So more points dropped when we couldn't afford to, and we may not just be out of the race yet though. Overall I have to say I'm confused. The game just had far too many emotions to describe it in one way. I was extremely happy with our goal for instance, Nasri's pinpoint ball to find van Persie amongst three Liverpool players was absolutely sublime. And Robin's skill to chest the ball and finish with his weaker foot was a joy to behold. From there I thought we would be able to go on and win it. We were playing positive, attacking football, and looking for a second goal. Then came the anger and disappointment and sadness. Alonso smashed the ball upfield, with no particular premeditation as to its course, and Keane managed to muscle through and score. It was disheartening to see us concede such a weak goal, especially considering how much dominance we had. If we hadn't conceded that, I honestly believe we would have won this game by 2 or maybe even three goals. Nethertheless we went into half-time with the scores tied, and came out minus a captain. This was very worrying, at this stage I have to say I was hoping for a draw considering the lack of flair we had on the pitch now, but we soon got our act together and found our attacking football. The score was to remain that way for the rest of the match and this is where the confusion comes in. 

I really have no idea whether I am happy or sad or content with the result. Of course we needed the win, but considering the circumstances, a draw is still a good result. Regardless of this though, it must be mentioned that after the match I was angry at only one person: Howard Webb. How on earth this fuckhead is still a top-flight referee is puzzling to say the least. He gave a yellow to Ade for a challenge that hardly deserved a free-kick, much less a booking. And then in the second half gave him another yellow. The reason is not entirely certain, but I think it may have been for the supposed slap that Ade gave Carragher. There was in fact minimal contact and certainly no malice whatsoever. So I thought then that maybe it was because Ade played on after the whistle, but that would be an extremely weak second yellow card to give. Whatever the reason, it still stands that Howard Webb has, and always will be, extremely biased against us. We saw it in the Man Utd. game and we saw it again against Liverpool just then. He is a disgrace to the game and deserves to be sent to referee in an obscure and unimportant match, like the A-League here for example.

Anyway, the shockingly one-sided refereeing from Mr. Webb left us with 10 men, and we were also without a captain at this time. By now I was just praying for the full-time whistle, expecting an absolute slaughtering from the men in grey. But it just never came, in fact, we came out full of steam and looked the more positive of the sides. And this was absolutely heart-warming. 10 men, without their captain, and having just had a team-mate unfairly banished, were playing with the kind of spirit and determination that has been lacking so often this season. But it wasn't just the team I was impressed with, the fans at the match must also be commended for their extraordinary part in the game. No matter what was happening on the pitch, the chant of "Arsenal, Arsenal", was everpresent, and I believe that it was kept us in the game. The fans were also very good at the end, when Eboue was brought on. He received not only a round of applause but a brilliant roar that must have done wonders for his confidence. 

Despite all this however, we still managed only 1-1. And I have to say I am also extremely pleased with the way Wenger handled the situation. We didn't get any of this fancy-pancy rhetoric about how refs are just doing their job and that we were to blame. Wenger came out with a blatant blow against Howard Webb, and full credit to him for doing so. In my opinion he was absolutely right to do that, and I don't think any gooner will be angry with him if he gets a touchline ban. Wenger said after the game:

“It was very soft. Today was Be A Gooner, Be A Giver, but you cannot say the referee was a Gooner, he was a giver, giving yellow cards that we didn’t deserve. Every week when we play away from home, we are told people get in our faces and we cant cope. I should show you our players after some games we play away from home; it is a joke. Neither of the bookings were justified. It is just an unbelievable decision; if Adebayor goes off, then [Robbie] Keane has to go off in the first minute. It seems we have different rules. The decision cost us two-points today, and I do not agree with it all.”

And he is absolutely right, we were dominating and we would have won had Howard Webb not been so unbelievably stupid. The next time that man makes his way into the Emirates stadium again I expect an egging, or booing at least. 

Anyway, we will now have to face Villa, who are now 3 points ahead of us, without Ade and Fabregas. Just a trifle troubling. But I think if the team can show the commitment and enthusiasm and willingness to play football, then we should have no trouble at all. 

