It looks like Manuel Almunia is back in pole position. Or, he would be if Arsenal was a Forumula
1 team and he'd just come fastest in qualifying, but you know what I mean. A mixture of a chest
infection, family tragedy and just plain old poor form meant his start to the season was a bit all
over the shop, but it seems as if the manager is ready to put his faith in him again.
by CARL ELDRIDGE Manuel Almunia proved he is good enough to keep Arsenal on track for honours this
season with his performance against the team-that-dare-not-speak-its-name on Saturday.
Questions were asked earlier in the season about the Spaniard and one or two errors didn't
exactly provide the cornerstone of a defence for his suitability as the No.
Welcome back to TGIF, a feature that was the brain wave of Perry_Groves' Lovechild, where I
try to bring together the themes of the week into hopefully a summary of the Arsenal World so far.
This week there are many things to talk about, but the news of Professional footballers being given
jail sentences again reminds us all that our players are just human after all, apart from Joey
Barton who is clearly an extra terrestial who has hijacked a human body.
I'll stop with the potato themed titles now, it amuses me you know. I'll assume you gathered
that and move on...
Quick one today folks as I have a thousand and one things to do before heading to bed for an early
night and a 4am start to get my 6am flight for my trip to the Emirates for what is our biggest home
match of the season so far. Click to continue reading...
by CARL ELDRIDGE What is it with Arsenal and our keepers? If Arsene Wenger has one weakness (and
he probably doesn't other than choice of shirt-tie combo) it must be choosing the incumbent for the
No.1 slot. He was blessed to inherit David Seaman and even then he gave Alex Manninger a chance
ahead of the pony-tailed one.
In whose hands is the future of Arsenal? Â This is the question we have all been asking. Â
Almunia was the number one, but a mystery "chest" infection which has taken a long time to clear up
ahs given the third choice keeper Mannone a chance, Fabianski is back from injury and should
feature tonight against Liverpool.
As Wenger ponders on the upcoming Carling Cup fourth round game against Liverpool, he now has a
decision to be made regarding the goalkeeping situation. Vito Mannone has done well since he had to
step in for then injured Manuel Almunia and the boss had no reason to drop him although the
Spaniard custodian has returned, fully recovered from his chest infection.
What is going on here? Manuel has missed over a month with a chest infection. He was fit for
Birmingham but is still yet to start a game since his mysterious illness. Arsene has been cryptic
in his backing or lack of it:"I wouldn't say Manuel is no longer our automatic first choice" I am
perplexed. There must be more to this than the club is letting on. Click to continue reading...
Sunday marked 361 days since the 29th October 2008. Or in other words Arsenal 4 Sp*rs 4. So a year
on from letting a two-goal lead slip in a London derby, we did it again. Every year Wenger tells us how this team is improving. Yet, year-on-year we can see no change. Partly, our failure to win was the referee's fault. Click to continue reading...
1. A 2 Goal cushion is totally enough to kill off the game. We simply must stop letting teams
think they have a chance even when they're two down.
2. We need to buy a goal keeper. Almunia is inadequate, Mannone is too young, Fabianski is
scary and Sczesczny cannot get a jersey because the Nike cannot spell his name.
Less than a month ago, we approached a Premiership game away at Fulham with the goalkeeping
position in disarray. Almunia had been struck down for over a week with a chest infection, and with
Fabianski also out with a long term injury, young Mannone had been thrown into a Champions League
game in Liege.
So almost without us (or me, anyway) even realizing it, we appear to possibly have a goalkeeping
controversy on our hands.
After Manuel Almunia went down a few games into the season with a "chest infection", and last
season's number two, Lukasz Fabianski, was also out with a long term injury, we had to hand the
gloves over to young Italian Vito Mannone.
What have we done to deserve so many injuries? Is there a curse at The Emirates? Since moving
to the Emirates we have lost too many players for too long, Henry and van Persie ins season one,
Rosicky and Eduardo in our second year and last year's injury list would have been too many to fit
into either ER or Casualty.
