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?

We play first in the penultimate round of Premier League matches – at home against Norwich tomorrow lunchtime. With one point separating us from Spurs and Newcastle there is no room for error. We need the three points and if we get them it throws the pressure back on to the other two for their games on Sunday.

Spurs go to Villa and you would have to expect them to win. The big one is Newcastle v Man City. I still see City getting this, despite Newcastle’s win at Stamford Bridge. But before all that we have to nail those three points against Norwich.

There’s nothing new on the injury other than the confirmation that Diaby will not be fit enough to make the squad. So I expect that goalkeeper, back four, Song, Rosicky and Van Persie are already written on the team sheet. That leaves three starting places to fill. Last match these went to Ramsey, Benayoun and Gervinho.

All three did OK against Stoke with Ramsey having a much better game and Gervinho showing more life than he has in other games since his trip to the African Cup of Nations. All three were subbed though as we went in search of a winner. Of the three I think the most likely starter is Benayoun. Experience counts at a time like this if the legs are willing.

Gervinho or Oxlade-Chamberlain? Close call, but again I see same starter. When Ramsey was subbed last time, he was replaced by Diaby. Not an option this time of course. The only real alternative would be to bring in Coquelin and allow Song more leeway to get forward.

This is all a long way of saying I expect an unchanged starting line-up of:
_______ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
________ Song ________
__ Rosicky __ Ramsey ___
Gervinho _ RVP _ Benayoun

But like last time I wouldn’t be surprised to see three subs used in this game too. Legs get heavy late in the season and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santos and Coquelin are all capable of playing in more than one position.

Norwich have lost their last three. We’ve had one defeat and two draws. Norwich cannot be relegated and cannot win any greater reward this season than they have now. We need to win. Come on you Gunners!

Monday night was a double whammy.  Not only did a slack opening ten minutes cost us three vital points, but the news so far on Arteta’s ankle is not good.  The club are still to make any comments after a scan, but what’s been said so far doesn’t sound very hopeful.

Arsene Wenger said,  “It looks quite a serious one.  We have to scan it tomorrow, it is too early to say tonight.  But it doesn’t look a little ankle sprain.  It is a serious one.”

That is bad news with four games to go in what could be an incredibly tight finish to the season.  If we cautiously assume that our three rivals get three points from the game in hand they all have, then the current situation is: Arsenal 64, Spurs 62, Newcastle 62, Chelsea 60.

Next up for Arsenal is Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime.  Hopefully they will have endured a gruelling Barcelona game by then but, as Johann Djourou rightly says, we cannot rely on that.

“They still want to have Champions League football next season as well so we know it is going to be a tough game.”

“Obviously they have a lot of fixtures, the two Barcelona games are [either side of Saturday's derby] but we don’t really concentrate on that.  We have to be focused on our game and be focused on what we do best.”

Now by Saturday we could have a more regular back four in place with Koscielny returning from suspension and maybe Gibbs back too.  But Arteta is a big loss.  His experience has brought so much calm professionalism to our midfield that we cannot completely replace.

Who should take up his slot?  The options are Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Diaby and Coquelin.  The first two are definitely fit and available.  The second two are just returning from injury, reportedly rejoining squad training this week.

So the chances are it’s Rambo or the Ox on Saturday.  I think both potentially have big futures, but Oxlade-Chamberlain isn’t the finished article and Ramsey hasn’t shown particularly good form of late.  He also has a section of Arsenal fans on his back, which I think unfair.  The resurgence of Rosicky this season has deprived him of time on the pitch and when he had played it has often been out of position out wide on the left.

But fair or not it is still an issue and it gives Arsene Wenger a tough call to make on Saturday.  Which will he pick?  What would you do?

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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!

You kind of feel that the fantastic result achieved last Saturday afternoon deserves greater reward than to keep us exactly where we were in the league – fourth by virtue not of points or even goal difference but on goals scored. But that’s the tight spot we’re in and, unless Chelsea completely implode, it could be that tight to the end.

So the reward Arsenal get for coming back from 2:0 down to win 5:2 is the fact that it’s worthwhile pulling off the same success tomorrow. Hopefully without the 2:0 down bit!

Here’s how its stands:

Tomorrow we go away to Liverpool at lunchtime and Chelsea go to West Brom in the afternoon. Spurs host Manchester United on Sunday. So basically we’re still where we were last week. Chelsea have the easier game and we have to assume they will win. We have the tougher game that we have to win to stay on the pace.

We’re still waiting on fitness reports for Rosicky and Koscielny, with the former being the most doubtful. That could mean a second consecutive start for Yossi Benayoun. Vermaelen also took a knock against Spurs of course thanks to that crunching tackle from new England captain Scott Parker. Perhaps it made all the difference in Stuart Pearce’s eyes! But Vermaelen played 90 minutes for Belgium ob Wednesday.

