Last night I ended up being happy with a point from a game that we needed 3 points in. We were very poor throughout virtually the whole game and RVP's equaliser only papers over the rather large cracks. He has become our saviour since Cesc got injured and if anything were to happen to him right now I think our season could implode entirely. Besides RVP not too many other players excelled themselves although I thought Gallas had a fairly good game for the most part. Sagna was subbbed during the second half and I hope he isn't injured. The starting team was more or less what we expected with Gallas in for Toure for some strange reason and Denilson, Diaby & Song in midfield alongside Nasri. Does the boss really think that we can win the Premier league with that midfield.

He said yesterday that we are in a healthy position in the league, Champions league and FA Cup and we are contenders in all 3. Does he still think we can win the league today with a 5 point gap to the cherished 4th place never mind United being 8 points clear with a game in hand on us and 11 clean sheets in a row. As I have said from the close of the transfer window in August we have to try for 4th place and also aim for the FA Cup. That 4th spot is looking more and more difficult by the week. I know we are unbeaten in 9 league games but we are still totally unconvincing when we play. We have a tough game at home to West Ham on Saturday as they are playing very well at the moment and we then have Cardiff 3 days later in our FA Cup replay. These are 2 more must win games for us but I really don't know if we can do it.

The boss said a few weeks ago that other teams have survived not qualifying for the Champions League such as Milan and Bayern and it really looks like he is setting us up for impending massive disappointment. I think has been fantastic for us over the last 12 or 13 years but I am questioning him this season more than all the others put together. Some of our players are not good enough and some more look like they don't care about the plight of the club at all. Forinstance Adebayor seems totally disinterested at the moment. He makes statements in the press about needing to believe and so on but he barely tries a leg at times on the pitch. We all know who the players who aren't good enough are but they seem to be favourites and they play week in and week out regardless.

In other news the boss has appearently said that the Arshavin deal is 90% done but I have serious doubts at this stage. I think we are playing hardball with him and Zenit over price and wages and I think it will backfire but hopefully I am wrong. It has been reprted that Theo will sign a new long term contract soon and that is just about the only good news today. I'll leave it at that and I hope against hope that things will improve from here on in.

Here's the goals from last night with thanks to Boxofficefootball again.

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/ukbox/football-update/everton-1-0-arsenal-premiership-highlights/

And to finish the title track which is in honour of the player we all thought was another sicknote but is proving to be our saviour at the moment(it's from The Stone Roses).

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=e6QnK0yql8s&feature=related

Today's blog is a little strange as I prepared it in the afternoon but only managed to post it during the game against Everton. The title comes from our need to "Catch" the teams ahead of us and therefore to win tonight. Ahead of tonight's game away to Everton the only real team news from the club is that Gallas might be recalled to the team. This means that Kolo or Djourou will drop out and I can't see the sense in that as Kolo is our current captain and has somewhat recovered his form over the last few games and Djourou should be first choice as Kolo and Gallas, by the manager's own admission, don't play well together as they have a heigth issue and in my opinion they are too similar in style and they both need a Djourou style player alongside them.

The boss has been saying that he won't break our wage structure and that January buys take time to settle in and I imagine this is being said to let the fans know that any deal for Arshavin is looking less likely now. It could be for Arshavin's benefit too as he could be telling him to lower his asking price. I don't think that we will sign anyone at this stage as the boss is probably happy with our current run of results. It's a very dangerous game to play but I hope it works.

In tonight's game Everton will have their very tall Belgian midfielder Fellaini back from suspension and he could cause us a lot of bother along with Cahill & Arteta. Everton are on a very good run at the moment and they are not conceding many goals. We will have to be at our very best to get the win we need tonight. I am going for 2-1 for us with Adebayor & RVP scoring as long as we play our strongest team. That means no Song or Eboue but I fear that they will play.

The boss says Rosicky is about 8 weeks away from returning and he also says that RVP's fitness is priceless to us at the moment. I hope he can stay fit as he is our most important player at the moment. I will leave it there as work calls.

