QPR vs. Arsenal: Match Preview

Written by @9jaGeisha_noni

Oh to be a gunner!!! I didn’t give it a thought when Toks asked me if I was interested in writing a preview for today’s game.  It’s match day 31, meaning we have just 7 games left.  We sit on the 3^rd position 8 points above Chelsea and 3 points above Spurs WHO WERE 13 POINTS ahead of us like two months ago. I never saw this coming. Who would have thought we would be in this position considering how we struggled earlier on in the season and midway.

Anyways we travel to Loftus road to face a struggling side QPR who are definitely desperate for points to get out of the relegation zone. After last week’s win against Aston Villa, the Gunners confidently look for an eighth straight league win against weak side QPR who have only gained four points from their last 21.  Right now it’s so much fun to watch our side play considering how we have done these past 7 games.

Right now our main goal is concentrating on the third spot: Focus on our next 7 games.

Right now with the injury update; Laurent Koscielny is fit to start today’s game after missing last week’s game due to a knee injury. He currently has 4 yellow cards which mean if he gets 1 more today, then he would miss out on the game against Man City which is very very very important for us to win.  However QPR are very desperate to gain 3 points and they are at home, this might not be an easy game for us. Remember what they did to Chelsea and Liverpool. A positive however is that Djibril Cisse who would have been a threat is currently on a four match suspension after being sent off from their game against Sunderland last week. On the other hand, they have Bobby Zamora who to me is one of the players the defenders have to look out for. Back in January when he was still at Fullham, the back four had a problem trying to prevent  him, but I think we have a very fit back four now who could do the business.  Another player to look out for is Taiye Taiwo, well he scored his 1^st EPLgoal last week against Sunderland. Taiye Taiwo will be at the left back trying to keep Walcott off the ball but I think Walcott will outpace him.

The scariest part of playing QPR is they have my most hated football player ever, yeah Joey Barton. He actually didn’t start last week’s game but knowing Mark Hughes he would definitely start him considering how much trouble his antics he has caused arsenal. I would seriously want the manager to warn Song and Gervinho to ignore whatever antics Barton tries to pull out today. I seriously want them to remain in the relegation zone and keep Barton out of the EPL. (Editor’s note: AMEN!)

The way to win this important game would be for the team to come out early, press them , create and make use of  chances.  The QPR defense is shaky so we need to take advantage of this. Our defense is in top form right now, so I’m hoping we can keep this momentum up as we would need this against City next week.

Predicted Line up:

Szczesny;

Sagna, Djorou, Vermaelen, Gibbs;

Song, Rosicky, Arteta;

Walcott; He-Who-Scores-When-He-Wants; Gervinho

As you can see, I think I’ll go with the team who started against Villa last week. Let’s keep Koscielny out of this game considering  he is 1 yellow card away from being suspended. We need him for the game against City.

Predicted Score: I see a 3-1 win to the arsenal with RVP ending his goal drought with two goals and Alex song scoring the third, while from the other side, a late goal from one of my favorite Nigerian Players. Taiye Taiwo.

 @9jaGeisha_noni

WINNING STREAK CONTINUES AND WE STILL SURGE ON!

That's all we do.. W W W W W W W

By @MDGunner

If anyone told Arsenal fans after that depressing 1-2 defeat at the hands of Manchester United on January 22 that we will go on a 7-match winning streak, most of us would have laughed it off. This Arsenal team has not only gone through the regular double hit combination of eliminations from Europe and FA Cup, it has come under immense attack from a host of Arsenal fans and the media alike for lack of depth and sheer quality in key positions, but what a way to respond!

To yesterday’s game, after watching Sp*rs and Chelsea square up against each other and drop two crucial points each 15 minutes before our match kicked off, there was no better way to motivate the boys than a prospect of having a stronger grip on third spot and increasing the gap between us and fifth placed Chelsea. Arsene Wenger selected a more fluid and attack minded side by replacing Aaron Ramsey with Gervinho and we learnt Laurent Bosscielny had to pull out of the team some few minutes before kickoff due to a minor knee injury sustained in the warm-up and was replaced by Djourou.

