Today's blog title is dedicated to Aston Villa as they struggle to cope with the pressure of Arsenal breathing down their necks. They haven't won in 6 games and they now have a break of 10 days before their next game. By that time we will hopefully be in the last 8 of the FA Cup and Champions League and have beaten Blackburn to go ahead of Villa on goal difference. They have 10 days to try to find their form or maybe to dwell on their predicament. That's when they will really start to feel the pressure. Hopefully that's the scenario we are faced with over the next week and a half.

On to Sunday and the good news is that we might have Theo & Eduardo back from injury and it gives the manager more options. It will be interesting to see what team the manager picks with Roma up 3 days later. He has said that TV coverage is costing us at the moment as we have to play on Sunday instead of Saturday to please Setanta but Roma have switched their game from Sunday to Saturday and have an extra day to prepare and we have to travel to Rome also. Arshavin is certain to play and I would imagine that 1 or 2 fringe players will get a game with Roma in mind but we have to treat Burnley with respect as they have a very impressive cup record this season. From what I have read it seems Theo is eager to play and maybe Eduardo will get some game time too.

Our youth team had a great win tonight when they beat The Spuds 3-1 away from home in the 1/4 final of the FA Youth Cup. They will now play either Man City or Norwich in the semi final. We were 1-0 down at half time and equalised early in the 2nd half and then scored twice in injury time to break their poor little hearts. Our ladies also won when they beat West Ham 3-0 in the 1/4 final of the Womens London County Cup. There have been rumours of Man City wanting our manager in the summer but he has rubbished them and quite rightly so. The best news of the day was obviously Cashley getting arrested for being himself. He sets a fine example as a professional footballer what with getting so drunk on a week night between games that he gets himself arrested for being drunk & disorderly. The man is a class act.

Here's the highlights of our recentish 2-0 FA Cup victory over Burnley.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzwde-pbUyA

And to finish today's title track from The Selecter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0A8vBmfzWU

See You Tomorrow.

We have our man at last and it seems that some of our rivals are not too happy with the fact that it happened a day too late. I can't blame them but at the same time I really couldn't care less about them. Did we complain when Fergusson collected Berbatov from the airport on his way to meet Man City without the permission of the club he was signed for. If we used influence at the FA I couldn't care less either. We needed someting to liven up our play on the pitch and brighten the whole club up. I really hope that Arshavin is the man to do that.

It could be the dawning of a new era for the club as the title says because we have never signed such a high profile player before. I know we signed Henry & Bergkamp in their day but Henry became the player he was at Arsenal and Bergkamp was suffering badly in Italy when we signed him. He is certainly the biggest our current boss has signed as he tended to go for younger players in recent years. I would imagine it will take a week or two for him to reach full fitness as it is the off season in Russia as I have said before on numerous occasions. I don't think he'll play against The Spuds this weekend but you never know as we are very much short of midfield options at the moment. Maybe he might get a spot on the bench, you never know. In case you hadn't heard he will be wearing the no. 23 shirt(see below).

He has also said that he is a "Gooner" and that The Russian at The Spuds is no friend of his. Both of those comments will help his popularity with the fans but I don't think he will have any problems there anyway.

We didn't get the central defender or defensive midfielder we needed but events conspired with injuries and so on to make his signing a necessity. Hopefully we can address those 2 positions in the summer(especially the defensive midfielder to do the donkey work for Cesc). According to some reports Man City failed with a deadline day bid for Bendtner and we probably will need him for the rest of this season as a sub at least unless Adebayor can buck up his ideas.

Our new CEO has said today that he is very surprised how some clubs and agents carry out their negotiations(no names) and that it would not be acceptable in The States. Maybe that's why things took so long but as I said before at least we have him although I would have prefered him on January 1st.

Finally if we beat Cardiff in our FA Cup replay om Monday February 16th we will be playing Burnley at home in the 5th round on either Saturday March 7th or Sunday March 8th.

