Good Saturday to you all. Here is the news.

It looks like Manuel Almunia is back in pole position. Or, he would be if Arsenal was a Forumula 1 team and he'd just come fastest in qualifying, but you know what I mean. A mixture of a chest infection, family tragedy and just plain old poor form meant his start to the season was a bit all over the shop, but it seems as if the manager is ready to put his faith in him again. Arsene says:

It gave him a good breather. For goalkeepers in general, the confidence is very important. Goalkeeper is a position that is guided by fear more than any other. You have only negative stress. A striker has a positive stress. He thinks, 'I can be a hero', but the goalkeeper thinks, 'I don't want to be a villain today'.

And the way he was playing there's no question that Almunia saw himself in black and white, twiddling his overgrown 'tache while cackling to himself and tying a young damsel to the railway tracks. If his return brings about more solidity, both in terms of his performances and the experience he brings to the team, then great. You still can't help but think that the keeper issue is one the boss needs to make decisions on in the near future. The Mail links us with Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris, an anagram of which is 'Hull Orgies' and that makes me think of Phil Brown and a coven of Kerry Katona looking women and it's put me right off that keeper, let me tell you.

As well as that, I think our kit has to take some of the blame. How can Almunia, or any of the others, feel like a confident non-villain if he's being asked to wear that horrible all grey thing? It's so ... insipid, isn't it? Get the goalie in a traditional all green number, he'll play better. It's a scientific fact.

Cesc has warned against complacency today at Wolves. The captain says:

I am warning against complacency today at Wolves. We will have to be at our best as usual because today there are no small teams in the Premier League, everyone makes it difficult if you are not up for it, so we will have to be motivated to beat them. And, above all, we must not be complacent. There is no room for complacency today. If we were a restaurant and complacency turned up with a rather attractive companion looking for a table I would have to say 'Sorry, we have no room for your kind, Sir', which may force him to take a case with the discrimination tribunal but that's just the way it has to be.

It's a big chance to put pressure on United and Chelsea who tomorrow will play out a 3-3 draw with 3 red cards, a number of serious injuries and a shocking incident in which Didier Drogba punches the ref in the throat whilst calling him a 'hearty bastard'. Something to look forward to.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy says Arsenal will be 'quaking in their boots', heh. Tongue in cheek it might be but we'd do well to remember last November playing a recently promoted side away from home. And I think Wolves have got a long throw bloke as well. I could be wrong though. In terms of the team I don't see it being that different to the one on Wednesday, Sagna back for Eboue, maybe a bit of rotation with Eduardo and Rosicky starting, but you have to think we've got enough to win this one given the form we're in.

In other news Arsene says Fran Merida signing a new deal for us would be 'massive'. Personally I think it would be either 'capital' or 'epic' but I can live with massive. 

Alisher Usmanov has called on Stan Kroenke to make clear his intentions, knowing fine well that no such clarification will be forthcoming on the back of such callings. I suppose he just wants people to know that he too owns a big chunk of Arsenal. We haven't forgotten you, Jabba, don't worry. We're just hoping you fall off a cliff or have a stroke or fall of a cliff while having a stroke. And if, when you fell off the cliff, you could fix it so you land on top of Phil Collins who is sunbathing below then that would be massive or capital or epic. 

Alex Song talks about how important family is to him. He's only 22 but he's got 2 kids already and he comes from a family of 473 brothers and 900 sisters. Or something. They must need a really big table on Christmas day.

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway has been singing the praises of on-loan youngster Jay Emmanuel 'Emmanuel' Thomas. Which is nice to hear, I suppose. He is, of course, as mad as a box of badgers but entertainingly so for the most part.

And that'll have to do. Late kick off this evening, fingers crossed for the three points, talk to you tomorrow.

Happy Friday to you all,

we should probably start with the news that Stan Kroenke is on threshold of the 30% which would require him to make an offer for all the shares in Arsenal. We've watched him draw ever closer in the last few months, his intentions remain very much a mystery. What you can say though is that with the 100 shares he bought from Peter Hill-Wood what is happening is being done with the full knowledge of the board.

The main fear Arsenal fans would have is that if Kroenke is planning a takeover then he'll do it like the other Americans at United and Liverpool - i.e taking out big loans to buy the shares then saddling the club with that debt. I suppose we have to have some faith in the board that having brought the club to this point with their sensible and self-sustainable business model they don't allow all that good work to be undone if they sell up. They have always maintained their roles as custodians of the club so you have to think they'd be loath to allow someone to come in and purchase Arsenal in that manner.

Arsene Wenger seems unperturbed when asked about it. As he said in his press conference his focus is on the pitch and what happens in terms of ownership is a 'level above'. I don't see a takeover happening just yet though, I think this is Kroenke consolidating his shareholding even further, but as long as there's no public declaration from Silent Stan there'll be plenty of speculation.

