All aboard for the Andrei Arshavin Express!! But is there any truth in it? Yesterday, watching Sky Sports News it appeared that the Arsenal were indeed in talks with Zenit St Petersburg with regard to signing the rosy cheeked Russian playmaker, but as the evening wore on I became less certain. Indeed the whole story began to smack of a ploy by Zenit to force other interested clubs into staking their claim, particularly as any offer Arsenal make would certainly fall way short of Zenits expectations. A deal, apparently, is expected within the next 10 to 14 days… Is it though?! Is it really? I mean, a difference in valuation of about 8 million quid seems like a fairly major stumbling block to me. Last summer Arshavin ‘dreamed’ of playing for Barcelona, but Barca baulked at Zenits fee, as did a number of other clubs apart from Tottenham, who for some reason seem to have infinite money. On a personal note, I hope that the Arsenal buy Arshavin, it would be exciting, it would provide a boost to the players and fans and it would give us back an element of unpredictability in our attack. Purchasing Arshavin wouldn’t really solve any of our problems though, we still need a strong central defender and we still need a defensive midfielder to disrupt opponents and protect the back four. The Kolo Toure chatter won’t die down despite our rejection of his transfer request and if Manchester City did offer an eye-watering transfer fee, knowing the Arsenal as I do, I think we would take it. As I said yesterday, Toure leaving would mark a sad day in the modern history of the club.

The trouble is that if we did sign Arshavin, I can’t imagine that we would then sign anybody else. We have publicly stated that we aren’t looking to sign Inler, despite wanting him in the summer – what has changed since then? Rosina has been told he is going nowhere. Yaya Toure is adamant that he is staying at Barca, although I did hear a rumour that (guess who?!) Manchester City were looking to bid some ludicrous amount for him. West Ham say that Matthew Upson is not going to leave the club, but in reality I very much doubt Mr Wenger has even considered resigning him.

Let’s move away from idle speculation for a moment and look inwardly. Fabianski, boosted by the news that he is in line to play in all of our FA Cup games this year, has claimed that he is happy to work hard and try to displace Almunia as our Number 1 between the sticks. Good lad, I like a bit of hard work. How different the relationship is between Almunia and Fabianski than between Almunia and Lehmann. I hope that we don’t try and sign Shay Given. I don’t think goalkeeping is the weak link in our chain. Definitely not a priority.  Adebayor, a player who loves to talk to the press has been saying that we will fight for every point blah blah blah, I should bloody well hope so as well, that’s your flippin’ job!

That’s what it’s all about. The stuttering ember of hope has been reignited and is now glowing merrily like Rudolph’s red nose as we enter the first day of Advent. What a bizarre season this is turning out to be. The highs of the European campaign and deserved victories against Manchester United and Chelsea versus the lows of Fulham, Stoke City, Man City and Villa. Who knows what will happen next. Arsene Wenger believes that it is a learning process - that the team are beginning to understand that the same high level of commitment is required in every game. I recall him saying something similar after the Man United result, but the team sunk to new lows in the wake of that game. Now maybe it will be different, so we hope. Never has the well worn tenet – ‘to take it one game at a time’ been so true. On Saturday we face Wigan at the Emirates. If we approach the game with the same awesome determination that we saw against Chelsea then poor Wigan won’t stand a chance.

So, to last nights game. Firstly, let’s get the boasting out of the way. A third correct burgervan score prediction of the season. Ok, I admit it, the majority of predictions have been well wrong (the estimate of a 4-0 victory over Villa was particularly bad) but it is nice to get it right for such a big game. The Arsenal were magnificent at Stamford Bridge. The whole team played well and worked their arses off for each other. Defensively we were like a different team, with Gallas loving the high pressure atmosphere and clearly thriving without the weight of the captaincy on his shoulders. Djourou, despite the unfortunate own goal, was a tower of strength beside him, and Clichy and Sagna, both great players, were spot on. Ok, the midfield perhaps came second in the battle in the centre of the pitch, but even so, the team was much more tenacious than in recent games with players like Nasri sacrificing much of his attacking verve to ensure that the team was solid defensively. Almunia really didn’t have very much to do, which was a surprise because after the Arsenal’s second goal Chelsea didn’t offer anything. It seems that this new Chelsea side are easier to break than Mourinho’s team, which was like playing against a brick wall both mentally and physically.

It seems like forever since we had our first choice strike partnership playing together. Adebayor and RVP work well together and I hope that they can both stay free of injuries because there is no doubt that we really need them. I wonder if our recent form would have been different had RVP not been sent off and subsequently banned for that silly foul. Everyone has a player that they like to see score more than any other. For me, in days gone by that was Dennis Bergkamp and before that I used to like to see Merson score. Nowadays I like to see RVP score and he certainly did that yesterday. His first goal was excellent and his second reminded me a little of Dennis Bergkamp’s first competitive goal for us against Southampton.  Yes, his first goal was offside, no, I don’t care. The number of decisions we have had against us this year more than balances out this piece of good fortune. Scolari really needs to shut the hell up. The fact is that Chelsea were fortunate to go ahead through an own goal and offered up very little in terms of goal scoring opportunities. Ergo, he can’t really complain can he? There was almost half an hour after RVP’s second goal, in which Chelsea did nada.  

