The Modern Gooner: An Arsenal Blog

Newcastle United 0-1 Arsenal: Happy St. Totteringham's Day!!!

2013-05-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

It is only fitting that a German word would sum up the day's events, given the utter domination of the sport by the Bundesliga's best this season. Naturally, that word is schadenfreude, and there was no shortage of it to go around come the 94th minute of this contest.

I'm late to the recapping party here (which is also fitting, given that I didn't stumble into the Pig until the 16th minute...thank you, Johnny Walker Black!) so it probably doesn't make that much sense to dissect the match in detail. We all know what happened, unless you have been living in a cave somewhere in the mountains of Tajikistan. Should that be the case, then ассалому алейкум and welcome back to the world! Here is what you missed:

Papis Cisse blazed a shot over the bar early on. The home side would arguably never have a better chance.
Mikel Arteta limped off injured, to be replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Arsenal tore out of the blocks in the second half and should have taken the lead earlier than they did. Steve Harper - the ever-present reserve goalkeeper for Newcastle ending his 20-year spell with the Magpies - made a mess out of a routine clearance. Theo Walcott was on it and should have scored, but Harper repelled the shot. Luckily for him, a defender got to the rebound before Santi Cazorla did.
A few minutes later, the Gunners took the lead off a set piece. You know, like we do. Theo took the corner, Per Mertesacker headed it on, and somehow the Geordie defense let Laurent Koscielny slip through to get on the end of it. Poor old Harper blocked the shot with his face, but it still found its way into the net. As a keeper myself, I feel a bit for the guy. If circumstances weren't what they were I'd even be properly gutted for him. Not this time, though.
Tedium. Lots of it.
Then, Newcastle started getting much more of the ball - they had over 60% possession for one stretch in the second half. That feeling was less "tedium" and more "some sadistic prick playing my nerve endings like a violin".
Olivier Giroud returned from suspension for the last 20 minutes, but never found his way into the game. Jack Wilshere also had a late cameo.
Gareth Bale scored a late goal, because you know, we weren't nervous enough. If he is truly on his way to Madrid than I suppose Scum supporters can console themselves with the idea that he gave us one last fright on his way down the dusty trail.
Theo went on this amazing mazy run in injury time where he looked like Pele dribbling circles around defenders. The finish, however, was of a more Chris Iwelumo vintage. I have to be honest, I thought the sucker-punch was coming for sure after that one.
Howard Webb blew his whistle, and we all went mental.

So, the Gunners once again limp over the line to Champions League qualification, breaking the hearts of our nearest and dearest for the umpteenth time. You know, one would think we'd be used to it by now, but I'm not. It never stops being uproariously funny, especially that one point in the second half where Shite Hart Lane lost their minds in the mistaken belief that Newcastle had equalized. Oh, you guys...never, ever change.

I don't want to say that this was a good season, because it wasn't. Once again, the core of a good squad was undone by tactical inflexibility and a lack of quality squad depth. The Bradford and Blackburn cup losses are going to stay with me for a while, as will the first leg of the Bayern Munich tie.

However, all of that is for another time (look for a season retrospective in the coming weeks, which you can translate as "when I can be arsed to write it). Let's just sit back and enjoy the sweet, sweet tears coming from the other end of the Seven Sisters as they look back on another bitter chapter of what might have been.

Always in our shadow. Always.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings

Szczesny 7, Gibbs 7, Koscielny 9, Mertesacker 7, Sagna 7, Arteta N/A (Oxlade-Chamberlain 7), Ramsey 8, Cazorla 7 (Wilshere N/A), Rosicky 6, Walcott 5, Podolski 6 (Giroud 6)

Man of the Match: There wasn't much to choose from in what proved to be somewhat turgid fare, a game only given life by the circumstances around it. That said, Laurent Koscielny stepped up when we needed a hero and poked in the a $20 million goal (yes I know it's bloody Euros, I don't have that button on my keyboard).

Preview by Numbers: Newcastle United v. Arsenal

2013-05-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Sunday, May 19

11:00 a.m. EDT, 16:00 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Howard Webb
Assistants: Mike Mullarkey and Darren Cann
4th Official: Kevin Friend

Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 7 - 3 Newcastle
This Match, Last Year: Newcastle 0 - 0 Arsenal
All-Time in All Competitions: 67 Arsenal wins, 66 Newcastle wins, 38 draws
Arsenal's League Form: W-D-W-D-W-W
Newcastle's League Form: W-L-D-L-D-W
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 16 C / 60 F

Last year, before the season ending match at West Brom, in this preview I said, "90 minutes to decide their European fate for next season. No time for complacency. It's time to go all in." That, of course, applies 100% yet again.

Three points secures at least a fourth place finish. Anything less does not.

Here we go...

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Diaby (knee)
Doubts: Arteta (calf)

Theo Walcott is always an airplane when he scores.

The big news is that Mikel Arteta walked off against Wigan with a calf injury which puts him in the "serious doubt" category for Sunday, and for Arsenal, that is bad news. Arteta has missed 10 Arsenal games this season. The first four were instances where he was rested, but in January, he missed six straight matches through injury. Arsenal won FA Cup matches against Swansea and Brighton in that period, but in the league, they lost twice (Manchester City and Chelsea,) drew once (Liverpool,) and won once (West Ham.) It's hard to look too deep into those statistics; there's a difference between playing City and Chelsea in January and playing Newcastle (who has nothing to play for) in mid-May.

There are big questions regarding who fills his role. Considering Olivier Giroud returns from suspension, why not start the big Frenchman up front, shift Lukas Podolski back out to the left, then shift the midfielders (Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky, and Aaron Ramsey) all back a little deeper? Playing Jack Wilshere (who needs minor surgery) is a risk, in my opinion. Bring him off the bench if you need him after an hour but keep him out of harm's way if you don't.

Newcastle Squad News

Out: Sh. Ameobi (knee), Krul (shoulder), Vuckic (knee), R. Taylor (knee)
Doubts: Tiote (knock), S. Taylor (illness), Haidara (hamstring), Santon (hamstring), Sissoko (knee)
Suspended: Elliot (one match)

Arsenal faced a back-up goalkeeper in last year's final match
of the season, and it proved to be the difference. This year,
they'll get a third stringer they've seen before...

Nobody in the league has an injury list quite like Newcastle. At the back, goalkeeper Tim Krul remains out with a dislocated shoulder, but his substitute Rob Elliot was sent off at Loftus Road and now serves a one match ban. 38-year-old Steve Harper will start between the sticks in what will be his final appearance for the club. He's been with Newcastle for 20 years and this will be his 157th appearance for the Magpies.

Other long term injuries include Haris Vuckic and Ryan Taylor, the latter of whom will receive knee surgery in the United States. Shola Ameobi is also out with a knee problem.

As of now, there is no word on the availability of Cheick Tiote, Davide Santon, Steven Taylor, Massadio Haidara and Moussa Sissoko. Shane Ferguson and Sammy Ameobi are both available after the completion of their loan deals.

Current Form

Newcastle secured their safety last weekend while wearing
this terrible neon color.

This is one of those matches where they say form goes out the window. Arsenal are unbeaten in nine league games and have picked up 23 of their last possible 27 points in those matches. But, everything in the past doesn't really matter now, does it? It's all about these three points on the table right now. Nothing more.

As for Newcastle, their 2-1 win at QPR secured their safety last weekend. After the match, Alan Pardew said he didn't care if Newcastle lost 4-0 to Arsenal on the final day of the season, comments he obviously had to retract as a joke later. The Magpies had recently lost 3-0 to rival Sunderland and 6-0 to Liverpool before a draw with West Ham and the win over QPR finally secured the North East side's safety for next season.

A bit of a side fact, and a curious statistic, but it's been seven years since Newcastle won their last home match of the season.

Match Facts

This was a really really long time ago.

The last time Arsenal played at St. James' Park feels like forever and a half ago: it was last year's season opener, on August 13, 2011. Joey Barton was involved, Gervinho was sent off, Alex Song picked up a three match ban after the fact, Arsenal hadn't even sold Samir Nasri or Cesc Fabregas yet, and the referee from that day (Peter Walton) is now retired. Arsenal's previous trip to Newcastle also famously involved Joey Barton, a red card, two penalties, Phil Dowd, and some unpleasantness. All of that aside, those matches were a very long time ago and there will be no Joey Barton involved on Sunday.

Arsenal emphatically won the reverse fixture 7-3 just before New Year's. Theo Walcott opened the scoring but Demba Ba equalized before halftime to make it 1-1 at the break. Arsenal and Newcastle traded goals until it was 3-3, then Theo Walcott scored two more for the hat trick, Olivier Giroud off the bench added two more and rattled the crossbar with a chance to make it hat trick within 20 minutes for him, as Arsenal finished with a flourish.

The Referee

Howard Webb carefully handles
a dinosaur egg.

The referee is South Yorkshire-based Howard Webb. Since the last time Arsenal had Webb at Old Trafford (which was a scoreline we'd all rather forget,) the Gunners have won six consecutive Premier League fixtures with Webb in the middle. The only two results that have not been victories for Arsenal in eight matches since that dreadful August afternoon in Manchester were FA Cup ties (the 2-0 loss at Sunderland last year and the 2-2 draw in Swansea in January.)

The six victories, as mentioned above: 2-1 against Sunderland in October 2011, 1-0 against Everton in December 2011, 2-1 against Newcastle in March 2012, 2-0 at Liverpool in August 2012, 5-2 against Tottenham in November 2012, and most recently 2-1 over West Bromwich Albion in early April, in which Per Mertesacker was (correctly) sent off.

Newcastle have seen Webb four times this year and lost three of them: 3-0 to Manchester United, 2-1 to Stoke City, and 3-0 to Sunderland. The one win, however, was at home over Chelsea, 3-2 on February 2.

Around the League

All matches are played simultaneously on Sunday.

Chelsea v. Everton; Stamford Bridge, London
Liverpool v. Queens Park Rangers; Anfield, Liverpool
Manchester City v. Norwich City; Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Southampton v. Stoke City; St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Swansea City v. Fulham; Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Tottenham Hotspur v. Sunderland; White Hart Lane, London
West Bromwich Albion v. Manchester United; The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
West Ham United v. Reading; Boleyn Ground, London
Wigan Athletic v. Aston Villa; DW Stadium, Wigan

Arsenal 4-1 Wigan Athletic: Halfway to Go

2013-05-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Before the start of play today, I insisted that if Arsenal could not beat Wigan at home and a suddenly-safe Newcastle away, then the Champions League was probably not deserved anyway. Six points will see us into the top four once again, and after today we are halfway home. Works for me.

Anyone who saw the FA Cup Final knew that the Latics had expended everything they had in the tank to bring that trophy home - they were there for the taking, and it looked like Arsenal might have put them away early on. The Gunners' passing and movement were crisp and on point, and the visitors struggled to deal with it at times.

