We've Earned Our Spurs

Every season, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur supportors skim through the fixture list to find the classical North London Derby. It's always been a highly contested and fiesty contest, but I feel that the importance has been waning over the past few years. We've been taking our rivals a little lightly, and in turn we've turned to bigger teams like Manchester United and Chelsea. But all that is set to change, especially after last season's loss at White Hart Lane.

Heurelho Gomes had been below average for most of last season, making terrible mistakes but he had his best game in the match against us. Unfortunately, he managed to keep everything out and Spurs edged the fixture 2-1. Spurs are on the way up again, becoming a force to reckon with once more. I've never been this excited about a North London Derby before and maybe it just shows that the fixture is regaining its importance. Or maybe I'm just really optimistic after we beat them 4-1 at White Hart Lane in the Carling Cup this season.

We've been in resilient form this whole season but our less that convincing performances at the Emirates this season must be gnawing on Wenger's conscience. But we have positives in the form of Nasri and Wilshere, the latter having confirmed his match fitness a few minutes ago. Nasri is having the most consistent season of his life, and we all know how influential he is to the game while Fabregas is out. He, along with Wilshere were the Men of the Match in the 4-1 victory over Spurs. On the other hand, Gareth Bale has been absolutely PHENOMENAL this season. After his performance and goal against Arsenal at White Hart Lane in 2007, I knew he'd be something special. We won that game 3-1 anyway.

Harry Redknapp is going to have a headache about his priorities. He'll be caught between pushing towards another year in the Champion's League or going all out for this year's. Spurs have a game against Werder Bremen and that's massive because if they win, they qualify for the Round of 16. Meanwhile, Wenger is going to have a midfield headache as almost our whole midfield is match fit, but I'll get to the team selection later. Jermain Defoe is back for Spurs, and this spells trouble for the Gunners as he's a game changer. Defoe, Bale, van der Vaart, Pavlyuchenko. It just isn't the same Tottenham side, they've got better.

Arsenal need to be solid defensively, because if they can keep the ball, then Spurs will never get it. Fabianski's been good this season, making only one high profile error, which, incidentally, is good for an Arsenal keeper. Djourou and Squillaci will keep their places in the centre, but I think that Squillaci is a liability. If any forward targets him for his lack of pace, it's a goal. Fortunately, only Didier Drogba has had the brains to do that this season. Sagna will be the next right-back to check Bale, and I hope he's up to it. Clichy will stay at left back as usual, but the headache's the midfield. I would go with Fabregas in the central and Song in the holding position. Nasri could play attacking on the right, with Wilshere playing the loose central midfield role with Fabregas. I'd place Rosicky on the left side, but I know that Wenger is going to give Arshavin a start on that side. I think Rosicky's creativity would be a plus for this game, but Arsene will give the place to Arshavin for his work rate and assists, and I see where he's coming from. Van Persie isn't matchfit, so Chamakh will start up front and he'll be an aerial threat. We've got enough in our ranks to jolt Spurs, so it'll be a good game.

If we beat Spurs tomorrow, then we go on top until Chelsea play. If Chelsea win or draw, we're still second but it's a realy good position to be in with more than a third of the season over. It's been the most open season in recent history, with teams like Newcastle, Bolton and Sunderland playing well home and away and with teams like Villa, Birmingham, Wolves and City playing well at home. Call me optimistic, but I'm going for ANOTHER 3-1 to the Gunners, especially if Cesc plays like how he did against Braga. Being different from the previous fixtures, we've got to keep our concentration for the whole 90 minutes. The key men to watch out for, Fabregas and Gareth Bale will make this an exhilarating fixture.

Let's paint North London red.
Come on, you Gunners.

Beat 'em at the Bridge?

Arsenal had started the season alright, drawing to Liverpool. I mean it's Liverpool- they just aren't a force to be reckoned with anymore. It was 1-1, with Chamakh forcing the late own goal by Pepe Reina.

But the next matches were sights to behold. Arsenal blasted 6 past Blackpool, and then won away at Blackburn. Before that, Arsenal hadn't won away to a Sam Allardyce team since 2002 (or 2003, can't remember). Next, Arsenal proceeded to beat another bogey team, Bolton, 4-1 at the Emirates. Then the tables looked to be turning. A last gasp Darren Bent goal denied Arsenal 3 points at the Stadium of Light and then a shock victory for West Brom at The Emirates. There was a victory ar White Hart Lane in between that, but that was all forgotten as Almunia's antics and our defensive frailties caught everyone's attention.

