Hazard warning, joyride on a tractor!

As socially unacceptable as that title might be, its got a double meaning. Firstly, our boys need to be careful tonight. Ipswich are a bit more resilient of late and will put up a fight to defend their slender lead. Secondly, Arsene has come out and publicly declared his interest in Eden Hazard - a rather unprecedented move for him.

Lets tackle Ipswich first, Paul Jewell has come in and the players seem to want to play for him. They came back well at the weekend after a half-time team talk and are performing. They know that they came through the first game on merit and deserve a shot. They will park the bus, but we need to be aware of the counter-attacking methods they deployed at Portman Road.

Our boys need to be focused and believe that its not going to be a joyride, they will have to fight for a result.

On to interesting business with this Eden Hazard chap. For years I've been hearing good things about him from when he was playing youth international football and I've watched his career with interest.

It seems Arsene has been doing the same and in an unprecedented move (as far as I can recall) has come out and stated he does not wish to destabilise Lille but would make a move the second they tell him a transfer is possible. Personally I think this stinks a bit of Barcelona-esque kidology and I'm a bit disappointed by it. It could mean exactly what Arsene says, but reading between the lines is Arsene asking Hazard to push for a transfer?

Food for thought at least! What do you guys think?

WG.

Technorati : Arsenal, Eden Hazard, Ipswich
Del.icio.us : Arsenal, Eden Hazard, Ipswich
Zooomr : Arsenal, Eden Hazard, Ipswich
Flickr : Arsenal, Eden Hazard, Ipswich

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

Technorati : Arsenal, Chelsea, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester United
Del.icio.us : Arsenal, Chelsea, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester United
Zooomr : Arsenal, Chelsea, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester United
Flickr : Arsenal, Chelsea, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester United

Oxlade-Chamberlain to be loaned back in a deal like Walcott

I got a text about this, apparently Southampton want to hold onto him until the summer and Arsenal are happy to do this providing he spends two days every week training with us. (similar to Benik Afobe who is on loan at Huddersfield)

Personally I think its a cracking idea, he still gets first-team football but gets to continue his development with us too.

What do you guys think? Would you prefer to keep him under wraps at London Colney? Or send him out in the Championship for matches?

WG

Technorati : Afobe, Arsenal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Southampton, Walcott
Del.icio.us : Afobe, Arsenal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Southampton, Walcott
Zooomr : Afobe, Arsenal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Southampton, Walcott
Flickr : Afobe, Arsenal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Southampton, Walcott

At what price do we want Silverware?

On the cusp of the game against Ipswich its worth thinking about this a little. What cost would you be prepared to take for the Carling Cup?

Two, three, four years ago we were calling it the Worthless cup and were referring to it as a Tin Cup competition and we couldn't be more disinterested, nor bothered when our kids inevitably crashed out.

We've been close to winning this before, only to be undone by poor decisions from Arsene, the refereeing fraternity and our own players.

Here we are again, I want us to play our first choice Premier league 11 tomorrow night, but I think that won't happen, Arsene will want to rest his players following their win on Saturday and will risk the Carling Cup to rest players for Saturdays game against Huddersfield.

The question is, would you sacrifice the Carling Cup for a better shot at Huddersfield, or, like me would you rather take one game at a time and just keep winning?

WG.

Technorati : Arsenal, Huddersfield., Ipswich
Del.icio.us : Arsenal, Huddersfield., Ipswich
Zooomr : Arsenal, Huddersfield., Ipswich
Flickr : Arsenal, Huddersfield., Ipswich

Good result, lets keep up this momentum

Football games are all about momentum. If you win a game well you take that confidence into the next game. In-form players feel everything is going to come off for them so they try to be a little bit more spontaneous and creative. Look at Nasri as an example of this.

Our first eleven in the Premier league is playing well, they've confident and extravagant. They're a joy to watch and a nightmare to play against.

This is the first eleven that should start against Ipswich. We need a result and this is the way to guarantee it. After the game tomorrow night they have 4 days to recover and it should easily be enough.

It was a great game against the Latics and we deserved the result. Everyone put in a good shift. Another clean sheet is good for the confidence at the back and I was confident pre-match and I'm glad to see it rewarded. Too often this season we've looked lightweight in games we should dominate. I hope that chapter is well and truly closed!

For now, its full steam to Ipswich - More demons to banish following the ironing out of Leeds at Elland road. I think its time for Wenger to gamble, if he wants the silverware he has to play a team that he knows is on form. It should be the same players who played against Wigan....but I think he'll throw in Bendtner, Denilson and perhaps even Diaby who has returned to fitness.

WG

Technorati : Arsenal, Ipswich, Leeds, Wenger, Wigan
Del.icio.us : Arsenal, Ipswich, Leeds, Wenger, Wigan
Zooomr : Arsenal, Ipswich, Leeds, Wenger, Wigan
Flickr : Arsenal, Ipswich, Leeds, Wenger, Wigan

Performance required!

Much has been made of our slack performances in the cups. During this our league form hasn't faltered and credit for that where its due, its always been clear where Wenger's focus lies.

Be honest, we all know he wants the league.

Today we welcome the Latics to the Emirates, where another performance is required.

In some ways I'm glad Wenger has highlighted the possibility of ManYoo being invincible. It adds pressure to them and I hope it will gee up our boys to try and keep performing to win the league.

After his mercurial performance at Elland road I expect Nasri to start again along with Walcott, RvP and Fabregas.

I want a convincing win today, Arshavin wants a landslide, I want a battering.

WG

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

Technorati : Arsenal, Chelsea, Drogba, Manchester United, Wigan
Del.icio.us : Arsenal, Chelsea, Drogba, Manchester United, Wigan
Zooomr : Arsenal, Chelsea, Drogba, Manchester United, Wigan
Flickr : Arsenal, Chelsea, Drogba, Manchester United, Wigan