The hoodoo that Koeman held over us was well and truly despatched last night as we beat AZ 4-1 at The Emirates to put ourselves on the cusp of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions league. With Liege beating Olympiacos we have not quite qualified as both of those teams can still theoretically overhaul us if results go their way. However with both of them having to beat us the chances of that are minimal to say the least. The next game for us in the Champions league is at home to Liege on November 24th and if we beat them we will win the group which is supposed to make our draw in the last 16 a little easier but you never know who will be the runners up in the other groups with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan & AC Milan all possibilities. One thing is for sure though and that is that I won't get to see the game as it's on my 20th wedding anniversary and if I go out to watch the game I won't reach the 21st.

The game itself was easier than I thought it would be and despite pulling a goal back late on AZ never really gave us too much trouble. The boss played Eboue at right back again as he has in 3 of our 4 group matches now and Nasri came back into the first team after his long injury lay off. With Gibbs in for the injured Clichy as well it showed the quality that we have in reserve as Sagna, Eduardo, Ramsey & Rosicky were all on the bench and we still have a long list of players out injured. Our first goal came when Gallas got forward and layed the ball off to Cesc who came back inside and put his shot between the defender's legs and it beat the keeper at the near post as he seemed unsighted. Then just before half time Arshavin played a lovely ball to Nasri outside the box and he turned his man before advancing and finishing it off beautifully. That left Koeman's side in a lot of trouble at half time as they had to try to play.

The second half started as the first half finished with Arsenal dominating again and AZ trying to hump the ball into our box at every oppurtunity. It wasn't long before the 3rd goal came and it was Cesc who got it again as he was played in on the left by Arshavin and feigned to shoot to the far post but instead buried at the near post as the keeper went the other way. We were now cruising and my 3-0 prediction looked like it would be left far behind. The boss took Cesc and RVP off to rest them with 25 minutes left and replaced them with Ramsey and Eduardo which gave the 2 of them a longer run out than usual. Not too long afterwards we got our 4th as the ball was played to Eduardo on the half way line and he back heeled it into the path of the running Arshavin who brought it to the edge of the box and laid it off for the advancing Diaby. He took it under control and finished well with only the keeper to beat.

At that stage it looked like any score might be possible but we weren't to score again and in fact AZ even managed to pull a goal back. We had a corner and when the ball dropped in the box an AZ player appeared to handle it but the referee played on and they broke quickly. Gibbs lost out on the half way line as he challenged his man and as he broke forward Ramsey couldn't tackle him without risking a red card. As he closed in on the box a far post shot seemed his best option and it seems Almunia thought so too as he got his feet wrong and was beaten at the near post without actually moving for the shot. Somehow we had managed to get caught on the break when we were 4-0 up but in the great scheme of things it didn't matter. Almunia did manage a very good save when the score was 3-0 as he reacted quickly to turn a point blank shot on to the bar and besides the goal he did have a good game.

I only managed to catch the second half live as I was playing football myself and I made my way out to the supporters club in Bray for that second half to watch it in the company of some fellow Gooners. I had my Arsenal jersey on and underneath it I had my new t-shirt that I received in the post when I got home from work yesterday. It's a Lady Arse special and she was good enough to send me a programme from the Spuds match on Saturday with it. I'll be putting a photo of me in the t-shirt in my gallery and I have to say that it was well worth the money. She has loads more designs and it's well worth checking them out. Here's what the t-shirt looks like.

After the game the boss said he was delighted with a brilliant victory and he talked up the quality of our players and our attacking options that are available. He gave a lot of praise to Arshavin and when asked about him and The Verminator he said that our policy is to develop our own players and add players of special quality and those 2 are good examples of that. Speaking after the game Cesc said that we are not definitely through yet and even if we were we would still go for a win in each of our last 2 matches. He said it's too early for trophies to be handed out no matter how well we are playing and he will feel it is something special when we win something. That's what we want to hear from our captain and star player and if he continues to play like he is at the moment and with that attitude we might just get 1 of those trophies that we crave. We have already passed the 50 goal mark for the season with only 18 games played and we have done that without ever having had all of our players available to choose from. Finally for today our ladies won 3-0 away to Sparta Prague in the first leg of their last 16 Ladies Champions league game and the return game is next Wednesday night.

Here's the highlights from last night.

