There’s an old saying about the town of Sevilla in Andalucia. I have no idea what it might be but I’m pretty sure there is one, and if you stretched it far enough you could make it apply to football in some way. I hope the traveling fans are having a fun time with the cheap beer and the great tapas.
The squad travelled yesterday but without Gael Clichy (injured), William Gallas (rested) and Emmanuel Adebayor (given time off to record his debut album which will feature a cover of Ashford and Simpson’s ‘Solid’). That means a place at left back for either Armand Traore or Justin Hoyte, Philippe Senderos should come back into the centre of defence while Nicklas Bendtner is a definite starter up front. Who partners him remains to be seen but the Champions League seems to suit Eduardo a bit better than the league at the moment so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get the nod.
Despite the changes it’s a game the manager wants to win, saying:
We want to finish first. It’s an advantage in the draw and it means you play the second game at home in the knockout stages. It’s a tough competition and you need to arrive at the next stage in good shape.
We saw how beneficial it can be to play the second leg at home when we took our 1-0 lead from the Bernebeu a couple of seasons ago and it’s a good opportunity for the likes of Bendtner to show what they can do in a game which, although not crucial, is still of some importance. As mentioned yesterday Sevilla go into this game on the back of two successive league defeats and the home crowd will be expecting a performance tonight. They’re a team that’s capable of raising their game against big opponents as their recent 2-0 win over Real Madrid demonstrated so there’s nothing to be taken for granted tonight. If we don’t perform they’ve got players that can hurt us but I think we’re more than capable of getting a result.
Arsene thinks this group of players is capable of going one better than the year we were horribly cheated out of victory by a Barcelona team that bought the referee and was obviously on steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. He says:
We want it … we have more experience. I have always been a great believer in this group, even when everybody said that I was crazy. I believe in the players I have and I am very pleased with their attitude. We are one of the teams who can win it.
Victory tonight assures us top spot in the group, a draw means a win against Steaua Bucharest at home means we top the group, anything less and it’s out of our hands. Both teams like to play football so it could very well be an exciting, attacking game. Let’s hope so.
Away from tonight’s game AW has said he’s not responsible in any way for England’s failure to qualify for Euro2008. It’s quite incredible that he even has to address that issue. It’s like blaming him for the continued existence of Phil Collins. He’s also spoken about the number of managerial casualties this season but frankly I don’t care about that. If other clubs want to sack their managers then all the better, it makes them less good, doesn’t it? If new owners want to get into very public spats with their managers over transfers then let them on, I say.
Thierry Henry wanted Carlos Tevez at Arsenal. He wouldn’t have been alone there, I suppose. I would have quite liked Tevez at Arsenal but now he’s a Manchester United player and that means we don’t like him any more. When he’s at West Ham you can say ‘Oh, he’s a good player. Look at what he did last week’ but when he plays for United and does something good you go ‘Oh, you cunt’. It’s just the way of the world, isn’t it?
And that’s really about it. I have to admit a bit of a hangover this morning. It wasn’t my fault though. There was this man behind a wooden countertop kind of thing and behind it he had all manner of delicious drinks and the great thing was that if you gave him some money he’d give you a massive goblet of booze so as you can imagine I took full advantage of this unique situation. Who knows where you might find another place like that in Ireland.
Anyway, I’d best off and get some breakfast. Here’s to a win tonight and come on you reeeeeeeds.
More tomorrow.
