Arsenal finally show some mental strength: Villa thoughts.

What a difference a win makes.

I've woken up this Sunday Morning feeling good about the world and in particular Arsenal. It's not just the win but the performance that impressed me.

Arshavin was, in my opinion, brilliant yesterday. He is starting to combine his ability with a more than decent work rate and seems to be really enjoying his football at the moment, a wonderful combination that if continued will see him become the world class player we all thought we signed when he came to North London. He scored our first goal with a jinking run followed by a great strike which was to powerful for Freidel as despite a good hand to the ball he couldn't prevent it sinking into the net.

AA23 then got his assist. A corner earned by a wonderful save by Brad Freidel after a powerful Chamakh header was played deep and the approaching Samir Nasri continued his great form and smashed the half volley into Villa'a goal.

2-0 up at half time and on top of the game - What could have gone wrong?

Villa scored their first despite Carew standing right in front of Fabianski in an offside position but they are just the decisions that go against you when your Arsenal.

I have to admit I was feeling very nervous after that goal and wondered how our players would react, especially after the week we've had but they reacted perfectly showing the character we've been missing of late and it was a matter of minutes before captain for the day, Rosicky slid the ball through for Chamakh who finished well slotting the ball under the keeper to make it 3-1.

As we never do anything the easy way we let Villa in to score a second just to make sure that Gooner's across the globe were on edge for the last quarter of the game. All those nerves disappeared a few minutes from the end when Chamakh turned provider and gently knocked the ball across goal to an unmarked Wilshere who scored his first league goal for the club with a diving header to make it 4-2. I am so chuffed for Jack as his performances this season have deserved more reward so to see his name on the score sheet was a great touch at the end of a great game.

This was the first game Villa have lost at home this season and only the second in the whole of 2010 so the achievment should not be overlooked and lets not forget Man Utd were held to a draw there just a couple of weeks ago.

Arsenal seem to have their swagger back and with only one game left in November we are so close to putting our bogey month behind us and enjoying the rest of the year.

Our thoughts now move to the Carling Cup and our chance to move closer to ending our trophy drought.

Till Next time,
Goonerfish.

Time for positivity: Villa Preview

Morning Gooners,

It feels like an eternity since we last played but that's the way two defeats on the trot make you feel. But lets not forget that prior to the last hellish week we saw are team put in what could be called champion's performances against both Everton and Wolves. November has always been a horrible month for Arsenal fans and 2010 has been no exception with more negativity flying around the blog sphere than I can remember for a long time but today are boys travel to Aston Villa to put an end to it and again send us top of the league, even if it may only be for a few hours unless 'Big Sam' and his boys from Blackburn can do us a favour at Old Trafford.

We travel to the midlands today taking the leagues best away record with us. With four wins, a couple of draws and only a single defeat on the road we have picked up more points than any other club but rather annoyingly, we've picked up more points than we have at home, but as I said this week has been negative enough, it's time to start thinking positively.

In contrast, Villa are unbeaten at home this year and will be doing their best to keep that record and as they showed against Man Utd a couple of weeks ago, they won't be push overs but then again they got owned by Blackburn last week so it all depends which Villa turn out.

Arsenal don't have an option as to which team turn up, it needs to be our best team, giving 100% in every minute of the game until we leave with the three points.

Wenger will have a decision to make over who he plays in the centre of defense but he's never been one to punish for a bad performance so I expect he'll stick with Koscielny and Squillaci. Squillaci will be vital today if Carew plays as I don't think Kos is strong enough to deal with him.

It seems our injury situation is getting better, but we will be missing the talents of Vermealen, Fabregas and Eboue which gives Wenger another decision to make in midfield. Who will fill Cesc's role? Is Wilshere ready to take it? If so, will he play Denilson to give us a bit more defensive bite? Will he bring in Rosicky for a rare start or will he move Nasri into his favourite position? The only thing we are sure of is that we have plenty of options.

Robin Van Persie missed out on the squad mid week but I think that's Wenger keeping his fragile superstar protected for what he saw as the bigger game so I actually expect to see him start today. I think if Nasri moves back then Walcott will be given his chance to show his talents and battle to get back in the starting XI on a regular basis.

