The weekend is only just behind us and we already have a game coming up tomorrow night. Liverpool visit the Emirates in what really is a must win match for us if we are to start back on the long road to a very improbable league title. They have put together a good run since our rather fortunate win at Anfield in December and are unbeaten since Christmas with only 1 goal conceded in 6 games. However I have seen them play a couple of times and it's not a pretty sight. With Torres injured they have become very defensive in my opinion and it says it all when their most important player at the moment is Dirk Kuyt. Gerrard is back from injury but he hasn't hit any sort of form at all and with Carragher playing at right back we surely have to put Arshavin wide left. He has a great record against Liverpool with 5 goals in 2 games and if he is going to rediscover his scoring form this is the game to do it in. I'll have a proper preview of the game tomorrow where I'll give a prediction as usual and my thoughts on the team to be picked.

After the manager had a little side swipe at Chelsea on Sunday we had Ballack having a go back yesterday. He said that our boss always makes excuses when we lose and that they knew how we would play as we always play the same way. He also said that possession and nice passes are not what football is about but it's all about getting the right result. Their strategy was to be effective and they achieved that aim along with the 3 points. He also said that the title race is now a 2 horse race between Chelsea and Manure with Arsenal too far behind to win it. Chelsea have had no problem getting up for the big games this season but they have had problems away from home against some of the smaller teams and in my opinion Ballack is displaying an arrogance that is prevalent in their team and might ultimately cost them the league title. If we don't get ourselves back in the title race it's very difficult to decide who I would prefer to win it. On the one hand you have Manure who have won it for 3 seasons in a row and 4 in a row would be too much to take. Added to that the thought of the likes of Gary Neville winning another title is something I don't think I would like to see either. However Chelsea have Mr Tweedey, John Terry, Ivanovic, Carvalho, Lampard, Ballack and Drogba in their team and the thought of any of them winning any trophy at all is unbearable.

Thanks to the incomparable LadyArse booking the tickets yesterday I will be going to the home league game against Burnley on Saturday March 6th and after the debacle of missing the Everton game I'm really looking forward to it. The flights and hotel are booked and paid for and I'm already salivating at the thought of a few bottles of Peroni. It's a very nice beer but it's only available in off licences in Dublin as far as I know and it's quite expensive over here too. However it seems to be on sale in quite a few premises in London and at a fair price too. With the local branch of the supporters club going to the Man City game on April 24th it looks like I will get to see Arsenal twice this season after all.

The Champions league is almost upon us yet again and this time next week we will be preparing for our trip to Porto. It's a tie we are favourites to win and as the Champions league is probably our best chance of a trophy I'm sure the manager will appreciate the week he has off beforehand as we're out of the FA Cup. On our day we can compete with any team in Europe but there has to come a time when the defensive mistakes stop. The potential this squad has is huge but that can only be realised when the whole team learns how to defend together properly as a unit and cuts out the basic errors that seem to be occuring in every game at the moment. It's clear we need a change of keeper and Clichy's form is very poor at the moment too although he has been asked to reagin his fitness and touch in the team which is never an easy thing to do. If Almunia manages to kick all the back passes he receives tomorrow properly I will be absolutely amazed and it's only a matter of time before we concede a goal from one of his attempted clearences. That's it for today.

Here's a little bit of what Sagna can do although he doesn't seem to do it quite so well at the moment.

And to finish today's title track from The Smiths. We would all love the team to be fully mature and world beaters right now but these things take time.

See You Tomorrow.

I wanted a performance from Arsenal yesterday to show that we are still in the race for the league title and to be fair to Arsenal I thought we gave that performance with the exception of the 2 goals we conceded. Chelsea didn't look like the home team as we dominated them for long spells but defensively they held very firm. We had our chances at times but we didn't take them and it's not easy to win a game if you don't score. 

The team was a little different to what I had expected with Walcott and Diaby starting and Bendtner and Denilson on the bench. The gamble of playing Walcott didn't really work as he was our only outfield player not to play at the standard that was required although Arshavin didn't perform as well as he can either but he was a lot better than Walcott. The midfield looked so much better with the inclusion of Diaby and they played as a unit which offered plenty of power and threat. 

