Blackburn Rovers (H)

Now normally I do this on a Friday but I decided to do it today being the 31st of March, the day when sadly Arsenal Legend David "Rocky" Rocastle lost his battle with cancer aged just 33. 10 years on and he is far from forgotten as every now and then his song is sung at the Emirates. The official site have posted a free video tribute to mark the 10th anniversary of David's death that I'd urge you to watch.

So out of the FA Cup, out of the Champions League so the focus is now firmly on the league. The returns of Fabregas, Song, Diaby and in my opinion Theo Walcott are promising. It is also hopeful that Van Persie will be fit for the match. Once again after hearing that Robin had been injured playing for Holland I started to doubt whether we'd see him again before the season was over but things aren't as bas as they first appeared.

We welcome Blackburn to the Emirates who we have struggled against in the past although the prominent 6-2 victory over them in 2009 suggests that at home we may be changing our luck against them. So players I'd identify as threats are Diouf, and Kalinic who are the clubs top scorers this season with 6. Mame Diouf has his moments and can pose a threat if in front of goal, same with Kalinic. Other players who I see as threatening are Pedersen and Samba who both score important goals.

However Blackburn have an appalling away record, having lost their last 5 games on the road. I can't personally see them causing too many problems as long as we shut them out effectively and with the Arsenal defence that is never a certainty. In terms of the title race, its still on but much of it hinges on us winning games like this. Of course the Game against Spurs and United are huge games but unless we take these points winning those will have little effect.

Prediction: Arsenal 3-0 Blackburn

Arsenal Update

As we're currently on International duty I thought I'd post a little update on Arsenal related news. So once again my prediction was totally wrong against West Brom and we limped away with a draw and a lucky one at that. The first goal again highlighted our defensive frailties and Wenger has again come under fire for not finding another Centre Half in January. The second goal left me wondering why the fuck we haven't bought another keeper, a good keeper (Lehman doesn't count). What seemed more bewildering was the look of shock on Almunia's face when the ball was slotted past him after he decided to go for a jog up the field. Arshavin finished well and Van Persie got lucky but we did dominate the second half. Still those are the games we should be taking points from

Arsene Wenger confirmed earlier in the week that Walcott will not be available to play for England to play against Wales on Saturday. So it seems unlikely we'll be seeing Theo within the next couple of games, but the International break obviously gives him an extra week to recover. However there is better news where Fabregas is concerned as Wenger suggested he may be back after this weeks break, "He should be back after the international break, maybe, he has a chance".

The jury is still out as to when Song will return. Wenger was quick to rule him out of the trip to West Brom and didn't hint as to when we could see him again. We now know that Vermaelan will be out for the season along with Johan Djourou (sigh). The defensive woes continue.

Looking ahead to the next few games we have what many will see as an easy 3 pointer against Blackburn next weekend. But as a lot of Arsenal fans know there is never an easy 3 pointer with us. Then Blackpool away which is a horrible fixture, they need the points as do we and they have a formidable record of scoring at home. Then the crucial point in the season as we play Liverpool and Tottenham within 4 days of each other. Then our bogey trip to Bolton who are on form this season followed by the game that may well decide the title against Manchester United at home. In my opinion we need to get Walcott and Fabregas fit and soon. Check next week for the pre-Blackburn post.

West Bromwich Albion (A)

Well we've crashed out of everything but the Premier League now so it doesn't take a genius to figure out what every post for the rest of the season will be on. West Brom away, earlier in the season I would have seen as a 3 pointer all day long. Then and again I said that for the home tie against them, but now the stakes are even higher. They need the points but so do we and this is the sort of game we could throw away easily if we lose focus. So to the team.

With the expected but still disappointing news that Thomas Vermaelen (out for about 3 weeks since the 28th August according to Wenger) wont make an appearance this season the back four almost certainly will be Clichy, Koscielny, Squillaci and Sagna from left to right respectively. A 5 man midfield including Arshavin who is still at the forefront of the fans abuse, on the left. Wilshere, Rosicky who has been a poor player since returning this season and (sadly) Denilson who I still think is one of the worst Brazilian footballers ever to live. Nasri taking up the role on the right to try and weave his way around Nicky Shorey and Van Persie in the middle as the lone striker.

As for them, their leading striker Pete Odemwingie seems to be the pundits favourite to start on the bench behind Fortune with Morrison who is a real danger right behind him. Christ Brunt looks doubtful after suffering from illness in the last couple of days.Mulumbu provides their power in the middle and will no doubt cause us problems as all players like him do. Of course they have Scott Carson in goal, he has his critics but on his day he's as capable as any keeper.

This will be a hard game, no doubt there. However if we're really in the running for the title this is the game we need to win. I must agree with what Roy Hodgson said yesterday though when asked about what he thinks our mentality will be like after going out of 2 cups in quick succession: "When you draw Barcelona away in the Champions league...there's a risk your gonna lose that and when you draw Manchester United away in the FA cup there's a risk your gonna lose that". Looking back at these 2 defeats he's spot on, we were favourites to lose them both so is it really that much of a surprise that we went out?

