That was a very, very nervous experience made all the more intense by the fact that we were expected to win. Some how being the underdog in crucial games makes it just that little more bearable when a loss is inevitably considered before and during the game. But win we did and by doing so we secured the chance to play Champions League football next season which I believe makes it sixteen seasons on the trot, no mean feat when you consider just how desperate and disappointed those around us were at missing out again.
That was a very, very nervous experience made all the more intense by the fact that we were expected to win. Some how being the underdog in crucial games makes it just that little more bearable when a loss is inevitably considered before and during the game. But win we did and by doing so we secured the chance to play Champions League football next season which I believe makes it sixteen seasons on the trot, no mean feat when you consider just how desperate and disappointed those around us were at missing out again.
Can Arsenal continue their fine run since that dark day somewhere in N17? 7 games unbeaten, 17 points. Since January, 11 played. Won 8 D2 L1. 26 points from 33 that is League winning consistency and very different from the norm.
Different opinions abound about today's game. Either it is good or bad to play a team already relegated.
Can Arsenal continue their fine run since that dark day somewhere in N17? 7 games unbeaten, 17 points. Since January, 11 played. Won 8 D2 L1. 26 points from 33 that is League winning consistency and very different from the norm.
Different opinions abound about today's game. Either it is good or bad to play a team already relegated.
One thing that has baffled me since the Norwich match is M. Wenger's actions and statements with regard to our talented midfield duo of Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere.
Firstly, after praising Rosicky to the hilt after the WBA game, then expressing his anguish in not having him available for Norwich, our man, quite understandably (from a team selection point of view) slots Jack into the vacant spot in midfield against Norwich.
One thing that has baffled me since the Norwich match is M. Wenger's actions and statements with regard to our talented midfield duo of Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere.
Firstly, after praising Rosicky to the hilt after the WBA game, then expressing his anguish in not having him available for Norwich, our man, quite understandably (from a team selection point of view) slots Jack into the vacant spot in midfield against Norwich.
Matthew Lowton of Aston Villa (Image courtesy of AVFC.co.uk)
In the final fixture of the weekend, Manchester United swiftly quashed any ideas that Manchester City might have had to slow the Red Devils' run to the title after dealing Robert Mancini's men a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford in their Monday night encounter.
On the 36th minute of Arsenal's 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, Tomas Rosicky committed a foul. It was his third of the game, a challenge which earned him a yellow card and Mark Lawrenson, pundit for Match of the Day, singled it out as the first time he has seen Rosicky tackle.
This is obviously not true (and all Lawrenson has to do is perform a quick search on YouTube to find a showreel of his greatest moments, which includes passes, dribbles and slide tackles aplenty and this entertaining duel with Cristiano Ronaldo).
A few days from it all does wonders for your soul and it transpires that Arsenal haven't done so badly in my absence either, with an I'm-away record of P2 W2 F6 A2. Perhaps I should leave the metropolis more often.
In fact, we've now won five out of six league games, a very decent and needed run of form ruined only by a time-honoured Defence-o-Wobble up at our friendly neighbours.
Away at the Hawthorns was never looking like a comfortable ride, Arsenal were liking to make it three wins aim a row in the Premier Legue and put ourselves 4th and breathing down the necks of Spurs.
Wenger named an unnamed side, which given the performance at home to Reading seemed a fair thing to do.
Away at the Hawthorns was never looking like a comfortable ride, Arsenal were liking to make it three wins aim a row in the Premier Legue and put ourselves 4th and breathing down the necks of Spurs.
Wenger named an unnamed side, which given the performance at home to Reading seemed a fair thing to do.
Yesterday's result meant that we've broken our own record for the season. This was the first time in the 2012/13 season that we've won 4 times in a row. That is inclusive of all matches, domestic and Europe. The "achievement" puts us up into 4th place and only a point behind Sp*rs.
In any other season Reading at home would be a home banker pencilled into our predictors. This season anything has been possible, so it was a great relief yesterday to see the team come out the blocks from the first whistle and not stop running until the final whistle. On top of that the team played with purpose and pace that we have only seen on brief occasions this year, and for me the most important feature of our play we pressured the ball when we didn't have it.
In any other season Reading at home would be a home banker pencilled into our predictors. This season anything has been possible, so it was a great relief yesterday to see the team come out the blocks from the first whistle and not stop running until the final whistle. On top of that the team played with purpose and pace that we have only seen on brief occasions this year, and for me the most important feature of our play we pressured the ball when we didn't have it.
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.
Nani's red card against Real Madrid prompted much debate as to whether or not it was merited. Most Manchester United fans protested that it was an incorrect decision. And Roy Keane gleefully took up the case for the referee. As if to rub salt into the wounds, United supporters watching last night's match between Bayern [.
In one of their best European performances in years, Arsenal beat Bayern Munich 2-0 at the Allianz Arena tonight, but were knocked out of the Champions League on away goals (3-3).
Arsene Wenger will rue his teams defensive mistakes at the Emirates in the first leg as tonight the made the Bundesliga champions elect look very ordinary.
It's hard to know where to begin this morning. Going out of a cup competition to lower league opposition once in a season is bad enough, but yesterday saw the same thing happen again and it makes you think it's something far beyond just a horrible coincidence.
Arsenal's disappointing season reached rock bottom today when they lost 1-0 at home to Blackburn. The Gunners dominated the contest against the Championship club and had several chances to score, but saw their way through to goal blocked by a stunning performance by Rovers goalkeeper Jake Kean.