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And to finish today's title track from UB40. Little by little the experts are starting to think we have achance this season after they all wrote us off initially.

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See You Tomorrow.

In just over 5 hours time we will be kicking off against our fiercest local rivals at The Emirates. The Spuds come to visit us in a lofty position of 3rd place for them and considering that they were rock bottom this time last year it's an excellent improvement. We have had to listen to their captain saying that their team is as good as ours and their bench is better but I think he may have forgotten that we have 2 players nominated for the Balloon d'Or and they have none. The 2 best players on the pitch today should be our captain Cesc and Arshavin and in my opinion RVP is not far behind them and the only thing that has held him back so far is the amount of injuries he has had in previous seasons which has slowed down his development. I doubted if he could lead the line in the true tradition of a centre forward but our new formation suits him as it does so many other players and I am happy to admit that I got it wrong. His form at the moment is top class and he is scoring the goals that you would expect from a player of his ability.

Ahead of the game the boss has said that the team with the most quality will win and in my opinion he is stating his belief that we have that quality and we will shove his words back down Robbie Keane's throat. He said that once they have had 12 consecutive years in the Champions league then they can compare themselves to us but they have a long way to go to get ther. He also stated that he knows who his keeper will be but he isn't going to tell us beforehand. He claims that Almunia was sick for a long time and it takes some time to come back from that. By now you will know my feelings on his "chest infection" but I doubt if we will ever know what went on. Their manager thinks that they are better than us in certain areas and we all know he means that the 6' 7" streak of misery Crouch has done very well against us at times in the past. No matter how well we play at the back it's hard at times to defend against that sort of heigth but we need to keep the chances he gets to attack high balls into the box to a minimum. Other than that they don't have a single player in their team that we would want in our team and that in itself is enough for us to control the game and take it to them from the start.

Ahead of the game it has to be remembered that they have not beaten us in our last 19 league meetings and the last time they won a league game away to us was in May 1993. We were on our way to an FA Cup final at the time and George Graham certainly was concentrating on the bigger picture. That was also the last time that they won away to any of the "big 4" and to be honest that's not exactly the form of world beaters. I have a funny feeling that Almunia will play and to be honest whoever does play in nets that has to be the weakest point in the team. Let's hope that the keeper on the day can play at his best and do everything that is expected of him. The defence picks itself again with Sagna, Clichy, Gallas and The Verminator all certainties to start in my opinion. In midfield we will see Song, Cesc and Diaby more than likely with Arshavin, RVP and A.N.Other as the front 3. I hope that we will see Nasri or Eduardo fill that position but I have a funny feeling that the boss will pick Eboue. When we managed a 0-0 draw at their ground last season we had to play for an hour with 10 players as Eboue got himself stupidly sent off. Let's hope he doesn't get the chance to do it today. Another player who could do a great job for us is Vela but it appears he has a knee injury and we might see him back next weekend.

Between the 2 teams there are only 3 clean sheets in 18 league games and we have 2 of them so I expect both teams to score today. I think we will win but it will be close and I'm going for a 3-2 win with RVP, Arshavin & Cesc scoring for us. This is the type of game that Arshavin is usually up for and a little bit of his magic could work wonders today against a pretty poor Spuds back 4. We need to play with pace and precision from the first minute to the last and impose our game upon them. We need to concentrate really hard at set pieces and defend them as if our lives depended on it. Hopefully Song can have a great game in his defensive midfield role and snuff out the threat of their players coming on to balls laid off by the stick insect. Don't forget that the draw for the quarter finals of the Carling Cup will take place at mid day and it doesn't matter who we get as our kids are afraid of nobody.

I'll be watching the game in the supporters club in The Strand in Bray but I'll only be having a couple of minerals as I have a night out planned tonight and if I have a few drinks during the game I usually drink at double the usual pace due to a mixture of excitement and nerves. We should get a very good turnout for what is a very important match and hopefully we will be cheering that victory. A few friends of mine will be at the game and again I hope Lady Arse, EduardoIsInnocent(he's due a name change) and Garantia have a great day and see a great victory for us. When they return I will be getting my Wengerball designed by Lady Arse sent to me in the post and I can't wait for it. Don't forget you can order yours too(and many more) here. That's it for today. Come on you Gooners.

Here's a look at what RVP did last season when he was fit.

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And to finish here's today's title track from the late great Mikey Dread. The positive reality of today is that we are better than them so we just have to play our best to win.