On to matters football and the pre-Wolves press conference took place yesterday for some reason. There doesn't appear to be anything new to tell you in terms of injuries. It doesn't look as if anyone is back, Denilson and Theo should return post Interlull, nor does it appear as if we've picked up any new injuries from Wednesday night. We'll probably get more team news today.

I think the manager might rotate things a little bit up front this weekend. With Nasri back, Rosicky back and Eduardo looking for a game there are plenty of options for him - although there's still no Carlos Vela whose continued absences are not at all unexpected now. I think it's a measure of how often he's out that Arsene completely forgot about him after the AZ game when discussing his attacking options, throwing his name into the hat at the end when he remembered.

At the back though the manager is not to seen to rotate, preferring the partnership between Gallas and Vermaelen to continue. He says:

At the moment, no I am not tempted to rotate. I do not like to rotate too much in central defence because we are in a position where they have a good understanding and every point is vital so it's not worth to take a gamble if I'm not forced to do it.

Carling Cup aside they've played every other game this season but when you're in good form and you're winning you don't feel tired. It's an important game tomorrow. With Chelsea and United playing on Sunday there's the chance to pick up points on whoever drops them and the chance to put a bit of pressure on them with a Saturday win. More on that tomorrow.

Arsene also confirmed the club have agreed a new deal with Fran Merida but he hasn't signed it yet. He criticised some clubs who were trying to destabilise the player behind our backs, obviously Atletico Madrid, but it's obviously a big decision for the young man. Does he stay with Arsenal and fight for a first team place or does he go back home to Spain with, more than likely, more probability of first team football? With only one Carling Cup game under his belt this season you can understand why he's taking his time.

The boss says he wouldn't swap Robin van Persie for anyone, saying he's the perfect striker for the system we play. I wonder if he'd swap him for a robot who had state of the art projector with every single film and TV show ever made in his memory banks so if you felt like watching something you just told him and he'd play it. That would be tempting. He mentions Drogba. I'd swap van Persie for Drogba but only if I was in a hot-air balloon and I could throw him over the side after slide-tackling him at very close range wearing steel capped Doc Marten's. The monstery cunt.

And that'll be about that so it's time for this week's Arsecast. Joining me to discuss the hilarity of Sp*rs, the fun of AZ and the wonder of Cesc is the man from East Lower. Also on the show, vintage news, Talkshite radio and Silent Stan reveals why he keeps himself so quiet.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (20mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

There you go, have at it. More tomorrow.

Some nights Arsenal just click and it's beautiful to watch. After about five minutes we put together a flowing, pacey, one-touch move which ended up with a Robin van Persie shot flying just wide of the AZ goal. After that you knew Arsenal were in the mood.

We opened the scoring through Cesc Fabregas whose low shot scuttered between a defender's legs and practically trickled across the line. The AZ keeper obviously got his hair in his eyes or something. Poor keeping it might have been but I can live with poor keeping all day long as long as it's not at our end. The second goal looked a bit like poor defending but having watched the replays it was, instead, a very good goal.

Picking up the ball in the centre of the pitch Andrei Arshavin played a fantastic ball down the middle for Samir Nasri. He took it on, wiggled his hips like some kind of footballing Elvis, putting the nearest AZ defender flat on his arse. He took it on a bit more, held off the challenges, and fnished adroitly into the bottom corner.

It was his first goal of the season and his presence in the team in the future is important. Both he and Rosicky have the ability to drive forward quickly in midfield, to beat a defender with skill and pace, where other midfield options might look for a more simple or conservative pass. It allows us to break down teams who are well organised defensively, like AZ obviously set out to be last night.

So 2-0 at half-time and given how quickly the third goal came in the second half you might go so far as to say that the team has learned the lesson of West Ham. Against Sp*rs we got the third to calm the nerves, last night wasn't nervy but the goal was important just to confirm Arsenal's superiority and to ensure the visitors didn't get any smart ideas about sneaking one and making us all a bit jumpy.

Again Arshavin was the architect, playing in Cesc who gave the keeper the far post eyes before slamming it home high at the near side. A fantastic goal from a truly fantastic player. He's got 8 goals already this season, a brilliant return for a midfielder, and if this new formation suits anyone, it's him. He can make goals, he can score goals, and there was a moment in the first half when he rose highest at the back post to a head a Kieran Gibbs header over that illustrated just how much he's enjoying his football right now.

With the game won at that stage the manager was able to take off van Persie and Cesc, replacing them with Eduardo and Ramsey. AZ got forward a bit and Pellé brought out a fantastic save from Manuel Almunia who pushed his close range volley onto the bar. 

The goal of the night was to follow though. We brought it out of defence, played to Eduardo whose backheel from just inside our half set Andrei Arshavin free. He took it on, played a pass I thought at first was a bit heavy for Abou Diaby, but the big man loves a goal. He stuck one of those long legs out to control it and then sidefooted it past the keeper to make it 4-0. That's his 4th goal of the season and it made for a hat-trick of assists for Arshavin.

