The weekend is over and it's back to the harsh reality of work for me this morning. It's going to be a strange week as I have to work 12 hours a day for the next 2 days but then I have Wednesday off as it's a national holiday here in Ireland. However opportunities to "drown the shamrock" on Paddy's Day will be limited as it's back to work on Thursday morning.

The boss had a lot to say after our victory at Hull at the weekend and I'll do my best to summarise it here. First of all he said that it was a very big win after our difficult midweek game and we know what is at stake when we go to places like Hull or Stoke. We managed to win both of those games in injury time and that shows that we keep on fighting until the very end. He said we have desire and spirit and we never give up which is great for such a young team. 

He said that winning with late goals shows our spirit but that it isn't very good for his heart. He said that we are in the fight for the league title with eight games to go and there is no reason why we should not believe that we can win it. There are still some tough games to go with the trips to Birmingham, The Spuds, Wigan and Blackburn ahead of us. Birmingham have not lost at home since September, The Spuds are our closest rivals and pushing for fourth place, Wigan have won at home to Chelsea and Liverpool already this season and Blackburn have only 2 home defeats this season. A case can be made for all of those games being very difficult but we will have to win them all if we are going to win the league.

At home we have to play West Ham, Wolves, Man City and Fulham and I am confident of winning three of those games but the City game won't be easy. They are pushing for fourth place and have some very good players but I think their defence is poor and we can get that win. While we are playing all these games we have to contend with a Champions league quarter final and that's going to be another drain on the players.

The boss said that they were tired on Saturday and with so many players out injured it means too many players have to play in every game. I thought Nasri looked a shadow of the player we saw against Porto and despite his few weeks off with his "injury" Arshavin still looks jaded to me. The boss said that Campbell can cope with one game a week but three games  week is too much for him. I thought he struggled on Saturday and I'm sure the break will be much appreciated by him. The other option was to have played Silvestre on Saturday but the boss would seem to share the views of the majority of fans when it comes to him.

The good news on the injury front is that Cesc and Rosicky both have a good chance to be fit for next Saturday's evening kick off at home to West Ham. We will of course have Song back from suspension and he was sorely missed at times on Saturday. Gallas however will not be fit to play but I hope we can get him back for the Champions league quarter finals and the last 6 games in the league. I know RVP is due back in April but to be honest by the time he has regained any sort of match fitness the season will be more or less over as there are only eight weeks to go in the league.

The boss spoke about Boateng's red card on Saturday and said that he doesn't think the player could complain about being sent off. He was being very generous to Boateng and he could have said a lot more about a player who poked one of his players in the eye and caught another one knee high with his studs with the ball a long way away. After not highlighting those incidents on MOTD on Saturday night they were at least pointed out on MOTD2 last night. 

When asked about Hull's penalty the boss pointed out that it was offside first of all but also that the Dutch man with the long name made the most of it by going straight at Campbell while not in control of the ball. He said that any connection was unintentional and it should not have been a penalty. I said yesterday that bad decisions tend to even out over a season and if we lost a goal to an  offside decision on Saturday we at least got one in our favour last Tuesday night. The penalty we conceded though should have been balanced out by one in our favour in the second half when Clichy was taken down in their box but as per usual this season we got sweet FA for it.

In other news our ladies lost the home leg of their Champions league quarter final 2-0 to reigning champions Duisburg yesterday and they went out 4-1 on aggregate. They will have to concentrate their efforts on the domestic trophies for the rest of the season but they did very well to get so far after losing their best players to the professional game in the States last summer. The under 18s managed   a 4-0 win at home to MK Dons on Saturday with Afobe getting two goals and Aneke and Rees getting the others. They remain 11 points clear at the top of their league with only 7 games left to play.

According to some reports we are monitoring the progress and form of Lazio goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and if he's any good I wouldn't be surprised if we bought him or any other good goalkeeper in the summer as it is our weakest position without a shadow of a doubt. We don't have a keeper capable of playing at the highest level in the game unless young Szczesny makes the grade but at 19 he's very young to be our first choice. 

With no midweek game things will get a little bit boring during the week from an Arsenal perspective but at least the players will get a well deserved chance to recover and the extra players coming back for next weekend will give the boss what he really needs at the moment - options. With the Spuds not playing their FA cup quarter final replay against Fulham until Wednesday week we won't know if our proposed trip to WHL on April 10th will go ahead or not until that game is decided as April 1oth is FA Cup semi final day. I don't want Arsenal to have to play away to the Spuds midweek in the last week of the season as three games in the final eight days of the season could prove to be very difficult. 

