Arsenal 2 - 0 West Brom

A really spirited performance by the kids saw them deservedly triumph against West Brom last night. The game may not have had the same air of quality about it that a first team match does, but they showed grit and determination to overcome a physical West Brom, who more often than not had 10 men behind the ball at all times.

The starting line up was:

Szczesny

Gilbert Senderos Silvestre(c) Gibbs

Coquelin

Ramsey

Wilshere

Sunu Watt Traore

The referee (Lee Mason) tried his very best to ruin a good game of football, but in the end just embarrassed himself. Apart from the sending off of Jerome Thomas, there was nothing else he managed to get right. On several occasions, blatant fouls by West Brom players would end up as a free kick to the away side, and the he also managed not to give Arsenal a stone wall penalty.

No matter, in the end the Ref was nothing more than an annoying little mosquito on a beautiful summer's day. The kids went about their job patiently without trying to force an opening. This took slightly longer than usual, due to not having the same quality of movement as the firsts, but the introduction of Carlos Vela soon changed that. His introduction meant a game that was in danger of going slightly stale was freshened up. His movement and acceleration was too much for a tiring West Brom defence and, in the end, he became the difference.

So on to the player ratings:
Szczesny - 6. Showed signs of being a top shot stopper, however came flapping for corners and without fail missed the ball everytime.
Gilbert - 7. Fairly impressive by the now 22 year old. He tentatively probed forwards, without fully committing himself to attacks, but did very well defensively.
Gibbs - 7. See report for Gilbert.
Senderos - 8. Brilliant performance by Big Phil. I would still be slightly wary against better class opposition because, on the turn, he is still very slow. But his positioning was excellent, good composure on the ball, and good distribution as well.
Silvestre - 7.5. Similar to Big Phil, I would be wary about Silvestre in matches against better teams. However Silvestre had a very good performance today. One slide interception to prevent a through ball to Luke Moore comes straight to mind.
Coquelin - 7.5. The young defensive midfielder showed positioning whch belied his tender age. His passing would occasionally, and only very occasionally be sloppy, but I'm knit-picking there. Deservedly received a massive standing ovation for an impressive first start for the club.
Ramsey - 8.5 My man of the match. It was very difficult to slice open to the West Brom defence, but out of anyone Ramsey looked like the one to do it. But more than that, it was a composed game which saw Ramsey a quite obvious step above the rest in terms of quality. His work rate was also excellent, especially whilst defending, he never panicked, and always seemed to play the right ball.
Wilshere - 7. Ok, but not great by little Jack. He played most of the match in the centre, where he found it very difficult to compete. He underhit a fair few passes, but the team did look like it had more energy whenever he was on the ball.
Sunu - 7. He looked like he easily had the measure of the West Brom left back, but unfortunately had a quiet evening, which meant we never saw that happen. Gilles is by a trade a more out an out striker than wide man, so he wasn't playing in his best position.
Traore - 7.5. A lot more seemed to come down the left than the right. Traore looked dangerous with his pace and experience against this calibre os opposition, however disappointingly never really managed to get a cross in.
Watt - 7.5. Sanchez Watt had a difficult game today. He was in the centre of the front three which meant balls were often played to his feet, and he would have to compete physically with Jonas Olsson. However he kept trying, and kept working hard, and eventually his goal came. In that respect, a good attitude for a striker to have.
Subs:
Vela - 8. Was the difference. After he came on the team had more of a spring in their step. Took his goal well, he was obivously under huge amounts of pressure as he dawdled on the goal line in front of a completely open goal, stopping for a few seconds, and then lofting the ball into the roof of the net.
Randall - 7.5. Surprised me with a composed and skilfull game when he came on. West Brom were in fairness struggling at that time because of being down to 10 men for so long, so there were big gaps appearing. Nevertheless, Randall looked like the Randall with confidence that we saw a few years ago. A stunning chip against the cross bar from 25 odd yards out, which had it have been Rooney would have had commentators and sports journalists all over England purring and running to their typewriters to write a piece on the art of a Rooney chip, led to Vela's goal.
Barazite. It was nice to see Nacer play. He wasn't on long enough for me to give him a rating. But he looked intelligent on the ball, and often would come in field to help dictate play. In that respect, coupled with his hair, he is very reminiscent of Bobby Pires.

