The last league game of the season and undoubtedly the last game some of the current squad will play for the club. Third place seems unlikely due to Liverpool playing the already relegated and fairly spineless Charlton and their goal difference is two better than ours.
Portsmouth still have a chance of a UEFA Cup place so they’ll be well up for it and the last game of the season at home always demands a performance no matter what’s at stake. That said, there’s no real pressure on our lads so perhaps they can play with gay abandon which might just make the difference.
Ahead of next season Arsene Wenger is awaiting a budget meeting with the board. He talks about how the amount of money he has to spend depends on who leaves the club and with serious question marks of the futures of Almunia, Aliadiere, Baptista, Ljungberg, Flamini, Reyes and perhaps Hleb there’s a few quid to be gathered there. Freddie is this morning being linked with a move to Newcastle or to Arsenal’s south coast retirement club who we meet today. Reyes will have made a few clubs in Spain think about splashing the cash on him as he had an excellent 45 minutes for Real Madrid in a great game against Espanyol but I’ve never seen such a fair weather footballer in my life. Late spring and late summer and he’s awesome – outside of that he’s like Superman playing with kryptonite underpants. So, there’s money available already and money from sales but will he spend it?
For those of us who cringe a little bit each time he says he doesn’t necessarily need to buy to challenge for the title I thought this quote was telling. After listing all the experience we’ve lost in the last couple of seasons, he said:
It is a capital of experience you lose and you do not replace that from one second to the next. We have potential, but at the moment we are a bit short.
Now, no question the boys will grow up a bit but one thing I, and many others have said, is that they’ll grow up quicker if we augment the squad with experience. Unfortunately when he has brought in experience (Baptista, Hleb, Gallas and even Rosicky to a certain extent) they haven’t had the impact he would have hoped. Still, it’s good to know he’s thinking about it and will address it.
At the bottom of this article about Thierry Henry having to ask for a transfer if he wants to leave Arsenal they mention that Reading’s Nicky Hammond has already been interviewed for the position of ‘director of football’.
Man City’s Micah Richards is wanted by the ‘big four’ in England, according to the News of the World, and he says:
Arsenal are my team and it would be a dream move. I grew up supporting the Gunners.
He’s a monster of a player, hugely physical and very impressive on the ball for his age. However, unless the boss is going to sell Eboue I can’t see it happening as Justin Hoyte has just signed a new contract. Perhaps we could distract Eboue though – put him in a round room and tell him to stand in the corner. That should keep him occupied until 2011. ‘Oh, your contract has run out. Byeeee.’
So that’s about it. Here’s hoping today’s game brings three points, plenty of goals and incident (so there’s something to talk about all next week) and we can end the season on some kind of a high.
Until tomorrow.
