Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Well we crept over the line in the end rather than a roaring finish.  But most important of all was that we did it at all.  Third, a place higher than last season.  But not a classic season by any means, more one of grinding attrition.

In the four decades that I have followed Arsenal, this has to be one of the more emotionally draining.  So many setbacks, so many last minute changes in fortune.  But we did it.  Despite being screwed over by Barca, we did it.  Despite our own management team’s indecision over Fabregas and Nasri we did it.  Despite the season long injury to Jack Wilshere, the loss of four fullbacks at the same time and then of Arteta for the final month and fourth becoming the new fifth, we did it.  But it was so close.

Arsene Wenger made three changes for the last game.  Sagna was out with a broken leg of course and to the surprise of many he went with Jenkinson.  But despite having had to change one of the back four he made another change by bringing in Santos for Gibbs.  Many had expected Coquelin to replace Sagna, but instead he came in for Ramsey.  One change resisted was Szczesny, despite an injury, who was kept going with painkillers.  But the most important change was probably a West Brom one, with keeper Ben Foster being replaced at the last minute by Marton Fulop.

Some would say that Fulop gifted all three of Arsenal’s goals, certainly he was at fault for the first and last.  Three minutes in, Benayoun took advantage of Fulop’s indecision over whether to kick or pick up the ball, nicked it away and put it in the empty net.  For a second we all sighed with relief.  We were going to be OK today.  A second later we all muttered the word ‘Norwich’ under our breath and that proved the correct reaction.

Soon West Brom had equalised and then gone two-one up.  Meanwhile, Spurs were beating Fulham.  Their first goal was offside.  But not outrageous, bizarrely given, how on earth is that a goal offisde.  Shane Long got in on goal mainly because no-one closed him or Morrison down.  The second was soft too, with Jenkinson and Koscielny uncertain who was taking on a long ball and leaving Graham Dorrans enough time to take it instead.  Two-one.  Bloody hell.

But thankfully we didn’t give up.  There were a lot of fairly ineffectual performances but Benayoun, Santos and Koscielny kept the show on the road.  The rest were struggling one way or another.  On the half hour, Santos got the ball from Song on the edge of the area and scored.  We were back level again.  Norwich we muttered, surely not again.

Just like the Norwich game we went back into the lead after Koscielny pounced on a hopeless Fulop punch.  Still thirty five minutes to go.  Felt like hours and hours and hours.  Szczesny made saves, we had occasional chance and Gibbs may well have saved our season with a last minute tackle.  It was one of those that had to perfect or it was a penalty.  Phew!

At the end of that three hour second half the fourth official called for five minutes overtime.  Haven’t a clue why, he must have been watching the City QPR game.  Five more minutes of hell and then it was over.  And we were third.  Amazing.  Not classy or memorable, not a Norwich rerun, but amazing.  Well done guys, just don’t do it that way again okay.  I’m feeling old this morning.

Benayoun and Koscielny led our match poll with Yossi the winner.  My choice was Santos, but I almost voted for Gibbs just for that tackle.  Between them they had enough in the tank to see us home.

Well done Gunners.  Mind the gap!

West Brom 2:3 Arsenal
Goals: Benayoun, Santos, Koscielny
Team: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Santos (Ramsey), Song, Rosicky (Walcott), Coquelin, Gervinho (Gibbs), Van Persie, Benayoun.

It doesn’t need to be said again why this one is important, vital, critical. Last chance etc. So who plays?

Two obvious issues: does Walcott play and who subs for Sagna? Theo Walcott apparently joined in with training again this week but it sounds very doubtful. He did his hamstring just two weeks ago so my guess is that he probably won’t make it. I assume that Benayoun will start so the question is – Gervinho or Oxlade-Chamberlain? I’m guessing Gervinho. He has struggled with his form, but to be honest if the Ox plays I think that it’s Ramsey who should lose out.

Who will replace Sagna, out now with a broken leg. Koscielny isn’t an option with no Mertesacker. When Sagna came off we had Coquelin and Djourou on the bench and Coquelin for the nod. So Coquelin or Jenkinson? Close call maybe, but I would go with Jenkinson. I’m no manager but I always reckon that if it’s a close call, go for playing someone in their right position.

So how about making our final gamble:
______ Szczesny ______
Jenk _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
________ Song ________
___ Rosicky __ AOC ____
Gervinho _ RVP _ Benayoun

What do you think?