 As expected, we started very brightly with Rosicky once again for the umpteenth time, pulling the strings in the attacking midfield area and our full backs bursting forward with ease. It was the impressive “Glassman” who put us in front in the 16^th minute after receiving a pass from Gervinho in the Villa penalty area to slide a low shot past Shay Given.  That goal calmed the nerves of a few and would have ripped any negative tactic Alex Mcleish had into shreds. We continued our dominance and it paid off once again when Alex Song found Walcott in the box with a trademark lofted through ball to the speedster who finished with ease. Credit must go to Song for his improvement in the attacking third this season. He has not been asked to step into the Cesc role but if there is one thing he has learnt from our former captain, it has to be dropping dangerous balls in the box from deep. Song has now produced more assists than Xavi and Iniesta this season playing as a defensive midfielder- impressive.

The first half ended 2-0 and after a very boring patch of second half with Villa trying to give us some bit of fight, Mikel Arteta produced an absolutely fantastic beauty of a free kick by slamming the ball in the top right corner of the Villa goal. I said to myself “now that was what we were dreaming about in August when we signed you Mikel”.

“now that was what we were dreaming about in August when we signed you Mikel”

3-0 the game ended without our talisman scoring and with another clean sheet despite losing Laurent Koscielny. No doubt it was a poor performance from Aston Villa but how many times have we seen below average teams come to the Emirates and grow in confidence due to our complacency, that didn’t happen yesterday. Villa came in with a game plan but we shattered that plan with two first half goals and our drive in the first half.

It is not yet uhuru for us this season as we still have to entertain Man City and Chelsea at the Emirates before taking a long trip to the Britannica Stadium to face the Barcelona of Rugby Union. However, our next stop is at Loftus Road where we will be facing a QPR side that will be without Djibril Cisse and will start Taiye Taiwo (wink*), there should not be a problem there if we go with the same fluid 4-3-3 with Rosicky playing behind the front three and we don’t lose six first team players before the game.

A lot of us have utilized this recent impressive run of ours to taunt our bitter rivals, Spurs. We understand the fact that making life unbearable for Spurs and their supporters is priceless but we should not forget that we are miles above them in class and pedigree and our main rivals are the Manchester teams. The disaster we faced last summer when we lost Samir Nasri and cesc Fabregas played a key role but we have now recovered from that blip and we can focus on the season to come. For me, our biggest signings will be keeping RVP, sealing the Podolski deal then getting someone in the mold of Jan Vertonghen who can play at left back, centre back and defensive midfield. A Mario Goetze or Eden Harzard deal will make us very happy but we must never forget the shrewd nature of Professor’s business transactions considering the fact that Jack Wilshere will be like a new signing (lol) and we still have Abou Diaby winning the fitness battle.

For me, as long as we maintain this run and finish the season in THIRD position without having to worry about the tiring UEFA Champions League playoffs, we can say a big thank you to the team and Arsene Wenger.

However, next season will be a different ball game as we will be bringing back our ever present demands for trophies and consistency and this time, it will be on a different plate entirely.

 Follow @MDGunner on Twitter

Arsenal vs. Aston Villa Match Preview

Finishing Strong!

In recent seasons we have grown accustomed to seeing Arsenal lose their way towards the end and finish poorly in May, barely making the required top 4 spot for champion’s league qualification. But right now, I am more convinced than ever we will finish the season as strongly as we’ve ever had: I remember telling whoever cared to listen during our struggles early in the season (due to injury, loss of Cesc and Nasri, and the influx of new players) that we will finish the season much more better than we started, and we would have pull a reverse Arsenal on this season. I just had to convince myself of that at that point in time. It is easier to believe right now.

Beat AVB (Aston Villa Boys). Meh

We host Aston Villa today, and it will be expected of us to continue with our superb run of form and get the full three points from this fixture. We’ve beaten them twice this season; the League away fixture and the FA cup tie at home, but they were both narrow victories of 1-2 and 3-2 respectively. It’s no secret that Alex McLeech has a way of frustrating Arsene Wenger’s teams, just think Birmingham, Carling Cup, Wembl…*groans* Yeah, you get the point. We can’t afford to be overconfident and expect them to roll over and get thumped by the most in-form team in the league. I expect it them to come and apply the tested and almost trusted tactics away teams employ at the Emirates: Choke the midfield, sit back, soak the pressure and attempt to hit us on the break.