After looking around some other forums there seems to be a strong fan base that want Wenger out. I personally don't think at this current moment that will help the squad at all. Having said that I am getting bored of being United's whipping boys every season. There's no point sending Wenger on his way this late in the season we're either gonna win the league with him or we aren't. If we win then everyone will be singing his praises, if we don't everyone will want him out but such is the nature of football.

Prediction: West Brom 0-1 Arsenal

Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal analysis

I apologise for not posting before this match, I had a busy weekend, so I decided to do a bit of a post match analysis.

So the result wasn't great, but there are some positives that we can take from this game. We played well and moved the ball very well creating some nice chances. Unfortunately a combination of poor finishing and Edwin Van der Sar having a blinding match meant that we just didn't find the net, something we've always struggled to do at Old Trafford. There is no doubt however that Chamakh should have scored with the chance he had, a header as well supposedly his speciality.

Defensively we didn't look overly bad. We had a few shakey moments but dealt with the majority of the issues United threw at us. The first goal was one of those, right place, right time. A decent save from Almunia that fell to Fabio who slotted the ball in after 28mins. Of course he was over that side of the pitch and read the game well but the save could have gone anywhere unfortunately for us that was the boot of Fabio. The second goal I think we could have dealt with better. It could be argued that once again it fell to Rooney but if we had a strong defender there (Vermaelen) he may have got his head there but that simply illustrates our lack of presence at the back.

A worrying incident was the one that saw Djourou stretchered off with a dislocated shoulder. Wenger confirming that his season is over. This is a serious worry as we already have problems at the back. Almost the only option we have is to revert back to Squillaci and Koscielny at the back. It was also confirmed today that Song won't be fit for the match against West Brom this weekend, Walcott looks unlikely. However on a better note it was good to see Ramsey get some game time at the weekend.


I'll end on the news today that we are in talks with Jens Lehmann. Now I was never a fan of his I must say, yes he had his moments, notably the penalty save against Villareal in the Champions League. However he was also a hot head and was never predictable. More to the point I don't think he's a better keeper than Almunia. I think everyone gave Almunia a bad time and looking at the performance at the weekend and midweek, yes we lost but he showed that he can still save some impressive efforts. I do prefer Szczesny but obviously at the moment Almunia will have to do. So a rather pointless move in my opinion but who knows what Arsene is thinking.

Keep checking for the next post on Saturdays game.

Ref Rant

I've decided to write a short post about the quality of refereeing this season on a whole. Now I'm sure your thinking that I'm only going to talk about Arsenal but I'll be looking at a variety of examples over the past month or so to highlight issues.

The quality of the refereeing this season has been absolutely shit. Overall this season there have been so many errors and poor decisions. I understand that being a referee isn't an easy job but so far this season they're taking the piss. Starting with the incident involving Robin Van Persie last night at the Nou Camp. How on earth can the ref make the decision that he has kicked the ball away, 1 second after he blew his whistle, he clearly hadn't heard it. By the letter of the law he has to go but common sense should prevail, anyone could see that he hadn't heard it and didn't deliberately kick the ball away. UEFA have decided to charge Arsene Wenger and Samir Nasri for their comments after the game, but they had every right to make those comments. When footballing bodies and referees can't accept when they're wrong then this situation is going to get worse and worse.

Looking at the Chelsea V Manchester United the other week, why was David Luiz not sent off for body checking Rooney and it was totally deliberate. He knew exactly what he was doing and wasn't penalised for it. He then scored Chelsea's equaliser when he shouldn't have been on the pitch. Alex Ferguson was rightly angered by this and is also being charged for his comments about the refereeing during that match. Once again a footballing body not accepting when they're officials are wrong, this isn't helped by the fact that officials can't apologise for their decisions after the game. What are the FA trying to achieve by including this stupid rule.  However Rooney shouldn't have been playing for the elbow that he gave to a Wigan player the match before, so I suppose 2 bad decisions cancelled each other out.

Now to last weekend and the Fulham penalty decision given by a certain Mark Clattenburg. A Senior Official. He gave the decision for a push in the box which once again by the letter of the law is correct but common sense dictates that enforcing this rule would mean that there are 7 or 8 penalties every match. It is this season that UEFA have launched they're Respect campaign, but to be honest I find it hard to respect an 'official' who makes a stupid decision that can cost teams points. They ask why referees get abused, is it any wonder looking at the atrocious decisions they seem to be giving every match.

So that was my rant at ref's and I hope that the decisions improve before the end of the season. But until the footballing bodies allow managers and players to express their views and decide to accept when an official makes a mistake I can't see it changing.

Barcelona (A)

So this is it. The big game of the round. After playing superbly in the home leg and coming away with a deserved 2-1 win, the pressure is on to come away from the Nou Camp with a result. I think you'll find it doesn't happen often. So to proceed to the next round we need to either win or draw. However a loss of one goal with us scoring 2 or more would also see us qualify (3-2, 4-3).

