Wow.

Semi final morning, it is still morning just about. Are you excited? I am, so excited in fact that I have to write this now as I don't think I'll be capable of thought, never mind turning thought into blog in a few hours. Anyway, Fleetwood Mac (a discovery made since moving in with Jo- I'm so hip) on the stereo and their big 80's hit, Little Lies playing, incidentally, I declared this song to have the best chorus ever some time on Tuesday afternoon. Me, the Clash fan!

Doesn't it feel good to know the eyes of the world, or at least this country, are on us today? Feels like it's been a while. It's amazing to think that the last time we played Chelsea in the FA Cup, we were firm favourites to beat them. Admittedly, after a phase of being unable to avoid them for about 4 years, we haven't played them in this competition in the Abramovich era. And it is as a result of that era that Chelsea will start the game as favourites. Especially now Guus Hiddink, the man Robin van Persie calls  "Goldfinger"- kind of- has rehabilitated Didier Drogba, the man Arsène might have signed for 100k in 2002. But didn't. I think, as excuses go, "We had Thierry Henry then" is probably about the best one I've heard.

In Amy Lawrence's cautiously positive article, we see a hint that the boss expects to play Keiran Gibbs this afternoon and he may he even be pondering partnering Ade and Bendtner. I don't see that, even with Chelsea's lingering aerial weaknesses. I think the key to this game, from our point of view is the pace and mobility with which we can execute our game plan. So I think Diaby will come in and play that advanced midfield role in front of Song and Cesc, but behind Ade. I type that and then I think, but what about van Persie? Or Eduardo? It's true that Drogba all but destroyed our title dream in 10 crazy minutes last season and that he did the same in demolishing an excellent hour's football in the Carling Cup final of 2007, but if we can defend properly- and the signs have been good lately- we clearly have the attacking firepower to win this game. It's about getting the balance right.

Going back to van Persie, it seems as if our late season form has convinced him that he can have a future, and a successful one at that, with the club, whilst he recognises the margins between success and failure are, as a friend of mine once said, "Rizla thin". The manager is also confident about his side's future, he says:

"People make out we disappeared since 2005. We nearly won the league last year. We reached the Champions League final in 2006. It's like people discover we are suddenly a good team."

It does amaze me that certain Arsenal fans have been so vociferously critical of the man this year. It's as if some believe we have a divine right to win things every year and if we aren't winning things then it's not working. Surely all a manager can do is to make sure his team challenges? And nobody can say that we have not challenged since the last trophy success of 2005, it's just a case of getting one on the board. Guus Hiddink certainly believes that Arsenal are a "good model" to follow. And he seems like a man who knows what he's talking about, I wonder if Abramovich sees the implied criticism of his regime there.

Bac Sagna, as you probably know already will not make today's game. It just ocurred to me too, that as well as Arsenal's problems at left back beginning to echo those which plagued our run to Paris three years ago, we will of course come face to face with a man who could easily have solved those problems today. A man who thought being paid £55k (fixed) per week to pay for the club he professed to love was "taking the piss", a man who was a substitute the last time these two teams met in Cup competition but didn't let the fact that he played no part in Chelsea's 2007 Carling Cup success affect his over celebrations because of who it came against. In behaving so, I guess you could argue it shows how much Arsenal really did mean to him, it is now time for us to show that Ashley Cole means fuck all to us. And the best way we can do that is by winning today.

Enjoy the game, wherever you're watching it.

 PS Just back from the gym, on the way up I saw a little kid in a Chelsea shirt (I was in my gold, Sega "Henry 14" complete with Champions patches shirt), I smiled at him, he gave me a big body swerve- could the famous CFC be running from the Gunners? Let's hope so.

The following is taken from the November 10 edition of the Daily Telegraph, 2 days after we beat Manchester United and a few weeks after our 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Hull:

'I have been fascinated by the criticism that has been levelled at Arsene Wenger over the last few days...but nobody in the game of football, certainly not at my level, can criticise him for what he has done for Arsenal over the past 10 years. He is a model for any young coach, manager or chairman who want to achieve.

'Not only has Arsene got a hold of that football club and taken them to a new stadium and a new training ground, he has taken the style of football from a 1-0, back-four mentality to massive levels of entertainment, and I have nothing but admiration for him.

'When I first came into coaching 10 years ago I had the good fortune to sit down with him to talk about management. At the time he was living in Hertfordshire, in a hotel which became a focal point for him and his initial plans.

'We spent an hour or two talking about his philosophy of the game, and it was, frankly, inspiring. There was a young foreign manager coming in, driven by a vision that he had for Arsenal. Now all of a sudden he has gone past his vision. The fans are now expecting the side to win titles year-in year-out, but he has a grander dream - such as playing entertaining football and cultivating youth.

