Tonight's game against bottom-placed West Brom is the biggest league game for Arsenal so far this campaign.
Nothing other than a victory can be comprehended; it's do or die time.
I've heard a lot of talk coming from Arsenal, now is the time to back it up.
We were given a reprieve by Aston Villa drawing on Sunday. We still find ourselves six points behind them but it could have been eight. We are very lucky.
In many respects West Brom are like Arsenal; very pleasing on the eye but light-weight. I hope they stay up because they do play good football.
However, football is a results driven business and the pretty football will mean nothing if Arsenal end trophy less, out of the top four and West Brom are relegated.
We have been given an opportunity to put some real pressure on Aston Villa who sit above us. If we don't beat West Brom then we don't deserve a top four place.
I don't mean any disrespect to West Brom for saying that, I mean Arsenal have been given a chance to put recent results right.
Tonight could make or break Arsenal's top four ambitions and I'm backing them to make it.
Keep it Goonerish.............
19 comments:
Only a week ago you were saying to judge this Arsenal side at the end of the season and now 1 match determines what we deserve or not?
In theory yes.
We have an oppertunity to gain ground on Villa, we need to win.
Gaining on villa. Couldn't we gain on Villa last week as well, what changed in a week?
If Arsenal can only draw they are obviously not fit to play in the cl . Of course they could win it this season because the continental style suits the gunners. Hang on a second. European sides have also obeserved the gunners can be stifled by a massed defence.
Over to you Arsene Senger.
like I said WBA 0 Arsenal 4 RVP hatrick. This is it, its time to stop pussy arsing around and do the business.
Top 4 here we come.
after losing to villa at home i thought the team would show some character, put a good run of results and cement a top 4 place. But te team has been totally inconsistant al season. No matter how well they play against WBA tonite they are bound to screw up next match or the one after that.
And the gap is six points and we have Manure and CHelski left to play i just dont see this team reaching the finishing line.
Arsenal fighting for the 4th place, yes, FOURTH. This is absolutely DISCUSTING.
shit blog. this dummy changes his opinion every 5 minutes. biggest game of the season, what a load of drivel. last week you were saying we can win the champions league, now you're fretting over beating west brom.
I still think we will win the Champions League mate!
I ask you this, is this game not important then?
For me it is the biggest LEAGUE game we have faced this season.
There is a slight difference between the league and europe dummy!
1st Anon here.
Everyone is entitled to write whatever he wants in his blog Wrighty but you went from the judge at the end of season thing to "the biggest LEAGUE game" of the season. Contradiction if you ask me.
For Arsenal the biggest LEAGUE game of the season started more than a month ago and today's is just another one of them.
Friendly advice, don't write what Arsenal supporters and your friends want you to write, but always write what you think.
Could somebody ask Arsene whether our poor little lambs are too tired to play well before tonight's game. According to our manager our players have been tired since September! They would feel a lot worse if they had to pay to get in.
Come on Arsene, no more excuses. You and the players have to deliver. If the players are too tired then get them fit or bring in some fit ones. If we stand off of WBA and let them pass it about as we did on Saturday against Fulham then I will want to know why it is being allowed. Given our wage bill we are surely entitled to 90 minutes effort. - Ramgun
We have nothing but a bunch of lazy prima-donnas with no heart or desire and less skill than they think they have. I will not be surprised if most of our skinny little foreign runts are missing for the majority of the 90 minutes tonight and we don't pick up 3 points. Sorry for the negativity but thats what i've seen in the last 5 league games. They can put in performances against united,chelsea and Roma but can only take 1 point off Fulham this season. Wenger needs to stop waffling nonsense talk and sort this crap out
agree totaly with tony. this team are a bunch of pirima donnas who are only interested in putting the work in at the big matches. of the players have no respect for the fans or manager then wenger should get rid of them or step down. thats wat u should be writing about wrighty not shit about this is the most important match crap . every match is important to fans but obviously not to these big time won nothin charlies. tell it like it is
I would fell ashamed if we finished 4th with this shambles and it would in some crazy way be an excuse for Wenger to put a positive spin on the season even though there are no reason too.
my WBA 0 Arsenal 4 is off then with a RVP hatrick. Can you believe the team he has picked? WTF?
Was listening on the radio and commentator said one team has 1 player wearing gloves the other team has 8 players wearing gloves....can you guess which one?