I'll leave you with a little bit of Arshavin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhMN_W6ehJE

And to finish the title track from The Specials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnENa6QEGI8

See You Tomorrow.

The title above comes from the fact that I have "Many Rivers To Cross" on my journey to North London this Saturday morning. Luckily I will cross all but the Liffey and the Thames by plane and I'll be in plenty of time to get to see my beloved Arsenal considering I leave home at 4.30 am on Saturday. I cannot describe how much I am looking forward to my first trip to The Emirates but I intend to put as many pictures on my home page as I can take so that I won't forget in a hurry.

On to matters to do with last night now and our kids lost 2-0 at Burnley in the last 8 of the Carling Cup. By all accounts they played well enough in what was a good game and if they had taken their chances things might have been a lot different. The manager reckons they missed 6 one on ones with the Burnley keeper who was man of the match so it wasn't all doom and gloom. The main culprit seems to have been Bendtner and his laid back attitude can be infuriating at times. Here's a good funny item on him by Gooner Talk. Sadly it means Arsene has lost his proud Arsenal record of never having lost to a team from a lower league but all records are made to be broken as they say(whoever they are). The press somehow have seen this as a bigger giant killing than when Burnley beat Chelsea's first team at Stamford Bridge in the last round but they need to write any old garbage to fill their pages.

In other news Jay Simpson has been linked with a loan move to Norwich and Cesc has again been linked with a move to Milan. Whatever about young Simpson we all know that Cesc is going nowhere. we have also been linked with Diego Capel of Sevilla and he might not be a bad player to strengthen our options on the wings. Our ex captain Paddy Vieira has been quoted as saying Roy Keane was his best opponent. I used to love the two of them squaring up to each other in the good old days when we won a barrow load of trophies. Our FA Cup match with Plymouth will be played at The Emirates at 3 pm on Saturday January 3rd and that's about it for today. I'm in a bit of a panic as to how I will manage my blog on Saturday & Sunday but I will find a way(I hope).

Here's the goals from last night if you can watch.

 http://www.boxofficefootball.com/burnley-vs-arsenal-live-cup-action/

And to finish the title track fromJimmy Cliff.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMzuXlKQv8

See You Tomorrow.

Our kids have a tough trip to Burnley in the 1/4 final of the Carling Cup tonight. Burnley are doing very well in the Championship this season and play quite attractive football by all accounts. We struggled for a while in the F A Cup up there last season before securing a 2-0 win. I would imagine that they will still be on a high after beating Chelsea on penalties in the last round at Stamford Bridge. Mind you we did prove that Stamford Bridge is not the fortress it used to be as recently as last Sunday. With all the injuries in the first team squad some of the youngsters will get another chance to impress tonight. Normally the boss starts with 11 players who didn't play the previous first team game in this competition. If we had everybody available he could call on Toure & Eboue to play a part or even Eduardo or Rosicky if they had recovered from their injuries(who knows they might get to play in the semis if we make it). The squad has been announced and I would expect the following team to start.

                                                                          Fabianski

                                            Hoyte          Silvestre         Rodgers/Steer     Gibbs

                                            Randall        Rambo            Wilshere              Vela

                                                      Bendtner                           Simpson

It's a pretty good team but also a very young one. If they can play with the style and tempo that they have shown in this competition so far then they have a real chance. I don't think Burnley will lay down like Sheffield United & Wigan though and I expect us to have to win the right to play football. It makes for a fascinating night and I predict a 3-2 win for us. Maybe Bendtner will stand out and score a couple in his pink boots.

On to other matters and Cesc has said what every fan has been saying for weeks. We need to focus in every game in the same way as we focussed in the Chelsea game. If we show every team the respect they deserve and actually give 100% then we all know we can beat anybody. RVP has said he doesn't think that Gallas had a problem with him which leaves Eboue as the 26 year old that Gallas had the row with I would imagine. We have been linked with Yaya again and 'Boro appearently want Armand Traore. He's playing quite well at Portsmouth at the moment but it will be hard for him to come back and wait in line behind Clichy. It remains to be seen what shall happen. I'm going to leave it at that for today as I have an awful lot to do before watching the match later.

