So the famous ‘game in hand’ takes place tonight, all things going well. With the weather there is the chance it might be called off like other games last night but hopefully it’ll go ahead. Postponement would just add more fixture chaos at a time in the season when we could probably do without it. We’ll get a decision one way or the other before midday, I believe.
Team news is that Arshavin and Denilson are fit. They were doubts with foot and back injuries respectively so it’s good news they’ve come through. Denilson, you suspect, will fit into the Song role with Diaby and one of Ramsey or Rosicky for the other midfield place. Given how well the young Welshman is playing I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him keep his place.
Bolton are a team we don’t have a great deal of good history with. The animus has died down somewhat with the departure of the Fat Walrus but they’ve still got a big, physical team who are dangerous from set-pieces and in Kevin Davies they have the most lethal elbows since Alan Shearer. With Owen Coyle set to turn his back on Burnley and become the new manager today, you can be sure the players out there tonight will be doing the usual thing of trying to impress the new boss, which always makes things a little more tricky.
It’s certainly a game we’re more than capable of winning but under the circumstances we’d do well not to underestimate the opposition for a second. Three points would put us into second and just a point behind Chelsea, we don’t need much more motivation than that. Going into the game Arsene spoke about the hunger in his team to win something and the momentum we’ve got going:
We have not won anything yet, but that just makes us all the more hungry for success. We have created our own momentum. Now we have an opportunity to keep that going.
Tonight, if the game is on, is a big chance to show that we mean business. Let’s not let it slip away. And that’s about as far as I’m going with cold weather related punnery.
Also at the press conference yesterday there was a lot of talk of transfers, naturally. Everyone knows he’s looking for at least one player but the info this morning is slightly confused. On one hand Arsene says he wants to buy as quickly as possible, then he suggests the seriousness of the injury to Nicklas Bendtner might be a factor:
There is no way we can carry on with only one striker. Bendtner is being treated now and will come back on Friday for tests. If he is out for another two months, we will need to buy someone, absolutely.
Which, of course, confuses the whole Bendnter issue as well. Just the other day he was talking about being back for the Bolton game on the 17th of January, now the boss is talking about him being out for another two months? Either way I think we need to dip into the market. The Sun links us this morning with a £9m bid for West Ham’s Carlton Cole, which makes sense because West Ham need money and he’s a striker and we need a striker. I’ve been impressed when I’ve seen him this season. I thought he was very good against us but he is a bit injury prone, isn’t he? And the last English striker Arsene bought? Was it the Fox in the Box? Go foreign, Arsene! The Mirror reckons Andre Pierre Gignac is most likely to come in, at least from the names they mention in the article, and I did hear Philippe Auclair on the radio last night speak about him in reference to us.
Whatever money he has to spend though he’s going to do it ‘responsibly’, which really is no surprise.
Why should I splash it out and pay £10m for a player who is worth five? It’s normal that you buy the players for the right price.
I don’t think anybody can argue with that but if clubs know we need a player, and it’s quite public that we do, unless they’re absolutely desperate for the money then they hold the good cards when it comes to negotiating price. This is where Ivan Gazidis and his quiet stare will come in. Apparently he just goes in, offers what we consider to be the right price, then stares at them until they become so discomfited they cave in and agree to what’s on offer. The 26 day stare-a-thon last season with the Chairman of Zenit St Petersburg worked for us in the end but left the head of the Russian club in a padded cell in a secure ward rambling about ‘Those eyes! Those eyes!’. He and his team will have plenty of work to do, hopefully.
Away from all the speculation about who we might possibly buy and for how much and when we might buy them and who they might be and what price we might pay for them and all that, Arsene has spoken about William Gallas. There’s no point rehashing the troubles he’s had throughout his Arsenal career, they’re well documented, but he’s played every league and Champions League game this season, often despite little injuries that might put other players out. Arsene says:
At West Ham on Sunday, even when he was half-injured and the physios told me he might not play, he came in and told me he could play. He had a muscle problem but he is an ambitious guy. When he is 50-50, he plays. I have a big respect for what he has done.
The personality clashes are sorted out now. He had the right attitude and has, maybe, found his appetite for the club again. That is a credit to him.
You can’t argue with commitment like that, in fairness. On the other hand some might point to the fact this is a World Cup season and, with his contract expiring in the summer, such performances and attitude are very obvious when you’re in the shop window. Arsene says there are meetings planned with his agents, that there’s the possibility of a two year deal because he’s a defender and not a striker – which wouldn’t go against the club’s policy of only offering players above 30 one year deals – so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
That said he is 34 in August, not ancient by any means, so he might feel that if he’s got one last move in him it’ll have to be this summer. In the meantime we’ll have to hope that the one serious injury per season he seems to have picked up ever since he joined us doesn’t happen because regardless of his future at the club he is absolutely crucial to us right now.
Asked if Fran Merida had signed for Atletico Madrid, Arsene said:
I don’t know, but I fear the worst. I am a bit disappointed if he has.
The situation is a bit confusing. I was told yesterday that he hasn’t actually signed anything … not yet anyway, but The Sun say in the Carlton Cole link above that last night Atletico confirmed the pre-contract agreement. I’ve had a search around for confirmation of that but haven’t found any. That the boss doesn’t know for sure, or at the very least isn’t saying, is probably quite telling though.
So that’s about that. Fingers cross the weather doesn’t get bad enough for tonight not to ahead and the other fingers, foot fingers perhaps, crossed for the three points. More tomorrow.