They also have some decent players who could cause our defense a problem or two; N’Zogbia is a player I always watch out for, since his Wigan days, they also have Marc Albrighton and our own Gabby Agbonlahor. Not that we should fear them and play with Wenger’s proverbial handbrakes on, but we should at least be wary of the threats posed by these players. But then, who can stop The Arsenal when we play like we did in the opening 15 minutes of the last game at Everton. My goodness! That was such a pleasure to watch!

Improved Back Four

It is no surprise our present run of good results coincides with the recovery of our natural full backs from injury and players being played in their right positions. Sagna has been monstrous at right back as expected, undoubtedly the best right back in England. Then Gibbs has more than surprised me and I’m beginning to see why Wenger sticks with him despite being made of the most fragile bones ever. He’s still developing as a defender but there is no doubt of his quality going forward, we can only expect more and hopes he stays injury free. What about the centre-back partnership of Bosscielny and the Verminator? Immense, I tell ya! This is what Wenger has to say about them:

Defensively they are not the tallest but they have a fantastic leap and both of them have good pace. Vermaelen looks like a frustrated centre forward because he has the timing to get into the box as well.

Vermaelen a frustrated centre forward? You just gotta love Mister Wenger (as Wilshere calls him), he has an uncanny way with words. I hope we get to see more of Vermaelen’s frustration as a centre forward, because frankly I’m beginning to believe he also scores when he wants!

Predicted Starting Line-Up

Szczzzzz

Sanya, Kososhi, Frustrated-Centre-Forward, Gibbo

Sango, Rosa, Arte

Theophilus, Vantastic, Ox

Ramsey replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain on the left wing (sort of) on Wednesday and I have to say he had a decent game despite a couple of misse. He has a knack of getting into decent positions and was very much involved in the game. We will get to see more of what Arsene sees in Aaron when he gets more clinical and cuts down on the number of turnovers (as we call losing possession on this side of the planet). That said, I will like to see The Ox unleashed on the Villa defense with a deliberate game-plan of getting him more involved down the left flank early in the game

So that’s all for now folks, here is to another good performance by the gunners which, of course, would end in us getting the three points. I predict a 4-1 victory to The Arsenal. I’ll leave you with the picture below:

CAPTION THIS!

בבקשה אני רוצה לשחק את המשחק הבא!

The Third Best Team in the Land

By @enigma106

As I’m writing this post, four occurrences are taking place on Earth. A lioness just gave birth in a jungle in Africa, there’s rain in the Sahara desert, an eclipse in Japan and a rainbow shining brightly outside my office.

It’s been centuries since I wrote a post in this exquisite website and the reasons why I don’t write consistently on this site are best known to Aliens about to attack Earth but they are scared because Chuck Norris still lives.

I’m writing this post from my office through my BlackBerry with a torch of Boldne55. Here’s a detailed match report for yesterday’s nail-biting win over Everton.

****

Before kickoff, every club paid their respect to Fabrice Muamba following the incident that happened last weekend. Man City vs Chelsea and Tottenham vs Stoke kicked off around 2045 hrs while Everton vs Arsenal kicked off on 2100 hrs.

Arsenal has had a clean bill of health with the usual suspects still out so the boss handed a start to Aaron Ramsey, who lost his place due to injury and Tomas Rosicky’s resurgence.

Arsenal began the match brightly and were almost one up in the opening moments when Robin van Persie teed up Ramsey, but the midfielder’s finish was atrocious to say the least.

The much-maligned Theo Walcott showed good composure in the box to bring the ball under control before sending a pass van Persie’s way but Ramsey attacked the ball with verve and the Everton defense was up to the challenge.

Van Persie swung his corner into Everton’s danger area and Thomas Vermaelen rose the highest to head the ball home. Everton scored an equalizer that was wrongly adjudged to be offside and Alex Song was the culprit courtesy of some sloppy passing.

Everton began the second half strongly when Jelavic nodded the ball goalwards but Szczesny was on hand to make a good save. Alex Song sent in another delightful pass that was guided to RVP’s path by Kieran Gibbs. However, van Persie’s effort clipped the post.

Ramsey was denied yet again from Tim Howard after some good work from Walcott. Drenthe had Everton’s last real chance but he skewed his effort over the bar.

