"We've had little bit the bad time with wigan"

Tomorrow see’s the team play wigan in as fixture that has been a tad rough for the last couple of seasons. Leads have been given up, mistakes have been made, points have been dropped. I don’t think the team should have that tough of a time, but hopefully the manager and the team have learned not to underestimate Roberto Martinez’s squad.

Wigan are on a two match undefeated run but find themselves second from bottom and in their annual relegation scrap. Martinez is a handy coach and plays some nice football but can’t ever seem to find consistent form for his team.

In terms of Arsenal team news, no new injuries between the cup match and tomorrow’s fixture. Diaby looks like he will be out for at least 10 days with a muscle strain, which isn’t surprising considering how long he has been out but is still disappointing. Rosicky is still out but might figure in the olympiacos match. The other long termers (Jack, Bac, Gibbs, etc) are about the same and supposedly Ryo will be out until the end of December now (not sure I even remember him getting injured to be honest).

After the way some of the young kids played in the cup match against city, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them get a shout against wigan as well. They were unlucky to not come away with a result against city and stood up to a team who have a striker (Aguero) that cost as much as our entire starting 11. I could definitely see The Ox get ahead of Arshavin at this point, with his good form and the Russian’s lack of anything approaching it. Coquelin and Frimpong held the midfield well and you could argue for them to have a go of it at the weekend too.

As usual, come on down to Beulah at 7:00 am sharp tomorrow and hopefully the boys can get back to winning ways.

Come On You Gunners!

Ahhhhh, how beautiful it is. I may be wrong but those folks in stands look like the kind of people who need to have their team get the shit kicked out of them by our team. They just have that aura about them…

Tomorrow is the first North London derby of the season and we haven’t necessarily had the best of luck in this fixture lately. We are also going into the match for the first time as underdogs, but in a grudge match such as this the result can be the exact opposite of form and expectation. I hope that as captain, and someone who has seen plenty of these matches, RVP is telling the boys (especially the new ones) the importance of this match and the necessity of kicking the shite out of those boys.

Team news is that Koscielny is still out and Theo/Gervinho will get late, late fitness tests before the match. Arsene says that Theo looks more likely than the Ivorian to make fitness. Song will most likely remain at center back and we might see some shifting up front with Benayoun back to match fitness. Maybe for Arshavin? Hopefully for Arshavin?

I’m getting personally pretty excited (and a tad apprehensive) for the match on Sunday. It is a huge match, as it usually is, but takes on more significance for the team as they look to continue a winning run and find a stretch of form this season. Come down to Beulah at 8:00 am sharp and cheer the boys on in what will hopefully be a bloodbath. Here’s to hoping they can handle the business and put that chicken wearing mob back in their place. See you there.

UP THE ARSENAL!

Well, it looks like Theo has a 50-50 chance of making the match tomorrow. At least our defense is solid with Koscielny (shit), but our attackers are fully fit, like Gervinho…(fuck). Koscielny apparently picked up an ankle knock from a tackle by Nigel Reo Coker and Gervinho has some sort of muscle strain thing which will probably see him out for the rest of his contract. It’s kind of odd how Theo, who went down in a heap out on his own in the middle of field and looked to have a serious injury, is the player that is most likely to feature tomorrow. He looks crocked while the other two are prancing around like deer and they are apparently worse off.

So, apparently our squad will be a tad light tomorrow but we will have to make do. Song will probably drop back to the center of defense with either Frimpong or Coquelin taking over his spot in defensive midfield. I would assume that Arshavin will probably take over for Gervinho and maybe Rosicky will go up front as well, if Theo can’t make it. Might be a chance at a debut for the Ox as well. Scramble, scramble, scramble.

Olympiakos are the Greek champions and we probably shouldn’t take them lightly. They lost to Marseille in the opener but with our team in the shambles that it is in right now, we will need to play them hard. Thank god we’re at home, which might make pushing for a win that much easier.

"How long did you say you'd been here Mr. Diaby"

In other news, Jack underwent surgery yesterday and it’s apparently been successful. According to Arsene this whole thing stems from a fracture he got when he was 16 and didn’t heal properly. They tried the boot for awhile in an attempt to avoid surgery. It didn’t work and now Jack is facing at least four months out if not longer to rehab. Hopefully that will sort it out correctly, but it sure is a long time. Good luck to him on his recovery.