Finally for today it was great to see Arshavin score our 100th goal of the season in all competitions on Saturday and even better  to see Bendtner add the 101stgoal to win the game in injury time. Watching the muppets on Sky after the "Manure" game yesterday I was particularly annoyed to hear them tell us how great "Manure" were to have scored 100 goals already this season but they never made any mention of our goal tally.It's typical of them as they continue their bias towards "Manure" which can be seen in how often we are live oi their Sunday  games. I'm sick of Arsenal kicking off at 5.30 on Saturday evenings but we have it again next Saturday.

Here's JET's goal for Doncaster at the weekend. It isn't brilliant quality but it's better than nothing.

And to finish today's title track from Talk Talk. All I will be doing is talking(or writing) about Arsenal as we thankfully have no midweek game.

See You Tomorrow.

Yesterday's game turned out to be a game that could make the difference between Arsenal winning the league and another season of being also rans. We managed to snatch a win from the jaws of a draw and with it gain our fifth league win in a row and keep our title dreams alive. With Chelsea eventually running out 4-1 winners against West Ham earlier in the day it was vital that Arsenal kept up the pressure on them and "Manure" who are playing Fulham today.

In my pre match prediction I forgot to include Arshavin in my predicted line up but otherwise I got it more or less right. I did think Eboue and Silvestre would play at the back but luckily enough both Sagna and Campbell overcame their injuries to start which meant Eboue played wide right instead of Walcott and Silvestre did what he is best at - warming the bench.

I was also pretty sure that Hull would try to rough us up and their persistent fouling in the first half in particular was an absolute disgrace. It seemed that every time an Arsenal player went past a Hull player he was pulled back, dragged down or tripped. As usual of course we all knew that the first player booked would be an Arsenal one and so it turned out to be. I am utterly convinced their Phil Brown told his players to stop Arsenal players going past them at any cost and anyone who believes we are not targetted just needs to watch the first half of that match.

First thing's first though and upon arrival at the supporters club I was told that due to a "technical problem" we wouldn't be able to see the first 10 minutes of the game but that was a slight miscalculation and we actually didn't tune in until almost 20 minutes were gone. Most of us had already got texts to tell us that Arshavin had put Arsenal 1-0 up in the  14th minute and that was a lot better than we had anticipated as Arsenal scored relatively early in a game for the second time in a row. It wasn't until half time that we managed to see the goal when it was shown again. Our only consolation for those first 20 minutes was the beers that seemed to flow quicker than usual.

With our lead in place we settled down to watch the rest of the game but unfortunately that lead didn't last too long. A ball flicked over our defence fell to a Dutch man with a very long name and Campbell made a clumsy challenge to give away a penalty. The penalty was very well dispatched by Bullard and the sides were level again at 1-1 after 28 minutes. He was offside when the ball was played and the linesman was perfectly in line to see it but somehow he managed to miss it. We got a decision like that in our favour on Tuesday night so I suppose it supports the theory that these things even themselves out in a season. 

At half time Kevin  Keegan said that Campbell should have been sent off but it just shows how little he knows about the game or the rules of the game. The player was not in control of the ball when Campbell collided with him as the ball was on the back of his head at the time. The reason for that was of course that he was already on his way down before any contact was made and he was looking for the penalty. Campbell did however receive a yellow card for the challenge.

As Arsenal looked to regain the initiative Hull's tactic's took a turn for the nastier side as first of all Dawson was booked for a very bad "challenge" on Denilson that could easily have been a red card and as the referee was sorting that out the fourth official brought his attention to what appeared to be hand bags between Bendtner and Boateng. Both players were booked but when we saw the incident again it was obvious that Boateng had raised his hand to Bendtner's face twice while in my opinion Bendtner appeared to do very little in response. If I'm wrong about Bendtner please feel free to tell me but I don't think so.

When I saw the footage this morning I realised that Boateng had actually intentionally stuck his finger in Bendtner's eye and he should definitely have been sent off. His stay on the pitch didn't last much longer anyway as just before half time he received his second yellow card of the game for what was certainly a straight red card offence again. He went in knee high on Sagna and got nowhere near the ball and we are very lucky that he didn't do serious damage to Sagna. As Sagna received treatment and Boateng walked off the Hull fans sang "Same old Arsenal, always cheating" which just shows their supporters are at the same idiotic level as their players.