The Table Speaks for itself

The ref’s final whistle was like music to the ears of Arsenal fans as the victory propelled them to third place ahead of Tottenham that were held to a draw at home by Stoke.

Finally, Arsenal’s win over Everton coupled with Tottenham’s defeat to Stoke has seen the Gunners go ahead of Tottenham for the first time since September.

It’s fair to say that Arsenal is the third best team in the land.

Or what do you feel? Are we the third best team in England? What do we need to do to become the best team in England?

Sayonara.

Follow @enigma106

Onward, Arsene’s Soldiers… (Everton vs Arsenal Preview)

Hi guys. Football is back!!!!

Like we say in Nigeria, Prayers are Working, Muamba is now speaking.

These past few days, you can not possibly talk football without mentioning Fabrice Muamba, can you?  More so, being an ex-Arsenal Guy, we have to mention him on here.

Wazobiagooners pray that he keeps getting better, so he would see for himself how he brought the football family, if not the whole world together in one Honda accord.

He’ll come through. God-willing.

Amen.

 __________________________________________________________________________

Now, to less life-threatening matters, like Arsenal playing Everton at Goodison Park.

Goodison Park. A very un-threatening Stadium. We have come to the stadium and come away with decent results. You recall the 1 – 6 drubbing? Based on that (even though I’m not a big fan of judging matches on such statistics), I’ll go ahead to predict a comfortable victory here.

Forget the good record in Goodison Park sef, These are the real reasons why I think we would get a result here.

• We are flying high: Like a helium-filled balloon. However, just a ‘prick’ would burst the balloon, but Everton are not much of a pricky side. Sides that are pricks are Stoke City, Sunderland, West Brom and so on,  you get my point? Everton are a normal footballing side. They won’t burst our bubble.

• We’ve got our full-backs back. It is not coincidence that we got back to winning ways with the return of our full backs. Our team was out of sorts with all the make shift full backs. Sagna and Gibbs have been impressive. Gibbs impressiveness has surprised me. I really hope he stays fit, but if he doesn’t, Santos is back! (I know, I’m mean!)

• The FA Cup: It was strange seeing David Moyes rest some key players in their Merseyside derby. It shows the guy has his sight on the FA Cup as a realistic target. He sees it as an easier route to European football. I agree with him. He played his big guns against Sunderland on Saturday, and its a Win-Win situation for us. If he decides to rest them, he’ll play the likes of Anichebe today. :D. If he decides to play his strong side, they’ll be up against our well rested boys. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

• Robin Van Persie: What more can I say. He’s banging in the goals, even though I don’t subscribe to the “He scores when he wants to” party, but at least, “he scores when the ball enters the net”  :|. But guys, Like play, like play, RVP don dey play full season o.. no injuries???

• Tottenham Hotsp*rs: The players wouldn’t want Jack Wilshere to lose money. Jokes aside, the only thing now on the players’ mind this season is to finish above Sp*rs. That should be a motivating factor for our remaining games this season

• Chelsea vs Man City: By the time we kick-off, Man City would have defeated high flying Chelsea. We’ll smell blood and go for the win. Lets put clear daylight between ourselves and RDM’s boys. ( I heard Chelsea won’t hire you again if you don’t have 3 names.)

• “Rub of the green”: A Football cliche, I know, but lately, we’ve been lucky, very unlike the Arsenal we know. Suarez hit the post like 70 times against us, didn’t he? Plus our late goals. Lets pray it continues.

*In Kanye’s voice* – Thats where I get my confidence from.

But really, we should have no problems winning this game. Fourth place is not acceptable any longer. What if Chelsea wins the Champions League??? *gulps*

No freakish accident happened during training, at least none that we’re aware of, so we should start with the same players that played Newcastle. I would not bother giving you the schematics.

In other news Le Boss and Gibbs talk about the pressing game, which I feel has also played a major role in our resurgence.

“Hard or not, you don’t even have to think about that. We know what is demanded and when you want to win the game you just put the effort in that is requested.” – Arsene Wenger

“There are a lot of players putting a lot of effort in, especially off the ball, and that is great to see. When we put pressure on teams high up the pitch and early on in the game, it is difficult for them to play and we can control the game a lot easier.” – Kieran Gibbs

Van Persie also gives the clearest indication yet, that he’ll stay with us. He says we should keep this up for a year.

