Up For Grabs Now

We’re back. And we didn’t miss much, did we?

Vermaelen signed, youngster after nipper signed up on ever longer contracts, and Mr Wenger made a brief appearance  on French radio. You didn’t really need your daily splash of UpForGrabsNow to get you through that, did you?

The truth is, it’s been no time for blogging. No, now is the time of year for basking in the hot sun, and the warm afterglow of Arshavin’s quadruple at Anfield.

There’ll be no football for ages and it’s no use torturing yourself by wistfully flitting through Arsenal.com’s exhaustive serialisation of the Player of the Year poll results – “Revealed Today! 34th in our poll was… Amaury Bischoff!”

That way lies insanity. Better to tough it out with a spot of Wimbledon and occasional chortles at GuardianFootball’s superlative Rumour Mill.

One rumour to burst from its cold chrysalis and emerge blinking into the glorious flash-bulbs of a shirt-holding-up-ceremony with all the trimmings, was our interest in former Ajax skipper Thomas Vermaelen. He looks a shrewd signing. Great experience gained as captain of a major European club at just 23, and Tommy will surely be pressing for a starting spot in what’s been a problem position ever since Sol. He looks a bit like Vidic, I think, which means he possesses the eyes of an especially calculating cougar about to clamp it’s jaws around the neck of a hapless snow-hare, and appears to have had a sizeable steel plate embedded deep within his forehead. Let’s hope he plays like Vidic, too.

I expect to see a couple more brought in within the next few weeks, but Mr Wenger will be patient and try to pick his moment. Unless a lot of agents are telling a lot of porkies (not altogether unlikely really) we’re keeping an eye on a range of central defenders, from Werder Bremen’s Brazilian man-giant Naldo to Stuttgart’s promising Serdar Tasci.

What’s that? No midfielders?

The Arsenal Midfield Transfer Target Mystery grows deeper by the day, with every hack and his swarthy hound scrapping for a place within the very broad consensus of opinion That Arsenal Need A Tough-Tackling Midfield Enforcer If They Are To Challenge For Major Honours Next Season (the concluding phrase of every report on Arsenal’s transfer policy for the last, um, 3 years – with a brief interlude during Flamini’s good form).

Everyone is agreed. Mr Wenger has to buy a big hairy troll-man to guard Fabregas.

But who? Nobody seems to have a scoobie, frankly. The papers have largely (and mercifully) stopped bothering with the customary nods towards Inler, Cana, M’bia and Matuidi. They’ve been nodding towards that lot, and a few others, for bloody ages. They’ve probably got really sore necks by now. You’ve got to stop somewhere.

So it seems like there are a few things that need to be set straight.

Firstly, the self-styled Militant Tendency amongst the moaners have got to sit down and be quiet. Now. If they need an outlet for their misguided fury, they should join UKIP, where they can fight it out with harmless others.

Put up, or shut up! … In fact, no, just shut up.

Terrifyingly, some of them even got to speak to Wenger directly this week, clearly an experience he did not enjoy. And why should he? He is the club’s greatest post-war manager, having brought untold success and stability to the club and maintained elite performance despite having bugger-all cash and rotten luck. He shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of shit. Of course he’s made a few mistakes, but that doesn’t give any gibbering idiot with a copy of SuperGoals and a reading age of seven the right to have a go.

Such people are not Arsenal’s affliction alone. You only need to look at the behaviour of the United fans who, on the day that they won the title against one of their bitterest enemies, chose to celebrate by whingeing incessantly about the future of one member of the club’s stellar strikeforce and throwing beer-cans at the front of the stadium. A protest about transfers. On the day they retained the world’s most prestigious championship. From which tree etc…

We need a massive show of support for Wenger this weekend to let him know that Arsenal are not a club supported entirely by psychotic Football Manager fantasists, and that some of us know a good thing when we see it.

Wenger leaving would be a catastrophe. If he were to do so as a result of the people who’re meant to be supporting Arsenal, it would be truly, truly shameful.

Secondly, Guillem Balague (the man vilified by many for this whole Arsene to Madrid thing) is not an idiot, nor is he a bad journalist. He’s a very good and very well-connected one – especially about anything involving Real Madrid or Spaniards in the Premiership. Back in December it was Balague who was first to report the full extent of Fabregas’ injury, when the rest of the press thought they were doom-mongering by putting him down as out for only 3 weeks. He has clearly got a very interesting phonebook.

