This game was definitely a big one for Arsenal. This would set the tone for a monumental season-defining week for the Gunners. There was a lot of build up to the game simply because of its magnitude as well this fixture occurring twice in two weeks. The first half saw good possession by the Gunners [.

It appeared to us an act of desperation – the very last resort, Plan B (or, more appropriately, Plan Z), or any well-worn cliché – and it, well, was. For Manchester United, bringing back Paul Scholes seemed a step back. Truth is, it's gone better than we'd envisaged back then, ever since it was revealed ahead of the FA Cup 3rd round tie against Manchester City back in January.

In the past four seasons, Liverpool have played seven games under three managers against Manchester United in the league. Four have been Liverpool victories, two have been won by United, and one has been a draw. And with match number eight coming up on the weekend, it seemed like a good time to look back at some of the statistics beyond the final score from the seven previous games to see if any kind of pattern or omen for Saturday's match appears.

Luis Suarez made his return from his eight-match suspension but their was no fairy tale ending as Liverpool and Spurs played to a goalless draw at Anfield.

While Kenny Dalglish's side remain unbeaten at home this season, they have nevertheless struggled for goals at Anfield, scoring just 14 in 11 matches, and again, despite a lot of possession they were unable to unpick a superbly-disciplined Spurs defence.

Clint Dempsey and Fulham had no luck against Manchester City at a snowy Emirates Stadium, falling 3-0. City were up from the penalty spot within ten minutes, making it 2-0 from an own-goal. It was 3-0 in the 72nd, with Joe Hart picking up the shutout. "In the second half I think we had more possession," Fulham manager Martin Jol said.

Don't just sit there Robin. Get a fourth

That's our first rout of the season. The first of which we won and not the other way around. You can count the Chelsea game as one but then it was not as one sided as this was. Blackburn tormented us the last time we met and this was sweet revenge being exacted.

When I woke up bleary-eyed and desperate of coffee this morning my first thought was "Why do I wake up so early for the impending doom that is Arsenal?" I turned my TV on and was greeted by the image of Arsene Wenger walking onto the pitch and a great view of the skyline above the Emirates Stadium, leading me to think, "At least it looks beautiful out there.

A goal from Sergio Ramos was enough to gave Real Madrid a slender 1-0 win against city rivals Getafe to maintain their seven-point lead over title rivals Barcelona at the top of the Spanish Liga.

The visitors dominated possession but created few clear-cut opportunities and the match was eventually settled by Ramos's 18th-minute goal, the Spanish international defender meeting Mesut Özil's corner with a flying header that powered into the top right coner.

The season is just over a month away and the roster is almost completely set. Of course there is still the possibility of adding a few more pieces or dropping a few of the newer players. For the most part the Timbers have the core of their starting line-up signed. With all the changes to the roster will John Spencer go away from the 4-4-2 formation or will he go with a different formation?

Clearly, every game is a very tough one for Arsenal on current form. Will the team get its first League win of 2012? Doesn't seem like it if we look at the manner in which Arsenal have dropped points in recent games, or the way Blackburn came from behind to win at home earlier this season, or the fact that Steve Kean is yet to lose against Wenger or Ferguson in the Premiership (2W, 2D)!

By Alan Duffy

Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Arsenal Premier League 1st February 2012

Arsenal match reports are starting to write themselves loads of possession, nice passing, loads of chances, no goals. More often than not you can even tag "concede late goal from set-piece" onto the end of that, although on this occasion, the Gunners did manage to go off-script and keep their sheet clean for the night.

It's been awhile since I trawled through the Guardian chalkboards for interesting items. I know, we all missed it.
I remain convinced that Liverpool changed tact in midfield during the interval. The key seemed to be Spearing, more willing to stay in his own half and shield the defense rather than pressing higher up the pitch and leaving gaps.

Wolverhampton 0
Liverpool 3 Carroll 52′, Bellamy 61′, Kuyt 78′

It was another chance for a struggling club to inject some life into their season by facing a Liverpool side unable to find consistent results against opposition below them in the table. Unlike Liverpool's last opponents Bolton, however, Wolves never really threatened to take control of the match, though it nevertheless seemed to be going down a familiar path for Liverpool for the first fifty minutes as chances were wasted and midfield devolved into an indecisive muddle.

how appropriate

Happy mad-libbing!

_______________ (Possession/4-3-3/Passing out of the back) like __________________ (F.C. Barcelona/Spain/Ajax) would never work for a __________________ (Mid-low table Premier League/Major League Soccer/NCAA Division I) team. The __________________ (British/American/American College) game is too ____________ (Fast/Physical/Aggressive) for a ________________ (British/MLS/College) team to play like that.

The tackle that started the comeback

The team needed a lift after results of recent weeks. A 1-0 win is great but coming back from 2 goals down to win it, is surely going to give the team the boost that we so desperately need. A game of two halves is the old cliche but certainly applies in this scenario.

If you carefully select portions of this game you can make a video highlighting many of Arsenal's major problems. With another selection you could also show the reasons that make the Gunners such a great team to watch and support. It was a classic Cup tie and one that will remain in fans' memories for years to come if it can spark a run of form.

At half-time today, I admit that I feared the worst. We were losing 2-0 and staring in the face of exit from a competition which, realistically, offered our best opportunity of silverware this season. Fast forward 45 minutes, and Arsenal had completed one of the more memorable comebacks of recent times.

Cometh the hour, cometh the comeback- for once.

Finally, a win for Arsenal! The matter by which it came was joyful, and may just have put us out of our recent funk. In a match where Arsenal dominated in terms of possession and chances created, Aston Villa, with a first-team lineup, crawled to a 2-0 lead at half time.

