

Death threats are idiotic, so is the FA

Arsene spoke on Friday about the death threats that Martin Taylor received. He was questioned rather inappropriately about his play to part in this and answered emphatically.

“I am responsible for what I say; I came out and retracted what I said. I didn’t want to go overboard. I take that responsibility. But people who make death threats have to feel responsible for what they do. It is idiotic and not accepted but I do not want to be responsible for that. We are not in a club where hate is part of the culture.”

I don’t quite understand why people are pointing the finger at Arsene. Obviously, death threats are not something that we want but how can anyone say it’s Arsene’s fault. The foray around this has detracted the severity of the tackle.

Listening to the Arsecast yesterday, Arseblog and Gunnerblog discussed how it’s hard to understand to see why Arsene is the bad guy in all of this and Taylor is the victim. They’re a phone call to the FA in which the four game ban for Aliaidiere verus the three game ban for Martin Taylor and frankly the FA are plain wrong. There is something very much wrong with the system.

News Round Up

In other news, Hleb has moved to distance himself from a move to Inter Milan. It seems that every-time Arsenal are doing well, the Italian and Spanish sharks are lurking with intent. Diaby has been recently linked with Inter, Flamini has constantly been linked with Juve (which Juve have moved to dismiss), Rosicky has been linked many times with Athletico Madrid and we all know the history of Cesc and Real Madrid, Henry with Barcelona and even Adebayor with Man U.

Hleb’s agent does try to appease the link:

“I can understand why clubs would be interested in Alex, but Alex loves life at Arsenal. He feels he is at the best club in the world.”

Goodplaya has been talking about the trauma of Saturday and the Gallas situation and agrees that he’s made a difference this season.

Young Guns, a very reliable source on the youth scene at Arsenal has reported that Arsenal are furious of the last of action than Fran Merida has seen since Chris Coleman left.

Happy Birthday Carlos Vela

Finally, even though he’s not with us until next season, today is Carlos Vela’s birthday! So Happy Birthday Carlos. For all the news on Carlos Vela, check out this blog, totally dedicated to Carlos and his progress.

Although the Sports Granola doesn’t think so, they’ve predicted a 1-1 draw, I have a very good feeling that we’re going to win and win comprehensively.

Here’s to a 5-0 win over Villa at the Emirates. Thanks to the Ninja who spotted several spelling mistakes which have all now been corrected lol!]]>

Good evening everyone! Or should I say good morning because you may be reading this in the Morning or it may be your morning when it’s my evening or my morning when it’s your evening or if you live in Fiji then it’s across a date line, so good evening for tomorrow…? let me start again.

Howdy everyone! Well, it’s Friday and that means many many things… firstly, Arseblog Arsecast 66 is out today and a worthy listen…

There’s a lot that’s happened today so let’s start with a round up of the new and then look forward to the Aston Villa game.

Taylor breaks his silence…

Martin Taylor has today broken his silence on the Eduardo affair. From what we’ve heard from the Birmingham camp since the incident, he is supposed not a vicious player, although the tackle was definitely over the top. As shown pictorially many times and highlighted in last Sundays blog, his tackle was very much mistimed. His silence was the right thing to do – he waited until things calmed down and then said his piece. Believe me, I am not happy, but he has shown to be more dignified than his team mates Kelly and Larsson. His statement today was basically an apology, remorse of the incident and an olive branch to Arsenal fans… here’s what he said and was quoted in the Independent:

“I will be really happy on the day when I see he is back in the Arsenal and Croatia line-up and when he is scoring goals again. The injury was terrible enough. When he gets back to fitness and he puts the ball in the net for Arsenal for the first time, we will all feel much better. People will be able to see that accidents like these are the nature of football and you can recover from it. I went to see him on Saturday but, unfortunately, he was still recovering from an operation, so first thing on Sunday morning I went to the hospital. Although there was a language barrier, I just said that I didn’t mean him any harm at all and that I hoped he made a quick recovery. He took it on board and nodded. I was just really glad we could communicate. He is obviously a really strong man. Since then, I have read in the papers that he would be happy for me to visit him. That’s something I’d like to do.”