However, he is Spanish and he is a Madridista. The Spanish style of football journalism, as anyone who read Marca during Henry and Vieira’s various on-off transfers can attest, makes no bones about launching into extensive, detailed speculative accounts of what could happen, given recent news-flow. Balague’s more imaginative claims at the end of his piece on Wenger, where you can pretty much hear 5 being made out of the addition of 2 and 2 between every sentence, is really more of a stylistic flourish than anything to get het up about. You’d be unlikely to find a British journo mapping out a possible course of events with such confidence and precision, but that’s just a cultural preference.

While suspicious of sure-footed prognostication, British hacks certainly do a fine line in bare-arsed, shame-faced fabrication. The Daily Heil, for example, has a proud history of racism, sexism, Nazi-sympathising… and talking complete and utter codshit about Arsenal FC (apologies, James from The Apprentice). This week they tossed in the figure of £13 million and announced that this was to be Arsene’s summer transfer pot. Not 2 days previously, Arsene had told the shareholders meeting (which was right after a board meeting):

We spoke about funds and yes there is money available.

There! Right there! He said there was only £13 million and so he’s going to leave! He said it in front of everyone! Now it’s true!

“Money available” = “£13 million”. Fact of the British Press. Baffled? You wouldn’t be the only one.

The last couple of years haven’t been the easiest as an Arsenal supporter. Don’t get me wrong, of course we have come through much bleaker and more difficult times than the recent period, it’s just that there’s something especially painful about the feeling of coming close time and again, something especially frustrating about glimpsing so much glorious potential only for it to peter out at crucial moments.

Somehow, this season there’s the sense that something has to go for us, and that with a bit of the luck that we’ve seemed to miss for the last few seasons, this team could achieve something incredible.

Arsene couldn’t have summed up the feeling of every Arsenal fan better:

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for… there is something special we all hope will come out at this stage of the competition.

The great thing about being a Gooner, particularly under Wenger, is that you can look forward to every game knowing that if the team plays as well as it can the other team simply won’t stand a chance. Regardless of who they are, how expensive their side is and how many medals they’ve already got in their starting line-up.

But at the highest level, tonight’s level, we still haven’t seen this team keep up that incredible quality of performance for long enough to win through. Liverpool last year. Chelsea  ten days ago. It’s so frustrating because we know that the side is capable of winning. But make no mistake, the reason we can’t sustain that level of play is because it’s bloody difficult to reach in the first place, something some Gooners understand better than others. There’s a sense that though we’ve seen patches of just how devastating our game can be, we still haven’t quite realised what it is capable of doing to the opposition if sustained over 2 legs.

Tonight, of all the big Arsenal nights, is the time when these players need to perform. There are some games you never forget, games that become definitive of players, teams, even clubs. Remember Wiltord in 2002. Remember Giggs in 1999.

Tonight we face a United at the height of their powers. Talk of their recent form can be dismissed - these are big game players who know how to raise it for the big nights and how to perform when it really matters. They are the champions of England, Europe and the World, and tonight Arsenal have the chance not just to burst their bubble of dominance, but also to inflict the sort of defeat that announces the arrival of a major force in European football.

It’s a huge opportunity, one we can’t afford to waste. It’s also the sort of fixture our players should live for. Teams like Real Madrid and AC Milan are constantly turning the heads of our young players, and have been for many years. Well, neither of them are in the semi-finals of the Champions’ League, however much they might think of themselves. Tonight is a chance to show that clubs don’t get bigger than Arsenal FC, and that for footballers with real ambition, Arsenal is the place to be.

Let’s hope our boys make it count.

Far too nervous to type properly, let alone attempt any cheeky gags.

No. Today is not the day for such tomfoolery. It is a day for soldiers, for stiffening the sinews and summoning up the blood. And hopefully ribald celebration come 7pm.

With our defence decimated (count them – no Almunia, no Gallas, no Sagna, no Clichy, no Djourou, possibly no Gibbs) we could very well end up with Alex Song at centre half and Silvestre at left-back. If anyone has any other suggestions, please can you let me (or preferably Arsene, actually) know asap. Word is that Gibbs is looking better than previously thought, though it’s a very big game for such a young fella to be coming into in doubtful shape. He will have to imitate the action of the tiger this afternoon, if he plays.

