My good friend's wedding is tomorrow so this will be a very early match preview of our trip to
Sunderland. As it has been known for the past few days, RVP and Gibbs both will miss the game after
yet another injury return for an Arsenal player from an international break.
Premier League Team News - Barclays Premier League - ESPN SoccernetThe news is slow to come in to
SoccerNet today but I'm in off-site planning meetings for 2010 as part of my day job so I'm getting
a head start of things. Arsenal - I'm not going to repeat the entire injury list because I just
don't have the time. Click to continue reading...
Eduardo's most common move, the ankle breaker This is the most obvious Funny
Feeling Friday selection in history - but the selection completely fits the award for the week - an
unpopular, out of form, or underrated player who we think will perform over the next few weeks. Couldn't be more obvious: it's Eduardo (7. Click to continue reading...
So the meaningless international week has left us with at least one significant problem, if not
two. Firstly RVP has sprained his ankle and will be out for a few weeks, despite hacks at the Sun
speculating wildly when they didn't even know the true nature of the injury, he will NOT be out for
the season, and it is not possible to predict exactly how long it will take him to recover. Click to continue reading...
Robin Van Persie flew today to Belgrade to meet with Marijana Kovacevic, a Serbian housewife who
uses fluid from horse placenta to massage injured tissues enabling it to heal faster. At least that
is what many footballers using her treatment claim.
RVP did not seem to know much about her or the therapy:
"She is vague about her methods but I know she massages you using fluid from a placenta," he
said.
Can he do it on his own without Torres, Benayoun, and Riera? Steven Gerrard looks
set to start for Liverpool this weekend against Manchester City as his long road to recovery from a
groin problem looks almost complete... Gerrard has used the international break to step up his rehabilitation program - and the news will
surely make Liverpool fans happy. Click to continue reading...
We face Sunderland this Saturday at the Stadium of Light and here I am on Tuesday night
wondering whether we will see something different from Arsenal this weekend. I think I mentioned it
in the aftermath of RVP's injury but today I'm going to give it full attention.
Traditionally, Wenger has preferred the conventional 4-4-2 with the striker popping up at the
flanks just like Henry once did and another idiot who tried to do the same but to no avail but this
season saw something new.
With Dutch striker Robin van Persie operating as the focal point of a deadly 4-3-3 this season,
Arsenal have been nearly unstoppable. But now, with the Dutchman out of action for 6 weeks because of torn ankle ligaments - of which he
is treating with new-age medicine including massage with placentas in Serbia, Arsenal are looking
for an answer. Click to continue reading...
The ball from the infamous Tottenham-Liverpool match earlier in the year was sold online. 400 pounds to charity. Good stuff. Did you buy it? To the links:
Liverpool set to make hopeful move for Croatian international.
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The news doing the rounds over the weekend involved the reported interest shown by Liverpool in
our top notch striker Eduardo and for some reason the miserly sum of £10m was repeatedly
mentioned, which is probably only sufficient to purchase one of his legs and not the rest of his
body.
RVP's convalescence time has been reduced to 4-6 weeks, less than the two months feared. He has
a partial tear of the ankle ligament. A Dutch official said it was not a fracture but there was
still significant ankle damage.
"It's impossible to put an exact time frame on it because some players heal more quickly than
others.
By CARL ELDRIDGEÂ It's the news we dreaded. Just as we get into our stride and look like
contenders for some silverware, the curse of November strikes again. OK, it's not the curse of
reverses that has undone the glorious Gunners in the past during this month, this time it's the
gut-wrenching news that RVP has done his ankle in playing for the Clog-wearing mob against the
Eyeties in a pissing friendly.
There it is. I just knew it was going to happen soon. This one problem could derail Arsenal and
Gooners hope for silverware this season. Will the decision not to replace the Togolese idiot come
back to haunt Wenger? Or will someone rise from the misfortune of his team mate and stake a claim
for his place?
RVP is feared to have torn his ankle ligaments as he went down after a heavy challenge from
Giorgio Chiellini in the Italy vs Netherlands friendly. He is undergoing an ankle scan in the
Netherlands to ascertain the exact damage.
This happened a couple of days ago, but, you know...(shrugs). 15 Arsenal players have been
called up for duty over the international break. The entire list can be found here.
Of the 15, only 5 Diaby, Gallas, and Sagna for France, Arshavin for Russia, and Song for
Cameroon are playing in meaningful senior international matches, as all of their nations are trying
to qualify for the World Cup.
An own goal by Ronald Zubar gets things rolling. A fine steal by Song puts Aaron Ramsey through
as he and Eduardo race ahead. Ramsey passes to Eduardo as they cut off Josh Craddock and then waits
for the return because of his clear look at goal. Instead, Eduardo chips the ball over and it
deflects of Craddock and loops over Wayne Henessey for the second goal.