Two wins from two games so far in the Champions League. Given our excellent form, the third one
looks likely tomorrow against Alkmaar. They might be the Champions of Holland but they just lost at
the weekend and are 6th in the table. The Dutch League isn't as strong as it was a decade ago.Â
Now most of you know that Walcott won't be playing tomorrow.
Well, well, well, yesterday was fun, and then it wasn't and then it was. At half-time we were
all sitting wondering how we weren't at least six goals clear, Van Persie and Diaby had given us a
two-goal lead within the space of two minutes and a rout looked on. Rosicky missed three glorious
opportunities but spurned them all, probably because I had money on him to score.
See below, as always, for match highlights and a post-match interview with Arsene Wenger.
Another multi-goal margin of victory. Another "more than two goals" tally. Another soft goal
conceded. Arsenal have seemingly picked up where they left off before the international break.
Birmingham's visit to North London proved to be an entertaining match that is open to
interpretation.
A lot has been said about today's meeting with Birmingham being the first since that fateful
day Eduardo had his leg shattered by Martin Taylor. Some say we owe them a hammering, which is true
from the point of view that we threw away three points after playing against ten men for 87
minutes, but less so for the 'tackle' itself.
Arsenal's goalkeeper stocks have risen with the return from injury of both Manuel Almunia and
Lukasz Fabianski. First-choice shot-stopper Almunia has been out with a chest infection and is only rated a small
chance to return against Birmingham City this weekend but Fabianski, who has not played yet this
season, may be called on after recovering from knee surgery. Click to continue reading...
You can watch Arsenal v Birmingham Live online by signing up with us here on Live Sport
Network, the leading source for watching live football online.
Arsenal host Birmingham City at the Emirates in the Premier League on Saturday 17 October 2009.
Arsenal are chasing their fourth consecutive win in the league while Birmingham, newly taken over
by Carson Yeung, are struggling and will in all likelihood struggle till January, when Yeung has
promised the team sacks of cash.
Right then, here go back into the thick of it. We've got football tomorrow and this is good. A
home game against Birmingham is a relatively nice way to get things going again after the Interlull
and there's some early team news.
Eduardo misses out on the chance for revenge against Birmingham as he remains out with his thigh
injury.
Well here we all are again, a little dustier and a trifle older, but here we all are
nevertheless.
I did try to get excited about the internationals. But I couldn't. I missed the Ukraine game
entirely, and though I did watch the Belarus game, it was so inconsequential that I lost interest
faster than I do when I periodically attempt doing some DIY.
Who: Arsenal (7th) Vs Blackburn (14th) What: Barclays Premier League, Round 7 for both teams Where: Emirates Stadium, London N5, England When: Sunday, 4th October 2009, 13:30 BST, 14:30 CET (Catch the live streaming
right here! Click to continue reading...
First of all apologies for the lack of posts in the last two days. It is not because I've been
stuck on topics to write about. There are two reasons. A post this week will explain one reasonÂ
why I didn't write anything since the end of September.
I did try posting something yesterday, it was going to be mainly images.
Who: Arsenal (England) Vs Olympiacos (Greece) What: UEFA Champions League, Group H, Matchday 2. Arsenal, as favorites of their group, will be looking to overcome Olympiacos, in order to move
another step closer towards qualification. Click to continue reading...
Who: Fulham (14th) Vs Arsenal (7th) The London clubs will be looking for a win, as both of them have not made the best of starts to the
season.. What: Barclays Premier League, Round 6 for both teams. Where: Craven Cottage, London, England. Click to continue reading...
Who:Standard Liege (Belgium) Vs Arsenal (England) The Belgian champions will take on last season's 4th best English side, Arsenal. What: UEFA Champions League 2009-10, Matchday 1, Group H. Both teams have a good chance of progressing through to the knockout round, so a good start is
essential, which is what both the teams will be looking for. Click to continue reading...