Song played in central defence at Old Trafford at the end of last season and did pretty well – Wenger always said this would be his long term position (though that has probably changed now). But he’s on form and high in confidence, so it may not be the worst thing, though it would leave our midfield shorn of its enforcer against Lampard, Essien and Ballack. <gulp>

It could be a very telling team selection today from Arsene, I think, especially (and for very different reasons) in the top half of the pitch. My guess is that he’ll sacrifice Nasri for Arshavin and play a kind of 4-4-1-1 as he did the other night, with Van Persie dropping pretty deep.

In their game at Anfield, Guus was intelligent enough to figure out that Liverpool minus Gerrard = Not That Great, and that Gerrard divided by Essien = An Easy Win for Chelsea. I really hope he won’t try and pull similar feats of central midfield algebra on Cesc today, but I rather worry that this is exactly the evil scheme up his sleeve. If Cesc’s playing with Essien on top of him all day, he will need to have an absolute blinder which, being famously good at football, is certainly not beyond him.

Is there an argument for playing the evanescent Eboue ahead of Theo? How much might Eboue’s knowledge of Arsene’s shady activities Last Summer win him favour for today’s team sheet? Interested to know what kind of front 6 you’d pick if you were everyone’s favourite alsatian Alsatian.

Chelsea’s Bruisers are in top cup form, and they showed on Tuesday that they’re not afraid to spoil a good story. Their main threats are: Hiddink (as RvP pointed out, the luckiest man in the world and apparently beloved of referees and linesmen all over the world), Essien, Lampard and Drogba.

The other night, Drogba was about as good as they get. Pretty unplayable. Let’s see some of that from Ade today, please, and none of that from Arsenal reject Didier. Wouldn’t it be great if Song totally outplayed him? That would really give the English press something to be confused about.

COME ON ARSENAL! Let’s give them a good Duffing! (We’ve been doing it since 1947 after all)

A comfortable win, then, and it bodes well for the rest of the season. If you had told me after we lost to Man City that come mid-April we’d be in the semis of the Champions League and the FA Cup, whilst secure in fourth in the Premiership, I’d have chomped your hand off quicker than Frank Lampard at a buffet.

Still, that’s where we find ourselves, after a convincing performance the other night in which it was easy to forget that Villarreal are a famously tricky team to play against. Proving that his statement of pre-match intent was no joke, Wenger started with a bullish 4-4-2, with Alex Song as the only holding midfielder. It’s a sign of how far he’s come that the boss entrusted him with that responsibility in such a crucial match. As it happened, he didn’t let anyone down, and demonstrated more of the niggly, occasional behind-clattery robustness and positional sense that has made him, in the hyperbolic words of my kid brother, ‘Awesome’. Picture that two years ago, when ‘we’ve only got one Song’ was an anthem of high relief, as opposed to the triumphant chorus at the end two nights ago.

Theo started the goals, with a deft chip after an incisive run onto Cesc’s backheel, a goal that was spookily reminiscent of a young Freddie Ljungberg. We then had most of the play in the first half though no more goals, despite Ade crapping a header almost over the line.

At the start of the second half they looked a bit less rubbish, with Fabianski called on to do some clearing and racing out, which to his credit he did effectively each time, and refreshingly devoid of the Lehmann technique of cack-handed charging. He and the jury-rigged defence did well, even though the Spaniards sin Marcos Senna were about as penetrative as George Michael at a Sex in the City singalong.

Finally Ade, taking a break from being permanently offside, latched onto RvP’s stonker of a ball and poked it home. From then on Villarreal wilted visibly, and more goals seemed on the cards. When it came, as it happened, it was from a slightly dubious penalty after Theo went down under what looked like a pretty innocuous challenge. Anyway it wasn’t that relevant, and Robin stepped up to slap it into the top-right hand corner. Game over.

An enjoyable evening all round, not least for Chris Kamara, who exactly predicted the correct score in his column in Nuts magazine, of which I am a devotee.

Also for Super Bob Pires. The comfort of the scoreline gave the crowd some room, and towards the end a long, deafening chorus of ‘Su-per, super Rob’ and ‘You’ll always be a gooner’ went around. It was lovely to see and hear, I hope he was pleased – he certainly deserved it. Though he was visibly off the pace on Wednesday he still dropped the occasional shoulder, and shuffled those feet that never quite seem to touch the ground as little reminders of what once was. It was a fabulous return for a tremendous servant to the club. What a legend. If you’ve forgotten, here are some reminders.

So United in the semi. That’ll be fun, won’t it?

A magnificent performance from the boys, who threatened to run riot in the first half and then strolled through the second. Villarreal were surprisingly poor, and rarely have I seen one player (Marcos Senna) missed so conspicuously – it was like their defence and midfield had completely lost their bearings.