Half time came and went and still Arsenal couldn't find the form they had before the first goal. Arsenal made a few more chances in the game but the best ones fell to Arshavin who invariably mis kicked them and it looked  like a 1-1 draw was all we would get. Walcott came on for Eboue although I thought Sagna was the man who should have gone off to give us more attacking options against ten players. Walcott seemed to give us more impetus going forward but still the elusive winning goal wouldn't come. He did also seem to take the wrong option too often or not look up before crossing the ball at times but I thought he had a very positive effect on the team.

As the board went up to show 6 minutes of injury time we had a little bit of renewed hope that we could snatch a winner. The reason we had so much injury time was that a Hull player got hurt in a tackle with Campbell where Campbell clearly won the ball but it's debatable whether he used too much force or not. I thought it was 50/50 and both players were comitted but Campbell was just stronger but I am an Arsenal fan.

Anyway a few minutes into that added time Denilson tried a speculative effort from outside the box in hope of finding a winner and when it swerved a little the keeper pushed it straight back into the middle of the penalty area. The first player to react was Bendtner and I was sure he would blast it home but he didn't connect fully and the ball bounced over the hand of the diving keeper to nestle in the net. To say I was ecstatic is probably an understatement as I thought we had blown our chances and the two dropped points could prove to be crucial in the run in for the league.

It's been a very busy day so far and I will probably deal with any fallout or post match comments tomorrow as I have a lot to do still but I was delighted to get the scoreline correct for the second time in 3 matches. I only missed out by 1 goal as well last week so my predictions are improving at last. That's it for today.

Here's the highlights from yesterday.

LINK 

And to finish today's title track from The Housemartins.  It was a happy hour or so for me yesterday and although we didn't beat Hull 4-0 I think they will be relegated and I won't get the chance to use that album name by the Housemartins again. I've waited a long time for us to beat them 4-0 so I'll have to be content with 4 wins in  a row against them.

See You Tomorrow.

The doom merchants who thought we would find Porto a difficult task last night were just a little bit off in the end as we thrashed them 5-0 at home to move into the Champions league quarter finals 6-2 on aggregate. There was talk about Arsenal not having overturned a first leg deficit in Europe in 30 years but statistics can more or less prove or disprove anything you want them to. I had predicted a 3-1 scoreline but I did also say that it was a poor Porto team and they were worse than the team we beat 4-0 in the group stages last season. That proved to be the case and with Nasri, Arshavin and Bendtner shining we were just too good for them.

The team was as I had predicted except that Rosicky started instead of Walcott. Nasri was given the chance to play in the playmakers role that had earned him comparisons to Zidane in his younger years(not that he's old now) and he thrived on it as he had on Saturday when Cesc went off injured. There was some talk bandied about last night about how we were playing better without Cesc but if the players can put that much in when Cesc is in the team we will win our last 9 league matches and take the title too. I'd still be worried that we will be found out defensively in the Champions league but I'm happy enough to have got this far and we will see what the draw holds for us on Friday of next week.

Arsenal looked very bright from the start and by the time the first goal came in the 10th minute we had already had a couple of chances to score. When Almunia kicked the ball long to Arshavin in the build up to the first goal he was definitely offside but how the defender let a player who is 2'6" beat him to a header I don't know. He headed it to Nasri who played him in on the keeper and as Arshavin, the keeper and a few defenders converged on the ball it fell to Bendtner who stretched his long leg to poke it into an empty net. After all his misses on Saturday he couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to redeem himself and he took it easily.

Arsenal continued to press and a few half chances came and went while Porto also looked to get back into the game and had some pressure of their own. As I have always said the opposition will create chances at this level and to expect them not to is expecting miracles. The manner that we defended at times to stop them creating their half chances was not as good as it should been but we created far more gilt edged chances ourselves. The second goal came in the 25th minute when Porto tried to let the ball run out for a throw in but it stayed in play and was poorly cleared straight to Arshavin. He beat 3 or 4 players with excellent close control and squared it for Bendtner to tap into an empty net for 2-0. The defenders let Bendtner go as they thought he was offside in my opinion but you can't be offside if you're behind the ball when it's played which he certainly was.

There were plenty of more chances before half time with both goalkeepers making saves although their keeper had to make much more difficult ones and Arshavin also managed to put the best chance over the bar when he seemed sure to score. Half time arrived and it was stiil 2-0 with Arsenal in a very strong position and looking to secure their spot in the last 16 with 1 more goal after the break. 