Goonerfish's line-up:

Fabianski


Sagna - Koscielny - Squillaci - Clichy


Song


Nasri - Wilshere


Walcott - Arshavin


Van Persie (c)



Score: Aston Villa 2 - 3 Arsenal

In all honesty, I have a nasty feeling we'll drop points today with a draw but this is supposed to be a positive blog today.

Lets hope we can all enjoy our lunch today looking down on the rest of the league.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

At last, Hell week is over.

Evening Gooners,

What a week!! Apologies for the lack of blogs during the week but I have not been my normal positive self and the stuff that I did write was not very pleasant. I will attempt to return to some form of regularity.

I  am going to pretend that I have been sleeping for the last seven days as I have no intention of following the trend and describing my disappointment, frustration and anger at almost everything that has happened in the Arsenal world.

I heard a funny joke yesterday though, there was this man in a bar and he said to his mate "I really think the power in North London has changed from red to white"......................... That's it, that's the whole joke. Spuds and parts of the media alike all seem to think that as Spurs have had a better week than us they are now the better team. I'm not one for name calling or sh*t stirring  but I thought to be a better team than us you need to be above us in the league? or is that just my opinion? seriously, you give a charity case a single season in the Champions league (yes spuds, that's all your getting!!) and they think they are the best club in the world. All I hope is they remember these taunts and this optimism in May when they are fighting for a place in the Europe League.

Other news from this week included Robin Van Persie's return then being rested and then a whole load of confusion over whether or not he is fit, these stories will hopefully be put to rest when he starts up front Saturday lunch time. If he plays he will find himself up against a true Arsenal legend, Bobby Pires. Pires enjoyed years of success at Arsenal and was of course a member of our invincibles team. He has now moved on to Aston Villa after a month or so of training with our first team to keep his fitness up. I'm sure there isn't a Gooner on the planet that doesn't wish him all the luck in the world - after Saturday.

More good news was the mid week return of Aaron Ramsey. Rambo made his returns in the reserves and played 45 minutes and although I didn't see it I'm told he played very well and looked strong. This was quickly followed by the surprise news that he has joined Notts Forest on loan until January. Personally I'm quite happy he's going to get some game time but also petrified he's going to get kicked off the park. We'll all find out in the new year how heavily Rambo is involved in Wenger's plans for the rest of the year. Lansbury has also left on loan, joining Norwich.

Anyway, I have finally come out of my misery and am ready to rejoin the living world. I'll be back tomorrow with a preview of yet another 'most important game of the season'

Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish.

Time to smash some spuds and top the table. Spurs Preview

Here we go, at last the world famous superstar that is his welsh highness sir Gareth of Bale will finally grace the pitch at the Emirates with his presence. I need to make a note of my exact location so I can tell my Grand kids "I was there"

Sorry, sarcasm aside today sees our inferior neighbours pop over for a friendly game of footie. Every professional you speak to will tell you it's just another game but it's not, it's just not, it's one of the first fixtures you look for when they're released in the summer and a victory against the spuds tastes just a little sweeter than any other.

Spurs fans will tell you that they've finally closed that gap between us and by qualifying for the Champions League for the first time they feel the clubs are on par. We suggested they may be mistaken when our reserves beat them 4 - 1 at their place in the Carling Cup. Now it's time to prove the clubs are still miles apart.

Our injury list is looking better and better at the moment and considering we've just had an international
break I never thought I'd say that. RVP got through his midweek appearance and said he feels fine and Wilshere has passed a fitness teat for today's game so it seems that the only regular out at the moment is TV5.

Koscielny returns from his suspension and should step straight back into the team and I expect the experienced head of Squillaci to be stood right next to him.