Well, that’s a little better from Taylor and I’m glad he went to see him – Eduardo is a gracious man indeed, I would have accidently rolled my bed over his foot, but then I’m not in his position, so that would probably be the wrong thing to do! Alan Smith also speaks to Sky Sports about how he’s been in his position and how much of a bad injury it was, thanks Alan… obviously we didn’t know!

Ladies finally lose… 

Well they say all good things come to an end and our Ladies team finally lost today 1-0 to Everton in the league cup final. Before today it was 58 game winning run in domestic football, yes 58 games. Although it won’t upset the season and may refocus some of the players, it wasn’t expected and a bit of a shock to the system.

The match report is available here.

Blocking State

The club has moved to shed some light on what the “blocking state” business is all about. Yesterday’s blogcommented on Usmanov’s increase of his stake, and and the club today outlined what it’s all about. The actual “25% blocking state” has no immediate affect or impact on the daily club duties but has a say in any major decisions that have to be made.

Most importantly, a 25% holding would have no impact on the day to day running of the Club, on buying and selling players or any contractual or sponsorship agreements.

“There are some important decisions affecting the business that need shareholder approval, however the majority of these only require a simple majority of shareholders to vote in favour. These decisions, which are known Ordinary Resolutions, include the appointment of directors; the payment of dividends, approval of the accounts etc. There are some unusual decisions which require the approval of 75% of shareholders. These are very rare and are known as Special Resolutions and include winding up the company or changing its name.”

A Cultured Left foot talks more about this and Arsenal.com have the full press release.

Flamini Contract Update

Flamini has yet to sign a contract and it’s a worrying situation. I can’t figure out why he hasn’t signed and why the club has left this run for so long. I have to say his all action performances have been something that been a massive plus for us this season and he has been our most improved player.

Juventus today played down speculation that they are interested in signing him and hopefully it’s true and we hear that he’s signed a new 5 year contract very very soon… apparently Juve’s sporting director, Alessio Secco, has contacted Arsenal to let them know – how nice, how weird?

Secco says:

“There is nothing true. He’s a really good player, but we have never looked at him. Our chief officer has contacted the Gunners to reassure them. It’s a gesture that was needed considering the good relationship there must be between two big clubs like Juve and Arsenal, and that has been appreciated.”

Le Grove takes the words right out my mouth when he says:

“I don’t understand why it always seems to take for ever when signing a contract, how much? How long? and where do I sign? Doesn’t seem overly complicated does it?”

Arsenal vs Aston Villa Preview and Team News…

In yesterday’s blog, I outlined the team news for the game and there were a few things which needed clearing up, which Arsene has moved to clear up today. The return of Van Persie looks a little unlikely for Saturday, although we have Diaby back in the squad. I expect the starting line up to remain much the same as yesterday with Diaby taking Van Persie place on the bench… as our squad is so stretched, VP will surely be on the bench for Tuesday game in Milan.

The revised squad of 16 for Saturday’s game is:

Goalkeepers: Almunia, Lehmann
Defenders: Sagna, Senderos, Gallas, Clichy, Hoyte
Midfielders: Cesc, Flamini, Hleb, Diaby, Gilberto, Denilson
Strikers: Adebayor, Bendtner, Walcott

Arsene has played Diaby up front before, and his goal against Diaby shows he has an eye for goal, but at this moment, it’s more likely to see Walcott up front and Hleb and Diaby on the wings if needed.

Arsene spoke about Van Persie today:

“We will not rush Robin van Persie back but the news is quite good. It is very difficult to say. We go step by step. But he should come back into normal training, very, very quickly now. Maybe I am being a little over-cautious in my statements but I do not want to put any special pressure on him. But the fact that Eduardo is out is one more reason to [get him back]. Also he deserves that championship as well and that is another reason – to do it for him.”

Our injury list now comprises of Eduardo (broken leg), Alex Song (knee), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Kolo Toure (knee) Johan Djourou (groin), Emmanuel Eboue (suspended) with Van Persie not ready for selection.

