I am as Chelsea as they come, have supported this club from as early as I can remember to where I am now (38 years old) and cannot stand Manchester United as much as they probably can't stand Chelsea, but putting all feelings to one side, we have to acknowledge not only what he has achieved in the game, but how he's done it.

It's difficult to know where to start this week's column. On the face of it, a compelling comeback from two goals down to keep our FA Cup hopes alive, followed by a point and a clean sheet away from home should constitute a reasonably good week. Yet it doesn't feel like that at all. For a start, we've put ourselves in a position now where, effectively, any draw represents two points dropped.

One of the least edifying spectacles in modern football is that of managers attempting to deflect criticism for a defeat by making spurious attacks on the opponents who beat them.

I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of this phenomenon, having watched our own otherwise distinguished coach, a certain Mr Arsène Wenger, pull the very same trick on numerous occasions.

One of the least edifying spectacles in modern football is that of managers attempting to deflect criticism for a defeat by making spurious attacks on the opponents who beat them.

I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of this phenomenon, having watched our own otherwise distinguished coach, a certain Mr Arsène Wenger, pull the very same trick on numerous occasions.

Van Persie Cuellar Video- Robin Van Persie elbows Carlos Cuellar FA Cup 2012 Arsenal Villa is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Van Persie Cuellar Video- Robin Van Persie elbows Carlos Cuellar FA Cup 2012 Arsenal Villa is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter This Van Persie elbow on Cuellar ( see video below) drew angry reactions from Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish after his side's 3-2 loss to Arsenal in the fourth [.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa 3-2 Highlights FA Cup Goals 2012 Video Van Persie Dunne Bent Walcott is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Arsenal vs Aston Villa 3-2 Highlights FA Cup Goals 2012 Video Van Persie Dunne Bent Walcott is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Arsenal vs Aston Villa 2012 ( Arsenal Villa Video below) Final score and result: Arsenal vs Aston Villa 3-2 ( Van Persie*2, Walcott/ Dunne, Bent) Emirates Stadium, London- [.

The Man City (and ex-Arsenal) striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been a godsend for Tottenham this season with nine goals that have helped Harry Redknapp's team reach the Champions League places. But Adebayor wasn't allowed to face his parent side last weekend when Man City beat Spurs 3-2, Arsene Wenger thinks that this particular loan deal [.

A predictably disappointing result will largely overshadow an effort from the Gunners that was valiant and respectable for most periods of the game. Ultimately, poor defending from Arsenal gifted the win to United after a closely fought battle in which the sides shared spells of domination.

The starting line-up for Arsenal had a couple of pleasant surprises.

On the back of two games where Arsenal have lost after taking the lead, and with hardly any positive news on the injury front, a game against Manchester United is the last thing many would want. But that's the game on the fixture list and the Gunners will just have to do as best as they can with diminished resources and wavering confidence.

Arsenal has suffered some terrible bad luck with defensive injuries this season. We lost Sagna, Gibbs and Jenkinson all with a 17 days in October, but the loss that has hurt us most was the loss of Santos in December. Santos was an attacking full-back and gave us extra attacking options something that has been lacking in recent weeks.

A family event at a nearby city took me out of town for the last couple of days and is the cause for the lateness of this post. It really was unavoidable but I don't want to trouble you with the details.

The result of the game, more so the manner in which the goals were conceded, was quite upsetting but after having a day to think it over I find there were a lot of talking points from the game.

Angry, frustrated, disappointed. Once again Arsenal fans are left let-down, once again we are promised things will change and once again it is groundhog season for Arsenal, and we haven't even entered the annual departures of the close season.

Where do we start? It is obvious that things went wrong in the summer with Wenger anticipating that both Nasri and Fabregas will not leave these were the hopes of a man living in a dream land.

A real 3 pointer today, what with Spurs and Liverpool dropping points at home.

We all know that Swansea are a very difficult side to beat at the Liberty Stadium, in fact only MU have won there this season. The Swans have conceded just 4 goals at home (compared to AFC's 6) and have drawn half their home games (5/10) Spurs gained a very squeaky point a couple of weeks ago and Swansea will go into the game full of confidence.

After Vito Mannone moved to Hull on loan there was some suggestion that he had made available a space for non homegrown players to arrive.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. For the 2011/12 season we named five homegrown players over the age of 21, and 17 (the maximum allowed) non homegrown players.

After Vito Mannone moved to Hull on loan there was some suggestion that he had made available a space for non homegrown players to arrive.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. For the 2011/12 season we named five homegrown players over the age of 21, and 17 (the maximum allowed) non homegrown players.

After Vito Mannone moved to Hull on loan there was some suggestion that he had made available a space for non homegrown players to arrive.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. For the 2011/12 season we named five homegrown players over the age of 21, and 17 (the maximum allowed) non homegrown players.

Match report Video -

Defeat is generally a painful experience. Defeat in circumstances like yesterday's even more so. It was late, very late, and pretty much self-inflicted.

It came after what was a pretty good opening 45 minutes from us. We were energetic, good going forward and while Fulham had their moments I thought we contained them pretty well defensively.

New Years Eve brought Queens Park Rangers to the Emirates for the final match of the 2011 calendar year, and van Persie's last chance to match or break Shearer's record.

Wenger rang in the changes to the starting line up from the disappointing draw versus Wolves on Tuesday, with Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and a surprising Andrei Arshavin getting starts.

Here we go. A disappointing week for many fantasy managers as the leading candidates in the Boxing Day fixtures failed to produce. Manchester United win 5-0 but neither Wayne Rooney nor Nani registered a single goal or assist. That's ridiculous. ... Continue reading →

By Ref Reviewer 04

Ref Attwell came over to do the game between Arsenal and Wolves. What was his score in this game?

Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment points weight 3 OTHER Jarvis Benayoun C Push 1 1 7 OTHER Rosicky Hunt C I had the impression Rosicky played the ball [.

Well, what an incredibly frustrating ninety minutes that was. Upbeat start, good goal, cavalier flicks, lucky equaliser, chances, chances, CHANCES, saves, saves, more ruddy saves and Wolves rode their luck to a first point against Arsenal in the Premier League era. You couldn't fault the team's effort, apart from a slight easing off in the first half, and I agree with Arsene when he says that we would have won this game 19 times out of 20.

Match report video By the numbers

Looking back on yesterday's game in the cold light of day there's still frustration and disappointment, to a fair degree, but I can't really find any real issue with how we played, how we went about the game and the effort we put in.

I know there are people this morning who will bemoan our finishing and say we should have scored considering the chances we fashioned.

The little Russian maestro Andrei Arshavin has not looked very happy playing for Arsenal every time he has appeared on the pitch this season, even though Arsene Wenger has given him numerous chances to make an impact off the bench, and according to the Metro he has dropped behind Yossi Benayoun and Thomas Rosicky in [.

The second half onslaught was exhilarating but not quite enough to regain the two points that another freakish goal had taken away.

Arsene did rotate some of the players. Djourou came in for Coquelin, Rosicky for Ramsey, and Benayoun for Walcott. It was a strong team and one that should have secured the win with relative ease.

The second half onslaught was exhilarating but not quite enough to regain the two points that another freakish goal had taken away.

Arsene did rotate some of the players. Djourou came in for Coquelin, Rosicky for Ramsey, and Benayoun for Walcott. It was a strong team and one that should have secured the win with relative ease.

Arsenal missed the chance to go fourth in the Premier League as they were denied by a series of saves from Wayne Hennessey when being held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners, without a defeat to Wolves since 1979, were looking to capitalise on a draw between Chelsea and Fulham on Boxing Day and took the lead after only eight minutes whenGervinho beat the offside trap to score his fourth goal of the season.

Arsenal missed the chance to go fourth in the Premier League as they were denied by a series of saves from Wayne Hennessey when being held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners, without a defeat to Wolves since 1979, were looking to capitalise on a draw between Chelsea and Fulham on Boxing Day and took the lead after only eight minutes whenGervinho beat the offside trap to score his fourth goal of the season.

Sometimes one huffs and puffs, one huffs and puffs some more, but the house just won't blow down and that's just what happened against Wolves today. There may be an element down to slight weaknesses in our squad, Rosicky and Benayoun are very similar to each other and both started today, but I have to say the main problems today were Wayne Hennessey, bad luck and poor finishing (probably in that

Honestly, despite my reputation as the Negative Nancy blogger, I thought we'd snatch a winner all the way up to the final whistle. Not only did we control possession, chances, corner kicks, free kicks, etc, but we also played the final 20-ish minutes (including added time) with a man advantage.

Well that was frustrating, but not entirely unexpected. Just before writing this post I saw a Tweet by Orbinho (follow him) that summed up a lot of what's been going on with the side over the last year or so: in Arsenal's last 15 home games in the prem, they've only scored more than one goal on 4 occasions.

"The result showed the importance of the squad but also the quality of the spirit," Wenger had said after the match against Aston Villa, "That makes a difference if you have players who come on that have a real desire to help the team. "You always have a chance because teams have to fight so [...]

"The result showed the importance of the squad but also the quality of the spirit," Wenger had said after the match against Aston Villa, "That makes a difference if you have players who come on that have a real desire to help the team. "You always have a chance because teams have to fight so [...]

Now that we're at the halfway mark, it becomes the duty of Arsenal bloggers to write about how things have gone up to this point in the season, and how things are likely headed in the future. Since opinions are probably even more diverse than ever this year, I thought it would be fun to write two completely different midseason reviews.

The Villa win – having not played that well, and right at the death, and thanks to a header (rare), and from a corner (plentiful but rarely fruitful) – was a deeply satisfying result. It's a game we may well previously have lost, but coming after the loss at Man City, it showed tremendous bouncebackability.

Last minute shopping: Rooney, Berbatov, Bellamy, Benayoun and more frantic buys

As shoppers complete panic purchases for Chrimbo, talkSPORT looks at football's late trolley dashes

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-24 10:02:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Aside from the usual suspects, Mario Gotze and Eden Hazard, or the likes of Lukas Podolski and Moussa Sow rumoured to join the Gunners, there is one player who is almost certain to sign a permanent deal with the club next summer. Yossi Benayoun, whose goal gave Arsenal the win against Aston Villa, is the [.

Aside from the usual suspects, Mario Gotze and Eden Hazard, or the likes of Lukas Podolski and Moussa Sow rumoured to join the Gunners, there is one player who is almost certain to sign a permanent deal with the club next summer. Yossi Benayoun, whose goal gave Arsenal the win against Aston Villa, is the [.

Arsene Wenger was more relieved than over-the-moon after Arsenal's late winner against Aston Villa yesterday. Wenger admitted that he knew it would be a diificult game at Villa Park as it always has been historically. He said: "You go to City and then to Villa and I have to give fantastic credit to my players, [.

A shaky performance, but we won. So, Yay?

An early pelanty goal from Robin van Persie, taking his tally to 34 goals in the calendar year, and a late goal from Yossi Benayoun (from a header, no less) secured a nervous, underperforming, but ultimately crucial midweek win at Villa Park today.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa 1-2 Highlights 2011 Video Marc Albrighton 20,000th Premier League Goal Van Persie Benayoun is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Arsenal vs Aston Villa 1-2 Highlights 2011 Video Marc Albrighton 20,000th Premier League Goal Van Persie Benayoun is a post from Soccer Blogger.