Wolves 1 (Craddock 89) Arsenal 4 (Zubar og 28, Craddock og 36, Fabregas 45, Arshavin
66)
(Premiership)
Moving house and blogging is a tricky combination. Phone companies tend to ensure that you
haven't got a hope of getting online during the first few weeks in the new place, and trying to
write anything meaningful from a mobile is nigh on impossible.
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The 4-1 thumping of Alkmaar in midweek was an immensely satisfying affair, a triumph of
footballing philosophy over the defensive nous of coaches such as Ronald Koeman, and yet another
demonstration that this Arsenal team is serious about combining footballing beauty with tangible
success.
But prior the the match, there was a definite sense of relaxation amongst the fans, as if the
game really didn't matter, so assured was our progress regardless of the result.
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Arsenal 3 (Van Persie 42, 60, Fabregas 43) Tottenham 0
(Premiership)
A victory that was as satisfying as it was ultimately comfortable guaranteed that the
'noughties' would be completed without a single Spurs victory over Arsenal in the league, a run now
stretching to an impressive twenty games.
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Arsenal 2 (Merida 19, Bendtner 50) Liverpool 1 (Insua 26)
(Carling Cup)
A mix of experience and youth was enough to see off the challenge of Liverpool in an
entertaining game, made all the more fun by the visitor's admirable attacking intent. In the end,
we sneaked home in one of the most enjoyable games I've seen all season.
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The first part of our house move is now done (selling the old one), so the blog should return to
normal for about a week, until we get the keys to the new place and it all kicks off again.
Apologies for the late nature of the posts in the meantime.
So what have I missed? Well, I caught the Alkmaar game in the early hours of Wednesday morning,
and for the most part thought we looked comfortable.
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Arsenal 3 (Van Persie 16, Diaby 18, Arshavin 84) Birmingham 1 (Bowyer 38)
(Premiership)
Apologies for the late nature of this blog, I'm moving house this week and having made the
slightly daft decision to do it all ourselves we're a little under the cosh. Expect sporadic
updates at best.
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Arsenal 6 (Vermaelen 17, Van Persie 33, Arshavin 37, Fabregas 57, Walcott 75, Bendtner
89) Blackburn 2 (Nzonzi 4, Dunn 30)
(Premiership)
Arsene Wenger's time in charge has been characterised by some fantastic flowing football,
spectacular goals, crisp passing, the coming of age of outrageously talented youngsters, and the
odd bit of defensive frailty.
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Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 78, Arshavin 86) Olympiakos 0
(Champions League)
The goals may have taken a while to come, but someone you knew we were always going to break
down a Greek side that came for a goalless draw, but were never likely to be good enough to attain
it.
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Fulham 0 Arsenal 1 (Van Persie 52)
(Premiership)
Strange how a scrappy undeserved win always brings about more plaudits than a delightful
thumping, isn't it?
For as long as we've had the reputation for destroying opposition only to fall meekly to
physical sides (an opinion that is so outdated it is ridiculous), we've heard the line that we
can't win ugly.
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I didn't manage to catch much of the 2-0 victory over West Brom the other night, but regardless
of the circumstances, the win was an excellent result with a team that was young even by Carling
Cup standards. Make no mistake, West Brom are a decent side, and on top form after dishing out a
drubbing to Boro at the weekend.
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Arsenal 4 (Vermaelen 25, 49, Eduardo 59, Fabregas 90) Wigan 0
(Premiership)
Apologies for the absence over the past few days, a lack of time has left me unable to do
justice to the midweek win over Liege, and the Adebayor furore. So before I get on to yesterday's
game, I just want to make a few points.
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Man City 4 (Almunia og 20, Bellamy 74, Adebayor 80, Wright-Phillips 84) Arsenal 2 (Van
Persie 62, Rosicky 88)
(Premiership)
Twice we've travelled to Manchester in recent weeks. Twice we've played well, created the bulk
of the chances but not had the clinical edge or the luck to put them away.
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Man United 2 (Rooney pen 59, Diaby og 64) Arsenal 1 (Arshavin 40)
(Premiership)
I missed Saturday's game as it was the last day of our club's cricket season, but having
listened to it on the radio, and now watched the whole match in retrospect, I finally feel in a
position to comment.
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Sorry for the late post, I've had a busy few days and have only just managed to catch up on the
Portsmouth game enough to feel able to pass comment. I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow account of
it, by now you all know what happened, but just mention some good and bad bits that stuck out:
First, the good.
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Celtic 0 Arsenal 2 (Gallas 43, Caldwell og 71)
(Champions League Qualifier Leg 1)
An extremely dangerous qualifying round was all but negotiated hours ago with a highly
professional display of passing and pressing, sheer hard work eventually breaking an impressive
Celtic resistance, if not their spirit.
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Everton 1 (Saha 90) Arsenal 6 (Denilson 26, Vermaelen 37, Gallas 41, Fabregas 48, 69,
Eduardo 88)
(Premiership)
As Wenger was at pains to point out after the match, you can only get three points for a win,
but what a statement of intent this was. The biggest opening day win in Premiership history, the
biggest defeat for Everton at home in decades, and two fingers to all the doubters -Â this was
simply scintillating.
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Â
Before yesterday's game against Rangers, Wenger was trying desperately to quell the
ever-increasing excitement over the performances of Jack Wilshere, after the precocious teenager
had played a starring role in our second half improvement against Atletico Madrid, saying
'Don't get too carried away after 45 minutes in a friendly'.