My first team prediction for tomorrow is:

With Lehmann, Hoyte, Gilberto, Denilson and Diaby on the bench. Although Gilberto, Denilson and Diaby are primarily central midfielders, Gilberto can play in defence, Denilson on the right of midfield, Diaby on the left and possibly up front, so there is some variation on the bench… well, kind of…

Now doubt, Aston Villa do have the ability to cause us problems, and with Young, Agbonlahor and Carew, they do have a front three to give any team problems. We’re more suspect in the air than most teams and Villa will be looking to make the most out of that… Sagna and Clichy will be busy with the two quick wide boys, but we have to spend time concentrating on attacking than defending…

Let’s see what Arsene has to say at his press conference, more team news tomorrow.

Round Up

In other news, Young Guns has done a piece highlighting our players to watch in 2008. The blog talks about 5 young players to keep an eye on – Carlos Vela, Nacer Barazite, Pedro Bothelo, Jack Wilshere and Benik Afobe. A very interesting read and a brilliant insight to 2008.

Arsenal Youth talks about Rhys Murphy and his return from injury – he’s a player who scored 17 goals in just 21 games for the under 18s last season. Read more here.

Gunnerblog talks about the carling cup player of the year and how Eduardo deserves it on Merit and GunnersLive talks about Walcott and his plans for the rest of the season and the unity of the squad. The team went bowling and then to see Eduardo – it’s like one big happy family.

AllGoonerdUp talks about the love in our squad, the 8 points clear turning into 3 points and a little history of injured strikers and East Lower talks about our attacking options.

For those of you who are new to worldofarsenal.co.uk, some of the recent posts included a tribute to Eduardo and a look into the attacking void left by the absences of Eduardo and Van Persie in the run up to the league title.

Final Word

Well, it’s been a long day and just enough time for me to tell you that for those of you unable to make the game on Tuesday, Arsenal are holding a live screening at the Emirates. £15 gets you in and a cup of tea, but the atmosphere should be awesome… tickets are available from the Arsenal.com site or by calling this number: 0845 262 0001

Okay guys, I hope you all have a good Friday, not long now til we see the boys in action… ’til then!]]>

Evening all, it’s Tuesday today (well it may be Wednesday and not today when you read this (although it’s always “today”) but today on Wednesday would be yesterday, of course  – unless you read this on Thursday, in which although today will be today, the today I am referring to will be the day before yesterday).

Let’s start again…

It’s Tuesday today and we’re all settling back into our normal routine, many things have happened and many things have been said, it’s time to review and reflect on a crazy few days. As reported yesterday, the official announcement from Arsenal is that we’ll probably see Eduardo back in action in about 9 months.

That’s great news, and a real bonus considering some of the reports saying that he may never play again.

Our Attacking Options

With Eduardo out for the rest of the season, there is now some concern for our attacking options. Let’s have a look at who we have got available and their contribution to the team.

Emmanuel Adebayor Ade has scored 19 league goals this season and has really shown his class. When Thierry left, everyone wondered who would be the 20 goal a season stiker. I will be the first to put my hands up and say that there were many a time last season when I thought somewhat negative thoughts about Ade… but I seriously proven wrong… he has been amazing this season. He has been a real gem in our attack, scored all sorts of goals (with a few crackers too). Arsene once again has proved that we should all trust him! Surpirsingly, Ade has not scored in the Champions League yet… Ade spoke today on his lack of CL goals:“When the goals come they will come. Of course that is what I am fighting for. But it does not worry me. I am not putting pressure on myself. Against Milan [at home], the ball did not want to go in.”I agree with him, they will come and a hatrick against Milan will do nicely

Something quite rememborable is Ade’s miss against Milan, and hopefully that’s something he resolves out in Milan with a few goals and a sterling performance. He has been talking about the game:

“We will go there with confidence. We know that beating Milan is something that will be important for us, our families and the fans, so of course our confidence will be very high. We will play our football, pass and move and if we have a chance to win the game that is what we will do.

