Carlo Vela hizo su primer gol con la camiseta del West Brom y salvó un punto ante los Wolves del Wolverhampton en un remate después del rechazo del portero, el mexicano le dio la alegria del empate agonico a su afición , para el delantero es momento de tomar confianza.

LONDRES- Un gol del mexicano Carlos Vela en el tiempo añadido evitó el triunfo del colista, el Wolverhampton, y la derrota del West Bromwich (1-1), en el encuentro aplazado de la decimoctava jornada de la Liga de Inglaterra.

By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lancaster, England

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Barclays Premier League, the manager's voted for their "Team of the Decade". It was no surprise to see the selection dominated by 6 Manchester United players with the others representing Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Liverpool will complete the capture of Blackpool captain Charlie Adam this week, it has been claimed.
According to The Mirror, the 25-year-old has returned from holiday early in order to finalize a £9 million transfer to Merseyside, which could be confirmed before the weekend.
Adam had been desperate to force a move to Liverpool during the January transfer window after the Reds had tabled a formal offer, but the Anfield club was unable to reach Blackpool's demands.

With acclaimed Portuguese coach Andres Villas-Boas taking over the Chelsea hotseat, Blues skipper John Terry is fully aware of the task at hand.

Owner Roman Abramovich has, as always, has identified Champions League glory as the top priority and reports emerging from the club's training camp suggest that Chelsea players have a lot of pressure to cope with.

Against Ipswich, Arshavin picked up two assists. Here is what he said of his own performance,

It wasn't a supermatch for me. But I'm satisfied with the result. I'm glad that I was useful to the squad.

I don't think he could have said it any better even with the help of the best PR agents in the world.

Heroic performance. Magnificent result. Half the job done.

I was worried pressing higher up the pitch will leave Arsenal exposed but in the end the result justifies the manager's approach and the players deserve immense credit for fighting all the way till the end to achieve this win. It also shows how little I know but in this case I'm delighted to be proven wrong.

Now that Arsenal's title aspirations are singularly focussed, it will be interesting to see how the League unfolds.

Arguments can be made both ways. Some people have already given up on the squad and the manager. They don't expect anything but will probably continue to whine after every game.

Some hard news, finally.

The FA released the upcoming season's fixture list this morning. Chelsea will start away from home for the first time in six seasons. TBA and company will be at the Britannia for no doubt a warm welcome.

Expectations

TBA, if you haven't figured it out, refers to our manager.

A lot of excellent football, some dodgy refereeing decisions going against Arsenal, and absolute chaos as the back – nothing seems to have changed.

Another stupid goal conceded towards the end means that this Cup will linger in Gooner memories as one that has further reinforced, if that were possible, the need for significant defensive improvement if the Gunners want to challenge for the top honours this season.

Well, I am not much of a transfer speculation/discussion guy but today's game and a highly unrealistic transfer rumour about a Nasri-Tevez swap got me thinking.

First, let me just mention why I don't see any sense in the swap deal with Tevez. The Argentinean is a world-class player but I don't see him fitting into the Arsenal style.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has launched a subtle yet scathing attack on Newcastle United by insisting that their players were not playing to win on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season.

Wenger, whose side was on the receiving end of several controversial calls during the Gunners' 4-4 draw with the Magpies in February, has accused Newcastle of defensive tactics in yesterday's goalless draw while also implying that midfielder Joey Barton brought additional negativity to the game.

I don't think any transfer, in my limited time following football, has moved me to the extent this one did. Not even close. And I can't see it happening again in the future. Regular readers know how much I admire Fabregas, who I rated as the best player in the Premiership. So a part of me feels betrayed and resentful.

Perhaps I should call this post guesses about the tactics and starting eleven against Swansea! After the recent overhaul of the squad it is hard to figure out exactly who is going to play or the tactical approach that will be used.

By and large, I don't expect a big change in the style of play.

There's Robin van Persie. And then there's the rest.

As expected, it was a hard fought game with diligent opponents crowding the midfield and the space in front of their defence. And they hardly offered any threat from open play.

The start was a bit of a pleasant surprise though. Van Persie put Arsenal ahead within 30 seconds of the start.

I don't think anyone who has seen Jack Wilshere play doubts his talent. Even anti-Arsenal hacks and pundits, and purveyors of ignorant, spiteful opinions in the Arsenalsphere rave about the youngster. From football legends like Wenger and Capello to common fans like this blogger, everyone has lavished undiluted praise on the next great English hope ever since he was a schoolboy.

After a long time, Europe's premier competition has thrown up a few surprises and plenty of excitement. At the time of the draw few, if any, would have expected United to bow out. Fewer still would have expected the Gunners to qualify from a tough group before the other three English clubs and with a game to spare.

I don't remember the last time I felt such kaleidoscopic emotions in a football game. The first half was exhilarating, beautiful, mesmerising, you pick the adjectives. The second half was worrisome, unnerving, infuriating, I don't want to dwell on it any further.

Arsenal took the lead in the opening minute.

I know everyone's mind is on the The Game right now. Mine is too. But time is up to it's usual tricks and is refusing to move along. I'm being tortured by this wait so I thought it would be worth discussing Flamini's tackle on Corluka from Tuesday's borefest.

Here is a video of the incident.

A lot has happened since the sides met on the opening weekend of the Premier League. Liverpool have hit the metaphorical rock-bottom and are now on their way up again. I don't think this is a good time to play the Scousers because they really don't have much to lose, which always makes teams that much more dangerous.

The Barcodes have kept United in check. There is still a lot to play for. Wenger is also getting some players back from the treatment room. I guess we can call this a good news day.