The second half started with Porto getting a lot more of the play and they had 2 good chances either side of Eboue's introduction for Rosicky in the 57th minute. Almunia saved the first when it was luckily hit straight at him as anywhere else from Falcao was a certain goal and Nasri did his job on the post for the second when he cleared a header from a corner off the line. Shortly after that Arsenal got the third goal that they needed to settle their nerves and it was a fantastic individual goal from Nasri. In the 63rd minute he got the ball near the sideline and with very quick feet he somehow beat 3 Porto players before drilling the ball across the keeper and into the far corner for 3-0.

Within 3 minutes it was 4-0 as Arsenal broke very quickly from a Porto corner through Arshavin and he fed Eboue who had run extremely fast to get ahead of him. Eboue drew the keeper, went around him and finished into an empty net to effectively finish the tie at 5-2 on aggregate. After that most of the fight was gone out of Porto and Arsenal created and missed 4 or 5 more chances before  Eboue broke into their box in injury time and was felled for a penalty. Bendtner stepped up to take it and he stuck it in the corner despite the keepers best efforts to wrap it up at 5-0.

After the game Bendtner was happy with his first hat trick for Arsenal but he said he will put it behind him and concentrate on the next game as he did when he missed all those chances on Saturday. Let's hope he brings that form into the trip to Hull on Saturday and bags a few more goals to help us in our quest for the title. The boss was happy with the win and performance too and he said he doesn't mind who we get in the last 8. He also said we are not focussing more on the Premier league or the Champions league for the moment but we are focussing on our next game against Hull already. He also said that Cesc is 50/50 to play in that gamebut I suspect that we will see him rested and that we will see the same starting 11 more or less. If they can play like that they will have too much for Hull. Personally I would choose to win the Premier league before the Champions league but both would be even nicer. I can dream can't I?That's it for today.

Here's the highlights from last night.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Black Uhuru. It wasn't quite a slaughter last night but 5-0 is close enough for me.

See You Tomorrow.

After what seems like an eternity we are only one day away from our trip to Stoke and Arsenal's next date with their Premier league destiny. When we lost to the 2 teams above us we were written off and with 13 games to go were were 8 points behind the leaders Chelsea and they had a game in hand too. However they managed to draw at Hull and lose at Everton and we now find ourselves 6 points behind them with that extra game for them gone. Their away form has been very poor and in my opinion they were lucky to win at Wolves last Saturday. That gives us a lot of hope for those remaining 11 games and every time Chelsea go away from home I'll be hoping for them to drop some points. Added to that they have their first choice goalkeeper and left back both injured and their captain is beginning to look a bit of a liability when he is playing.

The other half of the equation is Manure of course and we saw last week against Everton exactly how good thy are when Shrek is not at his best or starved of supply. They did bounce back on Tuesday night with Shrek scoring 2 goals in the 3-0 defeat of West Ham and Valencia making both of those goals. It's no coincidence that Shrek is scoring a lot more goals this season with the diver gone to Madrid as he is getting a lot more chances with Manure becoming more of a team than a one man show. If Shrek has a drop in form or gets injured Manure will fall off the pace in the league very quickly but even though the majority of their fans that I know think they have a poor team they are still hanging in there and putting the pressure on Chelsea. 

I honestly think that Arsenal don't have to look over their shoulders at the teams fighting for 4th place because I don't think any of them are good enough to put pressure on us for 3rd place unless we completely collapse. I've said it before and I'll say it again I think we only need 5 or maybe 6 wins at the most from our last 11 games to guarantee 3rd place in the league. The other competition we are still involved in is the Champions league of course and if we can overcome our 2-1 first leg deficit to Porto after the away leg we will find it very difficult in the quarter finals. The teams most likely to make the last 8 besides Arsenal are Manure, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bordeaux, Sevilla and Fiorentina in my opinion and I can only hope that we don't draw any of the first 3 of those teams because it would make further progress very difficult. I'm not saying we can't beat them but with the injuries we seem to have every week we will find it hard to put out a strong enough team to do that.

Ahead of the trip to Stoke the boss told us yesterday that there is a possibility of Eduardo being available as he returns to full training today. However it seems that Gallas, Diaby and Arshavin will all miss out yet again as they are still injured. That should see the return of Campbell for Gallas, Nasri continuing on the left for Arshavin and hopefully Ramsey for Diaby yet again. I'm sure the boss will be tempted to play Denilson instead of Diaby but I hope he doesn't as his performance in the FA Cup defeat at Stoke is still fresh in my memory.

