Hello from a beautifully sunny Dublin.
The focus turns back onto the league today with a trip to the JJB and Wigan. We know it’s always a bit of a challenge after a midweek European game to find the right level of performance. Although we followed up the penalties victory over Roma with a 4-0 win over Blackburn it hasn’t always been that easy and Wigan, to my mind, provide a tougher test that Walrus Looking Cunt’s team.
The manager has confirmed that Kieran Gibbs will play at left back and he’s been talking up the quality of his squad, saying:
I am completely confident. At the moment yes Kieran Gibbs will play. I am confident that he will do well. And I have full confidence in Lukasz Fabianski. He has shown that when he came on the other night that he can deal with a situation very well.
It’s a great opportunity for Gibbs in the next couple of weeks to really make an impact. I suppose this is the only way you can really judge a player. When he’s thrown in and there’s pressure to perform some players sink, let’s hope Gibbs is a swimmer. I did think the manager would go for Sylvester but he’s obviously looking at him as his last centre-half option and doesn’t want to risk another injury.
There was good news regarding Robin van Persie too. In an interview on the official site he claimed he’d been passed fit and you would expect him to come back into the team if he’s 100%. We’ll have Andrei Arshavin back too and I think the manager might try and mix things up a little bit today.
A win today would put us 9 points clear of Aston Villa who play against Everton tomorrow, and the boss says:
At the moment our first target is to get away from Aston Villa as much as we can. And then we need to try and get closer to Chelsea and Liverpool because you never know. I always believe that consistency is the real sign that we’ve improved. At the moment we are quite consistent so let’s keep that going.
There’s no arguing with the run we’re on at the moment in the league but we’ve got to be fully focussed on the game today. No half an eye on the Villarreal game in midweek because if we do we’ll get punished. There’s definitely enough quality, particularly up front, to bring back the three points today, so fingers crossed there’s no European hangover.
Looking around at the rest of the news Andrei Arshavin is a smitten kitten. He’s loving life at Arsenal, saying:
At Arsenal I feel at home. I like everything here, the friendly team, a wise and experienced manager, and fantastic fans. I won’t leave the club for any money.
I bet if I was a multi-multi-multi-billionaire I could tempt him with an outrageous offer to play for my astro team but it’s nice to hear that he’s settling in so well and so quickly.
Meanwhile The Sun links us with a summer move for PSG’s Mamadou Sakho. It’s not the first time the centre-half’s name has come up but at the moment it’s all speculation.
Phil Brown reaffirms his status as football’s most up and coming cunthole. Amazing how his version of event is so at odds with what we think, which is, as we all know, the complete and utter, unbiased truth.
Lassana Diarra says he didn’t learn anything from Arsene Wenger. Another liar. He learned that if you cry and bitch and moan like a fucking baby then you’ll get sold. Something that will serve him well throughout his career I’m sure.
Jens Lehmann has nice things to say about Manuel Almunia.
Finally for today, a video filmed by Dizzy on the train back from Villarreal to Valencia. It was one of the highlights of the trip because the lad doing the twitching actions to the song was fucking brilliant. He’s a Twitch King and his talents deserve a wider audience.
Up the Arse today! More tomorrow.