“After the two defeats to Milan and Sunderland, everyone was like ‘this is going to be a tough couple of weeks’ because we had games against Spurs, Liverpool, Milan and an international week and then Newcastle. Yet we won every game, so we showed lots of character. We can be proud of that.

“Now we need to show that over a period of a whole year. That is very hard and only the best of the best teams have that in them. Look at Barcelona for example. They have a special team there, they are playing most games – 9 out of 10 – really well and working hard. We need to have a run like that for months and even win the ugly games.

Well said Captain, now say “I do”.

Diaby played, and scored for the Reserves yesterday against Liverpool. Hope he keeps fit. He’ll be useful in the remaining few games. He’s a good footballer.

Let’s go for the win. Onward, Arsene Soldiers. Lets march for 3rd place. Its the only thing we have this season.

Up The Arse!

Vermaelen vs. Koscielny (Opinion Poll)

Hi guys, so boring weekend this one, eh? A weekend with no Arsenal fixture is like bread without butter, garri without water, Lagos Island without gutter…well, at this point I don’t think I’m making much sense any longer but you get my point? Yeah, the weekend sucks when there is no Arsenal game to break our heart cheer on.

Before we go on, we will like to express our support for Fabrice Muamba (who passed out at White Hart Lane during the FA cup tie between Bolton and Spurs). We thank God his condition is stable now and our prayers/thoughts are with him and his loved ones. He will recover fully and get back to playing the game he loves, by God’s grace.

So while to wait for time to pass, till Wednesday when we play Everton (away), I had a discussion with fellow WazoBlogger @dhebbur on who is the better defender between the Verminator and Bosscielny: The answer wasn’t as straightforward as I would have thought prior to the question asked so we decided to have a poll on that (to kill football time).

Please vote in the poll below and also feel free to explain why you prefer one to the other (in the comment section for this post). I will keep my argument to myself at this moment not to ‘corrupt’ your judgment.

Up The Arse!

Comeback Kings!!! Arsenal – Newcastle Match Report

By @sizzlep

We are now the first side ever to win four consecutive Premier League games after coming from behind in each. (Three of them in injury time)

We just have a knack for weird achievements, well this is one I’d gladly take. It is way better than the record set at the corresponding fixture last season at the Sports Direct Arena.

Memory forever banished!

The only surprise inclusion in the Starting 11 was the Ox instead of Gervinho, given the 18 year old fierce looking lad limped off with a few bruises at the Milan game. On the other hand, Ramsey should never start before Rosicky even if the latter is only 50% fit. What a virtuoso performance from the midfielder! Justifying his recently signed contract extension.

The back four was pretty solid tonight, except for the lack of concentration from Gibbs after a Vermaelen misplaced pass that gifted Newcastle their solitary goal. I felt Sczczsezny could have done better, ‘Keepers hate being beaten at the near post.

The midfield was where most of the game was played. Song had another fantastic game, did his original job as a DM and didn’t foray forward unnecessarily. Arteta was more mobile than we have seen him since he joined us, a good game for him on his return to the line up.

Man of the Match performance from Theo Walcott, putting in several dangerous crosses. The two goals he scored against Sp*rs seem to be the turning point of this campaign for him. Both goals were as a result of two wonderful crosses from him on the right wing.

Van Persie though! What a take for the equalizer. 26th goal of the season, another effective maybe not spectacular performance from him. Man City can go to hell! Van P is STAYING!!

The left side of the attack was a bit flat tonight, most of the good work on that flank came from Gibbs, the left back. Neither Ox nor Gervinho did much damage on that wing.

Newcastle must have had only one shot on target in the whole match from which they scored from in the first half. Arsenal replied immediately and had control of the game for the rest of the half without actually creating clear cut chances. Scores at half time 1-1.
The same continued happened in the 2nd half with Arsenal taking the game to Newcastle. After a flurry of chances, Gervinho been an utter waste in front goal. The game seemed to be heading for a deadlock  until The Verminator, on his 2nd attempt on the 95th minute finally got the much deserved clincher.

The record-setting goal!

