march 26th
Today is Friday.
Sorry, just some days I just don’t know how to start off. Stating the obvious seems like a good way to do it. ‘Today is Friday’ has less impact that other obvious statements like ‘Gerard Houllier is my favourite Liverpool manager of all time’ and ‘Jesus was quite good at magic’, but it’ll do.
Some injury news ahead of Sunday’s game sees Ashley Cole ruled out with a knee injury. He’ll have a scan some time today to see the full extent of the injury, but it’s unlikely he’ll be able to play for England in midweek either. For us his carbon copy, Gael Clichy, will step in and given his previous performances this season Ashley’s absence won’t be as big a blow as it might have been.
Edu is on the ball when he talks about Sunday’s game. I have a feeling that United are going to try and provoke us all over the pitch, like they did when we won the league at their place in ‘02. Like that time we’re going to have to rise above it and let our football do the talking, and the way we’re playing at the moment is filling slick-Ed full of Copa goodness. “We’re playing in a Brazilian way and I enjoy it a lot. But we must keep playing our kind of game, with passing, movement and going forward, while ignoring any tackles and provocation that may come.”
Arsene Wenger has insisted this game isn’t about personal feuds and vendettas, for our players anyway, saying “The big prize for us is the Premiership. That is all we need as an incentive to win. United have enough good players to make them very dangerous opponents for us. We must forget what happened before and just focus on the game.”
Meanwhile, Thierry Henry has insisted the Gunners are focussed and have learned from the mistakes of last season. He says “I know some people are thinking we are taking things for granted but we are not. We know what can happen in football – like last season. So, we are just trying to play game by game and make sure that we can deliver.”
In other less important news Parma goalkeeper Sebastian Frey has again claimed that Arsene Wenger has spoken to him about moving to Highbury in the summer. Does he think that if he says it often enough it might come true? Youngster Nicky ‘Nicholas Nickleby ’ Nicolau has joined Southend on loan and I am very tired.
That is all.