The game started in a lively fashion and unfortunately we paid the price for some poor defending after only 8 minutes as Drogba tapped the ball into an empty net from close range after Terry had headed on a corner. I think Clichy was the man on the post but he left it before the corner was taken and Song lost Drogba when Terry headed the ball on. If Clichy had stayed where he was Drogba would not have scored in my opinion and I would love to know why he left the post. That didn't stop Arsenal from playing their football though as they pressed Chelsea all over the pitch and kept going forward. After about 20 minutes Cesc played a magnificent ball over the top for Arshavin and as he met it less than 10 yards out I was sure he would score but he hit it at Cech who saved with his feet. Only a few minutes later we paid the price for some more poor defending as Lampard broke from his own half and drove forward after we had lost the ball. I was shouting for the Arsenal players to take him down but it's just not part of our game to be that cynical or professional if you like. As he approached our box Clichy decided to come infield and leave Drogba in an acre of space on our left. The first player to close Lampard on his run from just outside his own box did so just outside our box and he passed to Drogba who easily cut inside the retreating Clichy and slammed the ball past a scared looking Almunia.

At that stage Arsenal could have folded but they kept playing football until the very end. Quite a few times players, particularly Nasri, took that extra touch when a shot seemed on and it was infuriating to watch when that happened. Chelsea were happy with their lead and defended as if their lives depended on it. We were almost in on quite a few occasions except for last ditch blocks or tackles and I honestly felt the players gave it their all. We played all the good football and even though Drogba hit the bar from a free kick late on I still thought the scoreline flattered Chelsea. Almunia looked genuinely disinterested when that free kick hit the bar and I can't fathom why the manager continues to play him. He was a little better at coming off his line yesterday but he didn't have a huge amount to do to be honest. 

Arsenal gave the display that was required and on another day they might have got a result to go with it although as per usual our defensive mistakes cost us dearly. I can add Ivanovic to the list of Chelsea players who are out and out cheats and I thoroughly detest. I wonder is it a requirement when playing for Chelsea that you have to be utterly detestable as it would certainly explain a lot. With Liverpool visiting the Emirates on Wednesday night we need to pick ourselves up very quickly and if we play like that(with the exception of the defending) I'm sure we will beat them. Realistically we are out of the title race and we would need to win virtually all of our remaining 13 league fixtures to have any chance at all but stranger things have happened. I'm far more upbeat after that performance than last weeks game against Manure and the players showed a lot of pride in the jersey yesterday with that performance.

Here's the highlights from yesterday.

 LINK

And to finish here's today's title track from U2. The players showed thepride that we wanted them to show.I'm no lover of U2 but the song is appropiate.

See You Tomorrow.

So our traditional football playing day of Sunday has come around again and Arsenal get to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge at 4pm this afternoon. I described last Sunday's match as our most important of the season so far and we didn't show up with the football that we can play. It's been gone through with a fine comb all week and suffice it to say that if we defend like that and allow Chelsea as much space as we allowed Manure then we will suffer the same fate this week. With their 2 main rivals playing today Manure took full advantage yesterday by thumping Portsmouth 5-0 with the aid of 3 own goals. I know they deserved to win and it could have been more but they are also having a great deal of luck at the moment and when that stops it will be interesting to see how their results fare.The other big winners yesterday were Liverpool ahead of our game against them on Wednesday night as their continued their recent good run by beating Everton while all the other teams looking to finish 4th dropped points.

The team today should be fairly similar to last week's team with the possible exception of Bendtner playing the centre forward role. With RVP's season as good as over this is his chance to show us what he can do and hopefully he can take it. He probably would have had the chance a lot sooner but he has been injured himself and he certainly has enough confidence in his own ability to succeed. I'm not too sure he's the man for the position but he would seem to be our best option today. With the boss saying that Almunia will start in goals and if fit Diaby will be in the squad I imagine that the only change will be Bendtner as he also shows faith in Denilson. That means either Rosicky or Nasri will miss out unless he plays 1 of them in midfield instead of Denilson. I would like to see Ramsey play but I'm almost certain he won't and even if he does it never quite works when he plays alongside Cesc. So with virtually the same team on the pitch the only thing we can change is our attitude and committment and they will need to be spot to combat a team who always seem to show up for the big games.

With all the controversy surronding their skipper I'm sure the home fans will give him a great reception but listen to the Arsenal fans singing and I'm sure he won't get off so lightly. The boss said that last seasons home defeat to them was a bit of a freak result as we had just gone out of the Champions league and even though we lost 4-1 we played quite well. It was a very tough spell for us asour whole season fell apart before our eyes and the boss has no doubt that after last week's defeat to Manure we will see the response that is needed today. He has said we are up to the challenge a few times in the past 9 months against both of those teams and mostly we haven't been but today needs to be different. I don't care if the performance is bad if we get the right result but if we lose we need to have put in a really solid performance and shown how much it means to the players to play for Arsenal in such a big game. As I said earlier in the week we should try to wind Terry up and not be afraid to get stuck in as we're too nice for our own good at times.