Here's a clip of our 2-0 win at Burnley last year in the F A Cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyd2d5VBPnw

And to finish some Music from The Dead Kennedys with some travel information for us all.

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

See You Tomorrow.

After the weekend's dismal performance it would seem that the general consensus among Arsenal fans is that the most we can hope for is fourth place in the league and having a shot at the FA Cup. To be honest I have thought that from day one and any fan who thinks about the game will have to admit that they never really thought we could win the league. I'm not even mentioning the Champions League as I cannot see how we can win it under any circumstances. We are not as strong as we were last season and while other teams have gone forwards it would appear we are going backwards. I'm not saying that this is a permanent thing but it could become one if not acted upon now. In the past the manager has brought in Vieira, Campbell, Gilberto and players who could play defensively when required. It would appear at the moment that he thinks that his brand of Total Football doesn't require  stoppers or ball winners. Unfortunately in the modern game you still have to win the right to play your own way. Teams will not just sit back and let us play our way around them. If we don't play every game at 100% we don't have the strength to force teams into submission. The manager has said that experience is not linked to consistency. If that is not the case can he please tell us what is because he doesn't seem to know and we have to sort out our inconsistency now. It's too late for the league but 4th place is a real must. If we don't need experience what do we need ? I hate to question such a fantastic manager but he doesn't seem to know what makes his team tick(or not) at the moment and that has to be a concern for all Arsenal fans. I am not suggesting for a second that he should go but I am suggesting that he listens to the fans and spends big in January and until then he recognises that some players are not giving their all and he puts in 1 or 2 of the kids who will give everything they have.

 With the dreaded international break again this midweek virtually our whole first team squad is away and Arsene won't have any time to work with the players before the City game. As a result who knows what Arsenal team will turn up next Saturday but it is interesting that after the last 2 international breaks, where there was no time to work with the players, we won our next game quite well. Are we over complicating things in training maybe ? It's just a thought but you never know. If the players are coached less before a game will they turn in a better performance with the obvious exception of the United game. My theory will be tested on Saturday afternoon when I will be watching the game in the company of some City fans after playing them in a 5 a side tournament.

In other news there are a lot of rumours linking Vela to a loan move to Hull but I think we would be crazy to do that as he need a run in our team now. Our next match in the Carling Cup, the 1/4 final at Burnley, will be shown live on Sky on my birthday so I'll have to go to the pub for that. The youth team have been drawn away to Aston Villa in the 3rd round of the FA Youth Cup and let's hope they can progress. I know that this is meant to be a blog about Cesc and Arsenal but I don't know what to say about Cesc at the moment as his form is so poor. I hope it is down to Euro 2008, his early season injury and missing Flamini because anything else just doesn't bear thinking about. That's it for today and I'll leave you with the usual clips.

Here's a clip of a recent win against our next opponents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR3OG8glPKI&NR=1

And to finish some Music from New Model Army (Raw Melody Men).

A very quick post just to make my prediction for today's game . I am going for a 2-0 win for Arsenal with Cesc scoring 1 and Gallas the other. I know it's dodgy predicting a clean sheet but we can always hope. We will be welcoming Steve Sidwell back and the bos never really wanted him to go. We have drawn Burnley in the next round of the Carling Cup away from home and it should be a good test for the kids. I have a bit of a knee injury from last night's football and I'm praying that it cures itself for next week's tournament against the Man City fans and the Dublin Gunners. I'll review the game later.

Here's RVP's great goal against Villa 2 years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npj9DFLLVTw

And to finish some Music fro The Wailing Souls.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7cNmmSjyzs

See You Later.