Happy New Year To Every Gooner Across The World

Not quite the result we hoped for last night after Monday however, all is not lost, a win at St Andrews followed by another win in a massive game against Man City will mean this Christmas and New Year period has been a very good one.

Anyone who was there or saw the game last year at St Andrews will be desperate for some sort of pay back after that last minute leveler and there is a score to settle there.

The game Against City is also huge for obvious reasons as City lie joint top in the league but after already beating them once and beating Chelsea on Monday, the belief will be there and the players KNOW we can win the big games.

Both games could be crackers but both are ones we need to win! So lets win them!! Come on Arsenal!

Also, i would like to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year. Perhaps 2011 can be the big one for the Arsenal. Have a good NYE whatever you do and stay safe.

Not A Bad Way To End The Year At The Emirates!

That was sweet wasn’t it? For me, what made it more sweet was that even the most positive and optimistic Arsenal fans including myself were not at all confident. We all thought ‘here we go again, Drogba is back, Lampard and Essien are back, so that means a Chelsea win’ however, we were wrong. I’ll gladly be wrong as long as we get the right result.

This was the FIRST time we have beaten Chelsea with Drogba playing and Mr Wenger said before the game that if we can stop Drogba, we can stop Chelsea and he was right.

The atmosphere was electric and we sang our hearts out. I think a big night was much needed and a big result at home was also much needed. People talk about the mental issue of not winning the big games because Chelsea and Manchester United are not miles better then us (some argue they are not better then us and we are on par even) and its more in our heads why we do not beat these two teams. I am not sure how much of a mental issue it was or who has the better team and squad but the longer it went on, the worse it would get. So to break it was vital and could prove very important.

I rang the Fans Forum on Thursday and told our very own Tom Watt and John Cross (you can follow him on twitter @johncrossmirror) that if Robin Van Persie starts then we will get the first goal and therefore win. Some would say maybe I fluked the prediction but it was true! Not that I am going on about it!

But now the focus switches to Wigan. That’s a huge game, get maximum points here and then beating Chelsea will seem even bigger.

A great way to end the year at the Emirates and the next game at the Emirates will be Manchester City at home which again is a massive game as they are joint top of the league.

Lets go to Wigan and win then go to St Andrews and win and 2011 may just be a great year!

Come on you Arsenal!

Arsene Wenger's Greatest Quotes....

"Everybody has a different opinion in this league and nobody is a prophet," said Wenger.”

"We live a society where everybody knows everything and it looks like it is a shame to say I don’t know.”

"I personally don’t know who will win the league. I have managed 1,600 games so if Nani knows he must be 1,600 times more intelligent than I am.”

Another classic quote from the Gaffer, this got me thinking, there have been some great Mr Wenger Quotes and if any of you follow me on twitter, you may remember I tweeted many of them one evening but if you didn’t see them or forget, here is my top 20 Arsene Wenger Quotes again

20. "If you do not believe you can do it then you have no chance at all."

19. "Nobody has enough talent to live on talent alone. Even when you have talent, a life without work goes nowhere."

18. "I did not see the incident."

17. “Is the title over or not? I don't believe so. If everyone is right about the championship, then let's stop, give them the trophy and then start again.”

16. [Upon being asked what he does with his spare time] "I watch football."

15. "We do not buy superstars. We make them."

14. "I am in a job where you always look in front of you. Unfortunately, the older you get, the less distance there is in front of you."

13. "If I go into a season and I say, 'For f***'s sake, if we don't win anything, they will all leave,' I have already lost. The problem of the media is always to imagine the worst. The problem of the manager is always to imagine the best."

12. [After the Arsenal fans booed a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough in November 1998] "If you eat caviar every day it's difficult to return to sausages."

11. [Upon being asked if he had received the apology that Sir Alex had announced he had sent to Wenger] "No. Perhaps he sent it by horse."

10. [On losing the lead of the league in November 2004] "It's like a child who is used to having ice cream whenever he wants. When it doesn't come when he asks he tends to get confused and nervous."

9. [On Arsenal's recruitment policy] "If I give you a good wine, you will see how it tastes and after you ask where it comes from."

8. "If you have a child who is a good musician, what is your first reaction? It is to put [them] into a good music school, not in an average one. So why should that not happen in football?" - September 2009, in response to Uefa president Michel Platini and Fifa president Sepp Blatter's respective claims that the top clubs' pursuit of young players was akin to "child slavery" and "child trafficking".

