That's what this game is all about. The last game of the season before the boys head off for their holidays and us on the other side of the white line, scour the inter-web in hope that we've signed someone spectacular. One last effort is needed for the boys. Our record since the 2nd week of March stands at 8 wins and 2 draws in all competitions.
Match day. Feels like a long time since we last had to play a midweek match. Everton visits today and this is a big clash because both sides are chasing that elusive Champions League spot. Only 4 points separates us and them, not the safest of margins when there are still 6 matches left to be played.
Here is my outlook on the midfield hope you enjoy it .
Abou Diaby. Average player does his shift some games other games he's just unreliable and prone to giving the ball away.
Should he stay or should he go?
Tomáš Rosicky. Great player but he seems to have lost his way since the injury set back, can be unplayable at times but this season we have not seem him at his best.
Here is my outlook on the midfield hope you enjoy it .
Abou Diaby. Average player does his shift some games other games he's just unreliable and prone to giving the ball away.
Should he stay or should he go?
Tomáš Rosicky. Great player but he seems to have lost his way since the injury set back, can be unplayable at times but this season we have not seem him at his best.
International breaks are always rather light on actual news. Given the paucity of Arsenal stories, I've decided to do what the professional journalists do in this scenario. I'm going to make everything up. New press regulations compel you to find the below hilarious and preclude you from disagreeing with anything I say.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of Arsenal-Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
With the Champions League knock-out round first leg against Bayern Munich looming large, it's likely that Arsene Wenger will rotate his side with that game in mind. While the FA Cup is his side's best chance of a trophy, it would be foolish to neglect it entirely in favour of such a daunting task against the German champions, but Wenger will be keen to prove a point on the biggest stage, and will want his best players to be fresh.
So the mayhem is over and we bagged a player. That is one more than many thought we would get, but probably 10 too few for some fans on other websites. I can already hear those keyboard warriors punching in We__er O_t quicker than your David Beckham designer boxer shorts would disappear on a Come Dine With Me evening at Evonne's.
So the mayhem is over and we bagged a player. That is one more than many thought we would get, but probably 10 too few for some fans on other websites. I can already hear those keyboard warriors punching in We__er O_t quicker than your David Beckham designer boxer shorts would disappear on a Come Dine With Me evening at Evonne's.
Arsene Wenger was hoping that he would be able to select at least one out of Mikel Arteta and Francis Coquelin for Arsenal tomorrow. Liverpool come to the Emirates and the Gunners are well aware that Brendan Rodgers' team have plenty of attacking threat. Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling have lots of creativity and movement and Arsenal have not been at their best defensively this season, not by a long way.
Tonights game is a must-win for Arsenal after losing their last two League matches, but it seems that Arsene Wenger is yet again going to have problems with picking a strong midfield. Abou Diaby has just made his comeback and I'm sure Wenger thought he was going to be "like a new signing", but he is doubtful to be playing so many games in such rapid succession.
The same line-up as for the Swansea replay, saw Francis Coquelin keep his place also meaning Jack would be able to play a little further forward and Santi able to drop back into midfield to supplement the three.
The same line-up as for the Swansea replay, saw Francis Coquelin keep his place also meaning Jack would be able to play a little further forward and Santi able to drop back into midfield to supplement the three.
How would the players feel if the fans only turn up after half time? Play to an empty stadium in the first half. If the players themselves are not bothered to turn up in the first half of any match, then why should the fans? It's a reciprocal relationship but at this point in the season, we're getting the wrong end of the stick.
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal Premier League 20th January 2013
In what was a genuine 'game of two halves', Chelsea came out on top against an Arsenal side who roused themselves in the second period after a dreadful first 45 minutes.
It could (possibly) have been very different had Olivier Giroud put away a great chance early on.
Finally got around to watching the entire game. Business trip have denied me access to the game and dodgy internet line wasn't helping on the stream either. Glad to see us qualify to the next stage of the competition. Trip to Brighton won't be the easiest of Fourth Round ties, we only have to remember what happened when we last faced a lower league side to know that.
We have had racist and anti-Semitic chanting, the calling of Arsenal fans paedophiles, and the jeering of managers. Now it is all a bit more chic, a bit more refined, and negativity has turned more into disdain.
Mr Wenger was not booed or jeered this time when Francis Coquelin came on, and [.
Inconsistency plagued Arsenal yet again on Saturday in their 0-0 away draw at Aston Villa. It was another pair of valuable points dropped to one of the Premier League's lesser lights. It wasn't a bad game, but it wasn't a great one either. The Gunners played some attractive passing football at times, but didn't really create many scoring chances inside Villa's 18-yard box.
Clean sheet, but surely even they won't be happy be that
Disappointing. That would be how I looked at the result. Another lowly placed team, woefully out of form and lack of quality players, yet we contrived to allow 2 points to be dropped. Villa Park was the scene of last night's game but it was all too familiar.
If things go our way today, we could be back as high as fourth place in the league. We'll have to depend on Everton, Tottenham and WBA to all not to win their respective matches. Even if all that happened, we still need to do our job and find our very own 3 points.
Misguidedly thinking Arsenal had won on away goals with the score level at 4-4 when the whistle thweeped after 90 minutes of last night's momentous League Cup slobberknocker against Reading, Olivier Giroud and Francis Coquelin chucked their shirts into the crowd only.