Today's blog should have had a lot more to it but after walking the dog to Puck's Castle and the smelting tower in the local hills we got a bit disorientated and lost about 45 minutes in a heavy mist. That means the roast beef is cooking as I type and I have to get myself to the supporters club in time for the kick off. We have decided to make a club trip to the Man City game in April and I hope to be going to that game along with hopefully 20 other members. It would appear that Chamakh says he wants to join us in the summer and he certainly looks like he would be a better cover for RVP than any of our current candidates on current form. We do need top class cover for RVP because I for 1 don't know if he will ever make it through a season unscathed. There are stories about today saying we tried to sign Sorrensen from Stoke on deadline day and with them signing the Portsmouth keeper there might well be something to them but we didn't and we can only hope Almunia can repay the faith the boss is showing in him at the moment. The boss did say that mistakes at the back can spread uncertainty through the whole team but our mistakes come from 1 main source and a few other lesser ones and I'm sure that despite his defence of Almunia he knows that. That's it for today except to say that I as always predict an Arsenal win and I'll go for 3-2 with hopefully Drogba getting injured in the 1st minute so that he can't inflict more pain on us.

Here's a little bit of what Clichy looked like when he was playing really well. Let's hope he can regain that form.

And to finish  today's title track from Black Uhuru. We need to make sure Chelsea aren't allowed the time and space that we allowed Manure last week and we will have to push them really hard to do that.

See You Tomorrow.

Today is Saturday and it's the traditional day for fans to watch their team's in action. However that has not been the case for Arsenal fans in recent times as we haven't had a Saturday kick off since January 9th at home to Everton and our next one is on February 20th at home to Sunderland. The Everton game holds particularly bad memories for me as I had my match ticket and had booked and paid for my hotel but I spent most of the day stuck on a runway in Dublin airport before having to return home and watch the match on TV. It's amazing what less than an inch of snow can do when you don't know how to deal with it. Any way our game is on Sunday again this week before we move on very quickly to play Liverpool on Wednesday night. Thankfully we have next weekend off before we travel to Porto on the Wednesday afterwards for the first leg of our Champions league tie. It will be strange not having a game next weekend as the 5th round of the FA Cup goes on without us and I haven't a clue what I will have to blog about.

The manager had his usual press conference yesterday and he managed to talk about a few things in between avoiding questions about John Terry. The press would have loved a quote from him condemning Terry and it probably would have been a great incentive for Chelsea ahead of the game on Sunday. However he thankfully avoided that pifall and as LadyArse pointed out if it had been Manure's manager the press would have been told in no uncertain terms where to go before he stormed out.  He spoke about how we were very close to signing a player on deadline day but he wouldn't say who the player was. It would appear that after the Manure defeat he decided we needed a new player but maybe if he had decided that earlier in the month we might have got our man. However it's all idle speculation now as nothing can be done about it. 

The boss said he was to blame for the 3-1 defeat last Sunday against Manure and the 3-0 defeat against Chelsea in November as he got it wrong. However he isn't sure if he got the team selection wrong but he said although we weren't overrun we left ourselves in a position where we were open to counter attacks and we paid the penalty. He thought we showed a lack of patience and we were in too much of a hurry to go forward. He thought that we had the chances to equalise in the last 10 minutes on Sunday once we had got back to 3-1 and I suppose if Gallas's great chance had gone in with 5 minutes of injury time to go anything could have happened. He's right in saying we pushed too hard for a goal and over committed ourselves which cost us severely. It's a trait that has being creeping in recently as at times 3 of our 4 defenders are joining in with the attack and getting caught too far forward when the move breaks down. As I have said before I want us to defend properly tomorrow and do everything necessary to prevent Chelsea having things all their own way. If that means we have to be cynical at times well so be it and if we end up with a host of yellow cards or even a red card I'll be happy once we don't lose or even if we put up a proper fight. 

The boss said we have plenty of reasons to be optimistic as our league position is very good and we are through to the knockout stages of the Champions league. As well as that we are in a very healthy financial position and we have a very young team. He said he would rather finish third in the league than win a domestic cup as it is much harder to do so and he doesn't consider winning the league cup as winning a trophy. That's a nice little dig at the Spuds as it's the only trophy they have won since who knows when. Ahead of Sunday's game he said his target is to get the freedom to play our football and he thinks our biggest problem last Sunday was that we gave Manure the freedom to play their game when we should have been dictating the pace ourselves. I spoke with a Manure supporting friend about the game last night and he agreed with me that no other team gives Manure that much time to play their game and that's why they reckoned that it was the best they had played all season. We neede to be in their faces when they had the ball but unfortunately it just didn't happen. He again reasoned that we wanted it too much as he did after the Chelsea defeat and that our performance was affected by that. I didn't think you could want a game too much and if you do want it that much surely it should drive you on and not inhibit you. It's a little strange to say the least.