Arshavin was replaced by Rosicky who slotted into the system flawlessly. With Arsenal claiming a penalty for handball at one end, the Dutch went up the other and scored. Perhaps a bit of defensive naivety from Kieran Gibbs but Almunia's copybook was somewhat blotted when their player drilled it home at his near post. It looked as if he was moving to his right, anticipating a cross to free AZ players on that side, but at 4-1 it didn't really matter.

Afterwards an ebullient Arsene Wenger declared the performance 'brilliant', saying:

We dominated our subject technically, tactically and overall we felt never under threat. We played with the needed confidence, technically astute, overall very happy. It's important to keep that attitude to progress, to improve and to play for each other even more. Then we can believe in our future.

While just to keep feet on the ground, Cesc said:

It's just the beginning of the season, nothing is done, we want to keep going until the end. I'll feel it is something special when we win something. We want to win and if we win something at the end we will say we had a good year.

Wise words, indeed. Performances like last night are marvelous fun but ultimately just a very small part of the bigger picture. We can enjoy them as much as we like but for the players it's important to realise that you don't get trophies for nice football and impressive performances. It's a reminder from the captain that there's a long way to go yet and a lot of work still to be done. Impressive stuff from the young man who appears to be growing into the role as the natural leader of this team. He's never going to be one of those shouting, in your face, captains, but you can see from his performances how focussed he is and that will transmit itself to the rest of the players. Leading by example, you might say.

Qualification remains unconfirmed due to other results but we just need one point from our last two games to go through, a win against Standard Liege in the next game will ensure we top the group.

So, another fantastic home performance and our form at the Grove is something a bit special this season. We've played 10, won 10 and scored 33 goals in the process. It's becoming something of a fortress, maybe for the first time since we moved from Highbury, and nobody is going to fancy playing us there. There are those who criticise, saying we have the most expensive seats in football, but it's hard to argue we're not providing value for money at home this season. 

Next up, Wolves in the league. More to come on that in the next couple of days. Have a good one.

Quick update: Stan Kroenke now owns 29.9% of Arsenal - http://tinyurl.com/yz2fol3 . 200 shares purchased, 100 of which came from Chairman PHW. Any further share purchases would require him to make a bid for the whole club.

Interesting.

Right then, football tonight against Alkmaar and I really hope they're just plain old AZ tonight and not the typical Ronald Koeman AZzzzzzzzz.

Every time we play a Koeman side it's inevitably a truly dire spectacle. A tedious, coma inducing draw of some kind and I could really do without that tonight. I'm hoping the high we're on from the weekend will enable us to give them the kind of spanking they deserve. Not that they're particularly objectionable as a team or anything, I've just had quite enough of Koeman's teams and their dull as dishwater approach. 

Arsene Wenger was asked if he had a special motivation to win tonight because he'd never beaten a team managed by Koeman. Rightly enough he said no, that wasn't a factor at all, which is fair enough. They didn't ask me though, did they? I'd have done pantomime yawny faces every time I said his name. I think, after being subjected to so many insipid games, we deserve a good one tonight. AW wants the same kind of performance as against Sp*rs, saying:

We have to show that we can go into the game with the same seriousness that we have done on Saturday. There are a lot of things that we have still to accomplish. It is all in front of us. We have to show that we can focus every three days, that we can play for each other every three days all along the season, also that we can prepare every game with the same kind of conscientious attitude and that we can win.

Splendid, can't argue with that at all. The team news is so-so. While happily Tomas Rosicky returns, not to start but to the bench at least, there's bad news for Nicklas Bendnter who is 'seriously' injured according to the boss. Whether or not he needs surgery remains to be seen but he's going to be out for at least 4 weeks. It is a bit of a blow because Bendtner provides a measure of physicality and workrate in the forward three that helps balance that of, say, Arshavin who is polly-pocket sized and doesn't necessarily get involved in the defensive side of things. It'll be interesting to see who he plays there tonight. I know he's gone with Eboue before but with Eduardo fit and needing a game or two, and Nasri back in the frame, I'd hope he'd go with the more positive option.

There was also bad news for Gael Clichy who has a stress fracture of his back. I think that probably means a vertebrae rather than his spine but like Bendtner he's facing up to two months on the sidelines. You have to say though that if there was one area of the back four where we could probably cope with an injury best it's at left full. Kieran Gibbs will replace Clichy and after that the manager has spoken about Armand Traore as back-up. Our almost identikit left backs save the day. 

It's a big chance for Gibbs though, the manager says:

I have no doubt about his quality and I have said that many times. There is suddenly a huge stress on Gibbs to play in every game. Capello and England will be happy because they want him to play but it is still a shame for us to lose Clichy.

Again with the Capello thing. To be perfectly frank I couldn't care less if Capello wanted a trumpet playing elephant called Hamilton who starred in an animation short that I saw when I was a kid and have never been able to find again. And it really shouldn't be of any great interest to Arsene either. I think saying stuff like that puts pressure on Gibbs that he probably doesn't need. Maybe it's motivational, I dunno, perhaps I shouldn't second guess Wenger's ability to say the right thing to get the best out of his player, but let's hope the young man just gets his head down and plays well. Arsene also said he's a bit like Ashley Cole. Let's hope it's in his football ability and not the fact that he's a swerving off the road, money hungry, odious little cunt.

