Arsenal fell flat on their tummies last Sunday, flat as flat can be.

OK, it was one of the worst pitches that they've played on in centuries, and it was impossible for their Gunners to play their slick passing game, but we knew about this already. Chris Kirkland kindly informed us about a week ago that their pitch was utter shite, saying something along the lines of - "They've got skillful world class players, but goodness knows how they are going to pass the ball on our pitch". Steve Bruce said something along those lines a few days ago, and really everybody knew that trying to pass a football at the JJB was going to be something akin to passing gas on a first date with the girl of your dreams... i.e. this was not the place for it.

Arsene actually seemed to have the right idea up front - big boys Ade and Bendtner starting together for the first time should have provided an aerial threat. However, what seemed like a ploy to play more "direct" football was in reality just the fact that we only had two fit strikers in the squad.

And the great irony in this game was that we consistently refused to try the long ball apart from a short spell in the first half, opting instead to try our quick, short passing game on a pitch that had "DON'T PLAY A QUICK. SHORT PASSING GAME ON ME" written all over it. Or something like that.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, utterly outplaying Milan one night, and utterly dismaying on another

Well, Arsenal are back at the Emirates briefly (Chelsea up next week, so at least that's still in London). Boro are the visiting side, and Arsenal will be wanting to put this one right - they have lost just one game this season in the league, away to Middlesborough, and it was an embarrassing, excuse-less night for the Arsenal, they were poor.

The big news for this game is that Robin Van Persie might start - it's a welcome bit of news given that he needs match fitness for the run-in, and Middlesborough are a decent side that try to play football, and (hopefully) won't try to break anyone's legs. 

Theo Walcott is back in the frame, and that's another (albeit unreliable) goalscoring option to help relieve the burden on the somewhat exhausted, stretched Emmanuel Adebayor, who has performed well above expectations this season.

Predictions? 

Arsenal struggled, and probably came away with an undeserved 1-1 draw against Spurs in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final at Ashburton Grove. It was Tottenham who created the most chances and controlled most of the play, with Dimitar Berbatov especially impressive, but Theo Walcott shot deflected in off his own chest to steal a draw for the Gunners after Jermaine Jenas had given their local rivals the lead.

Let's keep this all in perspective however - Tottenham's first team put in one of their best performances of the season, and Arsenal's second team put in one of their worst performances of the season, and Spurs still couldn't beat us.

The goals are below:

Unfortunately Arsenal's thinning squad took further blows as Robin Van Persie, Johan Djourou and Philippe Senderos were all injured. With Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song away in Ghana for the African Cup of Nations, and Lassana Diarra looking likely to leave, there suddenly looks to be a big shortage of defensive talent in the squad.

Gallas is the only recognised first-choice centreback, and although Justin Hoyte filled in well in the second-half for Djourou, he is not going to win many balls in the air. That might mean Gilberto dropping back alongside Gallas, but then with Diarra possibly leaving, it leaves Mathieu Flamini as the sole recognised defensive/holding midfielder.

Van Persie's unfortunate attempt at a comeback will be regarded less seriously at the moment due to the fine form of Eduardo, but things can change very easily. It's a big month or two for Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger just might look into bringing some players in, perhaps even on loan.

The big news for the Carling Cup semifinal first leg at Ashburton Grove is that Lassana Diarra has been dropped, and that Robin Van Persie is in the squad. Fran Merida has also been left out, and that probably means that he's on his way to Chris Coleman's Real Socieded on-loan for the rest of the season.

Diarra not being in the squad means he's probably on his way, or that he's causing enough trouble for Wenger not to want him anywhere near the squad. Not quite sure what is running through his odd little (big?) head, but Arsenal has always been the place to be for young French players, and Wenger has an excellent track record of making them into internationals. Diarra is just 22, and his a big future ahead of him, but he's still quite raw. He wants to play so that he can be a France regular, but the irony is that most of his appearances for France have been filling at right-back, so what is he aiming for exactly?