He said that people are too hard on Arshavin and he played very well last Sunday as he was dangerous and he fought very hard. I thought he played well enough myself but he wanted the glory for himself and he probably should have set up other players who were in better positions. The boss said that as we didn't score from the Arshavin chances you can't say he took the best option. As we all know goals change games and the chances we missed before they scored probably would have led to us winning if we had taken them but we didn't and we can't change that now. I'm going to leave it there and I'll preview the game tomorrow. Don't forget if you're a Fantasy footballer that you have until 11.30 GMT this morning to make any changes to your side.

Here's some good stuff from Denilson after the hard time I've been giving him recently.

And to finish today's title track from the Cure. It's another strange day for me as we have no Saturday game yet again.

See You Tomorrow,

The weekend is almost upon us and again we will have to wait until Sunday to see Arsenal play again. It's no ordinary game obviously as we travel to league leaders Chelsea in a game that could be described as a must win game but to be honest I would settle for a draw in. Ahead of the game it would appear that the only player we can welcome back to the squad since last week is Campbell as he has recovered from his minor groin strain. Diaby is a possibility but it would seem that he is not back in normal training yet and with his long history of injuries I would be surprised to see him in the squad. Eduardo and Vela are both definitely out as they have not recovered from their injuries yet but they should be back before too long. We might see Diaby against Liverpool next Wednesday as we attempt to do a league double over them for the first time in a long time as far as I remember anyway. 

All of that would mean that we can expect to see a very similar team to the one that took the field against Manure last Sunday which means that the manager will have to fire them up to get a much better performance out of them. We were favourites on Sunday but we will be a long way from that position against Chelsea and that might just work in our favour. If I was Bendtner and Terry was marking me I would be asking him "how his Mrs. is?" and "if it's true she's gone on holidays?" As I have said before I think we need a little bit of nastiness about us and there are no prizes for being too nice. Of course Bendtner might not be in from the start but with the amount of goals Chelsea concede from set pieces I have a funny feeling we will see him. With the amount of goals our centre backs have between them as well I'm hoping they can take advantage of the situation. We've had our problems with our goalkeeper but Chelsea have had a few with Cech too and especially with high balls into the box.

On Wednesday night when we are playing Liverpool we can hope that the 2 teams above us will have a few difficulties of their own. Manure face a tough trip to Aston Villa and Chelsea have to travel to Everton. Both of those games are potentially tough games and they might just offer us an opportunity to claw our way back into the title race. 

There's very little Arsenal news about so far today but I'm sure we will see plenty of it later when the boss holds his weekly press conference. We have been linked with Mohamed Zidan of Borussia Dortmund but as the transfer window is closed I can't see an awful lot happening from now until the summer. I'll be going to the supporters club on Sunday for the match and painful as last week was I'm almost starting to look forward to it again. A few drinks will probably make it a little easier and I'm sure we'll be discussing a potential club trip to a game before the end of the season too. That's it for today.

Here's a little bit of what Gallas can do. The 1st goal is from a set piece against Chelsea.

And to finish today's title track from Tears For Fears. The memories of last Sunday are starting to fade at last and hope for this Sunday is returning.

See You Tomorrow.

So the transfer window closed on Monday and nothing very much happened in the end except for the return of Sol Campbell. There are claims also that young Stefan Savic has signed a pre contract agreement to join us at the end of the season and his name got me thinking. We could do with a savage or 2 in the side to give the opposition a kick or 2 when it's needed. Our midfield strongman is Song and you couldn't call him dirty or even all that hard. He may have 8 yellow cards so far this season but the most recent 1 was for winning a 50/50 challenge with Nani on Sunday. The referee gave a free and it wasn't even that although there was contact but Song went in for the ball and won it. The referee then decided to book Song after seeing that Nani was hurt but in my opinion he had no intention of booking him before that. I miss Paddy Vieira getting nasty and getting stuck in. He may have been sent off 10 times for us and some of them were stupid red cards but you never doubted his committment and you knew he would never back down from a challenge. In the past we have had other players in the same mould but the current team are maybe just a little too nice for their own good at times.

That brings me to the situation of our captain and the current wearer of the armband. Cesc is a fantastic player and I absolutely love seeing him play for us but he is more of a lead by example captain than a get stuck in to the players captain. Sometimes it takes someone out on the pitch to tell a player what his job is and sometimes when a player makes a mistake he needs a strong character to tell him to keep his head up and keep trying. I know the boss says we have a team full of captains but personally I would love to see a Tony Adams style captain who everybody knew was the leader and who was listened to by all. Perhaps Vermaelen is the man to do that job I don't know but I have always felt that your creative type players are less likely to be good at it and you need a strong player wearing the armband. I'm sure part of the reason Cesc wear the armband is to try to keep him at the club for as long as possible although that may not be the greatest idea when you realise that the previous 2 wearers of the armband were sold while still our captain. What really puzzles me is seeing Almunia wearing the armband when Cesc isn't playing as I'm sure you all know my feelings on his abilities as a goalkeeper by now, never mind as a leader of men.

