An Optimistic Outlook on the End of the Season

Morning all. We're going full out optimism today. It's a good day so far. I just got my final roster for my team of Under 8's which start Saturday, I'm making baked ziti for lunch as I write this, and my six pack abs are looking nice. So those are all good things. What would really top it off though is a win today against bottom club West Brom.

The good news going into the match is that Arsenal have a thirteen game unbeaten streak going in the league! The bad news is that we have drawn five league matches in a row, including four 0-0's in a row. That is all going to change today. You know why? Because West Brom are shite. You know what else? I'm going to take Man City to beat Aston Villa on Wednesday too. That would put us within three points of them and I'm feeling confident.

I can't see us not winning this match today. If you can't get up for a "must-win" like this, then none of these players should be playing for the club. I can get myself up for coaching an Under 8's match, so these guys should be able to get up to play in Europe next season. Theo, Cesc, Eduardo, Adebayor, Rosicky...all of them need to be at their best when they get back, and I think they will.

Adebayor said just today that we need to win every game the rest of the season to get into the Champions League. He's probably right. While we've been counting on Villa to drop points, they haven't dropped many at all and when they have we haven't been able to capitalize. And unlike most of you, I actually DO think Adebayor cares about the team and wants to win. All of you that hate on him every day should piss off. He's way better than Bendtner, he pretty much made our entire season last year, and he's still potentially our best striker along with van Persie.

He also spoke about the booing that came after the Fulham match, saying:

"It is difficult for the boss, difficult for us as players, for them as fans - so they just have to keep doing what they love the most which is keep pushing us on."

Maybe the fans should actually try that. I live in Florida, so I don't get to go to all the matches obviously, and nothing makes me feel worse than watching games on TV when the Emirates is completely silent. We have 60,000 bloody supporters in the building and we can't sing a few songs? Come on you guys. I know it isn't the difference between winning the league and getting fifth place but it could at least push a team on to a winning goal against a team like Fulham.

Andrey Arshavin says he's still finding his fitness in the English game. That was certainly clear in the second half of the Fulham match, where he pretty much couldn't move at all. I don't blame him, I don't think I would have put him out there for 90 minutes so soon, but it isn't my call.

"Even before the end of the first half I felt as if I had spat my lungs out. It was a hard match for me. In the second half my legs simply refused to serve me."

Hopefully he'll find his fitness soon or it'll be a waste of a signing. We signed him to help us this season, and if he can never play 90 minutes then what's the use? But I'm sure he'll get it together soon.

But on to the match today. Injury news is Gallas, Eduardo, Walcott, Rosicky, Fabregas, Adebayor, Silvestre all out. Arshavin could also be rested, which leaves us a little bare.

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Djourou-Clichy
Eboue-Denilson-Song-Nasri
RvP-Bendtner

It's not a great lineup when you look at it but we'll win. Trust me. We just will. I can feel it. I'm going to use a different coffee cup and wear my Kolo away kit today. It will definitely change our fortunes.

2-0 to the Arsenal. Still rockin the clean sheet, and getting the win too. You heard it hear first.

Come on you Gunners.

Arsenal-West Brom Preview, New Signing?

Well here it is, the start of another season, finally. It seems like it's been ages since the last one, but probably just because everyone's been bitching and moaning all summer about how Wenger can't manage a team. Even with the Euros this summer seemed ridiculously long. But tomorrow that's all over because the Premiership starts, and we've got West Brom up first. Newly promoted West Brom I might add...at home...where we've only ever lost once...should be three points right? Well you would think so but it's not a given by any means. You could tell from the match against FC Twente that we weren't at top Arsenal form but that will come with games and the same team being able to go out there.

The injury list for the game sees Senderos, Fabregas, and Diaby missing the match tomorrow as well as the long-term injuries Rosicky, Eduardo, and Bischoff. Alex Song is at the Olympics so he won't be making it either. Arsene Wenger says Kolo Toure is not 100% but he will be rushed back for this match. Let's just hope it doesn't lead to a long term injury. Samir Nasri could also make his Arsenal debut so that would be fun to see.

So the lineup will pretty much set itself:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
Eboue-Denilson-Ramsey-Walcott
RvP-Adebayor

Yeah I know that's the exact same lineup as we had against Twente except for Toure but I think that's what he'll go with. If Nasri is even a little bit injured I don't think Arsene would start him. It could be Djourou in place of Toure depending on how bad he is feeling tomorrow but if he was hurting badly Arsene wouldn't play him.

West Brom are an interesting prospect. They have a good manager in Tony Mowbray but a squad which just isn't that good. Better than Derby last year? Probably yes, but not a team that should beat Arsenal at home.