So we are now still 8 points off the top and at risk of that increasing to nine, and I am happy with the team, happy with the fans, happy with the manager, and absolutely fucking distraught with anger over Howard Webb.  

Have an eggy day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal. 

Hello all,

Some important news for this blog. I am currently set to move houses tomorrow, and the place I'm moving to has a string of electrical problems so a daily post may not be possible. So be prepared for infrequent blog posts from tomorrow to the 5th of January. I will try to update it every day but it depends on how possible that is. Thus I have decided to preview the Liverpool game today in the event that I am unable to tomorrow. 

So after 9 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses already this season, we find ourselves with a make of break game. I know we have said this before but today counts for everything. A win will find us a mere 5 points behind Liverpool, and as we found out horribly last year, 5 points is nothing. A loss however, and we put ourselves 11 points off the pace with half the season gone, and that quite frankly would mean that we would be out of the race altogether. 

So a game of colossal consequences then. And first the news from the Emirates. Possiubly the best pre-match news is that Nasri is 95% likely to return. This really was off unparalled importance. Without him and we would have had no wide players at all. And we have suffered dearly from playing 4 central midfielders. Nasri should bring that element back to our game that has been missing, I believe it's called width. In less brilliant news, Kolo Toure has been given only 5% of a chance to return which means we will likely see Gallas paired with Djourou in the centre of defense. Bendtner is also a slight doubt after a training mishap, but that shouldn't affect us too much considering both Ade and RvP are fit. In more promising news but perhaps not for this game, Wenger says that Wilshere can be as good as Bergkamp, so there is a slight chance that he will choose to play Wilshere on the right flank today which would be absolutely brilliant. van Persie is also doing his part to get the team motivated by talking revenge for last season's Champions' League exit. I think all the players know just how big this game is and I expect they will all be motivated and enthusiastic to go. Which should go very well I think. If this team is motivated and we have a proper wide player I think we have what it takes to win this match. And win it we must, because I don't fancy another trophyless season thankyou very much anyway. In other slightly unrelated news, Wenger is talking about transfers and this time there is a little bit more than the usual rhetoric about youth. He says he will be looking for "something special" to add to the squad. Signing, let's hope so. Now onto the line-up, here is what I wish we would play and I think it would work well:

                                          Almunia

     Sagna                   Toure(if fit)   Djourou                    Clichy

    Wilshere                Ramsey           Cesc                      Nasri

                                  RvP                 Ade

There is but one slight problem with this, well two, Wenger will never play it, and in a big game like this Wilshere  and Ramsey may be a little out of their depth. However I would far rather that we play them than Denilson, Song or Diaby. Three utterly rubbish players, Diaby may work in a 4-5-1 but otherwise he's useless. Song and Denilson are not Arsenal-grade players and do not deserve a first-team place. However, Wenger is unfortunately fond of them and so I think the team will look like this:

                                          Almunia

     Sagna                   Toure(if fit)   Djourou                    Clichy

     Diaby                    Denilson           Cesc                      Nasri

                                  RvP                 Ade

That is useless. I'm sorry but Diaby is not a wide player and never will be. The only saving grace will be that Nasri is back so we won't have 4 central midfielders. 

News from Liverpool now and Reina is talking about how they can beat us despite not having won since 2000. Mascherano is being somewhat more conservative and talking about how they will need to be at their best to beat us, and the danger of Cesc. Liverpool star striker Fernando Torres is unlikely to make a return this weekend which should bode well for us, He's lethal up front and any break we can get I'll take. Liverpool like to play the "score 1 and defend well" sort of game, so it's very important that we get the opening goal. It's also equally important we don't give away free-kicks considering Gerrard's ability. 

Overall this should be a winnable game if the lads are up for it and i expect a very confident performance to put us right back into the title race. Liverpool I still believe are weaker than Chelski and the Mancs so I predict a scoreline of Arsenal 2 - Liverpool 0. Without Torres I just can't see them grabbing a goal and we should win this one to complete our big-four hat-trick. 

Well, this is it then, have an unbelievable game, and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.