Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Last summer was a nightmare. Arsenal prevaricated all summer over Fabregas and Nasri. Then, because we had finished fourth, we had to wait until the Champions League qualifying round was done until we could buy players. By which time we had dropped eight out of a possible nine points and been humiliated at Old Trafford. Such was our season handicapped.

Fortunately, when we did get to play the market on the last day, it went pretty well: Arteta, Benayoun, Mertesacker, Park and Santos. Five players signed as the window closed and four of them have had a positive impact on the team. Park remains a mystery but given the circumstances it was a lot better than it might have been. The real difference though was the likes of Van Persie, Rosicky, Koscielny and Szczesny taking a big step forward.

But for all that recovery though, we face the prospect of the same sort of summer. Fail to beat West Brom of Sunday and we face the same doubts over re-signing key players and, potentially, the same wait for transfers.

West Brom v Arsenal (67)
Tottenham (66) v Fulham
Everton v Newcastle (65)

A draw and we can’t be worse than fourth. A win and we can’t be worse than third.

West Brom’s form at home: won 6, drawn 3, list 9.
West Brom’s last six at home: WWLWWD

That’s good form for a club of West Brom’s financial clout. But, frankly, this isn’t about West Brom’s form. It’s about what goes on inside the Arsenal players’ heads. Treat this game right and Arsenal are way ahead of West Brom. Play like we did against Norwich and West Brom will take advantage.

I don’t know how much more motivation do they need?

In so many ways this is a season that Gooners will want to consign to history. The dreadful summer preparations. The dire opening games. The humiliation at Old Trafford. And yet for shear nail-biting tension this season will be hard to beat.

I feared for Jeff Stelling’s heart yesterday, goodness knows how worked up he’s going to be next Sunday. Every reward the Premier league has is still to be decided. Two of the relegation slots still to be decided. Compulsive stuff.

Now that City have done their job against Newcastle we are obviously less interested in their progress. The amazing thing is that Arsenal still have something to be interested in. On Saturday night there wasn’t an Arsenal fan who thought we hadn’t blown it. Now it’s the Spurs’ fans turn to feel the same.

But even now, there’s everything to play for. We could still come anywhere from third to sixth on goal difference. We could finish higher than last season or be out of European competition altogether.

I mention finishing higher than last season because that will be some achievement. An achievement that some Arsenal fans will not regard as good enough. Personally, afters the events of last August I will regard it as absolutely amazing!

Some fans are seriously suggesting that finishing fifth or sixth would be a blessing in disguise. Damn good disguise I think. Take a look at Liverpool. Getting back into the top four would be very difficult and it will have a big impact on the players we need to keep and bring in. I can’t help thinking that the urge for a cathartic experience is a naive.

In a way, our cathartic experience was this season. Could we exist without Cesc. Fortunately we just about could, thanks largely to Van Persie, Arteta and Rosicky. I’m not trying to do a spin job for the current set-up. Nobody who saw the Norwich game could. There is plenty to do at Arsenal. We have players who aren’t going to make it. Many of them are out on loan. Arsenal have got into a bind by having an equitable wage structure which might be admirable socially but it makes it difficult to sell these players on. But none of these tasks will be made easier if we come fifth or sixth.

I suspect the truth is that there is no magic bullet solution. The oil money pumped into Manchester City means that there is another club at the top table and life is going to be tougher. There is a lot more money available to all the clubs now and that makes the league a lot more competitive.

Despite the crash in the global economy that may not change either. Rumours abound that the likes of Al-Jazera are thinking of competing with Sky for the TV rights. That will bid the price up higher. When Arsene Wenger talks about clubs struggling to get their squads sorted this summer, the real challenge is the 25 players rule.

The game has changed and Arsenal will need every advantage they can get to stay competitive. It’s always going to be this crowded at the top now. We need third place.

Chelsea may not win the Champions League final, but then again most of us thought them unlikely to reach it at all. But, despite the hilariously daft best efforts of John Terry, they have beaten Barcelona. Given the way Barcelona behaved last year I find myself unusually pleased to see Chelsea triumph.

If they actually win the Champions League that might stretch my generous spirit too far though. It could give us a problem too as it would mean that, regardless of where they finish in the league, they get a Champions League spot next year. This change was brought in after Liverpool faced the prospect of not being able to defend their last Champions League title which many thought was unfair. Now the defending Champions are always in, but they have to included in their country’s total allocation of places.

