We had to fight for the right to party at the Emirates yesterday but fight the ten men did taking all three points to send us to the top of the league which was the cue for party songs to begin: say we are top of the league, say we are top of the league.

A confusing team selection: did the threat of West Ham really warrant two defensive midfielders? On the face of it the choice of Denilson over Diaby made little sense. I put it down to Wenger wanting to try the team he has ear marked to start against Barça, either way, it took precisely four and a half minutes for Wenger’s choice of Denilson to be vindicated. The Brazilian found himself in a position on the edge of the box which he is making more and more his own; he played a nice one two with Bendtner before firing a controlled low drive into the corner past the helpless stretched hand of Robert Green.

One nil up early on and Arsenal’s well oiled collective passing game slid into action establishing, after only fifteen minutes, a gulf in class between the two teams of Grand Canyon proportions. We were so superior creating chance after chance that four up after half an hour would not have been unjust. Even the West Ham fans seemed to give up on getting anything from the game and tried to salvage a bit of fun from the afternoon by singing “We hate Tottenham more than you”, this was funny.

But just when we were thinking it was going to be a romp Vermaelen was wrongly adjudged to have fouled Franco in the box leading to his sending off and West Ham being awarded a penalty.  Justice was done when everyone’s new best friend Manuel Almunia made a fantastic save to keep the title dream alive.

West Ham came out in the second half with the silly idea that just because they had an extra man that they might get some thing from the game. It took the Arsenal’s ten men just fifteen minutes to organise themselves into their unfamiliar ranks before realising (and this I thought was hilarious) that our ten were still superior to their eleven and then started pinning West Ham back in their own own half.

West Ham had a couple of quarter chances which made a few ripples but not a splash, although, even at one nil it seemed difficult to imagine anything other than an Arsenal victory , this was made even more obvious when Upson gave away a penalty for hand ball. Why, oh why are there Arsenal supporters that still think he should be brought back to the home of football, Silvestre is better than he is. Anyway I digress, a penalty was awarded and up stepped our Captain to coolly slot it home, it was job done, the party could begin and everyone’s favourite songs could be sung.

Player ratings:

Almunia: I have a theory – there are two Almunias, there is the blond haired one that is crap and there is the dark haired one who is not bad at all. 8

Eboue: a fantastic second half, one of those solo runs is going to lead to a goal that takes our breath away which in turn will raise him to even higher levels of respect. 7.5

Campbell: used his energy very cleverly today enabling him to give yet another very professional performance. 7.5

Vermaelen: although it should never have been a penalty he should never have allowed the ball to get that far. We got away with the pen if we get away with a one match ban we can console ourselves in the knowledge that things could have been whole lot worse. 6

Clichy: a commanding performance. Gibbs and Traore are keeping him on his toes. 8

Denilson: earned his wages this week, made some good tackles, some good passing, some good positional play and scored the important first goal, not the finished article but at 22 there is still plenty of time.

Song: Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the “Black Franz Benckenbaur”; a first half master class in the midfield. 8.5

Fabrégas: no one gives more than our captain in the quest to reach to the promised land known as Silver Ware. 9

Nasri: playing out on the right wing is not his best position and therefore I expected slightly less than usual but nevertheless he was still put in a shift. 7

Bendtner: a quieter game by his recent heroic standards. 7

Arshavin: he is taking this winning the title malarkey a bit too lightly for me; I want to see him absolutely destroy teams like West Ham. 7

Subs

Diaby: he is like a cross between the Harlem Globetrotters and a younger Patrick Vieira the result is a joy to watch.

Sagna: this Sagna – Eboue right back thing is really working, his fresh legs were exactly what was needed

Eduardo: may still yet have an important part to play in our run in.

Wenger: top, top team selection and great substitutions.

Have a great day in AA folks

Another London derby, another vital game in our hunt for the Premiership and another game against opposition desperate for points.