On the whole, Arsenal struggled to convert that first-half domination into the sort of lead that would have made this a more comfortable outing. The Gunners were more clinical early on though. Santi Cazorla gave the first warning with a header from Theo Walcott's cross that flashed just wide, but soon after we had the lead we so desperately craved.

Here's the thing - Wigan Athletic are going down for a multitude of reasons, ranging from poor defensive organization to a rash of injuries to plain old bad luck. But, I would argue that more than anything, they've been relegated due to Roberto Martinez's bizarre decision to bench the excellent Ali Al-Habsi in favor of the on-loan Joel Robles.

Let's not mince words - Robles is an absolute clown, a fact that is obvious to anyone that knows their goalkeepers. Sure, he is capable of astonishing saves in a vacuum. The trouble is that managers fall in love with this capability but fail to weigh it properly against their inability to do the basics (see also: Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone).

Arsenal won a corner, and it was looped in towards the near post. That was unquestionably Robles' ball to deal with, but he hesitated and ended up staying on his line. The Wigan defense will get blamed for letting this go, but they backed off because they assumed that their keeper would claim it. He didn't, it got nodded on, and the unmarked Lukas Podolski was there for the easy tap-in header.

Psychologically, going down a goal in a match of this magnitude is devastating for a side like Wigan. Typically, there will be one of two reactions - a ferocious springing to life or a long period where heads drop and the vulnerability to further goals is there. Wigan showed the latter, and frankly it is as frustrating as ever that Arsenal didn't kill this off right then and there.

That's not to say that there weren't chances. Kieran Gibbs and Aaron Ramsey just missed getting on the end of inviting crosses, and had either of those went in this would likely have been over. The visitors did fight back though, and Laurent Kosicelny had to be sharp with a flying kung-fu clearance to prevent Arouna Kone from going in clean on goal.

Wigan were making it more of a contest, but it was still the home side who should have extended their lead in the 39th minute. The fantastic Santi Cazorla sent in a cross, but it was sadly Koscielny on the end of it. You'd like to think that any of our attacking players would have buried that chance, but the Frenchman could only poke it wide.

Still, we had the lead, it was almost halftime, and we've made a practice of closing these games out in the last few weeks anyway. But, oh, what's that? Riiiiiight, Mike Dean was the referee! How could we have forgotten?

The Latics made one of their rare forays upfield, but Mikel Arteta seemed to have ended the danger with a fair shoulder-to-shoulder challenge on Shaun Maloney. Some variation of that play happens roughly 50 or 60 times per match, but somehow Dean found something wrong with this one. Don't get me wrong, I don't have my tinfoil hat on - I don't think there's anything sinister or corrupt here. He's just a godawful referee.

Maloney took the kick himself, and of course it ended up in our net. It wasn't even all that good of a free kick, but there were several problems there. First, the setup of the wall was horrendous. I'd have liked to see five in the wall in that close, instead of four. Second, the two ends of the wall have to be taller guys who won't shy away from taking one to the skull. That is the most likely place for the shooter to aim at, and when you have someone like Podolski there who's going to duck out of the way, you make it that much harder on yourself. This is the kind of detail that a young keeper like Wojceich Szczesny is more likely to neglect, never mind the fact that he should have saved it anyway.

Goals in the last minute of a half are just killers, and the fact that it was so preventable makes it that much more frustrating. How typically Arsenal to concede in that way, in that time. Wigan could have easily kicked on from there to make it difficult for us, but to be fair the Gunners came out in the second half and dominated the rest of the way. It's too bad that Arsene has made "mental strength" an overused cliche, because the side really did show it today.

However, it so easily could have been 2-1 to Wigan early doors in the second half. A slick series of passes between Callum McManaman and Roger Espinoza got Arouna Kone in alone (Bacary Sagna nowhere to be found, as bloody usual at this point). Szczesny was off his line in a flash though, and excellently blocked at the Ivorian's feet. That was a massive save from the Pole, as he showed both sides of his Jekyll-and-Hyde play either side of the interval.

Kone followed that up by fizzing a shot wide of the post, and that seemed to finally jolt the home side back into action. Walcott destroyed his marker down the right wing and played it into Cazorla in the area. Robles saved the first shot, and did better to also keep the rebound out as well.

The Spanish keeper would soon revert back to form though, and his manager will have plenty of time to rue his selection in the coming months. Arsenal had gotten much joy down Wigan's right wing all game, and it was no different here. Cazorla had switched wings, and was played in by Sagna. The low cross came in, and while Wigan's defense might have done better, there was no excuse for Robles to slide in feet-first there. Frankly, the only reason to do so is to avoid any serious contact, and that will usually result in the ball nestling in your net. Sure enough, Theo bravely got stuck in and tapped it home.

Wigan supporters must be galled at the thought that they'd be up 1-0 at this point if Al-Habsi were in net. I know I would be.

They'll be that much more so at how tissue-paper soft the third goal was all around. A clearance from one of their defenders only made it as far as just outside the area, and Wigan's right-sided defender shied away from a collision with the awesome colossus that is Cazorla. Sorry, but if I were on a team fighting for Premier League life, I'd have put the guy on his ass and then laughed at him. Anyway, Giant Colossus Cazorla headed it to the onrushing Podolski, who was in alone on Robles. For some reason, the keeper came out part-way and then stood there, jumping in place as the Medium Sized German dinked it over him. Again, a desperate goalie for a desperate team has to dive at his feet there. If you take the penalty kick, so be it.

The result was never in question from that point on, but Ramsey added some gloss to the scoreline a few minutes later thanks to yet more questionable goalkeeping from Robles (I don't do ratings for opponents but that was a 2 or a 3 if I've ever seen one). A 2-v-2 break saw Ramsey storm down the left wing, and cut in on goal. The Welshman made a big show of playing for the pass, and Robles bit hard on the fake. That left the short side open, and Ramsey duly obliged to make it 4-1.

Arsenal could do as they wished from that point on, the points well and truly safe by then. I suppose this wouldn't be one of my match reports without some bitching about the substitutions, so here you go - why on earth did Jack Wilshere come into this game at 4-1 when he needs to have surgery in the offseason? Why risk it? What is the benefit? Why not get some minutes for a guy like Carl Jenkinson? I will never understand, I guess. I don't want to be too negative on a happy occasion, so I'll leave it at that.

So, here we are. One match left to go, against a surely-disinterested Newcastle United side that officially maintained their Premier League status this past weekend. Given our huge advantage in goal difference, even a draw will ensure that St. Totteringham's Day comes around once again (assuming our nearest and dearest see off a dreadful Sunderland side that is also now safe in the top flight). This shouldn't be that hard. Oh, and wishful thinking perhaps, but if we win by two goals and Chelsea doesn't beat Everton, we finish third.

Wouldn't that be nice?

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Szczesny 7, Gibbs 7, Koscielny 8, Mertesacker 7, Sagna 6, Arteta 7 (Vermaelen N/A), Ramsey 7, Cazorla 8, Rosicky 7 (Wilshere 7), Walcott 8, Podolski 8 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 7)

Man of the Match: Some will stump for Podolski, and it's hard to argue. I will do just that though - Santi Cazorla was the man who made everything happen for us.

Preview by Numbers: Arsenal v. Wigan Athletic

2013-05-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

Emirates Stadium, London

Tuesday, May 14

2:45 p.m. EDT, 19:45 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Mike Dean
Assistants: Jake Collin and John Brooks
4th Official: Phil Dowd

Reverse Fixture: Wigan 0 - 1 Arsenal
This Match, Last Year: Arsenal 1 - 2 Wigan
All-Time in All Competitions: 14 Arsenal wins, 3 Wigan wins, 2 draws
Arsenal's League Form: W-W-D-W-D-W
Wigan's League Form: D-L-L-D-W-L
Weather: Light Rain, 10 C / 50 F

This is massive.

Arsenal need to win to keep control of their own destiny in the hunt for Champions League football. Wigan need to win to avoid being relegated to the Championship. There is truly everything to play for on both sides.

Congratulations to Roberto Martinez and Wigan Athletic on winning the FA Cup this weekend. The Latics had only Sunday and Monday to rest before this match; Arsenal have had nine days off since beating QPR. Will this play into the hands of rested Arsenal or post-silverware high Wigan?

So, who feels the most pressure?

CURRENT ODDS: Arsenal 56.6% chance of finishing Top 4 (Spurs at 43.7%, Chelsea 99.7%). Odds of Wigan being relegated are 93.3%.
IF ARSENAL WINS: Odds of finishing Top 4 improve to 74.2%, Spurs drop to 26.2%, Wigan are mathematically relegated.
IF WIGAN WINS: Odds of finishing Top 4 drop to 23.1%, Spurs improve to 76.9%, Wigan odds of relegation improve to 49.2% (since they play Aston Villa next week).
IF THEY DRAW: Odds of finishing Top 4 drop to 27.4%, Spurs improve to 72.6%, Wigan can only avoid relegation with a win Sunday and a massive goal difference swing with Sunderland.

All odds via Sports Club Stats, as always.

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Diaby (knee)
Suspended: Giroud (third of three)

Had to be different, didn't you, Ox?

There really isn't much to say in terms of Arsenal's team news, considering it has been so long since they've played a match. Lukasz Fabianski is available for selection again after suffering cracked ribs a month ago against Norwich, but as Wojciech Szczesny has regained his form since being benched, you have to go with the hot hand (or gloves?)

Kieran Gibbs is available again, even though I had thought Nacho Monreal's start at QPR was just normal rotation of two quality left backs. I would expect the Englishman to start tonight. That leaves the only actually injured player in the squad to be Abou Diaby (and, I guess Ryo Miyaichi, though if he weren't hurt, I'd be talking later in this preview about how he can't play against his parent club due to loan terms anyway.)

Olivier Giroud will serve the final game of his three match ban, meaning I do not suspect other changes to the XI. Maybe Jack Wilshere comes in for Tomas Rosicky, though with today's news that Jack requires minor surgery, that seems doubtful.

Wigan Squad News

Out: Figueroa (groin), Crusat (knee), Stam (ankle), Ramis (knee), Pollitt (thigh)
Doubts: Beausejour (hamstring)

Presented without comment.

Hard to tell at this point what little knocks Wigan might have picked up during the FA Cup Final, so here's the best I can tell you in terms of their injury news:

Jean Beausejour is a doubt after a hamstring pull kept him out of the final. He was playing in place of the injured Antolin Alcaraz, who has returned from a hamstring pull of his own anyway. Roberto Martinez called Beausejour's injury "usually 10 days" at the time, which was 10 days ago.

As for Wigan's long term injuries, the Latics are without Maynor Figueroa, Albert Crusat, Ronnie Stam, Ivan Ramis, and Mike Pollitt.

Goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi, who has frustrated Arsenal so much in the past, has played once since the beginning of March, having been dropped for Joel Robles (who just goes by Joel, which is absurd) who is on loan from Atletico Madrid.

Current Form

I wish Arsenal would have scored again in the remaining
89 minutes and 40 seconds at QPR.

