Arteta has been one of the Gunners most telling signings in years. Often seen doing all the work behind the scenes the player has emerged as this season's surprise package, playing exceptionally well as a defensive midfielder. The Gunners have had an impressive start to their campaign this season and Mikel Arteta believes the game against City will prove to be an important one as an indication of whether Arsenal can go on and win the league this year.
Continuing on from our first part of the Euro previews, here were are with a look into
another group
Group B is just too glamorous to be analyzed this early in the process and so in today's edition
of "Doing the Poznan" we will be invoking the Carlton Palmer in me and analyzing Group C.
Will Carroll get a start?... Liverpool make the short trip to the DW Stadium on Wednesday to
face a rejuvenated Wigan side. Martinez's team are still hovering around the bottom of the table
but some inspired performances of late have given them some much needed confidence.
With the Reds struggling at home with only 2 wins from 6, our columnist Robert Nevitt assesses
what is going wrong with our performances at Anfield. As the saying goes, "There's a fine line
between success and failure". If John Ruddy hadn't had the game of his life when Norwich came to
Anfield, we'd have won comfortably.
Newcastle were the surprise package of the Premier League last season so that's not going to be the
case in the season to get underway today, but we still hope that Newcastle can pick up from where
they off in May, and if we can, then Newcastle could have another outstanding season. That's what
we [.
Who do you think will win the Premier League 2012/2013? [Poll] is a post from: Just Football
The new Barclays Premier League season 2012/2013 kicks off this weekend in
England. Champions Manchester City will look to defend their crown but there has been a lot of
transfer activity over the summer, with the market only really just kicking into gear now on the
back of some lucrative deals (including Robin van Persie's move to Manchester United).
UPS delivered a surprise package to me yesterday from FOX Soccer, to promote their coverage of
Sunday's Premier League Survival Sunday, where they'll be showing nine of the 10 matches live
across several of their TV and Internet properties....
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Wigan's destruction of Newcastle shows that the Latics belong in the Premier League - originally
posted on Soccerlens.com
Wigan put on a show on Saturday to all-but-secure their Premier League status for another year,
and delighted the DW Stadium and onlookers in the process. A 4-0 win over Champions League
qualification hopefuls Newcastle mixed a determined and dogged defensive approach with sublime
attacking play, and Roberto Martinez's men were good value for their comprehensive victory.
The Champions League race: will it be Tottenham, Newcastle or Chelsea? - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
With the Premier League heading into the final stretch, Tottenham, Newcastle and Chelsea are set
to fight it out for the last place in the top four. Wit multi-millions on the line due to the
commercial advantage of Champions League qualification, football bets will be increasing in number
due to the close nature of the battle for fourth place.
The Easter programme didn't bring much joy to most Tottenham Hotspur supporters as we only
managed to get 1 point from the 6 that were on offer. We have now let the surprise package of the
season Newcastle Utd catch us with Chelsea laying in wait for any further mistakes in the race for
Champions League qualification.
Newcastle United 2-0 Liverpool Premier League 1st April 2012
Returning to Newcastle for the first time since moving to Anfield, misfiring Liverpool striker
Andy Carroll once again failed to live up to even a bit of the ÂŁ35million paid for him by Kenny
Dalglish.
Fellow arsophiles, I want to pose a simple question:
In a season of ups and downs, false dawns and unexpected revivals, which Arsenal player
has turned out to be the biggest surprise package (in a positive way)?
I'm not talking about the likes of Vermaelen and van Persie, of whom we all expected great
things.
Fellow arsophiles, I want to pose a simple question:
In a season of ups and downs, false dawns and unexpected revivals, which Arsenal player
has turned out to be the biggest surprise package (in a positive way)?
I'm not talking about the likes of Vermaelen and van Persie, of whom we all expected great
things.
Will Carroll get a start?... Liverpool make the short trip to the DW Stadium on Wednesday to face a
rejuvenated Wigan side. Martinez's team are still hovering around the bottom of the table but some
inspired performances of late have given them some much needed confidence.
Chelsea, Newcastle fight for Champions League as Man Utd face must-win situation - originally
posted on Soccerlens.com
Man United is in danger of slipping to third as Spurs step up their game as Newcastle and
Chelsea face-off for the UEFA Champions League spot. The Gunners are expected to cruise to victory
in their visit to 19th place Wigan.
Manchester City 3-1 Newcastle United Premier League 19th November 2011
Two of their goals may well have come from the penalty spot, but nouveau riche Manchester City
were always in control of this top four clash against the surprise package of the 2011/12 season so
far, Newcastle United.
Saturday Norwich City vs Arsenal from Carrow Road, Norwich
The first kickoff of the weekend after the international break see's an Arsenal side who are in
form after their woeful start visit Norwich who have been very well organized, and shown to have
some firepower as well.
