So after much deliberation, I've finally discovered what's happened to Hull -- why they're diving through the PL table like Chinese Olympic divers. 

That realisation just came as I'm reading of new stories about how Cesc started abusing Hull's players on the pitch after the final whistle had blown.

I mean, think of that, a 21-year old kid in street clothes comes up to all these big, tough rugby-town players and begins verbally berating them, abusing them and hurting their feelings...

...and not one of them cold decks him.  No one so much as steps up to his face and tells him to shut the f--k up or he's going to get dropped.  Not a shove in anger nor a finger pointed in disgust.

Nothing.  The reaction from all these players as they are abused off the pitch and into the tunnel (until apparently the assistant manager decides he's the one who's had enough) is...

Normally, I'd have a small blurb regarding last night's win in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.  And most of it would have been to single out Andrei Arshavin for both his tenacity and his quality.  That shouldn't be forgotten in all the other nonsense.  In his few appearances this season and with the shortest preseason possible, Arshavin has shown his quality by picking Arsenal up and being the kind of wild-card threat that we had been sorely lacking.  My mouth just waters at the idea of an Arsenal attack featuring Arshavin, Nasri, Walcott, Adebayor, Van Persie and Fabregas.

....and speaking of Fabregas....

I guess I gotta get into the whole "Spit" drama...even though I find it all appallingly dumb.

DEPENDING ON WHO YOU BELIEVE, either Cesc spit on Hull's assistant manager Brian Horton or he didn't.  DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU GET PHIL BROWN TO TELL THE TALE, it...

Let me share something with you folks who get to enjoy football in Europe: the 6-hour difference in time means that while everyone gets to sit at home or go to a pub to enjoy the game live, folks in the States (who get them in the afternoon) have to come up with excuses to get out of work or find a way to beat the company's firewalls that prevent live streaming of the games. 

Or you settle for a live gamecast from ESPN Soccernet, the Guardian or some other website.  

So this is how I "enjoyed" the Champions League clash against Roma.  By reading updates both on my computer and later -- as the game went into extra time and then penalties -- via my phone.  (BTW, a note to the Guardian's website: how about having the stream page reload when something new happens?  You cannot believe the number of times I had to reload that damn page just to find out that nothing new had happened). ...

A week's passed from the last 0-0 debacle and the massive boos that rained from the Emirates rafters like bad tomatoes thrown at supbar actors.  And we all thought "It's over.  Villa will have the 4th spot on the table.  Arsenal will be relegated to the UEFA Cup and Real, Barca and Milan will strip our young, talented squad bare." 

This, of course, is the problem with immediate reactions to a game.  A win and there are no problems.  A loss and the sky is falling.  And depending on where you stand and what results you need, a draw can be either a win or a loss -- although, more often than not for clubs like Arsenal, it feels like a loss, which is what the draw against Sunderland felt like.   That Arsenal had squandered another chance and that Villa would leave us in the dust.

Of course, Villa didn't extend their lead.  First Stoke managed a minor miracle in...

Full time.  Arsenal 0 - Fulham 0.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's congratulate Aston Villa for being the team that breaks open the "Top 4" and steps into the Champions League spot vacated by Arsenal.  Let us hope that they give it far greater importance than they did to the UEFA Cup this time around.

As for us...anyone know of a good Internet feed where I can catch the UEFA Cup games from Siberia or Transylvania or wherever else those games take place?

......More to follow later on.  For now...I gotta get back to my drinking and drying.

I get up on Saturday morning, excited as a kid on Christmas morn, thinking that I'm finally going to get to debut the new soccer pub that opened up near my place.  I'm thinking that an early morning breakfast to go with an early morning Arsenal win would be a pleasant kick-off for the weekend.  Nevermind that I was running on just 4 hours of sleep and hadn't even showered.  Hey, there's bacon and football to be enjoyed!

Unfortunately for me, the pub was not open -- although they had advertised they would be.  Now I had to drive back in a hurry to my place to go find a working stream of the game.  So no bacon or scrambled eggs.  No chance of an early morning pint to wash it all down with.  No TV screen so big that birds fly at it whenever there's an airline ad.  To make matters worse, I get in and my usual stream goes down after 10 minutes of game time!  And after scrambling to find...

You know, reading back over several posts, I realized that I tend to post more negative than positive stories.  It's not intentional.  Positive stories tend to make me feel good and relaxed while the negative ones will cause anger...which will lead to hate...which leads to drinking pints...which leads to meeting some slutty coed...which leads to questions for my doctor...which

...where was I again?

Anyways, I had this beautiful posting titled "The Return of the Jedi" all in honor of Eduardo's night of glory at the Emirates.  And it was glorious.  For him, for his teammates and for the fans watching it.  The display of football was perfect from everyone.  If you were an Arsenal fan, you had to love it.

Then, I heard a guy call in yesterday to World Soccer Daily and proclaim that he didn't feel a connection to Arsenal or to the players anymore.  I'm going...

Aren't you glad today is Monday?   I mean, besides the fact that you're probably back at work and had a weekend with no Arsenal?   A weekend that had you dress up nice and spend a few hours of your time doting on your significant other on Valentine's Day?

Look at it on the bright side, imagine if the game had been on Valentine's Day and you had been forced to snub your partner for the Arsenal?  Right now you'd be sleeping in a very tiny doghouse.

So always look on the bright side of life.  The lack of football meant you had to do something that'll probably buy you enough time to enjoy more football till...I'm guessing Easter?  Yeah, you'll have to visit the S.O.'s family for Easter brunch then.  And with your luck, they're probably all Chelsea fans.

So the game's in a few hours and the question is: who does Arsene start?  Eboue is suspended. ...

There is one major talking point from the North London derby today.  But before I get to it, let me post some of my pregame thoughts from the WSD boards.

I expect goals.  The NL Derby is rarely a quiet affair (a far cry from the Liverpool derby) and it'd be a surprise if this thing ended up 0-0.

Oops on my part.  If nothing else, I have proven once again that I am an idiot.  

Now let's get to Eboue.

Look, for the first 20 minutes or so, I thought he had a solid time out there.  The goal he scored should not have been disallowed by Mike Dean.  That was a good goal and I wonder how things might have gone if it had been allowed to stand.

But whenever you talk Eboue, you have to take the good with the bad.   Let me paraphrase myself one more time:

He has no mental strength. He is petulant...

After much deliberation, consternation, anger and veiled shots, Arsenal finally landed their man.  Andrei Arshavin -- he of the great UEFA Cup and Euro 08 runs -- is now a Gunner.  It only took 32 days and more words written about it than the Bible to see it done. 

I had guessed at the start of the window that we would be targetting a central midfielder (to replace Cesc), a central defender (because Kolo and Gallas didn't seem to be working together) and a winger (to provide a more attacking wide option).  Of course, I was wide off the mark.  

So let's just put that down to me being a complete idiot.  

Arshavin should provide immediate assistance on the attacking third and in helping to break down the 10-man wall defenses that have risen up around the Premier League.  You gotta expect that, at first, he'll slide into the right side of the pitch and keep...