Tactically, there won't be any surprises in this game. I expect a lot of long, diagonal balls from the Spuds defenders and midfield directed towards their speedy wingers.

The busy weekend turned out to be busier than I'd imagined forcing me to miss the game and I wasn't able to catch it till late on Sunday night. Apologies for the delay in this report but as you understand sometimes personal issues have to be prioritized.

Watching such a crunch game after knowing the gut-wrenching result is not a good thing.

One could say this is the best time for such a game because Arsenal have nothing to lose and can play without any pressure. On the other hand, it's just as easy to say this is the worst time to play United because confidence of the players must be really low and the visitors, who don't need anything more than a draw, thrive in a defend and counter-attack environment.

Liverpool have turned the clock back almost 120 years for the inspiration behind their brand new third kit for the 2011-12 Barclays Premier League campaign.

Newcastle (A) – Udinese (H) – Liverpool (H) – Udinese (A) – Manchester United (A)

Five games in 16 days, each with its unique degree of significance. I don't like dramatizing the consequences of each match, especially at the start, but one gets the feeling, before the end of August Doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani ho jayega.

Chelsea are set to unveil 23-year old Spanish midfielder Juan Manuel Mata in London tomorrow after the player's current club Valencia have confirmed that an agreement has been reached.

A statement from the La Liga outfit read: "Valencia has reached an agreement in principle with Chelsea FC for the transfer of the player Juan Manuel Mata.

Oh God! What does one say after a game like that. Great fighting spirit and a gritty display for a well-earned away point at a difficult venue? Terrible performance that shows the Gunners just aren't good enough anymore? I guess it depends on one's mentality and the spin that suits it. As mentioned in the preview, I wasn't expecting a win but a more assured performance would have been encouraging for the future.

Lee Dixon take a bow. The former Gunner made four predictions for the game in his betting preview and got them all right. Over 2.5 goals, Morrison to score, RvP to get a brace, and Arsenal to win.

As with most games there can be arguments that the end was nervy and it could have been another disappointing draw.

The best team won. Simple as that.

It was a tough game. Dortmund are a top class side. Klopp set his team up to defend and play on the break. It worked for large parts of the game as the visitors limited Arsenal to just 3 shots on target. But such was the Gunners' quality in the final third that two of those went in.

What a result! Tough game, battling performance, well-earned points. Not vintage but victorious nonetheless.

I was surprised to see Coquelin in the starting line-up at Right Back as Arsene has said in the past the youngster doesn't isn't suited to the role. Perhaps it was due to Miquel's errors at City.

I just glanced at the upcoming fixtures list and was pleasantly surprised by the remaining games in January. I knew there were Cup ties with Leeds and Ipswich followed by a game against West Ham but hadn't realized the next two games after that were at home against Wigan and Ipswich.

In effect, out of the next five games, three are against Championship sides and two against relegation candidates.

Much like the game against Leeds, I'm in the dark about the football prowess of Arsenal's opponents in the Carling Cup semi-finals. Add the fact that I haven't had much time in the last couple of days to even search for highlights involving their games and you get an apologetically ignorant blogger attempting a match preview based on some general observations.

It's been about a week since I did an article saying the present set of fixtures offers the perfect opportunity to build some momentum. That one blew up in my face. Arsenal have found momentum but in the wrong direction.

Now there are two ways of looking at this. One way would be to say it's going downhill and will continue to do so.

Ryan Babel signed for Liverpool from Ajax and immediately made an explosive impact in his first season. His 10 goals in 49 appearances for the Reds earned him the adulation of the Liverpool fans. He was named the Liverpool Young Player of The Season in 2007-08.
He had a bit of everything as do all Dutch players.

This evening I saw a spate of headlines after England coach Fabio Capello shared a meal with some journalists. It seems most of the talk was about England's future i.e. Jack Wilshere.

Interestingly, Capello wants to play young Jack in front of his back four.

I want to put him in this position in front of the back four.

It's been a while since I looked at the Premiership table with more than a cursory glance. And what I saw left me wondering whether any team will be able to hit the 80 point mark this season.

I did a quick look back over the last decade and in each year the winning team has crossed 80 points.

Arsenal come up against tournament favourites and the best club team in the world at the moment in the second round of the Champions League. In this article I just want to discuss the mental aspect of this game and will cover the tactics and starting eleven in the next one.

How do Arsenal approach this game?

I had a feeling Arsenal won't win the Carling Cup final. I said that before the game. I never expected Arsenal to get past Messi in the Champions League, certainly not without Walcott. And I didn't have high hopes from the FA Cup game as it was an away game to Old Trafford, a ground where Arsenal don't score too many goals.

Amidst all the excitement and discussion about the Kroenke takeover, I chanced upon an amusing news article yesterday. The headline caught my eye and I ended up laughing for a few minutes after reading it.

CORLUKA: I CALLED FAN AN IDIOT

These were the words that had me in splits,

I told one supporter he was an idiot.

Ryan Shawcross, Tony Pulis, Stoke City... These names are more than enough to get the blood boiling.

It will be a tough challenge for the Gunners, especially young Ramsey, when Arsenal visit the Britannia Stadium for the first time after that horrific injury. But if the players can show anything remotely resembling the mental strength that helped them win that game, I'm confident we can add to the four successive league wins against the Potters.

Liverpool are preparing to make the first move for Birmingham defender Scott Dann, according to reports.
The 24-year-old centre back has impressed in the Barclays Premier League since moving to St Andrew's back in 2009, and now Kenny Dalglish is reportedly keen to bring the player to Anfield.
A Liverpool move hinges on whether the Blues survive this season, according to the Daily Mail, with Dann set to become available should Alex McLeish's side go down.