Evening Arsenal fans,
The weekend has once again come and gone and so to has real, meaningful football. A weekend which saw a sumptuous Robin Van Persie strike to clinch a pretty bland affair thus maintaining our charge up the table. Whilst we did re-enter the top 4, our rightful home, it was only momentarily as Chelsea managed to beat the previously unbeaten Manchester City.
Now whilst I am glad they have lost and as such the stupid suggestions that they are in some way better than the Invincibles team can be laid to rest once and for all. I am ultimately disappointed in that we are no longer in the top four. Also this win could go a long way to galvanise a team with some top quality players, not exactly what we want from one of our closest rivals. Well, either way we are where we are, and that is 5th. We are not too far behind the pack and that is all good news.
With no football midweek, we have a bit of a “calm before the storm” moment right now. There is no doubt all of our players could do with a well deserved rest before the colossal task of taking on the money might of Manchester City. It will be a tough game and knowing that Robin Van Persie will get a week to rest his amazing self is reassuring to some extent, even if it comes at the expense of my boredom.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I love him. I really, really do. I bought a pair of trainers a few years back, which I customised to have his name on them which screams sexual stalker but I assure you that is not the case. I do not know his new address or anything.
Well my weird obsession aside, we had some scintillating football promised to us for the weekend just gone as well as the club celebrating it’s 125th birthday. Unfortunately the football was not the type we had hoped for but a win is a win and a quite fitting score line to celebrate this great clubs birth – 1 nil to the Arsenal.
What a great 125 years they have been, from our inception as Dial Square to our name changes; Royal Arsenal, Woolwich Arsenal and then of course Arsenal in 1913 following our migration to the North of London. From our great managers and fantastic football league records, one thing is abundantly clear. There has always been a class in the way we have conducted ourselves as a club and that is why we are the only club with a “the” at the beginning.
The unveiling of great legend bronze statues of Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams and Thierry Henry preceded the game and the atmosphere at the ground prior to kick off was certainly carnival-esque.
The Arsenal took on Everton in a game which saw Mikel Arteta go against his former employers and was settled by a Robin Van Persie wonder goal. I love him. *Looks away in a shifty manner.* Really I am not weird.
As mentioned earlier, Chelsea’s win over Man City ensured we remain out of the top four but has also proved that Man City are by no means unbeatable. I expect that whilst it will be a tough game on Sunday, it is one I hope that we will rise to the challenge for and continue our excellent form.
Without trying to go into speculation overdrive with a stop off at dream city, if we beat Man City this coming Wednesday, we will be back with a shout at the title. Of course it is fantastical in many ways, even if we do win, but we are not out of it, and with the propensity other teams have shown to drop points much could hinge on the transfer window and any business we may or may not do.
However, let’s take a step back from crazy land and be a bit more realistic. It is a tough ask to go to the “fraudulent naming deal stadium” and come away with anything let alone a win. And if the task was not difficult enough, it is made all the more tricky given the sad news that Andre Santos is likely to be out for 3 months following surgery to his ankle.
With no fit full back you would expect the four centre backs that filled in at Everton to continue. Though there are clear disadvantages, the natural width, pace and work up and down the flanks, that the first choice provides, there are some advantages as well. It was clear that having all three of Koscienly, Mertesacker and Vermaelan greatly assisted our defensive display. All three had great games and all did admirable jobs filling in when needed. Whether they will play as well as a unit against the onslaught of a £100m attack is up for debate but we shall see.
Aside from that I don’t think there is much to report on aside from the pre-January obsession with transfers and possible targets and the ten new players we need. My thoughts on this are simple Mario Gotze and a striker would be fantastic failing that just a striker is all we really need. With Wilshire coming back and another creative midfielder you would say we have 2 good to great players in all the forward positions. The only area really weak at the moment is up front, and that is despite having the best striker in the world. Especially with Chamakh's future more and more likely to be outside of Arsenal, one would think that a striker would be absolutely essential this window.
I leave you with those words of wisdom.
Until next time!
GoonerVerse.
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