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Back in November, our season was going from one bad result to another, before taking a nightmare
turn when William Gallas uttered the public criticisms that led to his removal as captain of the
football club. Back then, it seemed inconceivable that he would still be at the Emirates come the
end of this summer.
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The 2009-10 Premier League fixture list was released today. I must say, I like what I'm
seeing.
The first two months look rather comfortable, away to Fulham and a home date with Tottenham
looking the toughest of the lot. We play Liverpool and Manchester United at home in October and
November, respectively, before closing out our Big 4Â slate with away matches against those two in
April and May.
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Arsenal 4 (Beattie og 10, Van Persie pen 16, 41, Diaby 18) Stoke 1 (Fuller pen
31)
(Premiership)
One of the hallmarks of the Invincibles side was the ability to end games in the first half. In
the great unbeaten season, I'd estimate 8-9 games that were over by the 25 minute mark, such was
the explosive nature with which we began games.
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Man Utd 0 Arsenal 0
(Premiership)
In the end, it was a day that suited both teams - United got the point they required to seal
their third successive title, and we avoided the continuation of an appalling run that has seen
both United and Chelsea embarrass us in recent weeks.
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Arsenal 1 (Bendtner 70) Chelsea 4 (Alex 28, Anelka 39, Toure og 49, Malouda
86)
(Premiership)
Recriminations for this defeat are already being heard, far and wide, as so many seek to write
off at least five players, and the manager himself. I'm not sure I've seen so many 'Wenger out'
posts since I began this blog over two years ago.
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Arsenal 1 (Van Persie pen 75) Man Utd 3 (Park 8, Ronaldo 11, 61)
(Champions League Semi Final, agg 1-4)
The temptation today is for many to point the finger at a fourth consecutive season without a
trophy, and demand immediate wholesale changes. It is easy to label four or five players as
substandard, and insist on a Championship Manager-like overhaul.
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First, an apology for my absence over the past few days - I've spent most of them drowsy and out
of it thanks to some medication designed to get rid of my chicken pox. Yes, you heard me right -
chicken pox. And no, I'm not a child, so it is particularly unpleasant.
But on to cheerier things, and a quick recap of the past few days.
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Man United 1 (O'Shea 19) Arsenal 0
(Champions League Semi Final)
The only thing any Arsenal fan can feel this morning is relief that, against all odds, we are
somehow still in the Champions League. On the balance of last night's first leg, the semi final tie
should be comprehensively beyond our reach.
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Arsenal 1 (Walcott 18) Chelsea 2 (Malouda 33, Drogba 84)
(FA Cup Semi Final, Wembley)co
The past few days have been filled with stories of our team news, but all boiled down to two
questions. One, would Gibbs be fit, and therefore allow Song to play the defensive midfield role he
has made his own in recent weeks?
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Arsenal 3 (Walcott 10, Adebayor 60, Van Persie pen 69) Villareal 0
(Champions League Quarter Final, 4-1 on agg)
What a fantastic performance. Yesterday I spoke about how I expected last night to end well, but
what I meant was I expected us to progress after a cracking tie, not cruise through seemingly
without much threat from a decent Villareal side.
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Wigan 1 (Mido 18) Arsenal 4 (Walcott 61, Silvestre 71, Arshavin 90, Song
90)
(Premiership)
In so many ways, this game reminded me of a match at Goodison Park last season, where Everton
battered us for the first half, led 1-0, and seemed to be sending us to a somewhat insipid away
defeat.
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Villareal 1 (Senna 10) Arsenal 1 (Adebayor 66)
(Champions League Quarter Final)
Advantage Arsenal, then. After an opening half which could have turned into a complete disaster,
a stupendous overhead kick from Adebayor sees us favourites to progress, a result any fan would
have bitten your hand off for after the opening stages.
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Arsenal 2 (Adebayor 8, 49) Man City 0
(Premiership)
Apologies for the lateness of the report, illness has kept me away, but with that showing no
signs of disappearing, I've lugged myself to the keyboard anyway. This might be a short one.
Saturday was one of those days where you watched a performance and ended up with mixed
feelings.
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Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 74, Gallas 84) Hull 1 (Barmby 13) (FA Cup quarter final) In the early months
of the season, I had a lot of time for Phil Brown. He was sending his newly promoted team out to
attack, which was proving incredibly fruitful for Hull, as they shocked team after team to move
towards [.
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Arsenal 4 (Ooijer og 2, Arshavin 65, Eboue 87, pen 90) Blackburn 0 (Premiership) What a difference
an early goal makes. It struck me early in the second half that, had we not scored a somewhat
fortuitous goal in the opening moments of the game, we would be far more frustrated by the constant
creation and subsequent [.
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Roma 1 (Juan 9) Arsenal 0 (aet, 1-1 agg, Arsenal win 7-6 on penalties) There will be many that
bemoan this performance, who will choose to examine the lack of penetration and pace, point to
the lack of clear cut chances created and criticise all the passes that went astray. To an
extent, they have a point, but only [.
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West Brom 1 (Brunt 7) Arsenal 3 (Bendtner 4, 44, Toure 38) (Premiership) Three days ago, Villa were
within a couple of minutes of opening up what seemed to be an unassailable eight point lead over
us, before conceding twice at home to Stoke in the dying minutes. At the time, it was all doom and
gloom, [.
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Arsenal 0 Fulham 0 (Premiership) Where to begin today? A disheartening performance from Arsenal
yesterday led to yet another 0-0 draw, our fourth in succession, and left us vulnerable to Villa
going eight points clear with a seemingly simple game at home to Stoke today. The final moments saw
Fulham mockingly pass the ball around us in [.
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