Kuyt gets the winner...Liverpool successfully knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup on Saturday in a 2-1 win at Anfield. The Reds can now boast getting the better of both teams in Manchester in less than a week. A Dirk Kuyt winner grabbed Liverpool the glory in a game where United had most of the possession.

Crashing out in the FA Cup against their bitter rival, Liverpool, obviously left a bitter taste for Manchester United especially since they were not actually outplayed in the match but lose out due to a defensive error.

The club's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, was the one who voived out his disappointment and disbeliefs with the Red Devils' failure in advancing from the competition especially since the tactician believes that his team played better than their opponent.

FC Barcelona could have handed over the Liga title to Real Madrid unofficially after drawing away at 17th placed Villareal. The lead at the top of the summit is seven points which could be too much for our boys to climb. Already with a very depleted side, we weren't helped by Guardiola's decision making all night.

Manchester United were knocked out of the FA Cup at Anfield on Saturday by a less than impressive Liverpool team. United enjoyed the lions share of possession for long periods of a game that they by and large controlled, but the champions were once again guilty of making costly defensive errors and at the other end they were toothless up front.

By Joel Greenwaldt
@Joel Greenwaldt (On Twitter)
The Baltimore Blast secured their fifth consecutive win at home on Friday, an 18-10 victory over the Norfolk SharX in front of 5,764 fans. The victory improved Baltimore's record to 12-4 on the season, and has them sitting five games up on Rochester for the division lead with eight games to be played.

Old Trafford legends Roy Keane and Paul Ince were livid with Man United's 'schoolboy defending' at Anfield earlier today, and both players were disappointed that Alex Ferguson's team could not turn [what they perceived to be] superior possession and quality into goals.Summarising the game on ITV, Keane was typically blunt about United's defensive failures:"Poor goals from United's point of view;

We all know that football can be a cruel game but for us Victory fans this season is almost like torture, and I'm just about ready for it to end. I'm sick of our inability to retain a lead. I'm sick of seeing our defence collapse under pressure. I'm sick of our midfield constantly losing possession.

The Timbers practice today was an uneventful one on the field but saw several developments on the sidelines. Once again Jose Adolfo Valencia was missing from practice which was yet again explained as being further fitness testing. John Spencer went on to say that as soon as he was done testing we would see him back on the field.

With 41 points from the first 19 matches of the Serie A season, Juventus finds itself with the symbolic label of ‘winter champions' for the first time in six long years. Much of that is down to new manager Antonio Conte (the players themselves have helped a bit as well). The influence of the one-time Juventus captain has been well documented throughout the season.

Africa Cup of Nations 2012 Team of the Round, Matchday 1 is a post from: Just Football

We have seen 15 goals in 8 opening games of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, with some fascinating fixtures and a few hints as to how the tournament might unfold. Only one game was separated by more than one goal, co-hosts Gabon beating Niger 2-0, while there have been no heavy defeats for any of the less-fancied teams, with the likes of Sudan and Botswana, and even Niger to an extent, more than holding their own against continental powerhouses like Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.

John Nyen sees parallels

The two managers sit across from each other, both hooked up to the machine. The humming and whirring increases as they are instructed by the lab technician in the white coat.

"Think of your ideal, of what you want your team to become.

The modern football fan has access to statistics that would have seemed unthinkable only five or six years ago. Sites such as the marvellous whoscored.com offer the casual fan a site from which they can drag figures to prove or disprove their assertions on their side. Are we missing a lot of chances?

So many times he's saved us. The forward bursts through, draws back the hammer and pulls the trigger, eyes not on the ball but on the expectant net only to find that in a whirl the object of his desire has disappeared, swept away by the sweetest of tackles. No bone or muscle, it's the timing that has defeated him.

After months of praise for being one of the best defensive units in the Premier League, Saturday's game against Bolton saw Liverpool's normally stout defensive line concede three against the side with the worst home record of any club in the seven leagues that make up the top end of the English footballing pyramid.

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.

By Chris Wright

A couple of days after Spanish site Sport.es reported that they had received exclusive mock-ups of the fairly hideous designs for Barcelona's new kits for next season (above), designs which look suspiciously like they may have been drawn up using the colour fade tool on Corel Draw 3.

By Alan Duffy

Sunderland 2-0 Swansea City Premier League 21 January 2012

Despite dominating for large periods of the game, Swansea's lack of a cutting edge would cost them dear against a Sunderland side who to continue to flourish under Martin O'Neill.

Fulham Football Club surprised Newcastle United on Saturday with a come from behind second half surge sparked by a Clint Dempsey hat trick, the second in as many weeks for the American. Newcastle, who where coming into the contest with 3 consecutive Premier League victories, had the bulk of possession but the Cottagers upset the [.

Have you ever seen anything like it?

One of the worst first half performances in memory. Newcastle were very impressive, well drilled, pressurising perfectly, timing their confrontations and ganging up on our players relentlessly. We couldn't keep the ball. They could, spraying it around and running us ragged.

Another frustrating day out and about for the Chels, who, despite a heap of possession and a fair few scoring chances, failed to break down a resolute Norwich City side at Carrow Road. Good result for them; us, not so much. That, as we said in our innovative preview, is another golden opportunity wasted.

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.

We sometimes have a look at shooting and scoring stats here, but one thing we rarely do is factor in actual possession of the ball.

If we look at things on a per game basis we're missing half the story. If I tell you that Fulham are averaging 2 goals scored a game you're impressed; if I tell you they're averaging 2 goals a game despite only having the ball for 10 minutes out of the 90 you're even more impressed (or are you?