Here's a clip ofa very young Cesc scoring after being set up by Bergkamp.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=FLuQARgAZc0

And to finish the title track from The Cure.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGVBN3Ph6Y

We are "Drowning" in a sea of rumours about Arshavin, Zenit & Arsenal today. Zenit supposedly claim that a fee has been agreed with us and that we now have to reach agreement with the player who appearently wants an arm and a leg and a few other body parts to sign the contract but if you read elsewhere he agreed to take a pay cut to join us last week and we agreed personal terms then. Mind you the boss says that no fee has been agreed upon so believe what you will. It's all very tedious and has dragged on for almost 4 weeks now with claim and counter claim being bandied about. I have said all along that if we did a deal it would be at the last minute and that is getting closer now. We have until 5 pm on Monday to complete any deals and if we do complete any I expect it to be at about 4.45 on Monday.

In other transfer news we are again linked with Veloso of Sporting Lisbon and he could well be what we're looking for in central midfield but I can't see us getting into a bidding war with other Premier league clubs for him. Ther are rumours that Flamini will be leaving Milan on loan for the rest of the season and if that is the case why don't we step in for him. I know he said Milan was a dream move for him and otherwise he would have stayed at Arsenal so let's forgive and forget for the sake of the club. There is also more talk of Nzogbia but we don't need him or want him in my opinion. The boss gives us a roadmap for the return of our Crozillian striker Eduardo and it shouldn't be too long before we see him in the first team. He will get a fantastic reception at the Emirates when his name is called out. He also says how dangerous Tim Cahill can be and I will deal with that in my preview of our trip to Everton tomorrow. Man City are reportedly still interested in Kolo but I can't see us selling our current captai, Can you?

The club have struck a deal with Sony to make highlights and statistics available to fans in the stadium during matches on their PSPs but to be honest what is the point in going to watch Arsenal and then having your head stuck in a hand held device most of the time. I would say enjoy the experience of the live match and catch up with anything else when you get home. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of how good we used to be in case you have forgotten. When did we last play like this ?

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=x0E_jdJIfEI&feature=rec-HM-rev-rn

Here's the title track from today by The Beat.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=vdubaOC_oLA&feature=related

There were "No Surprises" in the manager's team selection yesterday. We all thought Rambo & Song would play in central midfield and they did and with Rambo having a fairly poor game and Song being himself it left us with very little drive from central midfield in the first hour. Things changed when Diaby came on and despite losing the ball a few times I thought he did well enough. The first time he lost the ball he took an elbow straight to the mouth and it looked like it hurt but he soon got on with the game. I believe we will have the same referee for the replay but I hope not because his performance was poor. He missed that elbow on Diaby and the studs up challenge on Sagna and even though it wasn't a dirty game both Cardiff players could have been sent off if the laws were applied properly. However he did manage to book Eboue for getting tripped in the box and even though I don't think it was a penalty it certainly wasn't a dive either. I suppose his reputation precedes him and you can't blame referees for thinking he is diving as he has done it so often in the past. He's a bit like "the boy who cried Wolf!"

Anyway, back to yesterday and our performance against Cardiff. I thought RVP was again our best player and to be honest not too many others put in a great performance. Fabianski did nothing wrong and he controlled his area very well which was nice to see and very different to Almunia. The defence was solid enough. I know we gave up a few half chances but that is to be expected. The opposition will always create something no matter how good our team is. With so little drive in midfield for most of the game it wasn't surprising that we didn't create too much ourselves but when we did create gilt edged chances unfortunately they were missed. Nasri was played in during the first half but he hesitated and the keeper managed to pull off a save. Towards the end Adebayor missed a very good chance from close range and in fact he almost missed the ball altogether. I wasn't impressed with him again when he came on. He kept dropping deep, passing the ball and standing back and admiring his handywork. He should be getting himself into the box to get on the end of any ball played in even though he did miss that sitter when he got in there.