So there we are. West Brom tried to intimidate the kids by leaving trailing legs everywhere, but it didn't work. The kids showed the kind of grit the first team could do with from time to time. There's some rubbish this morning about Di Matteo blaming Wilshere for Thomas being sent off. Di Matteo admits Thomas came clattering into Wilshere late (also with a high and vicious looking elbow), but then is surprised that Wilshere didn't accept Thomas' hand. Aparrently, this is what Thomas reacted to (if it was only this that caused a slap, I don't think I would want to hang around with Jerome Thomas). Whatever the case, it was a blatant red card, and it's not exactly like Wilshere asked Thomas to slap him, so I really can't see how Wilshere was responsible. By not reacting to being fouled, he's to blame for getting the person who fouled him in the first place to get sent off for reacting to him. Work that one out. It is probably more likely little Jack said a few words of disgruntlement that most players say when they've just been fouled, and for some reason Thomas overreacted to that.

Anyway, a great performance by the kids. As of today, I shall be away again, so there will be no articles for the next week and a bit.
'Til later Gooners.

Arsenal - West Bromwich Albion, Carling Cup Preview

Ok so tomorrow is our first, and hopefully not last, chance to see the kids take the carling cup by storm. West Brom are perhaps slightly better opposition than Sheffield Utd were at this stage last season, but not nearly as good as Wigan, who we easily defeated 3-0 in the next round.

Of course, Wenger has started a tradition that a few managers have followed, in playing a mixture between firsts, reserves, and youth players in the carling cup. Regardless of the fact that no established first teamers will be playing, or even in the squad, we will still be a bit weaker than we wanted to be. Fran Merida and Gavin Hoyte have been called up to the infinitely pointless Euro U20s tournament. Henri Lansbury is on loan at Watford, Jay Emmanuel Thomas at Blackpool and Jay Simpson at QPR.

My predicted starting XI therefore is as follows:

Szczesny

Gilbert Senderos Silvestre Gibbs

Coquelin

Randall Ramsey

Wilshere Watt Barazite

or if it's 4-4-2:

Szczesny

Gilbert Senderos Silvestre Gibbs

Wilshere Randall Ramsey Traore

Watt Barazite

It is difficult to see where Traore will fit in if Wenger will play the talented duo of Wilshere and Barazite as well as one of his new favourites Sanchez Watt. On the bench there will be a few of Kyle Bartley, Francis Coquelin/Armand Traore, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Luke Freeman, Ignasi Miquel, Emmanuel Frimpong, Rhys Murphy, Connor Henderson, perhaps even extreme youngsters Benik Afobe and Chuks Aneke...who knows.

Whatever the teams, it'll be an interesting watch, apart from whenever the ball goes near the left side of the central defence, or to Randall. I hope Silvestre and Randall both play well of course, but past performances indicate they probably won't.

Right that's all for now. I'll be back on Wednesday me thinks.
'Til then Gooners.

Arsenal 4 - 0 Wigan Athletic

Wenger has become all too predictable in his apparent want for unpredictability when it comes to choosing his starting XI every match. Consider the fact of Abou Diaby's inclusion. The man has played abysmally, and I mean abysmally, in every match this season bar the home game against Portsmouth. What happens when a player plays rubbish for several games in a row? Wenger selects him for the next game. And the next game. And the game after that. Then we come to a player who had a shocker midweek in his natural position. What does Wenger do? He plays Eboue in the next game too, except this time out of position. What I'm saying is, most managers would look to players on the bench who can play in similar positions but offer something different. Wenger is different that way, but only because he has his favourites.

