It's all about RVP & yet another clean sheet.

Morning Gooners,

Today is all about one man, the superb brilliance of a man that is Robin Van Persie. Our new number 10 finally seems to have put his injury hit start of the season behind him and is now on his way to proving that if he stays fit he has the ability to be one of the best strikers in the world.

RVP and the rest of the Arsenal players destroyed Wigan at Ashburton Grove yesterday. From the very first minute we attacked as a unit and 10 of the Wigan players couldn't cope with us, unfortunately the one player that seemed as though he was in line for a storming game was Ali Al Habsi, the Wigan keeper. Why is it that distinctly average keepers always, and I mean always seem to have their performance of the season against our front line?

Al Habsi however could only keep us out for so long and RVP's first hat-trick in an Arsenal shirt (even after his penalty miss) gained us the points and for those who didn't manage to see the game, I kid you not it could have been double figures!

Despite Van Persie's deserved headline grabbing from the game I feel the need to give a shout out to the back four. Today saw our fourth consecutive clean sheet in the league. Now for any Arsenal team from the past few years that stat is impressive but include the fact that we're missing our best centre back and have had our 3rd choice keeper between the sticks then it's unbelievable. Djourou in my opinion has come on leaps and bounds this year and is starting to show just how good his all round game is.

Wojciech Szczesny has come into the team of late and has proved he may be ready to take that step into the first team but on top of his solid performance I love this man on twitter, his summing up of the game was this: 

"Did any of you notice that I was acctually playing today? Great result and well done @Persie_Official!"

A very good point, very well made. It will be interesting to see who gets Wenger's vote when Fabianski is fit again. Both keepers have done very, very well when called upon and either will rightfully feel unlucky and hard done by if they lose out as neither has done anything worthy of losing their place.

The only other news (that isn't obvious BS) is the potential transfer of another Southampton youngster in the form of Alex Chamberlain. Some sources are claiming that the deal is as good as done which is the sort of statement that I will only believe when I read it on Arsenal.com but reports on this kid seem to be very promising and any potential move away from the south coast seems that it will be based on his opportunities to develop at the top level and if that is the criteria then I can think of no better place than Arsenal, he'd only have to look to a certain Theo Walcott to see how a player can develop under the careful eye of Arsene Wenger. But as I said, there has been no official confirmation of any bid, I'm not even sure if we've admitted we're looking at him so until Arsenal announce it, don't believe a word you read.

It's a happy time to be a Gooner and now we look forward to Tuesday as we look to book a trip to Wembley at the end of February.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Only 1 point but plenty of good news: Man City thoughts.

Morning Gooners,

Man City came, they parked their £200m bus in front of their goal and they played for a 0-0 draw from the first minute to the last and if anybody questions that then you just need to look at Man City's attempts on goal which read as 5 attempts on goal, 0 on target. £200m spent on a group of players that are supposed to be bringing home trophies and they can't even manage a shot on target? It's laughable.

Arsenal lined up, as expected, with the same team that started against Chelsea and continued their good form. We pressed all over the pitch when we didn't have the ball and created chance after chance when we did. Van Persie had a glourious chance in the first few minutes to score after Jack Wilshere fizzed the ball across the goal face but it was just too far in front of him, RVP again came close thumping the ball past Joe Hart only to smash the post and during the game Fabregas and Walcott both followed his example by hitting the woodwork. We did seem to be restricted to long range efforts but when you consider City's mind set that's not really surprising. The best of these efforts was again Robin Van Persie who sent the ball flying towards the top corner late in the game only to see England's number one pull off one of the world class saves he has become so well known for. We saw a good performance from every player on the park last night and although we dropped points, do you know what? I don't care!

When we were losing games against Utd and Chelsea last year my biggest complaint was that our players didn't give their all, they didn't fight for the ball, they didn't show any pride or passion, we simply rolled over and died. This has definitely not been the case this year. I can not fault a single player from last nights game and had we been a little bit more in lady luck's good books or Hart hadn't had such a good game then we would have been celebrating another comfortable victory as we did against Chelsea.