So, fourth may not be enough. What we have now, we really have to try and hold. The probability is we can probably get away with dropping points in one of our remaining games, Newcastle face a tough run-in, but we can’t bank on it. Our next game is probably the toughest, away at Stoke. Stoke lost three nil away at Newcastle last weekend and we can beat them. But they can be hard to break down and we will be doing it without Walcott and Arteta, two players who have featured pretty consistently this season. This has probably been Theo’s most effective Arsenal season yet and Mikel Arteta has been the reliable heartbeat of our midfield.

Diaby, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ramsey. Two of them really have to step up to the plate now. If Diaby is fit (now there’s a rare phrase) then I would favour him. But I think he’s had fewer games for us than Thierry Henry this season do I’m not holding my breath. Just crossing all my fingers.

Four to go, four teams chasing two places.  Three wins to guarantee third spot.  Lunchtime kick-off.

I guess a few a us thought that this was where we might need our four point cushion but that’s gone now, thrown away at the start of Monday night’s game.  Tomorrow we need a win to keep third place under our own control.  Hopefully the defeat by Wigan will inspire the team in the same that the QPR result did ahead of the Manchester City game.

The main team news this week of course is that Arteta will probably not feature again this season which is quite a blow and obviously forces a change in the heart of the team.  The choice of many Arsenal fans to replace him is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but I suspect that Arsene Wenger will go for Aaron Ramsey.   If Diaby were fully fit I think that he would get the spot as he is more like Arteta in the role he plays.  But bringing in a player who only returned to squad training this week would be a big risk.  Particularly one as fragile as Diaby.  So Ramsey in for Arteta.

Song will have to compensate by playing more of a restrained game than he had been this season as Ramsey isn’t going to deliver the same defensive input as Arteta.  All of the Arsenal midfield and attack are going to have to work hard off the ball to close Chelsea down and keep them playing further back.

We’ve seen a number of players out wide on the left recently, including Oxlade-Chamberlain, but most recently Benayoun. He isn’t an option this time of course as he is on loan from Chelsea and inelligible.

So I think that we will see Gervinho starting for the first time in a while, with Oxlade-Chamberlain held back on the bench.  Experience over raw talent.  Difficult decision.  Is this a do or die moment when the bolder decision pays off?

At the back we could see a more familiar back four line-up.  Koscielny will return after suspension.  Djourou is good cover but Koscielny and Vermaelen are what we need.  There is also a chance that Gibbs will return at left back.  We may get some clue on that one later today, unless Arsene Wenger decides to keep things close to his chest at the pre-match presser.

I’m not expecting any other changes so, depending on Kieran Gibbs’ fitness, I reckon we will be watching:
_______ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
________ Song ________
__ Rosicky ___ Ramsey __
Walcott __ RVP _ Gervinho

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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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.

A splendid weekend all round.  Three points clear for third.  Eight points clear for Champions League football.

For the second game running we kept a clean sheet and so didn’t need to come from behind.  Villa were easier to dispatch than Everton which is just as well as we started to flag in the second half.  By then of course we were two goals to the good.

Goal one was a first for Gibbs.  Shay Given didn’t deal with it well, but well done to Gibbs anyway.  He certainly deserves it after the performances he has put in since coming back from injury.  Goal two was another great assist from Song and an equally good finish from Walcott.

In the second half we eased off a bit, but Villa had nothing left to offer.  It was dull and controlled.  And professional.  At the end, Arteta scored with a freekick screamer.  A comfortable 3:0 win. Perfect.

In our Man of the Match Poll, Walcott beat Arteta by just two votes!

Only worry is that Koscielny pulled out at the start with Tendonitis.  Hopefully the whole week to the next game will be long enough to put this problem right.  Djourou did OK, but wasn’t massively tested.

Earlier Spurs and Chelsea played out out a very tedious nil-nil draw to give us maximum advantage.

For some reason I find myself ridiculously pleased by Liverpool’s troubles and was happy to see them lose to Wigan yesterday.  Apologies to all my Liverpool supporting friends and decent Liverpool fans everywhere.  But after Kenny Dalglish’s hopeless handling of the Suarez affair I just want to see him utterly defeated this season.

So a great weekend and now a week for Arsenal to prepare to visit QPR.  Spurs have Swansea at home on the Sunday.

Have a good week everyone!

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.

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!