What was great to see was the sheer joy on the players faces when we equalised and then scored the second goal. It has been a while since I have seen such an ecstatic mobbing of a goal scorer and it showed how much this meant to everybody. Likewise at the end of the game, the celebrations were truly heartfelt - Gallas for example had to be taken off the pitch by a couple of stewards! Ahh good times.

So now we are 7 points off the top spot with all the teams above us having played once game less than us. It is frustrating seeing us beat the top sides and lose to the lesser teams. It makes you think what if?! The title is still out of reach but as the manager said in his post match interview, it isn’t as out of reach as it would have been had we lost. Can we drag ourselves back in contention? Let’s just take it one game at a time and see. We have been so inconsistent in recent games that I don’t think any of us would be in the least bit surprised if we slipped up again in our next away match against lower opposition. But, if they can take this experience, and the experience against Kyiv in midweek and just try to accrue points, we can at least try to ensure Champions League qualification and perhaps undo some of the damage we have done to our self-esteem. If we can somehow draw a line under our crapness then who knows. Maybe we can even try to finish higher than fourth. ONE GAME AT A TIME!

A win. We didn’t play particularly well, we didn’t play particularly badly but we won. We ground out a result despite injuries, lack of confidence and lack of form. We kept a very welcome clean sheet. The players worked for each other, some of them didn’t play well but that doesn’t matter. Ultimately, it was of vital importance that we stopped leaking goals, stopped losing and had some good news for a change.

The media dwells on our lingering problems this morning. Of course this result doesn’t solve all of our issues or paper over the cracks but it is a step in the right direction. A new captain, a clean sheet, a win, and a steely determination to get a result are all indicators that the feeble submissions we have witnessed of late may be consigned to the past. As I have said before, it wasn’t the losing that bothered me so much in recent weeks, it was the pathetic manner of those defeats. Anyway that is in the past.

Also in the past, albeit the recent past, is the William Gallas affair. Gallas played last night, largely due to a lack of any options, but he got his head down, shut up and worked hard for the team. The crowd were kind to him also, which was a surprise. I have changed my opinion on the way Gallas should be handled. In the spirit of moving on and looking to the future I have resolved to forgive Gallas for his idiocy. If he can stay with the team, work hard, not give any more interviews and not be a disruptive force in the dressing room then I will back him. The players have come out to support him, although notably RVP and Samir Nasri have been quiet. The manager has given him another chance, so I guess so should we. Make no mistake though, William Gallas is on parole. One more f*ck up and he should be shown the door as quickly as possible.

El Capitán had a great first game in the hotseat, not only was he all over the pitch and involved in everything, his quick thinking at the DROP BALL set up a great pass for confidence shorn Bendtner, who finished superbly. That moment threw me back to the glory days when Henry and Pires used to contrive similar rule bending opportunities at free kicks. It’s nice to have a player capable of thinking differently. I couldn’t care less about those people that claim bad sportsmanship, we needed to win that game. Anyway Aliiev was guilty of hideous gamesmanship with his rolling about as if struck by lightning quickly followed by sprinting antics. I was glad he got sent off, not only is he a cheat but he also got caught. I could probably just about stand a diver, but not a diver without the sense to do it properly.

El Capitán has said that he is keen to talk to Vieira and Henry to get advice on his new role. Vieira can certainly give him some pointers, he was a miraculous captain for us. It’s been said before, many times, by me and others, but why on God’s Green Earth did we ever sell Vieira? If we hadn’t, he’d still be captain and we’d have probably won the league a couple more times in the last few years. Sorry about that, I must remember that now we are looking forward, not dwelling on the past and what might have been. So what if we sold the world’s best midfielder, the world’s best winger and the world’s best striker in the space of two years and didn’t replace them. That isn’t important anymore. The future! Look to the future!

Going back to the Champions League, despite our problems this season we have qualified top of a difficult Champions League group. That is an achievement for any team, let alone a team comprising children and ‘utility players’ such as ours. The players and the manager can take great credit for this achievement. Last night it was great to see Vela start, I enjoy watching him play, he is good on the ball, runs at the defence fearlessly and always has a shot on goal. In a season or so he could be flippin’ excellent for us. Likewise Ramsey looks like a player of 23 rather than 17 or 18 or whatever he is. I know that they were there because of injuries etc, but even so, they acquitted themselves admirably. As did record breaker Wilshire and Johann Djourou. Most of these players are only ready for substitute roles at most, but it is good to have these players coming through, even if it doesn’t help us that much which our pressing problems.