The latest from Barcelona is that they supposedly want Eboue now as well as Cesc of course. While I think they are welcome to Eboue I really wish we didn't have to read more rubbish about their desire to sign Cesc almost every day. We are reportedly after a 15 year old starlet at QPR and Fulham want him too. He goes by the name of Raheem Sterling and he sounds like a typical signing for Arsenal. It would seem that there is a good chance we will see Diaby back for the trip to Chelsea on Sunday and I would be delighted if he is as long as he is playing like he was before his injury. Almunia has spoken about how it is still possible for us to win the league and that sometimes it is better to do a Lester Piggot and come from behind in the final straight rather than lead from the front all along. After we play Chelsea and Liverpool we certainly have a run of nearly 10 games in a row that are all very winnable if we are at our best and no matter what happens on Sunday if we got 7 or 8 wins in a row I think we would be back in the thick of the action. The despair after Sunday's loss may not have been quite so justified but then again you can't help feeling what you feel when you genuinely think your team has a real chance in a game and you are proved absolutely wrong. I don't know how I will feel on Monday if we lose to Chelsea but if we do it while performing to our best I think I will be able to take it a little better. That's it for today.

Here's some highlights of Almunia from last season just to show I'm not completely biased against him.

And to finishtoday's title track from A Flock Of Seagulls. If you like 80s music have a look but if Jedward's hair scares you be careful. I find myself wishing that we had a Tony Adams style captain out on the pitch.

See You Tomorrow.

I spoke about the faults I see in our team that the boss seems to turn a blind eye to yesterday. When I did it wasn't to get on the manager's back but just to question some things that I thought needed to be questioned. In my opinion 2 of the players are not up to the task at the moment and they need to be "rested" for their own sakes and for the sake of the team. The pain of the defeat to Manure on Sunday has not faded yet and with Chelsea coming up this Sunday the pain could get a whole lot worse. However we saw last night that Chelsea aren't all they're made up to be as they only managed a draw at relegation threatened Hull to increase their lead over us to 6 points before that game on Sunday. I know it sounds inconcieveable at the moment but we could move to within 3 points of Chelsea by beating them on Sunday. That would probably leave Mnaure on top 4 points ahead of us and with 13 games to go anything could happen.

To manage a victory on Sunday the boss will have to get his team selection and tactics absolutely right and we will need a rub of the green too. Chelsea have conceded the majority of their goals from set pieces this season and our delivery of set pieces has to be spot on to try to take advantage of that. Our players need to approach the game as if their lives depended on it and fight for every ball with every thing they have. We have to show a level of concentration that wasn't evident on Sunday and if it means our defenders only defend and nothing else well so be it. If we have to resort to the tactics that other teams use against us of fouling in the opponents half to prevent a break well so be it. I'll be happy to hear the commentator say "he'll take that there" as 1 of our opponents get's a free kick and a promising move stops. I have to believe that we can do it and if I didn't I wouldn't be a true fan.

As fans it's a strange love we have for our team and we always believe that no matter what the odds are they are capable of winning any game. We support them through thick and thin and although we criticise them we know we wouldn't have it any other way. I may have annoyed or upset some people by my opinions yesterday but I hope not and we all have to remember that what we want is success for the club but sometimes our opinions on how to achieve that success differ. I hope Arsene Wenger stays with us for a very long time and in questioning his transfer policy and team selection yesterday I was trying to understand myself what happened on Sunday as it happened at home to Chelsea in November and 3 times against Manure and Chelsea at the end of last season.It's something that has to be rectified and maybe an away tripagainst either of those 2 teams where not so much is expectedfrom us is the place to do it.

In other news it would seem JET was arrested after being pursued by police for failing to stop a £100,000 Mercedes he was driving on a provisional licence. I don't know if the car was his or not but if it was it only adds to the opinion that we pay our younger players too much if he could afford it. For all I know it could be leased or a club car or even a friend's car but it does appear that he was very stupid. I'm sure the boss will read him the riot act and hopefully he will learn from it.  Sanchez Watt has joined Southend on loan for a month and hopefully it will do him some good as he needs some first team football somewhere. A young centre back/midfielder with BSK Borca in Serbia has apparently signed a pre contract agreement with us and will be joining us in the summer. His name is Stefan Savic and has just turned 19. At 6' 2" he's taller than your average Arsenal player but we'll wait to see what happens. He did however say that he snubbed The Spuds to join us and that always goes down a treat with us fans. There are more stories about Barcelona wanting Cesc and claimimg he will join them this summer but I'm sick of them to be honest. I'll leave it there as I've been awake since 5am with an upset stomach and more and I rather stupidly came to work anyway.