When I looked at the starting line-up I was yet again disappointed. I don't know why I get so excited 45 minutes before each kick-off, because I know I'm only building myself up for the inevitable disappointment when I see Diaby's name instead of Ramsey, Wilshere, Merida (although Merida was unavailable yesterday) or even the exceptionally promising Barazite. With the exception of Ramsey, it'll be difficult for these kids to integrate themselves, not only because the midfielders ahead of them are more established, and used to playing at the physical level of the Premier league, but also because of the sheer numbers of midfielders who can play in the central position that Arsenal have. And it is in this way that it is clear Wenger has his favourites, because week in, week out the same players play, despite the previous 'n' matches where they've played crap.

The starting line-up was as follows:

Mannone

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy

Song

Fabregas(c) Diaby

Eboue v.Persie Eduardo

A very established team, yet not the most talented AW could have put out. Rosicky has only just returned from a decade on the treatment table, so understandbly he needs time, but there were so many talented youngsters on the bench. The case could be argued that Wenger was resting them for Tuesday's match in the Carling Cup, but be that as it may, the premier league is the priority. Is Wenger more concerned about the development of players who may or may not make the grade at Arsenal than immediate team success? That question swam through my head prior to kick-off but in the end it had some degree of futility about it as Arsenal strolled to a comfortable 4-0 win.

Arsenal were good, but Wigan were worse. Giving the ball away, allowing the Arsenal players huge amounts of space, and mindlessly crunching into tackles just outside the box. The stats at the end were mind bloggling. 18 fouls commited by Wigan to Arsenal's meagre 6. The possession stats were also heavily leaning towards Arsenal, yet they needed several goes to eventually break the deadlock. No absolute clear cut opportunites, but perhaps some that should have been taken better. No matter, after a while the best defender in the Premier league rose like a salmon and powered a ferocious header past Kirkland. The header made all the more impressive by the fact he was challenged by two burly Wigan players. Towards the end of the half RvP should perhaps have done better from a wonderful scooped Cesc ball.

The second half saw more of the same. Eventually we got our second. Vermaelen curling an absolute beauty into the top corner, after trotting out of defence and swapping passes with Eboue. Thereafter Wigan, slightly desperate to not let the game end there, pushed forward. This began to leave them exposed and our third soon arrived. Eduardo cleverly directing his shot towards the inside of Eboue's right leg so it would ricochet into the far corner beyond the reach of Kirkland. All this was done purposefully you understand. Wigan then gave up, apart from a brief spell which saw them have a goal correctly ruled out for offside. Song took advantage of the diminishing will power of the Wigan players buy going on the meandering run that allowed him to score in the reverse fixture last year. Unfortunately for him, his classy run ended when his low shot clipped the outside of the post. After Cesc's delicate finish from a good low Bendtner cross, there was just time for Rosicky to sting the hands of Kirkland before the full time whistle blew.

A good comfortable win, that could and perhaps should have been more. Nevertheless, after the previous 3 tense and hypertension causing games, a match where we were allowed to dictate and strut our stuff (without going into full swing) was just what we needed. Here are my player ratings:

Mannone - 6. Once again, he came racing for a ball half way inside our half that ordinarily Gallas would have easily dealt with. This put us under a spot of bother for a while before a combination of Gallas, Song and Cesc managed to clear. He made one good reaction save, that looks less impressive everytime you see it, and one save at the feet of Rodallega. Other than, a quiet afternoon for the young Italian. Which after midweek, is exactly what he needed.
Sagna - 6. Good without being excellent. Made some probing runs that worried the left side of Wigan, but didn't see too much of the ball offensively. Didn't get a chance to show off the defensive and best side of his game today.
Clichy - 7. Miles better than Wednesday. Probing runs, but also with backtracking, something that was lacking against Standard. Found Eduardo very well for Eboue's goal.
Gallas - 8. Again much better than midweek. Didn't have much to do, but what he did, he did very well.
Vermaelen - 9. Not content to show he doesn't have a weekness defensively, he also wants to show he can play anywhere on the park. Popped up with two maginificent goals at one end, and did the little he had to do very well at the other.
Song - 8. Broke up everything. Deserved a goal.
Fabregas - 7. Looked a little slap-dash at times, but these were interspersed with the usual passes that noone else could do. Took his goal nicely.
Diaby - 6. Not a bad game by Diaby, but that's because he wasn't influencing the game. Drifted in and out. He drives at defenses very well but the problem is that's all he does. It works when there's not a better option, but there so often is. Would have preferred to see someone more fresh though.
Eboue - 9. It doesn't matter that it was this fixture last year that he got booed off, because he has long since made up for that in his work ethic, and it's not like he's got some allergic reaction to playing Wigan. Nevertheless, the antics of last year did help to highlight his performance, which was full of powerful running and great tracking back. Man of the Match for sentimental reasons.
Eduardo - 7. Looks a bit shaken up. There's no doubting his outrageous kill and enviable talent, but he needs a bit of belief back. Played out on the left, when he deserves to be playing down the middle.
van Persie - 7. Not quite sharp. But to be honest, I still don't think he's reached his potential. Should have been subbed off in the second half, as he was recovering from a knock, and we don't want that to come back around. Still a good performance by the Boy Wonder who is becoming absolutely essential to Arsenal.