'As far as I am concerned, he should be a template for any young coach or manager. Any one wanting to get started in the game, should study Arsene Wenger.'

As strange as it may seem, the author of these words is one Phil Brown, permatanned, bluetooth headset wearing manager of Hull City.

Phil, of course, had this to say on Tuesday night:

"He wouldn't shake my hand when we beat them fairly 2-1 at the Emirates, he wouldn't shake my hand when they beat us, fairly, 3-1 at the KC Stadium."

Really, Phil? Are you sure about that? What are football fans in this country to make of the following image then?

That looks like a handshake to me. Although, to be fair, it could be an Arshavinesque attempt to sell you a dummy and leave sprawled, like your right back, on the turf. Thinking back to Tuesday night and the boss at the final whistle, he did look like he waited a few seconds to shake Phil's hand. but only after he'd blown his nose into his own hand first. Which would have been the least Brown deserved.

The man comes across a demonstrable liar, how can the FA take anything he says about Cesc seriously? As for his heated post match interview, deriding the name of our great club, surely he is guilty of bringing the game into disrepute? I'm sure I remember Arsène Wenger being charged with the same when he spoke out about Ruud van Nistelrooy's cheating and there was televised evidence all over the place to prove Wenger's words. What is there to prove this spitting charge? The word of a liar. That's all.

Brown was upset, it's easy to understand why, but what does it matter to him what Cesc was wearing? What does it matter to him that Cesc chose to go onto the pitch (our own pitch, by the way) and salute fans and team? It matters to him only because he lost a game he obviously feels he shouldn't have. I loved the comment about Arsène getting his goalkeeper booked, as if we should have tolerated Hull's time wasting. It was interesting to note, not only the time taken over goal kicks and free kicks whilst Hull were winning then losing. But also the fact that after Myhill got booked, he left that free kick to be taken by another slowcoach.

It rather seems to me that Brown lost his head, perhaps he realises it now, but has gone too far to come back.

Not to finish on too unsavoury a note, Theo Walcott has been talking up the "big hitters" returning to the side and the contribution made to the team by William Gallas since being stripped of the captaincy. You can read about that here

It felt good to be back at the Grove yesterday afternoon. I spent Saturday afternoon at The Stoop in Twickenham watching Harlequins take on Saracens in a very good natured, mutually appreciative environment. It made me wonder why us football fans can't be like that. I certainly don't think it's education, after all this football nut was sent to a rugby playing school- the horror!- and I still turn into the antichrist whenever I set foot inside our ground. It remains a mystery to me why my lovely, mild mannered, girlfriend enjoys coming to games to see her boyfriend jump around to the point of nearly getting thrown out, only once mind, but it happened.

I think that what it is, and it isn't the beer either because I was well lubricated on Saturday, is that we care a lot more. It doesn't seem to matter too much to rugby fans what happens, they go, they cheer, they clap and then they go home. On the other hand, if Arsenal aren't at least one goal up by half time, the angst is just too much to bear.

I thought that the early goal, well, early by our standards, made a big difference in the match. Obviously, it affected the way Burnley played, to the the extent that after our second goal, there seemed to be so much space in behind them that we looked like we could score in every attack. The second factor was the confidence Vela's beautifully taken goal gave the team and the final factor was that, unusually of late, moves broken down and final balls gone astray were greeted with appreciation of the effort rather than irritation at the failure. I wonder how much can be read into the fact that the crowd was not your average league crowd- though it is difficult to imagine the season ticket holders not present yesterday wouldn't have enjoyed the game just as much. I know Ben Ingber would have.

The hot topic in the office today has been Eduardo's  "beach goal" and whether he meant it or not. Randall, the Tottenham fan, thinks not. I think the picture at the top of this blog tells you he did and having been looking down right in line with Eduardo as he set himself, albeit high in the sky, the shape of his body told its' own story. I have no doubt he did exactly what he intended to do. All in all, perhaps this goal was the clearest demonstration to Burnley that they were facing a proper Arsenal team, not our kids, yesterday.

Carlos Vela's delightful goal has been somewhat forgotten about in the aftermath, but again he showed how good he can be. With Arshavin showing his quality of passing and willingness to take people on (ridiculously so at one point in the second half); Theo returning (interestingly for me) up front and RvP, Nasri, Ade and Bendtner all sitting on the bench or in the stands, all of a sudden our cup runneth over with attacking talent.

With Roma to negotiate before the last European eight beckons, let's hope we have a cup come the end of the season.

Does anyone remember my blog at the beginning of the week? You know, the one that featured a picture of the advertisement for tickets for today's game? The one that suggested it was a lot to ask 43 quid to watch an average side play Burnley?

