The fallout from our victory over Hull still continues unabated today. I would have thought that it would have abated by now as their manager strikes me as a "master abater" (is that the right word?)in the extreme and surely he could have pulled that off by now. He claims that our boss has never shook his hand after any match but if you read "Rock The Casbah" you will see footage of them shaking hands after we beat them 3-1. This proves he is a liar and anything else he says can be disbelieved also. To say he is suffering from a bout of sour grapes is an understatement. If you get a chance read Rock The Casbah's blog as he has some very interesting previous quotes from Brown which he now contradicts completely. The man is a nutter.

I said yesterday that there seemed to be evidence of Cesc spitting at Ballack in the past but appearently he just shouted in his face and was booked for it. If the referee saw him spitting he would have sent him off so as he saw the incident and only booked him he could not have spat at Ballack. If Cesc says he didn't then I believe him. For Brown to say Cesc showed a lack of respect by what he was wearing is just bizzare, especially when you see the device Brown wears on his head. Cesc was not playing and therefore he could wear what he wanted. What bloody century does he think we are in. 

Our youngsters beat Man City 2-1 away from home last night in the first leg of their FA Youth Cup semi final after going a goal down. Steve Bould seems to be doing a great job with them and I wonder will he move up to assist Arsene when Pat Rice goes at the end of the season. The return leg will be played on Wednesday April 22nd which is 5 weeks after the first leg. It seems a very long gap to me but that's the FA for you. Ahead of our trip to Newcastle on Saturday evening it has emerged that Almunia is fit to play and I must say his form is improving. I'm still not 100% sure on his command of his area or communication with the defence but his shot stopping is top class. Anyway besides all that there is very little else happening Arsenal wise and I'm up to my neck at work. I have to work 12 hours again today so I'll leave it at that for today.

Here's the winning goal from Tuesday night.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/2230012/

And to finish today's title track from The Sex Pistols.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MRz-6yS7SQ

See You Tomorrow.

"Tomorrow's just another day" as Madness sang in the '80s or is it. To all Arsenal fans it's a chance to gain revenge on The Spuds for taking a point from the league match at The Emirates earlier in the season. Our team won't be as strong tomorrow but all we need is for them to attack us and we should be able to score enough goals to win. After today's results we find that Chelsea would appear to be the most vulnerable team in the top 4. Villa won their seventh away league match in a row and while they may not have played brilliantly they have to be admired for their ability to get results. Hull did us a great favour by getting a 0-0 at Stamford Bridge and a win tomorrow would leave us 3 points behind Chelsea. I have just seen the Liverpool starting team against Portsmouth and with Gerrard injured their increasingly mad manager has left Torres on the bench. When you see their team without those 2 players you can see how ordinary they are.

The manager has said that one of the main reasons for the recent better performances of our defence has been the form of Sagna. While we have still been a bit dodgy at the back we are a little bit tighter than we were. The player himself has said that we need wins at the moment and that performances don't matter. I do agree with that but I also think that wins with style do a huge deal for the confidence of the players and the fans. RVP hopes to agree a new contract with the club very soon or so he says and he also says that it's a team game. He's right there but every team needs stars and he has stepped up and taken the limelight in the last few months. According to his doctor Cesc might be back sooner than expected and the player himself has suggests he might be back for the Roma game. I hope it's true but I think it's wishfull thinking on his part. That's it for today.

Here's some good Arsenal goals against The Spuds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KowVDUF0H0Q

And to finish the title track from above by Madness.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSlHSq3cFAg

See You Tomorrow.

Today's title refers to the luck that the team we are chasing appear to be having at the moment. After seeing the highlights of their match at Sunderland it is hard to believe how lucky they are. They won 2-1 but their first goal was offside and their second goal was a penalty but the foul was actually outside the box. To cap it all Sunderland then had a clear penalty turned down at the very end and Villa held on to win 2-1. It did come at a cost though as they had Ashley Young sent off and he will now serve a 3 match ban(2 in the league) I think. I know we could have given a penalty away at Hull on Saturday but our luck is nothing like that being enjoyed by Villa at the moment. Last week they won their local derby with an own goal by the West Brom goalkeeper just to emphasise the point. We will have to keep our good run going if we are going to overtake them but I do feel that they are going to slip before too long.