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See You Tomorrow.

Well the weekend's over and it's back to work for those of us who still have a job. At the moment in Ireland it's no mean feat to still have a job as unemployment soars and we suddenly find we have nett emigration again after over 10 years of nett immigration. It's amazing how quickly things can turn for the worse and how slow our pathetic excuse for a government have been to act on our problems. As you can probably tell by now I really wish that I could spend the day at home in the comfort of my bed but at least I know I can do that next Monday as it's a bank holiday over here. Anyway enough of the woes of the world and back to the important things in life such as Arsenal and the continued joy that us fans get from watching them.

We have 2 players on the shortlist of 30 players for the Balllon d'Or and it wouldn't take a genius to work out that they are Cesc and Arshavin. I would imagine that Messi has the award wrapped up but our 2 players have to be in the top 10 at the very least I'm sure. There is no news yet on whether Theo will be available for our trip to AZ tomorrow night but the manager doubts it. He says it's not a cruciate injury but we will have to wait for the scan on Theo's knee to see the extent of the injury or if it is just a kick. I hope it's nothing serious and we will see him next Sunday against West Ham but with the luck we've had with injuries over the last few years I won't be holding my breath.

There isn't too much else to talk about from an Arsenal perspective today but there were some interesting events over the weekend that merit a mention. The goal that Liverpool conceded to Sunderland was comical and the fact that a jolly Scouser threw the beach ball on the pitch in the first place only makes it funnier. I seem to remember Man City conceding a goal a few years ago when balloons were all over the penalty area and nothing was done about it at the time so Liverpool will just have to swallow their medicine. They are in a lot of trouble with 4 defeats in their first 9 games and my prediction at the start of the season that they would struggle seems that it might turn out to be true. In our match there was an indirect free kick given against Larsson when he intercepted a pass in his own box and it went back to the keeper who picked it up. It showed the standard of refereeing in the Premier league when the referee gave the free kick as it was clearly not an intentional back pass but the referee failed to understand that at all. I have mentioned the standard of refereeing this season a few times already but the referees just don't seem to be in touch with how the game is played or what players do on the pitch.

In the Fantasy football stakes I had another very good weekend yet again but there is one more match tonight before the final positions for this week are decided. With Cesc as my captain, goals from Dunne, Taylor, Bent & Defoe, assists from Cesc and Lampard and 10 bonus points from my players too I managed 63 points in total to move into the the provisional top 10,000 before tonight's match. With the Oleole leagues still being dominated by Football Guy's friend Amer I am managing to catch up on him slowly but surely and I'm nearly at the stage where I can challenge IAWWT for 2nd place. I gave a few tips on good players to sign during the interlull and Richard Dunne and David Dunn in particular lived up to my expectations this week. It's interesting to see what players are doing very well so far and Cesc in particular is far and away the best midfielder despite a lot less game time than most of his opponents. The Verminator is right up there as the 2nd best defender behind the afore mentioned Dunne. It's interesting to see Man City struggling to keep clean sheets since they sold Dunne and Dunne has settled in immediatly at Villa and raking in the bonus points as usual. RVP is slowly but surely progressing up the strikers list and he's in 4th place now and well worth buying. I've a funny feeling he will be featuring in my team very soon. That's it for today and I'll preview the AZ game tomorrow as we look to put ourselves in a position in our Champions league group that will leave qualification almost assured at this early stage.

Here's Man City's balloon incident from a few years ago.

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And to finish today's title track from Blur. We continue to play our great attacking football and outscore every other team in England. There's no other way that I would like to hae it.

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See You Tomorrow.

The international break is finally over and now we just have to wait for the players to return from their various destinations around the globe. At the moment the only 1 I know with an injury is Theo as he picked up a dead leg last Friday night playing for England's under 21s. He's had almost a full week to recover and with the medical team we have at Arsenal I wouldn't be surprised to see him available for our home league match against Birmingham on Saturday. Then again with the problems we've had with injuries I wouldn't be surprised to see him out for 18 months either. With Nasri, Almunia and Fabianski all set to be available again this weekend or next the boss is going to have a few headaches when it comes to selection but they're the headaches that he would prefer to have. 