It has been over a month now (April 13) since Arsenal have scored more than once in a given game (that was the 3-1 win over Norwich, in which Arsenal left it very late to score all three.) They have played just four matches since then and have not lost, drawing Everton 0-0 and Manchester United 1-1, while beating Fulham and QPR 1-0 each. Four matches, three goals, no losses. That's certainly a bit strange.

This came after the Norwich match was the fifth straight game in which Arsenal had scored multiple goals (2-0 at Bayern, 2-0 at Swansea, 4-1 over Reading, 2-1 at West Brom, then 3-1 over Norwich.) All in all, the Gunners are unbeaten in nine since losing the North London derby on March 3. Sure, you could look at the standings and think if Arsenal had won that game, they'd have a top four finish locked up by now. Then again, if they're not put under that pressure, who's to say they would've gone on the same streak? This is Arsenal's longest unbeaten streak since opening the year unbeaten in seven after ending last year unbeaten in four (so that was an 11 match streak spanning both seasons.) They also had a 10 match unbeaten streak within last season, in October-November.

As for Wigan, their FA Cup victory should be congratulated, but as for their season as a whole, there's a reason they're facing relegation with a loss. Wigan have one win from their last six league matches (the 3-2 win against a West Brom team with nothing to play for on May 4.) The Latics have been in 18th place since the beginning of April, when a 1-1 draw at QPR sent them into the drop zone. Then again, Wigan have pulled off some stunning results this season (as they always seem to): most notably, they've taken four of six points from Spurs this season. So really, as of right now, you can thank Wigan for the fact that Arsenal controls their own destiny. Let's hope we're not cursing them tomorrow.

Match Facts

Wigan struck twice in 94 seconds in this fixture last year, all
while Arteta was receiving injury treatment. Goal for this
match: not suffering injuries?

The prospect of playing Wigan in April or May is always a bit daunting; they've always managed a great escape in each of the last few seasons. Tonight, however, they are really behind the eight ball; this is probably the closest brush with relegation they've had in their run of constantly surviving at the last minute. Arsenal know of Wigan's late season abilities quite well: Wigan beat them 3-2 in April of 2010, scoring all three after the 80th minute, and 2-1 at the Emirates last April.

Arsenal won the reverse fixture 1-0 at the DW Stadium shortly before Christmas. Arsenal's lone goal in that match came from a Mikel Arteta penalty just after the hour mark, after Beausejour fouled Theo Walcott in the box. I recall the foul being fairly borderline.

As for this match last year, it was one to forget. Arteta picked up an injury in the early going and while Arsenal were scrambling to sort themselves out without the midfielder, Wigan scored twice in 94 seconds. Franco di Santo scored in the seventh minute and Jordi Gomez scored in the eighth minute against ten man Arsenal, as Arteta was on the touchline receiving treatment. He was replaced by Aaron Ramsey in the ninth minute. Thomas Vermaelen pulled Arsenal back within one in the 21st, but the equalizer never came. Areta's injury ended his season and the Gunners went on to win once over their final four matches, drawing the other three.

The Referee

I wonder what Jack is yelling at him here...

The referee is Wirral-based Mike Dean. Quite frankly, I am sick of talking about Arsenal's record with Mike Dean as referee. It is, by the way, two wins from their last 21 games now (with 11 losses and eight draws.) This year, it includes the cup upset to Bradford City, the cup upset to Blackburn Rovers, and the loss to Manchester City featuring an early red card to Laurent Koscielny (which was correct, of course.)

Rather than be overly negative, why don't we talk about those two wins from those 21 games, eh? Eh? One was an FA Cup replay at Leeds in 2011, so there's really not that much to say there, I guess. But the other win was the first 5-2 over Spurs. And that day was lovely. And it involved Mike Dean (you may recall Spurs getting a dubious penalty...)

Wigan have only seen Dean once this year; they lost 4-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in February. Wigan split four matches with Dean as the referee (two wins, two losses) last season.

Around the League

Saturday: Aston Villa 1 - 2 Chelsea
Saturday (FA Cup Final): Manchester City 0 - 1 Wigan Athletic
Sunday (early): Stoke City 1 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur
Sunday: Everton 2 - 0 West Ham United
Sunday: Fulham 1 - 3 Liverpool
Sunday: Norwich City 4 - 0 West Bromwich Albion
Sunday: Queens Park Rangers 1 - 2 Newcastle United
Sunday: Sunderland 1 - 1 Southampton
Sunday (late): Manchester United 2 - 1 Swansea City
Tuesday: Reading v. Manchester City; Madejski Stadium, Reading

Queens Park Rangers 0-1 Arsenal: Ugly But Necessary

2013-05-05T00:00:00.000-04:00

Once again, Arsenal made incredibly heavy weather of a side that should have been brushed aside with aristocratic arrogance. That said, the Gunners are hardly in a position to be picky about where the points come from - any scenario that results in three at a time is one that works for us right now.

There were many out there who had called this a potential trap game because QPR's relegation has already been confirmed. I think that misses the mark, though. This team has been mentally on holiday for quite some time now, to the point where their own manager told the press before the game that "this squad wouldn't make it back out of the Championship". Harsh words from Harry Redknapp, but you get the sense that he's not wrong, either.

Sometimes, you look at sides that get relegated, scan their roster up and down and ask yourself: "How on earth did these guys do down?" QPR are not one of those sides. It took Arsenal a grand total of 21 seconds to get the only goal that would be needed. Good work by Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Artera sprang Theo Walcott, who took advantage of appalling defending by the Rs to come in alone on Robert Green. Walcott's shot was hard and low, but frankly Green should have done better. He allowed it to go through him, and Arsenal had an early lead.

Ideally, the men in red would have sensed blood in the water and banged in a few more before the home side could get their bearings. Instead, the Gunners' offense stagnated immediately after Green picked the ball out of his net. All of the hallmarks of Bad Arsenal made unwelcome reappearances - guys standing around doing nothing, leaving the man on the ball no options...awful passes to nowhere...bad giveaways under no pressure...none of the greatest hits were left unplayed.

The two sides traded chances around the 25th minute mark, but Green repelled Walcott while Andros Townsend blazed his shot well over the bar.

That was literally it for the first half, as Arsenal whiled away most of that time with ineffective possession. Not much changed after the restart, except for the fact that QPR improved somewhat in the second half (nowhere to go but up for them though, it has to be said). Wojceich Szczesny had to be alert to palm away a cross from Townsend early on, then minutes later awkwardly fisted away a swerving screamer from the same man.

Arsenal got back into it enough to ease the pressure on their keeper, but still struggled to fashion chances of their own. Green had easy saves to make from Walcott and Santi Cazorla, but that was the extent of the threat from the visitors.

Once again, this was a match that was screaming out for substitutions to find the second goal that would have killed it off. Instead, the boss played to preserve the lead, so none were forthcoming. The changes pretty much asked for themselves, too. Lukas Podolski once again was anonymous leading the line, while Rosicky was well off his usual standard. Aaron Ramsey was another who struggled, while both fullbacks were not great shakes, either.

Perhaps the manager was just paralyzed with indecision at which of the underperforming ones should be taken off first.

The 80th minute came and went, and still no substitutions. I'll spare you my usual rant, other than to say that it would go here otherwise.

QPR would have their one chance to equalize soon after, though. The substitute Bobby Zamora played in the excellent Loic Remy, who fired a thumping shot low to Szczesny's left. The Pole tracked it well though, and he did fantastically well to tip it wide at full extension.

Belatedly (REALLY BELATEDLY), the manager finally made substitutions. Podolski, Cazorla and Rosicky were replaced for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere and Thomas Vermaelen. None of them had any impact on proceedings - these changes smacked of time-wasting tactics from Arsene.

Either way, Arsenal left Loftus Road with three massive points, made all the more so by the maddening goal that Southampton conceded to our nearest and dearest with scant minutes left in their game. The Saints could have done us a huge favor there, but it wasn't to be. If you look at John's chart from Preview by Numbers though, two more wins against lower-level sides will give us a 99.8% chance. I'll gladly take those odds.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Szczesny 8, Monreal 6, Koscielny 7, Mertesacker 7, Sagna 6, Arteta 7, Ramsey 6, Cazorla 7 (Wilshere N/A), Rosicky 6 (Vermaelen N/A), Walcott 7, Podolski 6 (Oxlade-Chamberlain N/A)

Man of the Match: Not much to choose from here. Walcott didn't do much other than the goal, which arguably should have been saved for me. I'll go with Wojceich Szczesny for the save on Remy.

Preview by Numbers: Queens Park Rangers v. Arsenal

2013-05-03T00:01:00.000-04:00

Loftus Road, London

Saturday, May 4

12:30 p.m. EDT, 17:30 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: Simon Beck and Ceri Richards
4th Official: James Linington

Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 1 - 0 QPR
This Match, Last Year: QPR 2 - 1 Arsenal
All-Time in All Competitions: 21 Arsenal wins, 15 QPR wins, 14 draws
Arsenal's League Form: W-W-W-D-W-D
QPR's League Form: L-L-D-L-L-D
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 16 C / 61 F

Arsenal no longer controls their own destiny. As good as a point against the Champions might have been, it also means Arsenal can still finish fifth even if they win their remaining games: if Tottenham wins all of their remaining games and Chelsea wins the rest of theirs (aside from the game with Spurs,) then Arsenal will finish fifth.

You can see that in the fancy-pants chart I made to the left. Even if Arsenal wins all three games (which they should,) Arsenal's odds at finishing in the top four is not 100%.

Arsenal can't worry about that though; it's out of their hands. If 73 points is not enough for a top four finish, well, what is there to say about that? The last time 73 points would not have been enough to finish in the top four was five years ago, when fourth place Liverpool, on 76 points, finished 11 points better than fifth place Everton.

This week's opponent is Queens Park Rangers, who are already relegated. The good news is that they are not fighting tooth and nail for their lives (like Wigan will be in a week and a half.) The bad news is they'll be playing without pressure anymore.

All of the pressure is on Arsenal to win this game. So, let's do it.

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Fabianski (ribs), Diaby (knee)
Suspended: Giroud (second of three)

We'll see if Arsenal continue to use Angsty Podolski up top.

So, no news is good news? There are no fresh injury concerns for Arsenal, meaning the only absences remain Lukasz Fabianski with cracked ribs, Abou Diaby with being Abou Diaby, and the banned Olivier Giroud.

That doesn't mean there aren't any questions about player selection, though: do you stick with Bacary Sagna at right back after his lackluster display? Kieran Gibbs or Nacho Monreal at left back? Does Jack Wilshere start or do you keep Tomas Rosicky in the middle? Lukas Podolski up front? Gervinho somewhere?

Personally, my answers to those questions would be: No, Gibbs, keep Rosicky, yes, and bench. But, those are just my answers; I would not be surprised to see Sagna retain his place.

QPR Squad News

Out: Wright-Phillips (ankle), Campbell (foot), Johnson (knee)
Doubts: Samba (knee), Townsend (hamstring)

It's a good thing QPR got Samba for such a bargain...