Hopefully that’s a sign of his fitness rather Belgium’s misjudgement. If not we’re a little bit thin at the back again with Djourou and Squillaci unfit. I guess it would be a choice of Song or Miquel. But with no Coquelin or Frimpong, Song would be missed in midfield.

Liverpool are missing Agger through injury, so Van Persie can look forward to the tight embrace of Jamie Carragher. I’ve never understood how Carragher gets away with handling his opponents so much. They may also be missing Gerrard, but that isn’t confirmed as yet.

Should be a good game with both sides coming off the back of a success, though hopefully Liverpool’s struggle to overcome Cardiff is a good sign for us.

Probable team? Hopefully -

_______ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Kos_ Verm _ Gibbs
________ Song ________
__ Arteta __ Benayoun __
Walcott _ RVP _ Gervinho

Come on you Gunners!

There’s plenty of ranting and raving amongst Arsenal fans this morning which isn’t surprising or even unwarranted. Some of the stuff is a bit unreal, but that’s true every day now!

What we have left now is the fight for fourth. It’s achievable, but at the moment we have a downward momentum that will be difficult to turn round. I hope that the home crowd can try and play a part in that, as well as the team and management.

The game against Sunderland was always going to be tough after Wednesday and started of course with another defensive reorganization. Koscielny and Gibbs will hopefully be our for just the one game because our patchwork back four only survived about ten minutes before Coquelin was helped off clutching his hamstring. On came Sebastien Squillaci. He hasn’t played in ages and it showed as he misjudged the flight of the ball and struggled to stay goal-side of Sessignon.

He must so regret his move to Arsenal. He had a solid reputation where he was and things didn’t start to badly. But now he lacks confidence and pitch time. And as fourth or fifth choice he inevitably only plays when Arsenal are up against it.

Yesterday we weathered an early onslaught but never really found a rhythm. We could have had a penalty, but we could have conceded one too. We were found out by two determined goals that both went it off our own players. Neither was the fault of the player involved, but it just seemed to some up where we are at the moment. As on Wednesday, the response to going behind was to drop Van Persie a bit deeper and put someone in ahead of him. Henry on Wednesday. Walcott this time. Didn’t work this time either. Neither really got into the game.

That doesn’t mean two strikers isn’t the answer. It’s just that at the moment it seems like a last gasp panic measure. And I’m not sure that Theo makes a great point-man. If this is plan B, then how about:
_______ Song ______
AOC _ Arteta _ Gervinho
_______ Van Persie __
____Chamakh _______

I know Chamakh hasn’t impressed but he has only played bits of games and he is probably more of a threat in the middle than Walcott. He can use his head too, which would give us variety.

But the main thing we need now is heart, in big measures. Last year, going out of the cups put us in a real spin, but we clung on to that Champions League place. Now we have to do the same, despite more teams in the mix this time. The rest of the season looks like a mini-league of Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool. The other three have their troubles too, but it’s going to be a big challenge.

Come on Arsenal.

So yesterday Arsene Wenger locked the team in to tell them exactly what he thought of the performance on Wednesday night. Probably just the right thing to do, but he must of thought quite hard about how to play it with the next crucial game coming up so soon.

This is a big game now. If we hadn’t been so abysmal on Wednesday we might be discussing a relatively relaxed approach to the FA Cup, firmly of the view that the Premier and Champions League are what we are really about.

But that would be a dangerous approach now. At times like this it’s about momentum. As we found out too painfully last season, if you pick up too much speed running down hill it gets hard to stop. Barring a miracle we went out of the Champions League on Wednesday. Tomorrow we really need to stay in the FA Cup.

If we don’t, we will be in a very bad place mentally for the next game against the best Spurs side in twenty years – defending fourth spot. We are only in fourth on goals scored. Bloody hell this post is getting depressing.

Who should play then? Obviously Koscielny is out and Henry departed, but Gervinho has returned. Will he go straight back in. No-one who played on Wednesday really distinguished themselves although Van Persie saw so little of the ball the he had no real chance.

None of them could complain if they were dropped and some will be, but I’m not sure that this is the moment for wholesale change. It’s more a case of players going out there and restoring their professional reputation. Which is probably why Arsene Wenger decided that letting fly with both barrels was the way to go yesterday.

I’m guessing that Djourou will have to partner Vermaelen in the centre of defence rather than Squillaci or Miquel. The next most likely change is Gervinho for Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain. Neither were great on Wednesday, but AOC probably showed the most grit of the two.

The other possible change I guess is to use Coquelin somewhere in midfield.

I not going to predict a team at this stage. This is mainly going to be about mental strength and what Arsene Wenger saw in each of their faces after he told them the facts of life in short easy to understand words.

Can’t help feeling that these next two games are our season now. Come on Arsenal!

No big surprises in the Arsenal squad that travelled to Milan.

Goalkeepers
Lukasz Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny
Defenders
Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen
Midfield
Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Alex Song
Forwards
Andrey Arshavin, Thierry Henry, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott

Yesterday Arsene Wenger spent a lot of time saying nothing decisive about whether Gibbs will start. On the one hand it’s the natural thing to do but on the other it would be the San Siro for first game back etc.

