Arsenal-Aston Villa Preview

Morning all. Been a busy last couple days. On Wednesday I turned 21 and over here in the States that is a big deal, legal drinking age. So of course that kept me busy and there hasn't really been much for news anyway, but I had to write before another league game. This time it's home against Aston Villa, and it HAS to be three points for us. Now Villa are a good side, don't get me wrong, but at home, when everyone is saying we're going to collapse, we really have to make a statement with this game. Remember we still have trips to Stamford Shite Hole and Old Trafford this season to go, so we need to get the maximum points from all of our home matches.

For injury news, it's getting a bit better for us than it has been. Kolo Toure is still out with his calf problem or knee or something like that, but he could be back as soon as Milan next Tuesday. Of course Eduardo is out, as well as the forever injured Robin van Persie. Tomas Rosicky, who likes to keep Robin company in his absence, will also still be out. Emmanuel Eboue is suspended, but no loss there. We do have Diaby back though so that is good news.

I'll take a quick stab at the lineup, think it will look like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Senderos-Clichy
Hleb-Cesc-Flamini-Diaby
Adebayor-Bendtner

I wouldn't be surprised if Walcott got the run out over Bendtner or Diaby but this is what my Arsene Wenger-sensitive gut is telling me.

So my prediction for this one: 2-1 to the Arsenal. Both goals by Adebayor, and one of them will be from a Clichy cross.

So on with a bit of news then.

There have been a lot of rumors suggesting that Flamini had already reached a deal with Juventus and was going to go there on a free transfer at the end of this season. This would have been terrible news but Juventus came out and put this story to rest. This is great news for us. I don't know what the hold up is for resigning him but if we lose him on a free transfer that will be very upsetting.

First Barcelona and now Inter have been linked with Alexander Hleb. Supposedly they are going to make a £14million pound offer for him. No deal. Hleb is worth more than that to our team right now. I don't think Arsene would sell him. He stays healthy, he is a great dribbler and brings a lot to the side.

Young Guns posts a nice article about the top 5 youth players to watch in 2008. It's a good read.

And lastly, Arsene Wenger spoke of how important it was for Theo Walcott to get his first Premiership goals. It definitely should improve the boy's confidence in front of goal, something you could tell he was lacking. I wouldn't mind seeing him play against Villa and hopefully keep scoring for us. We're all behind you lad!

Cheers to three points tomorrow.

Eduardo Update, Response to Gallas' Behavior

“I forgive Martin. It hurt like hell but I'm fine now. I know he didn't do it on purpose. I was horrified when I saw how my leg looked at first and wondered how it would all end. But I will be back."

-Eduardo Da Silva

Now that is one brave man with the right attitude. Just a few days after his leg is completely split and he's already forgiving the man that did it and saying he's going to be back. Eduardo has truly shown what a nice, classy player he is throughout this whole ordeal. He didn't come out and bash Taylor like I, and loads of other people did. He just started his recovery and thanked everyone for the support. Get well soon Eddy.

It appears the one time Adebayor didn't make a pass to Bendtner when he should have has caused a stir in the media, and they are already questioning if Adebayor will ever pass to Bendtner. This is the most ridiculous nonsense I've ever heard. Everyone on this team wants to win titles, and by God if Adebayor had to pass to Robbie Keane to somehow win the title he would do it.

Kolo Toure, originally feared to be out for a month after his injury against Milan, says he's hopeful he'll get to return for the return trip to Milan. Honestly if he's not 100% I'd like to see Big Phil stay in the side as he has been superb lately. By the way, at the beginning of the season I did say that I thought he was a quality player for us. People sometimes forget he was in that Champion's League run when we didn't concede any goals up until the final. He's a good player he just needs games to get going.

I really, really liked this article I read on InsideArsenal about William Gallas. Read it if you get the chance.