This season, we're defensively tighter than the past couple of seasons. We've defended very well up until the West Brom game. Almunia on the other hand, is a different story. He played a vital part in West Brom's second and third goals. It was just pathetic. How many times have we seen that Spaniard go off his line when he has defenders to cover for him? Sigh.



Luckily, he's injured, because Fabianski's going to have massive confidence going into the Stamford Bridge game this Sunday. Last night he was impeccable against Partizan Belgrade. He plucked the balls out of the air, he punched the crosses out and he even made a brilliant penalty save. In injury time, he kept the Serbs at bay when he pulled off an even finer save. He's got to be more confident now, and he'll have one eye on the Number 1 spot for the Gunners.

The game at Chelsea this weekend is COLOSSAL. We need to make the vital ground we didn't make when Chelsea lost to City. I blew my top both of the times we lost to the Blues last season, we have to take atleast a point this time around. With the for that Fabregas has been in, he might just be the key.

The last time we hijacked 3 points at Stamford Bridge was way back in 2008 and I think that was the last time we've beaten them. Didier Drogba just loves playing Arsenal and I hope our defence can cope with that. We'll have to play as tough as them , cause I saw the City vs Chelsea match, and it was pretty physical.

I think Clichy will start as our left back, having being rested in midweek. If Vermaelen's back, then he'll play center along with Koscielny and Sagna should fill in at right back. Against Chelsea, an ideal Midfield would be with Song holding midfield and Fabregas as the playmaker. Arshavin could play down the left and run into the box and in at defenders. Chamakh will definitely play up front, he's been amazing this season. Rosicky should come on as a sub, to kick life into our team and Nasri and Wilshere playing would make our team abound in creativity.

On paper we have a world class team, and on our day we can pass our way around anyone, and into the goal. We've shown that many times in the past few seasons and I hope that in 4 days we can step up to the plate and deliver.

Come on you Gunners.

Down, but Not Out

If you knew the title was referring to Arsenal's title challenge, you'd think me slightly optimisitic. Well, I am. Arsenal battled hard at a ground where we had only memories of Eduardo's horrific leg break. A ground where Birmingham had gone 10 games unbeaten before Saturday's game. Our answer came in the form of a brilliant double substitution of Arshavin and Nasri for Walcott and Rosicky. The game came to life and with 8 minutes to go Nasri looked set to wrap it up with a brilliant solo effort.

But it was not to be.

After spurning 2 easy chances, our keeper Almunia parried the ball into his own net after it had come off Kevin Phillips' face. Slightly reminiscent of Nani's goal against us, we drew the game. To be fair to us, the pitch was horrible, the St. Andrew's team singled our team out for physical treatment and the untimely goal came in the last minute of stoppage time.

To be fair to Almunia.. well, you can't be fair to him. He's like Bendtner. Decent, but not enough quality to play for Arsenal. Sure, sometimes he plays well, but he still isn't top class.

This has definitely derailed our chances of winning the Premier League, but 4 points adrift of the leaders with 6 games to go isn't that bad. If it wasn't already necessary to win all our games, it is even more vital for us to get 18 out of a maximum of 18 remaining points. The catch- we'd need Chelsea and Manchester United to drop at least 4-5 points in the remaining games, which is a tough call. Hopefully, Chelsea will draw at Old Trafford, Anfield and White Hart Lane, while United lose at Eastlands and draw at White Hart Lane.
That would place both United and the Blues at 83 points, and us at 86. Like I said, we must win every game.

We still aren't out, but it's a big ask for a team that's had so many ups and downs this season in the form of injuries, bad luck or draws.



Come on you Gunners.

The Champion's League Draw

How many of you were excited about the UEFA Champion's League draw last evening? I was. I was looking forward to watching it live at 4:30 our time, but i couldn't. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed. So I asked people to text me the draw.

I sat waiting in anticipation for the draw, hoping to get Lyon, Bordeaux or CSKA Moscow in our Pool. But it wasn't to be. Man Utd face Bayern Munich, with Lyon and Bordeaux in the other fixture. We, on the other hand, face Barcelona, with Inter Milan and CSKA in the other fixture. I was pissed. Again.