Back to our team and our 3-1 win in Hull on Saturday. It is great to see how RVP & Nasri are performing with Cesc, Theo & Rosicky out as we all wondered who would show the creativity we badly need. Speaking of Rosicky he thinks that he will be able to give us a date for his return quite soon. He is a class player and an experienced one too and we have missed him badly at times. Adebayor reckons we're still in the title race and I suppose looking at the table we are, just about, but I still don't think we can win and there can't be many Arsenal fans who think we can.

In other news our ladies continued their 100% run in the league by beating Chelsea 4-1 and our under 18s beat Ipswich 1-0 to continue their impressive form also. Finally just a quick word on Arshavin. It appears that he will be joining us and we just have to wait and see when that will be(this month of course). As I have said before I hope he is fully fit as it is the Russian off season. we don't want to sign him and then have to wait a month for him to reach match fitness. Finally again another quick mention. This time it is for Armand Traore who played very well for Portsmouth at The Spuds yesterday but unfortunately they only got a draw and our arch rivals are now off the bottom of the table on goal difference.

Here's a clip of what we're missing from Rosicky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFqFgMnD_4o

And to finish the title track from Radiohead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekn8_tmLrBo

We had what ended up to be a very good win yesterday at Hull. At one stage yesterday afternoon Villa & Chelsea were losing and United couldn't break Bolton down and it looked very good for us. Thanks to last minute goals for Chelsea & United and some more incredible luck for Villa we suddenly found ourselves needing a win to stay in the fight for 4th place. We went 1-0 up thanks to a very good header from Adebayor from a RVP corner and we were looking good for the win at that stage. However, Clichy then backed off his man in the second half and deflected the subsequent cross and Hull equalised. At the moment we seem to be punished for every mistake that Clichy makes. The mistakes are more frequent but his form has to return at some stage.

After that things started to look decidedly dodgy until RVP made late goals for Nasri & Bendtner and we won 3-1. It made me a happy man as I had backed them at 11-1 to win by that score as I predicted yesterday. We hit the bar in the first half through RVP and the post late on from Bendtner and Hull had a certain penalty turned down but overall I thought that the performance was better than it has been of late even though it wasn't vintage.

There still remains the issue of certain players starting game after game no matter how they play. At the moment we should have Nasri wide right and Vela wide left as Eboue offers us virtually nothing on the pitch. I wasn't overly impressed with Denilson or Diaby either which means our midfield was not up to standard. RVP has really stepped up to the plate since Cesc has been injured and he has now become our most important player with Nasri following closely behind. With his 3 assists and free kick tipped onto the bar yesterday RVP was our man of the match and the importance of Nasri's goal cannot be overstated.

The boss says we are now more determined and we have a strong resolve. I'm still not too sure about our strength or resolve but we made some hard tackles yesterday and we got the result we needed. We also played just a little bit better than we have recently and we are now unbeaten in 8 league matches. If we can continue this progress and bring in the right players this month we might just win ourselves a trophy even if it is only the FA Cup.

In transfer news we seem to be getting closer to signing Arshavin and as I have said before I hope he is fully fit when he joins us as as far as I know it is the Russian off season at the moment. We have also appearently agreed to sign young Wellington from Fluminense in the summer and we are linked with Mate Toth of Gyori Eto in Hungary. There are also stories about that Milan will use their Kaka money to buy Adebayor and Clichy but the boss is sure that nobody will be leaving in this transfer window. With the squad we have at the moment we cannot afford to let any first team players leave.

I had a very enjoyable day with the Wicklow Gunners supporter's club yesterday watching the match and we had a draw for a signed jersey and 2 match tickets afterwards. Funnily enough both prizes were won by the club chairman who also organised the draw but not 1 of us would question his integrity for a moment but it did make for a real Father Ted moment when he said after winning the second prize that it would be a complete coincidence if he also won the first one. I hope you enjoy the match Johnny and frame the jersey too. Anyway that's it for today.

Here's the goals from yesterday.

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/index.php?s=hull+v+arsenal

And to finish the title track from UB40.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg_wNS5QQAw

See You Tomorrow.