One point behind Sp*rs. I bet they are feeling the pressure even more now. Bloody chokers! They seem to be in a free fall till they fall back in line to their normal position on the table (out of the top four)

If you are into Arsene Wenger’s post match comments, here. Enjoy it

Lets keep the momentum guys. Up next, Everton at Goodison Park.

P.S: Why was RVP so cruel to Krul?

Cruel Van Persie...

Follow @sizzlep on Twitter

On The Brink of Something Special

Change of Fortune:

We lost 4-0 to AC Milan at San Siro, and then got knocked out of the FA cup some days after by Sunderland at their pitch from hell Stadium of Light. Even the most positive gooners struggled to come up with excuses for Arsenal, and the Wenger-Is-Out-Of-Ideas faction cranked up gear to full speed, those were dark times for Arsenal. But look at where we are now, heh, who would have imagined this: We thrashed the scum from white sh*te lane 5-2 (with an incredible comeback performance after being 2 goals down), we managed to dish Liverpool their first home defeat at Anfield while not playing our best football, and to top it, we demolished AC Milan at the Emirates (sadly, just in the first half) to win 3-0 which was close but not good enough to overturn the 4-goal deficit to go through to the next stage of the Champion’s League.

The Silver Cloud behind losing winning 3-0:

Let me say this concerning our failure to go past Milan, I am not so sad we couldn’t go through. I see it as a blessing in disguise because, let’s be honest, I don’t think we are good enough to win the champion’s league this season so getting out of the tournament will allow us focus 100% on finishing strong In the Premier league, at least 3^rd, above Tottnum – which is looking very much possible right now. I mean, about two weeks ago they were 10 points ahead of us and it is just 4 at the moment. Dare I say we don’t even need a miracle to overtake them on the table? No? Okay, I won’t tempt fate on this. But it’s a realistic target right now and it will eliminate the distraction of two qualifying matches before the start of next season.

Milan Match report. Not:

Apologies for not having a match report for the Milan game; I take it that you would have caught up on that (on other blogs) to relish the brilliant match over and over again, or not, if you find the fact that we couldn’t score the 4^th goal painful. So I will save you the pleasure/pain and not go into the match review again. This brings us to the next point of discussion: the match against Newcastle on Monday.

Newcastle Preview:

I don’t have much to say about Newcastle save the obvious fact that they have done much better than everyone expected this season, thanks to their in-form striker, Demba Ba. They are just 5 points below us in the table and I’m sure they will come to the Emirates with the hope of leaving with a point, and I hope the only point they will leave with is that Arsenal is unstoppable at the moment. One thing is certain, if we play with the kind of pace and intensity we had against Tottnum and first half against Milan, we will beat Newcastle convincingly at the Emirates on Monday. But I will be the first to tell you that the most consistent thing about this team is our inconsistency this season, although we can believe the proverbial corner has been turned and the boys have realized that they are irresistible and irrepressible when they are play the high intensity pressing game.

Squad (Injury) Update:

More good news than bad on this front this week: Santos is back in full training and is available for the Newcastle game. Gibbs has a slight groin *sigh* strain but should also be okay for the game. Benayoun, Arteta and Ramsey are back in the squad for more options in the midfield although I don’t see Rosicky losing his place to Aaron right now. Wilshere had a scan today and the result should be out tomorrow but I heard he could start training now, hopefully we could see him make an appearance or two before the end of the season. Everybody else is okay, except Diaby, of course. Here is an interesting piece on his injury woes: ‘I’m not a fragile player’. He is out with a minor hamstring and hopefully will be back next week, what do we have and what are we without hope?

Looking Forward:

News coming in is that Rosicky will be renewing his contract with Arsenal in the next couple of days for another year or two, good news considering his present form. I honestly thought he would be leaving but boy, am I glad I was wrong. Things are looking bright at the moment. I was having a discussion with some gooners on twitter last night and the question was raised on how we think the squad could be strengthened to make us more competitive next season. I said we only need a striker and a creative midfielder (read Götze); @neyopapas disagreed and said we need to buy a world class defender a la Vertonghen, a defensive midfielder to cover for Song, an attacking midfielder and a striker! Oh, he also said we should get Swansea’s coach to assist Wenger after Rice retires this summer (CORRECTION: @olubebe suggested the assistant coach part). I think he’s a dreamer, what do you think? How can we strengthen this squad next season?