It is pretty pissing off when our bitter rivals from Manchester get much easier fixtures when we've got death fixtures. For the trophy, we'll need to ward off Spanish greats Barcelona and then the Italian champions Inter. Come on, we all know Moscow don't stand a chance.

Pep Guardiola is a brilliant coach who has brought out the best in his players. Barcelona have many feared players like Xavi, Iniesta, Henry and we all know Lionel Messi. Barcelona have a fluid, attacking style of play, and are very good on the counter attack. Some say they sometimes are susceptible at the back, but that depends on their performance on the day. Their style of play is similar to Arsenal's, with many critics saying that 'They play like Arsenal, but get trophies'.

The odds will be against us in this two-legged fixture, with the first one at The Emirates on March 31st and the second at the Noucamp on April 6th. This will mark the return of Thierry Henry, the best striker, if not player, that Arsenal have ever had, to the home of the Gunners.
Also, Fabregas will be playing against the team of his youth, where he, Messi and Pique played together as teenagers. This is a tough draw for Arsenal, while neutrals will be relishing this clash as it's the pick of the Champion's League fixtures.

We have the midfield power to set up our strikers intelligently to pose problems to Barca's back four, which sounds like a good plan provided that Bendtner doesn't do what he did against Burnley. Our midfield with Alex Song holding midfield will allow Nasri to push forward, probing the defence and also looking goalwards. Fabregas will be ever so influential in setting up opportunities and he has the quality to turn the game on its head. Rosicky is set to return and the Czech international's skill will help in counter-attacking and he can pick out spaces and runs.
Arshavin as a supporting striker or just a floating attacker on the left can pose problems to Barcelona as he can magic opportunities out of nowhere as he has shown this season against Man United and Liverpool, to name a few. Still in midfield we have Diaby who can pose a threat, but I'd keep him on the bench. Walcott should be brought on a little after the first half, depending on the game, as a set of speedy fresh legs. His pure pace and pinpoint crosses could be a big threat to the Catalans. It would be nice if he plays like how he played in the second half against Burnley. As for our strikers, we have Eduardo and Bendtner both who can get the job done on the day. I feel that even though Eduardo's a better striker, Bendtner can compliment Walcott's crosses if his aerial skills are up to the mark against Barcelona.

As for our defence, they can be picked apart if not careful. Iniesta's creative play did just that in last year's final against Manchester United. Our back four needs to cope with the brilliance, guile and tact of Messi and also Henry. We have a bit of experience in our ranks, in the form of Sol Campbell. Last time we were pitted against Barca, this man scored from a Henry free-kick. He should know a thing or two, especially how to keep the former Arsenal marksman quiet. Tomas Vermaelen is a complete physical defender, so we have no complaints from that point of view, but we need to defend intelligently, to stem the creativity that flows from the Spaniards. Gael Clichy is physical enough and quick enough to cope, but questions may be asked of Bacary Sagna. Seydou Keita is back from injury for Barca and he posed threats to Arsenal when he played for Sevilla and beat us a few seasons ago. Xavi is set to be sidelined for two weeks, but whether or not he will play at the Emirates is too close to call. Another player who could be more than a handful for us is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish international hasn't scored many goals for the Spanish giants in 2010, but hopefully he won't score against the Londoners either. Bojan Krkic will probably start on the bench, so Barcelona have plenty of good options throughout the pitch.

Arsenal are probably written off now, because of the draw, but that only goes to show that we are playing very well, grinding out results and being able to win when we need it and so the draw is only psychologically diminishing our odds. We were written off in the 05-06 season after we drew Real Madrid and then had a goalless draw at Emirates. We then went to the Bernabeu with all odds against us and good old Thierry scored a wonder goal to send us through, while making us the first English team to beat Real at home.



In 07-08 we drew AC Milan, when they were in good form and all of us were like 'Oh crap'. We drew the home fixture and again- 'Oh crap'. We went to the San Siro to make it AC Milan 0-2 Arsenal. We've beat the odds in Europe many times before, we can do it again, for glory and to prove our critics wrong.


It's time for the Young Gunners to prove their mettle.

Mid Season Review. Well, sort of.

29 rounds of Premier League fixtures are over. It isn't the middle, but it's the beginning of the turning point for Arsenal. The 'chokers' were written of many times this season, but now it looks a little different.