He came from a Chelsea team that played ugly football and where he got no chances to an Arsenal team that plays wonderful football, and where he's gotten some chances, but what does he expect? To walk into a midfield that has Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, and Flamini playing out of his skin? Like Wenger said, he has to work his way into the starting lineup, that's how it is at a big club, and Diarra is causing problems and talking too much without having earned the right to do so.

He is a talented lad, and I hope he just goes out on loan, because the futures of Gilberto and Flamini are still in some doubt, so we might well need his holding abilities next year. Sam Allardyce was rumoured to be interested in signing him for Newcastle, but Sam Allardyce has been sacked, so who knows.

As for Van Persie, it's a welcome return for him. I doubt that he'll be starting, but it's a fantastic option to have him coming off the bench, and his individual genius is going to be much needed over the coming months. In games like the ones against Newcastle, Middlesborough and Portsmouth, where the team dropped points and looked uninspired, Van Persie could have made the difference with a dribble or free-kick or one of those inch-perfect shots from impossible angles.

The squad is as follows:

2 Abou DIABY
3 Bacary SAGNA
6 Philippe SENDEROS
9 EDUARDO
11 Robin VAN PERSIE
15 DENILSON
19 GILBERTO
20 Johan DJOUROU
21 Lukasz FABIANSKI (GK)
26 Nicklas BENDTNER
30 Armand TRAORE
31 Justin HOYTE
32 Theo WALCOTT
36 Mark RANDALL
40 Vito MANNONE (GK)
41 Gavin HOYTE

They are likely to lineup as:

Fabianski

Hoyte Djourou Senderos Traore

Walcott Denilson Gilberto Diaby

Bendtner Eduardo

That's a fairly straightforward 4-4-2, but Walcott will probably push further forward, with Diaby staying more central, and it might well be 4-3-3 depending on the situations.

The other possibilities are Sagna playing at left-back (Traore was awful against Burnley), or at right-midfield, with Theo on the left or up front. Van Persie could play wide in a 4-4-2, or on either flank in the 4-3-3, although the right-side is preferred by him.

Spurs have no real news coming into this game. Ledley King has returned for them at the back, and Michael Dawson will partner him in the middle. They have more or less a full strength side with Bale and Kaboul the only noteworthy absentees.

Update: Juande Ramos has apparently dropped Paul Robinson for this game 

Just wanted to wish everyone (not just Arsenal fans) a Happy New Year! All the best for 2008.

As for the Arsenal fans... well, it's a happy start to the new year.

Arseblog have said that Carlos Vela is in London with the club (the source they've got is 99% legitimate), and it's quite likely that he's going to play the rest of the season, although some are speculating that he's just going to train with the team over the winter break (this would be odd though). Notably, Vela qualifies for his Spanish passport this January, and everyone of course will have noticed the lack of punch in this Arsenal squad when the injuries have been present. At times we've been short a winger, and at other times we've been short a striker, and he can play all across the wings and forward line.

And of course Wenger announced earlier that Johan Djourou would be coming back from Birmingham, so that's two new good quality signings, in addition to Robin Van Persie's return from injury (which Arsene has said "will be like a new signing").

All this in addition to use beating West Ham 1-0 at home in a very convincing performance to maintain our 2 point lead at the top of the table.

Good luck for the rest of the season! 

After another swashbuckling goal against Sunderland over the weekend, one has to wonder whether Robin Van Persie's left peg isn't really some sort of explosive bionic device grafted onto his hip by the Cyborg Lizard Overlords that rule our world. The young Dutchman says that Arsene Wenger watched him 40 times before he was signed, and that there was an entire development planned mapped out for him in his Arsenal career.

Well the plan seems to be taking shape quite brilliantly. Despite not playing for most of the first 6-8 months that he spent in London, and constant injury problems, Van Persie has scored 41 goals in 119 appearances. That's a ratio of just under 1 every 3 games, and when you consider that he spent much of his first two years making substitute appearances and playing second fiddle to Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Jose Reyes, then that's not bad at all.