We face Hull away from home very shortly and I can't ever remember seeing us playing so poorly under Arsene Wenger. At least we are getting results at the moment but the performances must improve soon. I think we can win and win well if we attack from the start like we used to do. I forecast a 3-1 win for us but I would love a 4-0 win so that I can give my blog a fantastic title tomorrow. Anyway I think RVP, Adebayor and Vela will score for us and we will win 3-1 as I said. I can't say too much more as I am off to the pub in 15 minutes to watch the game with my fellow Wicklow Gunners. Thankfully I am getting a lift as we have a storm here at the moment and I don't fancy public transport. Ther isn't too much news about today except that Ivan the great will be going to St. Petersburg on Tuesday to tie up the details of Arshavin's transfer which is being brokered by Usmanov. If it is true Usmanov may well go up in my estimation but he couldn't have gone down. Agbon the whore reckons we are feeling the pressure from Villa and they can afford a draw today. As I said before we are chasing Chelsea and Liverpool. That's it for today. Come on you Gunners.

Here's a goal from Diaby to watch and let's hope can do it again today if he plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s41_slMGt70&feature=related

And to finish the title track from The Fun Boy Three.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88aZ87mtTiY

See You Tomorrow.

p.s. how long can Villa's luck last. A handball goal today and no penalty against them in the last minute.

We are in danger of becoming the former great club Arsenal if something is not done very soon about our current playing squad. With the recent injuries we have had there has been an urgent need for the manager to buy a quality attacking player in this transfer window but I sincerely hope he hasn't forgotton that we still need a defensive midfielder and a centre back(even if Djourou keeps up his current form). Our pursuit of Villa for 4th spot depends on it. I know we are getting closer to Chelsea and Liverpool but does anyone really think we are good enough to overtake either of them at the moment. This current team is only 1 defeat away from another crisis of confidience. I hope that defeat doesn't come but I'm not stupid enough to think we are in good form at the moment despite being unbeaten in 7 league games.

The boss more or less said that having our injured players back will be like 4 new signings but that is not what he really meant. Cesc is a long way off coming back and he can't be considered a new signing in any way as he is our captain and has played almost every game this season. The same goes for Theo as he played most of the games before getting injured. Eduardo may will seem like a new signing when he is back to match fitness after a year out but does anyone think we will actually see Rosicky in an Arsenal shirt this season(or ever again).

The boss also feels that the Kaka offer by City is very bad for the game. I agree but until FIFA or UEFA make clubs live within their income levels there is nothing that can be done. If Chelsea or City were to lose their backers the clubs would cease to exist and even though we don't seem to want to spend the money we have I still would prefer our situation to theirs. There were rumours this week that Abramovich was trying to sell Chelsea for €1 but that it would include their debt of €900 million to him and who would buy them in the current economic climate with €900 million of debt. Don't forget that they have never paid him a penny in intrest on this money but that it is a loan to them.

Cesc has said that money doesn't necessarily buy you trophies and of course that's true you also need the right manager and committed players. However at the moment we could do with spending some money as we have the manager and a good player base to build on. Arsene also said that he is hopeful of signing Arshavin and it is really dragging on now. Let's hpoe it doesn't go to the wire but I feel it probably will at this stage. I had hoped that Vela would get a game tomorrow with that carthorse McShane marking him but Sunderland have cancelled his loan and taken him back. I don't know who will be right back for Hull tomorrow but if he's worse than McShane we must play Vela.

Hull will pressurise us in every part of the pitch to try to stop us playing and we need players who will be quick to release the ball and who can take a man on and beat him and therefore create space for others. Vela fits that bill and I hope he plays. In transfer speculation we are again linked with Upson and we are supposedly giving West Ham Bendtner in part exchange. I don't think Upson is any better than what we have already and I can't see that happening. That's your lot for today.

Here's a clip of what we're missing with Theo out.

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

And to finish the title track from The Selecter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kQBdHQQkSY

See You Tomorrow.

First of all the bad news is that Song will have a fitness test before he is either named or not in the squad for the Hull match. I hope he trips on the way into the test and misses the rest of the season. I have nothing against him but I just don't think he's good enough to play for us. Appearently David Seaman is in agreement with us fans as he said as much about Song last night on ATV. Elsewhere Eduardo has said he will concentrate on his fitness first and on scoring goals after that. Now he's a player we need back in our squad as soon as possible and he will be like a new signing when he does come back.