Arsenal started off the season with all guns blazing by beating the living daylights out of Everton 1-6 at Goodison Park. We kept going strong until we lost against both the Manchester sides, but we still bounced back. We kept up the pressure but then lost to Chelsea at the Emirates. After being written off by critics, we picked ourselves up and then lost two successive games to Man United and Chelsea. This time, everyone thought we squandered yet another chance at a domestic trophy. But we've come back, oh and in what style. We've shown grit, determination, class and consistency since then. And now we find ourselves close. Very, very close indeed.

Let's take a look back at Arsenal's season so far-

Best Individual Performance-
Cesc Fabregas against Aston Villa at the Emirates, December-


The Arsenal captain was just magnificent on the day, showcasing pure brilliance. Affected by a slight hamstring injury, Arsene chose not to start with him and to leave him on the bench awhile. But he realised that we needed a boost against fourth-placed Aston Villa, so he sent on Fabregas in the 56th minute as a response. The captain curled a free kick into the top corner and finished a counter-attack to put the Gunners comfortably ahead. Although he went off with a recurrence of his injury less than half an hour later, he completely changed the context of the game.

Best Goal-
Andrei Arshavin against Manchester United at Old Trafford, August-


This one goes to a very little Russian, Andrei Arshavin. He scored an absolute cracker at Old Trafford late August. He was fouled by Fletcher in the box, yet the ref waved play on. The Russian got the ball on the left a few minutes later, took a few steps and unleashed a thunderbolt. Ben Foster could do nothing but get a few fingers on it.

Worst Performance-
Nicklas Bendtner against Burnley at the Emirates, March-

On the day, the Dutchman was just plain woeful. Was he a Burnley fan as a child? He missed a total of almost 5 or 6 clear-cut chances, which include an easy header off a pinpoint Walcott cross. And people defend Bendtner by saying 'But he's good in the air!'. Well, he is good in the air, but if he needs to be a starting striker, he has to find some consistent form. Alright, all players have their off days, but they shouldn't be squandering so many chances. Arsenal nearly paid for Bendtner's wasteful finishing.


Game of the Season, so far-
Arsenal 4-2 Bolton Wanderers, January-

Before the kick-off, Arsenal knew that they could go top with a win against the Lancashire side. But that thought was all gone after Gary Cahill shocked the Arsenal Faithful inside the first ten. And 10 minutes after, they conceded a penalty which was struck home by Matthew Taylor, haunting Arsenal again. The teams looked evenly poised, but Bolton looked to have the upper hand and looked set to take home the spoils of victory if they kept up their performance. But before the break, Rosicky smashed one into the back netting, from inside the 18 yard box.
Scene II- A bit after the break, Fabregas found himself with the ball in the 18 yard box and ran down to slide the ball in an angled shot. 2-2. Next, Fabregas fired in a corner and after a few headers, our favourite defender, Vermaelen scored. Bolton were still fighting for a point when after a lucky rebound off a half-hearted Bolton challenge, Arshavin got the 4th. An end to a pulsating encounter that sent Arsenal top.

It's a Three-Horse Race Now.

Burnley (H)
Hull City (A)
West Ham United (H)
Birmingham (A)
Wolves (H)
Tottenham (A)
Wigan (A)
Manchester City (H)
Blackburn (A)
Fulham (H)



THAT, is our fixture list for the remainder of the season. We find ourselves 3 points adrift of the leaders, Chelsea, and 2 points behind Man United. Which, by all means, is a pretty good position to be in. Just by looking at the table we can conclude that this season it's going to be a three horse race.

This season, no team has shown the ability to keep consistent form. No team has ground out results time and time again to stay clear leaders at the top. People thought Chelsea would be outright winners from the way they were playing, but now their form's dropped a bit. People argue, the key to a winning Premiership team lies in experience and consistency, not in potential. And they say that Arsenal's got potential, but not much else. On the other hand, it doesn't take a genius to see that this is a very, very tight title race and Arsenal have a very good chance if they beat all the teams that they have run-ins with. All we'd need is that familiar phrase we heard quite a bit of last season, "1-0 to the Arsenal".

If you look at our results this season, you'd see that we've played quite well against all the teams, barring the rest of the Big Four. We've played exceptionally well against teams that are in the 1st half of the table, teams like Aston Villa.