This is the section where I normally highlight the strong players in the squad, however this is Barcelona so to save time I'm going to highlight the players that I think are the weaknesses. Namely the one weakness I can see and that is the fact that Carlos Puyol wont be fit for tomorrows game. Which suggests that they will play a similar back four and there the weakness will be with Maxwell who I see as a weak left back and he showed this in the first leg with Walcott causing all sorts of problems for him, however with Walcott out do we have the capabilities to exploit this left hand side? Instinctively I would suggest that Wenger will play Bendtner, so I'm saying no.

Now Bendtner fans will be quick to point out his performance against Leyton Orient, however the fact is that was against Leyton Orient, this is Barcelona. A small difference in quality. So to our squad. Well Van Persie has been included which although it sounds promising I would doubt he will start and may have been included with the intention of coming on as a sub. However the return of Fabregas is welcomed and I think he will start along with Jack Wilshere who is also fit to play. The loss of Song could be problematic as he is a strong holding player who when playing a team like Barcelona is vital to win the aerial balls, although Abou Diaby has travelled. The starting line up is anybodies guess apart from Szczesny in goal and the current back four. In terms of attacking who knows after Saturday. I would prefer to see Chamakh upfront with Arshavin and Nasri on the wings, however it is impossible to say what Wenger will go for.

There is no doubt that we are out and out underdogs in this tie and getting a result at the Nou Camp is probably one of the biggest achievements a club can get in football. But they aren't unbeatable and in football stranger things have happened. I think the vital thing is the first goal. If we score first then we're in with a shout, if Barca draw first blood then I can see it being hard coming from behind away from home. Critics will be quick to write us off and sadly I personally can't see us pulling it off, but maybe, just maybe it will be our night in Spain.

Prediction: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal

Sunderland (H)

After emphatically beating London rivals Leyton Orient in the FA Cup replay on Wednesday our attention turns once again to the Premier League. Sunderland are one of those teams: on their day they'll give any team a good run for their money, when it goes wrong they tend to flop. They're having a good season so far and sit a comfortable 8th. It wont be an easy job turning them over as they can be very dangerous when attacking.

So players to watch for then. Well starting upfront, Gyan can be dangerous when in front of goal, although he's had his moment this season. However I think the majority of their threat will come from the wings. Sessegnon will be a danger on the right and could give Clichy a few problems with his pace and skill. On the other side, Bruce may decide to include the Manchester United youngster Danny Welbeck who certainly has potential. One other player worth a mention is Henderson (don't laugh), he can cause problems on his day.

Looking at our team, with various injuries we will most probably line up with Bendtner (Sigh) on the right and Arshavin on the left with Chamakh playing the lone striker role upfront. The three holding midfield players will be Diaby, Nasri and Wilshere. A standard back four, minus Vermaelen of course, with Koscielny returning after his, how shall we put it 'incident' with keeper Szczesny in the Carling Cup final. However in typical Wenger style he will have instructed them to put it behind them and move on, so I don't see too many problems occurring (touch wood). I think that the majority of our attacking play will come from Arshavin and Chamakh with a lot of the moves instigated by Wilshere and Nasri of course. Although there would be no surprise if Nasri netted one on current form. So overall I can see it being a tough game where we will need to work hard to grind out a result.

Prediction: Arsenal 1-0 Sunderland

Leyton Orient (H)

Well after making myself look like a complete tit with my prediction for the Carling Cup Final, I'm hoping that I can at least get the right outcome with this one.

The final was simply a typical poor Arsenal performance. Birmingham looked like they wanted it more and a miscommunication at the back gave them the chance they were looking for. Now different people have blamed Koscielny and others have blamed Szczesny, in my opinion both were at fault. If Szczesny wanted the ball he should have called it louder and clearer (if he did at all). But as he didn't Koscielny simply could not pull out of that clearance. At the end of the day it fell to Martins and he scored. As Wenger said it is is now important that we don't let this derail our other trophy chances and as the banner says "In Arsene we trust".

Now looking at current injury woes, Van Persie, Song and Koscielny all join the growing list following the final on Sunday. Now of course this isn't great news whatsoever with Fabregas and Walcott already sidelined but looking at our league fixtures in March, we only have 2 PL games: Sunderland at home this weekend and then West Brom away in a couple of weeks time. So if we can pull through those games without too many worries then players hopefully will return for Aprils fixtures. Of course without withdrawing from the fact that March is a hard month with upcoming games against Barcelona mid week and IF we beat the Orient tonight Manchester United away next weekend. This could well be the month where we see if our team has the depth to plough through.

This moves me nicely on to tonight's match with Leyton Orient. Now it appears as if Wenger will play a similar looking team to the one that drew away last Sunday. Almunia returns in goal after, well less that average keeping last time out as does the young Miquel who did little to impress me last weekend. But with the home crowd getting behind the team I can't see us (touch wood) having too many problems with Orient but hey, what do I know?

Thanks for reading.

Prediction: Arsenal 3-0 Leyton Orient