This has been rather a fine weekend in terms of results for us. Chelsea dropped two points in the most tedious, mind-numbing game of football it’s my displeasure to watch for as long as I can remember. On the evidence Liverpool are going to have a real fight on their hands to get the 4th place while Chelsea under Grant are still the most noxious, objectionable bunch of cunts they were under Mourinho.
Earlier in the day the Manchester derby went the way of City, and deservedly too. Ronaldo was anonymous while Rio Ferdinand was almost comically bad. 2-1 in the end and United’s goal came in injury time at the end of the game, so it flattered them somewhat it terms of the scoreline. That’s a double for City over United this season and those six points could be the difference between winning and losing the title.
It means that tonight’s game against Blackburn could be absolutely enormous in terms of the race for the title. A win for us would put us 5 points clear of United and 8 of Chelsea. Nice margins, nowhere near decisive, but enough to really raise the stakes and keep the pressure on them. We need to be cautious though – under normal circumstances you’d expect three points but we’ve got a lot of players out and may have go with a couple who will be playing through injuries. However, I’m sure the boss will have them 100% focussed on the game and the task at hand. They’ll know what a big chance this is to put some daylight between us and United/Chelsea.
Blackburn will be tough though and Jens Lehmann will be looking to exorcise the demons of the last league game against them. Back in August we were 1-0 up when Jens let David Dunn’s shot slip through his hands and as well as costing us 2 points it cost him his place in the team. Almunia came in after that and did well. His illness allows Lehmann a chance to make amends.
They’re a team whose physical approach has not always gone down well with Arsenal. After the game in August Arsene Wenger called the Blackburn side ‘over physical’ and ‘violent’. Cesc, who Arsene Wenger says has matured after having things to say about Blackburn in the past, and Robin van Persie were critical of Mark Hughes’ team. Van Persie got kicked in the head at Ewood Park in August and it’s a pity he’s not fit for this one, he does love to score against Blackburn. There have been some tasty battles in this fixture in the past few years and with Blackburn also struggling with some injuries you can be quite sure they’ll get stuck right in from the start.
That said I think we’ve still got the quality with the players we have to win this one. There are goals in Adebayor and Eduardo, Bendtner scored for Denmark last week and if Cesc and Flamini are fit in the middle then they should have too much for whoever Blackburn have in there.
So, fingers crossed for the right result tonight. In the past we’ve had a tendency not to take advantage when the other results have gone our way. We haven’t shown the ‘killer instinct’ that other teams have, tonight is an opportunity to do just that.
Now, loads to do this morning, busy busy busy, but mostly in a good way. Mostly. Till tomorrow.