Complacency against low ranked opposition, defensive mistakes, brave fight back, Van Persie goals, flashes of talent and a broken leg. Did it lack anything else typical of Arsenal.

Yossi Benayoun got a great goal in the second minute and I think the team thought they were home and hosed. But Norwich didn’t come to give up after two minutes and they quickly scored -twice. What were we thinking. We were all over the place. The midfield trio couldn’t keep the ball and the defence and keeper collectively forgot their business.

But eventually we fought our way back into it. Some bloke called Van Persie! That’s thirty Premier League goals. Fantastic. Three – Two. The relief! We’ve done it. Just got to see this out. Except that we didn’t set about seeing it out did we? No. You know the rest.

I could re-live more detail for you, but you know it and it’s just too depressing. To add to it all, Sagna got his leg broken again. Some are Twittering away about a deliberate stamp but I’m not so sure about that.

Arsene Wenger summed it up as well as you can, “It is more than frustrating because we were very poor in the first half, not switched on. We gave them a third goal in a situation that was absolutely unbelievable. In the end we got punished for our mistakes.

“We have to wait for the results to see where it leaves us. We knew that if we didn’t win, that would happen, that it’s not in our hands.”

On Bacary Sagna: “It’s the same leg. He was kicked on it, it has not happened alone. When he was kicked, he has broken the leg. The guy closed him down and walked on him. I don’t know if it was deliberate or not.”

All desperately disappointing stuff. We had it in our own hands and we threw it away. Now we are at the mercy of Spurs and Newcastle. Which isn’t a great place to be. By tomorrow night we could be fifth. More likely fourth I think, or maybe just hope. I think that City will beat Newcastle, but then I thought Chelsea were going to beat them as well. Tense day tomorrow.

Arsenal 3:3 Norwich City
Goals: Benayoun, Van Persie, Van Persie
Team: Szczesny, Sagna (Coquelin), Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Ramsey (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Rosicky, Gervinho, Van Persie, Benayoun (Chamakh)

Theo Walcott is a player transformed in recent weeks and says that the change is down to him finding a way to play without fear of injury.

“A few years ago I had shoulder injuries, ankle problems and back problems and that was just me learning the other side of the game.

“Now I am just going into games and enjoying myself, not being scared of anything. The manager always tells me not to be afraid going into tackles. I am a totally different Theo Walcott now.”

I think that Walcott’s performance level has always been dominated by his confidence. The most visible turning point was during the last Spurs game where early on we saw what we recognised as typical Theo. A great chance to score spurned in favour of a pass to Van Persie who was in a worse position to shoot. And not a great pass either. But as the game went on and the whole team found its confidence, Theo was a different player and went on to score two good goals.

He’s on eleven goals now this season and almost as many assists. His relationship with Van Persie is growing stronger with the two combining perfectly against Wolves to create both the penalty situation and the second goal.

I don’t think this improvement is just down to losing a fear of injury though. I think that it is just one of three reasons why he is flying now. The return of Bacary Sagna to the team after injury has also had a big influence. Walcott is not a great defender, despite making more effort in this area over the last couple of seasons. His small size doesn’t help either. Without a decent fullback behind him I think he feels constrained, perhaps worried about the stick he would get if he left the right flank exposed. But with Sagna there, that fear is massively reduced and Walcott is set free to do what he does best.

There is a third factor too I suspect. The rapid development of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has given Walcott a big hurry up. The emergence of a player with the potential to take his place, though with a different playing style, delivered a powerful message: this is your moment mate, take it or lose it!

Walcott’s improvement has been part of the whole team lifting themselves up a level. Van Persie has rightly taken most of the credit and his goal tally this season is fantastic, but the whole team has hauled itself back from the abyss.

A year ago we were all desperate for Arsenal to buy a new keeper. Not an issue now. The choice of any two from Vermaelen, Koscielny and Mertesacker has given us more solidity at the back. Gibbs has played more games and shown why Wenger had faith in him. Sagna’s return from injury, and determination to score the first goal against Spurs, gives us more attacking options.

In the midfield, a fit Tomas Rosicky has had more starts than any previous season and now supplies the urgency and intelligence that he was bought for. Arteta provides a calm consistency.