Christopher Samba, who cost QPR a billion dollars in the transfer window, was dropped from the line-up last weekend (and did not even make the bench.) He's listed as a doubt with a knee injury, though I am not positive if he does indeed have a knock or if he was just dropped for the sake of being dropped. Samba has admitted this week that he was not ready for the rigors of Premier League football when he returned in January.

Meanwhile, Andros Townsend is a doubt with a hamstring problem, while long term injuries include Shaun Wright-Phillips, D.J. Campbell, and Andrew Johnson. Bobby Zamora returns from suspension.

Current Form

"See you in the Championship next year!"

Since losing to Tottenham, Arsenal are unbeaten in their last eight games, with six victories (including the 2-0 win at Bayern Munich, a team which just beat Barcelona by eighty bazillion.) So, that pretty much boils down to "Arsenal Form = Quite Good, Thank You."

QPR Form = Hello Championship. The Hoops have won four league games all season; most recently, they won two straight in early March. Since then, four losses and two draws. Among teams in the top six, however, QPR have held four of them (Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Everton) to draws at Loftus Road this season. So, you know, they have that going for them...

Match Facts

It took 84 minutes for Arsenal to break the deadlock with
QPR in October.

Arsenal won the reverse fixture 1-0 at the Emirates in late October, although they left it very uncomfortably late. Arsenal had 70% of the possession over 96 minutes but Julio Cesar made 10 saves for QPR. Stephane Mbia was sent off in the 80th minute and four minutes later Mikel Arteta finally bundled a shot across the goal line, though the Spaniard was arguably offside when he did so. QPR had two solid chances to equalize in injury time, but both went begging.

QPR won this fixture last year 2-1; Adel Taarabt opened the scoring by darting past Thomas Vermaelen in the 22nd minute, but Theo Walcott pegged back an equalizer in the 37th. QPR won it thanks to a Samba Diakite goal in the 66th, converting a pass from Jamie Mackie. The loss for Arsenal snapped a seven match winning streak at the time. I should note that Mike Dean was the referee that day and we all know by now that Arsenal does not win when Dean is involved.

Over their last 13 league meetings, Arsenal have just three wins against QPR, and all three have come at home: earlier this season and last season at the Emirates and in 1995 at Highbury. This stat is largely meaningless since before last year, QPR's most recent season in the top flight was 1995/96. Arsenal did win an FA Cup tie 6-0 in West London in 2001, but their last league win at Loftus Road was in 1990, by a 3-1 scoreline. Four of the six meetings at Loftus Road since then have been draws, with QPR winning once last year and the other 3-1 in April of 1995.

The Referee

Sorry, wrong Moss again...

The referee is West Yorkshire-based Jonathan Moss. Arsenal have seen Moss twice this season, both in road contests, and won both games. Those contests include the 1-0 win at Wigan in December and the 2-0 win at Swansea in March. Arsenal have seen Moss only one other time; last year, they won 2-1 at Aston Villa with Moss in the middle. Three matches, all on the road, all wins for the Gunners.

As for QPR, they have seen Moss twice this year, both in home contests, and drew both games. In October, they drew 1-1 with Everton (on the strength of an own goal each,) in which Steven Pienaar was sent off for two yellow cards around the hour mark; that is the only red card Moss has shown this season. The other draw was a 0-0 with Norwich in early February.

Around the League

Tuesday and Wednesday following this weekend will see the playing of a few games in hand, as teams involved in the FA Cup Semi-Finals make up their games. Meanwhile, Arsenal won't play again after this until the 14th, as their opponent, Wigan, plays in the FA Cup Final next Saturday.

Saturday: Fulham v. Reading; Craven Cottage, London
Saturday: Norwich City v. Aston Villa; Carrow Road, Norwich
Saturday: Swansea City v. Manchester City; Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Saturday: Tottenham Hotspur v. Southampton; White Hart Lane, London
Saturday: West Bromwich Albion v. Wigan Athletic; The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
Saturday: West Ham United v. Newcastle United; Boleyn Ground, London
Sunday (early): Liverpool v. Everton; Anfield, Liverpool
Sunday (late): Manchester United v. Chelsea; Old Trafford, Manchester
Monday: Sunderland v. Stoke City; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Tuesday: Manchester City v. West Bromwich Albion; Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Tuesday: Wigan Athletic v. Swansea City; DW Stadium, Wigan
Wednesday: Chelsea v. Tottenham Hotspur; Stamford Bridge, London

Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United: Strength of Character

2013-04-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it is about April Arsenal that is so consistently better than December-through-March Arsenal. Whatever it is, I wish we could bottle it up and distribute it to the squad earlier in our campaigns...if our boys played like this all season, we would consistently be right up there in the title race.

Olivier Giroud's suspension provided just about the only selection headache for Arsene Wenger heading in - Lukas Podolski was chosen to lead the line. Besides that and Kieran Gibbs being preferred to Nacho Monreal at left back, the rest of the side selected itself.

Whatever the selection has been, much of Arsenal's issues these last few seasons have stemmed from a lack of cohesion and an alarming tendency to sleepwalk through matches until the other mob has gone at least a goal up. The Gunners put paid to both of those today, as they stunned the visitors with a blitzkreig attack inside of the first two minutes.

The fact that it was Judas van Persie who gave the ball away to start the move has a certain life-affirming quality to it. Of course, we've all suffered through some of our beloved players leaving before - but never like this, never to the one side that for me is the worst of the worst (even outranking our near-neighbors at Shite Hart Lane). Gooners of a certain generation may have been hurt worse by Liam Brady's departure to Serie A, but for me there is no greater pantomime villain in our universe now than this Dutch bastard.

Anyway, Judas gave the ball away in the middle of the park, and Arsenal were away in a flash. The ball was played to Tomas Rosicky some distance outside of the Manchester United penalty area. Theo Walcott timed his run to perfection down the right-hand side, and Rosicky's pass was weighted with precision into his path. Theo still had it all to do with a difficult shooting angle to contend with.

Thankfully, David De Gea got his angles badly wrong, and he failed to recognize that Theo's only possible shot was back against the grain. Still, Walcott had a target about the size of the ball to shoot at, but he threaded the needle perfectly. Poor goalkeeping from the United man, but I can't say I mind all that much.

The champions-elect (vomit) were stunned, and Arsenal kept at them. Rosicky sent a tracer just wide, while Santi Cazorla's swerving effort was thwarted by an excellent diving save from De Gea.

Sadly, our guys failed to strike again before United inevitably regained their composure. The one thing I grudgingly admire about the Evil Empire is their collective footballing intelligence - they simply know how to win games and how to recover from precarious positions. Here, they spent much of the first half fouling anything that moved, taking several yellow cards in the process. It wasn't pretty to watch, but it was exactly what they needed to get back into the game. It was instructive to note how, late in the second half, United had a few breaks precisely because our defenders failed to foul at the right times.

We're too damn nice, too damn often. It's a major character flaw in this team.

That's not to say that we didn't continue to have chances though. Arsenal's relentless pressure meant that United had much less of the ball than they are used to, and a little more quality might have put this game away in the first half. Aaron Ramsey - who had another storming game - intercepted a clearance and played in Podolski. The German should have done a lot better, as he tamely hit it straight at the Spanish stopper.

Rosicky was next to miss when in a good shooting position, his shot almost going out for a throw-in. It almost cost us too, as horrendous defending from Bacary Sagna (not for the first or last time) allowed Nani the run of our left wing. His cross curled in perfectly for Judas, who hit a thumping header on goal. Wojceich Szczesny's anticipation was perfect though, and he bravely repelled the shot with his face. I keep mentioning that I'm a goalkeeper myself - let me tell you, I've done that myself and it is NOT fun. That is bravery. That is strength in character.

Unfortunately, the ongoing liability that is Bacary Sagna struck again just before halftime. Longtime readers know that I am continually mystified by many of the manager's decisions, and arguably the top of that list is why Carl Jenkinson isn't playing at RB these days. Sagna can't defend, can't cross and can't take on a defender. He brings absolutely nothing to the table, and against quality opposition like this he actually takes things off of it.

Here, he played a brain-dead backpass to Szczesny that was woefully underhit. Judas latched onto it and was clear on goal. Sagna was forced to gamble with a wild sliding tackle, and at first glance I thought he got the ball (Phil Dowd, the worst referee in the league not named Mark Halsey, doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me). Replays showed that Dowd got this one right, though. So what, even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.

So, yeah. Guess who stepped up to take the penalty? And, guess who thundered an unstoppable one past Szczesny into the top corner?

Goddamnit, I hate that man. Literally hate him. Where his giveaway leading to our goal was life-affirming, him scoring on our ground was both inevitable and soul-destroying. The yin and yang of life, I suppose.

That finished a madcap first half, which was played at breakneck pace with thunderous tackles flying hither and yon. Oddly, the second half could not have been more different - other than a few half-chances (mostly for United), the second 45 was sedate and had all the look of two sides who communally realized that they were both OK with sharing the points.

The goal took a bit of of life out of our game, I think, and the boss made an early change to try and combat it. Rosicky had faded after a bright start, so he was withdrawn for Jack Wilshere. We applauded the change at the time, but The Man Who Should be Captain was never more than a peripheral figure in the game today.

Just before that though, Sagna again mistimed a tackle and was lucky that Dowd had played advantage. Given time to think about it, he may have given the braided one a second yellow card...and I'd be hard-pressed to disagree had that been the decision.

More subs were made to try and shake up our team, but if Gervinho (who came on for Podolski) is the answer, you're asking the wrong question. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also came on for Ramsey, but to no avail. United had settled by this point and once they were content to see out the draw, we found it especially hard going.

That said, it'd be pushing it to say that Lord Ferg had no interest in winning the game - he threw on Ryan Giggs and later Javier Hernandez to see if they could nick the points with a late surge. They almost did it, too...but our defense came through when they were needed. Laurent Koscielny truly stepped up when it counted...he was absolutely awesome today. Arsenal pressed for the winner and worked some space for Cazorla. Our only serious chance of the second half was clawed out well by De Gea, though.

United broke away on the counter soon after though, and really they should have won the game. The otherwise-anonymous Wayne Rooney played a killer long ball over our defense, and Giggs was away. His first touch uncharacteristically let him down though, and that allowed some red shirts to get back. Giggs did get a shot away, but it hit the Ox's thigh and skittered wide.

Injury time came and went without incident, and thus Arsenal came away with a point that may prove to be vital in the chase for a top-four spot.

Look, if we're being honest, I thought we were going to be on the bad end of another hiding today. The sad truth is that top to bottom, they are significantly better than us in every position on the field. There is probably some truth to the idea that they took their foot off the pedal a bit having clinched the title, but let's not take away from our efforts, either. Arsenal were full value for the point, and had we taken advantage of some chances earlier in the match, we could have not only won but done so comprehensively.

