Those who are regular readers of the site will know that our pre-match posts are usually written by blogger BigRaddy but this weekend we have two build up posts in Raddy’s absence. The first is from Norfolk Gooner and the second from RA.

It’s off to The King Power Stadium in Leicester to face the “Foxes” today for a 3pm start.

Leicester City, they were originally called Leicester Fosse, were founded in 1884 but despite being around for so long they haven’t exactly set the footballing world alight.

Their best ever finish, in the top flight, was second but that was back in the 1928/29 season.

They have been runners up in the FA Cup four times and hold the dubious record of the most appearances in the final without actually winning the trophy.

The Foxes have won the League Cup three times and the Charity Shield once and that under strange circumstances. It was in Arsenal’s double year, 1970/71, when we didn’t contest the shield due to our European commitments. Leicester, as winners of the second division, were invited to play Liverpool, the beaten FA Cup finalists and won 1 – 0.

Two of the finest players produced by the Foxes joined Arsenal, Frank McLintock and Alan Smith. Frank later went on to succeed another Arsenal luminary, Jimmy Bloomfield as manager there.

This little history lesson is proof only that I don’t know much about the Leicester City team of today, save that they have made a very good start to the season, currently lie fourth in the table having won three and drawn three.

The midweek win over Spurs has, hopefully, dispelled any hangover from the Chelsea game and so we go into today’s match in reasonably good shape although we will be without the newly suspended Gabriel, Santi is serving his one match ban and Le Coq is probably out with a knee injury picked up in that infamous game at Stamford Bridge.

I expect our defense to return to it’s more normal shape with the return of Cech, Bellerin and Monreal.

With both Santi and Le Coq absent a mid-field pairing of Arteta and two goal hero Flamini looks likely. With Alexis, Mesut and either The Ox or Aaron to play just behind Theo.

I can’t quite decide between Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain, both have been a bit off lately, so a good point for discusssion.

A win today will move us up to fourth which will provide the necessary impetus to head for ever more dizzying heights.

C’mon The Glorious Gunners!!

The above is written by Norfolk Gooner. 

The following is written by RA 

Who are our opponents? None other than Leicester Fosse — oops I mean Leicester City.

Like us they have had a name change from when they were originally founded in the summer of 1884 as Leicester Fosse, so called as they played in a grotty old field filled with cows near Fosse Road.

The were renamed Leicester City after WW1 in 1919 to avoid any association with cows. [OK that last bit I made up.]

It’s most famous person was Robert de Beaumont, who became the first Earl of Leicester, c 1150, after the Normans beat up the Anglo-Saxons, but talking of name changes he preferred to be called by his Frenchie title as Count de Meulan.

He might have had pretensions to playing football by lopping off heads and kicking them around when he got bored.

In 1564, Queen Elizabeth 1st made her boyfriend Robert Dudley the Earl of Leicester again, after his forebears had become careless and lost their heads – literally.

Back to today, the Foxes as they are known, have not beaten us in the last 5 meetings between us, but this season under the Tinker Man they remain unbeaten – yikes – and lie fourth in the table above us with 12 [points having beaten a few duff teams on the way.

I am looking forward to the guy linked with us, Mahrez, who is known to be rapid. Chaser will take care of him.

For us Cazzor is back from a one match ban – and Gabriel takes his place in the naughty boy cupboard. So it will be a slightly changed team today – but who cares – we will win.

Bollox to percentages – I feel it in my water that we will cruise home 1 : 3.

COYG

Written by RA

Arsenal secured their first win at home this season against a lacklustre Stoke City although they should have been out of sight within the opening minutes.

A lovely sunny day in London gave a feel for optimism as surely it was unthinkable for Arsenal to lose their first 3 homes games on the bounce. The last time that happened was 56 years ago. The day began with Arsenal supporters abusing the coaches taking the Stoke fans to the game. The looks of bewilderment on their faces was priceless as supporters were sticking up the two fingers and the verbals followed.

As the teams were announced there was much cheer that Theo Walcott was starting up front and the move had paid off. The Gunners started in blistering fashion bombarding their opponents. Theo went close as did Alexis hitting the upright as Jack Butland was a beaten man. Koscielny then had a spectacular 30 yard shot tipped over by the impressive Butland.

Then on 31 mins a sublime lofted ball from Mesut Ozil set Theo away and the touch and finish was both exquisite. The fans in Block 3 were left purring at the replay on the big screen. The fans really appreciated an assist and finish which was of the most highest order and Ozil was in his groove. There was a general consensus in the stands that Arsenal should have been at least 3 goals to the good which reflected their dominance.

The second half was a similar pattern where Arsenal dictated the play and more opportunities went begging with Theo and Ozil squandering chances. A lovely moment occurred when a young fan in the first row asked for Arteta’s shirt as he was warming up. The Spaniard and club captain then looked back with laughter and said “Haha I can’t give it to you now I might need it to play!” A lovely moment which shows footballers do have a sense of humour and can interact with fans.

Olivier Giroud was then introduced to the Arsenal faithful and his body language was questioned by some of the hardcore fans. It was evident to see he was low in confidence following the international break. This was epitomised in a chance which he fluffed which left Arsenal fans screaming blue murder and the fans were turning against him once again. It also raised the issue amongst the supporters in the lower tier about why the club did not invest in a world class forward a debate for another day.

