Porto test

It will be interesting to see how we line up tomorrow night. Injuries to Almunia, Gallas, Song and Arshavin see Arsene's options severely limited. The real problem for me is the missing Song, as it this area where we really lack quality cover. Obviously Fabianski and Campbell will come in at the back. Now I shall digress

If I were Arsene then I would be tempted to switch to a 4-4-2. I'd play the obvious back four, then Eboue could play a slightly roaming role on the right of midfield, with a license to drift inwards a little to help out the central pair of Diaby and Cesc. I'd then slot Nasri on the left, then a front two of Eduardo and Bendtner would do nicely. I am not Arsene and many of you are very thankful for that, so I suspect he shall stick with 4-3-3, Denilson will come into the midfield, it really is make or break for him now, I would then guess that we would see a front three of Theo, Bendtner and Nasri.

This is a big game in many ways, not only does a lot of our season hinge upon this cup competition but if certain players do not step up then there will be some rather big question marks hanging over their heads in the summer. Porto will make it tough, they will be useful in possession as always, the most important thing in my opinion is that we go there to win, we must have enough men up the pitch so that we do not simply lose the ball because our lone striker is too isolated, we must attack, attack is the best form of defence especially when one isn't that great at defending.

Medical misinformation and a waxwork danger

Being a man of some medical knowledge I always have a little fun, sad I know, it trying to work out what injuries players have sustained from the scanty amounts of information that the clubs feed to the press. Many Gooners will be shedding a tear for young Ashley Cole who has apparently broken his ankle. Chelsea are brief in detail and say he will be out for three months. This strange, I can hear you all saying why is this strange? Well any ankle fracture that doesn't require an operation will generally only keep footballers out for two months or so, and it appears that Ashley Cole hasn't had an operation. I suspect Chelsea are deliberately overestimating the time he'll be out for, I shall wait and see.

It is easy for the average supporter to get scared when long medical words are thrown around when referring to fairly mild injuries that would never have been scanned in the past. It is common sense that the injuries sustained by Alex Song and Arshavin were not that serious, this is because Arshavin ran off the pitch with the mildest of limps and Song finished the match. If Arshavin's hamstring was a bad one then he would have limped off in a much more laboured manner, while if Song's medial collateral ligament tweak had been a bad one he would not have been able to finish the game with it. It is never easy to predict the exact times players will be out for even when one has access to the full information, but it is hard to see Song or Arshavin being out for more than a couple of weeks or so.

I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Abou Diaby on a great performance last night. He not only provided some flair and creativity, but more importantly he showed the desire, work ethic and determination to be a continual thorn in Liverpool's side. Over the last few months he has really started to deliver consistently, he has had several outstanding performances, there has been more discipline and the stupid errors are far more few and far between. I do like to be a smug git and say I told some people so, but I have always thought Diaby would come good, I now think he really is and he is winning a lot of doubters over. One man who also deserves a bit of credit for last night's win is Manuel Almunia, if one looks for fault in a goalkeeper one will always find it, I think Manuel has been scapegoated at times in the last few months, personally I think he's doing ok and we should get behind him more as supporters, as confidence is so key for playing in this position.

On the week that a waxwork model of Steven Gerrard was unveiled, I kid you not, it is rumoured that the actual one in Madame Tussaud's has been programmed to attack unsuspecting members of the public without provocation with repeated right and left hooks. What this violent convict has done to deserve a place in this hall of fame is beyond me, maybe they'll put him alongside Tony Blair in the c*nts section. While we're on the subject of high order tossers, have a look at 'arry redknapp's comments just before we beat Liverpool and the spuds lost to Wolves, 'back in the pack' are we 'arry?

Liverpool and Gerrard's pathetic antics on the pitch and after the match does nothing but make them look like a bunch of moaning ninnies. Cesc indeed had his hands up, but they were protecting his face, it was outside the box and the free kick was given after two (yet again) dives by Liverpool players. It was even less of a penalty than the one that was blasted into Vermaelen's body at 100mph from point blank range. Gerrard thought it was 'crazy'. Well Steven you uneducated moron, I would call it crazy that a violent thug such as yourself is allowed to get away with routine cheating and leg breaking tackling by the media. Manu fans can see that Gerrard gets away with murder, it is pretty sad that this scumbag is pretty much idolised by our media and is therefore untouchable, it says a lot if people are going to look up to scum like Steven Gerrard.