I thought Song had one of his better games but he still isn't good enough to make us world beaters. Do you remember the impact Vieira had when he came into the first team? We need another fantastic buy like that from Wenger but where that player is I don't know. Bendtner did well enough but he didn't grab his chance again and he seems to do better as a sub at the moment. Nasri was also fairly average and Eboue was his usual self which means he did very little of any use. I thought we should have scored when we had a 4 on 2 break from a Cardiff corner but RVP played Bendtner in on his wrong foot when he had 2 players on the other side. Eboue was one of those players which is probably why he chose to pass to Bendtner. In the good old days we would have buried that chance.

Let's hope we can up our performance level for our trip to Everton on Wednesday night and also for the replay on Tuesday February 3rd which is on Setanta live again by the way. I'm sure Almunia, Adebayor and probably Denilson will come into the team for the Everton game and we then have West Ham on Saturday before the replay. It's going to be a busy week for us and 3 wins out of 3 would be fantastic and leave us in a strong position in the league and with a tie we would be big favourites to win in the cup. I'm not getting too far ahead of myself here but I am a little optimistic I know. 

In other news Rosicky started individual training last week according to his agent. I hope everything goes well for him and maybe we will see him by mid March if that is the case. Arshavin is appearently waiting on a decision from Arsenal with regards to his transfer. I would imagine that he is waiting on us to up our offer but it doesn't look like we will. We have been linked with Nzogbia of Newcastle again but we would be mad to buy a player who is no better than any player we have right now. We need to buy top quality players for the first team as I have said all along. That's it for today. 

Here are some very limited highlights of yesterday's game with thanks to Boxofficefootball again.

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/ukbox/football-update/cardiff-0-arsenal-0-fa-cup-highlights/

And to finish the title track from Radiohead.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=qqsyXdj_p_I

See You Tomorrow.

Ahead of today's game away to Cardiff in the FA Cup there isn't a lot of other Arsenal news. I covered most of it in my late night drunken ramble last night/this morning. The only thing I'm on for today is to make my prediction for today's game. I think we will win 2-1 with goals from Bendtner & Nasri. That is presuming that Nasri starts as we have a league match away to Everton on Wednesday. I hope we play a strong team today as it will be a tough test for us and anything less than 100% committment and concentration from whatever team we play could see us out of the only competition we have a realistic chance in. Anyway as I said I'm off to watch the match now.Finally, I hope Song doesn't play today but I have a horrible feeling he will.

Here's a clip of one of my favourite players ever.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=D1zh_V8LWu8&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div

And to finish the title song from Simple Minds. I hope our season will be "Alive &Kicking" still after today.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=OfNef6E5Jno

See You Tomorrow.

Have you ever had that feeling in your life that they're all out to get you? I have that feeling at the moment as things just can't seem to go right for me. I played football last night and opened up a deep cut on my right knee for the third week in a row. After that I managed to get the ball in the eye from point blank range and after that again I took one for the team and counted 3 Adam's apples for a while. I was like the walking wounded this morning and of course I had to work on a Saturday for the first time in 2 months. It was a long hard day and when I came home I couldn't get on to my computer as my teenage daughter had her friends(all male) over for a bit of a party. Thankfully they are gone now and I can get back to my obsession whilst drinking myself silly.

Anyway enough about me and on to Arsenal news. To be honest there is very little to talk about that hasn't been said already and I'll preview the Cardiff game in the morning when I sober up. There is more talk of the on/off Arshavin deal but I couldn't be bothered giving my opinion any more as it is becoming a pain at the moment and we are also linked with Micah Richards And Niko Kranjcar again. There is also some more talk about Arteta joining us and I have always said he was my first choice to sign as an attacking option in the transfer window. He wouldn't need time to adapt to the English game and he is a very good player who could take Cesc's place for the moment and maintain his place in the team when Cesc comes back. He has played down reports linking him with us but that is to be expected(I hope).

Our youth team managed a 5-3 win at Southampton today after being 2-0 down. I hope toI'll be watching the match tomorrow with the Wicklow Gunners supporter's club in The Strand in Bray but at the moment that is all up in the air. I have to see what else I have to do tomorrow as I wasn't home from work until after 7 this evening. That's the lot  for today.

