Morning all, it’s a busy one here – yes, on a Saturday – so it’ll be brief-ish.
Despite doubts over Adebayor and Hleb they’ll be playing against Birmingham while Manuel Almunia is back in the squad. Will he start? Only Arsene knows but I fancy the Spaniard to come back into the side. I think the other players prefer him to Jens. Other than that you have to think Theo will probably play on the right hand side of midfield in the absence of the suspended Eboue.
Arsene Wenger isn’t nervous about the game though. He says:
The players stood up and we have absolutely nothing to lose; everybody has written this team off at the start and now we are in a good position, so why should we suddenly become nervous?
Indeed. But the final games of a league season can throw up some strange results, even for experienced teams so it’s vital to keep our heads and make sure we’re 100% focussed on Birmingham. He also reckons RobIn van Persie can play a big part in our run-in. As I mentioned yesterday a fit RVP could be a big factor in whether or not this team wins any silverware. If he can get sharp again he’ll be as recharged as your average Engergizer Bunny who has been fitted with rechargeable batteries which haven’t lost any of their charge and are, in fact, fully charged.
With the financial results released the boss talks about his spending patterns and how he’ll take trophies over profits but won’t ever spend more than he has. Expressing his desire to keep the current squad together before buying anyone else, he said:
The priority is to keep the team together and the first case I have not solved yet is Flamini.
Solve it, Arsene. Solve it like a Funday Times crossword. I need more Flam. And I want. And I need. And I love. Flaminal.
Alex Hleb talks about how Thierry Henry’s departure has freed up the team. He says:
Until last summer, we had just played for Thierry Henry. He was running the show. Whenever I got the ball, I was looking up, ‘where’s Henry?’ I did not dare to go for goal myself! And if once in a while I dared to pass the ball to someone else, he would shout, ‘hey, I was free!’ When he was on form, we won everything. When he was off form, we lost.
That has all changed. We are not a one-man-band any more. Nobody complains when I risk some dribbling. That’s the reason for our good performances — we were set free.
Not exactly holding back, is he? Fair enough as well. The rest of the interview is quite amusing actually, especially the idea of Arsene Wenger dancing in victory joy with the African players. Haha, if that doesn’t get you smiling on a Saturday morning then nothing will.
Keith Edelman responds to Usmanov’s share purchases and insists the ‘lockdown’ leaves the club in safe hands. He also says ‘game 39’ needs proper analysis and that people’s reactions to the idea have been emotional and not rational. Edelman is naturally thinking of the extra revenue that it would bring Arsenal so Keith, here’s some proper analysis – It is the biggest load of septic horse minge I have ever heard of so you can stick game 39 up your hole. Hope that clears things up.
Right, that’s about it. Here’s to three points today, more tomorrow.