Robin Van Persie When Thierry left, everyone looked at Van Persie as one of the main players who would become an integral part of our team and give us the “va-va-voom”. He certainly showed promising signs of such a season when he scored an excellent goal against Inter Milan in the Emirates Cup earlier this season. But for the two and a half seasons running, we have seen VP get injured and stay injured for big periods of the season. No one thought he would get injured so many times this year, but I think VP will be the most disappointed player. Wenger recently talked about his return to the squad:“He is not a very long away from being fit at all but he lacks match-practice. Could he be in the squad? Maybe but don’t forget he has not played regularly for five months now.”He could return, but I won’t put my house on him keeping fit during the run in!

Robin could be in the squad this Saturday against Aston Villa, we’ll find out more tomorrow…

Nicklas Bendtner Nicklas has had a promising start to his Arsenal career with some good performances in both the cups and the league. He won hero status when he scored his first league goal against Sp*rs in the league match, which turned out to be the winner. Nicklas is good on the floor and good in the air. However, he does have the ability to fade in and out of games, and a few FA cup and Carling cup games he has really been anonymous. We have to remember that Nicklas is only 20 years of age and will not have the consistency this year as he will next. He spoke after the Birmingham game:“We need to recover quickly and start coming out on top again. We can’t keep thinking about this day because it has just been terrible.He has the ability, he has his biggest chance now.

Niklas will start against Villa, with our lack of midfield options, we simply can’t play 4-5-1

Theo Walcott “Young Theo” as he is known to some of us, has had a stop start season. He has shone in bits last season, but suffered a shoulder injury which affected him both physically and mentally. He has impressive for the England Under 21s and seems to play with a little bit less pressure when away with England. On Saturday, playing on the right wing, Theo really was the man of the match. He scored his first two league goals and was a different player in the second half. Overshadowed somewhat by the Eduardo injury. Although Arsene believes he will ultimately play as a striker, he says he is currently more apt“He looked more comfortable on the right. In the future he will certainly be a central player. But at the moment with his back to goal, he does not look completely comfortable yet. When we play on the counter-attack, he is very good though the middle. When we dominate the games, he is better on the flank still I feel.” He could play an increasingly bigger part in our quest for the title.

Theo will now get a run of games, we hope we can see a bit more of the cameo against Milan and performance against Birmingham.

Alexander Hleb Alexander has played an instrumental part in our season so far. He has been our wizard in midfield. In a 4-5-1, Arsene has opted for him in a support striker role. Hleb will be the first to tell you he is a creator rather than a finisher. Hleb says that Arsenal have been set free this season (it’s a rather long quote):“When we play on the counter-attack, he is very good though the middle. When we dominate the games, he is better on the flank still I feel. Until last summer, we had just played for Thierry Henry. He was running the show. Whenever I got the ball, I was looking up, ‘where’s Henry?’ I did not care to go for goal myself! And if once in a while I dared to pass the ball to someone else, he would shout, ‘hey, I was free!’ When he was on form, we won everything. When he was off form, we lost. That has all changed. We are not a one-man band any more. Nobody complains when I risk some dribbling. That’s the reason for our good performances – we were set free.” I prefer to see Hleb ply he trade in midfield and have two stikers feed off him, but with away ties to United and Milan, you feel he could be used in this tactic more often.

Alex will most probably play as the support striker in the San Siro, but we will see him on the left of midfield this weekend as Rosicky and Diaby are both still out.

Giles Sunu Giles joined us this summer from french club Chateauroux. He is a talented youngster, a good finisher and a hard worker. He is only 16 at the moment, but has the body and stature of a 20 year old. He will be 17 this March. He is definitely one for the future, but wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the bench. Liam Brady said:“He’s an all-action centre forward. We had him come to a tournament in Italy in late April and he did very well. He’s hard-working and good on the ball.”Academy coach Steve Bould added, “Gilles is a really hard working lad. He runs the line all day long and we’ve been delighted with his attitude. Everyone’s taken to him and through shear endeavour he’s enamoured himself with everyone at the Club.”It may be too early, but then as Arsene knows, if you’re good enough you’re old enough.

Giles is pacey and strong, he may be the one who we see first, on the bench at least.