You guys heard the Podolski gist too? Of course, who hasn’t. But I bet you haven’t heard this brilliant ‘Lu Lu Lu Lukas Podolski‘ song (below), I look forward to singing the chorus next season.

Feel free to drop a word or two below in response to the squad question. Come on you Gunners!

Difficult, but Possible. Arsenal – Milan Preview

IMPOSSIBLE THINGS

• From V.I at 6pm on a normal working day, driving at 80kmph on Third Mainland Bridge
• Draw the figure “6” while also drawing a clockwise circle with your right leg
• Break an egg by clenching your fist on it
• Sneeze with your eyes open
• Tickle Yourself
• Putting your fist in your mouth

POSSIBLE THINGS

• Arsenal overturning a 4-nil deficit against Milan at The Emirates hereby qualifying for The Quarter Finals of the Champions League

Possible, although difficult.

Making the difficult much more difficult is the relocation of more players, from the Dressing Room to the Nursing Room.

Mikel Arteta, Kieran Gibbs (sigh), Abou Diaby (sigh), Yossi Benayoun find their way to the already crowded ‘injury list’, even though Arteta’s own is just precautionary, following his concussion on Saturday.

The injuries leave us bare in midfield, so bare that Wenger is contemplating playing 6 strikers 😮 ;

“I can play six strikers if I want, I have enough. I have Chamakh, Park, Van Persie, Gervinho, Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain. I can take a risk, because I have no choice, basically.”

That would be funny. Starting six strikers. But I think Rosicky and Gibbs will both shake off their knocks and start the game, and then we should see Ox starting in midfield too. So I reckon a starting eleven of;

SCZCZESNY

SAGNA KOSCIELNY VERMAELEN GIBBS

GERVINHO  SONG ROSICKY OX

RVP WALCOTT

It would be more like a 4-4-2. With Walcott and RVP playing as strikers. Ox and Gervinho supporting from the flanks.

Song would have to chill on his attacking forays in this game, because his doing that will leave our backside back-line too exposed. Rosicky would have to bear the burden of the creative hub. We know he can, he should please do.

The defense have to redeem their image against this Milan side. Granted, the whole team played terribly during the 4-nil mauling, but the defense was ‘worst’. Vermaelen especially played poorly. They’ve played  a few games together in a row now, hopefully they’ve hit some sort of momentum and cohesion. They have to stop that Ibra guy, and the Ghanaian dude too .

RVP. What can we say about him. He scores when he wants. I’m sure he want to score today, so he would score. Walcott, give yourself brain, Theo. Gervinho, you too, don’t do all the good work, then send one terrible final ball or dribble 7 players, then pass ball to the keeper (unlike the Nations’ Cup goal).  Ox. I hope his pace disturbs the Milan side. They are not so ‘aged’ as we usually imagine they are, are they? They have a bunch of fit young good players too now.

Can we score 4 goals? Yes. Can we concede 0 goals? Yes.

But, would we score 4 goals? Would we concede 0 goals? We would find out by the end of today.

We need to show up today. Nothing more. You know how fortune favors the brave? Lets show the gods of soccer that we want it bad, and they would make AC Milan score two own goals, and give RVP a hat-trick, and make Sczczseny make a wonderful ‘triple-save’ in the 93rd minute. 5- 0 to The Arsenal. *swoons*

Arsene and his boys have been talking, let’s hope all the talk translate to something positive on the field today.

My prediction is an Arsenal victory. Arsenal qualification? Well, I hope so.

Cheers Gooners. See you in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League!!!!!!!!!!

“He scores when he wants!” Liverpool – Arsenal Match Report

Robin van Persie, he scores when he wants!

I’m certain if Arsenal set up an account right now to receive donations for RvP’s new contract, we will get more than enough to start paying him 500 thousand pounds weekly. What a player!

I had my fears going into this game due to our consistent inconsistency this season, that and the fact that there was another meaningless International friendly matches mid-week and we had key players who went off to play for their country. So going into the game I suspected we weren’t going to be able to replicate the intensity of last weekend’s game against the scum and minutes into the game, my suspicion was confirmed.