Then, of course, there is Robin Van Persie. Fit for a season he has delivered rather than just promised. It’s been a great improvement right across the team to get us into third place after Barcelona’s tactics and the Arsenal Board’s indecision wrecked the pre-season preparations.

We’re not where we need to be yet. We haven’t been title contenders and we’ve only really performed in one competition. But if we hold third we will have built a platform for a real challenge next season. Guaranteed Champions League status will make the summer easier for transfer and contract negotiations.

Fingers crossed, five games to go. Come on Arsenal!

Now that was a game. Except for the first fifteen minutes of the second half, we dominated from start to finish. And yet for a long time it looked like it wasn’t going to be rewarded. But finally Arteta stole the ball and ran into enough space to line up a great shot and score.

Before that we hit the post several times and had a crazy goalmouth scramble where the ball travelled the whole width of the goal before being cleared. Early on, a Van Persie header hit Vermaelen and bounced away.

Through the game the midfield belonged to Arteta, Rosicky and Song. For the first twenty minutes, City could barely touch the ball. It’s hard to say which of the three played best as they all put in such a terrific effort. The three of them dominated our Man of the Match Poll, with goal scorer Arteta topping the votes.

Gibbs and Sagna exploited tons of space left by a narrow City defence. Early on Ya Ya Toure hobbled off after what looked like a fairly light challenge from Song. Mancini took the opportunity to reshape his midfield, which helped but didn’t regain them the initiative.

The main talking point was how long big kid Balotelli would stay on the pitch as it seed that every one of his tackles was led stud first. His worst was a high one on Song, just below the knee. The referee didn’t see it, but the FA might take a look. After the game, a fed up Mancini actually seemed to encourage them to do it. Eventually Balotelli picked up two yellows and trudged off.

Whilst Balotelli was bonkers, the rest of his teammates looked beaten from the start, Kompany and Hart excepted. They looked like they were still on the case. Kompany was fantastic. He has a great knack of knowing where the trouble is and was a big part of why it was just one nil.

Arsenal were great as a team with everyone pulling their weight. Benayoun made a rare start and put in a big shift all over the pitch. The three subs, Santos, AOC and Ramsey didn’t make a huge impact. Santos looked very rusty, I hope whatever ailed Gibbs isn’t serious. Santos picked up an early yellow, but fortunately he didn’t have to do too much defending. Fortunately, because in his time out injured he seems to have got a little vague on both ‘left’ and ‘back’!

The other worry, apart from Gibbs early departure, was Koscielny picking up a tenth yellow and therefore a two match ban. At least it’s against Wolves and Wigan and he will be back for Chelsea. One more game and he would have reached the end of season cut-off and safety!

With Mertesacker out injured, his replacement isn’t easy. Squillaci or Miquel? Arsene Wenger could drop Song into the back four, but with Frimpong and Coquelin crocked there isn’t a straightforward replacement as defensive midfielder.

But for a couple of days we can rest easy, celebrating a good win that was more comprehensive than the one nil suggests. Back into third too! It’s still tight out there after our Loftus Road slip, but job well done today.

First, the more important news that Fabrice Muamba is showing very positive signs of recovery.  A huge number of football fans, regardless of the club they support, have clearly been following every news bulletin with concern for Fabrice.  It sounds very good at the moment but he will still have some way to go.  Good luck Fabrice.

Back at Arsenal there was the usual update on squad fitness with few surprises. Squillaci returns to fitness as, more importantly, does Andre Santos.  The Brazilian played a reserve game last week with no problems and is available for selection.

Abou Diaby played most of a reserve game last night and scored a goal. Apparently he also hobbled around with an ankle problem for a while as well.  Business as usual then!  Actually the report I read didn’t suggest the ankle injury was serious.  But then this is Diaby, so we ought wish the poor guy some luck.  But he obviously wasn’t going to feature tonight anyway.

Francis Coquelin is a couple of weeks away from fitness and there is nothing new to say on Wilshere (April a possibility), Frimpong or Mertesacker (season over for both).

All of which suggests an unchanged line-up for the Everton game tonight.  The squad hasn’t played for a week, so there’s no need for rotation.  Everton away is tough, so I would expect any changes to be for the home game against Villa rather than this one.