He's scored 7 goals in 11 games this season, and his goal last Sunday was by far the pick of them. Unbelievable technique, power and precision. Craig Gordon (Britain's most expensive goalkeeper) had no chance.

Well, it got me thinking about the Dutchman's other stunners in his brief Arsenal career (and there have been a few), so I decided to put together a Top 10, with video where possible. Enjoy!

1. Arsenal 2-1 Charlton - Premier League - 2006/07 - WATCH
Easily Van Persie's best goal, and last season's goal of the season. It was an incredible volley from Arsenal's number 11. Hleb weighted a perfect ball through for Eboue running down the wing, he in turn crossed to the edge of the box, and Van Persie hammered in a volley at shoulder height.

2. Arsenal 2-1 Inter Milan - Emirates Cup - 2007/08 - WATCH
Despite it only being a pre-season friendly, this goal can't count as being anything but brilliant. Arsenal fought back from being a goal down, and Van Persie scored the winner with a piece of ingenuity that is difficult to comprehend even in slow motion. Standing near the right-touchline (as he so often does when scoring spectacular goals), the Dutchman somehow turned the entire Inter defence inside out before drilling the ball right-footed past Julio Cesar, high at the near post.

3. Arsenal 3-0 Blackburn - Premier League - 2005/06 - WATCH
Coming on as a substitute, Robin once again produces one of his right-wing extravaganzas. Getting the ball just past the half-line, he twists and turns and works his way down the wing, before cutting in past 3 players and thumping an unstoppable shot past Brad Friedel.

4. Arsenal 3-2 Sunderland - Premier League - 2007/08 - WATCH
Van Persie's deadball exploits have come on nicely, with some vital goals over the last 2 seasons. Sunday's opener against Sunderland was probably the pick of the lot, a shot struckwith incredible pace and power, giving the goalkeeper no chance to even move. 77 km/h is what we've been told the speed was.

5. Arsenal 5-0 Aston Villa - Premier League - 2005/06 - WATCH
Yet again from his favoured position near the right touchline, and showing exquisite close control to outwit Sorensen and a few defenders, before scoring an acute, powerful near-post shot.

6. Fulham 2-1 Arsenal - Premier League - 2006/07 - WATCH
Not a great result for the Gunners overall, but Van Persie at least gives them a chance with this vicious free-kick. It's from a similar position to the one against Sunderland, and although it's nowhere close to as powerful, it swerves a lot more.

7. Arsenal 2-1 Wigan - Carling Cup - 2005/06 - WATCH
Another excellent free kick, but this one is more about technique and precision. It was a vital goal to give Arsenal the lead against Wigan in the 2nd Leg of their Carling Cup semi-final, and it was a perfect over-the-wall-and-back-down dipper.

8. Arsenal 3-0 Blackburn - FA Cup - 2004/05 - WATCH
Arsenal were 1-0 ahead in a very tight game, when Van Persie came on as a late substitute to take a short pass from Vieira, turn brilliantly, slalom past the Blackburn defence and put Arsenal 2-0 up. Not one of his most spectacular goals, but a great display of the touch, technique and awareness that he has. He then scored Arsenal's third, only to be elbowed in the face by Andy Todd as he wheeled away to celebrate.

9. Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn - Premier League - 2006/07 - WATCH
Yet another Van Persie goal against Blackburn, yet again from that spot out on the right. This time he completely rips apart his compatriot Andre Ooijer before thumping one past Friedel. Van Persie is one person that Friedel has been powerless against, and he has scored 7 against them in the last 3 years or so.

10. Arsenal 1-1 Southampton - Premier League - 2004/05 - WATCH
To round off the Top 10, we have Robin's first goal for the club, another typical effort cutting in from the right. It was a sign of the character and talent to come, because he came on as a late sub with Arsenal chasing the game, and you can see him demanding the ball, and oozing confidence in his own ability to carve out the chance the way he did.