Tomas Rosicky also hit the crossbar for the Premier League side after 67 minutes and just five minutes later Colin Kazim-Richards grabbed what proved to be the winner for the second-tier side, smashing in the rebound after Wojciech Szczesny parried Martin Olsson's initial strike back in front of goal.
Let's cut to the chase from the start .... I actively dislike Blackburn. Never liked their kit, hated Simon Garner, Dalglish, Mark Hughes, Fat Sam, the SAS, Haj Diouf, Kean, the Chicken men, and their ground is as awful as the town.
Last time we played Blackburn at the Emirates we beat them 7-1 and they were lucky to get the 1.
Let's cut to the chase from the start .... I actively dislike Blackburn. Never liked their kit, hated Simon Garner, Dalglish, Mark Hughes, Fat Sam, the SAS, Haj Diouf, Kean, the Chicken men, and their ground is as awful as the town.
Last time we played Blackburn at the Emirates we beat them 7-1 and they were lucky to get the 1.
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.
Abou Diaby-Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Any English football supporter has grown well accustomed to Arsene Wenger's coyness when it comes to transfer dealings. "We select targets, I watch them... But it's difficult to name names," Wenger told Arsenal.com following his side's 0-2 defeat to Manchester City.
In footballing circles, the Christmas period is always talked about as being unusually hectic. In reality, when one glimpses the eight games Arsenal (potentially) stand to play between January 1st and February 2nd, that impression retards somewhat. As international football has increasingly interfered with the schedule, there is rarely true respite in the calendar.
In footballing circles, the Christmas period is always talked about as being unusually hectic. In reality, when one glimpses the eight games Arsenal (potentially) stand to play between January 1st and February 2nd, that impression retards somewhat. As international football has increasingly interfered with the schedule, there is rarely true respite in the calendar.
Today we'll go there in search of a semifinal spot in the Capital One Cup, or Carling Cup if you prefer. It seems that Wenger is taking it seriously. From the players wanting to play in this game to the manager himself, it seems that we are going to try to win this competition.
To put today's game into context let us start with the "crisis" of form. Two big wins then AV away where once again we played a team just about to improve upon a poor start (check both Norwich & AV post-AFC), Villa are not a bad team and getting a draw was OK, Everton were above us in the table and unbeaten at home, a draw acceptable, then the Swansea game.
1. The battle for fourth is hotting up after Tottenham's draw with Everton. It looks like that and one relegation place is what we'll all be talking about on the last day of the season. 2. Harry Redknapp has been saying for weeks that Bobby Zamora would kickstart QPR's relegation fight. We're not sure that's [.
I think we've all heard of a game of two halves; Arsenal have been involved in plenty of them down the years, for better or worse. But yesterday was a game of two bits. For 70 minutes we played well, controlled the game, took a decisive lead, and looked in little trouble from West Brom.
No time for feeling sorry for ourselves, it's Villa today and a good chance to take three points. Blackburn was abominable, Bayern put us in our place, but there can be no excuses today. As we spoke about yesterday, all we've got left this season is the scrap for a top four finish.
welcome to a brand new week after a weekend which turned out pretty well, all things considered. I had absolutely no expectation that a new Sunderland manager would be enough for them to take points off Chelsea, and so it proved. Chelsea's goals were a tad on the lucky side but they've moved up into third, forcing Sp*rs into 4th and us back into 5th.
From feast to famine as the old adage has it. After a delightfully excessive and fattening 7-3 win over Newcastle, Arsenal promptly swore off the sins of the festive season with an impoverished performance at St. Mary's. The Southampton display was rather like watching Tomas Brolin trying to squeeze into a pair of skinny jeans after a dedicated half an hour's fasting.
They say that the league table never lies, yet it's conceivable that Arsenal will end the season having scored more goals than the last and conceded less and still fall outside the top four places. As such, measuring progress can be difficult.
If it's not improvement that Arsenal have made this season, then it's certainly been a season of acclimatisation as a fairly new team gets to grips with playing with each other.
Who needs Olivier Giroud when Arsenal have got... Tomas Rosicky?!! Indeed, thanks to the on-form Czech footballer, Arsenal sailed to their sixth win in seven league games despite Per Mertesacker's unceremonious send-off for a foul on Albion's Shane Long.
Let's not forget that Rosicky started his first Premier League match of the seasonlast week after months disrupted by injury.
So, what now? The answer is obvious enough: the Premier League is where it's at. That's all we've got. It might not feel particularly great at this moment in time, but it's something to play for and something to target.
I'm not going to suggest that finishing in the top four is any kind of trophy, clearly it's not and the insistence on misusing that particular quote is an irritation, but whatever we're going to need to do this summer would be more easily achieved if we have Champions League football.
It doesn't take much to baffle me. I'm easily baffled. One thing that does baffle me immensely though is that Tomas Rosicky has hardly been used this season when fit and available.
I don't know why he has hardly played. Maybe he and Sebastien Squillaci had a sleep-over in Arsene Wenger's jacket and left a whoopsie in there.
lot of chatter this morning about Jack Wilshere. As I look around the headlines I see Steven Gerrard calling him a 'one off' under a headline labelling him 'world class', and Liam Brady says there's much more to come from the midfielder. Then I saw another headline saying: Roy: keep calm over Wilshere and I immediately thought 'Trust Keane not to go overboard', but it turns out it's Roy Hodgson being the voice of reason.
We're still in that weird post-Christmas bit where you're not quite sure what day it is, but it's Friday which means football tomorrow and Arsene's press conference today.
There was some early team news ahead of tomorrow's clash with Newcastle and it's positive stuff. Tomas Rosicky and Olivier Giroud return to the squad after illness, while Andre Santos and Abou Diaby should return to training next week.