Both Arshavin and Ramsey managed to score for their countries last night and we have a few players who will have a brace of competitive matches next month as their countries made the play offs after failing to qualify automatically. All of our French contingent along with Arshavin will be among the teams seeded by FIFA for 2 legged playoffs to be played on Saturday November 14th and Wednesday November 18th. It means, of course, that we will be in this very same situation next month as we worry about players coming back to us in 1 piece. I'm sure all the other players will have at least 1 friendly game on those dates too as their countries look to build up to South Africa 2010.

There obviously isn't a huge amount of news about yet but I expect that by tomorrow morning we will have heard a thing or 2 from the boss. The Verminator won the player of the month award for September and he is the first new signing to win that award in his first 2 months at the club. It's an award he richly deserves and Cesc has spoken about how he admires him and his ability to play football. Your typical centre back has the ability to win headers and tackles but usually his passes finish somewhere near row Z but The Verminator can carry out those defensive duties as well as bringing the ball out and picking a pass. He can also help himself to headed goals from set pieces and he has a very sweet left foot with which he can bury the ball from distance. There has also been some ridiculous talk of Man City making a bid for Cesc in the transfer window. I hope that Cesc never leaves us but if he ever does it will most certainly not be to join Man City. If they think they have a chance of signing him they are even more delussional than I already think they are.

On a personal note I had a very hectic day yesterday as I got a phone call on the train home from work to say that my wife's car was punctured for the 2nd time in 4 days and my transport to football was unavailable. Thankfully I managed to get a lift from someone else at the last minute as I would hate to have let the lads down so late in the day. When I got home again afterwards I had to make some dinner, change the wheel on the car, unblock the drain in the bath from underneath and get to the shops to get some provisions in for lunches tomorrow. Before I knew where I was it was 11pm and I was watching Argentina playing for their World Cup lives against Uruguay.

Finally for today don't forget that we still want Messi and despite his huge buyout clause at Barcelona I think we can tempt them into selling him by offering half of that to them. They will have no option but to sell him as he obviously wants to join us as we are the club for him. If you're at The Emirates this Saturday look out for some South American looking agent types who look like they have just made a fortune by selling their client to the greatest club in the world. That's the lot for today.

Here's Arshavin's goal for Russia last night.

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And to finish today's title track from Bob Marley. I am continuing to attemt to be just like Barcelona by stirring it up about our "interest" in Messi.

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See You Tomorrow.

It's always a strange feeling when Arsenal don't have a game on a Saturday and today is no different. At least I'll still have an interest in most of the games as I watch to see how my Fantasy team is doing after a couple of weeks where I made some decisions that proved to be very costly. I've cashed in on a big player this week and brought in another Arsenal player as we continue to bang in the goals. Hopefully I won't jinx Arsenal by having their players in my team. Last season at times it seemed like any player I bought got injured even though I managed to finish in a fantastically high position overall.

Most of the talk yesterday was still about the boss and his record breaking stint of 13 years at the club. Our captain spoke about how the boss is a God at Arsenal and he said he respects him very much. He talked about the day he was handed the captain's armband and he said it was a very special day for him. He spoke to the boss for 10 minutes and he says it was like a father and son conversation and he felt really privileged to be in that place at that moment. He spoke about how happy the players are to have him as manager and he said for all the fans the longer he is at the club the better the club will be. He also said that no matter how well he plays the boss can always tell him what he should have done but didn't as he is always looking for more. I really hope Cesc stays for a few more years but I do know he will rejoin Barcelona some day.

The boss spoke about Henry's chances of becoming a future Arsenal manager and he said that all his former players have the attributes required but I can think of at least 2 who don't. He said it's a tough job and you need to make a sacrifice for the rest of your life to be a manager. He said Henry is obsessed with football which helps and when he was at Arsenal he always encouraged the younger players who, of course, all wanted to be Thierry Henry. I'm not 100% certain if Henry would make a good manager or not but I would love to see him back at Arsenal one day in some capacity I'm just not sure what capacity.

The boss also reckons that Arshavin can be our talisman and that he has the potential to be as good as Messi or the diver if he can help us to win a trophy this season. He said he loves Arshavin as a footballer because he is intelligent and he looks like a shrewd street player because he creates things when they are unexpected. He has a low centre of gravity(well he should do as he is only 2 foot 6), great pace and a tricky dribble and most importantly he's a winner as well. There have been a few complaints from fans this season that Arshavin hasn't really managed to shine against the lesser teams yet this season but his performance on Tuesday night was very good and I still think there's a lot more to see from him.