West Ham come on the back of a poor run of form and are struggling to stay in the Premiership. They have suffered a dreadful season both on and off the pitch, but hopefully (for them) the arrival of the porn barons will bring happier and more settled times. The Hammers record at the Emirates is very good, having won two and drawn 1 of their 4 games – with a record like that they could almost be classed as a bogey team. Balancing that is the fact that West Ham have not won away since the first game of the season and have yet to win a London Derby in the last 10 attempts.

If a team plays as a reflection of their manager (which is a great shame for Blackburn) then West Ham should be playing joyous, expansive and intelligent football, but to play that way requires the personnel, and sadly the Hammers financial problems have restricted the signing of flair players. Zola’s team is forced to survive through organisation and endeavour. A decent defence led by ex-Gunner Matthew Upson ( I wonder if he would consider re-signing as our back-up CB next season) has been porous, despite having a potential England goalkeeper. The Hammers strength (if they have one) is in midfield, and in Scott Parker they have a fine midfield general. He scored an absolute pearler last week in the loss to the Chavs, and continues to be a vastly under rated player. Sadly for both Parker and Zola, though not for us, he is injured for today’s clash. A player some Gooners had on their wish list is Behrami, though I cannot understand why, we have at least 6 midfielders better than the Swiss-Albanian. Mark Noble is due to make his return from injury and is a competitive little chap – a Jack Russell sort of a player.

Up front, returning from injury, is Carlton Cole. Another target for some Gooners who were begging AW to sign him in January. A dangerous forward but one who will be meat and drink for Sol and TV (hopefully). Benni McCarthy may make an appearance, his second since signing for the Hammers. Benni is one of my favourite players and I wish him the best of luck, starting next week!

We go into the game with most of our squad available, and AW has a midfield headache. Should he continue with Nasri in the centre, giving Fab a few extra days rest or start with our inspirational Captain? If I were the manager, I would bring Cesc on after 70 minutes, alongside Walcott. That would be enough to scare any team !!

We saw at Hull that there are no easy games, and I expect West Ham to give us problems unless we score early. If we do, there could be a rout. Nik is on fire, AA looks hungry again and our midfield is full of goals.

I have always had a soft spot for the Hammers due in part to the Famous Three (Moore, Hurst and Peters), but also because of “Half-Time Bob”, a good friend who initiated the leaving early epidemic which has sadly spread to large parts of the Emirates. Bob is a West Ham season ticket holder, and as such I can well understand why he developed his early departure strategy

There has been much talk in the press about the colossal signing fee that the late Michael Jackson is receiving (?) from Sony. Quite what he needs the money for I cannot fathom, but despite MJ’s life being chronicled to a degree rarely seen before, his biographers have disregarded one of his major passions.  In 1979 Michael was in the UK to perform on the Jackson 5 tour. Whilst staying at The Savoy, he asked the Hotel concierge “who are by far the Greatest team the World has ever seen?” and of course the concierge being a wise and sagacious man told MJ  that it was the Mighty Arsenal.  The concierge arranged tickets and Michael’s first game was the Cup Final against Man Utd  – Liam Brady’s last game, and one of Wembley’s iconic matches. Alan Sunderland (who co-incidently modelled his hairstyle on the young MJ) scored the last minute goal that cemented Michael’s burgeoning love of the Gunners

You may have wondered why MJ’s coffin was covered in red roses, and why the Brothers wore white gloves. Well, it was because Mr Michael Jackson was a committed Gooner ….. 😉

Whatever we write about today will be overshadowed by the news of our quarter final opponents in the Champion’s League draw due to take place this morning. So this week’s Rant Friday will focus on the big news of the day.

Inspired by some ‘revelations’ from fellow bloggers yesterday, I want to examine the possibility of some ‘manipulation’ of the choice of opponents in the final stages of the CL.

The chances of us getting manu or Barça are 7:1, as is the case for all scenarios in today’s draw. What is the chance that there are  powers working behind the scenes that would wish to influence the outcome?

There is corruption in football. The examples cited yesterday of bizarre far eastern gambling patterns, floodlight failures at significant points in games, prosecutions in Italy, Spain and Germany proving that officials and players have taken money to influence results, all substantiate the fact that there is a level of corruption in the game. The rumours of corruption in English football have been bubbling below the surface for years. George Graham was one scapegoat, who probably took the rap for many others. It was rumoured that Brian Clough only escaped action due to his ill health, and of course the Artful Dodger of the prem, ‘Arry Redknapp is yet to face charges for some dirty dealing.