Here's a little bit of what a player who's looking to show us what he has on Sunday can do.

And to finishtoday's title track from Depeche Mode as mentioned above.

See You Tomorrow.

The defeat to Manure on Sunday is still fresh in all of our minds and it was a defeat that was very hard to take. I genuinely that at the start of the season that Manure would struggle without the diver but they produced a performance that I hoped they didn't have in them any more and thoroughly deserved their 3-1 win. Of course it wasn't helped by some of our team putting in abject performances and even though it's blatantly obvious to all but the most biased of fans to see the manager will almost surely keep faith with them at Stamford Bridge next Sunday. There comes a stage where the good of the team has to come before the good of individual players and the current pecking order has to be broken. The situation with Almunia has got so bad that the fans are turning on him and he needs to develop another "chest infection" for his own good and the good of the team too. Since he was mysteriously struck down by the Emirates sniper/ninja against Everton Denilson has been awful but he continues to be a first choice and in my opinion he wasn't much better beforehand. He gives the ball away too often and his tackling and awareness on the pitch are just not good enough. The left back slot is a real worry as Clichy's form was poor before his injury and he has come back in even worse form. Manure targetted him on Sunday and got a lot of joy from it but the only other option is Traore and he is even worse at the moment.

I would love to ask the boss if we have a specialist defensive coach and if so does he work on the players positioning with them. Our full backs seem to give opposing wide players far too much space when they receive the ball and the left backs in particular are completely devoid of confidence. When it comes to going forward our full backs seem to be incapable of crossing the ball properly and more often than not their attempts leave us groaning in disbelief. When we are chasing a game like on Sunday all defensive discipline seems to go out the window as players push forward with little or no regard for what is happening behind them. Our defenders need to be reminded that their first concern is to defend and if they won't do that they have to be told to do it. We have being winning games recently because we have scored so many goals but when those goals dry up our defensive frailties are laid bare for all to see.

Can the boss honestly say that he thinks the squad is so good that we didn't need to bring a couple of players in during the transfer window. The recent injury scare to Vermaelen showed how short we are in some positions and even with the addition of Campbell nothing is solved for the long term. We have the money from the transfers of Toure and he who shall remain nameless available to spend and if I remember correctly we had money to spend before that anyway. Surely with £40million plus to spend we could have found a striker to lead the line for us during the month of January. I know Bendtner is back from injury but he wasn't exactly setting the world on fire before that injury and I don't think he has the touch needed to play the game we are playing at the moment. We may be the top scorers in the league but with the amount of goals we concede we need to score even more than we are at the moment. The form of our captain is almost carrying the team single handedly in some games and the big worry has to be that he will get fed up with what he sees around him and decide to jump ship in the summer.

As fans can we honestly say that no matter who the opposition is that we think Arsenal will beat them when we take the field. We never know what team is going to take the field - will it be the one that is switched on or not I mean as it's always easy to predict the starting 11. If we were fully confident in our team we would feel unbeatable against the poorer teams in the league but only on rare occasions this season have we turned on the style for the full 90 minutes. I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic after 1 defeat but the manager said that this would be our season and things are teetering on the edge at the moment in the league and the way we are defending the Champions league is only a pipe dream. Money is tight for fans and they have to choose how to spend their limited income in hard times. It's difficult to see the club turning over such a profit and not investing it in the team while the fans are making sacrifices just to watch them play every week. If this season peters out ahead of it's time there could be a genuine problem with selling tickets for next season. We have some fantastic players and it's up to the coaching staff to instill the passion, desire and playing style in them that will allow them to reach their full potential. If that means that some players who aren't good enough have to go by the wayside well so be it. We all want the same thing and if the fans can see the team's failings then so can the manager. He has a week on the training ground to work with the players and if they can put in a performance that we can be proud of on Sunday then us fans can be very forgiving. I really hope that the real Arsenal turn up at Stamford Bridge and if they do I will be happy whether we win lose or draw.

In other news Chesney has extended his loan spell at Brentford until the end of the season and not a lot else is happening out there so I'll leave it there until tomorrow.

Here's a little bit of how good Cesc is.

And to finish today's title track from The Smiths. I would love to ask the manager a few questions about exactly how certain things are done on the training ground.

See You Tomorrow.