Meanwhile Abou Diaby reckons he's stronger and more focussed this season while Arsene Wenger lauds him for being very strong in the challenge, good in the air, having a high work rate and giving us good balance in midfield.

I was wondering about Wenger's comments in particular when I watched the press conference yesterday as they confused me. Then I realised Diaby was alongside him, heh. I don't think it's unfair to suggest that Diaby, having been given a run of games in his favourite central midfield position, has still to convince a lot of people that he's got what it takes. If his effort on Saturday against Sp*rs showed his 'high work rate' then it's very worrying indeed. We know he did extra training in the summer so he would be ready to grab his opportunity when it came, and while he's had some decent performances I don't think he's done enough to make himself indespensible by any means. If he really wants to to make it at Arsenal he needs to step it up, and quickly.

In a quick look at other news Fran Merida's agent, Joseba Diaz (you might remember him from such other young Catalan players as Cesc Fabregas), says Fran has an illness for Atletico Madrid. I assume he means some kind of vomiting bug every time he sees them play as they're so awful this season, but he hints that the young man would be tempted by a move back to Spain.

And finally I'm on the other side of the mic for the ArsenalFCblog podcast, if that's your bag.

Right then, here's to a good old thrashing of AZ tonight. A night when Oles can ring out after we score goal number 9 and not when we're 1-0 up and which then cause us to concede a late equaliser.

Till tomorrow.

The football just keeps coming with Champions League action tomorrow night. There'll be a press conference and team news today so we can preview the game properly tomorrow.

A win would assure qualification for the knock-out stage of the competition so there'll be no rest for the main men. Robin van Persie will lead the line again and after two goals against Sp*rs the manager seems to think 25 goals for the season is an achievable target for him. He says:

I don’t want to set targets but why not? If you look at the chances he has had since the start of the season you cannot say he won’t reach 25 goals.

Robin has taken much more responsibility because he is up front. He has committed himself to the club for a long period and he is at an age, 26, where a footballer becomes really efficient, mature and wants to win things.

It's not hard to see the connection between his improvement in terms of scoring goals and the fact that he's, you know, not crippled on a near constant basis. I always felt he was a bit unlucky with his injuries. He wasn't a Michael Owen, for example, whose hamstrings were made of frayed rubber bands. He seemed to pick up a lot of reasonably serious injuries through impact. There was the knee when he played for Holland and he landed funny, the metatarsal after scoring against United, and on top of that a lack of patience which saw him come back a couple of times too early and suffer setbacks as a consequence.

He was fit for the majority of last season and he had his best ever return. If he stays fit again for the bulk of this term then there's no reason why he can't do better. It's clear now he's getting used to the new role he's been asked to play, he says himself he's found a balance which allows him to be more efficient, and while Match of the Day spend their time asking which of Torres, Rooney or Drogba is the best striker in the Premier League, I'm quite content to watch Robin bang the goals in without the hype. He's got to ensure that the efficiency he's found lasts the duration of the season but to me there's no doubt he's got the potential to become the kind of goalscorer a top club needs.

Meanwhile Andrei Arshavin says that the win over Sp*rs shows Arsenal have put the blip of West Ham behind them. He says:

What I liked in this game is that at half-time were were sure we could end as winners. We were not nervous. There was a sense that the opponents couldn't equalise and that we wouldn't lose our lead.

Quite why there wasn't that sense at Upton Park is something you'd have to ask the little Russian. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with him on Saturday. He seems to be off the pace in recent games and perhaps we could expect a little more from him. When I saw him last in the flesh against Boro last season he was so fascinating to watch. He communicated, told players where to put the ball, where to go to receive it, and generally put in a good shift. Against Sp*rs there wasn't much of that, if any at all.

I know he's the kind of player who can give you something out of nothing, and I'm not criticising here, merely observing, but perhaps there's just a bit too much nothing at the moment and not enough something. Maybe he's carrying a bit of a knock, which would explain things a bit, but there's also the sense that fitness is not exactly his strong point and that's an area he could improve. Anyway, hopefully it's just a little bit of a lull and things will pick up as the season progresses. He might be just pacing himself so he can last till May. What with his fitness and that.

Kieran Gibbs, rather prematurely tipped for England by Arsene Wenger I thought, has spoken about that and how nice to see a footballer with his head screwed firmly on his shoulders. He says he can't even begin to think about England until he does more for Arsenal. Refreshing and intelligent. Maybe it's the intelligence that's refreshing. It's why Almunia's repeated comments about playing for England never really sat right with me. It was all newspaper hype really and he should have just concentrated on doing well for Arsenal instead of getting sucked into tripe like that.

