Will Rambo get a shot?

With the well-publicised re-occurance of Cesc's hammy injury an opportunity presents itself within the Arsenal midifeld. Rambo has said in the media that he is rearing to get back into the first team.

Saturday is an ideal opportunity in the absense of Cesc for him to get back. Prior to his injury he was deputising for Cesc and doing a fantastic job. His penetrative runs and movement is only one weapon in his armoury, his distribution another.

I really rate him, I think he's got great awareness and is a good competitor with a desire to match Jacks. We need him. I think we need him tomorrow. ManYoo's midfield will be combative and his skills are in demand. Lets not upset him by not giving him a start. He's a player we need to keep happy.

WG.

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Get out of jail free weekend.

This isn't the first time I've said this, forgive me for the repetition, but its that kind of season. How fortunate are we again? We capitulate and have poor decisions taken against us and the fear was that it would cost us badly.

It seems that the luck was with us again. Chelsea and ManYoo losing softened the blow, but its still two points lost. I really would like to talk to the referee and his lino and just ask him what they think they saw Rosicky do? A ridiculous decision, one which could, conceivably cost us the league.

However, it will be interesting to see how ManYoo respond to the defeat at Wolves, where being honest they we're woeful and didn't deserve a pie at half time, let alone 3 points. I'm hoping they crumble a little, now would be a great time to catch up whilst their fixtures are tougher than ours...on paper at least.

I hope the players use that result against the Barcodes to enforce the siege mentality, everyone is punishing us at the moment. Lets show them all that we are not so easily swayed from our targets. We are Arsenal, victory through harmony.

That in mind however,I would just like to say, I've seen it lots of times and I still can't condone Diaby's reaction. I know he's been injured and had his fair share of bad tackles, but you have to be bigger than that. Getting injured happens in football, deal with it. He can't keep reacting like that everytime he gets a robust challenge.

WG

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Chelski win - still in the race - how poor is our preperation?!?

Whats the state of the Premier League nation? Chelski are having a stuttering stop-start season this year...and I love to see it. They were back with a bang last night against Bolton.

My thought for the day is this, how lucky are we to still be in the race and still be challenging?

Noone is setting the league on fire, this has really helped us recover from daft losses to Newcastle, West Brom etc. The Arsenal engine room is really starting to turn it on now with key players hitting form now when we need them. All we need is luck to keep them fit. Can we be lucky enough this season?

If we do finish this season well and win a couple of trophies, maybe the league will everyone paper over the cracks in our squad? Will they suddenly be winners instead of also-rans?

I'm still not convinced ManYoo will remain unbeaten because they still aren't performing well, albeit they are grinding out results. So we have to be on the money for the rest of the season. Starting tonight. We need a result and we need to take our fight to Ipswich and show them its not going to be a repeat of the first leg. They need to see the Premier League Arsenal.

A quick point....Every player that has come out talking about the Leeds games and the Ipswich game has said that they were suprised by both teams...thats a massive lack of preperation. Even in sunday league we had an idea of who we were playing and now to tackle them.

Were the West Brom and Newcastle games the result of similar poor prep?

WG

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Exacting revenge at the Emirates

On a cold winter night we stood at the DW watching Arsenal capitulate to a Wigan side that looked hungrier than us, more organised than us and generally performed better than us. Which is frankly embarrasing.

We were woeful. However, football is all about 2nd chances! So now we welcome them back to our manor and now to exact our revenge.

Without wanting to jinx it, our players are all coming back to fitness and form and that can only be a good thing. The league is definitely winnable with the inconsistent performances across the board by all the teams.

Drogba was quoted as saying Chelski can't win the league because they cant string two performances together. Its a situation that all of the top teams seem to be suffering with at the moment and it seems Drog wanted to try a bit of kidology to gee up his beleagured teammates.

The only team that worries me really is ManYoo. They're keeping up that run and whilst they're not setting fire to the league, they're not losing games and thats not going to break their morale, so we need someone rubbish to break them...come on the Brum!!

So onwards to Wigan, team preview to come tomorrow..

WG

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Finding our achilles heel

Arsenal have been without Thomas Vermaelen for over three months now. Whilst I don't think we have mistreated his injury, it seems there has been an initial problem with the diagnosis and this has stalled his recovery.

I fix computer systems, your first diagnosis has to be correct, you cant keep buying parts and throwing bits at a computer until it starts working. Therefore your diagnosis team has to be pretty hot.