Arsene started the same 11 he did against the scum as predicted by Debo (save the Gervinho for Yossi glitch). Liverpool started brightly, pressing all over the pitch and we never got to settle in well into the game and string some quality passes together; even Arteta, our most consistent passer of the ball who usually completes 90% of his passes, managed an ‘average’ 81% today. We couldn’t control play in the middle with Song and Rosicky wayward with possession; I will write this off as fatigue for Song who just came back from Africa a day before and possibly Rosicky is still recovering from the back pain, also from the win against the scum.

Suarez was his usual lively self and Koscielny seemed to have problems dealing with him, which is quite unusual for the ever impressing Frenchman. But can’t really blame Koscielny, most defenders in the League don’t find it easy defending the sneaky racist cheat. Liverpool had the chance to take the lead in the 18^th minute when Suarez thought he was by the poolside and decided to take a dive in the box, feigning he was tripped by Szczesny. The foolish referee was fooled and awarded a penalty. Up stepped cunt Kuyt to take the penalty. Up stepped Szczesny to save the penalty: He guessed the right direction of the Dutchman’s shot and parried it out, he then had the presence of mind to punch away the follow-up shot as Kuyt pounced on the rebound. Double-save of the season?

Liverpool kept the pressure up even after Szczesny’s brilliancy and we just couldn’t seem to hold on to the ball. Yossi Benayoun was noticeably invisible, normally you would expect players to be really up for it when playing against a former club but this wasn’t so for the Isreali. In the 23^rd minute, Koscielny gifted Liverpool with an own goal when he misjudged his kick and cleared a seemingly harmless cross from Jordan Henderson into his own net.

Liverpool didn’t remove their foot from the proverbial pedal even after being gifted with a goal. They had some really good chances but our goalie kept pulling out brilliant saves and at a point I tweeted something like “I don’t like it when our goalie is the top candidate for man of the match”. Suarez the sneaky pest kept threatening, weaving and creating chances. However, against the run of play, at the 31^st minute, Sagna sent in a delightful cross into Liverpool’s area from the right side, and guess who was at the end of the cross to head it past Reina, yes: Robin van Perfect.

That didn’t change the momentum of the game, and I was quite thankful when the referee blew for half-time. Liverpool picked up from where they left off and were again clearly the better side. At a point, Arteta had to be stretchered off after being hit by colliding with Downing off the ball. Reports after the game said he suffered from severe concussion (insert great sigh of relief), here’s to hoping he recovers well on time, he’s such an influential player for this side. Diaby (yes!) came on for Arteta and unfortunately had to be replaced after 30 minutes by Oxlade Chamberlain. Post match reports said Diaby felt a slight pull in his thigh and the sub was precautionary, I like him as a player, empathize with his pain/frustration and pray he gets back and stays injury free (no clever remarks here). It’s sad to see such a talented player’s career go this way. Benayoun was subbed off for Gervinho before The Ox came on.

Just when you thought the best we could get from the game was the 1-1 draw, because Liverpool looked more like the side likely to score (I must add here that, all along I knew Arsenal will nick it 1-2, click for proof. Heh)…Yes, just when you thought nothing else would happen, in the 90^th minutes, there came a moment of brilliancy from two quality players – a wonderful pass from Song (as we have become accustomed to) over Liverpool’s defense, and a superb finish from Captain Vantastic to beat Pepe Reina at his near post. It was a steal, a daylight robbery and my goodness WHAT A DELIGHTFUL ONE IT WAS!! If United had won a game in this manner, we won’t be focusing on their usual shitty display but on the fact that this is the stuff champions are made of.

Arsenal saw the game off (with 8 minutes of added time) and I’m still buzzing with the win. It wasn’t a good performance from Arsenal, not even close; but to go to Liverpool, who have been unbeaten at home till today, and get escape with three points is what AWESOME is. RvP was given man of the match (as usual, for his usual brilliant self) and here is what here is what Wenger had to say about the skipper and the goalie:

There were two men of the match today, Wojciech Szczesny and van Persie.

Some words from skipper Vantastic:

It was the same pass from the same guy, Alex, an unbelievable pass. This one I hit with the inside of my foot, but again it was an unbelievable pass. Alex is a really good player; he can see it and actually do it. And I have to thank Szczesny as well.

He then gave the man of the match champagne to Szczesny. What a man! Is any skipper classier than this dude? That, or he just doesn’t like champagne.

Bring on Milan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!