Stan Kroenke has had his chequebook out again. The American has bought another 427 shares taking his overall shareholding to 29.6%, edging ever closer to that mythical 29.9% which would require him to make an offer for all the shares. On the new purchase the Arsenal Supporters Trust say:

The AST’s own assessment of today’s development is that a takeover is not imminent and that today’s purchase is the consolidation of an existing position.

And I'd agree with that although you have to think the closer he gets to the 29.9% the more likely it is that something will happen. But just because he has that shareholding doesn't mean others are under any obligation to sell to him, so unless there's some serious dialogue going on behind the scenes about willingness to sell to Kroenke I can't see any takeover happening in the near future.

In other news Emmanuel Eboue says he'd play for PSG if they made an offer for him next summer while Abou Diaby talks Champions League.

Arsenal reserves lost their first game of the season, a 2-0 'home' defeat by Portsmouth.

And that's that. A full preview of the game against AZ tomorrow, any breaking team news during the day will probably be Twittered, if that's your thing.

Have a good one.

Good morning, a fine start to a new week for many of you. Round these parts there aren't too many Sp*rs fans. I play football with one on a Tuesday and when I told him I was going over for the game he said 'Oh dear, you've just wasted your money there'.

Oh dear indeed. So he'll get some tomorrow night but I can imagine those of you returning to work today who live in much closer quarters to fans of that persuasion will have a jolly good morning engaging in 'banter', you might say. Have fun with that.

While we have a Champions League game this week much of the focus is still on the weekend's events. Amazingly people are now beginning to revise their opinion of this team. While Alan Hansen watches his beloved Mugsmashers reel from crisis to euphoria and back to crisis again, he manages to write something nice about Arsenal. Amazing. I bet his scar was pulsing as he did. 

Meanwhile Robin van Persie has summed up things perfectly, saying:

It always feels good to beat Spurs. It even feels good when we don’t play them and they get beaten, so it’s especially good when we’ve played them.

Marvelous. A bit like van Persie's form at the moment. Patrick Barclay writes about him in The Times and he's really growing into the central striker position. He started slowly, no goals in Arsenal's first 6 games. Now he's fot 8 in our last 9 and he's fast becoming accustomed the role many thought he wasn't really suited to. I suppose we should know better than to underestimate Arsene Wenger's ability to get the best out of a player in a forward position. 

Let's not forget he had to convince Thierry Henry he had what it takes to score goals at a time when established commentators on things Arsenal were just as convinced that Henry would never be a centre-forward. Van Persie is no Henry, he doesn't go at defences the same way, but the boss's comments about him being a bit of a mix of Henry and Bergkamp isn't too far off the mark. And what a mix that is. Let's hope he can keep it up and it's worth pointing out that everyone's favourite £25m summer signing who was lauded in the press as one of the best strikers in the world hasn't scored since he nodded that one in against us. The lanky bollocks.

Robin himself makes headlines this mornings, not for his scoring or his recent form, but for the fact he's expressed a desire to play in the next round of the Carling Cup. Funnily enough it happens to be against Man City. On Saturday he said:

What's the draw? Manchester City away? Nice. I want to play that one. If the boss decides to let me play, I'm happy. I'd love to play. We fancy winning that competition.

Two guesses at why he'd be so up for this one. The defeat earlier in the season and the incident with Adebayor no doubt providing motivation. To be honest I don't think Arsene will involve him. Firstly because with Bendtner, Walcott and Vela all injured the manager won't want to risk his main man. And secondly, for all the maturity he's shown, there's a small part of me that just wouldn't put it past him to cunt Adebayor right up in the air and get himself a red card. Anyway, that game isn't till December so we'll see.

I think I'm in love with this picture. I want it in large. So large I can wrap it around my house. Like house wallpaper. That'd be awesome. And I'd put a speech bubble coming out of Pat Rice's mouth that just said "Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!". Because that's what he's saying just before he turns to the Sp*rs fans and gives them the finger while thrusting his groin out at them.

"Yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Not much else happening though. It's a good way to start the week though. The joy of Saturday still resonating, a nice home fixture in the Champions League to look forward to. I've had worse Monday mornings, it has to be said.

Have a good one, more tomorrow.

Yesterday's game against Sp*rs raised so many questions for me. Having travelled that morning from Dublin knowing that Sp*rs were now stronger than us, I have to admit I was ever so worried. Robbie Keane surely wouldn't lie. Peter Crouch also had his tuppenceworth to throw in about the respective merits of both teams, suggesting that his was better than ours. He seems an amiable, honest chap. Why would he dissemble so?

And then, sitting on the tube to Victoria, I read Harry Redknapp in the papers saying that Arsenal lacked the experience for games like this. And you know what? They were all right. 

Sp*rs were stronger than us when it came to making substitutions. Keane must have raced off the pitch quicker than Billy Whizz when his number came up. And Crouchy, if I may call him that, had it spot on. His team outshone ours in the whole 'The only plan we have is to hoof it to up the lanky cunt up front who will use his elbows and lean all over our defenders' thing. Credit where it's due. 