Whilst we have the best team of coaches and doctors about to rehabilitate our players from injuries it seems the initial diagnosis seems to be causing problems as it seems injuries seem to get worse before they get better every single time.

I know I'm making a crass generalisation and I'm probably way off the mark, but its my perception and opinion and I'm standing by it.

We're missing Vermaelen's desire and focus. He brings a bit of leadership at the back and a bit more power than we have at the moment (though its worth mentioning Koscielny is growing game to game and looks a great buy).

With Vermaelen back, with Fabregas back, with RvP back we look like a side with great strength in depth with options to vary our formations and change the way we play with more fluidity and quality.

There's hope, keep the faith, we're still in the hunt and the PL trophy just got painted with a big fat target. So focus boys, we're not interested in ManYoo now. Its the league that matters.

WG

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A Gamblers Fortune.

It was a game that was massively winnable. For all of our busy performances and battling we missed the urgency that West Brom showed at ManYoo.

For me thats worrying.

I'm not a doom and gloom merchant, the league isnt finished and we're still in the race. I'll also not be fooled by Wenger's rant about the pitch, it was atrocious, but its the same for both teams and they looked a lot more dangerous than we did.

ManYoo did what a lot of teams did last season, defended their box and let us play outside. We should have got wise to how to deal with that, get a lot of bodies in there and pump balls in. Magic and fortune go hand in hand with the brave.

As I said last night, we weren't prepared to gamble on that and thats why we lost. We lost to a header in our box from a midfielder that gambled and got in there.

Thats the lesson, gamble, make a few runs ahead of the ball. It pays off sometimes, especially when other avenues are being blocked.

WG

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Daft goal, but we didnt deserve a bean.

We worked hard for 90 mins, we pressed and we probed but we didn't create much at all.

It was an excellent PL debut for Sczcesny, he was commanding and communicated well. He kept us in the game at times and did himself much credit.

Defensively, we were ok, not brilliant but mostly tidy. What annoys me is that noone twigged that the balls that Sagna and Clichy were putting in were just being batted out. It was too easy for Ferdinand and Vidic. If ManYoo wanted us to have posession outside of the box we should have put more players forward.

We never looked like gambling, Cesc was thrown on in desperation, but he is nowhere near match fit. I would rather have seen Bendtner coming on and bustling about up front. We should have thrown the sink at them. RvP was far too deep, he's not a midfielder, he's a striker.

But we didnt throw the sink, or even the fridge and I lost a few quid. Poo.

WG

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Chamakh could be the key that unlocks ManYoo

Marouane Chamakh has certainly justified his ridiculous transfer fee of £0 since his departure from Bordeaux into our esteemed ranks.

Chamakh is a spiky, hard-working striker not often found in todays game. He's skillful and he is extremely intelligent at working the opposition defence and creating space for himself and others. His partnership with RvP so far has not been on Song, but there is clearly an understanding and this will only grow stronger.

He's tough too, when fouled he just brushes himself off and gets on with it. He fights for the team at every opportunity and its rare he doesn't have an impact when he plays.

I really think he's create a lot of space in between Vidic and Ferdinand tonight and RvP and Nasri will tear through it and score. I really think we will win and I'd have my money on it.

WG

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Fabianski to face late fitness test - could be goals-a-plenty!

Seems like Fabianski has got his priorities all wrong and got himself injured just before this crunch game tonight. Selfish little bugger.

Needless to say I hope he's fit, I like Sczcesny but I'm not sure he's ready for a game like tonight, but then saying that, how will we ever know he's ready until he steps up and plays. Its a big game tonight and we need big performances to get a result. We can't rely on them slipping up. Our 'A' game has to be in force tonight.

I'm hoping to see the following players take the field tonight;

Fabianski
Sagna	Squillaci Djourou			Clichy
	Song Fabregas/Wilshire
Nasri		Robin Van Persie		Arshavin
		Chamakh

RvP will be crucial tonight. It will be his link-play and creativity that will release Chamakh against the ManYoo defence, that will send the on-fire Nasri through to burn a hole in the net and for cheeky little Arshavin to dart into the box and bang one in. RvP will be the artist, ensuring that Fabregas doesn't need to play if he isn't quite fit.

This is a game that will mean much in the title race, it removes that game that ManYoo have in hand and makes us top of the table by right and not default.

It takes us one full step closer, when the challengers are making baby steps. Am I excited, yes I definitely am. Can we win? Yes we can, but its about belief and performance.

WG

p.s. I'd put a punt on Nasri, he's still hotter than a playboy bunny on the pitch.

