Good morning from a snowy Dublin. How snowy? Well, snowy enough that my 5-a-side later will be cancelled … again. Gah. Still, I’ll happily accept the snow and the cancellation of 5-a-side in return for a win at Sp*rs later on.
We now find ourselves a whopping 8 points behind Villa, who continued their relentless run of form yesterday, and nothing less than three points will do today.
Even then we’ll find ourselves closer to Chelsea than to Martin O’Neill’s side. A big performance is needed today and we need the big players to be on their game. Adebayor, van Persie, Nasri all have to contribute in an attacking sense and at the back we have to make sure we don’t give stupid goals away like we’ve been doing all season long.
There are all kinds of reports in the papers this morning about Barcelona wanting Adebayor, RVP and Cesc next season (apparently Barcelona made a ridiculous offer of cash + Hleb for van Persie – are they fucking stupid or what?), and the News of the World quotes an ‘Arsenal source’ who says those three players will leave if we don’t get Champions League football next season.
Now, as we know an ‘Arsenal source’ is just a handy way of shit-stirring, and it’s way too early to get involved in any summer transfer speculation, but the fact remains that it will be difficult to keep those players, and attract new players of similar quality if we don’t finish in the top 4. The club have spoken about how we can cope with the financial side of things if we don’t but not once have they mentioned the football repercussions.
So as well as the importance that comes with every North London derby comes the importance of ensuring a top 4 finish. Every game is like a cup final now. Cliché, yes. True, yes.
They used the game at the Grove as a bit of a kick-start to their season not long after Redknapp arrived. Since then things have gone downhill for them and they’ll be looking at today’s game as a way of doing the same, boosting confidence and dragging themselves out of the relegation battle they’re in. They are going to be up for this in a big way and we have to match them.
However, our boys should be burning with revenge after the 4-4 at home and if they need any more motivation they just need to look at the league table. Without 3 points today we’ll find ourselves 6 points away from the Champions League places with just 13 games to go and Everton breathing down our necks.
We’re certainly capable of getting a result today. Our record against them is good, our record in ‘big’ games this season is good (and while Sp*rs aren’t a ‘big’ side like United, Liverpool or Chelsea, this is a big game, no doubt about it), and we’ve got players who can turn games.
We need 100% right from the start though and as much as we need our big players to turn up we’ve got to hope the midfield quartet can contribute in a positive way too. I don’t really know what else to say about this other than – COME ON ARSENAL.
Around the Sundays there’s some stuff about Arshavin in the People and the NotW, Amy Lawrence writes in today’s Observer about the deal and its importance to Arsenal, and the in the Sunday Mirror Arsene Wenger bigs up Robin van Persie.
Right, that’s about that. I’m going to trudge around and get the Sunday papers, then it’s home, breakfast, and then the football.
Come on you reds.