We are going on a revenge mission to Hull on Saturday evening according to Denilson and if we get our attitude and concentration right this time we should beat them as they are on a very poor run at the moment with the exception of their FA Cup game last night. I'll be watching it with my fellow members of the Wicklow Gunners in The Strand in Bray and possibly enjoying a drink or 2 while I'm there. we are running a Fantasy Premier League competition among ourselves and I'm right up there in 2nd place at the moment with a great chance of winning. My team has really kicked off since Cesc got injured as he was my captain and unfortunately he wasn't doing too well for me.

The only Arshavin news today is that his agent says he expects something to happen early next week. I hope so but it's becoming very tedious. Diakite will not be joining us or anyone else according to Lazio as if we ever thought differently. We need top quality experienced players and not novices right now. Owusu-Abeyie is on trial at Spurs at the moment I have read somewhere. They might want another of our rejects as Bentley has gone down so well(ha ha). RVP has praised the impact of Vela as a sub for us in the last 3 games and let's hope he gets a start up against the incredibly slow Paul McShane this Saturday. The youths are away to Sunderland in the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup on January 30th as a reward for beating Wolves on Tuesday night. 

I've tried to add a link to get "Cesc Is God" on your mobile for free if you so wish but if it doesn't work I will certainly have it sorted in the very near future. I'm no technical wizard to say the least.

Here's a clip of what our new playmaker Samir Nasri can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3BgS6W06Zk

And to finish the title track from Aswad as the news that Song may be back in the squad was a little too much "reality" for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdIkmHcKh2Y

See You Tomorrow.

There's not a lot happening today and with no midweek game we will have to endure a week of transfer speculation and not too much else. Thankfully that thug Kevin Davies has opened his big mouth and called our players a disgrace for objecting to him kicking and elbowing them and it offers me the chance to reply to him. We have seen him get away with elbowing opponents in the face and over the ball challenges in the past and he didn't get booked at the weekend despite 6 fouls by him. He appeared to at least slap Clichy in the face at one stage and I think our players are justified in feeling pain when kicked, punched or slapped. Football is a contact sport and challenges will always be made but he has made a career out of bad challenges and for him to complain about our players trying to get him booked is a joke. The sooner he shuts his big fat ugly mouth the better.

The boss says he's not too fond of Bendtner's choice of colours in boots but he doesn't mind once he scores. Can we take it from that that he does mind most of the time then. He also says our youth policy is unique and that our youngsters get more of a chance than at any of the other big European teams. That may be so but I think the wrong youngsters are getting that chance at the moment. I want to see more of Vela, Rambo & Wilshere please. He also has said that it was a gamble playing with 4 strikers towards the end of the Bolton but that it obviously paid off. Sometimes he does this and we end up with a very strange formation and very little to offer in midfield but anything that gets us a win at the moment is worth considering. There are more stories about Arshavin everywhere today and Man City are supposedly interested in him just to piss us off because we wouldn't sell Kolo to the. The rumours are that he will join us before the window closes and he is desperate for the move. I think we all knew that anyway. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of some funny misses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y_FDPmcJY0&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div

And to finish the title track from above which comes from what we should be doing for the rest of the week as we wait for the Hull game to come around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK8H7Qn3ifA

See You Tomorrow.

After watching the highlights of yesterday's win over Bolton and talking to some people who were at the game and others who watched it live on telly the general consensus is that we played poorly in the first half yet again but when Nasri went central and Vela came on we showed some creativity and eventually got the win we deserved. It wasn't pretty but it worked in the end and we got the 3 points we needed. We are on a 7 game unbeaten run in the league and we need to keep that going with a win at Hull next week who are on a downward spiral at the moment. We must attack them at every opportunity as their defence is bar far the weakest part of their team.

As for yesterday's game and our problems in midfield. What does Vela have to do to get a start at the moment. We are crying out for creativity and he is the one player we have available who can take on defenders and beat them. When he has come on recently he has helped to turn the games against Portsmouth and Bolton in our favour. Maybe the boss thinks he is best as an impact sub at the moment but I think he deserves a start.  Diaby had another poor game in a central position and Eboue did alright on the right. Is playing alright good enough for Arsenal though ? We need better players in our team and personally I would play Rambo instead of Denilson even though Denilson is playing alright too. I think that he gives the ball away too often and he doesn't play at a fast enough tempo for me. We need to move the ball about quickly as we have always done under Wenger but at the moment everything is happening at a pedestrian pace especially in the first half of games. When will we come out with all guns blazing this season ? This has always been another feature of Wenger's teams.