Three young Arsenal strikers have been chosen to play for England at different age groups and we seem to have a production line for various England teams at the moment. Zak Ansah has been selected for the under 16s, Benik Afobe for the under 17s and Roarie Deacon for the under 19s. The youth team play at home to Crystal Palace in the league later this morning and hopefully then can keep up their good form which sees them with 13 points from 6 games and only 1 defeat so far. Finally for today the boss said he was delighted to get a compliment from Zico who told him we have a fantastic team.  I'll leave it there for today and I'll preview the Blackburn game tomorrow.

Here's a clip of Henry showing us all how to score against Blackburn.

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And to finish here's today's title track from Depeche Mode. I'm not the religious type but some people might think it was blasphemous of Cesc to compare Arsene Wenger to God.

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See You Tomorrow.

We played Olympiacos last night and in the football circles in which I mix when you murder the opposition it means you have given them a thrashing. We completely outplayed them but for a long time it looked like even though we had murdered them the body had gone missing. However, with 12 minutes to go we finally found the net after a lovely move involving Cesc and Eduardo which was finished off by RVP. Then with 4 minutes left Arshavin got on the end of a pass from Cesc to back heel home the 2nd despite being offside. Overall it could and probably should have been a lot more as we created chance after chance but failsd to add the finish  to our excellent approach play. 

In the first half Cesc hit the bar and Rosicky, Arshavin & RVP all came close to scoring but a combination of poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping kept the scores level at 0-0 at the break. Olympiacos had a chance or 2 but Mannone was never really bothered until he had to make a good save from a corner early in the 2nd half. To listen to the so called experts on the TV you would think we had a very poor defence but to limit our opposition to very few chances at this level is no mean feat. Liverpool went by the wayside last night and we'll see if Manure and Chelsea can prevent the opposition from having a single effort on goal tonight.

Overall last night I thought we played with the pace and passion that was needed and we were back to our very best. Song looked very strong again in the centre of midfield and Cesc and Arshavin were almost at their very best as they tormented Olympiacos at times. Eboue, who seems to be a permanent fixture at right back in the Champions League, played very well too but I still would be worried about him in that position against a better team. Mannone kept his third clean sheet in a row and even if Almunia is fit again for Sunday he deserves to keep his place now. It was good to see Vela make an appearence and let's hope we see a lot more of him very soon. We are 3 points clear of Olympiacos and 5 ahead of both Standard & AZ after only 2 matches and we next face back to back matches against AZ. If we can get 4 points from those 2 games qualification should be more or less guarenteed and we can concentrate on other priorities.  

The boss organised a match yesterday morning between our reserves and Olympiacos' reserves to give Theo a run out and he got a good 60 minute workout in a 3-1 win in which Sunu, Frimpong & Murphy scored our goals. I mentioned yesterday that Merida had scored 2 goals for Spain against Nigeria in the under 20 World Cup and you can see them here. Our next match is against Blackburn at 1.30 on Sunday afternoon and I hope to be watching it in The Strand in Bray along with the rest of the Wicklow Gunners. That's it for today.

Here's the highlights from last night.

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And to finish today's title track from The Clash. Olympiacos weren't quite murdered last night but they should have been. Hopefully we saved a few of the goals for Blackburn on Sunday.

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We travel to Craven Cottage for the evening kick off in the Premiership today and it was in this fixture last season that many fans felt we gave our most lacklustre performance of the season. We lost 1-0 and we never really looked like scoring or even interested in the game for that matter. It's time for our players to put that right today and show that we are contenders for the league title by brushing Fulham aside and continuing our free scoring form that has seen us score 17 goals in 5 matches in the league already. As Football Guy pointed out that means we will score 129 goals in the league at this rate and althouh I don't see as much comedy in their nickname as IAWWT I still hope they make a ham fisted attempt at their defending today.

We were linked with a move for Hangeland all summer long but in the end the boss was happy with his purchase of The Verminator and no more. I'm sure that Hangeland will want to show us what we missed out on as he still hasn't signed a new contract at Fulham so it's up to our players to give the whole Fulham team a hard time by playing our football with a tempo that they will find it too hard to cope with. I predict a 2-1 win for Arsenal and I wouldn't be surprised to see RVP getting his name on the scoresheet with a long overdue goal.