The boss had an awful lot to say about left backs yesterday as he spoke about Clichy, Gibbs and Wayne Bridge. He said that Clichy is coming back to his best after his lengthy injury lay off and in our last 2 league games he had strong performances and was more convincing. He also said that Gibbs could be back before the end of the season but it's difficult to tell at the moment because he is still in a cast. There is talk of Gibbs receiving a call up to England's World Cup squad after Bridge made himself unavailable yesterday but I can't see it happening myself. If he hadn't got injured in November when Clichy was already injured he probably would have made the left back position his own and be a dead cert for a place in that England World Cup squad but as it is I don't think he will play again this season and England can't risk him at the World Cup with their 1st choice Mr Tweedy having broken his ankle last week and being close to not making the trip either. 

When asked about Wayne Bridge's withdrawl from any potential selection in England's World Cup squad the boss said he didn't know if the player was able to make himself unavailable for selection. I had said in the past that Ireland should take up Stephen Ireland's refusal to play for his country with FIFA or UEFA as I can remember France doing it with Makalele and forcing him to play for them. As far as I know if a player won't play for his country he can be banned from playing for his club although I don't think England will choose that option with Bridge as it's a very delicate matter. The final bit of left back news today is that our own "top gun" Thomas Cruise has done what at least 20 other players have done this season by signing a new contract extension.

Speaking about tomorrow's game the boss said that Stoke have scored 15 goals from set pieces this season and 14 of those are at home. He said that a lot of them come from throw ins and if you look at the pitch tomorrow you will see how narrow it is compared to our pitch. With the ball boys all providing towels for former javelin thrower Delap to dry the ball it is a very potent weapon and hopefully our defence can be strong enough to stand up to them. The boss says that the game is not about revenge for our FA Cup defeat last month as Stoke were the best team on the day and deserved to win. He said he has watched how Stoke play and that they mix it about a bit now and play a lot more football than they did last season. I'm not sure if that's true but maybe he's trying to lull them into a false sense of security by being very nice to and about them. He did finish by saying we have a good opportunity to prove we can be better than them on Saturday.

The boss didn't quite rubbish the Dutch national team manager's claim that RVP would be back in early April but he did say that he thought it was a bit optimistic. There are rumours that JET will be going out on loan to Doncaster until the end of the season and I hope the experience will stand to him. He has already been on loan in the championship this season with Blackpool and that went quite well. That's it for today but I'll be back tomorrow to preview the Stoke game and give my prediction too.

Here's a little bit of what Ramsey can do.

And to finish today's title track from Echo And The Bunnymen. What we need tomorrow is a show of strength both mentally and physically. 

See You Tomorrow.

I was a little concerned over the last few days on the lack of news coming out of Arsenal ahead of the trip to Porto tonight but it would have been better to hear nothing at all than the news that we are without Song, Gallas, Arshavin and Eduardo for the match tonight. That bad news was somewhat tempered by the good news that Almunia has a problem with his finger and won't be playing either but it doesn't make up for it totally. The obvious replacement for Gallas is Capmbell and he looks set to make his reapparence in the competition after 4 years plying his trade in relative footballing backwaters. It sounds incredible that we should be giving a game to a man of his age considering the manager's views on players over 30 but it would seem he will be marking Hulk tonight. The good news on the injury front is that Vela is available again although I would be surprised to see him get on the pitch at any time tonight.

The team is likely to be Fabianski in goals with Sagna, Clichy, Vermaelen and Campbell at the back, Cesc, Diaby and Denilson in midfield & Bendtner, Nasri and Rosicky as the front 3. There are other options the manager might use of course with Eboue possibly playing on the right hand side at the back or up front and with Walcott or Ramsey possibly starting as well but I would be surprised to see a different starting 11 to the one I predicted. The boss may not be too worried about our team missing a few players but Porto is never an easy place to go and I hope we can keep it together tonight and get the required result. A 1-1 draw would be just fine as far as the Champions league goes and it's so much better than a 0-0 as it affords the opportunity of a slip at home which we are quite partial to at times this season. We will need to work hard and defend in numbers at times. If Denilson is to play the defensive midfield role he has to be more disciplined and track runners. If he has to kick the ball out of play at times I can live with that but what I don't want to see is him passing to the opposition when he can't find an Arsenal player to pass to.