A professional counter-attacking performance from Arsenal saw them prevail 1-0 in a tough away fixture in Romania. Robin Van Persie scored the only goal of the game with 15 minutes left to play, absolutely hammering a left-shooted shot from Emmanuel Adebayor's square pass across the face of goal.

The interesting statistic in this game was that although Steaua had a fair share of the possession, the Gunners had 21 shots to Steaua's 7. The win was achieved on the basis of efficient counter-attacking, although you might say that Arsenal were hardly efficient given that despite all the chances that they created, there was only one late goal to show for it. Still, it is an improvement on many of the performances they had last season in the Premiership and in Europe, where they created and wasted countless chances and drew or lost many games as a result. Cesc Fabregas even provided a reminder of those days when he missed an easy chance from about 3 yards out.

Still, this Arsenal looks more purposeful, patient and composed. Alexander Hleb was a darting, menacing presence throughout. Van Persie made life tough for opponents with his aggression and technique, Fabregas was controlling as always, Flamini was busy and "bossy", Kolo Toure was heroic, and Emmanuel Adebayor continued to show his curious duality of being profligate but good at the same time. Senderos had a very good game apart from a few moments, and both fullbacks were very solid (Clichy having a few suspect moments). Eboue looked rusty, but did his job, and Gilberto came on in the second half for him to stem Steaua's attacking pressure. The team always looked confident that the goal would come, and it did, unlike last season where they would start to panic more and more, with desperation creeping into the play.

It could have been quite different though if Steaua had made the most of their chances. First, Manuel Almunia rushed out to head clear, but didn't manage to get too much distance on the header. He was also unlucky that the ball fell to the clever number 10 Dica, who took a touch and lobbed him. However, Captain Kolo was on hand to perfectly anticipate the lob and head it away with Almunia completely stranded - whether the sequence just happened that quickly, or Almunia was ballwatching and didn't get back soon enough, I don't know. Their second chance came when Iacob went clean through on the left-side of the box, opened up his body and curled a far-post shot high and wide of both Almunia and the goal. Perhaps he thought he would try to score a Thierry Henry goal since he was playing against the Arsenal, but it ended up being more Adebayor (on a bad day) than anything else.

And that was about it for the Romanians. They had some clever, technically gifted players, but Arsenal were the superior team, and should have had at least a goal or two more to show for their efforts.

One can't help but feel sad at their disappointment at the end though. Gigi Becali, their mad owner had already said the coach Pedrazzini would be sacked if he couldn't get a result against Arsenal, and the players would all have received £20,000 each as a win bonus, and they must have been devastated by Iacob's missed chance.

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.

With Arsenal's most potent strikeforce consigned to treatment tables for the rest of the season, nostalgia has taken over amongst the fans, who tired of the tootless duo of Julio Baptista and Jeremie Aliadiere, have glossed over the problems in the partnership between Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie, and decided that they are in-fact Batman and Robin.

Well, there is no doubt that if Van Persie and Henry were still fit and playing, that Arsenal would be in at least 1 of the 2 remaining cup competitions, and playing much more imposingly in the league. But as a pair, it is very hard to judge if they combine well or not, especially since they are both such brilliant individual talents, but not always the best fit for each other.