It will be interesting to see who plays in goal as the boss hinted that Szczesny might get the nod tomorrow in the continued absence of Almunia but I expect that Mannone will play. The defence will remain the same with Sagna, Clichy, Gallas & The Verminator all playing even though Clichy must be under pressure from Gibbs for his spot in the team. In midfield I expect to see Cesc and Song play but it's anybody's guess who will play with them as Rosicky, Diaby, Eboue and even Arshavin are all possibilities. Up front we will see RVP playing and probably Arshavin on the left with Bendtner, Theo or Eboue again on the right. That leaves Eduardo on the bench more than likely a few other players won't be too happy either. It will be interesting to see how strong our bench is tomorrow as the players continue to come back from injury.

The game is live on ESPN but unbelieveably it won't be shown in the supporters club in The Strand in Bray as they don't have ESPN apparently. I thought the away game at Everton on the first day of the season was on ESPN and I know I watched that one in The Strand so I'm a little confused as to what is happening. It does mean that I'll have to find another venue to watch the game and I'm sure my local pub will have it on. I won't be drinking because I am going to a 21st later tonight and I want to have a clear head for what will hopefully be a good night. I'm sure it will be a late night and I probably won't post a blog until later in the day tomorrow. I had better wish my daughter Ali a happy 17th birthday now as it will be well in to her actual birthday before I regain my senses.

The boss spoke yesterday about his pursuit of Chamakh and he wasn't impressed with the comments from the Bordeaux president. Indeed he has said that he won't be going back for Chamakh in January as we have plenty of strikers already with Eduardo making a recovery and Bendtner extending his contract. He also spoke about the profit we made from our summer transfer dealings and he said that the money is for him but he doesn't think he needs to spend it as we have the squad to compete with the rest of the big 4. If we stay injury free I don't doubt that but 1 or 2 crucial injuries at the wrong time could change all that and we also have to remember that we will lose Song for the ACN in January and probably part of February too.

RVP spoke about the incident with Adebayor again and he "My feelings are the same. I don't want to waste any more time on Mr Adebayor. If I look in the mirror, I cannot blame myself." I think that his feelings about Adebayor are fairly obvious for all to see. He also said that players will sometimes exaggerate when they are fouled or pushed to make sure the referee sees what has happened. If a player has been fouled there's not too much wrong with that but I wouldn't be surprised to see the press make a meal of it yet again. It's very honest of him to admit that and he says that he dislikes diving. I can't say I can ever remember him diving and if that's the case he is to be applauded for it. I wish he could have a word with Eboue about it. I'll leave it there for today.

Here's a clip of what Arshavin can do.

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And to finish today's title track from Madness. Our performance at Fulham was nothing short on an embarrassment and it's time for the players to remedy that today.

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See You Tomorrow.

ps. just for Lady Arse I found this

There's a fair deal on the club site about the official opening of Highbury Square yesterday. If I won an absolute fortune on the lotto I think I would buy myself a penthouse apartment in the development and make London my second home but for the moment I'll have to make do with a couple of trips over each season. The manager was at the opening along with some current and past players and appearently some lucky people are living in the development already. They have the old Highbury pitch as their garden but I wonder if there's any chance of bringing a ball into the garden for a kickaround. With the facades from the East and West stands left in situ the place still has a look of Highbury about it and from what I saw when I was there last it looks very well. 

For some strange reason this season the manager has being have his pre match press conferences on a Thursday when we are playing on a Saturday. He has an awful lot to say for himself at these press conferences and this yesterday was no different to any other week. If you want to see what he has to say for himself it's probably worth subscribing to ATVO as they have the entire press conference. I'll give the few bits and pieces that are of interest in my opinion.

Firstly it seems that we will have Arshavin available for the trip to Fulham on Saturday evening and his return will certainly increase our attacking options. It would also seem that Theo will be available too as he has recovered from his back problem. It's good to get both of these players back and Nasri and Denilson aren't too far behind them in their comebacks. We could have a situation quite soon where we have most of our injured players available again and the manager will have a wanted headache for a change. It is also interesting to hear the manager say that Almunia still isn't available after his chest infection and I think it adds credence to my opinion that he was left out of the team. Mannone has been our keeper for the last 2 games but from what the manager said there is a possibility that Chesney will be between the sticks on Saturday.