In 2008, UEFA submitted a 96-page report to Interpol alleging that 15 football matches were fixed. The games are believed to have been in the Champions’ League, Uefa Cup and Intertoto Cup.  As the European governing body convened in Lucerne for today’s draw for the Euro 2008 finals, an official said: “It’s all based on betting patterns, nothing else, and this is what we set up our early warning systems to look for. Those ‘early warning systems’ have been ringing loudly for years now.

So how could the draw be fixed – and do we care? The 2008 quarter final draw was predicted correctly in advance by a thread in the Liverpool Echo newspaper and bookies stopped taking bets on the outcome. The mechanics of fixing a draw are various. The obvious one is to alter the feel of the balls, possibly chilling or heating them, but I’m sure David Blaine could come up with a dozen different means. The system can never be fullproof.

It is more than likely that the fortunes of Arsenal have already been influenced unfavourably by some form of corruption. Abramovich’s millions have not prevented them going out of the CL two years running courtesy of some rather dubious refereeing. In addition, we ourselves were subjected to bad refereeing decisions in 2008 against Liverpool.

Could it possibly be that whichever players are fit, whoever our opponents are chosen to be, however well we perform, we will be affected by forces beyond our control ………or is that one conspiracy theory too many?.

The conspiracy theories surrounding William Gallas are gathering pace, will he re-sign? If so, why hasn’t he already put pen to paper? Suggestions are doing the rounds that he is unhappy with the signing of Campbell. Others ask has he joined the worrying trend that saw Henry, Hleb and Flamini all injured towards the end of the season before being shipped off shortly after.

Questions remain to this day as to whether they were really injured or had negotiations reached a point in which their loyalty to the club was in such doubt that there was a genuine worry as to whether they would play as fully committed as necessary should they have been required.

Unlike Henry who had become surplus to requirements both Hleb and Flamini were both given the opportunity to stay but declined the offer. Gallas seems to be in the same boat as the latter two, although, lets hope he make a better decision than the one that they have both come to regret.

It seems fairly obvious that Wenger would like Gallas to stay, why wouldn’t he, the stumbling block surely being his current ninety thousand pound weekly wage. It is easy to imagine that the club have made a lower offer and rightly so: common sense dictates that in the next couple of years he will be more injured, not less, resulting in less availability and less playing time which in turn justifies the offer of a lower wage.

This forces Gallas into the position of having to shop around, much will depend on the length of the contract that he is offered, I wouldn’t be surprised if the club make an exception and break their over thirty, one year extension only, rule but they will do that kicking and screaming and so I fully expect that deal to drag on all through the summer.

As for the conspiracy theories, I don’t buy into them at all, there is no doubt in my mind that Gallas is simply injured and unless he regains his fitness we haven’t got a prayer of winning the Champions League, the Premiership maybe, but the Champions League not a chance. Fortunately, Porto were pants but I can’t help thinking that a decent team would have punished us with our defence being the way it is.

Sol maybe flavour of the month and continues to bask in the adoring glow of his second honeymoon but is there anyone who doesn’t fear the outcome if selected to play against a fast flowing side such as Barcelona? — the very thought makes me wince. He is an embarrassment waiting to happen. We have just two weeks to get Gallas back or I can’t see us getting past the next round let alone the final.

Written by London, title and pictures by Rasputin.

DanDan’s post on “who does your son support” sparked this thought pattern. ……  I am sensible man, I have raised a family, put myself through university, run a successful business, and lived in different lands, but one thing has haunted me since childhood and that is my addiction to Arsenal. I have given up wives, homes, friendships, pets and lifestyle, but I have been completely unable to cure my fanaticism of Arsenal. When I travel the first thing I do is check where I can see the game. When I go to a bar and get chatting, Arsenal is my Lingua Franca. My specialist subject is The Arsenal.

