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.

The boss had a lot to say at his press conference today and I will run through the highlights of what he said in my current state of mind after coming in from the pub. I played indoor football first and I have sores under both of my feet from running non stop for 1 1/2 hours and I also went in for a sliding tackle and caught my knee on the head of a screw sticking out from the floor and cut my knee through to the bone. It stopped bleeding after a couple of hours and funnily enough it didn't hurt at all. Everybody else is of the opinion that I should get some stitches but at the moment the alcohol makes it feel absolutely fine.

Anyway back to Arsenal news and first of all the boss has said that Kolo is our vice captain and therefore he will be captain when he plays as long as Cesc is out. After Kolo -  RVP & Almunia are the next in line and who knows where it goes after that. The boss has also said that he won't talk about transfer targets as if it doesn't happen he will then get a hard time. Fair enough say nothing Arsene but please bring in some class. He also thinks the whole January transfer window has a destabilising effect on football as a whole. I do agree with him but I also think we really need to utilise it this year. He also says that the fall in Sterling doesn't effect us too much as the players are paid in Sterling and not Euros. Finally he says that we will be selling no players in this window and we can't really afford to lose anyone from our squad as it is so small at the moment. Having said that if a club made a bid for Song or Eboue I think we would be crazy to say no.

 We have Bolton tomorrow and they have their own injury worries and a couple of suspensions too. Nolan, Steinsson & Cahill will be unavailable for them and we need to take advantage of that and attack from the start. They had been on a good run but that has tapered off recently and we have to make sure they don't get into the game tomorrow. We will have Denilson available and seeming as he is one of the boss's favourites I would imagine that he will start. The defence picks itself as we have so few options in the middle and RVP & Adebayor must start up front. That just leaves the midfield and while I would love Vela to get a game I suspect Eboue will play on the right with Nasri on the left. I would prefer Nasri on the right with Vela on the left. I'm sure Denilson will play and Diaby will probably partner him but I think Rambo deserves another run. It's in the hands of the manager and we will know tomorrow. I can only hope that Song isn't back. That's the lot for today.

Here's a clip of adebayor doing his stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEJrE1ZASn8

And to finish the title track from above. I gave the post this title because Arsenal are so dear to me. I have supported them through good and bad times and I will always support them no matter what. I may complain about team selection, transfers, tactics and many other things but I love them dearly. The song is also about something that is close to my heart. Racial equality. I have been influenced by Ska & Reggae music heavily and support a team who can put out a starting team of all black players except for a goalkeeper. I can't understand how anybody can judge a person by their skin colour. By all means get to know a person and then dislike them if you so choose but never judge anybody just because of their race. Anyway end of rant and I'm sorry about that but it's something I feel very strongly about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84prcvTcD5g

See you tomorrow.