Here's a clip of what that man Arteta can do.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxEyjsQJVM

 And here's today's title track from The Beat.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=fCaaxYKbAyY&feature=related

See You Tomorrow.

Our manager may well be saying that he has money in his pocket but at the moment he just can't get any players with that money. Appearently Zenit have said that they are still in negotiations with us for Arshavin and that it should be concluded quite soon At this stage who knows one way or the other but we always seem to wait until the last minute and I expect things to be finally settled on February 2nd. There is no news about any other players of note joining us and even though we keep things private something usually leaks out. I can only assume that the boss thinks we don't need anyone else. Personally I think we need 2 more players as I have said since I started this blog in July.

The boss had his press conference today and he had an awful lot to say. He thinks Denilson deserves more credit from the media for how he has played this season but personally Ithink although he has done well enough he isn't and won't be the standard of player we require in our first 11. He also believes trophies will come with the squad we have at the moment as they just need some maturity. I think we could buy some of that maturity and speed up the process a little as it is almost 4 years since our last trophy and our only realistic target this season is the FA Cup. He also says that he believes the FA Cup is still glamorous  and to be honest any trophy would be glamorous this season. He thinks RVP is too hot to handle at the moment and I have to agree with him there at last. He also says that team mates don't need to be friends and that Gallas and Toure do get on with each other.I do agree with him but it doesn't help when they are fighting with each other like Adebayor & Bendtner or Gallas & Kolo. 

The fixture list has managed to make United's life a little easier next week and the boss has said that it is an unexplainably unfair advantage but I don't think he is doing a Rafa. He does have a point about them having 6 days between matches while the rest of theteams at the top have only 3 days between games. Rambo has mixed feelings about going back to Cardiff this weekend but I'm sure he'll put in a good performance if he plays. Gallas & Song are both available for the game but Song should not play and the defence is playing alright at the moment so I don't see the need to change it. Seeming as Kolo is our captain I think he should be first choice.I said yesterday that I didn't believe that Atletico made an offer for Eboue and when you hear €8 million being offered you know it isn't true. As for Bendtner turning Hoffenheim - the boss said we will not be selling anyone in the transfer window so it is more likely that he turned down any offer if one was made. Rene Steer has joined Gillingham on loan for a month and I hope the experience does him some good.

Ahead of our trip to Cardiff the boss has said that he has a lot of respect for Dave Jones and he thinks he's a good manager. Dave Jones had his trials and tribulations in the past but he is doing a good job at Cardiff. The boss also said that there is no room for sentiment as regards Rambo going back to Cardiff on Sunday. It will be a tough game and we can win it if we approach it with the right attitude and concentration. Let's hope there are no slip ups. That's the lot for today.

Here's a clip of Rambo scoring a very good goal for his country.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=zOmaiSnvALo

And to finish the title track from Denis Brown.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=uCJRkUrY_yM

See You Tomorrow.

First of all it was great to see Eduardo get 90 minutes for the reserves last night in a 2-2 draw with Stoke. Young Jack Wilshere scored both goals and the first one was an absolute beauty. I'll link it for my usual clip at the end. The comparisons with Bergkamp don't seem to scare the lad and he is a fantastic prospect for the future. Some might even say he should get more first team time right now and I wouldn't argue with that at all. As Arsene knows he is "There For You".

In other news Zenit claim that negociations are still ongoing with Arsenal and are running smoothly but they claim that his agent is not involved in these negociations. To be honest I don't have a clue what is happening and I hope we don't run out of time in our search for other players while we are spending so much time on Arshavin. We can't forget that we still need the players which we have been short of since the start of the season- a defensive midfielder & a central defender.

We have been linked with a number of other players today. First of all we are again linked to young Fabian Delph of Leeds who is a very good box to box midfielder with an eye for a goal and very mature on the pitch for his age. He fits the profile of a typical Wenger signing and I wouldn't be surprised if we did sign him. We are also linked with Serdar Tasci of Stuttgart & Tresor Mputu who is from DR Congo and I know nothing else about him. Eboue's agent claims that Atletico Madrid had a bid for him turned down and there are also claims that German league leaders Hoffenheim failed in a bid for Bendtner. We would certainly survive without Eboue although he is our main cover at right back and shouldn't really play anywhere else. A few weeks ago I would have said sell Bendtner but he seems to be making his mark from the bench at the moment and long may it continue.

