Right then, Wigan away today, and Sp*rs win over Chelsea yesterday proves that just about anything can happen in this topsy-turvy season of ours.
Harry will have been twitching with delight as his Portsmouth playing flops provided the Sp*rs DVD makers with enough material for a 24 disc BluRay special as they beat Chelsea 2-1. If they can do that in a week then there’s nothing left to surprise me.
Of course it would have been nicer if United hadn’t got that last minute winner against City yesterday but there’s something so obscenely dislikable about the Man City team and administration that I couldn’t help but laugh when the goal went in.
Form our point of view the only thing we can do is turn up at Wigan today, remember there’s still an outside chance of anything at all happening, and make sure that the crazy madness doesn’t stretch as far as Wigan beating us. I watched Sol Campbell on the official site yesterday and he spoke about how the team had to learn from the pain of the Sp*rs defeat but go out and be professional for the final four games. What might have beens don’t interest me, really. It’s too easy to say if we’d just beaten Sp*rs we’d be in it. The reality is if we’d just not lost to Sunderland, if we’d just held on for three points away at Birmingham, if we’d just not thrown away a 2-0 lead against West Ham at Upton Park … and so on.
I suspect there might be a bit of rotation today but due to all the players we have missing the boss doesn’t have a great deal to choose from. We might see a start for Robin van Persie whose cameo against Sp*rs was so impressive. He speaks about the work he put in to get fit again:
The amount of hard work I put in was incredible. I would start at 10am and get home at 8.30pm. Sometimes I was so tired I could not even drive. I just know that if my body is in good shape, I don’t have to worry about a thing on the pitch. That’s why I had the confidence to turn it all on immediately from the first minute I came on.
Maybe the manager might be inclined to keep him on the bench and ease him back into action but in the last couple of games the other players chosen for the forward three, Rosicky and Walcott, haven’t exactly produced and as this is a game we must win I’m sure he’ll be tempted to go with Robin.
Wigan won’t be any kind of walkover, I don’t suppose any game is when you’ve got the jittery Almunia behind Sylvester, but we’ve got to go out and rise to the challenge. They’re scrapping for Premier League survival and although yesterday’s results might have been relatively kind to them they’ll be desperate for the points that will ensure their top flight status. We’ve been linked during the week with Rodallega and N’Zogbia, the apostrophed twat, and I suspect that’s little more than shenanigans ahead of this game. They’re two of Wigan’s danger men though, Rodallega is capable of the spectacular, just the kind of goal we tend to concede as well, so defensive discipline from front to back is crucial.
As I said earlier in the week, there’s no time for feeling sorry for ourselves. The Arsenal fans on their way to Wigan as we speak deserve nothing less than 100% from each player. If they do that I think we’ll win today.
Now a round-up of the other Sunday stories and from the official site come very interesting quotes from Arsene Wenger. He rarely, if ever, talks about the kind of money that’s available to him and even more rarely talks about his intention to spend it. However, this morning he says:
This club has never been in a stronger situation. For a while we were not investing maybe because we had built the stadium but I think our financial situation is now becoming much stronger and we will be capable to buy the players we need to buy.
Read into that what you will. Does he mean he’s been hamstrung and unable to buy the players he wanted over the last few seasons? Could it possibly be that he’s not blind to the team’s failings yet has had to deal in shillings and pence? Maybe, maybe not, but the fact that he’s coming out now and talking about our ability to sign ‘the players we need’ means he’s got no excuses this summer. Firstly, he admits we need players, secondly he says he’s got the financial clout to do it.
There’s no talk of a new arrival ‘killing’ an existing player, there’s no suggestion (thus far) that a player returning from injury will be LANS. It’s straight up – We have money, we need players = we will buy players. And while most of the speculation can wait until summer he more or less confirmed the deal for Marouane Chamakh, saying:
We will announce the deals after the league. He is one of the players who has a good chance to join us.
Deals? He said deals?! That obviously means more than one player has already been lined up. OMFG!!!! I bet we’re signing Tonton Zola Moukoko!!! He’s gonna get, like, 87 goals in one season. Let’s wait and see what happens, but it’s encouraging to hear this kind of talk. I know we’ve heard similar before but it’s never been quite so explicit and the manager must put the club’s money where his mouth is this summer.
In other gossip the NOTW links Eduardo with Lyon (part of a deal which will include Hugo Lloris? – OMFFFFFFFG!!!) while the Sunday Mirror says we’re lining up an £8m bid for Man City keeper Joe Hart. He’d certainly be a good signing but it’s hard to see City selling. As well as that the article loses some credibility by suggesting Kevin Nolan as a potential midfield signing. Nothing would signal our ambition like signing some ex-Bolton twat who found his level in the Championship.
Theo Walcott speaks to the Telegraph:
Look, I’m always learning. The number of injuries I’ve had this season has been very frustrating. I come back and expect to get straight back to my best and put too much pressure on myself and nothing happens right when you do that.
Some interesting stuff in there, particularly the bit about studying the runs of Freddie Ljungberg. Speaking to Gunnerblog during the week Theo said he sees himself as a striker in the long term but while he’s out wide he could certainly do worse than look at a man whose timing made him so effective and such a threat from that position. His comments about there being no middle ground when people rate him are spot on, in my opinion. There’s no doubt he hasn’t done it consistently but you can’t look at some of the stuff he’s done well and tell me he’s got no ability.
Various reports from Spain say Fran Merida has, as suspected, signed for Atletico Madrid. Like Gallas, if he’d wanted to stay he’d have signed long ago.
And that’s about that. Time for some breakfast, the Sunday paper, and then the Wigan game. Come on Arsenal, show you’ve got some balls, react and win this one.
Till tomorrow.