Arsene Wenger must be smiling from ear to ear at the moment, with so many players available to play in each position competition must be fierce and that can only be a good thing. I wonder if Wenger will do anything to protect us against Bale's pace and give Eboue the start at right back in what looks like it will be a very attacking game or if Eboue's habit to concentrate more on attacking than defending will leave to much space to be attacked by Spurs. Our midfield and attack could take almost any combination, Walcott's pace Vs Nasri's skill and form, Arshavin's ability against Rosicky's reliability and of course Chamakh's fitness against Van Persie's..... um everything. I'm not sure if Wenger will risk Van Persie from the begining as he did such that against Blackburn and he didn't last a half before breaking.

Goonerfish's Line-up:

Fabianski


Sagna - Koscielny - Squillaci - Clichy


Song


Fabregas (c) - Wilshere


Nasri - Arshavin

Chamakh




Score Arsenal 3 - 1 Spuds

I wouldn't be surprised to see Spurs score first although we will be too much for them in the end.
You'll notice I haven't even mentioned a certain Billy Gallas. That's because I don't care. He was a player that would have been handy to have in the squad but in all honesty his menstrual cycle was a little to random for my liking.

Anyway, go find a perch wear your Arsenal red and sing all the songs (try to ignore Sky's inevitable bias towards the Spuds) and then after the game find every person you can find and scream right in their face "WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE, SAY WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE"

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Everton thoughts. Great weekend for a Gooner

This was above all else an excellent win for our team, on a ground where Utd dropped points we battled hard and came away with the win.

Wenger was full of praise for his team saying:

"The most important qualities we showed at Everton were discipline, commitment, togetherness, desire and a 100 per cent focus for 90 minutes. That is what got us the points."

The points were definitely earned by 'Fab' today but not the normal one, not the Fab that scored our second and ultimately winning goal. Lukasz Fabianski put in a fantastic performance at Goodison and produced a number of top saves while the score was 2 - 0. The 25 year old keeper had another faultless performance and was definitely a core reason for our success, not only against Everton but since he came in to the side after Almunia's 'injury'. What's more impressive is hat during that spell when he made his only error that cost us points he came back and earned us wins in the next two, That is the sign of a world class keeper in the making.

Another player that has improved his reputation although somewhat more quietly was Denilson. His introduction at half time was a beautiful and clever move from Arsene Wenger, he replaced Jack Wilshere who in himself is a great player but he likes to have the ball at his feet, make runs, take people on and so on, Denilson on the other hand receives the ball, takes a touch, looks up and passes to the free man and that sort of quick link play was what was needed against a tough Everton team that enjoyed closing us down very quickly. A lot of fans have criticised Denilson for always passing sideways, not being attacking enough or just not being good enough. Hopefully more appearances like this can slowly keep changing the minds of those fans. Denilson's introduction also allowed Fabregas to concentrate more on the attacking side of his game, In the first half you could often see him step back while Alex Song made a forward charge but in the second half it was Denilson and Song who shared the responsibilities of defensive cover allowing Cesc to run forward just like he did when he scored his goal.

I was disappointed not to see Walcott involved, he is as far as we know fully fit and before his two game absence he was in form so his lack of involvement was surprising. The only assumption I can make is that Wenger doesn't trust Theo defensively and if that is the case, we may not see that much of him away from home.

I haven't seen many of the post game interviews so all I can give you is a tweet by Cesc Fabregas after the game he took the time to thank the fans, he tweeted "Great victory. All the lads were fantastic. Great support once again by the away fans. Keep it up Gunners!"

All in all This game provided the perfect build up for the Spurs game but of course we need to get through the internationals injury free first - I wonder what odds we'd get for RVP getting injured whilst playing for Holland?

Until then, Go forth and enjoy your week in the knowledge that we are potentially one win away from being top of the Premier League.

Short but sweet today so until next time,
Goonerfish

Must take advantage and take all the points: Everton Preview

Unbeaten in seven games, lost only three games in there last twenty three and the third best defensive record in the league this year falling behind only Man City and Chelsea. It all sounds great but that's not our record, it's Everton's.

This will not be an easy game. Our third game in seven days and we follow a home defeat to Newcastle and an away win at Wolves with a trip up north to the blue side of Mersyside.