In happier news, the match will be on at Beulah tomorrow at 11:45 am. No better way to get over injury news than with some football on a giant HD projector and some food/drinks. Come on down and let’s see if we can get a nice three points to give us a boost in our group.

Up The Arsenal!

Arsenal play new boys Swansea City tomorrow and need to rebound from the terrible defeat away to united. This match can definitely be used as a springboard to get the season up and running (after the disaster that was the first three matches). This could be especially true, with the signings most likely taking part and adding some new flavor into the squad.

In terms of the team news: some people are returning and some are are retreating to the depths of the treatment room, never to be seen again. Jack is out for six to eight weeks with his mysterious ankle/foot thing that is apparently very serious. Vermaelen had surgery on his own foot/ankle thing (shit, it’s contagious!) a few days ago and won’t be seen for four to six weeks as well. This is devastating news. They are arguably the heart and soul of the team now and we saw two weeks ago what a match without both of them can be like.

Rosicky is a possibility after getting his knee kicked on international duty. Andre Santos is not yet match fit either after a delay to the start of the Turkish league. He may feature on the bench though considering we are pretty light at fullback. In better news Theo and Gibbs should be available.

Swansea are one of the newly promoted teams and we should probably be able to beat them…..cough……West Brom……cough cough……Hull. I saw most of their match against Man City and they played them very well, even if the result ended up being 4-1. They are tough, and we have had issues with these lesser teams before. Hopefully the boys will be focused and looking to give the supporters something, especially on the back of the last match.

Come on down to Beulahland tomorrow at 7:00 am sharp to cheer on the boys to what hopefully will be the first win of the campaign. See you there…and Come On You Gunners!!!

This is a big match.

You could even make an argument that this (and the return fixture) are even more important than the Liverpool or United matches later this month. Qualifying for the group stages of the Champion’s League is on the line. Not qualifying would be a major blow financially as well as in terms of a lot of fan’s patience with the manager. We would stand to lose around seven to ten million euros if we don’t qualify (not that we would spend it anyway). So financially it could be a significant blow. More importantly, It could be close to a final straw for a lot of fans in terms of how they think of the manager and what he is doing with the team and especially with transfers. There is a lot that could happen positively or negatively depending on what happens in these two matches.

Udinese finished a surprise fourth in Serie A last year. It was a break out year for them and many of their players made a name for themselves. Quite a few of these major players have since left, leaving them a side with a bit of a different look. Striker Alexis Sanchez was stolen by a familiar bunch of thieving catalunyans, center back Christian Zapata went to Villareal and perennial Arsenal link and central midfielder, Gokhan Inler, ended up in Napoli over the summer. They are still a dangerous team however with the likes of Antonio Di Natale, who led Serie A in goals last year with 28. They might not be as strong as they were but our defense is going to have to have another good game like they did on Saturday.

In terms of the Arsenal team news there isn’t a whole lot. Rosicky faces a late fitness test tomorrow after picking up a knock against Newcastle. Hopefully he can get fit because Jack is still out and we don’t have many other players who can play that creative midfield roll. Van Persie is suspended due to his ridiculous sending off in the 2nd leg at the Spanish shoplifters barca, and Nasri is also facing a suspension for tomorrow’s match. Not sure Nasri would have played anyway, considering it looks like he is going (probably to City). If he wasn’t he likely would have played at the weekend and maybe would not have had negative chants directed his way, which he apparently didn’t like. Everybody else who played at the weekend should be available. Hopefully we will be able to continue the defensive performance and add in some clinical finishing at the weekend.

Come down to Beulahland tomorrow at 11:45 and let’s see if we can grab a nice lead in this 1st leg.

*Sad, but inevitable, to see Cesc go. Good piece by Arseblog here about Cesc and the whole ordeal. Put’s it a bit in perspective in terms of the player we are losing, how Arsenal have handled his situation and how big a bunch of c*nts that Spanish lot are.

The club will always be there!

Cheers and as always….Up The Arsenal!