According to the press we are again linked with Eden Hazard of Lille who appearently likes our technical style of football. Ahead of our game against Fulham we are again linked with a move for Hangeland as he has not signed a new contract with Fulham as of yet. The boss has called for some clarification of the amount of time that is added at the end of the game after the debacle at Old Trafford last Sunday. He has a point as nobody is ever sure what is taken into account to calculate the time but there seems to be a controversy about it every week. There's a picture doing the rounds of Sir shits his pants a lot holding up a sign for injury time which says something to the effect of "as long as we need" but I haven't seen it yet. If anyone has a copy will they please put it up on Oleole for me. That's it for today. I'll preview our trip to Fulham tomorrow and make a prediction on the score.

Here's a look at Arshavin's Nike ad.

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And to finish today's title track from Space. Highbury Square is a neighbourhood I could certainly imagine myself living in.

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See You Tomorrow.

It's early on a Saturday morning and I'm faced with the prospect of my beloved Arsrnal not being available to watch live on the TV anywhere. There are a few pubs with strange satelite dishes that can get just about every game under the sun but I have no wish to go to them today. So it looks like I'll log on to Twitter this afternoon and get a stream from one of my fellow Arsenal Tweeters and watch it on my laptop. It's not the ideal way to watch a game but I don't see what other choice there is.

We travel to Manchester for the second league game in a row as we play City this time. Ahead of the game Adebarndoor has being having his say to the press and he explained that as Shaggy would say "It Wasn't Me". The fight with Bendtner was all Bendtner's fault as he wore the wrong shoes at the club and then gave him the finger in the Spuds match. I didn't realise that it was his job to enforce the club's dress code and from memory Adebarndoor head butted him in that Spuds match. If Bendtner did give him the finger it was because Adebarndoor had come on and told him in no uncertain terms how bad he was. He also complains about Bendtner being born with a silver spoon in his mouth and having the advantages of coming through Arsenal's academy. He left Africa at 15 and it can't have been easy and maybe there's something in FIFA wanting to keep under 18s at their clubs as it has clearly hindered his mental development.

He also told us that he could have joined Milan or Barcelona last summer but he chose to stay at Arsenal. Wasn't that good of him considering he was under contract to us and he was never given permission to speak to either club. So it's not his fault that he made it obvious that he wanted to leave and he only stayed when the club wouldn't sell him. We then we treated to a season where, with the exception of the odd piece of brilliance(Villarreal), he didn't try a leg and obviously didn't give a damn about Arsenal. However, it tuns out that it was the fans fault as they didn't give him all the love he wanted and some of them even booed him to boot. How could people who earn maybe £80,000 in 2 years boo a player who earns that in a week and shows no loyalty to his club who pay it and then doesn't put in the effort on the pitch. Those same fans are the ones who pay to watch the team every week, buy the club merchandise, subscribe to overpriced to TV channels to watch the team and would do almost anything to prove their undying love for Arsenal. If they saw he wasn't trying they had every right to give him a hard time. The Cith fans love him though and that will never change no matter what happens. Even if City win nothing and he starts sniffing around Milan, Barcelona or Madrid the City fans will love him or even if he gets caught offside 5 to 10 times in every game due to lack of effort. When he decides he's too important to bother running and the goals have dried up those same City fans will still adore him because it won't be his fault.

I suppose I should talk about the game itself at some stage and assess our chances of getting a victory up there. Anyone who reads this blog regularly will realise at this stage that I always predict an Arsenal win in every game they play. To do otherwise would be stupid as there the greatest team there ever was and ever will be in my opinion. Call me blinkered I don't care. We will be without Arshavin thanks to his decision to play for Russia against wales which has meant he will miss at least 3 games for us but Cesc will be back which is a huge bonus. Cesc will fit right back in to his midfield slot and the defence picks itself behind him. We have only one option in goal, unfortunately, and I'm sure the boss will have Song and Denilson in midfield with Cesc. That leaves the front 3 to be decided and I am certain RVP will be one of them and the sensible choices alongside him are Eduardo and Bendtner. I would like to see Bendtner down the middle as he scored 2 goals there in 2 games for his country last week but I would imagine he will continue on the right with Eduardo on the left. Of course Eduardo is my first choice to play in the centre but he can play on the left too as he proved against Portsmouth. RVP plays on the right for his country so he can play there too. The three of them will probably interchange a lot during the game and it gives us loads of options.