Rui Fonte Rui Fonte joined us from his home town club, Sporting Lisbon last summer (2006 -yes, for an undisclosed fee). He is a Portuguese Under 21 stiker and has been a star of the Reserves and Under 21′s this season. He is a fast, skillful player, who turns 18 later this year. One for the future, but may be may called upon sparingly at the end of this season.“The game in England is faster and more physical than in Portugal. Playing in the reserves last season I do not believe I was quite strong enough and so I played a very mobile and quick give-and-go style until I gotused to the physical side and developed my strength. “One for the future… but may be called upon this season…

Rui has recently been called up to the Under 19′s match and definitely worth keeping an eye on his performances.

For next season, Carlos Vela Carlos Vela has been touted as the “next big thing”, “a whizzkid”, “something special” and I really hope he shows what he’s made of. Carlos is currently on loan at Osasuna and has been in good form, creating and scoring goals in the Primera Liga. It’s unlikely that he will be recalled from his loan spell or can be. But he will join the first team squad this summer and definitely has something special about him. Carlos himself is very excited at the prospect of coming to London.“I hope to join them as soon as possible. I will keep on working hard to improve to fit in quickly.”Although, we won’t see any of him in an Arsenal shirt this season, keep an eye on his performances in Spain.

Carlos recently scored one and created one against a very strong Athletico Madrid team.

A Cultured Left Foot talks about Vela’s recent comments, quoted here:

I lack everything. At 18 I don’t need to hear that I’m a phenomenon, a ‘crack’ – it’s not the case. I’m still growing. Every game sees my gain experience and learn things, and I see that in all aspects.

Here is an interesting blog that blogs only about Carlos.

Quick Round Up

Gunnerslive (formerly thirdGenn), has a nice picture from a mini Gooner, take a look! 

I’ve had a review of our attacking options in the final stretch of the season but here is a quick round up of all the other news in the papers and on TV today.

Cesc has been speaking to the news today and talks about how it would be unbelievable to win the league… I hope he believes it… 11 games to go… his recent interview in the Arsenal magazine reads:

“It is true that people were taking us out of the top four at the start of the season, even placing us in the middle of the table. I don’t think it added pressure, in fact it probably helped us more because we wanted to show everyone what we could do. It fired us up. We knew we had the quality, we know what we can do. The important thing is always not what others believe, but what you yourself believe.” – Read more here.

Meanwhile, good news, Mr Arsenal himself, Kolo Toure has recovered from his injury and although too short for Aston Villa, should make a return to the team for the game in Milan…. He is confident that we can get through this game and qualify, he may be the hidden gem, leader of the pack that is required for a game out there.

“I should be a bit short for Saturday against Aston Villa, however against Milan, fingers crossed, I will be fine. We are going there to qualify, Milan will be favourites in their stadium, however we have already won there heavily so they will be ready for us. We beat Inter 5-1 in the San Siro so we can do it to their fierce rivals.”

Finally, young goalkeeper Fabianski has been busy visiting the FACT charity and has been speaking on Arsenal.com.

Okay, it’s been one of those slightly longer than usual posts today… I hope you’ve finished that cup of tea by now!]]>

Me and Eduardo have one thing in common - we share the same birthday. I'm sitting here fit as a fiddle having come back from my birthday dinner. Eduardo, on the other hand is in hospital recovering from his unfortunate weekend.

Public reaction has been good and bad. GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog re-interated my feelings from yesterday’s blog in reaction to Stephen Kelly’s comments. Sometimes you back your team mates, but sometimes you just keep quiet.

Another team mate and former Gunner, Seb Larsson basically loses all the respect he gained with the winner at Sp*rs earlier this season with his comments. He calls Wenger childish and a sore loser. Not great timing Mr Larsson. Here’s the quote.

I am determined to overcome injury

Eduardo, who turns 25 today, released a statement last night, which I have quoted here in full:

This statement sums up the attitude of Eduardo. He is a professional and he has so much passion and desire that he knows he will come back from this. You have to admire his sheer desire and will to not let this prevent him from acheiving his goals. Eduardo famously slept in a Croatian stadium as a teenager at sub-zero temperatures, he has got to where he got to by hard work and will power.