Well, having talked about cottage pie on Friday, I must now talk humble pie and eat a little slice of it. Ok, so it was only Burnley- but the northerners have been built into mythical giantkillers this season on the back of some excellent performances against the likes of Fulham and Chelsea. Oh, and us as well. So, following an all round excellent performance, three quality goals and some moments in the second half that suggest our prized velocity is on the way back, and just in time too, come on, let's enjoy it.

I arrived at the ground just in time to hear Arsène announce the line up. Or more accurately, I heard "Fabianski, Sagna, Gibbs, Gallas, Djourou, Song..." and the rest was inaudible. Though I did hear that not only was Eduardo starting, he was captain for the day too. Of course, the rest of the line up was Eboue, Diaby, Arshavin and Vela. There were loud applause for both Eduardo and the returning Theo Walcott, who was on the bench.

We looked like we should have had a penalty pretty early on as someone was flattened in the Burnley box, as it wasn't given, I can only assume it was Eboue. I thought we were looking dangerous, without creating anything clear cut, but that changed approaching the half hour. The increasinly influential Arshavin (shit corners though) played Vela in down the left hand channel, somehow Vela got in on goal and, chipping Burnley's fat keeper, produced the kind of finish we all remember from Arsenal's home games in the Carling Cup- 1-0 to the Arsenal!

A day that began with me questioning the wisdom of taking a jacket as I walked up to the train station in sunshine, quickly turned into a day where, to paraphrase Jaws' Chief Brody I ended up wishing I had a bigger jacket as the rain came crashing in. Not that it got me, cossetted away in block 109, but it turned the air wicked cold and send those in the front rows behind our goal scurrying for cover. Shiver.

Five minutes into the second half, a stunning moment of genius from Eduardo warmed the hearts of the by now (unless you had a bloody big jacket) freezing Gooner nation. He dropped off at the far post, or the near post from my point of view, as Alex Song floated a chip across the area, as the ball dropped, he set himself before unleashing, I think that's the right word, a volley off the outside of his foot that screamed into the top corner. It was only watching the replay in the concourse, after the game, when I realised he'd actually hit the ball with the ankle. Yes, the ankle that that brummie bastard broke, what a goal. I haven't heard a player's name sung with such gusto for some time, it seemed that for a minute or two, the whole stadium was acclaiming the returning hero- as it should be.

From here on in, it was only ever going to be a question of how many. So RvP replaced Vela, presumably, the boss wanted to take a look at how he might combine with Eduardo. Having scored such an amazing goal, it came as something of a surprise that, after some nice play freed Sagna up to cross, Eduardo should nod wide. He was replaced by Theo, after the 4th official finally got Chris Foy's attention, whilst Aaron Ramsey replaced Abou Diaby- is that 4 games in a row for the frenchman?- who, I thought, had played very well in the centre with Alex Song.

Walcott brought a save from Jensen when he probably should have scored, chalk that one up to rustiness I think and then we had the ball in the net again, but the linesman's flag had gone up, incorrectly in my opinion, for offside. A little give and go, with the goer (sorry, not sure it was) running offside, the ball went to RvP, who had clearly come from behind the ball and eventually, the ball was smashed in to no avail. Perhaps a signature of this crazy season came when Eboue, who had meandered through much of the game, ran onto a clever backheel from Song and smashed the ball into the far corner for a wonderul 3-0 goal. Cue a text to Ben, "I must be dreaming"...

Burnley might have had a penalty late on, when Djourou clattered in, but the ref said no, I said "one all". They then went close with a header as the game went into added time. That was, a Paterson curler wide and an almighty first half scramble aside, as good as it got for Burnley today.

So, next up Hull City, for the right to a Wembley showdown with- dur dur durrrrrr!- Chelsea. Bet William Gallas can't wait. Neither can I.

Cardiff. Home to Burnley. Home to Hull or Sheffield United.

Not one to count chickens, but I think it's fair to say that we couldn't have asked for a kinder run of fixtures to ensure our first appearance at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium. I watched the draw yesterday, having watched a very impressive Manchester United destroy Derby County, pleading with Frank McLintock to do the right thing and get us a home draw- though, naturally, I was expecting United away. Luckily for us, Frank obliged and were we not to at least make the semi finals- for the first time since we won the competition in 2005- well, I think you would call it, to use a term I saw on the BBC website on Saturday, a bit of a "cupset".

However, that isn't to say it is a formality. Just over 5 hours till kick off here in North London, and Cardiff City- we know- will represent a tough nut to crack. Nine thousand Bluebirds are expected to descend on our home turf and, having witnessed them at first hand in the past, I know they will make their presence felt. It is up to us and the team to make sure that presence shrinks by the minute as the game progresses.