Yesterday was our chance to prove the doubters wrong and move ahead Manure and into second place in the table behind Chelsea before we head to Stamford Bridge next Sunday. As a fan I really thought that we had a great chance of beating one of the weakest Manure teams I have seen in a long while but it became evident fairly early on that we were going to struggle. The team was more or less as expected except that Bendtner didn't start which meant there was a place for Rosicky in the team. My biggest worries were the inclusion of Almunia and Denilson in the team and by the time the game had ended my fears were proved right as they were both not up to the task yet again.

The game started well enough and it seemed that we were really up for it as Arshavin was looking very sharp and getting some joy as he drifted from the centre out to the right. However it also looked like he wanted to play Manure on his own as he continually went for goal instead of picking out a team mate in a better position. However Manure started to get the upper hand as the half progressed and Nani had Clichy in his pocket. With Arsenal standing off the Manure players it seemed like only a matter of time before we went a goal behind with the pressure mounting on us all the time. When the first goal came it was created by Nani as he was faced by both Clichy and Nasri out near the touchline. Nasri was in completely the wrong position and when Nani flicked the ball between the 2 of them we were in trouble. Denilson chose to stand off rather than approach him and tackle or foul him outside the box and when Nani went past him he had to pull out of the challenge for fear of giving away a penalty. He chipped the ball towards the back post from the goal line and Almunia in his wisdom tried to fingertip it over the bar but ended up putting it into his own net instead. If he had missed it I'm sure Park would have scored but he made contact and he should have put it over the bar.

The second goal came soon afterwards as we looked to push for an equaliser and the whole team got caught too far forward. Manure broke quickly but we managed to get 5 players back in good enough positions to defend our goal. However with Vermaelen having to move to the right to cover an unmarked player Rooney just ran past an almost motionless Denilson to connect with a pass and slide the ball home. Every single Arsenal fan can see Denilson is not good enough to play at the very top level and he proved it yet again by letting Rooney in. Arsenal again tried to get a goal back before half time but we almost conceded a third instead and even though we had created chances of our own they were not as clear cut as the ones we were conceding. 

Less than 10 minutes into the second half things got even worse as we conceded a third goal with Manure hitting us on the break again. Virtually the whole team pushed too far forward for a corner and when we lost the ball Park had only Clichy in front of him and 2 or 3 players inside him to pass to. Clichy couldn't make up his mind and didn't actually make a tackle as he was trying to cover the pass as well and Park slotted it into acres of space inside the near post as Almunia got his position completely wrong. When the move started our players tried to pressure the man on the ball when they should have stood off him and looked to get numbers back. As they stepped forward to apply that  pressure the Manure players just sprinted past them and to say it was poor defending is an understatement. Manure had chances to really embarrass us but thankfully they didn't take any more of them. 

We managed to eventually pull a goal back with 10 minutes left as the Verminator volleyed a shot from the edge of the box which was deflected off a defender past the keeper. Chances came and went for us throughout the match but we showed no composure in front of goal and even in the last minute of normal time Gallas had a great chance to make the added 5 minutes interesting but he headed wide. At the final whistle I could hear booing in some sections of the home fans at the Emirates and the fans were justified in their actions as the team just didn't look to be switched on today at all. The manager now has a week to work with the players before we play Chelsea away next Sunday and he will have his work cut out to install confidence in them. With Chelsea playing at Hull tomorrow night we could find ourselves 8 points off the pace going into that game and it would leave us needing a win to get back in the picture again. If we're not careful we will be looking over our shoulders rather than at the teams ahead of us for the rest of the season. If I was offered a point at Chelsea next Sunday right now I would take it but it would leave us needing to win our last 13 games to have a chance of winning the league.

After the game the manager said that we got what we deserved as we were poor defensively and offensively. He said we lacked cohesion and it was difficult to say why we weren't at our normal level of play. For me the biggest difference was that they played as a team and we played like a group of individuals who were thrown together. We need to get Almunia and Denilson out of the team now as they are not up to the task and we have better players than them at the club already. The transfer window is almost closed and it looks like nobody will be coming in so we have to get the most we can from these players. The comments about our loss to Stoke will be coming hot and heavy now as the FA Cup was probably our best bet for a trophy this season. With so many players rested against Stoke last Sunday we needed to make sure that we got at least 7 points from our run of 4 really tough games to stay in the hunt. With 2 games to go we will need to beat both Chelsea and Liverpool to achieve that now or our season could be almost over in early February unless you believe we can win the Champions league. We have given the advantage to our opponents now and we need to regain some momentum immediatly before this season goes the way of the previous 4 years. When fans of other teams question our bottle it is games like yesterday's that they refer to and at times it's hard to offer a decent response but let's just hope the players can offer that response to us all next week. That's it for today.

