They collapse against Tottenham, then rebound for a huge home win against Man United.

Their captain goes haywire before a loss to Man City, and then they roll into Stamford Bridge and come away with a gutsy 2-1 victory.

So naturally Arsenal’s youth – perhaps the most consistent performers for the Gunners so far this season – managed to bow out with a 2-0 loss to Burnley in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

The theme at the Emirates this year is something to the tune of: collapse, rebound, and repeat, with plenty of beautiful attacking football thrown in the middle. No one has any clue what will happen from one game to the next – especially manager Arsene Wenger....read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m12d2-Arsenals-topsyturvy-season-continues

With their backs against the wall and the Premier League campaign starting to look shaky, the Gunners delivered a nice little statement to the EPL on Saturday afternoon at the Emirates.

Game on.

Given all the injuries and the awful stretch of play lately, this game against Manchester United easily could have been the latest headache for Arsenal. But despite the lack of a striker, they managed to take advantage of their opportunities and hang on for dear life as the final stoppage time minutes ticked down.

With only Nicklas Bendtner up front, Samir Nasri was a stud in the midfield and ended up with two goals to show for it – although the first was pure luck off Gary Neville’s deflection. But the Gunners were able to utilize their midfield to exploit United with superior spacing several times and counterattack whenever possible. They certainly didn’t control the game, but given the lack of presence up front it was the way they had to win.

And while Arsenal capitalized on their opportunities, United was left to wonder how Ronaldo missed a point-blank volley or Rooney skied a great first-half opportunity over the bar. While playing at the Emirates..........Read the rest at: 

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d8-Arsenal-takes-a-stand 

There’s no getting around it, tomorrow’s a big one. Man United/Arsenal never fails to get the juices flowing, and even though it’s still early in the year, that won’t lessen the intensity.

For Arsenal, the season has hit a nice, big two-week rut that is threatening to potentially define the 08-09 campaign. Coming off three disappointing results in a row, Arsene Wenger’s bunch is pretty desperate for a result. And it’s not everyday you hear talk about the man himself quitting, although he has nixed that rumor.

The big problem right now is the injury situation, which doesn’t make things easier against a United team that seems to be finding its form. Check out this article on the problems facing Wenger tomorrow – van Persie out (red card), Adebayor out, Walcott maybe, Gallas maybe, Silvestre maybe, Eboue out.

That doesn’t bode well for the Gunners, but at least they’ll be playing at the Emirates. And we should get some more looks at those exciting young players who have been tearing up the Carling Cup. But fully fit are not, there are no......read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d7-Breaking-down-ArsenalManchester-United

While 11 matches played isn’t any normal marking point within a given EPL season, who says you need to reach halfway before doing a little table-wide analysis? Let’s check out a few key developments so far this year and see what might lie ahead.

1) The Big 4 are doing their thing. People might want more parity within the league, but we once again look like we’re heading toward the normal tight finish between the usual suspects. Aston Villa and Hull City both sit tied for fourth with Arsenal at 20 points, but right now only Villa looks like they could make a run at breaking into that select group.

2) Title already looking like a reach for Arsenal. Granted, it’s early. Quite early. But some things start to make you wonder about a team in the long run, and Arsenal’s last couple weeks have started to put those questions into our heads. The four-four draw at home against Tottenham, while a thrilling game, was an absolute disaster from the Gunners’ standpoint. Blowing a two-goal lead at home in the last couple minutes doesn’t bode well for a squad trying to build on last year, when they jumped out to a great start only to falter near the finish line. Even worse, they’ve failed miserably to bounce back from that defeat with a 2-1 loss to Stoke last weekend and then a draw at home to Fenerbahce (who they beat 5-2 away) on Wednesday. And those who read the papers see Wenger getting a bit edgy. You can’t call games must-win at this point, but losing all three points on Saturday at the Emirates to Man United would be rough to say the least.

3) Hard to differentiate between Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool at this point.  There’s no doubt that Man United suffered early from both injuries and a brutal schedule, but they look to be back on track now with an in-form Ronaldo and 21 points with a game in hand. Still, letting Hull back into Saturday’s game wasn’t a very impressive display, and the Reds have had some finishing issues lately (ending with Dimitar Berbatov’s miss last night that could’ve given United the win against Celtic). At this point, Chelsea and Liverpool have looked consistently the best, although both have suffered defeats in the last few weeks (Chelsea to Liverpool and Roma, Liverpool to Tottenham). Chelsea can’t be pleased with the 3-1 loss away to Roma on Tuesday, but they still l........read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d6-Five-talking-points-so-far-from-the-EPL 

I’ve been to some extremely fun stadiums in London so far, but there’s definitely a different feel around Old Trafford in Manchester. Maybe it’s because there aren’t so many teams in the city, or maybe it’s just the history of the club, but there’s a distinctive feel as you get off the tram and march down the hill toward the stadium. It’s something like walking down the Yellow Brick Road with Oz in sight. And even though Manchester is a big city, the stadium sits in a semi-remote area and gives off a small-town vibe, which is nice.

Heading up to watch Saturday’s Hull City game, I wondered what the feel of the stadium and the club itself would be. Manchester United is obviously a global brand, and you can’t escape that feeling when you enter the team megastore in next to the stadium. You can buy anything and everything with the United logo on it, and it’s impossible to get away from the commercialized aura.