And as for ol' Twitchy himself, Arsenal did lack experience. The experience of being shit cunts who got turned over big time without Arsenal ever really having to play that well. If it's no trouble to them at all I would very much encourage more hubristic chatter before we play them again. It does make victory all the sweeter.

There are some who might say there's little chance of a day which begins with two gin and tonics at 6am ending well. Those people would be wrong. Awake at 5am, on a flight, then a train from Gatwick having to listen to a crazy woman talking to a bloke who looked like Lee Bowyer crossed with an Orc, then to Holloway Road via the Armoury and in the pub by 10am for a breakfast pint of Guinness. It could only have been better if the pint of Guinness had bacon and sausage in it. Oooh, there's an idea. A real breakfast pint, eating and drinking. 

Folks arrived, the atmosphere built, some nervous, some quite confident that Sp*rs were going to take it all the way, songs being sung, copies of Two Halves being read having been brought to the pub by GilbertoSilver, the build up was fantastic. And inside the ground there was a real buzz. Lots of red and white and a corner of teeny-tiny white cocks.

The game itself was odd, at first. Ref Clattenburg allowed David Bentley away with a deliberate handball and a very obvious foul in the first couple of minutes. Maybe on another day you might say the ref showed some common sense and didn't get his cards out too early, but that other day is for cunts. It was a North London derby and we wanted the pantomime villain booked. As it turned out Bentley trudged around the pitch forlornly trying to do something, anything, clearly not so much for the team as for himself. I laughed at the number of times he stood, hugging the touchline, his arm in the air like a desperate schoolboy who for once knows the answer to teacher's question, only to watch the ball messed around with or given away by his teamchums.

Gomes made a fantastic save from Cesc. So fantastic I was almost on my feet to cheer the goal but it wasn't to be. Yet. Bendtner was replaced by Eduardo after picking up a groin injury. Arshavin pootered about the place not doing very much at all, the game was a bit flat, a bit one paced and at times we were careless and sloppy in possession. Players on their heels and not their toes, missing passes and it was a bit frustrating because we knew they were there for the taking if we stepped it up a bit.

It was hard to see where the goal was going to come from. Then we got a throw on the right, it came back to Sagna who crossed it, Robin van Persie got ahead of Leadfooted King and poked it home to make it 1-0. Awesome. And I was still celebrating, and laughing, at Sp*rs when all of a sudden Cesc was clean through on goal and it was 2-0. The roar was primal. There was a man sitting behind me who was a guest of an Arsenal fan, a neutral observer in all this, and he seemed most amused at the way the second was being celebrated. 

Not that I care. I'd have lap-danced for him at that stage if he'd asked, such was my delirium. 2-0 to the Arsenal rocked around the Grove, the place was heaving. From going in at half-time 0-0 to being two up almost out of nowhere. I had to watch Match of the Day when I got home to see Cesc's goal properly and ol' Twitchy complained about the Arsenal goals saying 'There wasn't a good one between them'. I respectfully disagree. 

The first goal was marvellous, instinctive striking play, the kind of poacher's goal that would have pundits creaming themselves and telling Capello to take Michael Owen to the World Cup if he were capable of scoring that kind of goal these days. But the second. Well that was a fucking brilliant goal. What do I care if Agent Palacios gave us the ball back easily? Cesc took it, went past one man, skipped over Palacios's lunge, nutmegged Leadfoot King, brought it on and stuck it past Gomes at his near post. If that isn't a fucking good goal then I need to start watching netball instead. 

At 2-0 with this Arsenal team you can't ever be sure. Even against opposition as poor as West Ham or Sp*rs but nerves were settled early enough into the second half with the third. Apu-Apricoto took out Eduardo on our right hand side, the linesman flagged and everyone stopped thinking the ref would give the free kick. Instead he waved play on, Sagna reacted quickest, took it on, crossed towards Robin van Persie but it was meat and drink for the goalkeeper, except the goalkeeper turned out to be a vegetarian teetotaller and spat it back out into the path of Robin van Persie who put it away to make it 3-0 to the Arsenal.

When you consider Eduardo should have had at least one, possibly two, it could have been even better. Wenger went absolutely mental when Eddie missed the second chance. As it trickled wide he took off his jacket, threw it on the ground, jumped up and down, his arms extended in pure 'What the fuck was that?' mode, but it was only because he wanted to turn the screw as much as we did. 3-0 is a decent win, 4-0 or 5-0 is a right slapping and who wouldn't have wanted to inflict that yesterday?

Sp*rs only real moment of danger was when Bentley managed to produce one decent set-piece delivery but it was well saved by Almunia who looked assured and confident on his return to the team. And afterwards the consensus was that it had been easy. That for all their talk, all their bluster, Sp*rs were just ... well, they were just Sp*rs.

For us it was another three points, we've dropped only two from our last 6 league league games, a temporary move into 2nd in the table although United's win in the evening put them back above us (we do have a game in hand), and it was a reminder to our neighbours that it's what happens on the pitch and not on the back pages that counts. As Arsene Wenger "Football is not about opinion. It’s about performance". And how can you argue with that?