Moments ago Arsenal.com released the 18-man squad that will be for Arsene Wenger to pick from in tonight's Capital One clash with fellow English Premier League club, Reading FC at the Madejski Stadium. The complete list is as follows:
Serge Gnabry of Arsenal (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
6 Laurent Koscielny 12 Olivier Giroud 14 Theo Walcott 18 Sebastien Squillaci 20 Johan Djourou 22 Francis Coquelin 23 Andrey Arshavin 25 Carl Jenkinson 26 Emmanuel Frimpong 29 Marouane Chamakh 36 Damian Martinez (GK) 40 Hector Bellerin 46 Thomas Eisfeld 47 Serge Gnabry 53 Jernade Meade 54 Ignasi Miquel 60 James Shea (GK) 64 Nico Yennaris
The talented Arsenal youth are prevalent throughout the selection while stars Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker, Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta all get a deserved rest after three tough fixtures in the past week against Norwich, Schalke 04 and Queens Park Rangers.
Where to begin? Perhaps in the same way that Arsenal continued where they left against Norwich, this could be a continuation of that blog. Talk after that game, and before this, was of reaction, improvement and bouncing back, but it was more of the same.
Another match, another defeat. Things are certainly far away from being rosy at Arsenal Football Club now. The AGM that is scheduled for today, couldn't come at a worst time. Attendees will have the 2 consecutive defeats in mind and questions will be asked of how "weak" the squad is.
There's always one man Arsene's willing to waive his handshake ban for
'Tis the season of the handshake scandal and Arsenal are doing there bit, with the club going the whole hog and banning handshakes between EVERY SINGLE PLAYER at London Colney.
So, just when it was looking as if Abou Diaby would fulfill his potential and elevate Arsenal as genuine title contenders, his injury woes have struck again and this time he will miss the action for three weeks. Now the question that pops up is – who will replace Diaby in the midfield?
Abou Diaby has been outstanding since his return to the Arsenal team this summer, and Arsene Wenger has admitted that he took a calculated gamble by putting him on the pitch against Chelsea this weekend despite knowing that the French international wasn't at 100% before the game.
The gamble didn't come off though as Diaby broke down after just 17 minutes of the game, but Wenger doesn't seem overly worried about it.
The wonderful Capital One Cup tie against Coventryis coming up tomorrow and Arsene Wenger will have the chance to give a run-out to some of Arsenal's reserves and youngsters, but we don't want him to put out a team that may be beaten as it is still a possible trophy at the end of the day.
I am certain that Andrei Arshavin will figure in this game, because if he doesn't then we will know for sure his career at Arsenal is over completely.
Francis Coquelin knew that he had to grab his chance to impress Arsene Wenger yesterday or he might have been restricted to appearances in the Capital One cup or even looking for another club, whether permanently or on a loan deal. Well he certainly did that, slotting in to the midfield as if he had just popped out for a pint of milk.
It's a lovely Sunday isn't it. I doubt there's anyone who's unhappy over the results from yesterday. How can it not be enjoyable to see Chelsea only managing a draw at QPR and reigning champions Manchester City could only managed to gain 1 point from their visit to the Britannia.
We're about 30 minutes from kickoff and the lineups are in:
Wojciech Szczesny; Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs; Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Francis Coquelin; Gervinho, Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla
Subs: Vito Mannone, Laurent Koscielny, André Santos, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Andrei Arshavin, Olivier Giroud
This will be a tricky, but entertaining match, so COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
The word on the streets is that Arsene Wenger is going to give Francis Coquelin his first appearance of the season and start him today against Southampton. Coquelin has been crying out for his opportunity and has spoken in the media about thinking of moving on if he was not getting any playing time at [.
Arsene Wenger has said that Johan Djourou still has a future
at Arsenal despite the fact that the centre-half wanted to leave the club in the
summer transfer window.
Djourou made just 14 first-team appearances for the Gunners last season and hasn't featured at
all in the club's 2012/13 campaign.
Looking back at the start of the season (I know it has only just begun and we haven't played
that many games but allow me to indulge in it) and especially after the departure of Alex Song, at
that time I really thought that Francis Coquelin would be a confirmed starter. It's no rocket
science that he is one who could play in a similar role to the one vacated by Song.
Arsenal isn't going forward, but they're not really taking a step backwards either. Right now they're not sinking in quicksand or escalating up the Premier League table. The team is just stuck in neutral after another draw, their third in the last four matches. This one was a 1-1 stalemate with Everton at Goodison Park on Merseyside.
Good morning to you, and here we go again. Football is back and with a game against Southampton a great chance to pick up three points and our first win at home since beating Man City on April 8th last season.
With regards to the team news we know Abou Diaby is going to miss out and the grapevine tells us that Francis Coquelin will fill that particular gap.
I was chatting briefly with the Mugsmasher (my Liverpool supporting brother, for recent readers) about this game last night and the conclusion we came to was that anything could happen.
He reckons one team is going to spank the other, he just doesn't know who'll be doing the spanking. Of course it could be 3-3 just as easily as 3-0 or 0-3; both teams concede too many but are capable of scoring too.
So, after over 18 months of refusing to sign a new contract, Theo Walcott has put pen to paper and committed his future to Arsenal.
Good, because it means that a tedious, drawn-out saga is over. Good, because Arsenal have secured the future of a player who, while still far from the finished article, looks to be improving and maturing.