Still, I was surprised to find that beyond the big nature of this club is a very homey feel – even if it is you and 85,000 of your closest friends on a Saturday. From all the people hanging out on the road enjoying a pre-game pint to all the fathers leading their sons (with a Ronaldo jersey on, of course) down the hill to Old Trafford, you really get a sense just how much this city cares about this club. It borders on religion, and the fanaticism obviously won’t be leaving family bloodlines any time soon......

read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d5-A-look-back-at-Saturday-from-the-stands-of-Old-Trafford 

If all Wednesdays are like that one, then mid-week specials should become a more prominent feature of the EPL’s schedule. ‘Cause after yesterday’s fireworks, there must be something to this whole playing under the lights thing.

Where to start? Let’s go with the best GAME, first, which also included one of the top goals of this year. Perhaps we should have known it would be special after David Bentley’s stunning 40-yard volley for the opener. Count Manuel Almunia as a shocked witness to that piece of brilliance, and it would only be the beginning of a tough night for the Arsenal keeper.

I arrived at a pub at the start of the second half to meet some friends, and luckily it was pretty evenly divided among the two teams in terms of support. What a half – six goals, a two-goal comeback by Tottenham starting in the 89th minute. The roars were deafening, and goals were so frequent it was like a boxing match, left, right, left, left. Those are the games we sit around praying for, and when they come you can’t tear yourself away.

Of course Arsenal will lament the defending near the end that allowed Jermaine Jenas the space for his sublime strike to make it 4-3, but for the neutral viewer this was one to remember. When Aaron Lennon deposited the rebound in the final minute of stoppage time, my friend looked over and told me not to die after seeing my expression. This could end up the game of the season.

And meanwhile, we had the reemergence of Cristiano Ronaldo with a brace at Old Trafford in the...read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d30-Breaking-down-a-crazy-Wednesday 

Things we never thought we’d see: a man on the moon, Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, a vice presidential candidate spending $150K on clothes…..

However, Hull City sitting at No. 1 on the Premier League table has to be pretty high up there. Take a nice, hard, long look, and if you’re a fan, you oughta cut out today’s table and frame it. With 20 points in their first nine games, Hull sits at the top with Liverpool and Chelsea.

Yes, they have played one more game than those other two mega clubs, and yes, tomorrow’s meeting between the two makes it impossible for Hull to stay atop with an even number of games, but come on. Soak it in, because in this day and age of big money, stories like this don’t come around very often.

Hull has won its past four games in the Premier League, including away at Arsenal and Tottenham. And after returning back home this weekend, they cleaned up West Brom today with a three-nil performance to keep the magic carpet ride flying high for the time being. With a ticket in hand to next Saturday’s Hull/Man United game, I can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with at Old Trafford after silencing the Emirates.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-Hull-City-is-first-in-the-EPL-and-no-thats-not-a-joke

I would have paid a significant sum for a glance in the Manchester United locker room after Saturday’s draw at Everton, since Sir Alex must have said something to the extent of “what in the world happened?” –that being the edited version, of course.

After grabbing a Darren Fletcher goal in the first half to sit on top one-nil at the half (when it could have been more, as the announcers pointed out), it was a different United team on the field for the second 45. As the crowd got into it and the home club responded, you could visibly see the Reds shrink from the atmosphere. Can’t say I’ve seen that happen in a while.

There was former Everton player Wayne Rooney, who was not as active and came out soon after the questionable decision to kiss the United patch on his jersey while holding it out from his body. With the crowd already at a fever pitch, you have to think that’s not really the time for such a move.

But it was there on the field, too. Wes Brown simply overran a ball that led to a good Everton chance, and Rio Ferdinand tried his best to gift the go-ahead goal by nearly whiffing a back-pass to Edwin van der Sar, leaving the keeper on his own from point-blank range where he managed to parry the shot just far enough wide to bounce off the post.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-A-different-Manchester-United-in-the-second-half

Manchester United and Arsenal had the statement games last night for those of you who tuned in, with 3-nil and 5-2 victories (the latter being away), respectively. United certainly controlled their game against Celtic, but the visitors surely had reason to gripe that both of Dimitar Berbatov’s goals came from the offside position (although the first was a deft little touch for the score).

But the real story is Wayne Rooney, who looks more dangerous every night and now has an absurd nine goals in his past seven games for United and England. This time it was a sweet little shake near the top of the box to get himself space and then a clinical finish just inside the left post. Hope people caught his expression after that one – the impish grin that says, “Hey guys, I’m feeling it right now in case anyone hasn’t noticed.”

Sir Alex said after the game that Rooney is capable of reaching Cristiano Ronaldo’s 42-goal level of 2007-8 (that level, not that number), but that might be a little much. Still, he’s on fire right now for sure....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Champions-League-discussion

The question is where Carlos Tevez will be fitting into this lineup with Dimitar Berbatov up front now. Tevez played some beautiful football during the first month of the season while Rooney seemed to struggle at times, but he has now started only one of United’s past five games. There was talk earlier in the season about signing the Argentinean to a long-term deal, but it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be excited about such a move now. ......read the rest at: 

 http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d8-EPL-discussion-and-the-Tevez-issue