Morning all. A quick Sunday round-up for you.
Today is the first of two huge games inside 4 days. Our hopes of silverware this season depend on them and hopefully we’ll still be in two competitions come Thursday morning.
We start today with the FA Cup 5th round game against Burnley. I think everything that needs to be said about the game has been said already. We know they’re a decent team and although the personnel will be different from the Carling Cup game we need to perform because they’ll be right up for this one.
If we win this game we have a 6th round tie with Hull lined up, and should that prove successful then we go into the semi-finals. Man United and Chelsea have already qualified, to be joined later by one of Everton and Boro so it’s shaping up to be quite a tasty tournament.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, keep focussed on today and do the business until the fat lady sings and the game of two halves is over. And such.
Other than that it’s interviews to fill the blog this morning. First up is a fantastic piece in the Observer in which Amy Lawrence talks to Robin van Persie. He comes across as a great guy, desperate for Arsenal to do well, almost like a fan. He says:
My ambitions are very, very high and, I think, realistic. I want to be at a level where, as a club, we are winning things, not just every four or five years, but one or two trophies each year. That’s what I think this club has in its pocket.
Can’t fault his ambition, that’s for sure. Go read the rest yourself. I now love him a little bit more.
Next up Nicklas Bendtner in the Independent:
I know what I can do and the people that know me know that I don’t come across as arrogant. I have a lot of self-belief and I don’t think you could play at this level without belief [in yourself], that’s true for every footballer really.
And a video interview with Andrei Arshavin from the BBC’s Football Focus.
Arsene Wenger talks about security and the potential for terrorist attacks at football matches, in the wake of what happened in Pakistan to the Sri Lanka cricket team. It really doesn’t bear thinking about.
And that’s really about that. Kick off today is 1.30 so there’s not too long to hang about the house and wait for my hangover to recede.
Come on Arsenal. More tomorrow.