Sure, it'd have been a lot better if Judas hadn't scored on his return to the ground. But, if it had to happen, I'd rather it did on a day in which we won a hard-fought point against an excellent side, and did so with both fight and style.

Queens Park Rangers, Wigan Athletic, Newcastle United - that is what is left for us, highly-winnable games all. We get nine points out of that, we get at least 4th place. If we don't, we probably don't deserve to be in the Champions League anyway.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Szczesny 8, Gibbs 7, Koscielny 8, Mertesacker 7, Sagna 3, Arteta 7, Ramsey 8 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 7), Cazorla 7, Rosicky 7 (Wilshere 6), Walcott 8, Podolski 6 (Gervinho 7)

Man of the Match: The whole team (sans Sagna) collectively played well, so there are a few candidates to choose from. Theo took his goal well, Szczesny came up with some timely stops and Ramsey was a beast in the center of the park. But, for me the most notable part of the match was just how little of a threat Judas was outside of the penalty. Laurent Koscielny had him in his pocket all day, and is more than deserving of the MotM award.

Preview by Numbers: Arsenal v. Manchester United

2013-04-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

Emirates Stadium, London

Sunday, April 28

11:00 a.m. EDT, 16:00 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Phil Dowd
Assistants: Andy Garratt and Scott Ledger
4th Official: Michael Oliver

Reverse Fixture: Manchester United 2 - 1 Arsenal
This Match, Last Year: Arsenal 1 - 2 Manchester United
All-Time in All Competitions: 79 Arsenal wins, 91 United wins, 46 draws
Arsenal's League Form: W-W-W-W-D-W
United's League Form: W-W-L-W-D-W
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 15 C / 59 F

As you can see, Arsenal is the best. By the way, this graph
is completely arbitrary.

I have spent much of this week trying to figure out what I should say here about this match, only to decide that I really have nothing else to say anyway. So, I'll focus on what we should care about: odds of finishing in the top four.

Arsenal have 63 points with four games to play. Three wins from four takes them to 72 (which is more points than they had in last year's third place finish.) 72 points, as of right now, gives Arsenal a 96.9% chance of finishing at least fourth. Of the tens of millions of simulations run on Sports Club Stats, the most common result for Arsenal is 70 points (which would be two wins, a draw, and a loss.) Even that gives Arsenal a better than 80% chance of Champions League football next year.

All that said, you can see that numerically, the result in this match does not matter as much as beating the teams Arsenal should beat (QPR, Wigan, and Newcastle) in the remaining fixtures.

But damn, wouldn't it be nice to win this one?

Arsenal Squad News

Handsomest red card ever.

Out: Fabianski (ribs), Diaby (knee)
Doubts: Arteta (ankle)
Suspended: Giroud (first of three)

The suspension of Olivier Giroud opens up some huge questions about who starts up top? Will it be Lukas Podolski, who appears to have been playing limited minutes with an ankle injury for a very long time? Will it be Theo Walcott, who probably does not have the size to deal with United's central defense? Will it be Gervinho, who is Gervinho? There's no easy answer to the question, which goes to show you how startling Arsenal's lack of forward depth is. Maybe they should play Spain's 4-6-0 formation and see what happens.

Mikel Arteta had a slight problem with his ankle, after Steve Sidwell's tackle on him at the weekend that saw the Fulham player sent off. Arsene Wenger said everyone available against Fulham would be available against United (except for the banned Giroud,) so it appears Arteta will be fine to start. I listed him as a doubt just in case.

Lukasz Fabianski remains out with the cracked ribs he suffered against Norwich.

United Squad News

Out: Scholes (knee), Young (ankle), Fletcher (illness)
Doubts: Vidic (knock), Smalling (knock)

In United's injury news, Ashley Young has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury, Paul Scholes is out another week or so because his knee is a fossil, and Darren Fletcher is out for the season with chronic colitis.

Center backs Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling are both listed as doubts with minor knocks.

Current Form

We've got a Big Happy German.

By now, I'm sure you've heard that Manchester United have already clinched the league title, so form isn't really worth discussing, is it? I will mention that on five occasions, United have dropped points away from home this year in the league: they lost at Everton, they lost at Norwich, and they drew at Tottenham, Swansea, and most recently West Ham.

Since losing the North London derby, Arsenal are unbeaten in six league matches, their longest such streak of the season. They have picked up 16 of their last 18 possible points and 29 of their last possible 36 dating back to January; just seven points dropped since January 20.

Arsenal have already lost three times at home this season (Chelsea, Manchester City, and Swansea.) The last time Arsenal lost more than three league games at the Emirates was only two years ago, when they lost four at home (Spurs, Newcastle, West Brom, and Aston Villa.)

Match Facts

Aaron Ramsey scores the goal that would go on to kill
Osama Bin Laden.

There's no doubting that Manchester United have had the better of Arsenal in recent meetings. In 2006/07, Arsenal won both league meetings between the sides. Since that year, across all competitions, United have met Arsenal 15 times. Arsenal have won two of those matches, drawn two, and lost 11 (including the last three.)

In the reverse fixture, United dominated after scoring pretty much right away in the most cliched way possible. Vito Mannone kept Arsenal in the match with a string of good saves and Wayne Rooney missed a penalty, but Jack Wilshere was sent off with the match already at 2-0. Santi Cazorla scored a consolation goal with the last kick of the match to make the scoreline look more respectable, but that was just papering over the cracks.

This fixture last year was played in January: United scored just before the stroke of halftime, Arsenal came back to level the score, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was subbed off and everyone went bonkers in confusion, then United scored to win 2-1. Arsenal last beat United on May 1, 2011, with Aaron Ramsey scoring the winner in a 1-0 match.

The Referee

"Hey! Who ate all the pies? Those were MY PIES!"

The referee is Staffordshire-based Phil Dowd, and quite honestly I was expecting Mike Dean. The fact that Phil Dowd could come as a relief to me is an absurdity. Arsenal have seen Dowd twice this season, once in October and once in November. In October, Arsenal won 3-1 at West Ham; in that match, Dowd booked Mohamed Diame for his post-goal celebration, then failed to show Diame a second yellow for what was a much more egregious foul a few minutes later. Those kinds of things happen early in matches, though, especially when the first yellow is fairly soft; Dowd is not the only referee who has done that sort of thing, as it happened to Neil Swarbrick during Arsenal's match with Everton earlier this month when he failed to send off Darron Gibson. But, I digress. Dowd's other Arsenal match this year was the 3-3 with Fulham in which he gave Arsenal a late penalty which Mikel Arteta failed to convert. Dowd was not the reason Arsenal dropped points that day.

Arsenal's record with Dowd since the infamous 4-4 at Newcastle is three wins, two draws, and one loss, which was the 1-0 at Manchester City in December of 2011 that felt like a moral victory at the time. Not too shabby, all things considered.

As for United's record this season with Phil Dowd in the middle: this is his first league match for them this year. In two FA Cup ties, United beat West Ham in a replay 1-0 and later lost to Chelsea 1-0. West Ham were incensed that Dowd gave United a soft penalty in the second half of that match, but Wayne Rooney missed the spot kick anyway, and that's always hilarious.

Around the League

Saturday (early): Manchester City v. West Ham United; Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Saturday: Everton v. Fulham; Goodison Park, Liverpool
Saturday: Southampton v. West Bromwich Albion; St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Saturday: Stoke City v. Norwich City; Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
Saturday: Wigan Athletic v. Tottenham Hotspur; DW Stadium, Wigan
Saturday (late): Newcastle United v. Liverpool; St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne
Sunday (early): Reading v. Queens Park Rangers; Madejski Stadium, Reading
Sunday: Chelsea v. Swansea City; Stamford Bridge, London
Monday (night): Aston Villa v. Sunderland; Villa Park, Birmingham

Fulham 0-1 Arsenal: A Huge Let-Off

2013-04-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

The Everton match was a textbook example of a match where our guys suffered a result that probably was a bit unfair given the solidity of their performance. This one, on the other hand, was a perfect example of the result being probably more than we deserved on a day where almost nothing seemed to come off for us offensively.

Needless to say, I couldn't care less if it was unfair for Fulham. Three points is three points, and right now we'd all steal them from a defenseless child if that's what it took.

That said, it's odd - I never saw this as of much of a trap game as many other Gooners did. Fulham have been poor defensively this season, though I admit that I didn't account for the fact that teams tend to get up for playing us. It's amazing how a side like Fulham will roll over and die for Chelsea or United, but we come to town and all of a sudden it's their World Cup Final.

Frankly, I think it's because we're just good enough to be seen as around that level, but just vulnerable enough where they think they have a chance. Man, that's a crappy place to be.

The boss made two changes to the side that fought so well against the Toffees - Nacho Monreal and Tomas Rosicky came on for the struggling Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere. On paper, this was a starting eleven that should have been able to tear through the Cottagers' defense like tissue paper.

Instead, we got a disjointed start to the match where both sides could have opened the scoring early. Fulham tore us apart in the first few minutes but couldn't convert the chance, while Theo Walcott had a goal rightly pulled back for offside.

The match was just settling into something resembling a normal rhythm when a moment of madness saw the hosts go down to 10 men. Mikel Arteta had the ball in midfield, but in nothing close to a dangerous situation. Steve Sidwell, however, decided to go in with a reckless two-footed challenge on the Spaniard. That was a clear red card, and also the last call that Andre Marriner would get right all day.

However, the red card may have been a net negative for the Gunners. Previously, Fulham were likely to have tried and played football with us, which would leave space that guys like Walcott could eventually exploit on the counter. Sidwell's dismissal meant that the Cottagers played in two banks of four, a setup which Arsenal have always struggled to break down in recent times.

We all know the story from there in cases like this - the Gunners dominate possession, calmly passing along the perimeter of the penalty area without ever seriously threatening the opposing goalkeeper. Meanwhile, the defending team proves dangerous on the counter, and ends up with more chances overall.

Seriously, you can set your watch to it by now.

Right on schedule, it was Fulham who could have taken the lead a few minutes after Sidwell walked. A quick counterattack saw Bryan Ruiz play in Dimitar Berbatov on the right-hand side of the area. The Bulgarian hit it well, but it was right at Wojceich Szczesny and proved to be a comfortable save in the end for the Pole. The resulting corner was less so, but Szczesny was able to punch away confidently. It looks like his spell on the bench has screwed his head back on straight, which could be critical given that he is unquestionably the most talented keeper on our books.

Arsenal were able to stop the bleeding after that, but they couldn't fashion any chances. It would be overly harsh to say that all of our midfielders were poor, but with the exception of Santi Cazorla they were collectively less than their best. Cazorla was able to split the Fulham defense to give Olivier Giroud an open shot, which was hit well and in the right area. Mark Schwarzer was well beaten, but it hit the foot of the post and went out to safety.

Up the other end, a poor giveaway from Nacho Monreal allowed Urby Emanuelson to get a free shot on net, but thankfully it was the finish of a left back and Szczesny was able to get down well to parry it away.