The pub afterwards, more songs, more pints, post-game euphoria which is what gets you through when you're sitting in Gatwick, as tired as a cunt, having another couple of gin and tonics to add symmetry to the day's proceedings. The tiredness doesn't matter when you've won 3-0, when you've had a great day out with great folk, when you realise that football, for all the frustration and vexation and disappointment it brings us at times, is probably the best thing in the world. Ever.

Only because we are the Arsenal though. 

Reaction: Arsene Wenger, Robin van Persie.

A much earlier blog than usual as I'm heading Londonwards this morning for the game.

There's nothing new to report in terms of the team. Wenger confirmed Fabianski's injury and said he'd be missing for "three to four" weeks, which is no doubt a blow to him. He was giving nothing away when pressed about who would play today. The journos at the press conference do like to try and get info via their leading questions but Wenger is too canny for that kind of thing.

He says he knows who'll play but was saying nothing. Asked if he was tempted to pick Almunia he said "I am always tempted to pick Almunia". To me this was no hint that the Spaniard would regain his place, it just deflected the question right back at the questioner. As I said yesterday I think Mannone will continue to get the nod. I could be wrong, but either way the absence of a real number 1 at the club though remains problematic and whoever plays today I hope they perform like one.

The team pretty much picks itself. The only question remains over who will play in the third forward position. Eboue played there against West Ham but I think I might cry if he plays there tomorrow. His last outing in a North London derby was nothing short of a disaster and while he might offer some 'defensive balance' I'd prefer somebody with a bit of an attacking threat. Hopefully Bendnter's goal in midweek will have convinced the manager he's the man for the job and his aerial presence has famously undone Sp*rs before.

The bench should be strong enough as well with Nasri, Eduardo, Ramsey, maybe Vela or Wilshere, alongside the number 2 keeper and the defensive options. The game, obviously, is massive. There's the small matter of the position of the teams in the league but more than that is the rivalry. Sp*rs players and their manager have been very vocal over the last few days about how they're catching us up, or have even caught us up. We need to teach them about hubris.

Arsene Wenger says:

When the game starts tomorrow at 12.45 it will be just down to the quality of the display no matter how much other psychological involvment is in the game.

Which is true, to an extent, but there's always more to a big derby game than just the respective merits of both teams. There's more than just 3 points to be played for today, the teams know that, the managers know that and most of all the fans know that. 'Form goes out the window' in a derby, and it's true.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that the 4-4 from last season still haunts me. I caught a clip of Lennon's equaliser yesterday - bizarrely in Wenger's interview with the official site - and it made me shudder. That was a game we should have won but we gifted them 2 points. They were on the ropes at that stage last season, that result sparked them into life and quite literally knocked the stuffing out of us.

That game was a sucker punch which sent us reeling. It was a midweek game, that weekend we lost away at Stoke, then played out a turgid 0-0 at home in the Champions League with Fenerbache and although we rallied to beat United and the kids beat Wigan in the Carling Cup, we still hadn't fully recovered and lost two weeks running to Aston Villa and then Man City who took us apart at Eastlands.

I'm almost positive none of that would have happened if we'd won the game against Sp*rs. Perhaps it exposed weaknesses that would have emerged but it was such an incredible, once in a lifetime occurence that it damaged the team, the fans faith in the team and the manager and made last season one of the least enjoyable I can ever remember. You just don't draw a game when you're 2 goals ahead in the 89th minute. Especially against them.

We self-destructed that day and it cost us. We were out of the title race by the end of November. Not that I think last season's team was really a title contender but there's no doubt that game badly affected us on many levels.

And from a fan's perspective it was utterly soul-destroying. This is why there's more to today's game than the respective quality of the teams. Desire and sheer will to win goes a long way in football and the Arsenal players, most of whom would have played in the corresponding fixture last season, have to go out there wanting to right that wrong. Yes, they want to win because it's the next game. Yes, they want to win because we're at home. Yes, they want to win because it's against the old enemy.

But fuck me they should want to win because they want to exorcise the demons of the 4-4. They should want to win because last season hurt them as much as it hurt us. And when you look at your scars you know where they came from, who inflicted them, and you want revenge. You want payback and while what happened might have been our own fault, it's not us who should pay, is it?

Most of all they should want to beat them because we are the Arsenal, and they ... well they're cunts, aren't they?

See some of you there.

COME ON YOU GOOOOOOOOOOOOONERS.

All week I've been running a fantastic competition - 3 pairs of Club Level tickets for Arsenal v Sp*rs with thanks to Emirates Airline.

I asked you: Who scored Arsenal's winner at White Hart Lane in 1971 to clinch the league title?

Was it: a) Charlie George b) Ray Kennedy c) George Armstrong

The answer was, of course, b) Ray Kennedy. There were thousands of correct answers - not to mention hundreds of incorrect ones - but only three winners. 

The Random Number Generator chose three numbers at random this morning.

