A very interesting day today, perhaps more so than initially meets the eye: much has been made of Torres and Gerrard both being out when Liverpool face Sunderland at three, it should also be remembered that their only remaining half decent player, Macherano, played two hard games in South America this week, working like a demon in an attempt to get Argentina to the World Cup Finals; the result being that he is unlikely to be on top form; Sunderland should get a draw at the very least.
You may think that Liverpool are irrelevant to Arsenal in the league this season and to a greater extent I agree, but while the manc loving media have been loyally focusing on Liverpool’s frailties, the more important injury has gone unnoticed: Rooney is out today when they face Bolton at three.
The reality is this: we played them off the park and were unlucky to lose. City were also unlucky to lose; Sunderland were poor but United were worse and were lucky again to salvage a draw in the last minute. The game and the result that gives the true picture is the one against Burnley.
The mancs are only up there because of their reputation and not because of their squad: don’t get me started on the idea that they have got a better squad than us or all the toys will come out of the pram.
If Shrek got a serious injury they would finish below spuds, unfortunately it looks like he is only out for today’s game but nevertheless I expect Bolton to get a draw.
The only remaining team of any significance is the chavs: we might need a bit of luck here; they lose a chunk of their team to the ACN but cruciate ligament damage to Drogba’s knee would do our title hopes a power of good (a boy can dream can’t he?). Failing that, they have got Villa away today, always a tricky game and one that we have to hope that they drop points in.
Which brings me to my favourite subject: The Mighty Arsenal; we should rightly expect to win and win comfortably today against Birmingham. Rosicky will be taken off, to protect him, as per usual, after the customary seventy minutes and if Ramsey is injured we could get a glimpse of Wilshire which will make a very special cherry on top of a satisfying four nil win.
avenell
JonJon
Morning Roadsters.
Football, football, must have football.
Can I update my predicted scoreline to Arsenal 5-0 Birmingham, please?
Morning All – Proper football is back at last!
PDT – I see from your score you are expecting Almunia to be back in goal
My team for the day would be
Mannone
Eboue Gallas TV Gibbs
Fabregas Song Rosicky
RvP Walcott Arshavin
If no Cesc – Merida or Ramsey
What will be interesting is the subs, no Nik, no Eduardo, no Vela – will someone like Sunu or Murphy be on the bench?
I would bet ave’s house that Merida is at least in the squad today, the boy wants first team and a new contract, if I were AW I would be keeping him involved
I am going for 6-0 george
Interesting post London
Without wishing to sound rude, I don’t give a flying ….. about The Dippers or Manure, all we have to do is win our matches and sit back while those around us fade
I honestly believe it will be between us and Roman’s lot, and if we can beat them at home, draw at least at their place and it will be ours
Morning Rico
Good call on Merida, It’s funny how players whose contracts are coming up for renewal seem to get picked by Wenger at a far greater frequency. I remember when Wilshire’s contract was up for renewal: he featured in almost every game for a while in one way or another.
Morning London,
I hope I am right too, I think many of us are desperate to see him get a run in the side..
Merida v’s Diaby ??? Hands down, Merida
This is an ideal game to give him ago, even it is from the bench – same for Wilshere too
Guessing the team is no easy task today. Who knows who has come back nackered from god knows where around the world. So I am going to pick the team that I would like to see out there.
———Almunia
Eboue,Gallas,Vermaelen,Gibbs
–Fabregas,Song,Rosicky
–Walcott,RVP,Arshavin
Actually that team is awesome (as our new American owner would say)
London –
You cheat, that was my team from the previous post, but with Theo in the middle and Robin on the ‘wing’, oh and I went for Mannone in goal so maybe I should take that back
Great minds Rico
Ha ha London, or dull minds
Very well thought out post London.
I really think the game of the day will be Sunderland v Liverpool, and like you I think the best Liverpool can hope for is a draw.
I agree with your team that you say you would like to see but I feel we may get Diaby instead of Walcott(who is not 100%).I hope Ramsey comes on for the rejuvinated Rosicky,yet though confident of a win I don’t expect a landslide,maybe 2-0 would be nice but not a 2-1 with the score being 1-1 with 5 minutes left.No prediction just a thought.
I already know the post match interview from AW will include the words”it is always difficult to be focused after an International break, jet lag etc.”
Excellent observations, London!
Rico, nice one about Almunia. Yes, I do expect him to be back, but would have expected the same scoreline if Mannone played. We leak goals because our back four play way too high and we get caught out, especially at the Emirates.
I would love to see London’s team. Sagna needs some time off the pitch and Eboue is actually playing pretty well.
Theo better have a blinder today. Nasri is on the way back and who knows how that comeback will workout. My guess is that Nasri will force Arsene to move Rosicky up to replace Theo and Theo will go back to becoming a 60th or 75th minute sub.
I don’t care much about the ‘dippers. I hope Villa and Bolton have their best games of the season this weekend.
I have contacted Sky Sports grrrrr
I would like to air my views to your football presenters during the live games. This follows on from Sir Alex’s comments about referees.
I along with many others no doubt, get angered by the bias shown towards the Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool players who also happen to play for England. Added to that the constant bias shown towards the Manchester Utd club week in week out.
Why do the likes of Andy Gray, Jamie Redknapp and others sit in front of the televison cameras and refer to Rooney as Wayne, Gerrard as Stevie, Lampard as Frank and Terry as John (to name a few) ??
Yet other club players such as Cesc Fabregas, Jermaine Defoe, Robbie Keane, William Gallas etc etc, get referred to by their surnames!!
Sky Sports should be unbiased and present football as neutral observers, report the FACTS and be equal to all clubs. The way Andy Gray in particular comments before, during and after matches is a disgrace and he along with your other presenters should be remined they are ‘neutral’ not Chelsea, Manchester Utd or Liverpool fans!
I look forward to hearing from you…
Missed you again PDT
You tell em Rico, give em hell.
afternnoon guys..
good post..i enjoyed it…
i think liverpool are in danger of finishing outside the top 4 this season …they have a garbage squad…
and i agree about manure…they have a garbage squad too…but like you say they are up there by reputation, teams are still afraid of them…but a few defeats and once the fear factor goes i think they will drop away too…
but id like to add to that and say manure are jammy gits too…a perfect example was when they played us…how do you go from being 1-0 down and being totally outplayed on your own turf, to going 2-1 with out having a shot at goal???? freakish…
and the ref decisions…not any more though since fergie did what he did…merse was good when he was on sky earlier…sticking up for wenger and saying fergie gets away with murder…
villa are winning 2-1
2-1 Villa
Hi JJ, saw Merse, and i loved him say, Those words wouldnt even come out of AW’s mouth, let alone….’ Good Man
Great defending by Anelka for the Villa goal… H Tee Hee
Hi Roadsters .. Good post London.
I was trying to find a link that I could write a post about all the things you mention. But you nailed it with the betting angle. Well done.
Teachers arrived
Afternoon ave
hi rico..
yeah merse was on form this morning…saying how its bag out of order that wenger was humiliated at OT just for kicking a bottle…yet fergie can say and do whats he wants to officials and nothing gets done..and the panel agreed with him which was surprising..i think fergies got up a few peoples noses recently..hes going to get alot of bad press..
hi avenell..
when i first seen the title i thought it was your post as weve talked about the odds on a few occassions….
Rico.. it’s a bit early for your whiskey fix..
Hi JJ. Are you permanently back with us yet?
no not yet mate…
my mums gone to spend the weekend with my sister in nottingham so i said id pop round to her house and look after the dog…
thought id say hello and try catch a stream for the game…
He has certainly got up mine JJ, ouch!!***
Ha ha ave, don’t touch the stuff, hate it!
What a result for Villa and all of us
Mannone
Gibbs
Gallas
Vermaelen
Eboue
Fabregas
Diaby
Walcott
Rosicky
Song
van Persie
Subs – No Merida
Almunia
Silvestre
Traore
Sagna
Wilshere
Ramsey
Arshavin
no AK???
is he injured??
oh i see…
i think we need him for games like this
Diaby ..lol.. one day he will be MOTM.. keep trying arsene.
Hello all,
i’m going with a 2-0 for Arsenal.
Luck for us.
7-0
Does anyone have some stream for me, please?
I’m using.. http://www.magedtv.net/ch2.html
Thank you, Ave.
liverpool losing
JJ
7-0
Hi Freire
Bloody hell, Theo has been crocked, by the BRUM!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
A Balloon helped Sunderland….
1-0 Hoorah
Go Robin Go 
2-0, JJ is looking good for the right score
DIABY… woahwo Diaby …………
hello rico…
i bet 2-0 too, guys =|
well, it doesnt matter anymore… 2-1, shit
JJ said 7-0 Freire
Does anyone thought their goal was fault over mannone?
Diaby and manone at fault with the goal, a game that should have been wrapped up within 30 minutes.
RVP’s goal was equisite, a few weeks ago, it would have hit the post.
Still think we have a couple of goals up our sleeve.
Walcott is a worry, is he just too lightweight or wasn’t he fit to start.
Final score 4- 1
Hi kelsey, what happened to Theo??
Dippers lose, chelsea lose
WE WIN – have a great evening all
TTFN
It was great to see the liverpool fans faces at the end of the game. They need to learn they are not the best of the world always.
Great victory!
Rico Hi,
he got clobbered, stayed on for 5 minutes then went off after about 20 minutes.
Hard fought win, though it looks like it will be as AW predicted that a total of low 80′s will win the league and teams may lose up to 6 games.
AA and RVP and Rosicky give the class that cesc needs to work with.
I can’t fault Manone because he shouldn’t be playing,though a close up of Almunia made him look glum.
We must have a commanding keeper whoever that is, and we have a real shout of the title.
Damn, if the mancs had drawn I could have claimed a clean sweep of predictions, not sure if the odds have gone down that much though lol
London.. did you see sunderlands goal?
A scouser chucked a balloon thing on the pitch and Darren bent shot got deflected off it into the goal past reina..lol
is anyone about??
Morning Roadsters and Roosters,
A few observations from the terraces …….
We went to sleep after we scored the seciond goal and the players looked tired for much of the second half
Thank goodness for the little Russian doll …. his oment of agic relieved the pressure
The ref was awful, Theo was getting kicked to pieces – he should have handed out several yellows for persistent fouling
Diaby scored but was still our worst player
Gibbs did OK at LB
Mannone was fouled/impeded so their goal shouldn’t have stood
Their fans are scum for singing Taylor’s name throughout the game …
We all need an oment of agic in our lives!
hello rasp..how are ya??
i think diaby did ok yesterday..he wasnt bad…but games against birmingham i expect him to do well in…its the games against other certain teams that i dont think hes capable of handling…
i think songs a revelation…i love the way he fouls too, hes dirty and i like it…we need it…hes becoming a presence…the presence that denilson doesnt possess…and teams are not finding playing song easy//unlike denilson
Hi JonJon – nice to hear from you..
I agree about Song’s fouling, he just needs some refinement to his technique … to be already holding his hands up in the air in protest before he actually clatters into the back of a player is a bit of a giveaway
Diaby did OK by his standards and didn’t give the ball away too ofetn, but as usual, whenever he had time to think, it all went wrong….
TV was imperious throughout the game … I am beginning to think that he is the player we would miss the most were he to get injured.
A win’s a win even though it was a bit dreary for large parts of the game. If we beat wham and the spuds, everyone will start talking about us as title contenders and I’d rather we didn’t have that added pressure ….
That last comment wasn’t meant to read as ‘I don’t want us to beat wham and the spuds’, just that I prefer it when we’re being dismissed by the critics/pundits.
I bloody hope that there isn’t a revue into the balloongate goal and the game gets replayed … that’d be typical luck for the dippres …. they’ve had such incredibly good luck for year’s they’re long overdue some s**t
revue = stage show (may be more appropriate!) I meant to write review … not a good morning for my typing skills ….
i dont think they can replay it rasp…the refs decision is final…
the best thing about it all is…that chelsea and liverpool are struggling away from home and they still have to play in some big games as well…they need to strngthen their squads and neither can be active in jan…pool are skint and chelsea are banned…
weve got a chance as long as we keep beating the lesser teams and so far so good..
Morning all
I’m hung over and am not capable of thinking let alone writing. Rasp why don’t you put some meat on your report and put it up there? Omnent of agic is the best ever, your key board has got a great sense of humour. I’m going back to bed. Ooooh my head.
hi london, bye london..
Hi London,
Hope your celebrations were worth the ‘morning after’!!
I’m not an author so I can’t put up articles … plus I’m a bit lazy these days
Hi everyone!
Appalled about the travelling fans complete lack of moral sense as exemplified in the chants about Taylor when Theo was down. I have to confess I was really worried and was very glad to see Theo sit up.
Also, I got the result right for a change!
Afternoon all
Citeh are 1-0 down, ha ha ha, Come on the Wigan, for one game only I will support you
No news re Theo’s injury yet, I thought we may have heard as he was due to have a scan today. Shouldn’t think it is ligaments as he wouldn’t have been able to play on for a while..
1-1
Brief visit for me – off to see Julian Clarey tonight, I have a feeling he will be very funny
Catch you all tomorrow
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