Arsenal deservedly beat Bolton 2-1 today at Highmirates, going down early on (as usual) to a Nicolas Anelka goal (as usual) from the opposition's first chance (as usual). But they showed great spirit and good football to equalise and then take the lead just after the restart. Tomas Rosicky scored the equaliser after great work from Emmanuel Adebayor and some not-so-great work from Bolton's right-back/human-celery-stalk Nicky Hunt. Rosicky had looked super up for this from the start, and after taking on the Bolton defence and trying all manner of shots, it was no surprise that he stole in to capitalise on the gangly one's mistake - Hunt tried to chest Ade's cross to their keeper, but didn't sense Tommy sneaking in behind him, and he neatly dispatched the ball past Juskalaineaieiaaaieiein.

The winning goal was a special moment - 44 seconds after the break, Gilberto played a great through ball for Cesc to run on to. "El Matador" took a touch to compose himself, dummied a defender, set himself up and fooled Faye into thinking he would shoot to the far post, and then splendidly placed the ball high into the near post. His first goal since August, and his first Premiership goal this season... the first shot scored in 62 attempts on target!

The joy was all too evident on his face, and he jumped up and down madly for a few minutes before getting back to the task at hand - which was to hang on to the lead and beat Bolton. This was almost blown to bits with the horribly profligate finishing that Arsenal keep showing - About Diaby first missing a clear header on goal, and then completely messing up a one-on-one chance. He first pushed Baptista out of the way when the ball was played through, and then ran at the keeper and weakly shot straight at him when he could have set Baptista up for an easy tap-in.

Then straight down the other end, Eboue horribly handled the ball in the box, but somehow referee Rob Styles styleshly signalled that it was unintentional and ball-to-hand when it clearly wasn't. Sam Allardyce complained afterwards of course, being the insufferably ugly and painful walrus that he is, but on balance of play Arsenal deserved the win, they had 9 shots on goals to Bolton's 2.

The usual defensive problems were all too evident though - Bolton's goal came from a long ball and Kevin Nolan was given all the freedom in the world to head the ball back across goal. Lehman clawed it away, and Anelka opportunistically knocked the rebound in. Oh, and you know that rule about how strikers always score against their former clubs, well it's beginning to piss me off? Anelka with 3 against us since he signed for Bolton, and he had another 3 or 4 when playing for Man City. Annoyance!

Ok, i've had enough of this writing business for the day. I'll sign off, but first I must mention Freddie Ljungberg. He looked committed and threatening all game, but most importantly he seemed to step up a gear and try and drive the team on once we went a goal down. He never let our heads drop, and was important today even if he missed his scoring chances.

Finally... a bit of an oddity/treat. If you're using IE, then highlight the image below with your mouse. If you're not using IE, then use IE for this. Then once you've seen it, please explain it to me:

Judging by the rumours going around, Julio Baptista might will be here next season. Myles Palmer over at ANR seems to think that Arsene Wenger is in love with the big Brazilian (does this count as bestiality? ok, yuck), and wants him to stay.

Baptista himself has said that he has no clue.

As for Arsenal fans, I don't think any of them want to see any money spent on Baptista, a player who has looked SO inept that some even want to see the prolific Jeremie Aliadiere ahead of him on the team sheet.

I think he might settle in time, and have a lot to offer, but he has looked like a clumsy clown this season, offering up shades of what fans thought of him at Sao Paulo where they laughed at his clumsiness.

Manchester United and Chelsea both advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League today. Whilst Arsenal haven't managed to score against either West Ham or Newcastle, United thumped 7 goals past Roma at Old Trafford to win the tie 8-3 on aggregate. Chelsea dominated slightly superior opposition away in Spain, coming back from a goal down to win 2-1 in stoppage time, and 3-2 on aggregate. Gutting stuff really.

Not only that, but assuming they overcome their semi-final opposition, there is the distinct prospect of a Manchester United vs Chelsea Champions League final, and FA Cup final. YUCK!

To add to that, if things stay as close as they are, then Wednesday May 9th might very well see the Premiership title decided in 1 game, when Manchester United play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It's almost like 3 cup finals in a row, and the only thing that could make it worse would be if Spurs reach the UEFA Cup final.

Meanwhile Arsenal, with 2 wins in their last 11 games in all competitions are still trying to figure out how to score a goal and not let the season completely fall to pieces. I don't think a single person is in Wenger's corner anymore, and certainly no one is going to put up with another "The boys have shown tremendeous spirit, and you can see that the quality is there, and they are learning and next season we will see the benefit of that and the team will be much stronger". It's a dangerous game to play, to keep building up the merits of the next season, because too long without success and the entire project will have failed, because the youngsters will want to leave.

Millions of fans around the world aren't paying hard-earned money to see a team be slowly educated, they are doing so to see a challenge take place. The education of youngsters is supposed to be something that's happening in the background. Maybe it's just the frustration of today, and maybe i'm ignoring the big picture, but Arsene has left himself with far too much to do, and unless there is serious rebuilding in the summer, a lot of people will have no faith at all come next season. All deficiences have been clearly exposed this season - the inexperience, the lack of goalscorers, and the lack of effective players - and Arsene Wenger, with his fondness for youngsters, perception that goalscorers aren't important, and penchant for buying technicians, dribblers and passers, is to blame for all of them.