Had they scored there, the final may have been 1-0 in the other direction. Instead, Arsenal flipped the usual script, as this time we were the beneficiaries of a set-piece goal against the run of play. A free kick outside the penalty area was curled in to the back post, where Laurent Kosicelny headed it back across the face of goal. Philippe Senderos allowed Per Mertesacker to get by him, leaving the BFG with an easy tap-in header.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first, Arsenal's lack of fluency in midfield giving Fulham an easy job of defending. Aaron Ramsey and Arteta were especially poor, while Walcott was largely invisible. Substitutions were badly needed, but the hour mark came and went with no movement from the Arsenal bench.

Instead, it was Berbatov who had the best chance to score in this period of play. His half-shot half-chip in the 70th minute caught Szczesny out of position. Woj's footwork was excellent though, and he was able to scramble back in time to tip it over the crossbar.

Belatedly, the ineffectual Walcott and the knackered Rosicky were taken off for Lukas Podolski and Jack Wilshere. Still, Arsenal were disjointed and toothless. Again, Fulham were the more dangerous and this time they managed to put the ball in the net. A poor foul from Ramsey gave the home side a free kick, which Ruiz put on frame. Szczesny parried it out, but Stanislav Manolev was there to tuck home the rebound. Replays showed that he was offside though, and sure enough the linesman on that side, Sian Massey, spotted the infraction and flagged it down.

A quick aside about Massey, since I'm on the subject. Naturally, we're all big fans this week since she negated Fulham's equalizing goal. It should be said though that she is legitimately the best in the Premier League at her position, and it's not a matter of gender. We shouldn't look at her as "the female linesman", we should be looking at her as "the best linesman in the league". Full stop.

The remaining twenty minutes passed by mostly without incident, though Fulham did have the better of the play despite the man disadvantage. Just as the match was heading to injury time though, Marriner broke out the big, floppy clown shoes in issuing his second red card of the match.

A perfectly harmless play in midfield saw Giroud win the ball from the Fulham player without so much as grazing him. In fact, the Frenchman tripped over the ball and fell over himself, but somewhere in this Marriner saw a straight-red infraction. Oddly, this didn't give the hosts any further momentum, as they never threatened our net again. Ramsey had one shot go wide of the post in injury time, but otherwise Arsenal closed it out fairly easily from there.

There will be no shortage of criticism directed towards the Gunners in the next day or two, and much of it will be warranted. Let's not mince words - Arsenal were dreadful today and cannot reasonably say that the points were deserved. However, this is not a game that is often fair, and we all know how often the reverse has happened to us.

The important thing is that despite playing poorly, three more points have gone up on the board for us. The nearest and dearest play Manchester City today, and assuming they lose it they'll be five points behind us with one game in hand. We have our toughest remaining game next week against United, but the sides chasing us have tough games ahead as well. It should put some of the hysteria around our draw last week in perspective - a top-four place is still very much in our hands, and chances are that it's exactly what we'll earn by the end of the season.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Szczesny 7, Monreal 6, Koscielny 7, Mertesacker 8, Sagna 6, Arteta 5, Ramsey 5, Cazorla 7 (Vermaelen N/A), Rosicky 6 (Wilshere 6), Walcott 6 (Podolski 6), Giroud 6.

Man of the Match: Not much to choose from this week, but I'll go with the BFG, Per Mertesacker for the goal and an assured defensive display.

Preview by Numbers: Fulham v. Arsenal

2013-04-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

Craven Cottage, London

Saturday, April 20

10:00 a.m. EDT, 15:00 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistants: Mark Scholes and Sian Massey
4th Official: Jonathan Moss

Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 3 - 3 Fulham
This Match, Last Year: Fulham 2 - 1 Arsenal
All-Time in All Competitions: 34 Arsenal wins, 8 Fulham wins, 10 draws
Arsenal's League Form: L-W-W-W-W-D
Fulham's League Form: D-W-W-L-D-L
Weather: Sunny, 11 C / 52 F

Five games to go: Fulham away, United at home, QPR away, Wigan at home, Newcastle away. It sounds so very doable on paper, but from these five fixtures last year, Arsenal lost four of them and drew 0-0 in the other. Two of those losses (QPR away and Wigan at home) came down the stretch under similar circumstances to the situation at present. It just goes to show you how inconsistent this team can be.

But for now, Arsenal can only focus on Fulham Football Club. The legs may be a bit tired for Arsenal, having played grueling matches on Saturday and Tuesday, but that's no excuse, as Fulham played Saturday and Wednesday. The Cottagers always seem to make things difficult for the Arsenal. Three points are critical after dropping two midweek.

Every game from here on out is massive. All points are vital.

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Fabianski (ribs), Diaby (knee)
Doubts: Cazorla (knock), Wilshere (knock), Oxlade-Chamberlain (knock), Rosicky (hamstring)

There's very little concrete in the team news as of right now (provided you're reading this before Arsene's Friday press conference, which you're probably not.) Lukasz Fabianski remains out after taking a kick to the ribs against Norwich. Abou Diaby remains Diabied.

Much of the midfield will face late fitness tests, coming through Tuesday's game a bit banged up. That includes Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Tomas Rosicky could be good to return again from his hamstring knock that has kept him out since his brace at West Brom. So basically, it's a little too early to tell what the front six will look like.

As for the back four, I've heard Nacho Monreal may return at left back, but the other three (Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny) should remain the same.

Fulham Squad News

Out: Duff (abductor), Dejagah (ankle), Diarra (knee)

Fulham will likely still be without Damien Duff, who left Saturday's match against Aston Villa with an abductor muscle strain (not to be confused with an abdominal strain,) though his recovery is going better than expected. His injury means Fulham have recalled Alex Kacaniklic from Burnley; he was on loan to the Clarets. Kacaniklic scored against Arsenal in the reverse fixture.

Ashkan Dejagah and Mahamadou Diarra are out for the season with ankle and knee injuries, respectively.

Current Form

Since losing consecutive league games to Manchester City and Chelsea in mid-January, Arsenal have lost just once in their last 11 league fixtures, drawing twice and winning eight. That's 26 points out of their last 33 available; not too shabby. Arsenal have climbed out of the... how shall I put this?... gap, and are well positioned for a run at a top four finish, just as long as they don't drop any points stupidly from here on out.

As for Fulham, they have been consistently mid-table since November. The Cottagers went unbeaten in five between February and early April, but are now winless in three, having lost to Newcastle and Chelsea and drawing Aston Villa. With 40 points, Fulham are currently in tenth, just one point back of Swansea in ninth, and four points back of West Brom in eighth. West Ham (39 points) and Southampton (38 points,) however, are breathing down their necks. They are nine points clear of relegation and all but mathematically safe.

Match Facts

It might come as some surprise, but Fulham are unbeaten in their last four against Arsenal, with three draws and a victory in this fixture last year. Arsenal scored first in that match, last January 2, via Laurent Koscielny in the 21st minute. Everything was cruising along just fine until Johan Djourou was sent off for a second yellow card. With the back four decimated by injuries at the time, Sebastien Squillaci came in, Fulham scored twice, and the Cottagers won 2-1.

Earlier this year, Arsenal and Fulham played a bonkers 3-3 draw at the Emirates. Arsenal went up 2-0 through goals from Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski, but Fulham struck back to equalize through Dimitar Berbatov and Alex Kacaniklic. Fulham went ahead 3-2 from the penalty spot, but Giroud leveled for Arsenal just two minutes later. At the death, Arsenal were awarded a penalty, but Mikel Arteta's spot kick was saved by Mark Schwarzer and both sides split the points.

Arsenal have won once in their last four visits to Craven Cottage, a 1-0 victory on September 26, 2009 which included a man of the match performance from Vito Mannone. As mentioned above, Arsenal lost at the Cottage last year. In the final match of 2010/11, the sides played a 2-2 draw there and in early 2008/09, Fulham came away with a surprise 1-0 win.

So, tricky fixture, this.

The Referee

The referee is West Midlands-based Andre Marriner, who this week was appointed referee for the FA Cup Final. It's a well-deserved appointment for Marriner, but he came under considerable criticism last season (and was dropped from top flight football for a long while) for a blunder that cost Wigan a match, allowing Blackburn to score from an illegal corner kick.

As for the teams involved here, surprisingly, Arsenal have only seen Andre Marriner in the middle once this season, in late January, for their 5-1 win over West Ham at the Emirates. That was the match in which Arsenal scored four goals in about 10 minutes. Arsenal matches with Marriner have been high scoring in recent memory, including the aforementioned 5-1, the 5-3 at Stamford Bridge last year, the 7-1 over Blackburn last year, and even a 4-3 loss to Blackburn last September as well.

Fulham have had Marriner twice this year: they lost at home to Swansea 2-1 on December 29 and beat Blackpool in extra time 2-1 in an FA Cup replay at Bloomfield Road on January 15.

Around the League

Saturday: Norwich City v. Reading; Carrow Road, Norwich
Saturday: Queens Park Rangers v. Stoke City; Loftus Road, London
Saturday: Sunderland v. Everton; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Saturday: Swansea City v. Southampton; Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Saturday: West Bromwich Albion v. Newcastle United; The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
Saturday: West Ham United v. Wigan Athletic; Boleyn Ground, London
Sunday: Tottenham Hotspur v. Manchester City; White Hart Lane, London
Sunday: Liverpool v. Chelsea; Anfield, Liverpool
Monday: Manchester United v. Aston Villa; Old Trafford, Manchester

Arsenal 0-0 Everton: Reader's Digest Version

2013-04-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

Admittedly, this match didn't have my entire attention - I was working from home today, so watched it off-and-on around conference calls and so on. What I did see though was a hard-fought match where neither side managed to carve out enough serious chances to lay a serious claim to all three points.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. This was always the second-trickiest fixture that we had left on paper, and I have a hard time believing that a point and a clean sheet is a bad return considering the circumstances.

Arsene played largely the same team as in the Norwich match, except with Per Mertesacker and Wojceich Szczesny returning from suspension and poor-form purgatory respectively. Much like the tilt against the Canaries, the Gunners were slow coming out of the blocks. Unlike that match, they were facing a determined opponent in decent form.

Everton's physicality seemed to shock our guys, and that lack of rhythm showed. Kevin Mirallas had an early chance go begging with a poor touch, and Steven Pienaar blazed over the bar when it was probably easier to score. The one man in blue who caught the eye though was young Ross Barkley, who was in the lineup due to an injury to Leon Osman. If today's game was any evidence, Osman may have a fight on his hands for his place.

Arsenal recovered from that early surge to contest the rest of the half on more even terms, though the midfield struggled to fashion chances. Gibbs was the closest to scoring, but let's just say Tim Howard wasn't overly threatened in the Everton goal.

How differently would this match have ended though if referee Neil Swarbick didn't completely bottle a clear second-yellow call towards the end of the first half? Darron Gibson had been booked earlier on, and his cynical, professional foul on Theo Walcott was a red card all day. Disgraceful officiating.