There will be a lot of talk today of how negative Man City played but in my opinion that just shows how much behind us they are. This is a tactic I expect and we have seen on many occasions from a Stoke or a Birmingham or a Wolves or a Hull etc, etc. The point is this is a tactic that the littler teams use against us but at least some of them try to play on the counter, City didn't even seem to be that adventurous.

The game did end on a sour note with Sagna getting sent off for a disagreement with Zabaleta (who was also given his marching orders) You can only imagine that something was said to him as he has been subject to much worse challenges - Bowyer, I'm looking at you - and not reacted. Guess we'll never know, all we do know is that he will now miss at least the Leeds game and depending on how the red card is reported, potentially the visit to Ipswich and the Premier League clash against West Ham.

I can't help but feel positive as an Arsenal fan at the moment, we have always said that if our squad stays fit then we will challenge any team in the world, finally we are getting the opportunity to prove it. We fielded an unchanged side for the first time in God knows how long and we are not over-run with injuries. Really good news is that both Djourou and Van Persie have played two games in a week and still seem to be feeling good which shows they are winning their battles with fitness and also that Wenger feels they are getting to a stage where they don't need to be wrapped in cotton wool anymore.

As we have all had a good night's sleep to get over the disappointment of dropping points I'm hoping that spirits will now remain high among Gooners everywhere. Lets not forget that we'd be waking up in such a worse mood if we were Chelsea fans. Manchester United may be four points clear today but they still have to play Chelsea twice, spurs and Liverpool away, Man City at home and they need to come to Ashburton Grove. They will drop points and we must be ready to pounce when they do.

Attention needs to turn away from the Premier league now as we look forward to games in both domestic cups in the next week, hopefully by the time we reach our next game in the League we will know who we're playing in the fourth round of the FA Cup and be half way to Wembley in the League Cup.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

It's a bigger game than Chelsea: Man City Preview

Hi Ho Gooners,

So at last we are approaching normality with only two games a week. After a great start to the year at Birmingham we welcome Manchester City and all of it's overpaid 'stars' to Ashburton Grove.

Fly back to the end of October last year and we'll remember thrashing the sky blue mancs 3-0 with goals from Nasri, Song and Bendnter. It was the first point this season that we proved we had grown as a team and could truly compete with the so called 'big boys' especially when you compared it to our defeat at Eastlands last season.

Wenger is expected to follow a similar game plan to the one we used against Chelsea which will see us pressing every Man City player that dares to touch the ball and really putting on the pressure. That combined with the vision of Fabregas and Wilshere, the skill of Nasri and Van Persie and the pace of Walcott we should be able to cause a lot of problems for our opponents.

Man City travel without Silva or Balotelli who have both suffered injuries and I have to say that's good news for Gooners everywhere. Balotelli gives City a very real goal threat and he seems to be coming into a bit of form of late so his absence is much appreciated. Silva is a player that I believe is very much in the Arsenal mould. He has a wonderful eye for a pass and can cause a lot of damage from cutting in from the wing.

As for our line up, just like Wenger will be following a similar game plan to the Chelsea game, I can't see him changing the names on the team sheet. This has now become a bigger game than Chelsea, a win will move us into second, a point clear of City and with a game in hand.

Goonerfish's line-up:

                       Fabianski

Sagna - Koscielny - Djourou - Clichy

                         Song

              Fabregas - Wilshere

Walcott                 -               Nasri

                     Van Persie

Score: Arsenal 3 - 2 Man City

This game ended 0-0 last year but I can see this year's game being really open, City will start on the defensive but if we score an early goal they will have no choice but to attack and that will lead to a great game.

Just wanted to quickly say that it's good to see Gibbs available for selection again, we're at the stage of the season where games now come on overload and Clichy will not be able to perform in them all so Gibbs' services will be needed. Gibbs is an excellent and exciting talent and I hope he can keep fit long enough to really push Clichy for that starting spot next season.

Sorry for the compacted version of a preview today, I'm sat at my desk at work typing this but ssshhhhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone.

Whether you're at the game or watching it on TV, enjoy it.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Thoughts from Brum & all change for the new year?