So, still expecting to watch:

_______ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
_________ Song __________
____ Arteta ___ Rosicky ___
Walcott ____ RVP ____ AOC

Everton will be without Gibson and possibly Rodwell too.  But their main threat of Baines and Pienaar down the left will be there.  Good job we have Bacary Sagna back as he will have to play a big part tonight.  Their striker Jelavic seems to be quite useful too and will need tracking into box.  The Croatian forward got the winner against Spurs and we certainly don’t want to suffer the same fate.  If we can neutralise those threats we should pull off a win.

Finally, goal.com report that Robin Van Persie will be in the final year of his contract this summer.  Hands up at the back if you hadn’t picked up on that already!

Come on you Gunners!

Well that was hard work but so satisfying at the finish.  Newcastle came with a good plan and nearly pulled it off. Tiote and Cabaye worked hard to close down midfield space.  Ba and Ben Arfa surged into the box when they could.  But mostly they couldn’t because Arsenal put in one of their best team performances of the season.

Plenty has been written about Robin Van Persie, and we can’t deny how crucial he is, but last night was about Arsenal the team.  They all worked and worked. Arteta, Song and Rosicky worked so hard to overcome the stifling midfield.  They were patient too, going back to Vermaelen and Koscielny when they had to in order to keep possession.  And did they keep possession!  For a lot of the game Arsenal had the ball 70% of the time, Tim Krul for 20% of the time and Newcastle’s outfield players for the rest.

Sagna and Walcott had the beating of starting leftback Santon all the first half.  At the break Newcastle swapped him for Perch who did better but still couldn’t keep Walcott out.  It was definitely one of Walcott’s best performances. I know he sees himself as a striker, but last night he was a great winger.  He combined perfectly with Sagna and really delivered final passes that made a difference.  He had a role in both goals and set up plenty more chances as well.  He won our man of the match poll.

Rosicky had another great game (and was second choice for man of the match), though perhaps looked a little less energetic than recently.  Perhaps that was just because the Newcastle midfield kept pressing.

Until recently, the sight of Arsenal conceding the first goal would fill you with dread.  But now it means a quick glance at the clock to see how much time they’ve got left to work with.  Because this Arsenal team now seems to want a win no matter what.  We set a strange record last night.  First Premier League team to win four consecutive games despite going behind in each.

Obviously it would be better not to concede so many opening goals, but it says a massive amount about the ‘never say die’ attitude the team has developed.  The sort of attitude that had Thomas Vermaelen sprint the length of the pitch to put the last minute winner in from three yards out.  Arsenal so badly wanted that winner, right in the dying seconds, that despite two forwards leaping and missing the cross we had another two free players in the box to take it on.  Brilliant determination.  It’s the sort of commitment that we’ve grudgingly admired in the likes of Manchester United and I love it as much as the silky smooth stuff.  Earlier this season, some fans moaned that we lacked the pride and grit of Adams, Keown, Parlour etc. and they had a point.  Not last night.

So, what was that about minding the gap?  Twelve points did you say?  I don’t quite remember.  The gap now is behind Arsenal and Chelsea, back to Liverpool and Newcastle.  Things could still change, but it’s shaping up for a three-way fight for third and fourth.  Arsenal just need to prepare for every game like it’s the final decider of the season and we’ll see which of the three teams cracks.  On the evidence of last night it won’t be Arsenal.

Arsenal put on a powerful and stylish performance last night which maintains the momentum of the games against Spurs and Liverpool.  We came so close to pulling it off, but in the end it wasn’t quite enough to overcome the lapse at the San Siro.

Through the first half we could all believe in a miracle as we steadily got to three, playing with such pace and determination.  Thanks to the whole team pressing hard and fast whenever we lost the ball, we were able to play high up the pitch and dominate the game.

In the second half though we couldn’t keep it up.  The players began to tire and Milan worked harder to close the midfield gaps.  Oxlade-Chamberlain and then Walcott picked up injuries and the momentum faltered.  If only we could have had Arteta, Diaby, Ramsey or Wilshere at that point.

So we went out.  But step back from that, we blew this tie back in February, and celebrate the fact that we beat AC Milan 3:0.  Ibrahimovic, Robinho and co came with a four goal advantage and just clung on.

Spurs 5:2, Liverpool 2:1, AC Milan 3:0.  That’s a classy set of results.  Arsenal had lots of stars last night.  In fact Gervinho stood out for being just a bit normal!  Robin Van Persie gets all the coverage at the moment, and he is having the best season of his career, but there are other stars too.