So now I've had a couple days to think about it and I'm going to agree with InsideArsenal. I am very surprised at how many Gooners and Gooner blogs have given Gallas lots of stick for his actions in the Birmingham game. Some of them are calling for him to be removed as captain, others just say he should have never been appointed to the post. Well I say it was a brilliant choice. Let's recap the week Gallas had: First, one of his French and Arsenal teammates, Bakary Sagna, lost a brother and he spent some time with him to comfort him. Then we lost 4-0 to United, followed by a frustrating game against Milan where we failed to score despite our complete dominance throughout. Then against Birmingham he witnesses one of the worst injuries anyone has witnessed in football for a long time before the referee gives the game away by making a terrible penalty call in the 94th minute. Now would all this not upset you? Should he have pulled a Cantona and kicked a fan? Should he have maybe retaliated against an opposing player and gotten a red card and been banned for three matches? Gallas did what he had to do. Everyone needs to vent frustration sometimes and he did it in a way that was not damaging to anyone. Everyone that has watched him play knows that he gives his all for this team and wants us to win trophies. I'm proud of having you as our captain William, keep it up mate.

Cheers

Also, read this from the Telegraph. It says the way for Eduardo to come back is,

"You just have to be brave, determined, focused, hard-working - and certifiably mad."

If it pisses you off like it pisses me off, feel free to send them an email and let them know how you feel.

Eduardo's Leg is Broken By a Huge Twat

Follow this link to see how you can send Eduardo an email.

Well the match finished 2-2, was bollocks all the way around, and we shouldn't have dropped points. The good news is that Theo Walcott scored his first two Premiership goals for us. But I will get to all that later. First up what must be talked about is Martin Taylor breaking Eduardo's leg. And this wasn't just any break. He went in high and you could see his leg pretty much split in half. It took the medical team 8 minutes just go get him on the stretcher and get him off the field. Taylor was immediately sent on and fully deserved. After he did it he just sat there chatting it up with one of his mates like it was no big deal that Eduardo's leg was in shambles. I'm going to enclose a picture at the bottom of the page but it is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart so if you do look, don't say I didn't warn you. So he is going to miss the rest of the season and Arsene feels he may miss part of next season as well. He went on a bit of a rant about Taylor's tackle, which he very well should have.

"I think this guy should never play football again. What's he doing on the pitch?"

"I've gone along with the idea for a long time that to stop Arsenal, you have to kick Arsenal. I knew that was coming for a long time now."

"The season is over for him and it's very, very bad. More than the season is over."

Well we know what he's doing on the pitch...Birmingham are too poor and shite to sign good players so they have to sign barbarians from the Championship that do these sort of things. Moral of the story is that Martin Taylor moves up a whole lot on my current most hated players list.

Ok so now for the picture...I'll do the match report tomorrow but I have to go to work now. Here it is...

Update: Eduardo told Arsenal's official website, 'I don't remember the incident very well and it is not something that I want to see again on television or in the newspapers. 'All I remember is that when I fell, I looked down at my foot and it had turned the other way. The rest is just a blank. It was an unfortunate situation but these things can happen in football. 'I am unsure at the moment of the extent of the injury and how long I will be out of action for but I know that I won't be able to play for Arsenal for the rest of the season or be ready in time for the Euros this summer. 'But I'm not worried about that. My concentration and determination is on making as quick a recovery as possible. I am determined to overcome this injury.'

Players Speak About Milan, But Should Worry About Birmingham First...

Morning all. So I guess by now everyone knows that we drew 0-0 home to AC Milan. We pretty much dominated the game from start to finish. We passed much better than them, we had more chances and better chances, but we could not convert any of them. Our best chance came in the 94th minute when Adebayor got his head on a cross from Theo. I would have put my house on him to score but somehow he managed to hit the bar with it and game over. He was probably kicking himself after that one.

Almost everyone on the team had an exceptional game, so it's hard to pick stand outs really. However, since that is what I do here I will say I think Hleb, Flamini, Sagna, and Clichy were all excellent even compared to the rest of the team who were great. Hleb's dribbling and passing were good. He has amazed me this season. Flamini kept Kaka completely out of the game. I think Kaka's first shot was in about the 75th minute. You really didn't hear about him at all. Sagna and Clichy...what more can you say about those two? They are just great players. I think Sagna's addition has really helped us so much this year.

