Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Liverpool lost again yesterday and are now vulnerable to a bottom half finish. They ought to have enough to avoid that but right now they are eighth with four clubs within three points of them. Tough days for Liverpool fans, but no more than Kenny Dalglish deserves.

Quite apart from it being Liverpool’s sixth defeat in seven games, the match was notable for its outrageous gamesmanship. The first incident was spotted by the referee. No surprise, as Andy Carroll’s dive was probably visible from outer space. Carroll got a yellow card. Later, Liverpool were denied a goal when Danny Simpson cleared of the line with his arm.

Then, in the 82nd minute, Newcastle fullback fouled Liverpool keeper Reina. The two faced up to each other, foreheads touching. Barely touching that is until Perch flew to the ground clutching his face. Now Reina was always going to be in trouble for pushing his head against Perch, but there’s no doubt that the Newcastle player acted to ensure the card was red. No way to make a living guys and no-one really deserved any points at all.

As my daughter would say, that was a mahoosive win for the Arsenal last night.  It may have been a bit short on style and reliant on a dreadful offside call, but it was a game where the only thing that mattered was the points.

With Spurs drawing and Chelsea losing, this was the chance to maintain momentum and move ahead.  One nil to the Arsenal was just the job.  For a long time Spurs were losing of course and it looked like the perfect evening until Bale and Van Der Vaart combined with some class to save them a point.  But hey, we’re third and they ain’t.  What’s not to like?

Arsene Wenger made a single change to the starting line-up, Ramsey in for Oxlade-Chamberlain.  Not sure why or, only having seen the highlights, what real effect it had.  The goal came from Vermaelen who lost his markers with a nice little looping run and headed in unchallenged from a corner.  That was less than ten minutes in and was as good as it got.

A rusty Ramsey missed a good chance and Van Persie hit the post and had at least one other chance.  Arsenal could’ve put the game to bed but didn’t manage it.  We also got a big slice of luck when Everton put the ball in the net and it was disallowed for offside. Royston Drenthe was actually a good two yards onside as Koscielny, I think, was slow stepping out.  Tough luck on Everton, but we’ve suffered in the past so there we go.  One nil to the Arsenal.

Getting the goal probably earned Vermaelen top spot in our man of the match poll with many fans not getting to see the game.

So, Arsenal win, Spurs draw and Chelsea lose.  Remember the gap?  We’re still in a three horse race for third and fourth of course, but now we’re leading it and the momentum is with us.  On Saturday we are at home to Villa whilst Chelsea and Spurs play each other.  If we get the win against Villa, this could be the week that turned the season round.

There still is a gap of course, sixteen points to the top two, but that’s the debt we ran up in August and September and there’s nothing we can do about that.  But considering we sank as low as seventeenth, and all the crap that was written back then, it’s looking pretty rosy now.

Seeing Liverpool throw away a two goal lead to lose 3:2 was just an extra bonus.  After the way he handled the Suarez incident, Kenny Dalglish doesn’t deserve anything to smile about.  Of course you can see why he was so desperate to defend Suarez, him and Gerrard are pretty much all he’s got.  Plenty of criticism was heaped on Arsene Wenger’s judgement, whilst Kenny shelled out for Andy ‘half season’ Carroll and Charlie ‘relegated with Blackpool’ Adam.  Keep a good look out for Swansea and Sunderland Kenny!

Sundays are bad enough for football, but I can’t stand this Monday night business.  I just feel cheated out of the traditional weekend highlight.  But I can just about cope if administered a dose Spurs Defeat.  Relieves all manner of mild disappointments!

With Spurs losing three in a row, we can go just one point behind them tonight and probably take Newcastle out of the race for third place as well.  I say probably because Spurs’ sudden loss of their healthy points advantage shows how things can rapidly change.

But if the game goes our way tonight, there will be three teams fighting it out for third who go into the next round of games on 53, 52 and 49 points.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  We must still beat Newcastle tonight and whilst they have lurched into some calamitous defeats, they have some dangerous attacking players that can hurt unwary opponents.

They rightly gave up Andy Carroll to a ludicrously high offer that any club would have been mad to turn down.  Hard to credit now that Kenny Dalglish shelled out £35million.  They then gambled on Demba Ba where other clubs feared for his fitness and it has paid off massively.  Ba is joint third in the list of Premier League scorers.  With him and Van Persie on the pitch you wouldn’t put money on a goalless draw.

Tiote and Cabaye are two midfielders who can really close up midfield space so Arsenal will need to move the ball quickly and work for each other off the ball in the same way they did against Milan and Spurs.  If we can do that from the start we can the pressure on Newcastle’s relatively weak back four and dominate the game.