"He picked me again." "Should have picked me though." "Idiot." So here it is, I'm
putting myself out on the line. More vulnerable than ever. Almost 12 weeks down, 26 to go. While we
still have 70% of the Premier League season remaining, I'm in the midst of my worst "Captaining"
stretch in 5 years, and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing a similar misfortune or has in
the past? Click to continue reading...
Here's my squad for the weekend Given, Verm, Heiti, Gibbs, Fab4, MPet, DDunn, BFAR, Drogs, Bellamy,
Campbell and here's Jeremy's team for those interested... Given, Verm, Heiti, Gibbs, Emerton, BFAR,
DDunn, Collison, RvP, Bellamy, Drogs Looking ahead to next week (OK, two weeks from now since
there's another International break coming up next weekend) - Rovers, Fulham, Everton, and Hull are
all Click to continue reading...
Good week for me -- great Saturday then gave most of it back on Sunday. 107 points with five
2-gamers. Not that I'm expecting much from them. More on that after the jump. Cue the Ennio
Morricone... The Good RvPÂ (32) I especially love the assist for Cesc's goal where Palacios just
passes it against him in the center circle. Click to continue reading...
Remember when the Spuds beat our Carling Cup team 5-1 and every blog we went on all we saw was
this new way of writing Ar5ena1? Well I have just thought of a new way of spelling T0tt3nham
.. I hope it sticks for a while..
All I have heard on the radio since Saturday is Arsenal only beat the Spuds because they had a
load of injuries.
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...
Talk of a bunch of self entitled players. This team will not get a "major trophy", or even a
self titled piddling little one. For the second match in a row, Arsenal decided to "wing" it.
Wenger's memos of bravado do not seem to be filtering down to the players. At the very least,
one would expect some positive response to such a bold and unequivocal statement.
If there's one question I don't miss from the Yahoo! gig it's, "Where are the points?" We'll leave
that to the Fantasist. But without knowing a definite number, how did you do? I had a much better
day today, getting goals from RVP and Diamanti to add to Saturday's Drogba strike and Sonko's clean
sheet. Click to continue reading...
It was his birthday and the AGM was conducted in a very different atmosphere from the last
meeting. So of course, in the warm bask of accolades and affection, one tends to become
magnanimous.
But I saw the AZ Alkmaar match and if we are to win a major trophy, we need to do much much
better.
Well, as Peevish said in the comments, that wasn't much fun.
To start with, though, let me just say that this is not a bad result for Arsenal. Yes,
we're a much better club, but AZ are the defending Eredivisie champions, and has now played 35 home
matches in European competition, and has lost just once.
Wenger got the team wrong last night. But first, it's important to recognise a couple of
things. Firstly, a draw away in Europe is never a bad result. We had six points on the board, now we have
seven. So despite Alkmaar's last minute equaliser we're sure to go through. Which is more than can
be said for Liverpool. Click to continue reading...
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.
AZ Alkmaar inaugurated their new DSB stadium on August 4, 2006 with a 0-3 loss to the Gunners.
Gilberto Silva, Emmanuel Adebayor and RVP scored goals. You can watch the goals >>1-0, 2-0,
3-0.
For the record: AZ were undefeated in all 32 of their home matches in European competitions, a
sequence which ran from 1977 until 20 December 2007, when they finally lost to Everton of England,
by a score of 2-3.
What's more offensive - Redknapp's language or his haircut? Congratulations to
those nations that have qualified for the World Cup over the international break, but now let's get
back to our addictive hobby - trying to manage ourselves into the world's fantasy football
elite... I.Click to continue reading...
Could the Gunners do with another attacking option, or am I just being greedy?
New Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri is keen on recruiting AC Milan striker Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar, according to reports.
The 26-year-old Dutch international who was linked with Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham
Hotspur during the close-season netted 76 league goals in 92 appearances for Ajax.
Now that the internationals are finished, attention is turning back to the Premier League at
last. The international break brought loads of transfer rumors, plenty of boring and pointless
matches, and a much needed break for fantasy football players around the world.
As action resumes and the Premiership Talk Fantasy Football league heats back up, here's a
rundown of the top ten fantasy players this season, based on total points.
In what's becoming a common quarterly occurrence for Steven Gerrard, just as earnings season comes
once every three months on Wall Street, Liverpool's Captain aggravates a minor groin injury about 4
times per year as well. Gerrard has done it again. England's finest midfielder is a major doubt for the team's trip to
Sunderland this weekend after aggravating his groin problem - again. Click to continue reading...