Eduardo moved to praised the Arsenal medical staff and the staff from Selly Oak Hospital, and it was confirmed today that if the medical staff had not been so quick in attending and treating the injury, Eduardo could have lost his foot. As these pictures show, he foot was virtually disconnected from the rest of his leg. Sorry for the graphic description, but in reality, this is what has happened. People some time forget how a brutal challenge can end someone’s career. Hopefully for Eduardo, that is not the case. The Gooner Forum talks about how the FA really need to take steps against this sort of thing.

I remember when Eduardo joined Arsenal this summer, his determination was apparent…

This goal against Man City was a real gem, and an example of his quality.

BBC radio 5 live had an osteopath on their show today, who said:

Well, there is a lot of truth in that, and most people are saying that recovering from this psychologically is half the battle. I must have read / watched a dozen interviews and discussions and I’m confident that Eduardo will come back stronger than ever.

There is a slightly twisted picture, not of Eduardo but of Martin Taylor, so if you fancy a twist to this blog, take a look. I don’t think it’s real personally and let’s all hope it’s not.

Flamini has been talking about how this incident will fuel the team’s hunger even further to win the title for Eduardo. I hope we win it for him. Flamini spoke after the game on Saturday and said:

Better news this afternoon, Eduardo could be running again in 6 months

Arsenal.com have been posting messages for Eduardo and you can send your messages to the web site or write to him personally.

You can read the messages here or as suggested, if you want to write to him, the address is:

Eduardo da Silva, c/o Arsenal FC, Highbury House, 75 Drayton Park, London, England, N5 1BU.

A club statment released today says Eduardo may be back in approximately 9 months, which is awesome news.

It’s amazing that he could come back so quickly. Full recovery in 9 months? – it may be a bit premature to estimate that; fitness levels will play an important part in the recovery too. But I’d say let’s wait and see what happens in the next few weeks. In 9 months, or even 10 months, would see him return next December. As East Lower says, The next pint you have, raise it to Eduardo.

A little something that Young Guns pointed out is that you can vote for Eduardo for the Carling Cup player of the season. Some people may think this is in “charity” due to the injury – but realistically, he scored 4 wonderful goals through out the campaign and they were all special.

Tomorrow I will be looking at our attacking options in his absence in more detail having briefly mentioned our options yesterday…

Just before I go, a shout out to all the fans of other teams, even our bitter rivals, who have taken time out to spare a thought for Eduardo; OnlyOneUnited said, “I wish Eduardo a speedy recovery and hope everything works out for him”, cheers guys, I’m sure Dudu would be touched.]]>

For those of you who read my blog last night, well about 4am this morning, it was very much focussed on the Eduardo tackle. I was at the game on Saturday and was shell shocked for most of the day - the longer the evening went on, the more angry I became and by the time I wrote the blog, I was very much the incredible hulk.

Someone who I think it's a right idiot, is Stephen Kelly - sometimes you have to protect your team mates and sometimes you need to shut up. He has the ordasity to say:

“I think Mr Wenger’s comments after the game were so harsh,” said Kelly.

“That is disgraceful talk from Arsene Wenger. It is terrible. You know the way Martin is. He slid along the ground.  

Mr Kelly, you are an idiot – this is not “slid along the ground”.

It’s about a foot off the ground you idiot…!

Okay, anyway here’s more about what Mr Kelly had to say and he is really an idiot.

Eduardo has now been moved from the hospital in Selly Oak to London and will undergo further surgery in the next few days. He had exploraty surgery on the leg and full surgery on the ankle.

For those of you have no problems keeping your food down, there are two links which show the graphic detail of his injury.

Eduardo Leg Break: Pictures (WARNING) and clearer pictures on The Sports Granola.

It has been confimed as a “double compound fracture”.

This picture and more details of the fracture and how bad it really is can be found on
http://thegroundsman.wordpress.com/2008/02/24/the-question-how-long-will-arsenal-be-missing-eduardo/

For the sentimental of you out there, here’s an awesome little tribute to him: his season in pictures. The latest information, as mentioned above sees Eduardo back in London and Slaven Billic has commented on the

“This is horrible. The fact he won’t play at the Euros is less important. Most important is he recovers as soon as possible and resumes his career.”