This is the most influential season that Tomas Rosicky has had for Arsenal.  He won our man of the match poll again last night.  His tenacity and determination to get the ball moving forward make a big difference.  Ramsey has a bit more pace and the same intent, but at the moment Rosicky has the experience to be more effective with the ball.

Having Sagna back gives us more attacking options as well, whilst on the other side of the pitch Gibbs is growing up fast.  He has lapses, but he is still very young and shows massive potential.

Song was fantastic last night, continually closing down Milan players and winning the ball back.  He carries it forward too, gaining ground as well as possession.

In the end the fact that our bench lacked the four injured midfielders and a potent alternative forward meant that we didn’t have the right fresh legs to do it.  But what a fantastic effort.

It seems that Arsene Wenger may be in trouble today for criticizing the referee.  He was pretty hopeless.  Quite why he took so long to award the penalty is beyond me and everyone else.  He also missed a deliberate, cynical body check by Mexes that flattened Vermaelen.  No freekick or card and he even urged Vermaelen to go over and shake Mexes hand.

His most comically poor moment was a freekick that obviously hit Song in the wall and went out for what should have been a Milan corner.  But he awarded a goalkick and added insult by booking a Milan player for dissent.  I think that Arsene Wenger was probably complaining about Milan’s time wasting, but in truth we would have done the same.

The likes of Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson are frequently in trouble for abusing referees.  They are all bad losers, but they wouldn’t be top managers if losing didn’t burn them so deeply.

Anyway, enough of the referee, well done Arsenal!

Winning the games you don’t deserve.  That’s what it takes to stay at the top end of the league.  In the first half against Liverpool we needed stacks of luck to stay in the game.  We were really clinging on.

The Arsenal team looked knackered and uninspired, particularly in midfield.  We were being over-run.  But we were clinging on and it took a mistake from Koscielny to get Liverpool their goal.

They had already had a chance to go one up by then of course when Suarez went down and Halsey gave a penalty.  Did Szczesny actually make contact with Suarez?  A lot of neutrals are saying yes but I’m still not convinced.  It looks like Szczesny is pulling his leg back away from Suarez when he goes down.  Plus Suarez had already launched himself into space before any contact could have happened anyway.  In the end it didn’t matter as Szczesny pulled off a magnificent double save to keep Kuyt’s penalty out.

That save, and a string of others earned Szczesny most people’s vote in our man of the match poll.

But thanks to Sagna and Van Persie we levelled the score and got to half time.  As Arsene Wenger said, we were lucky not to be two or three down.  It’s great to have Bacary Sagna back, a crucial goal and two assists already.  That’s what we missed having to play central defenders as fullbacks.

In the second half we were better.  Not brilliant, but better.  Suarez didn’t get as much of the ball.  We got fresh legs from Gervinho and Oxlade-Chamberlain.  But the whole team raised their game.

It looked like a draw was the best we could do, and it was more than we deserved.  But then, thanks to two great bits of skill, we took the lot.  A great pass from Alex Song was inch perfect for the running Van Persie, outflanking the Liverpool defence.  He smacked it past Reina first time on the volley.  Great skill, like his goal against Everton.

After the game Van Persie said we didn’t deserve to win, which is exactly why players like him are worth what they are.  Also after the game, Arsene Wenger said the club will do what it needs to in order to keep Robin.  I hope so, but first on the list isn’t the cash, it’s being able to offer Champions League football and that is beginning to look a whole lot more plausible than it did a month ago.

During the game we had a little cameo from Diaby who showed us a little flash of why Arsene Wenger persists in the hope that he can return to full fitness.  n the twenty minutes before his hamstring tightened he showed how he can cover the ground box to box, how he can move off the ball to help a pressurised team-mate find a pass and how he can start attacks.

The potential of the guy is obvious, but after twenty minutes so was the problem.  I wish him good luck, but sometimes staying in the top end of the league has to be a ruthless business and you’ve got to think that Arsenal need to find someone who does what he does without the fragility.

So, Arsenal win ugly.  Even better, Chelsea screw up against West Brom.  So now we are clearly in fourth with three points rather than goal difference or goals scored between us and Chelsea.  Slowly we have taken a better grip on our chance of securing that Champions League spot.

It seems to have come at a cost though.  Arteta, Benayoun, Diaby and Gibbs all got injured.  Who will be fit for Tuesday?  Are just kidding ourselves that it matters?