Today marks the half way mark in our traditional bogey month which so far reads one win and two defeats. Better news though is that Cesc Fabregas has been declared as "back" by manager Arsene Wenger. Our captain has been a mixture of average and almost good. He has failed to reach his normal high standards but according to Wenger he's "back". He said:

“It took him a while to settle again. But I am 100 per cent convinced he is focused, motivated and determined more than ever to lead the team to victory.

“Stamina-wise, Cesc is there now. He has lost his restriction in his head and the fear of injury in his hamstring.

“He still lacks a little bit of zip in the decision-making and his acceleration in the final third. He is at 95 per cent.

“I felt we saw a different Cesc at Wolves – focused, motivated, wanted to give everything, no restriction. He was already a completely different player. That means in the next game he should be alright.

Having a fully fit and match sharp Fabregas will be a massive boost for any team. His vision, skill and commitment will earn us points on there own and the sooner he can get back to being the maestro we know he can be, the better.

As for the rest of our team tomorrow, Fabianski will be looking to get another solid performance under his belt, a little bit of me thinks he prefers playing away from the Emirates where there's not so many eyes waiting for him to mess up and not so many groans if he drops a cross. He is becoming a better keeper with every game and long may he continue to improve. At Fabianski's age he could find himself our number one keeper for the next ten+ years and with the rest of the team as young as they are, the understanding between everyone will grow every year and that can only be a big, big positive for the club.

The defense again picks itself, Koscielny remains suspended and Vermealen remains injured So Djourou and Squillaci will have the opportunity for their partnership to grow. The only question is between Clichy and Gibbs. Gibbs is available again but I don't see the tough trip to Goodison the right place or his return.

I have to admit, apart from Song and Fabregas, the rest of the line-up is almost a complete guess. We have so many options available to us that I don't know if Wenger knows his best XI so God help the rest of us who are trying to work it out. Personally I'd like to see Theo start. Baines is a very good player but he is very attack minded and I can' think of anyone else I'd prefer to be available to exploit all that space he will leave behind him.

Bendtner has apparently been mouthing off in he week, if you missed his comments I talked about it in yesterdays blog, he has been saying he believes he is fit and ready to be our main striker but after his brace on Wednesday, if he's fit enough in Wenger's eyes, Chamakh must start. I'd also like o see some more of Van Persie but expect if anything he'll be introduced from the bench. Arshavin has started to show a new lease of life and has really been showing an effort in his past couple of appearances, I've said it many times but I'll say it again, if Arshavin can match his work rate to his skill and ability he will become one of the best players in the world.

Goonerfish's line-up:

Fabianski


Sagna - Djourou - Squillaci - Clichy


Song


Fabregas (c) - Nasri


Walcott - Arshavin


Chamakh



Score Everton 2 - 3 Arsenal

This will either be a goal fest or will end up 1 - 0, thanks to my positive nature, I'm opting for the goal fest. We will need to wach out for the power of Cahill in the air but more importantly we will need to cut out the supply. I think if we have enough of the ball we can restrict Everton's chances. As I said Walcott (if he plays) should enjoy a lot of space behind the attacking Baines and could really hurt the toffees.

With Man Utd and Man City dropping points and Chelsea facing a tough game at the Stadium of Light (I fancy Sunderland to get a point BTW) today is a perfect chance to gain a couple of points on our rivals and finish the weekend in second place a maximum of only 5 points of the leaders.

Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish.

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More evidence of press bias, Dirty Arsenal & Nik needs to be careful!!

WOW!! A few days off from blogging and I come back with what seems to be more going on than during a transfer window, right, where do I start?

Let's try and do this chronologically, Wolves first. The game wasn't great if we're honest but at risk of being unpopular, I don't care. I don't mind if in more than a few games this year, especially away from home at places like Molineux, Brittania Stadium or the Reebok Stadium, we turned up and played ugly football in aid of getting the three points. It has often been said that Arsene Wenger has put style in front of results, I think we are slowly seeing Arsene admit we can always win playing pretty football and is now adding a well needed bit of grit to the squad.