Meanwhile. Croatia caption, Niko Kovac said:

“I can’t believe this happened. Also, I can’t believe such brutality still exists in football. I don’t even want to speculate about the time of his (Eduardo’s) absence. Let’s wait for the doctors to give their opinion.”

Well, time to get a KFC for me and the lads. I’ll be back in a bit to continue this post…

And back to the blog and a continuation of the Sunday Round-up. Carlos Vela scored this weekend for Osasuna against an Athletico Madrid team which contained two former Premiership in Diego Forlan and Jose Reyes. Reyes is starting to look a better player than last season, but still somewhat off the standard that made Arsene sign him many years ago. I will always remember the introduction to the Arsenal with two goals against our rivals Chelsea… memories hey?

Here’s a round-up of our loanees on Arsenal Youth. And, here’s a match report from Young Guns.

The injury to Eduardo has highlighted our striking options and with Van Persie out or at least not available for selection, we’re not to two recognised strikers in Bendtner and Adebayor. Young Theo Walcott can be added to that category obviously, but with Rosicky & Diaby still out and Eboue suspended for another two games, he and Hleb are the only “wide” options we have – neither actually being a real winger. Diarra would have had a serious amount of games if he stayed but that’s another conversation.

Til tomorrow, have a good day!]]>

I've driven up the M1 / M6 and have been listening to Arseblog’s Arsecast on CD. Recommend it for some light hearting and semi serious Arsenal listening…

The boss is being cagey on the goalkeeping situation but has made a decision – we will all find out tomorrow.

“Come to the game tomorrow and you will see.”

Arsene talks further about not being under pressure and how we were under more pressure at the beginning of the season as we were written off. (Realistically, we are majorly under pressure – we haven’t won the league since 2004!)

“I’m not really anxious,” Arsene said at the pre-match press conference on Friday. “We were under real pressure at the start of the season, much worse than we are now, because everybody said we were absolutely nobody.“The players stood up and we have absolutely nothing to lose; everybody has written this team off at the start and now we are in a good position, so why should we suddenly become nervous?”

Well, we have Van Persie and Rosicky to come back into the squad and hopefully they will both add an extra pizazz for the end of the season – we have to really examine the realiability of both RVP and Rosicky in the summer – is it possible to have two players who only play 20 games per season is what is now a 60 game season? Arsene concentrates on the positives of RVP’s return…

“It could be a positive when he comes back,” said the Frenchman. “It could give us the kind of push that is needed and we hope that happens soon. However I must say as well I would like Diaby back and I would like Djourou back, because with Kolo out we are short of centre backs. And I would like Rosicky back too because, in games like Wednesday night, he would have been important.”

Well, it’s getting late, and I need to be fresh for tomorow. 10am start – tour of St. Andrews, lunch at 11am in the VIP corporate box – I’m a lucky man this weekend – and then 90 minutes of entertaining football and a 4-0 win for the Gooners!

Night all, here’s for a good game and 3 points tomorrow.]]>

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game and will be on my way very shortly! Actually, very very shortly. My sister is at home waiting and we're travelling up to Birmingham tonight!

Okay, on with the news...

Flamini is concentrating on the game tomorrow and has spoken how this is a "must win" game in our title bid.

“We are sorry for everyone, the fans, for that result, and we are disappointed we did not beat Milan – but now we have to focus on Saturday, when we play Birmingham, and we have to win that game.” 

And he is right, we really must win this game if we want to win the league.

The squad tomorrow has been released and here it is:

Arsenal (from): Almunia, Sagna, Senderos, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott, Flamini, Fabregas, Hleb, Adebayor, Eduardo, Lehmann, Bendtner, Denilson, Gilberto, J Hoyte, Traore, Song.

Star Man: Theo Walcott Theo has returned to the squad, returned to the first team and returned to his best. He had a great cameo against Milan and a good recent performance for the England Under 21s.

As predicted yesterday, it looks like young Theo Wallcott will get a start on the right hand side of midfield replacing the suspended Eboue. Almunia is back in the squad and could start. Song also returns and is our central defensive backup.