Morning Gooners,

2011 is here so surely the whole world has now changed for the better. Everything that normally bugs us will not happen anymore and the world will be nothing but Rosy for an Arsenal fan..... What? you're questioning the truth in that statement, how very dare you!! Lets look at the evidence shall we, the new year is only one day old and so far Man Utd have played some of the worst, ugliest football I have seen for years...and won a game that in fairness they should have lost, Torres scored in front of the Kop with a Gerrard assist, the media are up in arms about cheating Arsenal whilst almost ignoring several horrible challenges on our players, Spud fans are shouting about how they are now an established team in the top four and the gap between the north London teams is ever shrinking or in some cases Spurs are now the bigger club, Harry 'twitch' Redknapp is talking about another almost retired footballer as though they are the brightest prospect in modern football in the hope he can sell more shirts, or maybe a new DVD and Wayne Rooney still looks like Shrek after losing a cage fight. Ah well, same old shit for another year it is then!!

I need some cheering up, how about a lovely 3-0 win Mr Goonerfish, why thank you very much that'll do nicely.

Arsenal turned up to St Andrews yesterday with less than fond memories of recent visits. In previous years we have experienced the beginning of the end of a title bid with the horror injury that in fairness ended Eduardo's hope of a long and successful Arsenal career followed by Gallas' ridiculous sit in protest. More recently, last year Kevin Phillips scored an injury time equaliser to rob us of our hard earned points.

If our players were not looking forward to the visit then they didn't show it. We were treated to a wonderful team display by the same team that turned out against Chelsea. Fabianski continued to improve his reputation with some fantastic distribution, especially from his throws and added some strong decision making and a top class save from Larsson's first half free kick. Our defence was solid apart from that niggling habit we have of turning to mush when defending set pieces, Brum should have got a goal from such an occasion in the first half when our back line just fell to sleep. Djourou fro me gets better every time I see him, if he can stay fit and keep his run of games going he will be immense for us.

Jack Wilshere had a happy birthday quietly doing what he does and dictating the pace of the game through clever passing and an incredible ability to read the game, still can't believe he's only 19.

RVP should have had a hat-trick in the first half but his lack of match sharpness showed with some poor first touches and decision making. He got a lot of stick for earning the free kick that he scored to put us 1-0 up with his first goal since May. Yes he made a lot of it but there was contact so surely that comes under exaggeration rather than simulation. Bottom line, there WAS a foul, we got a free kick, we scored from that free kick, I don't see where the issue is. Robin then pushed himself into the highlights again with a clear handball in the box which wasn't given but I had to chuckle at McLeish moaning about it in his post match interview considering the fashion of Birmingham's equaliser against the Mancs.

Samir Nasri was epic. He is slowly becoming an absolute legend in an Arsenal shirt he is just the right mix of Freddie and Pires and is another player that is getting better with every game, at the half way spot he is definitely my player of the season so far. Nasri scored our second with a lovely placed shot into the bottom corner and from that point we never looked back. There were some lovely interchanges between Nasri, Fabregas and Van Persie all the way through the game and when you consider Cesc and RVP are still finding their fitness the potential partnerships that could develop between that trio is mouth watering, then add in the skill of Arshavin or the pace of Walcott or the brilliance of Wilshere and you finally get a glimpse of how exciting our future is.

It was a lovely run from Walcott that started the move for out third and ended in Fabregas smashing a shot into Foster's chest which came back out, took a double deflection and somehow ended up back in the net.

You may notice that I have neglected to mention the challenges that our players were subjected to but truth be told, you can read a review of any Birmingham vs Arsenal game and you read the same thing. Bowyer in particular seemed to have an issue with Sagna as he assaulted him on several occasions. The sooner the FA get to the bottom of this problem and really punish challenges that could in some cases seriously injure the opposition the better. I would say it won't happen until someone gets seriously hurt but the names Eduardo and Ramsey come to mind so maybe it won't happen until someone English such as a Lampard, Rooney or Gerrard get seriously hurt.