The manager revealed that Almunia has being playing through the pain of his injury in recent matches and it's good to know we have something in common with him at last as we have been in pain with his performances all season. Fabianski will get his chance to impress tonight and I hope he grabs it with both hands. He got a chance against Stoke and although he played well enough his first minute mistake cost us a goal. I wouldn't imagine that Porto have a version of Rory Delap and hopefully he can settle early and show us what it's like to have a keeper that the defenders trust for a change. With Fabianski playing that means that Mannone is on the bench and I would imagine that he will be joined there by Eboue, Silvestre, Walcott, Ramsey, Vela and Traore. It gives us a few options although I'm not too fond of the defensive ones if push comes to shove. 

Porto will dive at every opportunity and do everything they can to con the referee. It's a trait of Portugese football and if they go ahead they will do all they can to waste time such as feigning injury and it's up to us to play on of a player is down until the referee blows his whistle.I have no fears about Campbell getting stuck in and I hope the rest of the team show as much committment as him from the off. With Bendtner as centre forward I hope to see him in the box more often as he is prone to dropping off and joining in the play too much. He is not and never will be Denis Bergkamp or Thierry Henry and we need his physical presence in the box to ruffle a few feathers. I don't want to see him crossing into the box from a wide position with the smaller players in there waiting for it as we tend to see too often when he is playing.

Porto aren't doing as well as they usually do in their domestic league and are in a similar position to ours but it's a much weaker league than the Premier league obviously. Maybe their policy of selling their best players every year is catching up with them(I know they have no choice) and they will come back from this lull I'm sure but it's a good season to draw them from our perspective. If we play our football and go at them at every opportunity, whilst remaining firm at the back, we will be too good for them and I see us winning 2-1. The key player for us, as always, is Cesc and if he can impose himself on the game Porto will struggle. It's sure to be a hostile environment for the players tonight but they're all mature enough to cope with it I hope.

The boss stated that he is against the proposed end of season play offs between 4th to 7th place for the final Champions league spot and I'm in full agreement with him. What's the point in playing in a league where you are rewarded for your final position if you then lose that reward to a team who could finish 10 or more points behind you just to increase revenue for the FA. If this proposal is accepted what will we see next? Will it be playoffs to decide the league winners? I wouldn't be surprised if it is and with the recently proposed 39th game being an obvious non starter the FA are always looking to increase revenue under any disguise.

Finally for today Arshavin has again decided to have his say on all matters Arsenal. This time he has said he wouldn't blame Cesc if he joined Barcelona and he also said that he joked with Cesc last summer about the rumours linking him with them. He told Cesc at the time that he hoped he would stay as he wanted to play with him for a season or 2 at least. I really wish Arshavin would shut his mouth because his almost weekly outbursts are becoming a real annoyance at this stage. He should let his football do the talking as his form is not so good at the moment and he should concentrate on improving that.

Here's  a clip of Fabianski doing what he's paid for.

And to finish here's today's title track from Bob Marley. We need to work hard tonight to get the desired result.

See You Tomorrow.

After a very quiet footballing weekend things should be back in full swing by tomorrow night when the Champions league is up and running again and there's a couple of midweek Premier league games too. Man City will be playing one of their games in hand tomorrow night as they travel to Stoke and they have an FA Cup replay away to them next week as well. Their fixtures are really starting to build up at the moment and we will see if their squad is as strong as they think it is. If they manage to overcome Stoke in the FA Cup they face a trip to Chelsea in the last 8 as the draw continues to favour the holders of the trophy. If their new owners want a trophy this season their only chance is the FA Cup and it will be interesting to see how seriously they take it with 4th place in the league also very much in their sights.

From an Arsenal perspective there still is very little news to report but it would seem that the link I gave to the possible new jersey for next season was not real which doesn't surprise me at all as it's probably a bit early to see what next season's kit will look like. It's interesting to talk about it though and see how other people feel about proposed changes to our traditional kit. Ahead of the match on Wednesday night there is still no official confirmation on the injuries to Arshavin and Song and whether they will be available to play or not but we can only keep our fingers crossed that Song at least makes it ti keep my favoured starting midfield 3 together. The boss did say last week that Eduardo should be back for this game and his very small hamstring injury has taken a little longer than expected to heal but after all his troubles that's to be expected I suppose. Our Ladies beat Doncster 5-0 in the Ladies FA Cup as they continue their very good season. Their Champions league campaign resumes in March with a quarter final tie against  Duisburg and they are now 4 points behind the league leaders with 6 games in hand. Their crucial league game will be against Everton in April as Everton have dropped the same amount of points as them so far this season and ran them soclose last season.