Well, here are the statistics i've collected below, and hopefully you guys can draw your own conclusions:

Games Started Together: 15 (won 8, drawn 3, lost 4)
Goals scored in those games: 24
Games in which both have scored: 2
Goals scored by Van Persie: 6
Goals scored by Henry: 8 (2 pen)
Assists by Van Persie for Henry: 1 (1 pen)
Assists by Henry for Van persie: 1 (1 pen)

Van Persie - All Appearances (starts + subs): 31 (25+6)
Total goals scored by Van Persie: 13 (1 pen)
Assists by Van Persie: 8 (3 pen)

Henry - All Appearances (starts + subs): 27 (24+3)
Total goals scored by Henry: 12 (2 pen)
Assists by Henry: 4 (1 pen)

* note that for assists, pen = when that player was brought down and a penalty was awarded

It was announced after the game that Robin Van Persie had fractured his foot when scoring the goal. So that explains the limping afterward and the fact that he wasn not really much involved. Arsene Wenger said he had hoped not to use him because of his ankle injury, but now he's out for at least 6 weeks with his 5th metatarsal fractured. No one knows exactly how it happened, but it did, and it brings up the immediate question of whether Van Persie's equalising goal was worth not having him for a few months. I'd say yes.

Footballers and metatarsals are funny things. Some of the most high profile injuries have been metatarsal related - David Beckham before the 2002 World Cup when Aldo Duscher of Deportivo crunched into him during the Champions League, and and Wayne Rooney before the 2006 World Cup when he went down in a heap after a tackle by Paulo Ferreira. The whole of England gasped and sighed in 2002, and they did it again in 2006, because their heroes were endangered. Eventually both Beckham and Rooney were declared "fit" for each of those tournaments, but it didn't matter because England were pure crap anyways.

In the spirit of good old jingoism, the BBC prepared this great page on metatarsal injuries in football. It's worth a read.

It's bad news for Arsenal, because Van Persie is the top scorer this season, and he's score some crucial, crucial goals. He's also the only left-footed attacking player, and that balance will be missed. The problem with this type of injury is also that the healing times are crazily inconsistent. 6-8 weeks is supposed to be a sort of predicted recovery period, but means nothing. Here's why:

David Beckham (2002): Second metatarsal - predicted 6 weeks returned 7 weeks later
Gary Neville (2002): Fifth metatarsal - predicted 6-8 weeks returned 21 weeks later
Danny Murphy (2002): Second metatarsal - predicted 6 weeks returned 21 weeks later
Scott Parker (2004): Second metatarsal - predicted 8 weeks returned 34 weeks later
Steven Gerrard (2004): Fifth metatarsal - predicted 6-8 weeks returned 10 weeks later
Wayne Rooney (2004): Fifth metatarsal - predicted 8 weeks returned 14 weeks later
Ashley Cole (2005): Fifth metatarsal - predicted 6-8 weeks returned 12 weeks later
Michael Owen (2006): Fifth metatarsal - predicted 6-8 weeks returned 17 weeks later

So it's quite possible that RvP's season could be over. We will just have to wait and see (and hope).

Arsene Wenger has said in the past how he is very critical of bladed boots (like the Adidas ones), because they can cause injury, and Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy both had identical injuries wearing those boots. Rooney did too, and so did Roy Keane, so there is something in that. Footy Boots has done a great overview of the bladed boots/injuries extravaganza that is worth a read. They say that the ongoing tendency to make boots more and more lightweight and flexible has basically contributed to more injuries because of lack of support of the foot. If you've bought boots consistently over the last 10-15 years, then it's something you'd definitely notice.

Footy Boots: "The metatarsal injury was unheard of years ago, now with modern ligtweight foortball boots its responsible for 30% of long term injuries."

Anyhow, the good news (sort of) for Arsenal fans is that this is the one position for which there is great competition. After Henry and Adebayor, there's Baptista and Aliadiere. Just last week Wenger was saying how he wished he could give Ali more playing time and how he needed chances to show how good he is, and this will have opened the door. Baptista has been hungry and waiting as well, and this will help. Theo Walcott can (and probably will eventually) play as a striker, so there's no lack of options. Van Persie will certainly be missed, but this is a great chance for the other lads to stake a claim. Especially Aliadiere who has been unfortunately beset by injuries and rubbish loan moves throughout his career. He is the king of the reserves and the Carling Cup, but he needs to start having an impact in the league.