There’s been more than enough yabbering about what happened. I only want to add a word of praise for Alex Song, man of the match for me, who put in a mighty shift at the heart of midfield. Whether he was spoiling, blocking, chasing, clearing, or passing searching balls out wide, everything he did – pretty much – seemed to come off on a night where he came of age as a top flight footballer.

How do you replace The Invisible Wall? Perhaps with a Very Visible Wall.

Minor Gripe: Ade. Now, over the tie he scored twice and of course that’s what you ask for in a striker. From a distance, he did well, making decisive contributions in both matches. But, wouldn’t it be so much nicer if he appeared to give one? If he found himself onside every so often? If he was on his toes ready to pounce for loose balls in the box and if when moves broke down he got back into a dangerous position rather than losing interest and looking mystified? I’m not saying he shouldn’t start, because 4 goals in 3 games is rather a nice ratio, but I just don’t see why this has to be accompanied with such a grudging attitude, as if playing for Arsenal is this horrible thing that he’s being forced to do. Plus, the game would have been over by half time last night if he’d been that interested in it. Interested to get some readerly opinion on him.

Amid the hype (see below) about the United match, no-one should forget that this is only the second time in the Club’s history that we’ve made it to the semi’s of the Big Cup. Greater and far more celebrated Arsenal teams with big names and world-beating reputations have failed to get this far before, so to make it here with what is essentially a youth team is a sensational achievement.

Now it’s time for the kids to do some proper giant-killing.

Ten years ago, in season 1998/99, we should have won the double for the second season in a row. Instead, United won the FA Cup Semi-Final, pipped us in the league thanks to some shameful rolling over from T*ttenham, completed the treble with an incredibly lucky win against Bayern… and we still haven’t heard the end of it.

We now have the chance to knock them out of Europe, deny them the chance of back-to-back Champions’ Leagues and put a massive dent in their league campaign. It doesn’t get any bigger.

We will be playing at home in the second leg, by no means a decisive advantage but one which it’s great to have before a ball’s been kicked. Arsene said the percentages in favour of the home team in the second leg is 55-45 – which isn’t half bad if he’s right (and yes I’ve read Finkelstein on the subject, I just don’t really believe him). In any case, when we’re at home in first legs, things always seem to get very cagey and we end up going away with a very slim lead to defend.

It’s still 2 weeks away, and we’ve a massive match at Wembley in between, but I already feel too nervous to eat. I’m off to put a few quid on a spectacular Eboue winner at the Emirates.

Amid the understandable brouhaha over Adebayor’s delicious overhead kick, photographed in all it’s glory here, it has yet to be pointed out that this may well be the very first time during the Wenger reign that an Arsenal player has scored an overhead kick. Truly a momentous effort then.

Some will surely point to Eduardo’s chest-and-volley-on-the-swivel against City last season, but in my view that’s exactly what it was – an ingenious over the shoulder effort which can’t quite be classified as a thoroughbred overhead kick in the Ronaldinho/Crouch mould.

If you can think of others do put them in the comments, it may be that I’ve forgotten some gem or other.

It’s been one of my odder gripes over the past few seasons that we haven’t had players who were that keen to score overhead kicks. Sure, Thierry had a go once or twice, and there was never any doubt that we had players who were technically proficient enough to pull it off. For me, it’s an attitude thing. Wenger’s boys are all about crisp finishes into the bottom corner having bamboozled the entire defence in the build up. 

At their best, it’s more about running it in than walking it in, but this doesn’t involve a lot of crossing and when the ball does go in the air, our players immediately try to bring it down again to pass to a team-mate. The glorious thing about the overhead kick is that it is a desperate measure, a moment when tactics and team-mates go out the window, when all the player is thinking about is getting a shot in, however difficult that might be. And while having such intelligent players is fantastic, you do miss that impulsive, score-at-all-costs instinct that Ade showed on Tuesday.

While we’re on the topic, here’s the greatest overhead-kick I’ve ever seen. 88 minutes gone in their last game of the season, 2-2 against Valencia and needing the win to qualify for the Champions’ League, Rivaldo (having already scored both his team’s goals) produced this.

I want to see some of that from Eboue in the Champions’ League final, and then I want to see Peter Hill-Wood imitating the bloke at 0.10 in that clip. Top exultation from that man.