Here's the highlights from yesterday's game.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Radiohead. Everything seemed to be on track for us to challenge for the league but we had a high speed blow out yesterday and what happens next is anyone's guess.

Today's late blog is brought to you courtesy of those magnificent Dutch brewers - Heineken. We face what is, in my opinion, our most important game of the season so far at 4 this afternoon at home to Manure in the league. With Chelsea beating Burnley yesterday we are now 5 points behind them and they have a trip to Hull on Tuesday night to come. If we only draw today we could find ourselves 7 points behind them as we go to their ground next Sunday. A defeat could see that gap increase to 8 points and even though we pulled back an 11 point deficit already it would be difficult to see how we could pull back that gap in 13 games without beating them next week. A win today would allow us the luxury of being able to draw with Chelsea and still remain in firm contention.

A local bookies is offering Manure to win the game at 5/2 and there is always danger in writing a team like them off. How often have we seen them score late and undeserved goals to claim the points when they have been written off in the past. When we lost 2-1 at Old Trafford earlier in the season we were the better team without a shadow of a doubt but 2 mistakes cost us the game. We cannot afford to make mistakes like that today with the form that Rooney is in as, no doubt, he will punish us for them. Thankfully they don't play a high ball or long ballgame like Aston Villa do on occasions when they feel they need to but from what I have seen recently they are whipping the ball into the box in that space between the goalkeeper and the defenders and our keeper will be very vulnerable to balls like that today. The only way to stop that is to pressurise the players when they are in possession in wide areas and not allow them time to deliver those type of balls. The full backs and the 2 wide players in our front 3 will have to make sure that their wide players and full backs don't get those opportunities.

I still don't know if Vermaelen will be playing or not but if he isn't it will be a very tough 90 minutes for Campbell and he will need help from his fellow defenders. He was a great player in his day and he will need some of that greatness to contain Rooney today although as I pointed out yesterday only 4 of Rooney's 19 goals have come against teams in the top half of the table. Another player who is vital to us today is Song as we need someone to stand up to Fletcher and kick him back when he starts kicking Cesc as he no doubt will. It will be interesting to see how many fouls he commits before he gets a yellow card today. My money in on at least 6 but maybe the referee won't bother at all. We were refused the most blatant penalty you will ever see at Old Trafford when he sliced Arshavin down in the box and followed it by handling the ball just to make double sure. We have only had 1 penalty since the Eduardo incident against Celtic and that is incredible for a team who play such an intricite game in their opponents box at times. 

These are the type of games where we usually see the very best from Arshavin and we are owed a big performance from him today as he has been too quiet, on the pitch at least, recently.  The most important player for us will be Cesc of course as he is the best player in the league and if he can avoid the dirty play of Fletcher he has enough in his armoury to really hurt them. It's a great sight to see him take the ball and run at defenders and release it at the perfect time to set someone else up or take it on himself and score. Bendtner will get the chance he thinks he is ready for today and even if he's not at his best he will give us some more strength in the air which is much needed. I imagine that our team will be the following 

Almunia

Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen(or Campbell) & Clichy.

Song, Cesc & Denilson.

Nasri, Bendtner & Arshavin.

I would prefer if Nasri dropped back to midfield and Rosicky started on the right but I'm sure the boss will go with Denilson. Of course if Song doesn't play Denilson will play the holding role and we could find ourselves in a real spot of bother then. The players need to play with the right attitude and committment from the first whistle and we can't afford to play well in 1 half only. We still have only scored 1 goal in the first 15 minutes of any game this season and it would be nice to add a couple more to that figure today. Even though this is a poor Manure team by their standards I still don't expect it will be that easy but I do think we will win and 2-1 is the scoreline I predict. I fancy Arshavin and Cesc to score and Fletcher to see red if the referee is strong enough. Rooney should be booked for dissent or abusing the officials if they are losing too but again that's reliant on a strong referee. I hope to hear their manager ranting about the referee after the game as it means he will have done his job properly. We want and need revenge for our defeat at Old Trafford earlier in the season and the right attitude and tempo from our players today should deliver that result.

There's a few quotes from the boss today about not signing a striker as the players he wanted were not avaialable and I suppose there was no point in signing a player who wouldn't improve on what we have already. The names he mentioned were Villa and Chamakh and while I'm sure Villa would score a lot of goals in our team I don't know how good or bad Chamakh is. There are also reports about that we will see the return of RVP in March but I won't be holding my breath on that one. I'm off to the supporters club to watch the match today and I'm sure we'll have a big turn out to cheer on a famous victory. That's the lot for today.

Here's a wonder goalfrom Henry to beat Manure a few years ago.

And to finish today's title track from Madness. We need to take the 3 points today or we could well leave our title ambitions behind us.