Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

OK so we slipped up last weekend, but so did others and it’s still really tight in the battle for fourth.

Current State of Play
4 Newcastle 13 7 26
5 Chelsea 13 11 25
6 Liverpool 13 5 23
7 Arsenal 13 3 23
(played,GD,points)

Newcastle and Chelsea have been losing out recently, whilst Liverpool and Arsenal have been marking time.  The key fixture for this group comes at lunchtime on Saturday:

Newcastle v Chelsea
So how do we call this one? Here’s the form guide:
Newcastle DWWWLD
Chelsea WLLWLW
Of course Chelsea have had disappointments in the Champions League and Carling Cup as well.

Then, in the afternoon, Arsenal visit Wigan.  This should be just the fixture for us after the Fulham disappointment.  The form guide inspires confidence:
Wigan LLLLDW
Arsenal WWWWWD

You could say that Wigan were improving, but those last two were a controversial against fellow strugglers Blackburn and a win against plummeting Sunderland.  We mustn’t be complacent, but this should be an Arsenal win.

Then we have to wait until Monday evening and Fulham v Liverpool.
Liverpool have the edge on form, but they haven’t been consistent.
Fulham LLWLDD
Liverpool DDWDWD

There’s an obvious nightmare scenario here for Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas.  Arsenal and Liverpool wins, which would follow current form, would see Chelsea seventh if they lose at St James’ Park.  Then they have to beat Valencia to stay in the Champions League.  Can Villas-Boas survive that or will Guus Hiddink be back in London next week?

I expect Arsenal and Liverpool to end the weekend with 26 points. So it’s all down to Newcastle and Chelsea.  Can Terry and Alex keep Demba Ba at bay?  A draw could leave the order unchanged, but three clubs on 26. Tighter and tighter?

Come on Arsenal!

Today we should see some official announcements as the better quality rumours of yesterday are turned into solid stories.  We should see confirmation that Park Chu-Young and Andre Santos are now Arsenal players.

Both of these deals represent some rapid footwork on Arsenal’s part, in stark contrast to the rest of our dealings this summer.

Fenerbahce’s punishment for match-fixing was announced last week, creating the possibility that they would be open to deals on star players and that the players themselves would want a move.  Now Santos is an Arsenal player and Traore is being offloaded to QPR.  Nice work for a change.

Some quick work also allowed Arsenal to hijack Lille’s deal for Monaco’s Park Chu-Young and secure what looks like a very decent back-up striker to Robin Van Persie.

Of course, that still leaves the long drawn out saga of filling key vacancies in central defence and midfield.

So what are the quality rumours of today that will be the solid transfer deals of tomorrow?

Over the last twenty-four hours, Arsenal have been linked to loads of players as the media and players’ agents try to help spend the sizable transfer budget.

In the last twenty-four hours, Arsenal have been linked with:

Eden Hazard, Yossi Benayoun, Gary Cahill, Leighton Baines, Marouane Fellaini, Alex, Kaka, Eljero Elia, Park Chu-Young, Yann M’Vila, Mikel Arteta, Adam Johnson, Mateo Kovacic, Mario Goetze, Florent Malouda and Sol Campbell to name but a few.

Most intriguing perhaps are the three Chelsea players.  What’s going on here?  Presumably, someone has leaked some sort of contact with Chelsea but nobody really knows who it is about.  Or is Arsene about to play some kind of Chelsea Supermarket Sweep and have them all!

Or is it just simply made up stuff from journalists who haven’t got any copy and so they’ve trawled the list of out of favour players.  Of course there are plenty of out of favour players, just at Chelsea and Manchester City.  The combination of huge budgets and rapid turnover of managers has left quite a few decent players warming the bench at both clubs.

As far as a central defender goes, I still think there is a good chance that we will see a deal for Gary Cahill.  Despite the hostile rhetoric of the last few weeks the logic is there.  Bolton need cash to bring in a striker, they are massively in debt.  We have the cash and Cahill could leave on a free next year.

There is some talk that Spurs want him too, but nothing of substance and at the moment Arsenal could outbid them if we really want him.

Benayoun or Malouda?  I can’t see that Malouda has anything that Gervinho or Park don’t already bring.

Benayoun as Fabregas replacement?  Maybe. Not as good obviously, but the endless saga of Cesc’s departure has probably blown the chance of an equal replacement.  There is also an argument that spreading the budget over more than one replacement could give Arsenal a more balanced side.

We shall see, and soon now – less than two days to go.

The possibility of a bid for Brazilian central defender Alex has been doing the rounds all day.  But this evening there’s a new name in the frame – left back Andre Santos at Fenerbahce.

Of the two, I much prefer the second for two reasons.  First, Alex is getting on an getting injured. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be an option, I’m just hoping for better.  Second, we have to have another option at left back.  Gibbs may gave a big future, but he doesn’t really gave the experience to be number one and is injury prone.  Traore is departing to QPR.