All in all we got the three points we needed, we saw a solid team performance, we saw a clean sheet and no one got injured so I would have to say it was a good days work.

Thoughts now head to the last game of the hectic festive period against Manchester City. Both teams are in good form so it should be a good game, hopefully ending in an Arsenal victory.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Early Transfer round-up and Brum Preview

Firstly Happy New year to all you Gooners out there.

So here we are, a brand new year and with the start of the year we see the annual madness start that is the transfer window.

It's only the first day and already we have Wenger confirming that we have one in and one out. Harvard Nordtviet is on his way to  Borussia Monchengladbach in the next few days without making a single first team appearance since joining us in July 2007 and Japanese forward Ryo Miyaichi is on his way in.

Wenger has also said that he will be happy for Carlos Vela to leave on loan. He said:

"Some offensive players don’t play games like Carlos Vela. If he can get games somewhere else we will loan him out."

"He is a top quality player and at the moment we have too many strikers. He does not get the games he deserves."

It is also confirmed that Ramsey will come back to Arsenal and will not be going back on loan. Wenger has said he hopes for him to be ready for action in February.

Also on the transfer front, good ol' Freddie Ljungburg has returned to Britain completing his loan move to Celtic. Good luck to him.

And lets not forget about the madness that the next 31 days will bring about Cesc Fabregas leaving the club, already reports are flying around that Real Madrid are preparing a £35m bid. Again, lets keep calm Gooners Cesc is not going anywhere (in January at least) so lets not make him come out publicly every other day and stat his commitment to the club.

Now for the real reason for today's blog, our trip to Brum. Wenger made eight changes between the last two games and I expect a fair few today too bringing back some of our stronger players for the third game in six days.

Fabianski has given no reason to lose his place but he will need to be careful if Zigic plays, not because of his quality in the air but just because of his height, when your that tall luck will fall your way and Birmingham have enough poachers to bury the balls that he will be knocking down.

Wenger's first big choice is who to play at centre back. His rotation so far has seen Koscielny and Djourou play against Chelsea and Kos with Squillaci against Wigan. The question is will Wenger now give Koscielny a rest or continue to play who he sees as his best fit defender. My vote goes for the return of a Kos/Djorou partnership.

Fabregas returns from suspension to retake his place in the middle of the park and Jack Wilshere should be right beside him doing what he loves best on his birthday, winning three points for Arsenal.

Robin Van Persie continues to try and find the form we all know he's capable of and his style and skill should suit our game today working in close tight triangles with Cesc, Wilshere, Arshavin and Nasri.

Yesterday I talked about my strongest Arsenal XI and am hoping that we may actually see 10 of those players start the game today.

Goonerfish's line-up:

                      Fabianski

Sagna - Koscielny - Djourou - Clichy

                        Song

            Fabregas - Wilshere

Nasri                   -              Arshavin

                    Van Persie

Score: Birmingham 0 - 2 Arsenal

This game will be close. Only Everton have won at St Andrews this season and Birmingham have the third best home defensive record in the league behind only Chelsea and Manchester United. However, Alex McLeish’s side have only scored nine at home themselves which is the worst record in the premiership.

Last year we saw Kevin Phillips steal an injury time equaliser to make it 1-1 but I think the team have grown a little more over the past year and should have enough to do what Man Utd couldn't and take all three points.

A win today will see seven points earned in less than six days and in comparison to the same fixtures last year an improvement of six points so lets be positive and get behind the boys.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Don't forget guys for more random ramblings you can follow me on twitter or facebook.

A massive squad but who is Arsenal's best XI?

Afternoon Gooners,

How are we all today? Are we all calmed down now? Good then I'll begin.

Personally I'm still feeling quite good about our pair of games over Christmas. The good feeling from the Chelsea game by far outweighs the frustration from the Wigan game.

One of the big questions raised from the past week is just which players make up our best team? We saw two completely different sides turn out this week and in times when our traditionally second or even third string players that turn out for the Carling Cup are becoming more recognisable the question that needs to be answered is who are our best eleven?