So long as the boss doesn't pick Eboue I will be happy as his dive at Manure showed his complete and utter lack of intelligence. Rosicky might make the bench but I doubt if we will see him until next weekend against Wigan and then maybe a starting role in the Carling Cup against West Brom. Of course Diaby could probably play too and despite his own goal he played fairly well at Manure. Whatever team is picked it is vital we continue with the football we played before the international break and if we do we will show City what it's like to mess with the big boys. A word of caution though - if we play like we did in our 3-0 defeat up there last season we will be well and truly stuffed. It's up to the players to show the strength, character and committment that they have so afr and if they do I predict a 3-1 win for us. The danger players to watch out for are Ireland running from midfield and Adebarndoor wanting to turn us over. Their defence is not that good and Given does not control his penalty area. If we can ger at Lescott and Bridges they will make mistakes and that will lead to goals for us. Wherever you're watching or listening to the game today I hope you enjoy it and "Come On You Gooners".

Here's a clip of

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And to finish today's title track from Shaggy. As Adebayor would say "It Wasn't Me". I know I'm stretching it with the musical credibility of this song but it was too good to miss.

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See You Tomorrow.

As I walked home from the train station yesterday evening, listening to music on my phone, I was contemplating using The Sisters of Mercey song above as a title because of the injury to Arshavin and Morrisey was singing "Everday Is Like Sunday" which is a real favourite of mine. There are over 500 hundred songs on my phone and it was on shuffle so anything could have come up next but lo and behold the very next song was "Dominion, Mother Russia" and my mind was made up for me. As "EduardoIsInnocent" commented yesterday he can understand Arshavin playing as he makes Russia tick and they had to win the game but from Arsenal's perspective it's very annoying to lose him for our next 3 games at least.

I know he was fairly quiet in our first few games but in the big game at Manure he was at his best. Virtually all of our best oppurtunities involved a contribution from him. He scored our goal, he set up RVP for the chance that should have made it 2-0, he barely missed a chance when a corner fell to him and of course he should have had a penalty when Fletcher fouled him. That's an awful lot from one player in such a big game and with City seen as a potential threat to our lofty position in English football tomorrow's game is a pretty big one too. At least we will have Cesc back and Rosicky is available too but I don't think we will see him in this game. It leaves the boss with a tricky choice as Theo might well be available too. The defence will pick itself if everybody is fit and the midfield will probably consist of Song, Cesc & Denilson but with Arshavin missing the front 3 will probably consist of RVP, Bendtner & Eduardo. That doesn't look particularly balanced to me and he might well decide to play Diaby or Eboue instead.

The boss wasn't too happy with Arshavin playing for Russia obviously and he believes that their manager should have left him out as he was carrying a groin strain which he picked up against Manure.He has also come out against the proposed ban on under 18 players being transfered as he says Arsenal give them a good education and if big clubs don't sign them they will be sold to agents. He has a point and the controversy surrounding ownership of Tevez's contract in his West Ham days still drags on now. Imagine wht it would be like if agents had ownership of all the top young players. It would result in a huge drain in the resources of clubs as the agents take even more money out of the game. He also revealed that the referee apologised to him after the ridiculous scenes when he was sent off at Old Trafford.

Speaking ahead of the City game the boss also said that he doesn't think Adebarndoor is obsessed by money and that he has started the new season on fire and we must put that fire out. Try telling that to the Arsenal fans who will roundly boo him allday long on Saturday. I don't think that Kolo will get those boos as he is still fondly remembered by Arsenal fans. The boss said that Eduardo is likely to receive more of the treatment he got in the last 2 games from the fans but that he is mentally strong enough to deal with it after the setbacks he has had in recent times. UEFA revealed that Arsenal have appealed the ban Eduardo received and after watching Serbia get a penalty, from which they scored, and get the goalkeeper sent off against France on Wednesday night I can't see how UEFA can uphold his ban without acting on that dive too.

The match isn't on the TV in Ireland tomorrow so I'll be looking for a good stream on Saturday afternoon to see it online as I react to the events in the game on Twitter. If you have a good link feel free to suggest it to me. That's it for today.

Here's that dive by Serbia against France. Thanks again Lady Arse.

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And to finish today's title track from The Sisters Of Mercy. Arshavin has been loyal to Mother Russia but at our expense.

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See You Tomorrow.