Subs:
Ramsey - Got half an hour and presumably will get a full 90 on Tuesday. Always very impressive.
Rosicky - I love his relationship with Cesc. Whenever Rosicky plays you can see Cesc's ears perk up. A lovely bit of interplay between the two little maestros led to a tricky defensive situation change almost immediately to a potential goal scoring opportunity which Sagna duly wasted with an awful cross.
Bendtner - Immediately became a handful for the already tiring Wigan defence. Got an assist with a nice low hard cross for Cesc to divert in.

Well, that result should have got a lot more smiles on the fans' faces, but more importantly on the players' faces. They do play so much better when they're enjoying it. This result would have done wonders despite the fact that in reality they were gifted it by Wigan's poor play.

Next match is on Tuesday. I'll be at the Emirates enjoying the kids beat fairly good class opposition. I've got a feeling it'll be a very young team this time round with the likes of Coquelin and Watt added to the more established yet very young Ramsey, Wilshere and (sigh) Randall. No Merida though, which I'm still very pissed off about.
Oh well, 'til Tuesday Gooners.

Arsenal - Wigan Athletic Match Preview

Hopefully today will see a return to winning ways. Yes I know we won on Wednesday, but that doesn't count. I mean a nice win that was earned out of playing well, outplaying the opposition, and not letting in stupid goals. Arguably we have been the better team in every game this season, however the last 3 have seen us concede sloppily where quite clearly we should have dealt better. One excuse, albeit an exceptionally weak on, could be to say that we were away in those 3 matches. This excuse will not stand today. We are at home for the first time since the 26th of last month. The fact we are at home will hopefully mean Wenger will put out a slightly offensively minded and exciting first eleven.

There are still copious injuries. Walcott, Arshavin and Vela are 'days away', but will all miss out today. I find it slightly worrying that Wenger has been saying Walcott is 'days away' since the Man Utd match, but I hope that is more down to our Boss' notoriously bad judgement on sideline length rather than the injury itself being one of those nasty recurring ones. Denilson continues to be out, although again this is said to be for only a brief stint. Apparently Almunia is recovering from his illness but isn't match fit(?!) so he won't feature either, but should be back soon. Other than these, Fabianski, Djourou and Nasri are the ones we've got used to seeing on the sideline, and should expect to stay there for some while longer. Fran Merida is also unavailable, and annoyingly will be unavailable for the Carling Cup match on tuesday, because he's off to meet up with the Spain squad for the Euro Under 20s tournament. The most pointless international tournament in football, including the Confederations Cup. There are both an U19s and an U21s tournament (incidently both of which are more prestigious) so why on earth should there be an U20s? Merida's absence made even more ridiculous by the fact that only a few months ago, he competed in the Euro U19s tournament. Give the poor lad a break. With all these 'rising star' tournaments, he'll struggle to ever get into his squad's first team.

I've decided today, instead of predicting what the starting XI will be, I will choose what I want it to be. And, what I think will work best. As stated earlier, the fact we're at home, coupled with the fact that we've been the better team in all our away matches, I've gone for an attacking side that'll hopefully rip Wigan to shreds.