The Premier League pace setters, Manchester City, against the season's surprise package (Newcastle
United) is one of a number of mouthwatering ties on offer this weekend. Norwich v Arsenal, Chelsea
v Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa are...
Newcastle United's fine form in the premier league this season continues with another important
victory on the weekend, when they edged Everton 2-1 at St. James Park.
The three points not only puts them on third place with 25 points but also lifted the club's
confidence as although tough schedule awaits them after the International break, manager, Alan
Pardew, ensures that his player are more than ready to face the likes of Manchester City,
Manchester United and also Chelsea.
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Bill Shankley, the famous Liverpool boss of the late 50s and early 70s once said not to look at
the league table until 10 games had been played because it meant nothing.
FC Groningen: The surprise package of Dutch football this season? is a post from: Just
Football
by Michiel Jongsma
Over the past 30 years or so, FC Groningen has established itself as a stepping
stone in the career of many great players. Arjen Robben, former Glasgow Rangers winger Pieter
Huistra, Ronald and Erwin Koeman can all count themselves as alumni of the FC Groningen
academy.
Chasing the Big Leagues Fortuna Dusseldorf (Bundesliga II) is a post from: Just Football
Tales from Tier Two is a new series on Just Football in
partnership with @tiertwofooty, in which we assess the promotion chances of the clubs in tier two
of Europe's major leagues at the halfway point of 2011/12.
Okay so we know that Pele's comparison comments between Messi and Neymar were a little bit
extreme however, Argentine legend Diego Maradona's retaliatory comments are nothing to write home
about either.
"My God, that is just stupid," Maradona said.
"Maybe Neymar is the best player in the world, but only if you say that Messi is from a
different planet.
APOEL Nicosia v. Real Madrid Preview: the perfect Champions League quarterfinal for both sides -
originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Coming into this season, Real Madrid were considered one of the top favorites to lift the UEFA
Champions League trophy, and over the last several months, they've done nothing to change that
status.
You would say that Chelsea have been the weakest team out of the four British teams that
qualified for the Champions League this season, but yet they are the only team left in the
competition.
It's difficult to look beyond Barcelona or Real Madrid as potential winners though. They seem to
be head and shoulders above the rest, especially with the form of Lionel Messi and Cristiano
Ronaldo.
The Champions League quarter-finals are upon us and as if to say "Come at me, bro!", Â
Cristiano Ronaldo visited his hairstylist again to get new hair carvings done. You
know, because the two lines represent his new goals : To score twice at every
match from today AND outshine Messi's final goal tally, ideally
containing the number "2" in it.
Champions League action resumes tomorrow with some very interesting fixtures. Real Madrid travel
to Nicosia to play surprise package APOEL while Bayern Munich will be in France for a crunch
fixture against Olympique Marseille.
Madrid who are one of the favourites to make it through to the final, have a rather easy fixture
against Cypriot side APOEL.
Only one name sprang to mind following Milan's Champions League draw withÂ
Barcelona last night : IBRAHIMOVIC! Hold your horses
because the only thing Barcelona's bookstores should be releasing in two weeks is an
extended Catalan edition of Ibra's epic autobiography.
Ivory Coast midfielder Jean Jacques Gosso Gosso celebrates his team's progress to the final by
mounting Emmanuel Eboue. How nice! Image:Â FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images.
Well, despite our promises, the Africa Cup of Nations has been continuing without us paying it
the slightest bit of attention.
Losing key players at any stage of the season is far from ideal, so when clubs lose in-form star
men during the Africa Cup of Nations it must be particularly frustrating for Premier League
managers.
The turn of the year is notoriously difficult for clubs – with injuries, suspensions and fatigue
playing a part after a busy festive period.
Surprise package - In football this expression refers to a team that unexpectedly does well despite the fact that not many people think that they will do well in a competition.
The Norwegian girls made it to quarter-finals of the U-20 Women's World Cup
yesterday, cementing their position as the tournament's surprise package. Admittedly, they felt a
little dispirited after their opening defeat to South Korea last week, but fought hard in their 4-1
victory over the Argentinians yesterday.
With the Championship starting last night, the Football League season is already underway, but
League One kicks off later this afternoon. And after a season where so many sides looked strong at
the top, there don't appear to be any sides as strong as those that won promotion last season. With
no real makeweights on paper either, we could well be in for one of the tightest division for a
while.
This week we saw 31 goals, four red cards and no draws for an exciting return to Serie A action
this past weekend. Cagliari and Bologna upset higher-ranked opposition, Inter's revival continued
with a 5-0 hammering of Parma and Milan cruised through surprise package Atalanta, but nothing
caught the eye like Siena's humiliation of Lazio.
In the second part of our European summer leagues review we look back at another six leagues
which fell upon the 2011 calendar year.
KAZAKHSTAN: FC Shakhter Karagandy (Played 32, Points 42) finished the season as
Kazakhstan Premier League champions but it didn't look so clear cut throughout the
season.