Says it fuckin all
I should comment more often in live play...yee haa
ffs how many chances do they want to waste....just no natural finishers
Thank goodness for that. Arsenal’s scoreless run in the Premier League is finally over, broken in yesterday’s 3-1 win over West Brom.
Nicklas Bendtner was the hero on the night, bagging two goals - and very nearly a third - on the night while Kolo Toure also chipped in, nodding a header in from a splendid Andrey Arshavin cross. All three goals as well as West Brom’s came in the first half as our boys wasted four clear opportunities to extend the lead in an extremely dominant performance.
Arsene Wenger threw up a number of surprises in the team selection. I had expected Arshavin to be rested after playing an hour against Fulham, but the manager chose to start the Russian up front with Nicklas Bendtner, meaning Robin van Persie was dropped to the bench. Also dropped was Abou Diaby and Carlos Vela for Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue respectively, while Johan Djourou stepped in for the injured William Gallas.
The starting team may have been a surprise but it was even more of a surprise to see Arsenal score so early. Indeed, it took just four minutes. Samir Nasri’s poorly struck corner fell to Denilson who fed Bendtner and the Dane broke our four-game scoreless run with a smart, left-footed finish. He didn’t strike the ball particularly well, Bendtner, but the accuracy of the shot meant it snuck past Scott Carson in the West Brom goal.
The sense of relief I felt when the ball went in was immense. My idea to get The Otter up early to watch the game early had broken The Curse of Morgana Clarke and we were well on our way. But almost as soon as we scored our first goal in four games, we went and conceded.
Djourou conceded a free kick 25 yards and from a seemingly innocuous situation, West Brom’s Chris Brunt fired home a low effort. On first viewing I believed Manuel Almunia to be at fault but the replays showed it was none other than Emmanuel Eboue. For some bizarre reason the Ivorian, who was placed on the edge of the wall, decided he would go walkabout and opened up a gap for Brunt to shoot into. I don’t want to dwell for too long on this given the final outcome of the game, but it was once again a disappointing effort by Eboue.
In the grand scheme of things, though, it mattered little. Bendtner wasted an excellent chance to double his tally while Almunia made a smart stop at the other end, before we scored again. Arshavin flighted a lovely free-kick from the left onto the head/shoulder/chest of Toure and the stand-in captain notched his first goal of the season.
Things got even better for us just minutes later as Toure chipped a lovely ball into the path of Bendtner and the Dane slammed a sweet volley past Carson. It meant a 3-1 half-time lead, a ridiculously welcome change from the 0-0s that had greeted Arsenal fans for the past four matches.
Half-time saw an unexpected change as Toure was forced off with injury, replaced by Abou Diaby. The substitution meant a reshuffle as Song went to centre-back and Diaby slotted into the middle alongside Denilson.
The second half burned into life 10 minutes after the restart when a series of Arsenal attempts were denied. First Arshavin was denied by a lovely save by Carson after good work by Bendtner, before the same combination was denied by the West Brom keeper just a minute later. Then Diaby produced a wonderful piece of skill to weave past a marker before having a powerful effort blocked by another defender. Then on the hour mark, Bendtner weaved into the area only to see his well-struck effort cannon off the post.
West Brom could have pulled one back when Marc-Antoine Fortune had a shot tipped away by Almunia, but we always looked in control of the match and had the last effort of the game as Arshavin had another shot saved on 90 minutes. And that was it - three goals, three points and much-needed boost of confidence.
In terms of performances I thought there were two standouts; Bendtner and Arshavin. The Dane was by far our best player, creating chances at will with his bustling dribbling and overall workrate. The Russian, on the other hand, impressed with his neat passing and creativity. Although his fitness isn’t there just yet it’s clear Arshavin has a brilliant footballing mind and is capable of seeing passes and plays that other players in our squad - excluding Cesc Fabregas - just can’t see.
In summary, it was by far a perfect team effort but at the end of the day we got exactly what we needed; three points. We’re just three points behind Aston Villa now and with the Birmingham club facing a tough trip to Manchester City tonight there’s every indication that it might stay that way.
why the fuck has someone cut and pasted a post from another blog in? I think the above is Gunnerblog but not sure. Why?
I am still not convinced at all about this team and fear it might all end in tears. WBA are a poor side so I really feel we can read too much into it.
Oh well.
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