May 2nd
It’s West Brom tonight and it’s a very important games for both sides for two very different reasons. We need to open up the 4 point gap over Man Utd after they spanked Charlton 4-0 yesterday while the midlanders need all the points they can get to stay in the Premiership. Arsene Wenger was full of praise for our opponents tonight saying “West Brom look like a team who have the quality in their game to stay up. They create chances in every game and have a flow in their game that is Premier League.”
Their results have certainly improved over the last couple of months and it’s never easy when you’re playing a team that’s scrapping for their life. In team news Mathieu Flamini is back in the squad, Thierry and Freddie are still out, Sol is likely to remain on the bench while Dennis Bergkamp could start. If it were up to me I’d stick with van P and Reyes up front.
The boss has also spoken about Jens Lehmann and praised his recent form saying the break from first team action did him good. “Since he got back in he has played well. Not playing gave him a break mentally. It gives you respect for him when you see how well he worked when he was out. He didn’t complain, he just worked harder. He didn’t talk about it, he just got on with it.”
He went on to say “All I can say is he has a good chance to be No 1 next season.” Now, most of us would be of the opinion that a new keeper should be right at the top of AW’s shopping list this summer so I’m not quite sure how to take that remark. He can hardly say at this stage of the season that he’ll be looking for a new keeper and with the World Cup next summer Jens has got to be the number 1 at his club to have any chance of ousting the Albino Gorilla. Anyway, in the short term I’m glad Jens is playing well again and he should get the credit he deserves for his part in our recent defensive rennaissance.
So it’s a day or two after Chelsea have won the league and I have to say there isn’t the same sickening feeling there is when United win it. Maybe that’s because it’s somebody new. Maybe it’s because of the fact that no matter how well the team do they will never, ever be able to shake the fact that this title has been bought like no title has been bought before. Yes, I know United have spent money, and even we’ve spent a bit of money from time to time, but the difference is both clubs spent money they earned, not the money from the pockets of their sugar-daddy. Frank Lampard thinks Arsenal and United should accept the fact that Chelsea are the best team. Not sure why he thinks that. Accepting it means we lay down and die and let Chelsea piss all over football for the next X number years. That’s not going to happen and as my chum over at Goodplaya points out Lampard and Terry singing the name of Roman Abramovich on the telly shows us exactly what Chelsea are made of.
I think it’s a Bank Holiday for most of you, isn’t it? Enjoy if it is. It’s back to the grind tomorrow.