Lehmann is kind of hoping he maintains his place and it’s a hard one to call, but Almunia has done pretty well this season. Lehmann says in an interview with The Mirror:

“When I’m under pressure in big games, you can rely on me, I’ve played four or five games in a row, we will see how it goes on.

Arsene knows how vital these points can be. He will focus the squad, or rather has to focus the squad. We can realistically win the title this season and Saturday’s game is one step closer.

“We have one big advantage in our position (as Premier League leaders) and that is we do not have to look at the others. We just want to perform and get the points. I look at the game as a good opportunity to take three points and want us to give everything to try to do it.”  

Away from the Birmingham game, Robin Van Persie is on his comeback trail, and Arsene said:

“Robin is not a very long away from being fit at all, but he lacks match-practice.”

Could both Rosicky & Van Persie add more depth in the run in to the league, I hope so…

In other news, we’re getting richer. It was announced today the our profits are up 54%. Here’s a quick quote from the Guardian’s web site….

“English Premier League leaders Arsenal Football Club posted a 54 percent rise in first half profits on Friday, boosted by new big money TV deals and the sale of former captain Thierry Henry over the summer. The club said pretax profit rose to 20 million pounds ($39.09 million) in the 6 months to Nov. 30 from 12.6 million a year ago.”

To throw more facts and figures and a spanner in the works, income from broadcasting alone were up by £6.5m to £24.3m for last year and our match day revenue is up to just over £40m, working out at approx £2m per game. The pre-season Emirates Cup no doubt added to this, and additional revenue from Brazil games can be included too.

However, our net debt increased from £268.2m to £307.1m as for-casted, but I’ll be much happier when there’s no debt and loads of profits… that day will come sooner rather than later I hope!!

Keith Edelman has been speaking about Arsene’s future and there an interesting article circulating the websites and forums, which makes for good reading.

In youth news, there’s an interesting peice here on Jack Wilkshire, a player who Young Guns has compared to Alex Hleb. And another good peice on next year’s goalkeeping position and the emerging Vito Mannone.

Anyway here’s a quick line up prediction, pretty much the same as yesterday, but I do think Almunia will start now, and am hearing positives about Hleb and Adebayor too!

Ade and Hleb are suffering from a stiff neck and a foot problem respectively, but they’re both rated 70 – 30 to play, so I’m sure they’ll make it. If they don’t we may see Bendtner and Denilson take their places.

More tomorrow. I’m rather late for my evening travels…]]>

The mid week European game is now over, and we've all got to switch our minds back to the Premier League and the game against Birmingham. No doubt it will be a difficult game against Alex McLeish's side, but I think we'll definitely be motivated for this - we've kind of had two dissapointments in quick sucession with the FA cup exit and the scoreless draw at home to Milan.

No doubt, the Premier League is the best chance of winning a trophy this season and I hope we can take the 3 points and start the weekend 8 points clear! (Yes, we have a 12.45 kick off!)

As you may already know Toure suffered a calf injury after 9 minutes during Wednesday’s game so he will be missing against Birmingham. Senderos had a great game replacing Toure, but consistency is the tall Swiss’s downfall. We will see on Saturday how he fairs. Matt Le Tissier, has somewhat harsher critism:

“Don’t get me wrong, Senderos is not a bad player, but we’re talking about a team at the pinnacle of the Premier League and he’s maybe a little bit short of the quality needed to be a regular at Arsenal.”

I’m not sure if I agree with him in the way he says what he says, he has shown that his has the quality, but we need to see it week in and week out.

Better news on Toure, though as he should return possibly for the game in Milan. Arsene said today:

“For me on Wednesday night it looked like he would be out for two to four weeks. The way he was walking perhaps four. But today the medical staff said to me it would be closer to two than four.”

The line up may see Almunia’s return to the first team. With Eboue suspended, Walcott, fresh from his cameo against Milan will start and I hope he makes an impact – here’s my initial first XI

 I’ll be back in the morning with more… until then, evening all.

Update: Arseblog has a link to to this: Adebayor’s miss down to a foul!

Update: devday.wordpress.com is now arsenalchat.com]]>