The visitors had arguably their best chance soon after. A glorious through-ball from Barkley played in Victor Anichebe, but a brilliant recovering tackle from Kieran Gibbs caused the ball to bobble off of Mertesacker, off of Szczesny, and from there was corralled by the Polish stopper. That so easily could have bounced back to the striker on another day, though I chalk that up to instant karma for the non-call on Gibson.

Arsenal would have the last word in the half though, though unfortunately that word would be "DAMMIT, Giroud!". No question about it, Olivier Giroud is in woeful form at the moment. The excellent Aaron Ramsey tore down the right and crossed it in. Howard was nowhere, but Giroud failed to simply toe-poke it in, instead directing it well wide. That should have been 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Seconds later, Cazorla was in alone after a devastating feint around several blue-clad defenders. Phil Jagielka bravely slid in to block, though.

Everton's impetus had bled away by that point, and the second half was largely dominated by the Arsenal. Cazorla had an early effort swatted away by Howard, and later Giroud almost got on the end of a low cross. Barkley again refused to be outshone though, and his fantastic curling effort flashed just wide of Szczesny's post.

That was enough for Arsene, who dipped into his subs bench immediately afterwards. Jack Wilshere and Walcott made way for Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The subs had an immediate impact, as we looked far more dangerous after the changes for the second match running.

Oxlade-Chamberlain didn't take too long to make his presence known, as he burst into the area thanks to a killer ball from Cazorla. He had a clear shot on goal, but maddeningly he opted for the pass to Giroud. The Everton defense easily cleared it, leaving us to wonder what would have happened if the Ox had tested a goalkeeper who hadn't seen that much action.

The visitors were reeling a bit now, and Giroud again could have made them pay a minute later. He was in alone on Howard, and while the angle was a little tough, he could have done a lot better than skying one miles over the bar.

Everton managed to get their bearings back though, and broke up our momentum with substitutions and some timely defensive interventions. Despite five minutes of injury time, Arsenal couldn't come up with one last chance to make Howard work in the opposing goal.

I think we can all agree that this is somewhat of an opportunity lost, considering the poor finishing on display. However, there are positives here - the defense looked sharp, Szczesny looked OK in goal despite not being tested that often, and we fashioned chances against a very good side who had everything to play for. If we keep playing like this, the points will come. I promise.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Szczesny 7, Gibbs 7 (Monreal N/A), Koscielny 7, Mertesacker 7, Sagna 7, Arteta 7, Wilshere 7 (Podolski 7), Ramsey 8, Cazorla 8, Walcott 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 7), Giroud 5

Man of the Match: While Ross Barkley was arguably the best player on the pitch, I'm sure as hell not giving the award to the enemy. Among the good guys, Aaron Ramsey had a great game but was slightly eclipsed by another virtuoso Santi Cazorla performance.

Arsenal 3-1 Norwich City: Never in Doubt

2013-04-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

This match was a textbook example of how a scoreline doesn't always reflect how well or poorly a given team is playing. While luck almost always normalizes over a course of a full season, it doesn't always do so over the course of 90 minutes. Thankfully, that did happen here just in time to give Arsenal an unspeakably precious three points.

The boss made three changes from the last few weeks, two of them enforced. Thomas Vermaelen was in for the suspended Per Mertesacker, the returning Jack Wilshere in for the injured Tomas Rosicky, and Nacho Monreal was stood down in favor of Kieran Gibbs.

While Norwich aren't quite in the relegation dogfight yet, they aren't miles away either. That may have allowed a certain nervousness to creep into their play, as they erred too far on the side of defensiveness when they may have had more joy testing the BFG-less Arsenal backline.

Meanwhile, Arsenal controlled the play without seriously threatening Mark Bunn in the Norwich goal. You will hear a lot of talk about how poorly the Gunners played, but I think that misses the mark. The passing and movement were largely on point, it was often one final ball that just missed, or one player would make a poor decision (Gervinho, I'm looking at you) that would result in a turnover. It is fairly easy to tell when a team is legitimately playing poorly, and Arsenal were not exhibiting those signs.

The first legitimate scoring chance didn't come until the match was 22 minutes old, Olivier Giroud missing just over the bar from Bacary Sagna's cross. A word about the right back, while we're on the subject - he's had a run of poor form lately, but today he was excellent. His crossing was much improved and he effectively locked down his side of the pitch defensively.

Shortly after, the heavens opened up and in turn the playing conditions suffered. Perhaps that is why a glorious chance went begging when Gervinho was played in past the Canaries' backline. His first touch was poor, and took him out wide. He still managed to round Bunn, but he didn't cleanly strike the ball. It still was wide open on the back post, but Giroud was a bit lazy and hadn't followed through with his run. That should have been 1-0 to the Arsenal several times over.

There were some grumblings in the pub around this time, to which I reassured those around me that we would win. It's true - I never for one second thought that we would lose or even draw this match.

Halftime didn't change much, as Norwich continued to defend well with plenty of yellow shirts behind the ball. Arsenal continued to press but could not find the last link in the chain to fashion any chances. Still, it looked like Norwich was never going to score from open play. Sadly, our customary disorganization from set pieces did us in once again.

An innocuous Norwich attack led to them winning a set piece thanks to a needless foul from Gibbs (as bad as referee Mike Jones was - and make no mistake, he had a shocker - that was a foul all day). The resulting free kick was whipped into the area by Robert Snodgrass. Typically, our center-halves have often been at fault for goals we've conceded in these situations. That wasn't the case this time. The Norwich forwards did a great job of drawing them out to the sides, leaving the center of the penalty area open. Our midfielders didn't know who was marking who, allowing Michael Turner to nod an unmarked header past Lukasz Fabianski and in.

Even still, I felt like our goals were a matter of when, not if. The visitors had gotten a sucker-punch in, but they still had barely any of the ball and Arsenal still looked like they were just a slight alteration away from clicking offensively. To his credit, Arsene Wenger found that alteration with two immediate subs after the goal - the abysmal Gervinho and the knackered Wilshere were taken off for Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott.

Immediately, Arsenal had the threat down the flanks that had been missing. Although Podolski had some dreadful touches that ended a few attacking moves, his presence alone was enough to unsettle Norwich somewhat. Walcott was even more influential, as he wasted no time making rampaging runs down the right.

The visitors continued to hold their line though, and caused a scare themselves when Russell Martin found himself in alone on Fabianski. Thankfully, it was truly the finish of a fullback, thumped right into the Pole's breadbasket.

Inevitability hung in the air like a cloud though, and the Gunners came close when Podolski lashed a shot against the crossbar with Bunn beaten all ends-up. It only took a few further minutes for the equalizer to come, though.

A scramble in the penalty area looked to have been cleared by the Canaries, and Jones had not called anything. The linesman on that side flagged it down, as he had correctly spotted an egregious shirt-pull by Kei Kamara on Giroud. It was brave of the linesman to call it, but the real question is how did the better-placed Jones not spot it? Anyway, Mikel Arteta took the penalty, and in truth it wasn't a great one. Much like Fabianski last week, once Bunn had dived the right way he probably should have saved it. Thankfully it went in off of Bunn's glove, and Arsenal were level.

The tide was starting to roll in on Norwich, and the Gunners seized their first lead just a minute later. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had come on just before the first goal in place of Sagna, and the visitors had no answer for the influx of attacking players. Once the penalty went in, their defense went to pieces and Arsenal ripped them to shreds. The Ox tore down the wing and cut it back for Giroud to tap into the empty net.

Like I said, a matter of time.

However, it all could have been thrown away just a few seconds later. Few of the match reports will mention this as a major moment in the match, but Fabianski had to come up with a big save to deny Jonny Howson. Arsenal had switched off for a second, and the Norwich man took the opportunity to steal in and fire a hard, low shot. Fabianski did fantastically well to block with his feet, and luckily the rebound went out to safety.

That was clearly Norwich's last throw of the dice. But, there was still time for some wonderful irony, as Norwich's endless time-wasting in the second half resulted in six minutes of added time. All that bleeding of the clock managed to accomplish was to give Arsenal time to score a third. Theo was the provider, as he ran down the right and cut it back for Podolski. The German, who for some reason is rumored to be on his way out (let me state on record that it would be a mistake - and if he goes and Gervinho stays, I will absolutely lose my mind), collected the ball and hammered a low shot past the diving Bunn and in.

The win not only put us up into third place, but it knocked our nearest and dearest out of the top four. Does it get any sweeter than that?

There's still a long way to go, and a lot of business to be taken care of in the meantime. Things are looking pretty good at this stage of the season, though. Arsenal are finding ways to get it done even when things are not going well, while our rivals are stumbling. We're not there yet, but we damn sure can see it on the horizon.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Fabianski 8, Gibbs 6, Vermaelen 7, Koscielny 7, Sagna 8 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 7), Arteta 7, Wilshere 7 (Walcott 8), Gervinho 5 (Podolski 7), Cazorla 7, Ramsey 7, Giroud 8

Man of the Match: I thought about this one for a while. Giroud had a storming game, especially in the second half. Sagna did very well, and Arteta did step up when it mattered (though I thought he was average besides). At the end of the day though, the Norwich defense looked comfortable up until the exact moment that Theo Walcott stepped onto the pitch. His first touch of the ball was a surging run down the right that visibly unsettled our opponents, and that is when we started seeing space open for our other players as well.

Preview by Numbers: Arsenal v. Norwich City / Arsenal v. Everton

2013-04-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

Emirates Stadium, London

Saturday, April 13

10:00 a.m. EDT, 15:00 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Mike Jones
Assistants: Peter Kirkup and Richard West
4th Official: Fred Graham

Reverse Fixture: Norwich 1 - 0 Arsenal
This Match, Last Year: Arsenal 3 - 3 Norwich
All-Time in All Competitions: 23 Arsenal wins, 11 Norwich wins, 18 draws
Arsenal's League Form: W-W-L-W-W-W
Norwich's League Form: W-L-D-D-L-D
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 13 C / 56 F

Emirates Stadium, London

Tuesday, April 16

2:45 p.m. EDT, 19:45 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Assistants: Gary Beswick and Lee Betts
4th Official: Kevin Friend

Reverse Fixture: Everton 1 - 1 Arsenal
This Match, Last Year: Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton
All-Time in All Competitions: 98 Arsenal wins, 58 Everton wins, 42 draws
Everton's League Form: L-L-W-W-W-D
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Low of 6 C / 43 F

Two previews in one this week, because I'll be on vacation in Montreal from this morning through Wednesday and Arsenal will play twice while I'm there.

As for matters on the pitch, Arsenal have seven games remaining, and they'll play two of them in a span of four days. The good news is, both are at the Emirates. There's not much else to say that hasn't been said already; Arsenal have to keep the good form going as they challenge for a spot in the top four. There's plenty of time to make a move, but there's also plenty of time to slip up. Two wins in these two matches would be huge to kick off the final five game push.