Moving on, it’s looking like Manuel our Spanish waiter goalkeeper will be sidelined with Le Gal for a wee while, which means Lukasz Fabianski has the chance to impress. Its a big chance for him, too. He’s been patiently chalking up cup appearances, and though he’s 24 he seems to have a good attitude and a commitment to biding his time and making it at Arsenal. He looked sharp on Tuesday and if he needs inspiration he need only remember Alex Manninger, who famously came into our 1998 side and performed heroically. Not that doing similar would necessarily mean we’d have to ship him off to Fiorentina, either.

With Djourou looking good, I hope we won’t miss Le Gal too much (though it would be very nice indeed if his injury turned out to be less serious than it looked), and with Silvestre on his way back we should have everything nothing to worry about.

Finally, if I was a betting man, which I might be, I’d haul my considerable crease onto Betfair and buy up some odds on a Liverpool comeback at Stamford Bridge. They need three goals, but they got four at Old Trafford and will, crucially, be attacking a Terry-less Chelsea, a team which often loses at home to very bad teams indeed. Plus if you do it on Betfair you can wait til Liverpool go a goal up and the odds swing enormously back towards them, sell some of your stake, and hopefully win whatever happens. Easy. Just don’t blame UpForGrabsNow if it all goes tits up.

Having endured the inevitable United comeback yesterday, there are now 6 points between us and a mentally lacerated Villa with 7 games remaining. We can now justifiably turn our full attention to the Champions’ League – and with some hope I think.

Villarreal away tomorrow night, sans Jens, but with the promise of the chance to burst United’s bloated bubble big-style in the semi-finals. There can be no failure now.

These are not opponents to be underestimated, though, and they will take a bit of beating. In the group stage they held United to 0-0 draws home and away, and they came through their second round by getting the win they needed away at Panathanaikos, no easy place to go.

The superlative Tim Vickery has an excellent profile of their manager and a few of their top players. Definitely worth a read.

They are a club, like Arsenal, which does things a bit differently. One of these things seems to be their commitment to fluid, attacking football, which I hope will mean that we spend the tie launching blistering counter-attacks, rather than simply scrapping in the odd goal from a corner after 180 solid minutes of Islington Shuffling, as is too often the case.

Always more exciting when they attack too, eh? We also seem to defend considerably better against teams who attack, so hopefully Villarreal’s style will bring the best out of our boys and we’ll see a bit of Wengerball.

Speaking of our boys, there’ll be no RvP, no Diaby, no Eduardo and, astonishingly, no Rosicky.

If Arsene was thinking of doing anything other than a 4-5-1, that list could have done some of his decision making for him. He can play Bendtner up top with Ade, or else he can play 4-5-1, (with Bendtner on the wing if he really must).

Having seen Cesc chillin out max on Saturday, basking on the Denilson-Song midfield platform, I’d like to see a similar line-up, with Nasri in for Arshavin if he’s fit. I would expect Theo to start wide right, but wouldn’t be too surprised to see Eboue come in.

Our change in fortunes has seen a remarkable cooling of the raging tide of hatred and vitriol which used to be habitually spewed at Messrs Eboue and Song by certain squawling siblings amongst the internet fraternity. In the bleakest days of this season, I defended our squad and Wenger’s management at a time when the media was telling us that all was lost, and was attacked for being completely uncritical of Wenger. The acid test for my stupidity? “Won’t you criticise Wenger for anything? Do you think Alex Song is a good player?”

Now no-one’s saying that he’s Vieira, or that he’s some sort of club legend, but there seems to be a growing realisation that when he’s on form, he can do a job for us. How times change. Eboue, too, has turned opinion round spectacularly in recent weeks with some strong attacking performances, a few goals and a general avoidance of self-imposed mishap. Perhaps this is because he isn’t getting a starting place very often any more. When it gets to 60 minutes and people start wondering who’s on the bench, some have even been suggesting that (whisper this) perhaps it might be an idea to bring on Eboue.

Amid all the talk of facing up to Bobby Pires, a word, if you will for the forgotten man of Arsenal’s Invincibles, Pascal Cygan, a willing servant of the club during his short spell at Highbury who is still remembered for a number of breathtaking examples of elite-level defending. In fairness, on his day he wasn’t actually that bad and by all accounts he has enjoyed something of a transformation since joining Villarreal. But if it’s not his day tomorrow then we could be in for some fun.

A limited amount to waffle about today, as we hope that people don’t get injured as they run off to play for their respective nations. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? I think they should just abandon international football altogether except for intense qualifying sessions in odd-numbered summers and then the tournaments themselves. There would be none of this club versus country malarkey, and national matches would become a real event, rather than a sad excuse for taxi drivers and builders to dress up, get drunk and be racist over a pointless and low-quality non-match.

