Morning all,
it’s the biggest game of the season so far tonight. The North London derby against Sp*rs. Plenty going on ahead of it so we’ll dive right in. I spoke yesterday about how we should be looking for some measure of revenge after the last time we played them which ended up with an embarrassing 5-1 defeat. Emmanuel Adebayor knows it was a bad night. He had that spat with Bendtner on the pitch and he’s looking to put things right tonight, saying:
It’s true that my last memory of Tottenham was very bad – it was a semi-final which we lost 5-1, and within two days they were selling DVDs in the club shop of the night they beat Arsenal 5-1. This is our chance of revenge.
There’s nothing like burning revenge to get you fired up for a match. Even on a personal level it’s a huge thing. I remember playing last season against some bunch of cunts who ended up causing me to smash heads with our other centre-half and I ended up with 7 or 8 stitches. I was counting down the days until we played them again. Unfortunately they pulled out of the league, the cunts, so I didn’t have a chance to kick their dirty anuses around the pitch. But you get the idea.
Adebayor’s focus goes beyond the game against Sp*rs as well. He says:
Everyone knows we are playing good football but we need to make it count by finishing the season with trophies in our hands. To be honest, I’m tired of everyone telling Arsenal how good they are to watch – it doesn’t mean a thing unless you are winners.
Amen to that. As I said yesterday three points against Sp*rs are always special but it’s just a small part of the puzzle and there’s a lot of football to be played yet. A win tonight would be a good confidence boost and set us up nicely for a November which looks like it’s going to be a real challenge. United, Chelsea, Man City and Villa in the league, as well as Champions League ties against Fenerbache and Kiev. So we need to keep the bit of momentum going.
Arsene Wenger has played down the Harry Cuntchops effect on Sp*rs, saying:
I believe what is important tomorrow is how well Arsenal will play and not who sits on the bench at Tottenham. I am very confident because we have a very strong united spirit in the dressing room and we want to do well.
Team news is that Denilson is back in the squad after missing the trip to West Ham with a bad back and I expect Sagna to start at right back. I think Sylvester might keep his place in the centre of defence too and we might possibly see Walcott start on the bench. That’d mean Eboue at right midfield but I hope my suspicions are wrong there, I’d love to see Theo start and get stuck right into them from the off.
Whatever team he picks I hope it’s a team to go out and win it, sometimes AW does get a bit conservative and I don’t think a 4-5-1 at home against Sp*rs is the right way to go. Two strikers + speedy, tricky wingers, por favor. Gracias, señor Wenger.
Kick off tonight is 8pm and I hope the Grove is rocking for this one. I think as a way of a) creating a better atmosphere and b) protecting people from the cold, the club should put a bottle of Jameson12 on each seat and make consumption of at least half of it mandatory. Yes, even for the Junior Gunners. There’d be nobody too shy to sing then. Looking forward to this one, big time.
In other news Theo Walcott talks about stuff. It seems to be a carbon copy of the article that was in the Sunday Times this week. That article mentioned that Theo only has 18 months left on his current deal and so far there has been no move from the club to talk to his people. I hope we put that right sooner rather than later.
Freddie Ljungberg’s off to the US to play in the MLS for the Seattle Sounders. Good luck to him and I know there are a lot of Seattle gooners well happy about the news.
And finally Tony Adams, as expected, is the new manager of Portsmouth. Apparently he told Arsene Wenger he should be scared because he’s coming for him and the manager’s job at Arsenal. Good luck to him at Portsmouth but I think he’s got a lot to prove before he gets anywhere near the job with us. He’s got the backing of Arsene so it’ll be very interesting to see how he gets on.
Right, that’s it. This is going to be one of those really slow days, isn’t it? Everything is going to drag and drag until kick off. Come on you reds.