Justice over scouse team of referees

I was pleased to see Bendtner start, having a focus up front is so important, we had really lacked this in recent games with both Eduardo and Bendtner out. Having Diaby and Song in tandem in the midfield also filled me with confidence, we look a better side with these two breaking things up and getting stuck into the opposition. Liverpool lined up as predicted, two holding players and a lone striker in Ngog.

There was just a real drive to our game that was not there against United, we played with more tempo and pace, there was far more pressure on the ball and despite no breakthrough coming in the fist half, there was just something different in the air, the pressure seemed to be building and the chances started to flow a little more freely. Bendtner came close, Arshavin was finding space off the big Dane, Rosicky was probing the inside channels. When it came, the goal was a thumper, Bendtner held the ball up well and played it to the overlapping Rosicky, a perfect cross then found Diaby storming in at the back stick, his header tumped home, one nil to the Arsenal it was.

Nasri had been replaced by Rosicky, Walcott came on for Arshavin and then finally the excellent Bendtner was off for Bacary Sagna. The game became a touch nervy as one would have expected, Liverpool looked long and direct, Gerrard threw himself to ground expectantly as he loves to do. Cesc almost scored with a majestic volley, it flew rapidly over the bar. Almunia then produced a fantastic tip over from a stinging Babel twenty five yarder.

Liverpool were an utter disgrace in the last few minutes, a ridiculous Gerrard dive was followed by a theatrical Kuyt dive, the compliant referee gave Liverpool the free kick they didn't deserve, they moved the ball forward and forward from where the 'foul' was committed, the weak Webb then booked Cesc as he had been told to do this by the pathetic Liverpool players who seemed to think that they were born to officiate games themselves. The free kick then struck Cesc's uplifted arm, Webb missed it, in the end justice was done.

Overall it's four points out of twelve, not great but not a complete write off. All in all the only game that really disappointed me was the loss to Manu, not just the fact that we lost but the manner of the capitulation. Tonight was so much better, Liverpool fought hard and were worthy opponents but in the end the we deserved the three points, we played the better football, opened up their defence far more freely than they opened ours and created the better chances.

It was a particularly satisfying win given the way the Liverpool players behaved throughout, there is a real niggling undercurrent of cheating in the way that their players were constantly trying to tell the referee what to do at every turn, this was epitomised by their thuggish cheat of a captain, Steven Gerrard, if ever a man deserved to be desribed as a c*nt then he is that man. Their reaction at the final whistle said it all really, embarrassing stuff. I cannot stand teams who appeal for every ball to hand in the box as if it should be a penalty. With Chelsea and Manu dropping points it was a fantastic evening for us, add to that the mighty Wolves sinking 'Arry's hapless spuds. Great stuff Gunners, keep that going and you never know what may happen.

Defending, spinning and hopefully winning

Having been directed to this Lee Dixon piece on the beeb website I felt the burning need to share, it really sums up what a lot of us have been suspecting about our defending or lack of it. There may been some rather systemic problems in our setup as a club, I suspect we play a bit too much mini-football that focuses on close control and passing, while defending is ignored. As Lee ponders, who is coaching our players defensively, are they doing the right stuff in training, is there enough focus on the back four as a unit? I wonder, I really do.

Being the ultra optimist, at least we should be able to learn from these mistakes, Arsene wants the team to unite and show solidarity in the face of this criticism. I could not agree more with Arsene when he spoke about the media's pathetic spinning of his press conferences, they have now dishonestly misrepresented his words following thre Villa and Chelsea games, it is cheap and shallow of the media. At least Ancelotti was wise enough not to react like a hysterical Jack Russell puppie as O'Neill had done the week before. Arsene also spoke of the made up rumour of him wanting to sign Sorensen, what a surprise that was complete and utter horse manure. Elsewhere it will be interesting to see how Kyle Bartley gets on at Sheffield United on loan, if he can get some first team action under his belt then he may force his way into the first team squad for next year. Jack Wilshere is getting a run out for Bolton at the City of Manchester stadium tonight.

Liverpool are going to come and play defensively, that is pretty much guaranteed. They will shield their back four with Macherano and Lucas, they will then have a trio (Maxi, Gerrard, Kuyt) in front of these two defensive players, with probably Ngog up top. I think we have to start with Bendtner even if he can only last 50 or 60 minutes. This would allow Arshavin to drop to his favoured role on the left, Walcott should get a run on the right, despite the criticism I thought he put in an industrious shift against Chelsea. Song, Cesc and Diaby will make up the middle three. Eboue must be pushing Sagna for a starting slot and given Clichy's form, Traore can't be far off the left back slot. Liverpool will love if we play without an orthodox striker, it will play right into their hands, I really hope we don't leave Arshavin up front on his own again.