I thought Almunia made the saves he had to yesterday but his decision making and communication with his defenders still isn't good enough. Kolo played very well alongside Djourou and maybe the captaincy will help him to get his form back. Djourou, Clichy and Sagna all played well too which brings me to the strikers. RVP is in a very rich vein of form at the moment and he is becoming more and more important to us week by week. He played well yesterday and he made the goal with a lovely cross for Bendtner and he could have had a couple for himself too with a little more luck. Adebayor had another one of those games where he didn't seem too interested and he delayed his shot too long when played in and ended up having a sitter from 8 yards blocked. From all reports he seemed to drop back too often, play a pass and then stand back and watch the action without even trying to get into the box for crosses. I saw him do this against Wigan too and I can't understand why he hasn't been pulled up by the boss on it. As a schoolboy footballer you are always told not to stand back and admire your pass but to get on with the game but that is exactly what he does. I have been very critical of Bendtner recently and he wasn't doing too well when he came on yesterday until he scored the all important goal. He took it well but I'm still not convinced by him at all.

Bolton came to play defensively and it nearly worked for them but thankfully we got the win in the end. Worringly we switched off completely after we scored and they almost equalised immediatly. We have to work harder at keeping our concentration. Davies missed a very good chance for them and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Here's a good picture of him on  with his hand, as usual, right in Clichy's face. The man is a thug and he always gets away with it.

We had over 70% of possession yesterday and we need to punish teams like Bolton who come to defend. The boss has said today that he thinks the English game is becoming too defensive. I don't know about that but at the moment teams know that if they defend with 10 men behind the ball against us they have a chance and it will continue to happen so long as we lack creativity and the ability to score from distance.

After today's games The Spuds are in the relegation zone again and have not won any of their last 5 league matches. Maybe Harry's plan, as an Arsenal fan, to get them relegated is working now after initially offering them hope that he was the messiah. In transfer news we have appearently had a bid for Arshavin turned down. It's time to up the bid but we all think at this stage that it will probably, as usual, go through at the last minute. Man City are rumoured to be in the running for also and even though they have piles of money I can't imagine that he would want to join them. We are also linked with Jimmy Bullard again and also Jack Collison of West Ham and Sebastian Battaglia of Boca Juniors. Who knows what truth is in any of these rumours. I'll leave it there for today. 

Here's the highlights of yesterday's game with thanks to Boxofficefootball again.

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

And to finish the title track from above which was used because of our continuing hunt for new players this month which is dragging on too much at the moment. We should get serious and get Arshavin in now and follow that up with 2 more top class signings. By the way the song is by New Model Army.

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

See You Tomorrow.

This is just a very quick post to mention our victory over Bolton this afternoon. With Villa beating West Brom earlier in the day(thanks to a lucky own goal by Scott Carson) it was vital that we won and it was looking more and more like a 0-0 draw until Bendtner came on for Diaby and finished off a cross from RVP much to the relief of every Arsenal fan in and out of the stadium. We are now on a 7 match unbeaten run in the league with 4 wins and 3 draws to our name. We may not be playing at our best but the confidience must be growing just a little. By the way how long can Villa stay so lucky ?

I have been one of the fiercest critics of Bendtner in the past but to his credit that goal today was very important and by all accounts he took it well. Up to that stage we had been thwarthed by a mixture of bad finishing, good goalkeeping, good defending & the woodwork. We have a week before our next game at Hull and in that time I hope the manager will at least have Arshavin added to the squad. He wouldn't comment either way yesterday but the popular opinion is that we will have him in our ranks before the month is out. After that we still need more players but I suppose it depends on who is available. The player I would like is Arteta and he scored for Everton again today with his 3rd goal in 2 league games since he has been linked with us. Is this a coincidence or is sending a come and get me message to us with our lack of goals from midfield. Everton are on a good run and keeping the pressure on us and we need to continue our run to stay ahead of them and catch Villa. By the way I thought Jay Simpson played well against Villa today but he didn't really get the chance to score the goal that we all would have loved. That's it for today and I'll do a full report on the game tomorrow when I've seen more of it.

Here's   the goal from today's game(thanks Boxofficefootball again).

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

And to finish  some Music from The Manic Street Preachers which gave the post it's title as I think getting back to "1-0 to The Arsenal" is a good design for our season until we can get things going at full steam again.