Gooner Talk, amongst others, has a link to the Istanbul Stock Exchange website where Fenerbahce disclose the possible sale of Santos, but it doesn’t say who to.

An interesting story and one I’d like to be true.  The twenty-nine year old has played twenty-two times for Brazil since 2009.  He scored ten times for Fenerbahce last season.  Wikipedia has all the usual stuff.

Mixed news so far today.

Park Chu-Young is quoted in various places confirming his move to Arsenal saying “I had to make a decision between Arsenal and Lille. And the decision had to be what I want and won’t regret.”

This was apparently what he had to say on his way through Seoul airport today on route to join up with the South Korean team. It is thought that the deal will be confirmed tomorrow. I think he looks a decent bet as a back up striker so this is good news.

But back up striker isn’t the main priority we must get a creative midfielder and a central defender.

The news on Eden Hazard doesn’t sound as positive with a reported quote from him that he is staying at Lille. I haven’t managed to track down the timing of this quote though.

Armand Traore is moving to QPR. This is probably a good thing overall as he isn’t good enough for Arsenal. There’s just the slight problem that this will leave us with no fit left back at all. That’s where we’ve got to. I’m worrying about Armand Traore leaving the club.

One website (without a great track record for accuracy) suggests that we are in for Leighton Baines. Which, if true would be great. Though another says that Marouane Fallaini is the Everton player we’re after.

Given the state of Everton’s finances, perhaps we’ll offer them a price for the squad and loan back the ones we don’t need. That should still leave them enough for a team.

The rumour that we have approached Chelsea about Brazilian central defender Alex has done the rounds all day without picking up any substance.

And that’s about it for now. I could list about ten other players we’ve been linked with during the day but there are no stories with really convincing details.

I was hoping for more progress today I must admit. Mixture of hope and desperation I guess!

Two bits of solid looking news so far.  The first is that Arsene Wenger has categorically denied the Bendtner for Arteta story.  I am relieved to hear that as, although we desperately need a creative midfielder, I think Arteta’s time has passed.

After the United game, Wenger was asked whether there was any truth in the story and he gave a one word answer – ‘No’.

The second bit of news is more weight to the Park Chu-Young story.  Most papers are running the story that a medical for the South Korean captain is imminent.  I think that Park looks like a good back up striker and would be a welcome addition.  But that still doesn’t deal with the real priorities.

Last night I wrote that Arsenal must sign new centre back and a creative midfielder as an absolute minimum.  Frankly, we need another left back as well, but time is short and the first two might just be enough to restore some confidence.

There is a report that the centre back won’t be Scott Dann because he is going to QPR.  I don’t mind that as i don’t think he’s the answer.  Although the day after we’ve conceded eight goals it’s tempting to say buy anyone!  There’s also a report that Arsenal have been in contact with Chelsea over Alex, but not a lot of evidence to back it up.

So the main prospect is still Gary Cahill.  Bolton are definitely ready to sell and apparently need some of the cash to bring in David N’Gog from Liverpool.  Let’s hope we hear something concrete on that today.

Which leaves the creative midfielder issue.  Nothing new on that at all today.  Just some reheating of Eden Hazard stuff.  The Belgium midfielder does seem the most likely.

Two and a half days to go.

First thoughts on the game.

First things first, I think that Arsenal played well today and the reason we are where we are is because we dropped points against West Brom and Sunderland rather than how we played today.  But we missed chances to score and it cost us the game.

We started really well and had more chances than Chelsea.  Diaby‘s role seemed s bit scary at first, pressurising very high up the pitch, but it seemed to work.  Koscielny could have got a goal in the opening minutes but was caught flat-footed and got no height for his header two yards out.

The Drogba goal was well worked with Cole and Drogba just beating Sagna and Squillaci after a good pass from Ramires.  We should have had a freekick just before, but that’s football.  Ramires was determined in his tackle and then made a great pass to put Cole in behind Sagna.

Chelsea’s defending was awesome and we couldn’t find a way through.  Every Arsenal player worked today.  Some will blame Arshavin and some of his passes went astray as usual.  But I think they were all worth their place. Anyone who claims they would have left out our top scorer today is talking rubbish.  I think that Clichy had his best game of the season so far.

If only we’d had Fabregas or RVP today to unlock that defence.

Alex’s freekick was a stunner.  Fantastic pace and swerve.

All eyes were on Fabianski of course.  He had a good game.  No-one was stopping that freekick.  Apart from a single nervous half-punch at a ball earlier on he was strong and decisive.  I’m not saying Arsenal’s keeper problem is over, far from it, but Lukasz Fabianski was ok today and that’s worth saying at the moment when confidence is low.

We were beaten by a fantastic defensive display today.  We’re seven points behind because we were crap against West Brom and careless against Sunderland.

Vote for your Arsenal man of the match here.