Those numbers corresponded to the emails in my inbox and the three winners are:

1 - David Scott

2 - Samuel Baker

3 - Tom Downes

Congratulations and I'll be in touch with you three this morning to arrange the details. Sincere thanks to everybody who entered, better luck next time!

I have to also thank Emirates Airline for providing such a fantastic prize. 

Emirates Airline has a great affinity with football and in addition to its sponsorship of Arsenal, is a proud sponsor of Hamburg, AC Milan, Olympiacos CFP and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as being an Official FIFA Partner.

Emirates currently operates 98 return flights per week from the UK non-stop to Dubai offering convenient connections to an extensive global network stretching to over 100 destinations on six continents. For more information on Emirates’ sports portfolio, including tour packages to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, visit www.emirates.com/uk

NB: Emirates is pleased to offer Arsenal fans very special fares to over 100 destinations worldwide. For more information and to book, visit www.emirates.com/arsenalmembers

Right then, it's one busy blog this morning so let's get right into it.

Just moments, possibly seconds, after an article appeared on the official site with Lukasz Fabianski talking about how delighted he was to be back, another appeared advising us that Lukasz Fabianski would be out for three weeks. Apparently he's got some kind of a thigh injury. Honestly, I think footballers are a bit too brittle these days. 

He looked fine on Wednesday and if he's got a problem let someone else take the kick-outs or give him a Juventus style injection to fix him. It means that the manager has got a big decision to make ahead of tomorrow's game. Does he continue with Mannone, whose inexperience is beginning to show as he plays more games, or does he bring back Almunia who he clearly had no intention of playing as he'd have been back in the team otherwise?

The papers this morning suggest Almunia will return using quotes from Arsene to back that up. However, I'm not so sure. Those quotes were from the pre-Carling Cup press conference when he had every intention of playing Fabianski both in midweek and at the weekend. The Pole's absence has caused him the kind of headache he really didn't need and if I were a betting man I'd put money on Mannone continuing between the sticks. Of course if you're a betting man you'd put money on Almunia because whatever I bet on generally loses, but I just think if Almunia was in favour he'd have come back before now.

Today's press conference will probably shed some more light on things but the goalkeeping situation at the club is verging on farcical now. Fabianski aside there don't appear to be any new injuries but maybe a butterfly will get too close to one of our players in training today and necessitate and four month absence. Full details on the squad in tomorrow's blog.

Samir Nasri has spoken about his return from injury and I think the absence has made him a little bit mad. He says:

I was very satisfied with my sensations. After five months without playing, I had appetite. I wanted to eat the pitch.

Which kind of put me in mind of this (except in English). But maybe that's just me. He goes on to say:

The boss asked me how I felt two or three times during the game against Liverpool. I had to make a sign if I felt the slightest muscular problem - but everything was all right. I thought that it would have been a little bit more difficult. We worked well with the physical assistant. Now, I need to play and play again.

I don't really see him starting against Sp*rs tomorrow but he's certainly a good option to have on the bench - especially as Rosicky's 'few days' has been Rosickeyed right in the Rosicky. Another of Wednesday's performers, Fran Merida, reveals he wants to stay at the club and sign a new deal. His current contract runs out in the summer so we'd best get things moving there if we want him to stay.

Cesc has been talking about winning things and winning them with a grandiose flourish. He says:

I can never accept that we must change our style to win. Trophies are important, but so too is the style in which you play the game. I disagree with the argument that good football can’t win trophies. We are desperate to please the fans with success, but we also want to make them happy with the way we play.

I don't really see how the two things have become so polarised, to be honest. There's nothing that says playing good football does not equal success. Like it or not United have played good football throughout the years on their way to various titles and trophies, we've done it too under Arsene Wenger. There is, of course, the whole 'win ugly' thing which we've shown we're capable of this season. Fulham away springs to mind when we played not very well and still got the three points.

But there's nothing that says when you're 4-2 up against Sp*rs at home with a couple of minutes to go that hoofing the ball into the stand when it needs it isn't good football. To me that's excellent football. Sensible, intelligent, clever football. Trying to go score a goal you don't need and ending up drawing the game is not good football despite the fact you thought you were trying to play good football. 'Good' is entirely dependent on the circumstances of the particular game. There are all kinds of 'good', we just need to learn which 'good' is best applied in the position we find ourselves in. If you get me.

As I said earlier there'll be more in tomorrow's blog about the Sp*rs game so for today that's your news for the moment.

Now, all week I've been running the competition to win one of three pairs of club level tickets for the game with thanks to Emirates Airline. The winners will be announced this morning - but in a separate blog post at 10am. Just to keep things easy and less crowded on this post. So check back to see if the RNG has made you a winner.

All that aside it's time for this week's Arsecast. On the show to discuss the week's football and a special Arsenal v Sp*rs project he's been involved in is GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog. There's Sylvester, Arsene Wenger Hawkins makes a return, there's an interview with an actual Sp*rs player and more. 

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (21mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that's about that. Enjoy your Friday, stand by for the competition winners.