march 19th
09.02 – I’ve just discovered that a big glass of Jameson before you go to bed not only provides you with a tasty nightcap, but crazy, fucked up dreams. Last night I dreamt that I was riding along on my scooter, and I had all the Arsenal players chasing me in a big truck, because I had a sticker on the back of my bike saying “Fack off you cahnt”, like from here. Igors Stepanovs was hanging out the window going “Caaahm back ‘ere you facking cahnt”, in a wicked London accent. Most odd.
Anyway, good news ahead of tonight is that Sol Campbell is likely to be given whatever kind of pain killing injection he needs to get him out on the pitch. Not good news for England, who have internationals coming up, but quite frankly, England can take a long walk off a short pier as far as I’m concerned. It does appear as if Arsene Wenger has been paying close attention to the statistics produced when Pascal Cygan plays. Maybe we’ll see Sol and Igors tonight, or Sol and an inanimate carbon rod. I wouldn’t be that surprised.
AW has given his backing to Stuart Taylor before he players arguably the biggest game of his Arsenal career to date. It seems more and more likely that he will be the one to take over from David Seaman when the old fella retires sometime in 2008. Wenger say “I think he could be Seaman’s ultimate replacement. There is a good relationship going on between David and Stuart with regards to him taking over, and David knows him well.” Fingers crossed he doesn’t have much to do tonight, or if he does, he does is spectacularly well.
After yesterday’s wind-up attempt by Alex Ferguson, Robert Pires has responded by saying “Let him look after his team – and let Arsene Wenger look after the Arsenal players. We are first in the Premiership, still in the Champions League and still in the FA Cup. It will be difficult to win all three, that is true. But we have the opportunity to do that so we will keep fighting to the end.”
I suspected that Ferguson’s words would do nothing but strengthen the resolve in the Arsenal dressing room, and if they ever needed any more motivation, the articles calling them ‘arrogant’ and accusing them of ‘triumphalism’ should be pinned squarely to the dressing room wall.
Arsene Wenger was asked if he’d kicked a boot at his players after the Blackburn defeat on Saturday, to which he replied “I’m a two-footed player and kick right to where I want. I’m not clumsy.” Beautiful.
Well, because I’m working tonight I won’t even get to see the game, so I’ll be relying on text-updates. Good luck to the lads. Put on your lucky socks, jocks, thongs, shirts, whatever. Come on you gooooooooooners.