Why am I so hooked ? What happened to me that caused me to spend so much of my life thinking about the Gunners?  If I were to add up the money I have spent  following my obsession and compare it to the amount that I have earned, it would be a terrifying statistic, but worse would be the emotional trauma caused by my illness – Arsenalitis.

Let us go back to the start. I was but a child, mewling and puking in my nurse’s arms, when I got my first football – I have pictures of the little ball in my cot. So I was destined to be a football fan. By the age of 8 I was encouraged to choose my team, and as I have previously described I chose Arsenal because my father was a Spud. Now I could give chapter and verse about the psychological reasoning behind such a decision but that would be a little too personal, suffice it to say that my father enjoyed every season until we won the Fairs Cup in 1970, and unsurprisingly I had left home by the time of our first Double!

We all have this disease, we contracted it independently, it isn’t airborne, it isn’t viral, so what is it?

My first thoughts are of tribalism. The colours, the badge, the rituals, the feeling of emnity towards bordering tribes (and I hate the Spurs). But with the globalisation of football there are probably more AFC fans who have never seen The Arsenal in the flesh than have had that privilege – so how did they come to be in my tribe? An essential prerequisite of tribalism is the inability to switch tribes. Can one really be a true Gooner if one supported Liverpool or Man Utd prior to our success? Not in my eyes!

But this goes deeper than tribalism, my addiction has branded me in a way that nothing else could  …. there are friends all over the world who care nothing about football, but when Arsenal are mentioned, they immediately think of Big Raddy (well, actually they don’t know my real name is BR). I know this to be true – they have told me!

Tony Adams and The Merse both needed to use the 12 Step Programme to overcome their addictions………

My name is Big Raddy and I support The Arsenal

Today we go to Hull, the home of Rugby League and fake tans. Hull City lie second from bottom of the Premiership with 24 points. They are above the hapless Portsmouth, but a long way short of the 40 points required for safety with only 9 games left to play. In addition, we meet them on the back of a heavy 5-1 defeat at Goodison Park. It seems unlikely that they will get anywhere near that target and so I expect this to be our last visit to the KC Stadium in the premiership. I make no bones about it – I detest everything about Phil Brown and all he stands for. I wish them all the best in The Championship, hopefully never to be seen again.

The stats would point to a routine victory:-

Hull have only won 5 games at Home this season and have only scored 18 goals in the process – the second lowest in the league, while Arsenal are the leading joint scorers with 28 goals away from home. In their last two Home games, Hull have somehow beaten Manchester City and drawn with Chelsea. Seems simple, but as the saying goes “There are no easy games in the Premier league”. We are on a roll and I fully expect all three points.

Who will play is quite another matter? The squad is ravaged by injuries – what’s new?  We know that Gallas and Cesc are out, and at the time of writing there are doubts over Sol, Rosicky and Sagna. Bendtner had better watch where he spits out his chewing gum; otherwise Brown may decide to trump up another charge against us with the F.A.

It would be nice to see Vermaelen take the armband as I am no lover of keeper’s having that privilege, and besides,he was captain of Ajax and has the authority to muster the lads in the same way TA6 once did.

This is how the teams could line up…..

Maybe Sagna will be fit and Eboue can offer us another option in mid-field or  Rosicky will be fit and we won’t see Denilson. Either way lets hope the aggression and spirit brought on by Ramsey’s injury still burns within the team. We only have to score one more than them.

There is not much more to say about a team like Hull. Reports of an ‘unsavoury’ incident believed to be a fight between Nicky Barnby and Jimmy Bullard whilst on a ‘warm down’ last Sunday will have caused a titter. The fracas was witnessed by a group of shocked ladies from the WI who were attending a rally. What excellent role models? Their manager must be so proud.

There has been considerable animosity between Tangoman and our Leader. One is a charming urbane, intelligent man who has brought English football almost single handedly into the modern era, and the other is a shallow poser who buys his suits at Lidl, propounds the neanderthal football ethic, and is an acolyte of Sam “The Walrus” Allardyce. Phil Brown has disrespected our Captain, our Manager, our fans and our club.  Arsène – show him who the Daddy is.

Written by kelsey