7. "A football team is like a beautiful woman. When you do not tell her, she forgets she is beautiful."

6. [In response to Sir Alex Ferguson's claim that he possessed the best team in the league despite Arsenal winning the title in 2002] "Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home."

5. [After Jose Reyes announced he wanted to leave Arsenal] "It's like you wanting to marry Miss World and she doesn't want you. I can try to help you but if she does not want to marry you what can I do?"

4. [On Emmanuel Adebayor's stamp on Robin van Persie] "I watched it when I got home and it looked very bad. You ask 100 people, 99 will say it's very bad and the hundredth will be Mark Hughes."

3. [On Jose Mourinho after the then Chelsea boss accused him of being a voyeur] "He's out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful. When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent."

2. "I tried to watch the Tottenham match on television in my hotel yesterday, but I fell asleep."

1. [In 2003] "It's not impossible. I know it will be difficult for us to go through the season unbeaten. But if we keep the right attitude it's possible we can do it."

There you have my top 20 quotes, there are plenty more but I chose my favourites ones. The reason why my number one quote is number one is because to go unbeaten then tell people you knew you could do it is one thing, but to say you can do it, and then actually do it shows class. Mr Wenger believed in his team and he was spot on.

Merry Xmas to all celebrating and I hope you have had a wonderful day.

What Is A Good Season For Arsenal?

Today's blog is short and simple.

What is a good season? Is the Carling Cup and a top three finish enough this season?

What about going for the FA CUP too?

Where will we finish in the league?

What about the Champions League? Some people have suggested going out and concentrating on domestic matters is not the worst thing?

What would you be happy with in terms of all four competitions?

We should remember the Carling Cup is far from won, i know some people have said that it is in the bag and the bookies will agree, but we should not lose focus and certainly not count our chicken's before they have hatched.

Also, with the transfer window coming up, is there anyone you would let go or anyone specific you would try and buy or loan?

Do leave your comments in the comments field as most people I have spoken to are talking about these subjects.

Apart from that, stay safe in the festive period, be careful in these conditions but at the same time have a very Merry and Happy Christmas.

Football Is Becoming A Bit Predictable Now…

Losing at Old Trafford and getting Barcelona in the Champions League…..AGAIN!

I think it was written in the scripts that Arsenal and Barcelona would be drawn together. I am not sure about you, but this felt like a few weeks ago when the World Cup bid went elsewhere, it was a case of you just knew what was going to happen or not going to happen in that case. We made a huge clanger in not topping our group and it seems like we have paid the ultimate price.

Lets be honest, no Arsenal fan, include myself, can honestly say we will beat Barcelona, but we can be positive and you never know, but I think most fans will be a little fearful playing Barcelona.

The positives from last season are that we played Barcelona with half our side missing. From the top of my head we went to the Camp Nou without Gallas, Campbell, Song, Arshavin, Van Persie, Fabregas so if we go with a full strength team, we cannot be any less confident then last season.

If I am truly honest, for Arsenal to win, we need Barcelona to have an off day however; I’m all up for hoping for one of them! My headline reads football is becoming a bit predictable but an Arsenal win would really bring that unpredictability back.

As a supporter, all we can do is support our team so the draw is done and I am looking forward to the tie.

If nothing else, least we get to have a few days in the sun?

Anyway, Barcelona can wait, Stoke is much more important as it’s the next game! Manchester United away was hard to take, I seem to do that to myself a lot, get my self so hyped up then it ends in disappointment. The away concourse before the game was buzzing as always when Arsenal are the visitors and the excitement was there for all to see. The away section kept singing and even with a dodgy crackly voice, I tried to join in, regretted it in the morning though! United’s goal had an element of luck but they did create more chances and were more efficient as Mr Wenger put it and therefore won.

Stoke on Saturday is a big game and we can recover from Monday night. The war of words have been there for all to see between both managers and after the Ramsey incident, games against Stoke will always be highly anticipated. With Chelsea and Manchester Untied playing each other, some ground can be made and we must do it.

Being an Arsenal fan is never a dull moment because you just do not know what is going to happen, or should that be, we do know what is going to happen, well whatever, all I ask is for three points tomorrow and the snow to stay away!

Come on you Arsenal.

Old Trafford...Manchester United....Come On!

What a game that awaits us! No preview or prediction here, just a way for me to get the hype out of my system.

Being in the middle of many deadlines along with Xmas and NYE promotional stuff in nightclubs, the trip to Old Trafford has been my motivation. Losing my voice in the last week hasn’t helped either but I am back and thankfully so is football.