I think that the fact that Fabianski started both games shows that Wenger feels he is our number one. Szczesny is a fantastic prospect and it will not be long before he breaks through properly but he is not ready to play week in week out yet. Almunia, as sad as it sounds, has in my opinion played his last game for the club. I wouldn't be surprised to see him move on in January.

Clichy and Sagna take the full back positions with relative ease. Sagna has been our most impressive player in that position since Lauren and no one at the club can really challenge him for a regular starting spot. Keiran Gibbs is pushing a little harder  on Clichy but is still a little behind but that being said, if some reports are true and Clichy is planning a move to Spain then I would not be uncomfortable with our young Englishman making that step up. Gibbs crossing in the final third is already better than clichy and aspects of his defending is better but Clichy's all round game is still of a higher standard than Gibbs.

The first real question is who are our best centre backs. This decision is probably the one that splits opinions most. Our contenders are: Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou and Squillaci.

Vermaelen claims his spot automatically in my opinion, his strength, reading of the game, aerial ability and threat going forward (still can't believe how sweetly he can strike a ball with his left foot) put him a class above not only our other centre backs but most of the centre backs in the league.

But who should partner him? Squillaci gives experience, Koscielny gives his ability in those last ditch tackles as well as his reading of the game and Djourou gives fantastic ability in the air and a strong tackle. I thought I'd go look at some stats for the pairings but as Kos and Squillaci are still in their first season, Djourou has spent over a year out and Vermaelen has been out injured most of this year it is very difficult to compare them fairly. I personally feel that Koscielny has been epic this year, yes he's made a couple of mistakes but it's his first season so a lot of it will be spent getting used to the league. Djourou would already have the spot secured had he not been injured so much so I expect him to be pushing hard for the rest of the year. Squillaci is in my opinion a squad player and little more he has slow reflexes and is not as strong in the tackle as he should be and lacks pace.

Alex Song currently has no equal in the - and I say this loosely - defensive midfield role. Denilson is his closest rival and as rough as it sounds he's just not good enough to be trusted with that role every week. Don't get me wrong, I like Denilson, he brings qualities to our game such as a cool head, he controls the speed of a game excellently but in Arsenal's game plan there's not really a place for that sort of player.
Fabregas needs no explanation or reasoning, he's our captain, he's one of the best midfielders in the world and he walks into our team just as he would any other team in the Premiership.

The third midfield role has more competition than any other. Diaby, Denilson, Wilshere, Rosicky, Ramsey, Nasri to name a few all fighting for one spot. Each player brings different attributes and qualities and may be used for different scenarios but my choice for this spot is not the same as if you asked me 6 months ago. Jack Wilshere has been a revolution this year and on many occasions has been our most influential player, even when Fabregas has been playing. his understanding of the game, vision for the pass, technical skill is beyond most players playing today but to be at this level at his age is almost unbelievable.

We have some of the most attractive options up front in the world. I we assume we're playing three up front with a solo striker and two supporting attackers then the solo spot is between Van Persie, Chamakh and Bendtner. Chamakh has been superb since joining us in the summer. He was thrown into the team earlier than Wenger planned because of injuries to RVP and Bendtner and with 10 goals at the half way point of the season surely everyone must see that he has been a massive success. Bendtner is the best third choice striker in the league but despite his obvious confidence in his own ability he is just that, third choice.

A fit Robin Van Persie is another player that is among the worlds best. His skill, vision and finishing ability mean that if he his fit that solo striker spot must be his.

The supporting players cause a lot of arguments between fans too. Arshavin, Walcott, Nasri, Rosciky, Vela and even Bendtner are fighting for two available spots.

Theo Walcott has been in excellent form this season but his defensive qualities leave a lot to be desired and many fans would argue he's a bit of a one trick pony. His pace causes problems for any team we face but sometimes we need a little more. I am personally excited about what Theo can bring to our team in the next few years from both out wide and also potentially the central role.

Vela is not ready, sounds short and harsh but it's the truth. Rosciky is unfortunately past his best. I don't think we will ever see the player Wenger thought he signed but he is still a quality player and the qualities he provides from the bench are fantastic.