But deep down I think we all still suspect, despite his best efforts to confuse us, that Arsene still knows. Make it happen next season Boss. Please.

Those of you who've watched Arsenal this season, will have known the eventual outcome within 15 minutes of the start of yesterday's game against West Ham. It was the same old story. Arsenal created a glut of chances and didn't score. You wondered whether West Ham would pinch one off a counter-attack, and sure enough on the stroke of half-time they did. And then Arsenal continued to create a glut of chances but to no avail. SAME. OLD. STORY. One-nil not to the Arsenal.

There was all the intricate passing, pretty football, and scintillating build-up play and movement that you'd expect of Arsene Wenger's sides, but nothing at the end of it. To take Arjun's “just can't score” metaphor a step farther, this Arsenal team have all the foreplay imaginable, but when it comes down to getting the job done, they just can't raise themselves to the task. There's far too much fannying around, and the look completely impotent without their big guns. Excuse me for that series of puntences please. I just couldn't help myself.

The point is that Arsenal can't really find a goal from anywhere at the moment with Robin Van Persie and Thierry Henry both out for the rest of the season. Judging by his overall lack of mobility and effectiveness, Julio Baptista has proved to be more of an “immovable object” than an “unstoppable force” - talk about the biggest let down of the season.

Emmanuel Adebayor, is always a threat, but is not prolific, and can't be expected to shoulder the goalscoring burden alone for long periods. He does so much, so well, but needs people around him to finish. Aliadiere? Well he's quick, slippery, works hard and holds up the ball well, but has all the threat and accuracy of a water pistol. And that's about it.

It was a 3^rd straight league defeat, and things are becoming pretty serious now. They are 5 points behind Liverpool, and 3 ahead of Bolton, and barely clinging onto that last Champions League spot with a game in hand. The problem is that there is absolutely nothing to look forward to in terms of personnel, because everyone who could be fit right now is fit, they're just not good enough to score goals, and ultimately that is the basis of football. Wenger might wax lyrical about how Cesc, Hleb, Rosicky, Denilson and Freddie pass and move and dribble, and how unlucky Arsenal are to not be winning, but he's not fooling anyone. It's the old cliché of “goals win games”, except by having a team devoid of finishers, he's in a way responsible for them being unlucky. Some solution will have to be found to solve this problem for the remaining league games, then come the summertime, it's time for some investment.

So explain this to me - while fans all over the world are gettin hunted down and banned, and clubs being fined for their misbehaviour, why were Chelsea fans allowed to throw things on the pitch all game and get away with it?

Okay, yes, we know they are a bunch of classless, ignorant pigs, mostly Johnny-come-latelys and plastic fans, and even the traditional sort that were basically trashy drunks, were only slightly better than Spurs supporters to begin with. But even then, on an occassion like this - a cup final against a major rival, with millions of people watching (yes, millions of people watched, that was the effect of Arsenal's FOOTBALLERS reaching this final), you would have expected them to behave.

Instead, things were thrown onto pitch all game long - food, paper, plastic, all kinds of nonsense. Cesc Fabregas was hit by a piece of celery when taking a corner kick, several others players had to dodge and throw-away stuff. Manuel Almunia, the most non-controversial nice-guy figure that you could ever find was even struck by something from the crowd, and required treatment from the physio. (This was right when Arsenal had conceded the corner from which John Terry got kicked in the head, and it was because the Arsenal physio was close by treating Almunia that Terry's life was not jeoparised). It's funny that Chelsea get away scot-free again. In 2002 at Highbury, when a pound coin got thrown at Jamie Carragher, the fan responsible was hunted down and banned for life. Can you imagine any such thing being done by Chelsea? No chance. Why? Same reasons again, primarily a sheer lack of class, and additionally a lack of control, and a lack of standards being set by a club that despite breaking all the rules, persists with a siege mentality like no other. You have shameful people like Abramovich and Kenyon who have broken every rule in the book, and then bragged about it, and you have the ultra- (but very talented) Mourinho, and they've created this bizarre pseudo-posh yob culture at the club. It's honestly quite painful.

"Where were you when you were shit?"


Cesc holding up celery that the Chelsea fans threw

Don't they look spiffy in their suits? A great day for the kids (and Gilberto apparently), and let's hope that Chelsea are dancing to Fabregas's tune on Sunday. Good luck to the Arsenal!



You can also listen to interviews with Theo Walcott and Arsene Wenger

It's really great to see the boys having such a good time, and the camaraderie in the squad is excellent, and is a big thing that sets us apart from a lot of other teams. These kids all get along, they're all friends, and if they can stay together for 4 or 5 years they'll form a fantastic team with remarkable spirit and attitude.

"Unbelievable" for two reasons:

1. For playing the best football they've played in the last two seasons, and perhaps the best they've produced in the Champions League, especially against a team as solid and canny as CSKA Moscow.

2. For squandering chance, after chance, after chance. 29 shots on goal, only 5 on target, and Rosicky missing a wide open goal from about 3 feet away. Criminal.