Tedious exchange and how long til things change?

Whatever Arsene said, and frankly most of it was very reasonable, I don't think it merited the response that it has received from Michael Ballack. Although Ballack had a point in that Arsene does look like he is making excuses when pointing out just how dire and negative Chelsea are as a football side, the way he makes the point does make him look rather aggressively defensive of Chelsea's style, does someone protest a bit too much? Certainly the mild mannered Ancelotti hits the spot where the repugnant German fool does not:

"Maybe Arsenal had more possession than us but that is not football. Football is about results."

It is a simple fact that we will not win the big games when defending like a collective of lemons. Chelsea are a rather vile bunch of individuals that have been cobbled together into a very effective football team. They may not be nice, they may not be pretty, they may cheat and dive, they may be boring to watch a lot of the time, but they win matches and are very hard to beat. It must be added that their side was assembled at huge cost, they have numerous twenty million pound players and a monstrous wage bill.

For an excellent game summary check Goodplaya's piece, his words on Mike Dean's performance are perfect, this little weasel had no idea how to impose discipline upon the game, some of the cynical shirt tugs and fouls that Chelsea got away with were a disgrace, it started from the first minute when Ballack hauled back Cesc in a dangerous position, a yellow then would have set the tone.

The general point still stands though, we are too easy to score against, we lack the players and the tactical variation to be able to really challenge a side like Chelsea. If you can't beat them then you should show them the respect they deserve, they are a damn effective bunch of c*nts, that is the most respect either I or Arsene should show them. But we should learn from them just what we lack and then address it.

We have big problems at the back and they have been present all season. We are slack from set pieces, we are naive to the counter attack and we make too many slack errors. The shield to the back four is too reliant on Song and Diaby, it is not good enough to have only two midfielders in your squad who can defend. We have too many midgets and not enough muscle in the squad, we need a balance so that we can defend with our backs to the wall when needed, so that we can use different tactical approaches against different opponents, so that we can change our approach when Plan A is not working. Our lack of strikers is also a very preventable problem, why was someone like Benjani not brought in as short term cover for the rest of the season. Only two injury prone strikers is not enough for a battle on two fronts. I could go on but I think some fairly substantial changes need to be made, not only to change the balance of the squad, but also to send the message to some underperformers that enough is enough.

Defensive frailties wreck a decent performance

Firstly it was a big improvement on last week's showing, there was a lot more hunger and fight from the off, Chelsea were made to look second best in footballing terms for long periods, we pressed them effectively, we were more robust in the tackle and we showed some desire. Unfortunately what I thought was a pretty decent team performance was wrecked by the two very sloppy goals that we conceded early on.

The first saw Terry win a header easily from a corner, he flicked it onto Drogba who tapped home at the far post from about three yards out, Song had lost Drogba and the man on the post was not in evidence. It was a cheap goal to concede. The second was even worse. Chelsea broke, unlike against Manu we had enough men back, strangely Clichy got sucked into the centre of the field and left Drogba in far too much space, Clichy then sprinted across to Drogba and committed to a tackle, when he should have stayed on his feet and showed Drogba to his outside, Drogba cut inside and the rest is history.

In between those goals Arshavin missed our best chance of the game, firing straight at Cech's rather fortuitously placed left leg, anywhere else and I suspect it would have been an equalising goal. A lot of our build up play was pretty, but for long periods our lack of a proper forward meant than we struggled to convert our possession and midfield domination into chances. Diaby and Song were both excellent, muscling Chelsea players off the ball left, right and centre. Cesc had a quietish game, it was tricky for him to find any space with Chelsea having so many men behind the ball after their early goals.

Nasri had a much more effective game, he worked a good opportunity for himself in the second half but delayed at the crucial moment, allowing the last ditch Chelsea tackle to save the day. Theo was decent and put in a good workmanlike shift, actually helping Sagna out defensively on a number of occasions. The little Russian Andrei Arshavin was cruelly left to fend for himself against the big Chelsea centre halves, it was tough for him, he is no centre forward but did his best. Bendtner made an immediate difference when he came on, his physical presence seemed to create a bit of panic and suddenly a few more chances fell our way. Cesc forced a decent Cech save with a hard low shot from a free kick that Bendtner had won, then Bendtner was a bit slow to react to a knock down allowing Cech to nip in.