I think this is a game that Denilson and Ramsey should be able to handle in midfield. If this was against Man U, Chelsea, or even a team like Villa, I might be a bit worried about them starting the season in midfield, but this is a good test for them. They didn't exactly run the game against Twente so they'll have to step up their play, but they are two that have the ability to run a midfield game with their balanced play. They both can do a lot of things for the team and I think the strikers we do have will help them a lot.

It'll be interesting to see the Kolo-Gallas partnership again. I don't think anyone, including myself, was convinced of that pair in the center of defense last year, so we'll have to see if it has gotten any better. The main problem for them last year was long balls yet again so we'll need to improve on those if we want to go anywhere in the competitions.

Theo Walcott needs much improvement over the game on Wednesday, but I won't really fault him for that because it was the first match of the season. I do worry though that he'll always be a "super-sub" player and not a starter because he definitely seems to have more of an impact coming off the bench.

Match Prediction for me is going to be 2-0 to Arsenal. I think Adebayor will score both of them and I think Almunia will have a fairly easy game. Let's hope so.

So people have been really worried about our midfield or lack-there-of and there is some good news for you straight out of the mouth of Arsene Wenger. We will have a new signing before the return leg of FC Twente. Obviously we're all expecting it to be a midfielder but how funny would it be if it wasn't even a midfielder but it was a striker or something? People would REALLY lose it then. But seriously, it'll be a midfielder.

That's about all I've got. Nastia Liukin won the women's all-around at the olympics last night, and Shawn Johnson got the silver. It was awesome. And yeah, I really did say women's gymnastics was awesome. And Michael Phelps is up to a ridiculous six gold medals. And those Chinese gymnasts were certainly not 16...


But anyways, enjoy the match tomorrow, and let's start the season with three points!

Arsenal To Start Year With West Brom

Morning all. The fixture list for the new season came out today and we've got West Brom at home to start the new year. Could we have asked for anything better really? Our first game is at home and against a newly promoted team. That's exactly what I like to have to start the year, because it gives you a good chance to work out any kinks in your system and if you don't play that well then you can hopefully still pull out a win.

After West Brom we've got Fulham away which should hopefully be a win and then we have Newcastle at home to complete the month of August. If all goes well you'd like to think that would be nine points for us out of the gate but you never know with football. Our second to last game of the year is May 16th away to United, so if we're going to win the league then that will most likely be our most important match of the entire year. I like the schedule they gave us. We don't have stretches like this past season with Liverpool, United, and Chelsea all in a row.

In not so good news, Tomas Rosicky says he probably won't be fully fit for preseason training. He said hopefully he'll be able to start training again when the new season starts. I was really hoping we'd get Rosicky back to start the new year, and this news really disappoints me. From everything I heard it sounded like he was going to come back on time and just fine but clearly he won't be. We can't count on him to ever be in the squad. Maybe we ought to think about trying to sell him. I've always liked him as a player and defended him through his injuries but he got hurt a long, long time ago and still won't even be back for the start of the new season. I'm sick of it.

Apparently Barcelona are getting fed up with negotiating for Alexander Hleb, and they may pull the plug on the deal soon if a deal is not done. I'm fed up with it too. I really wish they'd buy him and take him away as soon as possible. I never want to see Hleb in an Arsenal kit again, not even for pre-season, so please take him away Barca. There is still hope though even if they don't sign him because Bayern Munich are still interested and Hleb always talks about how much he loves Germany. Cross your fingers someone pays for him.


Johann Djourou is not at all happy with Swiss coach Kobi Kuhn in the wake of their exit from the Euros. He had some harsh quotes after he didn't get on the field in the tournament and said there is no competition for places in the Swiss team.

“We knew four months in advance who were going to play. With Switzerland, no need to give the best of yourself, you already know the team."

Switzerland really didn't look good at all in the tournament to me. Once Frei got injured they really didn't have much in attack at all. I didn't get to see them play yesterday against Portugal because I had work but in the other two games they never looked like they would make it through the group stages. You would think though that Djourou should have gotten a chance in a meaningless game as they were already out of the tournament. I don't like to hear player criticizing coaches but maybe he's got a point here.

And in BS transfer rumors for the day we see Robin van Persie linked with Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan. I can't see any truth at all in this. He doesn't seem like a Jose type of player for one and he's been injured almost all year for two. The story says he's stalling on new contract talks because he wants Arsenal to change it's wage structure, but even if they did chance it I wouldn't give Robin any more money. Stay healthy for a year you shite licker and then we might give you more money.

That's about it. Euro matches are starting at the same time today which sucks because i liked being able to watch both individually but oh well. Enjoy the final round of the group stage. Cheers!