Arsenal started this game on the back of some criticism and tension. They were unable to break down a dogged, unambitious Everton side over the weekend (who should have received far more criticism for the way they played [or declined to] for a team purporting to have ambitions of Europe on a regular basis). In Moscow, CSKA played better, probably the first team to outplay them this season, but Arsenal were denied a draw by an absurd refereeing decision to disallow Thierry Henry's late goal. And although they gave Reading a masterclass in football the weekend after, last Saturday's game against Everton was throwback to what people have come to identify the Arsenal with over the last couple of years - all foreplay without any real hanky panky. Arsenal passed the ball beautifully, every which way posssible, had about 90% of the second half posession (a record maybe?) but eventually were unable to create any real clear cut chances despite having 23 shots to Everton's 2. It didn't help that Tim Howard was in good form as well, but with Everton playing a 1-9-1 formation, good chances were few and far between.

The post-match criticism of that performance echoed a common consensus amongst Arsenal fans - that Arsenal lack a Plan B (not that Arsene Wenger seems to care). The awkward presence of the injured Emmanuel Adebayor challenging for high balls was missed, and would probably have lent some more legitimacy to the crosses that Robin Van Persie was swinging into the box with no one there. Arsenal weren't outfought, and they definitely weren't outplayed. Everton just decided to be football's version of a chastity belt, and Arsenal for all their effort, were unable to penetrate their defence (WOEFUL pun, yes I know). To further the discomfort after the match, a hack from the News of the World, Antony Kastrinakis, decided to concoct a story about Thierry Henry and the team being booed, and then all the broadsheets and "proper" papers and everyone else decided to be clever and relay the story. So suddenly a 1-1 draw turns into a mini-crisis.

Well the CSKA Moscow tie at Ashburton Grove was supposed to be the next step in series of difficult games, and everyone was doing their best to rally the troops. Thierry Henry said he didn't believe the story and wanted the fans to get behind the team, Wenger said he wasn't concerned, and that negative football was terrible, and that Arsenal wanted to punish teams that played negatively, and meanwhile CSKA were talking up their chances and warning Arsenal not to underestimate them.

As it so happened, CSKA were torn apart. If Everton were a chastity belt, then CSKA were something along the lines of a complete bimbo on a drinking binge. Except, the irony in the midst of all these awful sexual metaphors, was that Arsenal just could not finish.

From the moment the game kicked off, Arsenal took control, and repeatedly ran rings around CSKA with their passing, pace and movement. The shooting prowess however was non-existent. Robin Van Persie had 3 quite clear chances, ones that we've seen him bury before. Henry had two decent chances, ones that we've seen him nonchalantly stroke home on previous occassions. Fabregas rounded the keeper and rushed a shot wide of an open goal when he had time to take a touch and compose himself. Rosicky had one of the most incredible misfires ever, missing an absolutely open goal from right in front of the penalty spot, sidefooting the ball to the keeper who was lying at the left far post having tried to cut out Henry's cross. Words can't do justice to it.

Yes, the CSKA keeper Igor Akinfeev did well, but he was not really tested enough. He made one great save from a late Gilberto header, and came off his line bravely to put off Henry and Van Persie, but he wasn't tested enough. Akinfeev, as well as the CSKA's defenstroika won plaudits from the commentator, but the truth is that on 9 out of 10 occassions they should and would have been 3 or 4 goals down at half-time. The Arsenal finishing was embarassingly bad, and there can't really be any explanation for it other than just having an "off day", because Van Persie and Henry have scored those and tougher ones before.

For Arsenal, well... everyone was quite good except for Henry, and Van Persie (who was quite involved in the play, but rubbish in front of goal), but the midfield trio of Fabregas, Rosicky and Hleb were oustanding - their movement tore CSKA to shreds, and Hleb in particular was very, very good for most of the game except one occassion where he should have probably shot instead of squaring a slightly poor ball to Henry.

For CSKA, well their Vicente Del Bosque lookalike coach can be proud about Ignashevich's outstanding commitment at the back, and Akinfeev's great shot-stopping and agility. He might not make it in the Premiership because of his smallish frame and lack of presence (although Shay Given has always done well), but he will be a top class keeper, and could do well in someplace like La Liga where shot-stoppers like Iker Casillas and Victor Valdes thrive. I was also very impressed by Vagner Love. After playing well and giving the defence a hard time in Moscow, he led the line very well in London. He's a quick, skilfull striker, like many Brazilians, but he was also outstanding as a target man, playing with his back to goal. Time and time again long clearances or goal kicks would be sent up field, and more often than not, he would materialise exactly where they were landing, controlling them with one touch, or dribbling to the wings to make time and space, or providing clever little lay-offs and flick-ons to his teammates. He was unlucky not to get a goal, when he easily bamboozled Gallas but then shot weakly at Lehmann, who made a good save and then gathered the ball at the second attempt after it had rolled behind him. That was a lucky escape for a very unlucky Arsenal.

It was probably the most one-sided 0-0 i've ever seen, especially in the Champions League, between two good teams. But I won't talk about it anymore. YouTube highlights are below. Enjoy!