Mannone

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Gibbs

Song

Fabregas (c) Rosicky

v.Persie Bendtner Eduardo

Now the first thing that may stand out to you is the inclusion of Gibbs rather than Clichy. I felt that Clichy played so utterly dreadfully on Wednesday (the worst I think I've ever seen him play) and to be honest hasn't been that great since I don't know when, the inclusion of Gibbs should give him a right kick up his posterior. And what better game to include young Gibbsy, than a home game against a team who are clearly weaker than we are.

Secondly, you'll notice there's no Diaby. Yes, I can hear you cheering, but remember this is only my fantasy XI from who we've got available, not who I think will actually play. Regrettably I think Diaby will play. Maybe either instead of the potentially not match fit Rosicky, or maybe the recovering van Persie. Wenger will see Diaby's assist on Wednesday and applaud him for it, but conveniently miss everything else he did in that match, and thus reward him with a start against Wigan.

Lastly, I have van Persie and Bendtner on the same team, but this time Nik B playing in the centre. Bendtner's massive frame will do well against the likes of Bramble, and this way we should see a return to what seemed to be the weekly delight of RvP cutting in off the right and whipping in a ferocious curling left footed effort into the far corner. However, should RvP start (and there's no knowing, as he has only just been passed fit), Nik B will surely play on the right of the front 3.

Well that's all. Let's hope Wenger's comment of 'the Liege match will underline our season' was only for the press, and in reality he gave the players a right old bollocking after the match. A nice fired up team, wanting to score loads, but keeping a clean sheet will be much appreciated. I think Gooners deserve it after what we've been put through these last 3 weeks.

All that's left to say is check out the Guardian football page where they've predicted Arsenal's starting XI (they've gone for a 4-4-2), and also what now seems like the weekly link to Dara O'Briain's column.

Right, here's to a 4-0 win Gooners.

Standard Liege 2 - 3 Arsenal

Only match ratings today.

Mannone - 5. Not much to do, even with the two goals. Could perhaps have been positioned better for their first goal. There is something very wrong with our goalkeeping training though, teaching our keepers to rush out for balls our defence should easily cope with. Mannone did it today, Almunia has recently started doing it, we all know Fabianski does it. Even Szcezsny did it for the reserves on Monday.
Eboue - 4. Dreadful.
Clichy - 3. Even more dreadful.
Gallas - 4. Dreadful.
Vermaelen - 7. Thank god for Vermaelen. I don't know how many goals we would have conceded without him.
Song - 6. Ok
Diaby - 3. Dreadful. Worst player on the pitch despite bagging an assist. Should have been replaced by Wilshere at half time instead of being rewarded for an awful performance by being played the full 90 minutes.
Rosicky - 7. Pretty good. Not quite up to scratch yet in terms of the physical aspect of the game, but that will come.
Fabregas - 6. Ok
Eduardo - 5. Early shocker, and thereafter never really got into his stride.
Bendtner - 6. Ok. Took his goal well.

Shocking performance, mainly defensively. Should never have got into a position where we had to chase the game. And in that respect, despite dominating the whole game, we were lucky to win.
I may write something more constructive tomorrow, but if not, 'til the weekend Gooners.

Manchester City 4 - 2 Arsenal

Unbelievable. How can a team who dominate the game from start to finish end up losing 4-2? City had 3 shots and a freak header on target the whole game and ended up scoring 4, whilst Arsenal waited patiently, worked the ball into wide areas, and stood there as Toure and Lescott would without fail clear Sagna's abysmal cross. The patient build up was to no avail as Hughes parked 10 men behind the ball at all times. Arsenal would work players forward, a City player would come crunching in and win the ball and off they would go and score. Matters weren't helped by the fact that Clattenburg was refereeing the game. A ref who Man City have never failed to lose under. This was evident as he was soon booking Arsenal players for nothing whilst letting Man City players off after stamping on Arsenal's players faces, or handballing in their own penalty area thus denying a goalscoring opportunity.

