Just One More Win

It's been a while huh? My last post was all the way back in March when we beat Liverpool at Anfield. Since then Arsenal have been on quite the journey. We've been up, we've been down, we've bought Podolski, we've had our new home kit unveiled, we blew the chance to secure 3rd place only to get another opportunity a day later when our closest challengers failed to pounce. So now it all boils down to one final game. Sunday 13th May at The Hawthorns against Roy Hodgson's West Bromwich Albion in his final game in charge before he vacates for the England job. Win this match and Champions League football is guaranteed for next season and in all honesty, finishing in 3rd would be considered a good season when you consider how awful Arsenal have been at times this campaign. They've been wonderful at times too, particularly our irrepressible captain (pictured above), but the majority of Arsenal fans would agree that this hasn't been one of our better seasons (although it's definitely had it's moments). So here are some of my thoughts on the state of the club and all things Arsenal.

It's stating the obvious but still needs to be stressed: we must beat West Brom on Sunday. I can't bear the thought of leaving our position in the hands of Newcastle, Spurs and Chelsea and praying they all lose their final games. If we win, we're in and that's all there is to it. If Arsenal can't beat West Brom, then they don't really deserve 3rd place and that's the honest truth. This squad is more than capable of beating the Baggies but we've been tripped up a couple of times there in the past. It's been said a few times lately but the team really do need to treat this game like a cup final. After the horror show that was Norwich last weekend, the focus must be on executing the basics and fundamentals, limiting mistakes and taking our chances. The pressure will be on van Persie to win this final game but I'd like to see the squad help him out a bit. Despite how amazing he's been this year, we've been far too reliant on his striking prowess and its clear the rest of the team haven't scored enough goals. I'd have an enormous grin on my face if Gervinho and Chamakh popped up with a couple of late goals on Sunday, but it'll never happen.

On the subject of van Persie, the club sound confident that we can sign the captain to a new deal and that we won't have to suffer another awful summer of watching our talisman leave for pastures new. I feel pretty confident he won't leave for Man City or Juventus and that he'll remain our captain for a bit longer. I'd love to say he'd stay at Arsenal for the rest of his career but in today's game you just can't tell. Money talks and it often speaks louder than loyalty. Still, van Persie has always come across as sincere and honest and I believe him when he says he wants to stay at the club for many more years to come. If we can get his signature down before the Euros, I'll be a very happy Gooner.

It's been clear for a while now that van Persie needs some support up front because we can't expect the guy to carry us in every single game. Plus, if the worst happens and the captain goes down with an injury, we really have no one else to replace him up front. So the news that the Podolski signing has been wrapped up before the season has even finished is good news. The experienced German international is in the prime of his career and will only be 27 once the 2012/13 season begins. He's a very good signing and can play up front or out on the left as part of the front trio we like to use so much. Here's hoping he adapts to life in England quickly and can become a dangerous part of our attack. There's been a lot of rumours about the young French midfielder Yann M'Vila and a possible move to Arsenal from Rennes. He'd be a great addition to the team but he will undoubtedly cost a lot of money and certainly more than Arsenal will probably be willing to pay. We already have Song in that position, who I'd hate to replace, even with a player of M'Vila's calibre. Regardless, M'Vila will be one to watch next month at Euro 2012, especially if he could become a potential Arsenal player later in the summer.

Anyway, I'll leave it there for now. I'll be working on Sunday so will miss the West Brom game live, but I'll be keeping an eye on the scoreline the entire afternoon. Keep your eyes peeled for a possible Euro 2012 preview I'm planning too.

Thanks for reading.

Gunners Keep On Rolling

Arsenal's comprehensive 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday makes it four consecutive Premier League wins on the trot. The boys from N5 are really on a roll at the moment, banishing the early season memories. After that horrible start we've really turned things around and the whole squad are on top form right now, especially the man up front leading the attack, captain Robin van Persie. The flying Dutchman scored one goal and created two more this weekend - everything is clicking for the guy and the squad feed off this. Van Persie is having the season of his life and his goals are up to double digit numbers already. Naturally this is incredible news but every Arsenal fan out there, though enjoying our recent success, is also petrified of van Persie picking up an injury because be honest, who else have we got? Chamakh, as much as I want the guy to do well at the club, just looks lost out there every time he takes the field. Park Chu-Young? After a well taken goal against Bolton in the Carling Cup he stumbled around against Marseille in the Champions League, looking extremely rough and not quite ready for the big stage. Both players need match time to build confidence, but neither look close to filling van Persie's enormous shoes should the unimaginable happen and he get hurt. Past experience shows he will eventually - let's just hope he can stay healthy for all the important moments because we need him desperately. 

But lets not dwell on the future we have no control over and can't possibly foresee. Instead let's celebrate the comeback of Thomas Vermaelen, certainly one of our best players and don't we just look a lot better with him back in the side? With the Verminator running the show in defence alongside the excellent Koscielny and the physically imposing Mertesacker, our defence are starting to tighten up and the entire team look more confident. Vermaelen is of course a huge factor in our recent run of wins and his performance on Saturday was typical of the effect he can have. Solid at the back and ridiculously dangerous in attack you can't not love the guy. We really missed his leadership last year and especially his beautifully taken goals; he really does strike the ball like a centre forward and his goal against West Brom was a perfect example. Every Arsenal fan must pray that both he and van Persie can put their history of injury woes behind them and continue their fine form for a long, long time. If we can keep our best guys fit, which we haven't managed to do in years, then this team has the ability to win things. I still feel we lack depth to challenge for the title but an F.A Cup or a Carling Cup is never out of reach and if everything slotted into place perfectly then maybe even the Champions League (I'll keep dreaming about that one...).

Thanks for reading.

Costly Blunder Against Baggies

So by now you have surely seen that Arsenal failed to come away from West Brom with a win, and had to settle for a 2-2 draw yesterday. In a match we really needed to win to keep up with Man United at the top of the league, Arsenal typically had to do things the hard way.

West Brom took an early lead after some bad defending from a Baggies corner in the 3rd minute, Steven Reid climbing high to head home. Going 1-0 down that early in the game is never a good way to start the match, especially when you're away from home against a team battling relegation. But things got worse, when Manuel Almunia decided to leave his area in the 58th minute in an "attempt" to clear the ball from danger. It was probably the worst decision of his professional career, and there have been plenty of horrors in the past to compete. There was no need for Almunia to rush out and try and clear the ball, no need at all. Squillaci had Peter Odemwingie close to him, but not so close that it was a clear goal-scoring opportunity and Odemwingie was so far away from goal that the danger was minimal even if Squillaci messed things up. If Almunia had just allowed Squillaci to deal with the ball on his own, the disaster that followed would never have occurred. Instead, Almunia sprinted out to meet the ball, thus getting in Squillaci's way and letting Odemwingie collect the ball and slot home into an empty net. 2-0 West Brom and Arsenal's season effectively over.

Luckily the Gunners didn't crumble from this setback like they have before so often throughout this campaign. Arshavin soon pulled a goal back with a fantastic effort, showing nice control and accurate finishing. It wasn't long until Arsene Wenger's men managed to tie things up when a deep cross came off of West Brom's post/part of Bendtner and fell to Abdoulaye Meite who failed to clear the ball and van Persie pounced. In a weird tackle-but-shot-kind-of-thing the Dutch star connected with the ball enough for it to roll over the line and level the score. Arsenal had a chance to win it late on (Clichy's low shot narrowly pushed around the post) but could have lost it too were it not for a terrific last-ditch block from Squillaci. It finished 2-2 which is a fair scoreline given the events that happened during the game, but for a team challenging for the title, this wasn't good enough yet again.

Ever since Almunia supplanted Jens Lehmann as the Gunner's number one keeper, he has hardly endeared himself to the Arsenal faithful. When Almunia first took over from Lehmann in the 04/05 campaign, he started well enough but made too many mistakes to ever be a reliable choice. Almunia ousted Jens once again in the 07/08 campaign, this time for good, but again he was hardly convincing and ever since fans have cried out for Wenger to buy a new keeper in each transfer window since Lehmann left the club. Now 'Mad Jens' is back, all 41 years of the crazy German, and Almunia has fucked himself again with his performance yesterday. Jens was obviously just brought in as a backup, since Fabianski and Szczesny are going to miss a long time, but now Lehmann is in a position to see serious playing time. Almunia, gifted another chance to prove he belongs at this club, has fallen at the first hurdle and even his most ardent supporters will struggle to defend him for much longer. Wenger now has a dilemma on his hands; to stick with the sometimes-brilliant but often clumsy and error-prone Almunia, or chuck the baby out with the bath water completely and start the wise but elderly veteran Lehmann. Either way, surely Almunia's days at the club are numbered and the gloves must be handed over permanently to Szczesny and Fabianski in the summer. We can't keep throwing games away because our keeper is the weak link, and Wenger has let this problem grow for far too long.

Arsenal take a bit of a break now due to the internationals coming up, and don't play again until April 2nd when Blackburn visit the Emirates. In Gunners-related news, lasagnechef over at The Cannon has posted leaked photos of what is apparently going to be our new home shirt for next season. I have long heard the rumours that we are going to celebrate our 125th anniversary next year, and I've seen a different pic of this design before. Its extremely hard to know if this recent batch of photos are of a fake design because it looks pretty real to me and so far I like what I see. I agree with The Cannon, some red and white stripy socks would go well with that shirt. We'll probably have to wait until May/June to find out what the official design will look like but I reckon it won't be much different than what we are seeing below (click on the image to see it bigger).

Thanks for reading.