But he did also talk about Vermaelen being more natural in a central role. He hasn’t taken Miquel to Milan, so if it isn’t Gibbs or Vermaelen then Sagna or Coquelin are is going to have to play wrong-footed if you see what I mean. I suspect that Arsene Wenger does know what he’s going to do but is happy to keep Milan guessing about any area of uncertainty he can get away with. I think Gibbs will start.

If Milan have weaknesses they are generally reckoned to be a lack of pace and width. If the plan really is to get after Milan from the start then that’s got to be an argument for both Gibbs and Oxlade-Chamberlain getting a start.

It would be good to see Arsenal with two genuine fullbacks again. That isn’t a criticism of all the players who’ve been plugging the gap: Coquelin, Djourou, Koscielny, Miquel and Vermaelen. But none of them are really fullbacks and it’s had a noticeable affect the way Arsenal get forward.

I hope we’ll see Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain making surging runs into the box. I know that Blackburn and AC Milan don’t belong in the same sentence, but the pace and width we employed in that game showed how we can make the players we’ve got more dangerous.

I think that a confident and determined Arsenal can come away from tonight with an away goal and a result.

Come on you Gunners!

Well that feels a lot better of course, though the toothless Bolton game still does my head in.  Look where we could be!  Anyway, back to the good news.

After a run of Sunday games we were first up for a change with a lunchtime kick-off. Our rivals are all still to play.  What a game it was.  Same squad as Bolton but Coquelin and Rosicky started rather than Sagna and Ramsey.  Sensible changes.  Ramsey has looked jaded of late and Sagna is coming back from a long lay-off.  On Wednesday of course the whole team looked jaded.  Not yesterday.

In less than two minutes Walcott set up Van Persie for a tap-in.  Confidence flooding all around.  Arsenal in control, on a stroll, not going to blow this one!  But then Koscielny pulls down Modeste just outside the box.  Pedersen’s freekick was inch perfect and Blackburn were level.  Surely we weren’t going to blow it again?

Despite getting level, Blackburn just didn’t seem to have it in them to take advantage.  So Walcott and Van Persie went and did exactly the same. 2:1.

That was the game for Blackburn then.  They had nothing left and the stage was set for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first Premier League goal.  Set-up by Van Persie with a fantastic pass onto a clever run from Chamberlain.  With composure he took three touches to collect the ball, get some room and then score.  3:1

As Arsene Wenger said after the game, Chamberlain has made a very rapid transition from youth player to confident first-teamer.  I’m not always a big fan of Mark Lawrenson’s punditry, but he was spot-on last night about AOC: what marks him out already is that he has a bit of everything.

Explosive pace to lose opponents, head up early to read the game, intelligent runs, strength to stay on the ball under pressure, composure to finish.

We all rolled our eyes in the summer didn’t we?  There goes Arsenal blowing a thick wad on a teenager when we need maturity.  Well we were right but so was he! Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a major signing for Arsenal.  He’s currently leading our match poll.

Today the pace and movement of Ox and Walcott either side of the sublime Van Persie looked unstoppable.  OK, so we can’t play Blackburn every week, but it looked fresh and dangerous.  Running into the box scares the hell out of defenders good and bad.

Blackburn were dead now but not content to let Arsenal to do all the burying!  A desperate two-footed lunge from Givet on Van Persie earned him a straight red.  All this and the second half still to come.

The second half was more one-way traffic.  Arteta collected a loose ball from a corner and forced a goal through a deflection.  4:1

Then a great run from Walcott sets up AOC for his second.  5:1.

Another hat-trick for Robin Van Persie.  Very similar to the first two, but this time the pass came from Coquelin.  You could call them all tap-ins, but that takes something away from Van Persie.  He has that talent to check and dart that loses his markers and gives him space to receive the ball and score.  6:1

Now the most curious bit of the game.  We’re 6:1 up and RVP, without whom our season etc etc, has already suffered a couple of crunching tackles.  He can surely come off can’t he?  No he can’t!

Sagna, Henry and Benayoun come on, but Van Persie stays put.  Just how big a cushion is needed to let Park Ju-Young give Van Persie a early finish?  Clearly Arsene Wenger doesn’t rate him highly, but really, just how bad can he be?  If a five goal lead against ten isn’t safe enough, there have to be other players in the squad who can sit on the bench don’t there?

Anyway, the game was nearly done.  It just had enough in it to let Henry play one-two with Van Persie and score number seven.  Bit of a lucky defection true, but he worked hard to win the ball and get there so he deserved the goal.  7:1, majestic, emphatic, about time!

Now we can relax and watch our rivals play later.  Dream results would be losses for Chelsea and Newcastle against Man Utd and Aston Villa respectively.  Both possibilities!  Then tomorrow Tottenham play Liverpool.

So potential to improve our standing having finally got it right yesterday.  All good.