The bad dream became nightmare when Adebayor scored. A goal he hardly deserved. The only thing he was doing right was clearing weak Fabregas corners away from the near post. A point the commentators picked up on with delight, and failing to notice that whenever the ball landed at his feet or head further up the field he constantly gave it away. Adebayor's petty and immature celebration clearly showed he feels hard done by, by the Arsenal support. If he honestly thinks that we were harsh on him for no reason, then he's more stupid than I thought.

It was good to see Rosicky score on his first competetive match for us in 16 or so months. And RvP's goal was superbly taken, making Lescott look a fool when it was the City player's main intention to take out boy wonder. Apart from that, it was a dreadful afternoon.

No player ratings, as they'll all be pretty much the same. No player had a bad game, but nobody was good either. Let's just say everyone got a 6. Apart from Diaby who got a 5. The Diaby experiment as one of the attacking 3 just doesn't work, unless he comes on as an impact sub. Arsenal can't get into any controlling rhythm when there's a player who's just not on the same wavelength as everyone else. Eduardo should have started instead so we could have had some creativity on the left side of the pitch. A big mistake by Wenger.

Man City hardly deserved to win, especially not to score 4, but that's football.
'Til midweek gooners.

Manchester City - Arsenal Preview

We should really try and win this game. Not just because Man City are sitting 3 points above us in the league, but also to wipe the smug grin of Mark Hughes' face. Ever since midweek when Adebayor started banging on about how he feels loved again, coupled with the fact he's scored 3 goals in 3 games, Hughes has presumably been grinning innanely to himself whilst going about doing every day things. This obviously needs to stop. Although the period of congratulations Hughes is giving himself will come to a natural end when Adebayor decides he wants to go to Real Madrid (also the fans don't love me anymore, I don't understand why....all I said is that I don't want to play for them anymore, and thus have stopped working hard), I'd rather we finished it for them.

We could have had a tougher test than we are already going to have. Robinho is doubtful, whilst Tevez, Santa Cruz and tough-tackling Kompany are all out. But then again, it's not like we've got all our players sprightly and niggle-free. News came a week or so ago that Djourou will be out for half the season, if not more. Now that's ok if both our first choice centre backs stay injury free, but we know that's not going to happen. Otherwise we'll have to play Song or (shudders) Silvestre at centre back unless Wenger plans on making an ubrupt U-turn and start playing Senderos. Walcott is still a slight doubt, although could return sooner rather than later. And Vela, Nasri and Fabianski will carry on working on the butt-groove they've established in their seats on the sidelines. However the most worrying news is that Arshavin is out for 3 games. Wenger was slightly moody after Arshavin played for Russia midweek, as apparently he shouldn't have. Russia manager Hiddink had said that it was up to Arshavin whether he'd play or not midweek, which was stupid 'cause a player will always choose to play. Especially if he's captain of his country. What is worrying about his injury is that it was his addition that rejuvenated us from our slump last season, and said slump involved that 3-0 loss at Eastlands. However there is no doubting the new spring in our step this year, and hopefully that will be enough to compensate for the loss of our pint sized Russian. Captain Fabulous should also be back after playing a full 90 midweek for Spain (and bagging a very well taken goal), however he may be seen as a slight doubt, and Rosicky returned midweek, playing precisely 56 minutes for the Czech Republic.

As we are away, I think Wenger will choose a slightly more stable side. In other words Diaby may be left on the bench only to be used as a potential impact sub. Wenger may revert to his questionable tactic of playing Eboue in away games also, and although Nik B scored twice in the interlull for Denmark, Eboue has been preferred recently. So I reckon the line-up will be this:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy

Song

Denilson Fabregas(c)

Eboue v.Persie Eduardo

I hope Bendtner does play instead of Eboue, but I just can't shake that funny feeling. We'll need all the help we can get up front, as Man City are the only team in the league not to have conceded a goal this season. We should also count ourselves lucky that they don't have their full strength strike force, as we haven't kept a clean sheat yet this season, although keeping one today may also be an uphill battle.

Righto. I'm unbelievably happy that Arsenal are back, so I don't have to hear anymore about England and the World cup, and read about overrated performances by Lampard and Rooney....until the 10th of October that is.
Enjoy the match Gooners, and I'll see you here afterwards.