Arsenal is my country: based in North London but comprised of the best from all over the world, and though rooted in an English tradition able to travel anywhere and beat anyone. Surely this is a finer example of a modern British group ethic than you’re ever going to find in Wayne Rooney and chums hacking pointlessly around for an hour and half?

Andrey Arshavin wants to stay forever, he says. Racking up those fans’ favourite points again. Good job Andrey. I’ve realised that every time I write his name I want to write Andre the seal, a bad children’s movie featuring a young Joshua Jackson from Dawson’s Creek. I also want to write Andre the Giant. Since the square-framed Russian is neither a seal nor a giant I’ll try not to, but forgive me if it slips out. He said.

Anyway. Other than a few bits and bobs there’s not much Arsenal news, so instead why not pass a few minutes joining me and Grabs in our New Pursuit; free gambling with Betfair. Simply click on our banner above and follow the links – bet up to £25 and if you lose you get your money back. Pretty good deal, I think you’ll agree. We’re also going to start speculating on humorous things to do with Arsenal. Keep posted.

Also don’t forget to enter the Herbert Chapman t-shirt competition. These t-shirts really are very natty: simply click on www.upforgrabsnow.com/competition for full details.

If you still haven’t done so also remember to sign up to our email list, and you’ll never have to worry about finding the site again…

Quite a change that weekend was, I think we’ll all agree. 3 points clear in 4th, goals from everywhere, and a great sense of momentum. I much prefer this sort of weekend.

Once again the optimism of this blog proved accurate, as we pushed the Geordie bastards aside with a skilful, satisfying flourish, deftly evading the temporary threat provided by Steven Taylor and his gigantic bag of cuntite thuggery. The BBC thought it was the best half of football this season, but then those live text guys always seem a bit annoying, like they’d be the slightly annoying friend of a friend in the pub who you’d tolerate but prefer was absent. The Guardian thought it was boring. I thought it was somewhere in between, which I’m feeling pretty post-revisionist about. Particularly good was Manuel the Spanish waiter goalkeeper’s saving of Martins’ penalty. Nothing better than your keeper saving a penalty, is there? Particularly from Martins, a player whose performance for Inter Milan four years ago lives long and hauntingly in the memory. The length and hauntingness of this memory are slightly lessened by the fact that Martins is now rather shit, except for in Pro Evo where he’s still quicker than God. But still.

Anyway, with Liverpool brushing aside Aston Villa, the bus of whose wheels are falling off at an alarming hilarious rate of knots. I think Martin O’Neill must have a recurring nightmare in which Nigel Reo-Coker is a very simple man with a very simple job who suddenly ends up in a position of great power and kills the world. It’s the Emmanuel Eboue dream (don’t tell me you haven’t had it) to the nth degree, and no wonder O’Neill looks stressed. I still like him though, I must confess, despite my greatly enjoying the flaccid end to Villa’s season, and see him as a potential Arsene replacement one day.

Not that I want Arsene to go anywhere. Just as our faith in him is rewarded, so his faith in his players continues to prove enlightened. Despite his ineptitude in front of goal last weekend, the Great Dane is becoming better by the game, and given he’s only 20 I think we can expect good things from him. Remember the other strikers, reputed to be exciting, he showed off – Stokes and Lupoli both spring to mind – and perhaps we’re beginning to see what Arsene’s known all along.

Arshavin was his usual dynamo self. I think the square-figured Russian is going to become a real favourite. He’s skilful but doesn’t mind getting knocked about a bit (Russia for you), and he runs to the end. Newcastle are in real trouble now, but we’re three points clear, and how nice does that feel, particularly with United in difficulties. This season is really playing havoc with one’s loyalties, isn’t it? First you want Spurs to beat Villa, and then you want Liverpool to beat Villa. I remember in the olden days when Villa were everyone’s second-favourite team…

Anyway, a good weekend for us. A shame about Theo’s injury, but he’ll be back, hopefully alongside a revitalised and refreshed Cesc Fabregas. What a nice thought that is…

A little while until the next game, but in the meantime why don’t you amuse yourselves by entering our new Philosophy Football competition? All you have to do is answer the following question: Which formation did Herbert Chapman pioneer at Arsenal? Send your answers with your name, t-shirt size and address to admin@philosophyfootball.com

I’m wearing mine now, and Grabina says I look very fetching…

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