Eduardo has said he is ready for the first team after last night's 90 minutes and while I would love to see him in the team at Cardiff I think the boss will play it a little slower than that before reintroducing him. Paul Rodgers has gone on a month's loan to Northampton Town and I hope it goes well for him and the experience does him a world of good. That's it for today.

Here's Wilshere's wonderful goal from last night and a little more of the match too.

http://www.thegunninghawk.com/2009/01/22/arsenal-reserves-vs-stoke-match-video-highlights-including-wilsheres-wonder-goal/

And to finish the title track by Damien Marley.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=hHNHsWSs8Ww&feature=related

See You Tomorrow.

It appears we have been "Waiting In Vain" for Arshavin to sign for us as we cannot agree a fee with his club. There is talk of him buying out his contract and becoming a free agent which is doing a "Webster" I think but I suppose with 11 days left in the transfer window we can expect a few more twists and turns. I do hope we sign him but we should be looking elsewhere also as our first priority should be a defensive midfielder. I also think we need a centre back but we have seen the emergence of Djourou recently which has eased my fears slightly.

Eduardo has made his second comeback for the reserves tonight at Stoke and while I don't know the final score yet it was 2-2 with 5 minutes to go and I think Wilshere might have got 2 goals and Eduardo was still on the pitch which means he probably got 90 minutes under his belt. The countdown can now begin to his return to full match fitness and the first team. We had just started to see how good he was last season when he had his horiffic injury and in 3-4 weeks we should see him again.

The boss has said he is delighted with the progress of Rambo as he is well ahead of where he thought he would be at this stage. I thought when we signed him that he would be a long term replacement for Cesc but hopefully he can break into the team sooner than that though I'm not sure what position he will fill. Adebayor reckons we need some belief and if we can show enough belief we can still win the league. We are showing a good fighting spirit and a lot of committment at the moment even though we aren't playing too well. The style of play is improving very slowly and I hope we can keep our challenge for 4th place up(for the moment I won't even consider anything better than that).

Finally I have realised that I never gave Bendtner the credit he was due after another good performance as a sub at Hull. I have criticised him a lot this season but after some very poor performances he has done very well as a sub in the last 2 games. I hope he keeps it up as it can only be good for us. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of what Adebayor can do when he is on form.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=duHse4_iItg

And to finish the title track from today by Bob Marley.

 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-341591613808627499

See You Tomorrow.

Update: The reserves did draw 2-2 and Eduardo played the 90 full minutes with Wilshere scoring both goals.

As it stands The Spuds are in extra time after losing 3-0 at Burnley and if they don't score they are going out as I understand it. There is a God if they lose.

There isn't a lot of Arsenal news about today and our next match is in the FA Cup at Cardiff on Sunday so I will be as brief as possible. Clichy will sit that game out as he got his 5th yellow card of the season at Hull last Saturday and I would imagine young Gibbs will play at left back as a result. It will be good to see how he gets on with the rest of our first choice defence alongside him. It also appears that we are top of the table when it comes to scoring in the last 10 minutes of league matches according to the club site. I'm sure this is true as I have no finger nails at the moment at all.

The latest Arshavin news is that we will have to wait and see for a little longer with negociations supposedly going on today. Let's hope it's sorted today as it is boring me to tears at the moment. Gallas has said that he intends to run down his contract at Arsenal and he says he has 2 years left on it. I know he's not the cleverest and that probably means he has 1 year left from the season's end. I can't see us keeping him beyond the summer as long as we can find a buyer. Finally young Ogogo is having his loan spell at Barnet extended and he won't be back to us until the end of the season. That's it on a very quiet and cold day.

Here's a clip of what Clichy can do when he is on his game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTaQSiUhpDA

And to finish the title track from New Model Army which is what Arshavin should be saying to our representatives today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyBTobGmaSQ

See You Tomorrow.