Good Saturday to you all. Here is the news.
It looks like Manuel Almunia is back in pole position. Or, he would be if Arsenal was a Forumula 1 team and he’d just come fastest in qualifying, but you know what I mean. A mixture of a chest infection, family tragedy and just plain old poor form meant his start to the season was a bit all over the shop, but it seems as if the manager is ready to put his faith in him again. Arsene says:
It gave him a good breather. For goalkeepers in general, the confidence is very important. Goalkeeper is a position that is guided by fear more than any other. You have only negative stress. A striker has a positive stress. He thinks, ‘I can be a hero’, but the goalkeeper thinks, ‘I don’t want to be a villain today’.
And the way he was playing there’s no question that Almunia saw himself in black and white, twiddling his overgrown ‘tache while cackling to himself and tying a young damsel to the railway tracks. If his return brings about more solidity, both in terms of his performances and the experience he brings to the team, then great. You still can’t help but think that the keeper issue is one the boss needs to make decisions on in the near future. The Mail links us with Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris, an anagram of which is ‘Hull Orgies’ and that makes me think of Phil Brown and a coven of Kerry Katona looking women and it’s put me right off that keeper, let me tell you.
As well as that, I think our kit has to take some of the blame. How can Almunia, or any of the others, feel like a confident non-villain if he’s being asked to wear that horrible all grey thing? It’s so … insipid, isn’t it? Get the goalie in a traditional all green number, he’ll play better. It’s a scientific fact.
Cesc has warned against complacency today at Wolves. The captain says:
I am warning against complacency today at Wolves. We will have to be at our best as usual because today there are no small teams in the Premier League, everyone makes it difficult if you are not up for it, so we will have to be motivated to beat them. And, above all, we must not be complacent. There is no room for complacency today. If we were a restaurant and complacency turned up with a rather attractive companion looking for a table I would have to say ‘Sorry, we have no room for your kind, Sir’, which may force him to take a case with the discrimination tribunal but that’s just the way it has to be.
It’s a big chance to put pressure on United and Chelsea who tomorrow will play out a 3-3 draw with 3 red cards, a number of serious injuries and a shocking incident in which Didier Drogba punches the ref in the throat whilst calling him a ‘hearty bastard’. Something to look forward to.
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy says Arsenal will be ‘quaking in their boots‘, heh. Tongue in cheek it might be but we’d do well to remember last November playing a recently promoted side away from home. And I think Wolves have got a long throw bloke as well. I could be wrong though. In terms of the team I don’t see it being that different to the one on Wednesday, Sagna back for Eboue, maybe a bit of rotation with Eduardo and Rosicky starting, but you have to think we’ve got enough to win this one given the form we’re in.
In other news Arsene says Fran Merida signing a new deal for us would be ‘massive’. Personally I think it would be either ‘capital’ or ‘epic’ but I can live with massive.
Alisher Usmanov has called on Stan Kroenke to make clear his intentions, knowing fine well that no such clarification will be forthcoming on the back of such callings. I suppose he just wants people to know that he too owns a big chunk of Arsenal. We haven’t forgotten you, Jabba, don’t worry. We’re just hoping you fall off a cliff or have a stroke or fall of a cliff while having a stroke. And if, when you fell off the cliff, you could fix it so you land on top of Phil Collins who is sunbathing below then that would be massive or capital or epic.
Alex Song talks about how important family is to him. He’s only 22 but he’s got 2 kids already and he comes from a family of 473 brothers and 900 sisters. Or something. They must need a really big table on Christmas day.
Blackpool boss Ian Holloway has been singing the praises of on-loan youngster Jay Emmanuel ‘Emmanuel’ Thomas. Which is nice to hear, I suppose. He is, of course, as mad as a box of badgers but entertainingly so for the most part.
And that’ll have to do. Late kick off this evening, fingers crossed for the three points, talk to you tomorrow.