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How wierd is this season?

I was sitting watching the traditional Match of the Day last night and it struck me again how wierd this football season is.

I watched the fortunate Blackpool beat Stoke 1:0, Newcastle beat Liverpool 3:1, Everton drawing 0:0 with Wigan and Villa beating West Brom 2:1

Today there are more games which on the league's current unpredictable form will no doubt throw up some more surprises.

I don't recall a league being so unpredictable even with a World Cup hangover, it just doesnt make sense..Form means nothing this season. Everyone fancies getting a result wherever they travel.

Which is why I'd suggest you guys putting your money on Arsenal on monday. I expect Chamakh to show the ManYoo defence what a real striker is all about. Ferdinand once said Adebayor was the best striker he'd played against, a lesson is to be had I think. Chamakh is twice the player Adebayor is.

I'm really confident guys, I hope you are too

Full lineup and pre-match analysis tomorrow

WG

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The trash-talk begins

As we approach the crunch game against ManYoo, Evra has fired the first trash-talking shot across Arsenal's bow.

Suggesting that we are good to watch but no end product isn't news, sadly its been fact for a few years now. To say we're in crisis however is foolish. We're top of the league, we've qualified in Europe, we're already more successful in the League Cup than ManYoo and we haven't sold out on our style and pretty football to achieve that.

Evra has always been outspoken, he's always been forthright and vocal when he has something to say but this time I hope we make him eat those words with a smattering of salt.

We're due a result against ManYoo, we're in good form and I think we're favourites.

WG

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Entering the Den of Wolves!

Wolves tonight in a away game that in the past has left us with a difficult task. Wolves have been performing well of late with a loss to Chelski, then a win against Citeh and a loss to ManYoo that could well have been a win for Wolves.

This season, Wolves are playing more expansive attacking football than last year. It has seeing them concede a goal in every game this season. Something which will assist us greatly tonight I feel. Marcus Hahnemann of Wolves has said they're in great form at the moment and fancy their chances.

Arsenal never really get started in a game until they have their first goal and with Wolves having previous in letting goals in, it should lend well to an Arsenal win. Especially when we're hurting from losing at the weekend.

Tweeting on twitter, Wilshire has been saying Sunday was just a bad day and the players are focussed on getting a result tonight. I'm hoping the squad will look something like this;

Fabianski
Sagna	Squillaci Djourou			Clichy
	Wilshire Song
Arshavin		Fabregas		Nasri
		Chamakh

People in certain quarters are criticising Chamakh for his performance at the weekend. Personally I feel his form has been excellent for us this season and one game doesn't make him a bad player. It was a bad day at the office, move on. I expect him to start tonight and I think he will score.

I'm hoping for a resounding win tonight, I'd like Citeh to get a result against ManYoo or at least get a draw and Chelski to draw or lose to take us closer to the top of the table.

I'll not be able to see the game as I'm in Manchester watching the hilarious Jason Manford so I expect him to be commenting on the game being a diehard Citeh fan. I'll attempt to heckle him without mercy if the opportunity presents itself.

Come on Arsenal!

WG

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Sometimes its better being an ostrich!

I've been off the radar this weekend. 'Er indoors and I have moved into a new home and naturally my focus since thursday has been on facilitating the move as smoothly as possible.

I was unable to watch the game, I currently have no Sky Sports or Internet so I chose to ignore it altogether ensuring that my focus was securely on the job at hand. Needless to say the fallout in the blogosphere has been pretty hyperbolic at best and people are enjoying banging their knee-jerk drums.

I've discussed the game with a colleage who watched it and we've made the following conclusions; Firstly, Fabianski made a mistake, a bit of a howler but bearing in mind he's been excellent recently I don't think its fair to castigate him further. Goalkeeper is a lonely job at times.

It seems for all of our posession and attacking flair we just didn't stick it in the bag. With the attacking talent we have that shouldn't happen. It really shouldn't. Defensively Newcastle did well to keep us out and a lot of that is down to their young keeper.

However, football is a results game and we didn't get the result. No point in analysing it futher but to say that we should have done better. Now lets move on to the next game and put it right. Chelski getting stiffed by the Scousers was a great result. Super happy about that and I'm sure a few scousers were too...and probably saved a few cars from having their radio's and wheels nicked.

Onwards and upwards gooners, its a slip up that we could have done without, but really no harm done. We can easily still peg back ManYoo and Chelski, they're not playing well either.

WG

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