Wolves Thoughts:Good time to be a Gooner, bring on Barca

Afternoon Gooners,


I feel good today, I always do after an Arsenal win. Better than the win yesterday was the team performance.

Robin Van Persie will get the majority of the Headlines after his brace but everyone that played yesterday had a great game. Szczesny was solid and calculated, our defence were excellent with Djourou and Koscielny continuing to form an excellent partnership, there will be some tough decisions for Wenger to make once Thomas Vermaelen is back fit again as neither of yesterday's centre backs deserved to be dropped but surely you can't leave out a fully fit Vermaelen.

Song, Wilshere and Fabregas are without doubt our best midfield trio. We all know how good Cesc is and Song proved last year that the DM role is his and he's added a bigger attacking presence to his game this year. Jack Wilshere has stepped into our midfield this year and even he must not have expected to play as much as he has but he showed again yesterday how he can dictate a game.

RVP obviously had a great game yesterday, you can rarely pick up a couple of goals unless you play well but his attacking team-mates also had great games. Theo Walcott kept running at the Wolves defence all game and they just couldn't handle it. Theo kept jumping from right wing to left and was running at full pace right up to the final whistle although he did miss two sitters, when you win you can forgive him. Arshavin worked his arse off. He chased lost causes, he tracked back and helped Clichy and closed down players whenever he was needed to. This is the Arshavin we all hoped we signed.

Confidence seems to be high in the camp which is vital as we look forward to Wednesday night and the visit of Barcelona. We will always create chances against any team but we will need the same work rate and  hunger shown yesterday to keep Messi and Co from creating to many of their own chances.

The result would have been sweeter if Wayne 'Shrek' Rooney hadn't produced the best goal of his career against City to secure Utd a 2-1 win, however with three consecutive away games coming up, including Chelsea and Liverpool they will drop points within the next month and Arsenal only need Utd to draw one game and then the title is in our own hands. If Man Utd drop any points at all in these games then Arsenal only need to beat them at Ashburton Grove and then match their remaining results and we will win the title. The other good news is that we are now four points clear of Man City in third with a game in hand and even if Chelsea beat Fulham on Monday, we will still be six points clear of the Chavs. The title race really is becoming between only two teams and we're one of them. It's been a long time since we've gone into the final run in as genuine contenders.

So mid way through February we are looking in good shape to beat Barca, we are only 2 dropped Utd points from having the title in our own hands, we have a Wembley final in a couple of weeks looking to end our extended trophy drought and we are still going strong in the FA Cup. It's good to be a Gooner.

On that positive note I will leave you for today,

Until next time,
Goonerfish

Wolves Preview: Can the real Arsenal please stand up.

First of all, apologies for the late and rushed post, Today has been mental but I always think it's better to get a match preview up BEFORE the game actually starts.

Who would have guessed that an early November game away to a team expected to be fighting against relegation would feel like a must win game? Not me for one but that's where we are.

After an over-whelmingly disappointing performance against Newcastle at the weekend it's time for the real Arsenal to step up and be counted. Players like Fabregas, Clichy and Arshavin need to find the form that they have been lacking lately. We know that everyone of our players has the ability to be world class but at times I feel that our players think the game has been won before it begins.

Wolves are in form at the moment beating Manchester City and very nearly getting a deserved draw at Old Trafford. We on the other hand are not in form at all suffering two defeats in our last two games and only scrapping past West Ham in the game before. Arsene has expressed the importance of the game, he said:

“We do not want to lose this game. Especially after the games against Shakhtar and Newcastle where, because of our quality, we feel we should not have lost. So it is important we become efficient again and the confidence remains there.”

Our team drives on confidence and dropping points today will only bring more bad form. We do need to remember though that if we beat Wolves and Man City can beat Man Utd then we return to second in the league five points behind Chelsea (assuming Fulham don't nick a result at the ridge) and in my opinion being in that position after a run of bad form can only excite us when we think of the position we'll be in when we strike a spell of good form.

We will travel without Vermealen, Ramsey and Diaby through injury and Koscielny because of suspension after the appeal against his red card was thrown out but the good news is Robin Van Persie looks set to continue his return but probably only from the bench.

Our defense will pretty much pick itself. Arshavin put in more effort during his cameo against Newcastle than I have seen over the rest of the season so if he comes back into the team then I hope he will continue that work rate for 90 minutes tonight, I've said many times before that if AA23 can combine his undoubted skill with a decent work rate over 90 minutes then he could be one of the best players in the world. Chamakh has experienced a run in the team that was much longer than he expected so early in his Arsenal career and as a result is understandably shattered so I expect him to take a place on the bench tonight but who will replace him? Options are Bendtner, RVP or a wilcard option of Theo. as I said, I think RVP will start from the bench so the decision rests on how fit Wenger deems our great Dane to be, I'd love to see Walcott start in the middle but expect Bendtner will get the call-up. If that is the case then we get back to the Walcott/Nasri choice for the right of our attack.

Goonerfish's line-up:

Fabianski


Sagna - Djourou - Squillaci - Clichy


Song


Fabregas (c) - Wilshere


Nasri - Arshavin


Bendtner




Score Wolves 1 - 3 Arsenal

I think that our players realise that these games our not 3 points in the bag anymore and we need to fight for every point. I think it will be a tighter game than 3 - 1 suggests but reckon we'll nick a third in the last 10 minutes as Wolves chase a point.

Wenger has stated that great teams do not lose three games in a row, he is right and it is up to our players to show we can be great.

Apologies again for the short and sweet preview but time has not been my friend today.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.