The Frenchman had the last laugh though as he met a Cazorla free kick to head home and earn Arsenal a fully deserved 3 points. The irony was the same fans who were chastising him only a few mins earlier were now singing his praises and chanting his name.

So Arsenal won at home again at last and the supporters now turned their attention to the big game next weekend in West London. Given the Chelski result earlier in the day there was hope amongst the fans that the Gunners can go to Stamford Bridge next weekend and get a result. Some fans stated that it would be a difficult game as they were heading for the exits but perhaps there is not a better chance to turn them over. Only time will tell how Arsenal build on this performance. It was also great to have a picture with Petr Cech and Gabriel! UTA!!

Written by Sir Hussein

Morning all

Rant Friday again, don’t they come round fast. Herb’s post yesterday stirred a few and  emotions were let loose as many of the regulars on AA are ardent Wenger supporters. I felt agitated by Herbs Post, whether he meant it as a post or not is irrelevant, as what he wrote was for someone to read and it reflected the way he felt.

Herb is of course entitled to his opinion, what kind of supporters are we if we are not willing to listen to another side of the story. In the post Herb wanted to vent his concerns over the current transfer policy. I think he feels we need to spend vast amounts of money, he didn’t exactly say vast amounts of money, but when he showed dismay with Ozil and Sanchez I can only assume he wanted bigger and better players and they don’t come cheap.

Reading the post it struck me that Herb is the kind of supporter who would want a Bale or a Ronaldo or perhaps even the Holy Grail Messi so I assume he would want the board to spend obscene amounts of money. Its easy spending other peoples money when you’re a supporter. There are supporters who moan about the price of a packet of fags or the TV licence but when it comes to their very own club, they expect anything from 50 million. Many of this kind of supporter has out laid on an Arsenal scarf or pushed the boat out and brought a snide Arsenal shirt, some will even be season ticket holders. They can be the worst as they feel they have paid so much for their ticket and what’s 150 million to a club like Arsenal? They actually believe that the money they have out laid to be entertained should be spent to make their enjoyment even better.

Supporters come in all shapes and sizes. Some supporters are ardent Wenger supporters but others can be called Wenger haters and they are critical if we don’t buy or if we buy the wrong players according to them.  I feel we have to realise that perhaps the club do not always feel like many supporters do, that winning the League and Champions League is the only goal.

Looking at it from the owners side, a good season for Arsenal is when it makes more money than it has laid out. Usually supporters will look at the figures put out and assume the profit at the end is what we have to spend on players, well don’t make me laugh, that is the money that the owners and shareholders own, not the clubs money. Any money over is their profit for their investment, not for the clubs to spend on players.

We always look around us at what other clubs are doing and assume our club should be doing the same but what we should be doing is realising that Arsenal are making money and now and again the Manager is allowed  to use some of their money to replace with new stock. Again a further investment made by the owners money.

What you have at the other big spending clubs are owners who have always had huge amounts of money. These people have been used to having the best that money can buy for yachts, mansions, land and cars. They can afford to buy everything that you can think of and the ownership of a football club with no expense spared. Like all oligarchs and Sheiks the very best is a must have, our own Mr Usmanov would be the same, if only he could get his feet under the table. Many say he is a proper Arsenal supporter and wants to spend spend spend but apparently he has his rules before he does that and before that happens he will keep hold of his billions, whether we win or lose. A fine supporter, right!!!

Supporters ask for money to be spent, when it looks like we have weaknesses. This last transfer window seemed like one of those occasions, but it seems that the money holders felt that the last three signings were enough investment for the time being. Close on a hundred million, I make them right.

Steve Palmer

Well here we go our first schedule pile up of the season, over a 23 day period we have 7 very important games which is a game every 3.29 days.

Here is the schedule –

Now I recognize that we have a big squad but is it realistic to expect our team to play a game every 3 days?

Let’s take a closer look at the individual games. The game against Stoke at home in the Premier league comes after a 14 day international break, which in itself sounds good but the majority of our players will be away on international duty which means they will have no rest and there is always the risk of them returning injured.

Now we face the unenviable task of playing 4 consecutive away games. 4 days after the game against Stoke we play our first Champions League group game away against Dinamo Zagreb in Crotia, these games are never easy and the travel time there and back is very tiring.

I’m unaware of our travel arrangements back from Croatia but with only 2 days in between the games we then have to play Chelsea away in the Premier League. Chelsea meantime play Maccabi Tel Aviv at home on the 16th – so they have the benefit of not having to travel – that may appear to be a petty statement but these type of games are won and lost on small details.

Next up with only 3 days between the games we have Tottenham away in the Tea Cup, now personally I hate losing to them at anytime but this will not be a good time to put too many of our 1^st team squad on display and I could easily forget their euphoria if we lose and protect our squad for bigger and better things. I would really enjoy it if we beat them with our kids as that will give us endless bragging rights.

The nightmare continues as with only 2 days between games we have to travel to Leicester in another PL game and they are proving to be a very difficult side to play against.

At least the next two games are at home – after only another 2 days between we play Olympiacos in the CL, our home record against them is good as on the two occasions we have played them we have won 2-1 and 3-1 – strangely enough they have won both away game by the same scores.

Lastly after playing 6 games in 18 days we play Manchester United at home, I wonder just what shape both physically and mentally our squad will be in after all of this?

Your guess is as good as mine but frankly after our first 4 games it’s hard to be positive about our nightmare of a schedule.

GunnerN5