Nasri is finally starting to show signs of the world class player he is going to become, some of the things he can do while on the football are miraculous and give credit to the original comparisons with Zidane that he earned in his youth

Arshavin is possibly the most lazy fecker I have ever seen in an Arsenal shirt but there is no denying that when he is on his game he is nothing short of world class. For this reason we as fans almost need to overlook his lazy ways and just except that we'll only get half an hour of football from him in a game but in the knowledge that within that 30 minutes he could win the game for us. However, our defensive cover suffers massively when he plays.

So I do this opening myself up to a mass of abuse but here's my best eleven, assuming everyone is fit.

                      Fabianski

Sagna - Koscielny - Vermaelen - Clichy

                         Song

             Fabregas - Wilshere

Nasri                   -                 Arshavin

                    Van Persie

Subs: Sczcseny, Djourou, Eboue, Rosicky, Ramsey, Walcott, Chamakh

What do you think? Agree or disagree, let me know.

I'll leave you all to contemplate the Birmingham game now but hopefully we've all calmed down about Wigan and can move on.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

A Little calm please people - The difference two days make.

Morning Gooners,

OK, I know I've been absent from the blogging world for a while but reading through the blog-sphere last night I felt I had to interject and shout out with my two cents worth.

There is only one way to say this but come on people, calm the feck down!! On boxing day, as we sat in our living rooms still bloated from turkey, looking forward to the our next two games we would have taken 4 points with a big smile on our faces so why when after the two games we have the 4 points we wanted are some gooners screaming about how crap we are?

Monday night was one of the best nights for an Arsenal fan in recent history. We showed we are a team that can not only win against the big boys but out play them, it's something we've known we can do for a long time as did Wenger and our players and against Chelsea they've finally proved it.

Then came tonight's game against Wigan and lets be honest, we were not good enough but then lets also look at some facts. Firstly Wenger made 8 changes to the side that embarrassed Chelsea with only Fabianski, Koscielny (who by the way has been phenomenal over the two games) and Sagna retaining their place, take a second look and you could almost be mistaken for calling it a Carling Cup team. That aside as our squad should be strong enough to cope with rotation, Wigan went ahead from a penalty that you could easily say should only have been a free kick as the original contact happened OUTSIDE the box. Again I'll point out here that in recent years our boys would have got their heads down and lost the spirit and we would have lost at least 1-0 but not tonight, we got our heads back on the game and not only equalised but then took the lead, Bendnter and Arshavin involved in both goals and each was excellent in their own ways.

There is no excuse for Wigan's second but we were just a Arshavin chip away from our third and lets be honest we should have had a penalty at the end from an obvious handball, and for those who say it was ball to hand or it wasn't deliberate I'll ask you the question that was worded best of all from our absent skipper

"Whats the diference between this handball & my 1 vs spurs? Referees dont want us to complain abt them but they make life dificult 4 themself"

I'd also like to point out at this stage that I love this tweet from Fabregas because the speed it was tweeted shows he's as much an Arsenal fan as you or me and cares for the club.

In my opinion the same quality was responsible for both results this Christmas and that is our players mental attitude. Against Chelsea our players were fired up, we chased every ball, we fought every battle, we wanted to win every contest. Against Wigan we didn't. We as a club need to face games like Wigan and West Brom and Newcastle and Sunderland with the same passion and mentality that we go into games likes Chelsea, Man Utd and (hopefully) Barcelona. The second we assume we'll win the points is the second we drop them.

So again gooners, I call for some calm. Our win against Chelsea didn't win us the league BUT, the draw against Wigan hasn't stopped us winning it. Some fans may need reminding that from these two games last year we secured 0 points, this year we have 4 and because of impovements like that we're starting January two points of the top of the league, not bad for a team who were written off from any sort of title challenge this year.

We start the New year with a trip to St Andrews on Saturday and as Man Utd discovered yesterday, it's not going to be easy so we need to get our heads down, learn our lessons from last nights dissapiontment and concentrate on getting two more points than Utd did against Birmingham.

Till next time, keep it positive Gooners,
Goonerfish.