Morning all, there’s just a hint of the *boilk* about today. I have been most abstemious in 2009, you see, so when you have a few glasses of wine you certainly feel it the next day.
So, it’s Saturday. And we have no game. I fail to see the point of Saturday without football. Even if the football is on Sunday you can spend Saturday thinking about Sunday but it’s a strange man who thinks about Monday on a Saturday. Especially this early in the morning.
There’s not a whole lot going on. The team news remains the same as yesterday. There’s been no update on whether or not Aaron Ramsey will be fit to play. Speaking ahead of the FA Cup game against Cardiff Arsene said:
We want to prepare well because we know it is a very important game for us and we need to focus. We are unbeaten and want to keep that going in every competition – the longer that lasts, the stronger you will be.
Conscious that too many draws have dampened the achievement somewhat, he said:
We want to transform that bit of disappointment from a draw into a convincing victory, and the team is on a good way.
Goals are what’s needed. They’ve been in short supply in recent games and that happens to teams from time to time. These kinds of droughts are unusual under Arsene Wenger though so I suppose the longer we go without scoring the more likely we are to score, if that makes sense.
He also addressed the sending off of Emmanuel Eboue against Sp*rs, saying:
He had problems dealing with his frustrations in this game … He didn’t sense how far you can go. Once he had the first yellow card that was a bit unfortunate. But the second one, you cannot complain.
What can you say?
Apart from the stuff about Eboue the boss spoke about how the delay in making his debut would be good for Andrei Arshavin. Having not played for a while, and with a disrupted pre-season, building some fitness may not be a bad thing at all. What we will have is a player who is extremely fresh and motivated between now and the end of the season. Maybe towards the tail end of the campaign his fresh legs against the heavy ones of defenders might make the difference in tight games.
He also praised the professionalism of William Gallas.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic reckons Eduardo is ready for Arsenal, and has told Arsene Wenger so. I think he’ll make an appearance on Monday and I might have a little flutter on him to score a goal. Perhaps the ‘holic pound might go in a similar direction.
Right, that’s that. Have yourselves a good Saturday and remember, no thinking about Monday until tomorrow.
