‘MOrnig all, weclome to Fraday’ is what the first sentence of this blog would say if I didn’t correct my early morning spelling mistakes.
Can you believe this is the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season? We’ve got a relatively busy week ahead with United on Sunday, our game in hand against Sunderland on Wednesday, and then the final game against West Brom next Sunday. Where, I ask you, has the last 9 months gone? Who, apart from Sandy Denny, knows where the time goes? It’s ludicrous.
Sunday’s game is one we’ll have to contend without Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Debuchy, all of whom remain sidelined by injury and whose seasons are in danger of being done and dusted. I know there’s another week to go before the FA Cup final, but in reality it’s a big risk involving players who have been out injured so long without some playing time under their belts.
Danny Welbeck is a possible for Sunday as he recovers from a hamstring strain and there are some weird coincidences ahead of this particular fixture. When we lost to Swansea back in November, a young right back allowed a cross which let substitute Gomis climb above Nacho Monreal to score the winning goal. The next game was against Man Utd, which we lost – the only time we’ve lost consecutive games this season.
As I said, coincidence, but we’ll have to be on our game to ensure that lightning doesn’t strike twice. To its credit, the team has responded well to difficult results in 2015. When we lost to Southampton we won five in a row. When we lost to Sp*rs, we went 10 games unbeaten in the league. And when we self-destructed against Monaco at home in the Champions League, our response was to win 10 and draw 1 of the next 11 games (which brings us to the defeat on Monday night). With just 4 games left this season (ludicrous!), there’s no room for any kind of wobble.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t already seen the story about the clause in Thomas Vermaelen’s contract, it’s really quite amusing. Barcelona, should they win the Champions League, will have to pay us an extra €4m which, of course, is very nice indeed. It’s not uncommon that such clauses exist, but the fact they might have to pay up without the former captain playing a single minute is really quite amusing.
I don’t know who they got to do his medical, or what we did to his hamstrings to get him through it, but that’s some pretty good work all round. The incandescent rage of the Catalan press is what makes it though, as if we’re some kind of con-men who keep selling them dodgy speakers in car parks that they think are worth loads but are, in fact, part of a massive scam. Maybe they just need a little Hleb in deciding what’s good value or not. Haha etc.
Right, time for this week’s Arsecast and to kick off I show huge consideration for my listeners in the face of massive temptation. I look back a bit on Monday night before looking ahead to Sunday’s game against Man Utd with Musa Okwonga (@Okwonga). We discuss United’s season, how certain players have fared, and get his thoughts on how Arsenal’s campaign has gone. I also announce the winners of the Amy Lawrence Invincible paperback competition, amidst all the usual waffle.
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Right, all the news from the press conference and more on Arseblog News throughout the day, more from me tomorrow and the Gent will be here later with his weekly review.
Have fun.