We’ll see.  Just for now I’ll settle for celebrating fourth place with a bit of breathing space.  Oh, and Kenny Dalgleish having nothing to smile about.  He forfeited that big time over the way he handled the Suarez and racism issue.

It would be nice to claim that I knew we could do it.  But I must confess that I was a pessimist yesterday morning.  The terrible, effort-free performance at the San Siro and the downward momentum from going out of the FA Cup as well left me very fearful.

Strangely, that feeling began to lift even before we scored.  OK so the first goal was soft, Vermaelen’s defensive colleagues had left him with the impossible task of covering two advancing forwards single-handed, but it was clear that Arsenal really had come to play.  Tottenham had the run of the first ten minutes, but not over the Arsenal team of Milan or Sunderland.

At one-nil down I was even wondering if I could feel good about a narrow defeat if it was accompanied by signs of regained fight and skill.  As it was the North London Derby I swiftly pushed such soft thoughts out my head, of course it would still hurt in the morning.  But such were the hopeful signs that it did cross my mind.

After the first goal we stepped up our attacks rather than fold and Spurs’ second goal was against a turning tide.  And it was never a penalty!  I really don’t think that either Gibbs or Szczesny brought Bale down.  Mike Dean gave the penalty immediately, but then seemed uncertain what to do next.  If it was a penalty then surely someone had stopped a clear foal-scoring opportunity?  Surely someone had to get a red card?  Dean consulted his assistant for a long time.  What were they talking about?

It was one of those occasions when you wished you could hear, rugby style.  Clearly the assistant couldn’t tell Dean which player had felled Bale, because no card followed.  Did he even agree that it was a penalty?

Anyway, Tottenham were two goals to the good and Adebayor was obviously enjoying his birthday.  But not for a lot longer, because despite being two goals down, Arsenal were now flying and creating chance after chance.

Perhaps being two goals down rather than one actually helped.  The Arsenal players had nothing to lose now but their souls.  There were some frustrating moments though.  Walcott burst through on goal brilliantly with a fantastic burst of pace and then wimped out of the responsibility of shooting, passing to Van Persie who was surrounded by three defenders.  Rosicky had a great flicked on header superbly saved by Friedel.

A lovely ball from Walcott slipped Van Persie into the box and he hit the post.  Surely all this pressure had to pay off?  It did, Van Persie was still picking himself up while Gibbs and Arteta rescued possession and fed the ball back into the box for Bacary Sagna to head home.  Fantastic.  Even more fantastic, Sagna picks up the ball and sprints back to the centre spot.  He hadn’t come here to lose to Spurs.

More pressure, more chances and then, out of nothing much, a beautiful curling shot from Van Persie beats Friedel and we’re level.  We might even have gone into half-time ahead, but it was progress enough.  Spurs player’s heads were dropping and their fans were stunned.

Sagna and Van Persie may gave been the scorers but the pressure was created by Song, Arteta, Benayoun and most of all Rosicky.  They dominated midfield and were unrelenting in closing down, tackling and feeding the ball forward again.

Redknapp certainly noticed, swapping a striker for another midfielder at the break but it made no difference.  It was all Arsenal after the that.  Soon Rosicky got his just reward with his first goal in two decades or something and no-one deserved it more.  Tomas Rosicky was our overwhelming choice as Man of the Match – over 70% of the vote in our poll.  Spurs were beaten from that point.  Nothing left.

Theo Walcott, his mind now cleared of self-doubt surged and shot at goal again and again getting two.  It seems to be all about confidence with Theo.  Once he found it, Spurs couldn’t handle him.  They couldn’t handle anything by that stage.  The substitutes had no impact and their play became more ragged.

Scott Parker lunged in on Vermaelen and knew immediately that he was off.  We might have had more but who care.  FIVE – TWO to the Arsenal.

It was one of those unforgettable games that we will think back to for years.  I’m guessing that the White Hart Lane shop won’t be doing a special DVD this time! Maybe just a replica of Bale’s Oscar.

Who cares that it’s Monday morning, nothing can go wrong today!

We will return to earth at some point, we are still clinging on to fourth by just goals scored and we have Liverpool away next week.  But time enough to think on that one later – we ARE fourth and we beat Spurs FIVE -TWO.

Now, what time does my Spurs supporting colleague get to work?  I promise not to be any harsher than his text at 2:0!