Someone told me the tension in X-Factor was just like football….er no! Football is what it’s really all about and Manchester United Vs Arsenal is the real deal. Since Mr Wenger has come to England, Manchester United Vs Arsenal has been the game to be at or watch. Yes, Chelsea have won titles after spending some money and now City are a threat after spending even more money but for me, Manchester United Vs Arsenal is what it is all about.

As a football fan, I can only respect what Sir Alex Ferguson has done but to beat him and his team gives me such a great feeling and I believe we can win!

Reasons why I think this?

We have the most in form player in the league in Sammy Nasri. Nani has had a good season but id put Nasri just ahead. Sammy Nasri has been on another level in the last 6 weeks and I love it! I love him! Go on Sammy!

Our away record is the best in the league; we have only lost once on our travels and have already recorded a great win in Manchester.

We have a striker who in the big games can put himself about a bit (we had Arshavin up front last season at home against United!) In Chamakh and Van Persie, we have it all covered!

We are Arsenal football club! Yes, we may not have beaten the two other championship contenders for a season or two however, we know we can. The belief is there, we can beat Manchester United!

Anyone making the trip up there tomorrow, ill see you on the M6, the away section will be rocking as usual and lets come home with three points.

Come on you Arsenal!!!!

Three Points Is What We Want And Three Points Is What We Got!

There are no easy games as people keep telling me and this season has proved that. Apart from the early season games against Blackpool and Bolton and the two early Champions league games, nearly every game has been quite tight.

The away games this season have been great but have been tight too as games at Everton, Wolves, Blackburn and Villa proved. Home wins against Birmingham and West ham have also been close and we can certainly add Fulham to that list.

The Fulham game was certainly interesting and there were a few talking points. Sammy Nasri kept his fine form going and is on top of the world right now. Even Rio Ferdinand on twitter is calling him Samir ‘the Angle’ Nasri and that’s because of his two amazing goals against Spurs and Fulham from tight angles. Nasri was outstanding once again and I am really enjoying watching him play and even more so really enjoying singing his chant!

The Fulham goal angered Mr Wenger because there was a clash of heads and the game was allowed to continue and the Fulham front man scored. As we did go on and score the winner, I will not dwell into their goal to much but can see why Mr Wenger was upset.

What was slightly annoying was a certain Mark Hughes, who we have a bit of a history with. I saw all game Mark Schwarzer taking his time with goal kicks and when Kamara was taken off, the score was 1-1 and he practically went off at a snail’s pace and Mark Hughes did nothing to rush him. After Arsenal went 2-1 up, Hughes was showing his watch to the referee and wanting Arsenal to hurry up; double standards or what? He wanted Fabianski to kick the ball out quickly but is happy for Kamara to take his time when coming off the pitch. What a joke! In fact, when Kamara came off, Hughes was clapping! Taking your time when your winning or holding on to a draw is apart of football, however, to do it yourself then complain when you think others are doing it in the same game is just wrong! Personally, I did not think Fabianski took very long to take his goal kick (I wanted him to take even longer!) but for Hughes to have a problem with this is just laughable.

Off course, the legend that is, Thierry Henry was at the game and I must admit I started doing a Kamara after the game when walking out just in case I get a sight of our record scorer. I did see Mr and Mrs Wenger leaving the ground and Mr Wenger looked very pleased, he was asked about his January actions and I will not be surprised if he does bring someone to the club in the transfer window. It was nice to see Mr Wenger with a big smile on his face; it proves this week has been a good one.

On my way to the Tollington, a flash dark coloured BMW X6 was stuck at the traffic lights and it was none other then Thomas Vermaelen (he was not driving in case you are wondering), a few young kids ran up to him and he was very welcoming and opened his window and signed their shirts. I shouted ‘we can’t wait to see you back Tommy’ and he replied with ‘I can’t wait either!’ and how nice it would be to see him back in the Red and White of Arsenal again.

So we got the three points we wanted and went top of the league. Oh I love football and oh I love Arsenal!

Now focus turns to a huge game mid-week and a win will see us go through to the next phrase of the Champions League then we have a trip to Old Trafford.

Football is a funny business, a great week is followed by a not so great week then you get a great week again then a not so great week….you get the picture, but we have put a few wins together and a good run in December could be vital with games against Partizan, Manchester United, Stoke, Chelsea, Wigan etc all to come followed by Birmingham away and Man City at home in early January.

Roll on the week ahead! Come on you Arsenal!!