Overall you simply cannot expect to get anything out of tough games like this making the schoolboy defensive errors that we made today. The defensive errors are especially hard to come back from when we lack a fit recognised centre forward to lead the line, it was far too easy for the Chelsea defense today as a result of this. Whatever the reasons for our defensive frailty, they need to be addressed fast, otherwise we may drift down the league table like a sinking stone. I am still encouraged by the overall way we played though, if we can show that kind of drive and fight for the rest of the season then we will always have a chance. A word should also go to Mike Dean whose refereeing performance was truly shocking, when I can find the energy I shall dismantle his woeful decision making on another day.

Gerrard the thug, Evra, Almunia and Chelsea await

Watching the highlights from yesterday's games I was struck by some blatant cheating and thuggery that was ignored by the mainstream media. Firstly Wayne Rooney's fall in the penalty box at the slightest of touches was completely ignored, it was a blatant dive, it was cheating, but it was lovely classy Wayne Rooney so we shall just ignore that and say no more.

Then Gerrard's antics in the merseyside derby. Firstly he dived just outside the box when barely touched by Cahill, one could see what Cahill thought of this, his knowing smile said more than words. Then his follow through on Pienaar, he won the ball first but then clearly followed through with his straight leg and studs into Pienaar's body, the fact that Pienaar was defenseless on the ground made this Gerrard lunge the most cowardly of violent acts. His final act was to feign a head injury to get Pienaar sent off. Every time I see the man play he tries to break legs with two footed tackles, he dives, he cheats, he moans, his behaviour on the pitch is an absolute embarrassment.

Just remember this man is now the England vice captain following John Terry's sacking. This is the very same thug that brutally attacked a man without provocation in a Southport bar last year. Somehow he escaped prison for his assault, even when his co-defendants had pleaded guilty and when he was caught pulverising the victim on camera. I wonder how many thousands Gerrard slipped to the partisan scouse jury, they should also be ashamed of their ridiculous judgement. Gerrard is an arrogant thug off the pitch and an arrogant cheating thug on it. The man is a disgrace to English football and he is now the England vice captain.

Elsewhere Patrice Evra has revealed himself to be one of the most bitter mouthy tossers around, one wonders why he feels the need to speak about Arsenal so much, is it because Manu are not loved in France as much as Arsenal? I can't think way Patrice, maybe it's because you are such an annoying whinging twat, you may have won a lot in your time, but your arrogant behaviour and endless boasting will not make you a popular figure, it makes you a c*nt.

Onto the Bridge today. I feel a tad sorry for the criticism that Manuel Almunia has received recently, it has become a bandwagon and it is rather mindless. If you look at any goalkeeper negatively, you can find fault, it is a impossible position if people are looking to knock you. I would readily acknowledge he has not been at his best in recent weeks, but he has been ok, he saved us with a magnificent save at Villa, he had a very solid game away to Bolton and when you look at the goals we have conceded of late very very few have been his fault. Fabianski has come in and been no better, far worse in my opinion, while Mannone made a glaring error in virtually every game he played bar the Fulham game. Maybe his position is untenable now because a lot of supporters are on his back, but I do feel he has been unfairly scapegoated for the team's failings when he actually hasn't been that bad. Thomas Sorensen would do nothing better than Manuel, those who can't realise that the grass always appears greener are fools, I think it is rather unlikely that Arsene made any move for the Stoke keeper by the way.

If Arsene had listened to Arsenal supporters all the time then Alex Song would have been sold a long time ago, many rather prominent bloggers thought he was useless, it is remarkable how Alex Song has proved his critics to be completely wrong. One player I cannot see proving the doubters wrong is Denilson, I hope he is dropped today as he has done nothing to justify his position in the starting eleven of late. If Bendtner is fit I'd start him, but it sounds like he isn't, I'd be tempted to start Theo just to give us some pace to scare their defense, then I'd slot Arshavin on the left. If Diaby is fit he will obviously play, otherwise I'd go for Ramsey or Eastmond, or I'd slot Nasri or Rosicky into the midfield three. So assuming the fitness of a couple of players I'd go for:

Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy
Diaby/Nasri Song Cesc
Rosicky Arshavin Theo

I agree with Goodplaya in that we need to see the kind of endevour from Arsenal as Hull gave against City yesterday, we need to see some rampaging hustle and bustle, we cannot see Chelsea left with time and space with which to play. We'll need to give our all, we'll need Mike Dean not to be shit which is rare and we'll need a bit of luck. Here's hoping. Come on you Gunners.