I won't get a chance to see the match on Wednesday night as I'll be working until 9 that night and I won't be home until 10 but I'm sure I'll catch the highlights on Sky right afterwards and I'll be keeping track of the score on my computer in work and on my phone as I travel home. My blogging should return to a more normal time schedule very soon as the part I need to get my laptop working again is in transit since last Wednesday and hopefully it should be delivered today if the kids can get out of bed to answer the door to the postman during their mid term break. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of Arshavin on Soccer AM talking about his team mates.

And to finish today's title track from Radiohead. I am climbing up the walls waiting for my laptop issue to be sorted and with all the work I'm doing at the moment.

See You Tomorrow.

First things first, I have to apologise for my neglection to duties on my blog and on keeping up with what other people are posting as well. It's due to a combination of circumstances and hopefully I will sort at least one of them out very shortly as I'm waiting for a new part to arrive for my laptop to get it working again. The second one won't be so easy to sort out as my work schedule has increased by an awful lot recently and it's only by standing up to my boss that I'm not working today and tomorrow after work 12 hours on 2 days last week and 4 days next week. If I was allowed to do my job the way I know is best it wouldn't be such an issue but when you're constantly told to do something in what you know is the wrong way and it's insisted upon that you do then it takes twice as long by the time you do it properly afterwards. Thankfully with him refusing to speak to me now that shouldn't be an issue for another while.

Anyway  this is an Arsenal blog and not a sob story about my petty problems so I'll continue with some Arsenal topics.To be honest there isn't an awful lot of Arsenal news to report as we have no game due to Stoke putting us out of the FA Cup in the last round. It's for the best more than likely as our players will value the week off competitive football before the last 16 Champions league first leg with Porto. Speaking of that game it would appear that Arshavin will miss it through injury although the club haven't confirmed that yet but it's being reported everywhere else. There's no news on Alex Song's injury as of yet so it's still fingers crossed time for him. I won't bother to talk about Cesc and all the media crap as regards him and Barcelona but all I will say is I really hope that he remains an Arsenal player for a few years yet.

If we had to travel to Man City in the cup today after the run of games we have just had it would have been a very tall order for the players and it would probably have seen another experimental team which might well have struggled against a City team who know this is their biggest chance to break their 34 year wait for a trophy. The players can have a well earned break and come back fully focussed and fit(with a few obvious exceptions) for our game on Wednesday night which is something that is needed as it's 1 of only 2 trophies w can now win this season. Of course they are the 2 biggest trophies on offer and the capture of either 1 would send me and all Arsenal fans into seventh heaven. That's only a dream at the moment with a 6 point gap to make up in the league and the elite of Europe's football clubs all still between us and making amends for our 2006 Champions league defeat. 

I read an interesting piece on an Arsenal fan who moved into Highbury Square  and it sounds like dream living for us Gunners. There's not a lot more to say really but if you have a fantasy team there are still 2 games left this week although they are on Tuesday and Wednesday night so don't despair if like me your team is going from bad to worse at the moment. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of how a centre forward scores a goal and how we used to play a different style of football Arsene Wenger arrived.

 And to finish here's today's title track from Lloyd Cole and The Commotions. This weekend is a lost weekend in football terms for Arsenal fans.

See You Tomorrow.

The title might sound a bit heartless but what it means is that we are seen as 1 of the rich clubs in the Premier League, whether it's true or not, and we have 12 games left in the league this season most of which are against clubs who have nowhere near our resources. If we can win all 12 of those games I am confident that the 36 points would lead to a league title but it's a tall order. To ensure we increase our chances we have to make up about 10 goals on the 2 teams above us in goal difference and to do that we need to beat these teams and beat them by as wide a margain as possible. We are no longer the top scorers in the league although we are only 1 goal off that mark but our one time projected target of 100 goals would seem to be a long way off at the moment as scoring hasn't been so easy in the last 4 games. It's no coincidence that those games were against more or less the other top teams in the league and I'm sure our scoring rate will pick up against the so called lesser teams.