Of the rest of the Big Four, we got bad results against Chelsea and Man United, but we got results agains Liverpool, doing the double over them. Our last 10 fixtures shouldn't pose a problem at all, and I'm relishing the Man City clash at home. Adebayor's gonna get his just desserts from the Arsenal faithful after running to the Arsenal fans and jeering after he scored in the reverse fixture.

Let's take a look at the others' fixtures, shall we. Chelsea've got Man United away, Tottenham away and Liverpool away. That leaves a little room for error. Them drawing at Old Trafford would sit nicely with Arsenal. Man United have the Chelsea fixture of course, then they've got Liverpool at home, Bolton away, Man City away and Tottenham at home. That's all gotta count for something atleast. Plus, Chelsea have have the FA Cup to worry about and Man United have AC Milan. But those two are minor factors, and these three teams fixture lists could have a see in this year's champion.

This year, it's all going to boil down to performance when it's most required. Whichever team can grind out the results in the last 10 games even when their not on the top of their game on the day, will win the league. Arsenal will have to be brutal, Arsenal will have to be precise and determined in order to steal the crown from the champions. We've already shown those qualities at different points of the season, now we'll have to show the strength and determination we displayed against Stoke last weekend. If we play well, I really do believe we have a big chance to win the first trophy since 2005.

To you, No. 16, Aaron Ramsey.

We all saw what happened to Aaron Ramsey on Saturday night. A very clumsy Ryan Shawcross caused a 19 year old to have an Eduardo-esque leg break. Ramsey had a compound fracture, snapping both his fibia and tibula. However, some say that Eduardo's was worse as he ruptured nerve endings while Ramsey didn't, so that should be atleast a good 10 months out.

All because of a clumsy tackle. Quite obviously, Shawcross didn't intend to break his leg, there was no malice in his tackle. These tackles happen quite often, they're very common. In fact, in the last 4 years, 3 Arsenal players have had similar fractures. This only goes to show that there needs to be a crackdown on such tackles. Wenger went a little overboard condemning the tackle, because it was clear that this was different from Martin Taylor's tackle on Eduardo 2 years ago. He went for Eduardo, he got Eduardo.

The FA should have a greater punishment reserved for such challenges. The more such tackles, the more Diaby/Eduardo/Ramsey -type injuries.

On February 23rd, 2008 Arsenal went to St. Andrews needing a win to stay top in the Premier League. They had just lost at the Bridge to Chelsea and needed this win. But less than 5 minutes from the kick-off, Martin Taylor literally stomped Eduardo's leg into nearly 2. The Croatian was stretchered off, with an oxygen mask. The Arsenal were visibly shaken and were all over the place. Birmingham were awarded a free kick and McFadden stepped up to the plate. The Scottish international scored.

After the break, Arsenal still looked out of sorts. But to change everything, Walcott scored off an Adebayor assist and scored yet again after 5 minutes. Arsenal looked set to ravage the Birmingham countryside. But they didn't take their chances and a highly controversial late penalty was awarded to Birmingham who took it gleefully and signalled Arsenal's following run of bad form and 3rd place finish.

Two years and 4 days later, on February 27th, 2010, it was away to Stoke City. The Britannia stadium faithful watched a Rory Delap throw converted into a goal within the first 10. The man throws like a quarterback, I tell you. We weren't on top of our game for a bit, but Nicklas Bendtner scored after half an hour. We came into the second half, all guns blazing and look set to break the deadlock when Ryan Shawcross challenged Aaron Ramsey, and you know the rest. We were mentally shocked after the incident, and it threatened to pull us back in our realistic title bid. We were awarded a late penalty, and we scored it. The Captain did us proud. Vermaelen scored another to wrap it up at 1-3 to the Gunners.

Two years ago, Birmingham were awarded the penalty, Birmingham scored, Arsenal lost the title. Two years ago, the Captain Willian Gallas lost his cool and the team fell apart under the horrific circumstances.

Two days ago, Arsenal were awarded the penalty, Arsenal scored, Arsenal look better set to win the title. A very mature 22 year-old captain, Cesc Fabregas kept his cool and rallied the young troops with an average age of 23. The young Gunners showed their mental resilience. Two days ago Aaron Ramsey broke his leg and behind that incident, The Arsenal are more united than ever. We have an easier run of fixtures than Chelsea and Man Utd, while they face each other. We have a realistic title bid, although it will be very close.
Let's dedicate this title bid to Aaron Ramsey like we dedicated it to Eduardo two years ago.

This time, let's win it.