We aren’t quite in crisis yet but we on a downward spiral and heading for crisis point very quickly.  Indeed, this is easily the worst phase of the Wenger years.

It’s difficult to know where to start or what to say. Yesterday’s 3-0 defeat to a team we should always beat was not unexpected and Burgervan feels that it is completely pointless to place blame. We are in such a bad way that the fans, more than ever, need to come together and get behind the manager and the team. Only through solidarity can we get through this. The manager has a tough job ahead of him instilling confidence in these players. They have had a run of poor results, they have internal strife borne of their immaturity and lack of leadership, they have been betrayed by their captain, and they are playing very badly. The last thing they need is for the fans to turn against them. Likewise, the manager has delivered unprecedented success to the Arsenal and now, in his hour of need, we need to pay him back for the years of glory by giving him our support until he can put this (self-made) mess right.

Whoever Arsene chooses as Captain has a tough job ahead of him, healing the rifts, bringing factions together (if there are any) and leading the team out of the quagmire. It will probably be Fabregas, but I would not be adverse to seeing Kolo Toure take on the responsibility. He has been an excellent ambassador for the Arsenal over the years and you never see him saying anything inappropriate to the press.

Gallas was dropped yesterday, expectedly. The player has performed professional hara-kiri, but despite this Wenger has behaved in a dignified manner that does him great credit. When questioned about Gallas after the game, Wenger said "There is nothing to clarify. Of course (he has a future) but we do not speak about the players who have not played today. It is disrespectful."

Burgervan hopes that Gallas doesn't have a future at the club, indeed, he MUST be sold (not given away - he hasn't earned the right to a free transfer) as soon as possible.

I don’t think that there is any question now that the squad just isn’t good enough. We’ve sold our way into this mess and now we need to buy our way out of it. As it unfolded we knew that it was a bad idea to strip the team of its experience and now with the benefit of hindsight we can see that while youth and vigour are excellent qualities in a team, they can only work in balance with experience and toughness. When Arsene argues that we have experience and points to the number of games certain players have started etc he misses the point entirely. The kind of experience we are missing isn’t simply based on the number of games a player has played. It is based on winning trophies, having been through the many and varied experiences that football throws at you and come out the other side. It is about having been around the block. These aren’t qualities that are just time based. Many of our players have many games under their belts but haven’t actually done anything. Ach! It’s such an old argument now and we all know it can only be solved by spending some of this cash we have sitting around and bringing in some experience. Trouble is of course that the longer all this goes on the less likely we are to attract top players, particularly if we fail to get into the Champions League. A failure that would have serious consequences across at all levels of the club.

The January Transfer window is drawing closer. One would hope that work is already underway to bring players in. Until then COME ON THE ARSENAL!

Apologies for the lateness of the blog post today. Burgervan has been in a world without the Internet. I write this on the cusp of kick-off in today’s Aston Villa game at Emirates and we start with the same side that started against Manchester United in last weeks match. Adebayor is on the bench, along with some of our excellent performers from the Carling Cup – Ramsey; Vela; Fabianski; Djourou; and Song.

Burgervan prediction: Arsenal 4 – 1 Aston Villa

I know, that prediction is crazy but it’s a hunch and if TJ Hooker has taught me anything It’s that you must always trust your gut. Let’s face it, it’s never done William Shatner any harm has it?

Surprisingly for a match day there is very little news about the Arsenal. Fabianski is staying, is happy at the Arsenal and is targeting Manuel Almunia’s number one spot. Wilshere will be debuting for the England under 21s and could, according to Wenger, play some part in the 2010 World Cup – He’ll be 18

I can’t wait (even though I have to) until the Arsenal have five or six young English players in the first team. After all these years of seeing the cream of English talent playing at our main rivals – Man Utd; Chelsea; Liverpool, soon we’ll be the team with the Brits and even better we won’t have paid twenty or thirty million for them. Sweet.

Again today I was amazed by the early arrival of the Arsenal fans around the Finsbury Park area today. Again, I was at the paper shop, buying some milk and the newspaper, the time: 07:45. Yes yes I know it’s early but my sleep brain has been trained to get up at the crack of dawn for work and as hard as I try I can’t f*cking have a lay in. Anyway, at 07:45 this morning were a number of fans in the area for the game. What the hell?! The pubs wouldn’t open for over three hours, its cold, there is nobody about apart from idiots like me and the hard working shopkeepers in the area.  It’s ridiculous getting there that early.  These guys would be in Finsbury Park for a staggering 7 hours before the match starts. I live in Finsbury Park, I love it in this area, but you are stretching it if you want to be occupied for an hour, let alone 7. Ah Well, I guess it’s there choice. Its pretty stupid though!

Almunia has just saved a f*cking penalty. Hero!

Flash of Arsenal!