After the Liverpool game it emerged that Song and Arshavin had picked up injuries and are possible doubts for our Champions league game against Porto in 5 days time. Whatever chance we have without Arshavin I sincerely hope Song is fit and able to play as it won't be easy away to them. Thankfully we have the weekend off to give them a chance to recover as the FA Cup 5th round takes place. Arsenal and Hull were both finedby the FA yesterday for failing to control their players in the handbags incident in the league game at the Emirates in December. To be honest I've seen a lot worse in kids football and it's a sad for football when what happened was called a fracas. I've been involved in games where people were kicked square in the nuts, punched to the ground or even karate kicked in the back which were considered to be mild. I was even once hit over the head with a linesman's flag but that's a different story altogether. I'll try to write a little more tomorrow but between stand up rows with my boss over refusing to work on Valentine's day and taking lunch breaks I'm very pushed for time. That's it for today.

Here'sa clip of why Eboue still worries me when he plays although he certainly offers more going forward than Sagna.

Andto finish today's title track from The Dead Kennedys which was explained above.

It's time to get down to the business of winning our last 13 league games and putting pressure on the 2 teams ahead of us in the league tonight. Liverpool pay a visit to the emirates tonight and they have somehow managed to creep up to 5 points behind us in the table. This has led to a few of their players assuming that they have a chance of catching us and that is something that we have to put a stop to tonight. A sound thrashing should see them on their way and knock the little bit of confidence they have regained right back out of them. It should also leave them struggling for 4th place in the league again but at least they will have the consolation of getting their Europa league campaign up and running fairly soon. I hope they do well in it as it would be nice to see if they can win the inaugural Europa league and then retain it next season after finishing outside the top 4.

We know what to expect when Liverpool come calling as they will pack their defence for the 90 minutes and hope to get a goal from a set piece or a breakaway as both Manure and Chelsea were so successful in recently. However, detest both of those teams as I do there is no doubt that they are far better than a very average Liverpool team especially without their very own version of RVP - Torres(all the injuries). So we can expect Arsenal to have plenty of possession and to be kicked ad nausem by Mascherano and Carragher in particular. The first yellow card will of course be given to an Arsenal player for daring to foul poor little Stevie G as he falls over a blade of grass or is knocked down by a gust of wind. I would imagine that we will see a fairly similar team to the one that took the field on Sunday against Chelsea but I do hope that Bendtner finally gets a chance to start. I also hope to see our players going at Carragher with the ball as there is nothing surer than the fact that he will foul them as his inability to tackle fairly grows by the week. Every time we play I say the players have to concentrate for every single minute of the game and time after time they make the stupidest mistakes that cost us goals. I can only hope that they can finally put a stop to it tonight and defend as if their lives depended on it when it's needed. If they can somehow manage to master the tactical foul that other teams employ to great effect against us as well I would be thrilled but I won't be holding my breath. 

Even if we're not at our very best we're too good for this Liverpool team and I expect Arsenal to win but I have a funny feeling it won't be as convincingly as I would like. I'm going for a 2-1 win for us with Arshavin being the scourge of Liverpool yet again and giving the fans something to cheer about again. I'll be in the supporters club in Bray watching the game as I have to return the application forms for myself and my wife to go to the Man City game in April and for no other reason at all. I certainly won't be drinking after working 12 hours yesterday and having to do it again tomorrow. Can somebody please explain to me why I have to work longrer hours in a bloody recession? 

At his press conference the boss had a lot to say although he did threaten to say nothing at all at some stage if the press keep taking portions of what he says and taking them out of context as he says they did after both the Villa and Chelsea games. He did say that he was never in for the Stoke goalkeeper Sorensen in the transfer window and he said he knew nothing of Chamakh's plans although there are reports he has signed a pre contract agreement with us. He said he didn't want to bring in players on loan in January and he felt our recent problems have been caused by defensive problems and not offensive ones although with 1 goal in 3 games after our free scoring start to the season some may choose to disagree with him. It would appear that Eduardo will be back from his most recent injury to be available to face Porto next Wednesday and Kyle Bartley has gone on a 3 month loan to Sheffield United. I will be very interested to see how he gets on as he looks to be a genuine prospect for the future. I'll leave it there as I'm busy, busy, busy.

Here's the highlights from the 8 goal thriller at Anfield last season but try to concentrate on Arshavin's 4 goals and not our defending.

And to finish today's title track from the Manic Street Preachers. After the despair of the defeats in our last 2 games where to nex? Joy I hope after tonight.

See You Tomorrow.

ps Did you notice I didn't mention Almunia once? Damn I just did.

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.