So we have the return leg in the San Siro in a fortnight, and all of the players are talking about how they are ready for it. Here's a quick quote montage:

Flamini: "We have no choice now - we have to go over there and win the second leg. We have the quality to go over there and win the game to qualify."

Fabregas: "I am sure we can win. We are a positive side, we are young - but even that having seen what we have seen we can cope with their pace, their experience and we can create chances."

Adebayor: "We know it is going to be very difficult in Milan, but we are ready for it. We just have to fight for the team, and maybe then one ball will go into the net. A score draw will do, but it is important to think about winning. The belief is very high."

Alright, now the confidence is great guys, and I like to hear it, but I feel like they forget we have a match tomorrow. We've got to go to Birmingham in the league and we really NEED a win there. They already took two points off of us when they got a draw at the Emirates a month or so ago. That can't happen again. I'm sure Arsene Wenger knows all of this of course but he has to make sure the players have their mind's on this match and not just the Milan one. You'll have plenty of time to think about that in a week or so lads.

In other news, Kolo Toure, originally feared to be out for about a month, is now looking to be back in two weeks, which is great news. We're a bit short of depth at the back with Kolo and Djourou out so we'll need him back as soon as possible.

Red and White Holdings, led by Alisher Usmanov, is now the largest shareholder in the club. Is it time to have a protest yet? If you would like to tell the FA that you do not want a crook running Arsenal, you can drop them a quick line right here. Make sure you do it in a polite manner or it will accomplish nothing. If enough people right in maybe they will finally have a look at this man's history.

And last for today, Robin van Persie is nearing his return...finally. Arsene talked about it to the press today.

"No. Robin is not a very long away from being fit at all, but he lacks match-practice."

"Could he be in the squad for Milan? Maybe - but don’t forget he has not played regularly for five months now."

So that's some good news to go out on. Here's to three points tomorrow. Cheers.

Early Arsenal-Milan Preview

Morning everyone. As you all know by now we play AC Milan at home tomorrow night. Should be a cracker. A good news story for us is that William Gallas will receive no punishment for his kick out at Nani during the match Saturday. My guess would be the FA like to watch that little prick get kicked. Next time aim for his head William.

I should have time to write tomorrow but I figured I'd do the preview today just in case. So to start off, as usual we'll go with the injury news.

We really have loads of great news on the injury front. Remember against United Arsene said we only had fourteen players that were healthy? Well now we've got most of them back. Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Denilson, Mathieu Flamini, and Bacary Sagna are all available again. This is brilliant news, especially at the two full back positions because Sagna and Clichy are infinitely better than Hoyte and Traore at this point. Their added attacking threat should really keep Milan's defense at bay as well.

Johan Djourou, Abou Diaby, Robin van Persie, and Tomas Rosicky are still out of the squad with injuries and there was no timetable for their return given by Arsene.

Mad Jens will stay in goal. Almunia is said to be "close, very close" to returning to action but Jens will be starting this one.

So I think the line-up will look like this:

Lehmann
Sagna-Gallas-Toure-Clichy
Walcott?-Cesc-Flamini-Hleb
Adebayor-Eduardo

Hmmm don't really know who he'll play at the wing opposite Hleb, just hope to God it's not Eboue.

Cesc Fabregas says he would love to have Samuel Eto'o on his team. Yeah me too Cesc, probably could've gotten him for Henry too (Yes still a bit bitter.)

"If I was asked which one player I would like to see at Arsenal, it would be Samuel Eto'o."

See he has to clarify that he wants him on his team at Arsenal so the Catalan press don't piss themselves with glee at the thought of Cesc coming to their scummy team.

Confidence is always important in Champion's League ties like this one, and Arsene Wenger has shown it, saying that we can be the team to beat Milan.

Great News! AC Milan and Juventus are still somehow interested in buying Emmanuel Eboue from us! I don't know how because he is complete shite but who cares! Sell him right now! I can't wait to get him out of the club. He has probably been my least favorite player at the club...right up there with Ashley Cole. That's pretty bad.

And I've gotta go. Enjoy that lot and I'll get back with you tomorrow. Later