At Arsenal we have for years complained that we do not have a goalkeeper that can earn us the points that VDS earns Utd or Cech earns for Chelsea but Fabianski has stepped up when he's been given the chance and is slowly starting to fill that description. He made a mistake that cost us points against Newcastle and Fabianski of old would have put his head down and we would have seen a string of mistakes follow but our new improved Fabianski took it on the chin, trained hard and be certain there was no mistakes to regret in his next game. Well played good sir!!
Fabregas was rightly booked for a bad challenge on Ward and later he went on to apologise to him which was excepted by both the player and his manager. The challenge was jumped on by the press and our captain was publicly criticised by everyone. However, Henry challenged Arshavin with studs showing above the ball which could easily have broken AA23's ankle and was at least as bad if not worse than Fabregas' challenge yet only a handful of the press actually acknowledged its existence let alone criticised it (yes MOTD, I'm looking at you as you even failed to show it in the highlights at all), yet another example of the anti-Arsenal prejudice this counties press seems to have.

Another thing that came out this week is that Arsenal are officially the dirtiest team in the Premier League. In the fair play tables points are given for fouls conceded, bookings and red cards. I don't know how those points are awarded but obviously a red card gives a big old chunk of points which is why, with four red cards already, we top that table. This obviously was pounced on by the press calling it ironic that Wenger complains so much while his own team are the dirtiest players in the country. Now as much as I enjoy stats, I wish these people would do their research, Arsene Wenger has been publicly attacking bad, reckless potentially career ending tackles and teams that set out to be over physical and given the chance will go through the player to get the ball. If we look at Arsenal's reds this year Koscielny has half of them and the first at Liverpool was unlucky to say the least and his latest was for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity (apparently) by pulling the player back, not exactly violent in either case. Alex Song's red card was for two silly yellows so again not reckless. I can't defend Jack Wilshere's red so won't try to. My point is that black and white stats don't always tell the full story and I just wish the professional press would take account for that sometimes.

More recently, just as it seems that the Arsenal camp has become a happy one one of our players has decided to talk to foreign press in the hope it never reaches us in England. Nik Bendtner abandoned his normally shy, retiring, humble personality and has gone on record saying that if he doesn't become Arsenal's first choice striker then he will look to play the game somewhere else. He said:

“I’m very disappointed that I haven’t played more. I feel I’ve done the right things in the rehab and that I’m in the form of my life. I feel that I’m better than before the injury where I after all was in the line up every time and close to fulfilling my potential.

When I’m 100 per cent fit I can’t accept sitting on the bench. I’m 100 per cent good enough for the starting XI in Arsenal. I have the qualities and I’ve been sitting enough on the bench in my career.

I’ll soon be 23 and at this point in my career it’s important to play regularly game after game in order to continue my development. I’ve been patient for a long time but I’m not anymore. I’ve shown that I’m fit – both in training and the games I’ve played.”

He did however try to stop fans turning on him by stating:

"I hope I can be here for a long time yet. For me, Arsenal, right now, are a dream club."

Normally I don't pay much attention to quotes like these unless I see the players saying the words myself however, Arsene Wenger has felt the need to respond to this one. He said:

"He works hard, he has been out for a long time. I must say I have been very pleased with his attitude and spirit. He has to continue to work and when he is completely match fit he will play.

"I must say his attitude has been extremely committed and I can understand [his frustration] because he has put a lot of effort in. Now he has to be a little bit patient.

“When you try to convince a player that he has to be patient, then you waste your time. That’s what you’ve got to do, but you ask a player if he is fit after two training sessions and he says ‘yes’. That’s it, that’s normal. I was the same.”

Now from my point of view, NB52 is lucky to be at our club and as talented as he his, he is still our third choice striker behind RVP and our goal hero from Wednesday Chamakh. I hope he's patient enough to stay but Nik, listen hard, you can be replaced so please don't let your ego ruin what you have at this club.

Anyway, we look forward now to Everton tomorrow now and with Man Utd and Man City dropping points today it provides a great chance to gain some ground and finish the weekend in second place.

I'll finish with a big well done to Vito Mannone who played his first game for Hull on yesterday and after a shaky start turned it into a very solid and confident debut keeping a clean sheet in the process.

Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish