Arsenal vs Aston Villa

Top of the alphabetical table, the two teams went into Villa Park tonight both hoping for a win today.

The Gunners had their usual back line, Fabregas, Denilson and Ramsey in the midfield and Rosicky, Arshavin and Eduardo up front.

Both sides were looking very enthusiastic and ready to get at each other, knowing that a win today for either side today would spell good progress in the Premiership.

The Gunners kicked off, but Villa had the share of the shots in the first 10 minutes, the closest being Agbonlahor, with his effort in the 4th minute slipping through Almunia's arms to go out for a corner. Aston Villa showing their attacking flair through the pace of Gabriel, and looking for goals. Why would they not, when they have not scored in their previous four games?

Arsenal were slowly coming back into the game though, with a corner that Fabregas took,and the left footed shot by Denilson was well saved by Friedel. That chance was through sloppy defending, no one covering Denilson, while he has scored from long range before, even in our last game against Stoke.

4 minutes later and Villa's best chance of the game came through a foul by Vermaelen, earning him a yellow, on the edge of the box. Four Aston Villa players lined up for the free kick, and Ashley Young, undoubtedly the most creative Villa player of the night had a well struck shot, that brushed the top of the net. He couldn't have missed the goal, or the crossbar by very much at all.

The remainder of the Arsenal chances in this first half all came through Fabregas, the first off a corner, he recieved it back again only to shoot from a very tight angle, hoping for a deflection.
His other effort from the free kick hit the wall, and his last he weaved through the defense, his shot hit the left post, Ramsey and Rosicky had a bit more than a mix up, which gave the defenders enough time to regroup, and Rosicky's now harmless shot went well over the bar.

As for Villa though, they had the chances, but failed to get one on target.
Half time came, with Aston Villa and Arsenal both looking for goals, and both with very close chances, but with bad news coming with Vermaelen injured, and former Arsenal man Sol Campbell coming on.

The second half started brightly again with Villa having another close chance. A cross whipped in from the right, Downing had the goal all to him but his shot fell just left of the goal, both teams breathing sighs of a different kind.

10 minutes later Arsenal had another great chance. Arshavin had a shot saved. the ball flew up in the air to Fabregas, he laid it off for Rosicky but his shot hit the crossbar. Another chance, another missed. I personally cannot see how in the world he had missed that, but there were 2 and more piling Villa defenders coming in, and perhaps he had a lot of pressure on him.

And if this match couldn't get any worse, missing chances, Eduardo went off for Bendtner because of an injury. 2 injuries today.

The rest of this match had both teams looking for goals that results in throw ins, plenty of fouls and substitutions, with both teams having chances but desperate defending deals with them.
Fabregas had another free kick that hits the wall again, Villa looking for counter attacks but Arsenal always comes up with an answer, but all coming to no avail,

The full time whistle came in the 93rd minute, the match ends 0-0. Both teams breath sighs of relief from the game, with plenty of excitement and chances.

The lesson today, take your chances. You won't get many of them in this game, so don't make a hash of it like Ramsey did with Rosicky.

Arsenal Bolton again

Bolton looked like a goal was on last game.

They (fortunately) didn't score.

Weak link? Traore, allowed too much time and space for Lee and Bolton made sure to exploit that, focusing most of their attacks down the left.

This time we're at home and we should win comfortably again.

I want to see Arshavin, Eastmond or Merida again to show some youth, perhaps Traore but let Clichy start. Fabregas can I feel go on the bench to start the game and let Diaby go into the middle, for him to be rested for Man United Chelsea and Liverpool.

My tip is an Arsenal win 3-1.

Arsenal 2 Bolton 0

Gunners back in the drivers seat with a goal from Merida and Fabregas. Merida was linked with a move to Atletico Madrid, while Fabregas was injured with a hamstring injury since the beginning of the month.

The lineup had the traditional defense, with Traore filling in for Clichy's injury that takes forever, Eastmond at CM, with Fabregas and Diaby playing alongside, Rosicky at right attack, Arshavin full up front and Eduardo on the left.

This looked to be a certain Arsenal victory, with Bolton having a new manager at the reins but Davies nearly broke through on the 40th second, Lee causing problems a minute later, and Klasnic had a goal disallowed, all in the first few minutes.

The next few moments had Arsenal trying just to get out of their half, intimidated with Bolton's terrific start to the game. Bolton were playing their hearts out, but Arsenal somehow, inexplicably coming up with an answer.

Arsenal called the shots, after a penalty call by Fabregas in the 12th minute, except for a resilient Bolton who was quick on the breakaway and looked to establish a goal to make up for the just offside one in the first few minutes of play.

Fabregas on the 27th minute scored, luckily as seen by Arsenal. The ball went to Diaby who was lucky to claim possession, and a mix up of Diaby's pass and possession by Bolton meant that the ball fell to Fabregas, to Eduardo and back again to the captain, who finished in style. I would say it was lucky, as poor defending and bad luck to Bolton, and classy one-two with Eduardo and Fabregas, but Arsenal were ahead.
On the half hour mark, Eastmond tried a shot , he was unmarked as well (terrible defending) following a corner, it was blocked with more luck rather than judgement by the keeper, as the debutant almost scored. Bolton turned a blind eye to the newcomer and it nearly fell apart.

The remainder of the first half was quiet, with Fabregas missing one from close range, though it wasn't his fault, and him again trying one further out, clipping a defender, and going to the keeper, but if it didn't it could have been another goal. Meanwhile Bolton weren't playing with the same flair as the first few minutes, with the exception of Klasnic, his chance on the whistle just edging the tip of his foot as the ball went straight to Almunia.
The half was very entertaining, but Bolton, I felt, was unlucky to not score.

The second half started, with Lee trying to find Taylor 2 minutes in, and again Lee setting up Cohen, this ball bouncing off the ground and into Almunia's grateful hands.Traore was beaten, with Lee's cross trying to find Taylor deflected 8 minutes into the half. Bolton were pressuring Arsenal in these first few minutes, with Arsenal's only chance coming from a free kick taken by Fabregas to the heads.

Possession was shared in the first 15 minutes of the half, and so were the chances- not many. The chances belonged to Diaby, and Taylor had a major, major chance on the hour mark, clean through, only Almunia, and he blew it, skying the ball high into the air. Not long after that, Traore sent in a dangerous low cross on the left, only for Bolton to frantically clear it away.
Merida went on for Eastmond, who tonight was a little error prone, but you can't blame him, his first start in Arsenal colours.
Bolton were defending well, but that was more frantic rather than organised, with Arsenal attacking and controlling more as the night swept the Reebok.
Another Bolton chance came through Taylor on the 70th minute, he took it quickly and had tons of space, and Almunia for some reason couldn't stop it. He must have thought he was offside.

On the 73rd minute Rosicky went off for Clichy; an interesting move by Wenger as Traore was struggling. Clichy had his first appearance after his back injury. Following that was Vermaelen's free kick, nearly whipping into the top corner.
The free kick on the 77th minute by Bolton caused havoc, and Arsenal broke quickly. Diaby's pass went to Fabregas, he ran right at the defense, until he laid it off for Eduardo to cross. The ball then floated in the air, right to the unmarked Spaniard, took a touch to set it, another to finish, with his weaker right foot. Brilliant goal, showed what Arsenal can do.

After that there were no more reasonable chances for Arsenal, bar one for Bolton, their last, Taylor skying another chance on the 84th minute.
Another great win, and Bolton again in London next.

What's happening with Liverpool?

Dumped out of the Champions League, out of the FA Cup to Reading, their title campaign is a shambles, could it get any worse?

First of all I have to say that I'm surprised that Liverpool fell victim. They had their debts, but the injuries this season to their players- particularly Benayoun, Torres, and Gerrard have hit extremely hard.
And now Gerrard is liked with a move away, and if that happens Torres may more to one of the rivals of the Meresysiders, perhaps Manchester City I was thinking.

And what would happen then? I would think that the price tags wold add up to 77 million pounds, and that would go to Liverpool's debts.

Liverpool, with no extra funds, would crash out of the Big Four and then Villa would come in, shaming Liverpool for the next decade. Best case scenario.

But at this rate they look likely of not even netting an Europa League place next season, which would mean, yes, more debts to be repaid. Leeds United anyone? And losing to Reading in the FA Cup.... Torres says they have to win the Europa League but I doubt it.
Most of their players deserve quality football at quality clubs, so this may see some more of their stars leaving.

Them losing to us at Anfield has crushed them a fair bit I would think, as that would have dented their morale in the position they were in at that time. Losing 2-1 because of a Glen Johnson own goal (and an exquisite strike from Arshavin) is hard to take.

So where else for Liverpool? No FA Cup, no chance of the Premiership, nor chance at Europa League, having also squandered the Champions League?
Once again- Leeds United? Perhaps.

A few thoughts

Despite having not watched the Arsenal vs Everton match in full, from what I've heard from those who did and from what I've seen on Match of the Day, Almunia is our weak link. When he's not clattering our own players, he's being indecisive and ending up putting our team in danger. For Everton's first goal, he was off his line practically wrestling with Saha, the ball came in, Osman headed it and Almunia was nowhere near it, and for some reason didn't even attempt to save the ball. Fair enough, Denilson on the back post might have done better, but that doesn't excuse Almunia's apparent lack of interest of the ball.

And for Everton's second goal, he committed himself far too early, one of the cardinal sins of goalkeeping. He made it easy for Pienaar to just lift the ball over him, and another goal against us that's Almunia's fault. Others goals that have been his fault have been Portsmouth's goal against us in August, Kuyt's against us in December, the penalty was silly to concede against United - even though it was a dive Almunia made it easy for Rooney to make it seem like he'd been fouled and he made it impossible for the referee to tell Rooney was cheating as usual - he came miles off his line and failed to communicate with Vermaelen (or so it seemed) against Chelsea when Vermaelen scored the own goal.. the list is seemingly endless.

I stuck up for Almunia last season when his critics came, he had a good game against Manchester United in the first leg of the semi in the CL, but now it's clear that he is the weak link in our team. Fabianski is definitely better than him, and while the young Pole is just that, young, and slightly error-prone at the worst of times, he's a terrific shot stopper and is, unlike Almunia, commanding when the ball comes into his area. Yes he came miles off of his line against Chelsea which allowed Drogba an easy goal, but if it was Almunia he would have changed his mind about his decision constantly, much like he does with his hair at times.

And now onto the defensive midfield problem. With Denilson have collapsed on the pitch and Alex Song being in Africa for 5/6 games, we need someone to play the anchorman. Abou Diaby would be good there, if he could actually tackle, let alone defend, Aaron Ramsey just isn't cut out for that position in my opinion... Tomas Rosicky? Samir Nasri? Both attacking midfielders but as a quick fix maybe they could work - what other options do we have? What point is there in buying a defensive midfielder so he can play 7 games every other season when Song leaves for the African Cup of Nations, and a couple of games if he ever gets injured? The only other options we have are the youngsters, Eastmond, Coquelin and Frimpong, perhaps even Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

I knew of Eastmond as a full back/centre half before he excelled in the defensive midfield position against Liverpool('s reserves) and from what I've seen and heard of Frimpong and Coquelin they're both very talented, the same goes for Emmanuel-Thomas. It would certainly be a risk putting a teenager in a vital position for 6 games that could decide our season, but Arsene might be thinking of doing just that. In 2005, when we had a central midfield crisis, he threw a youngster by the name of Francesc Fabregas in there, and we all know how that turned out. But on the other hand, Cesc had played a fair amount of games in the previous season, unlike Frimpong, Coquelin, Eastmond or Emmanuel-Thomas.

I really hope our injury problems ease up a little bit, obviously. Walcott, Cesc, Denilson, van Persie, Clichy, Gibbs, Bendtner... all injured. Although I suppose in a way, Bendtner's injury could be a blessing in disguise; Fabregas' long term injury last season led to Arsene signing Arshavin in January, and he's been a fantastic signing, without Cesc's injury Arshavin would probably not be at the Club. So maybe Bendtner being injured for a while could mean we get a great player in this window, although I can't think of too many available strikers for the right price and of the right style.

On the plus side, Manchester United dropped points again, this time to Birmingham. I can't really complain about their goal being flukey, considering the nature of our goals against Everton... I can still moan about Fergie's moaning though, considering he claimed Darren Fletcher (hate him) should not have been sent off. Ridiculous. The first challenge was worthy of a red on it's own maybe, and the second was just cynical, Fletcher knew what he was doing. Anyway, sorry for not being active of late, seeing as I'm looking for a career in journalism hopefully I'll be posting more and more on here in future.