Team news, even at this late stage of the day, seems sketchy. BBC Sport think Eduardo unlikely to feature, whilst Football365 think he will, Paddy Power on Arsenal.com have him at 9/2 second favourite to score the first goal- do they know something we don't? What we do know is that options are limited for this fixture. The front two are widely expected to be Bendt Man and Robin. You surely can take a midfield three of Song, Denilson and Nasri to the bank, I haven't seen an update on Ramsey, so it must be between Wilshere and Vela for the final spot. I, personally, would go for Vela- I think he's had more exposure to the first team, and I think he will give us that bit of pace, movement and trickery that seems to go missing when Robin and Nik play up front together. That said, I wouldn't be adverse to seeing Jack play wide right/left. It is where he has played in the Carling Cup, after all. In front of Fabianski; Gibbs, Djourou, Toure and Sagna should have enough about them to subdue the Cardiff attack.

Arsène, as he does, has been chatting. He's been talking about the length of time he's spent at the club, and the "reciprocity" involved in his relationship with the board. He's spot on. Yes, he does get more leeway from the board than a novice manager might. He does so because he's earnt it. He does so because he has repeatedly reaffirmed commitment to the cause when it might have been easier to walk away and he does so, ultimately, because it is very difficult to look around the ranks of football management and see someone who is capable of doing what he has done. Even now, even in the relative mess the squad is in, most Gooners I know think that if anyone can sort it out, it is the gaffer. I know that, increasingly, confidence is being eroded in the manager, but I'm with the crowd that believes Arsène will have us sitting pretty again.

He also mentions Nick Bendtner and the chances he has had this season. For all Bendtner's big "I should play" talk, 8 goals from 31 games do not make for particularly happy reading. Statistics skewed by substitute appearances they may be, but when Arsène says something like, "If you look at the number of games he has started you will be surprised." you know that improvement had better be coming. Especially with Eduardo back and Carlos Vela knocking on the door. I'm sure Nik's  smart enough to work that out for himself, we'll see if it begins tonight.

Enjoy the game.  

So this is 2009 and after a rather limp finale to a year that promised so, so much when it began, the Gooners were back in the groove today with a 3-1 win at home to Plymouth. I wasn't at the game, I haven't seen the game and, as I was coughing my way down Hounslow High Street and then eastwards on the Picadilly Line as the game took place, I didn't listen to it either.

I did get a text from Ben Ingber though, telling me at half time the game was "dull dull dull. Nic is shocking". I guess 4 second half goals, though sadly none for Nic the Shocking, would have livened things up somewhat. Pleased to hear that RvP was skipper for the day and marked the occasion with a couple of goals. If the gaffer is going to make Robin skipper on these occasions, what is wrong with making him the captain in the absence of Cesc? Yes, I know I'm not his biggest fan, but I'd rather we gave the captaincy to someone who's actually good enough to do his job in the first place without giving him extra responsibility. Robin does at least show the kind of attitude us Gooners demand from our players, overly so in some cases.

Apparently, Mickey the Fish got injured today, plus ça change, which led to Keiran Gibbs getting an hour outside of the Carling Cup. I have no idea how he did, but here is a player you feel might be worth a closer look, I feel sure his athleticism would serve us better down at left back then the decrepit old manc at times when Clichy is unavailable.

It's been an interesting kinda week, without net access enough to post here, I did at least read about Kolo Toure's transfer request- what? Due to the break down of his relationship with big Willy G- what the hell? The consensus I have picked up is that if Gooners were to choose between Big Willy and Fat Kolo- they'd take the fat boy anyday of the week. I'm going to say fuck that, I'd rather have the world class quality of William at the back. Not that I want rid of Kolo, but the Kolo Toure of 2008 is not the player that we expected him to be four, or even two, years ago. Part of that may be attributable to the Gallas effect, part of that is almost certainly due to the devastation of malaria, but this Arsenal team isn't good enough to carry passengers. And it seems to me, that is exactly what Kolo has become. For his spirit, enthusiasm and obvious love for the club, I really hope he gets himself sorted out and stays. Of course, if he were to depart, he would leave Gael Clichy as the sole surviving member of our 2004 squad of untouchables. Which is staggering. And saddening, I think it may even be called (whisper it) asset stripping.

Not content with his- and I use the following term advisedly- Christmas present, mentioned here, to Gooners, the lamentable John Cross has followed up with a piece quoting nobody, but saying that Arsène doesn't like the fact that he's being criticised by the fans and so may be off to Madrid, taking the catalan prince with him in exchange for a £25m contract. I don't even know where to begin with bullshit like that, but I would like to think that after 20+ years as a football coach, 12 of them as Arsenal manager, the gaffer has enough about him to take criticism at face value and not pick his ball up and take it home, or to Madrid, just because he's in a bit of a sulk.

Round 4 awaits. More tomorrow, maybe.