Who will play for Arsenal?  Injury news seems to be good with Arteta and Ramsey both available.  Andre Santos is back in full training but obviously somewhat rusty after a few months out.  He may may the bench.  There’s a week before the next game so no big need for rotation.  Winning tonight would be be such a big psychological boost, for so much of this you would have laughed at the idea of us finishing third, so I expect Arsene Wenger will want a full-strength mixture.

He has talked over the weekend of taking care of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s still developing physique, so I expect we will see the Ox starting on the bench. Benayoun is an option out on the left, but my bet would be on Gervinho getting the start. He has been a bit pedestrian recently and some Arsenal bloggers have been on his case, but I think that is far too premature.  Players can go through rough patches and to suggest he is past it or was never really good enough is unfair at this stage.

So I expect us to be watching:

______ Szczesny _______
Sagna _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
________ Song ________
___ Arteta __ Rosicky ___
Walcott _ RVP __ Gervinho

Come on you Gunners!

A fortnight ago it was just a chance to keep the momentum going and keep station with our rivals. This weekend there is a place up for grabs, unless Liverpool can get a win away at Chelsea.

This is the state of play heading into the weekend:

Chelsea 11 9 22
Tottenham 10 6 22
Liverpool 11 4 19
Arsenal 11 2 19
(club,played,GD,points)

The key fixtures for us are spread over three days.

Sat – Norwich v Arsenal
Sun – Chelsea v Liverpool
Mon – Tottenham v Aston Villa

So Arsenal need to set the pace with a win on Saturday lunchtime in Norwich. Our form is mixed of course, a good run of wins now but just the one victory away from home. Norwich’s own form at home has been mixed but not disastrous. Two wins, two draws and defeat in the last five at Carrow Road. So Arsenal can’t afford any complacency. This needs to be another solid performance.

On Sunday, Liverpool go to Chelsea. Interesting! Two clubs that got good starts but had a bit of a wobble before this last break. Both have twelve points from their last six games. Both managers have been targets for football columnists – discussing whether they are really up to the job.

Can Chelsea’s creaking defence deal with Suarez and Carroll? Can Liverpool supply their forwards with enough of the ball? I think this one should be a home win, although not by much. Could just be my optimism, as that’s the result that surely moves Arsenal up a place. Mind you, longer term, a draw is the better result for us.

Then on Monday, Spurs at home to Villa. Spurs are on a roll at the moment and Villa haven’t won away, so I can’t see anything other than a home win for this one.

Fantasy Result - Arsenal win 8-0 and Liverpool scrape a win against Chelsea. Arsenal go fourth heading a group of four clubs on twenty-two points!

More likely result - Arsenal win and Liverpool lose. Arsenal edge another place forward after another ‘good day at the office’ performance.

What with the takeover and the tragic loss of Danny Fiszman, last weekend’s game seems a while ago now.  But it mattered a lot because we finally found our way to three points again.  Would’ve mattered a whole lot more if we’d done that the week before of course, but there we are.

This week we need to do it again against Liverpool who go about their business rather better than Blackpool.  They’re not at full strength: Gerrard, Agger and Johnson will all be missing, but with Carroll, Suarez and the industrious Dirk Kuyt they are definitely dangerous.

The injury news for Arsenal is quite good. Szczesny and Djourou may return and Song is definitely back.  Almunia’s knee or whatever still keeps him out so if Szczesny doesn’t make it then mad Uncle Jens will play again.

If it Lehman then I hope that Szczesny keeps his eyes and ears fixed on him to pick up how he takes charge.  Anyone in the wrong place, anyone who fails to pick up a runner, Jens makes sure they know about it.  But he also hands out praise as well.

Hopefully Djourou will make it, because asking Squillaci whether he wants to take Carroll or Suarez doesn’t sound like a question with a correct answer.  If it ends up having to be asked then it will have to be Carroll because Koscielny will need to take on the movement of Suarez.

The ninety minute threat of Dirk Kuyt, generally on the right, means that Clichy is going to need consistent help.  Which isn’t what you generally expect from Arshavin.  So, Nasri on the left?  Or even Gibbs, or is that too negative?

With Nasri, Arshavin, Walcott and Van Persie all available we’re probably not going to see Bendtner or Chamakh start.

There has been talk that both might leave the club this summer.  This is a tricky issue for Arsenal.  Playing the formation we do now, only one out and out striker will start.  But given the vulnerability of Van Persie to injury we need a good striker ready to step in.

Perhaps it has to be an older player like Berbatov at Man Utd?  Someone who isn’t worried that their future is being jeopardised by lack of time on the pitch.

Anyway, back to the Liverpool game.  Late fitness tests allowing I expect to see:

________ Szczesny ________
Eboue Djourou Koscielny Clichy
_______Song _ Wilshere ___
_________ Fabregas ______
Walcott _ Van Persie _ Nasri

What do you think?