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Diaby (knee)
Doubts: Rosicky (hamstring), Walcott (pelvis), Wilshere (ankle)
Suspended: Mertesacker (one match)

Theo Walcott has declared himself fit and ready for selection, which begs the question: does he return to the starting XI straight away? I feel like the prevailing answer among the fan base right now is no. You will recall that Walcott was out-of-form before his injury and has not scored a goal since the end of January. With Gervinho finding the slightest bit of form, I think it makes the most sense for Theo to return from the bench.

Tomas Rosicky, man of the match against West Brom, is a huge doubt with a hamstring problem, so Jack Wilshere (who is now back in training) could return to the XI. Meanwhile, Per Mertesacker serves a one match ban for his professional foul red card, meaning Thomas Vermaelen must return to the side.

Predicted XI v. Norwich: Fabianski, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Gervinho, Giroud.

Norwich Squad News

Out: Bunn (groin), Surman (knee)
Doubts: Ruddy (thigh), Pilkington (hamstring)

Norwich have had issues with their goalkeepers as of late. John Ruddy has not played since November with a thigh injury, in which the muscle was ripped from the bone. He is back in training (and played for the reserves on Monday) and his back-up, Mark Bunn, left last week's match against Swansea with a groin injury. It sounds like this would be too quick for a return for Ruddy, so if Bunn is unavailable, Lee Camp will have to start.

Andrew Surman has missed most of the season with a knee injury he suffered in training; he returned for Norwich's FA Cup loss to Luton Town, but was subbed off after 72 minutes and has not featured since.

Anthony Pilkington is a doubt; he has not played due to a hamstring injury since March 9.

Everton Squad News

Out: Hibbert (calf)

Everton, at least at the moment leading into their weekend match with QPR, have only one injury: club legend Tony Hibbert has been out since December with a calf injury.

That's it. I have nothing else to say about Everton right now.

Current Form

Arsenal's win over West Brom marked their fourth straight victory across all competitions. It might come as a bit of a surprise, but this is the first time all season Arsenal have done that. In addition, the loss to Tottenham is the only blemish on Arsenal's league record since their draw with Liverpool in late January. 15 points from their last six games means they are the joint-top in form side in the league, thanks to United's loss to City on Monday.

As for Norwich, well, they have one win from their last 15 in the league. Then again, Arsenal gave them their first win of the season in October. That kicked off a run where the Canaries were unbeaten in 10, which included a 1-0 win over Manchester United. Since then, one win from 15. Norwich went from 19th to 7th, then back as low as 14th, and now sit in 13th, just four points above the relegation line.

Everton are coming on strong and are unbeaten in four (incidentally, their last loss was Norwich.) They have beaten Reading, City (while on ten men,) and Stoke, then blew a lead late to draw Tottenham. The Toffees sit four points back of fifth place Arsenal. Everton's 13 draws on the season is the most among teams in the top half of the table.

Match Facts

Arsenal have struggled with the Canaries since their promotion to the top flight, winning once, losing once, and drawing once. The loss came earlier this year in the reverse fixture, as Vito Mannone parried a shot weakly into the path of Grant Holt, who buried the rebound into the net in the 19th minute. Arsenal had 62% of the possession, but could not find the net.

This match last year all but killed Arsenal's hopes for third place (until Tottenham dropped points themselves the next day.) Arsenal led early thanks to a Yossi Benayoun goal, but Wes Hoolahan equalized ten minutes later and Grant Holt put the Canaries ahead in the 27th. A certain former captain scored twice for Arsenal in the 72nd and 80th minutes to regain the lead, but Norwich were level again five minutes later through Steve Morison. Anthony Taylor failed to give Arsenal a penalty in added time when that same former captain was shoved in the box by Kyle Naughton.

As for Arsenal and Everton, the sides played a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park in late November: Theo Walcott scored 51 seconds into the match, but Marouane Fellaini drew the Toffees level on 28 minutes. Everton had the slight advantage over much of the proceedings, to the tune of 53% possession, but the Gunners escaped Liverpool with a point. Arsenal won this fixture last year 1-0, thanks to a superb volley from aforementioned former captain. Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 11 against Everton, whose last win over the Gunners was on March 18, 2007 by a 1-0 scoreline.

The Referees

The referee for the Norwich match on Saturday is Chester-based Mike Jones. Arsenal have seen Jones twice this season; both matches were at the Emirates and both were Arsenal wins. They include the 6-1 win over Coventry City in the League Cup and the 2-0 win over West Brom which included two penalties, including the first from a controversial Santi Cazorla tumble. Norwich have seen Jones three times and have not won. They lost 5-2 to Liverpool at Carrow Road, drew 1-1 against Everton at Goodison Park, and lost 4-3 to ten man Manchester City (after Samir Nasri was sent off.)

The referee for the Everton match on Tuesday is Lancashire-based Neil Swarbrick. Arsenal have not seen Swarbrick this year; Everton have seen him twice and drawn both (2-2 at Fulham and 0-0 at Southampton.) Arsenal had Swarbrick twice last year and won both (2-1 at Sunderland (thank you, Thierry Henry) and 3-0 at Wolves.)

Around the League

Saturday: Aston Villa v. Fulham; Villa Park, Birmingham
Saturday: Everton v. Queens Park Rangers; Goodison Park, Liverpool
Saturday: Reading v. Liverpool; Madejski Stadium, Reading
Saturday: Southampton v. West Ham United; St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Saturday (FA Cup): Millwall v. Wigan Athletic; Wembley Stadium, London
Sunday: Newcastle United v. Sunderland; St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne
Sunday: Stoke City v. Manchester United; Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
Sunday (FA Cup): Chelsea v. Manchester City; Wembley Stadium, London
Wednesday: Manchester City v. Wigan Athletic; Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Wednesday: West Ham United v. Manchester United; Boleyn Ground, London
Wednesday: Fulham v. Chelsea; Craven Cottage, London

West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Arsenal: Nerve-Wracking

2013-04-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, exhale.

This was undoubtedly a match that Arsenal could not lose in the race for fourth place. Two well-taken goals and a staunch late-game defensive stand ensured that all three points came back with us from the Hawthorns, continuing a solid run of good form in the league.

Arsene Wenger continued with the same 11 that saw off Reading last week, while surprisingly Steve Clarke left Romelu Lukaku on the bench. Albion are a decent side even in his absence though, and controlled much of the early exchanges. While the Baggies couldn't find an early goal, they did expose a few cracks in what had been a solid back five in recent matches.

Laurent Koscielny, who has been excellent lately, was a bit lucky to head over the bar with Lukasz Fabianski much better placed to catch it. The keeper gave him an earful afterwards, and rightfully so. Soon after, Claudio Yacob's unmarked header from a corner kick was on the frame, but Tomas Rosicky was there to head it off the line.

Specific mention has to go to Bacary Sagna though, who was absolutely putrid on both sides of the ball. His crossing was horrendous, he looked miles off the pace and (as usual for our fullbacks) he often drifted too far inside. Count me in among those who think the boss needs to seriously consider starting Carl Jenkinson next week. Sagna's been a solid hand these last few years, but he has all the look of someone who knows he's off in the summer and has subsequently lost his motivation.

Our opponents didn't have it all their own way though, and for all their decent play they found themselves down a goal at the 20' mark. Would you believe that Gervinho was the architect once again? He collected the ball on the left wing and went for a nice, mazy dribble into the penalty area. The Brom defenders stood off of him, seemingly trying to goad him into a bad pass. Instead, a quick feint gave him space to send in what looked like a shot. The home defenders were horribly static, ball-watching when they should have been limiting Gervinho's options. Rosicky read it perfectly, and timed his run to perfection. His header was against the grain, wrong-footing Ben Foster in the Albion goal.

That excellent team effort had given us the lead, but that only made Brom redouble their efforts. They won a free kick outside the penalty area, and for me Fabianski set up his wall poorly with only three men, and Santi Cazorla being the right-most one (the problem here is that you have your smallest man defending the area you're going for if you're shooting for the near top corner). Chris Brunt took it, and outsmarted the wall by shooting low as they jumped. Fabianski was going the other way, but did fantastically well to get back across and hold on to the shot. Brilliant keeping from the Pole, there.

Actually, the keepers had a bit of a duel going in the first half - Foster doing well to block a Gervinho shot with his legs, Fabianski countering with a nice catch from a deflected Graham Dorrans cross. Again, early wobbles on high balls aside, he put in a confident display between the sticks.

Aaron Ramsey was another that played well, as he showed a much-improved range of passing and intelligence of movement. That said, he managed a quite astonishing miss late in the first half that luckily did not prove as costly as it could have. Cazorla played Rosicky into acres of space in the middle (Brom's defensive spacing was a bit muddled all day), and he played it up to Giroud. The big Frenchman chested it down to Santi, whose pass back was perfect. Giroud back-heeled it into the center of the area, onto Ramsey's left foot. Had he took it first time, the Welshman would have scored - Foster had lost his footing and was out of the play. Instead, he shifted to his right, which allowed Billy Jones time to get back and challenge him from behind. Ramsey had to rush the shot, and he toe-poked it wide of the post.

To their credit, the Gunners rebounded from that disappointment and took control early in the second half. A one-two between Sagna and Gervinho saw the former with a decent shot on goal from a tough angle, but Foster had come out well to cut off the angle. He was down for a while after making the save though, and I believe that ended up as a massive turning point in the match.

A few minutes later, Brunt turned the ball over in our half, and Arsenal countered at pace. Two quick passes gave Ramsey the run of the right wing. Rosicky once again destroyed his marker with a well-timed run, opening space in the penalty area. His first shot was right at Foster, but he could only awkwardly bat it away. He was then very slow getting to the rebound - Rosicky beat him to it and put away his own rebound. It was horrific defending from Brom, but even worse keeping. It made me think Foster was still feeling the effects of that knock - but given how huge this goal was for our ambitions, I can't say I'm overwhelmed with sympathy.

The home side kept fighting though, and might have clawed one back when Long found James Morrison in the penalty area. Per Mertesacker fell as he tried to follow him, but still somehow managed to scramble it away.

Evil portents were in the air though, as the Baggies began to put Arsenal under sustained pressure. A long ball to Brunt left our high backline for dead, with Mertesacker especially slow to get back. Brunt's bad-angle shot was awkward to deal with, but Fabianski dealt with it well in saving with his legs. It also bears mentioning that Sagna was absolutely nowhere at that point, far behind the play and not exactly busting a lung to try and get there.

Disaster may have been averted there, but it came calling again a few minutes later. Another long ball resulted in our defenders being caught up too high again. Mertesacker was again slow to get back, and this time Long was going to be in alone on Fabianski. The BFG had to go for the slide tackle, but didn't time it right and out came the red card (Quick aside: Not to be contrarian, but Howard Webb had an exceptional game. Sorry, but it's true). Morrison took the penalty, and in truth it was a ghastly one. Fabianski had dived the right way, but he actually got too high into the air and only grazed the shot with his leg on its way in. As good as a game as he had overall, he had to save that one - on a penalty kick, you have to concede that any good high shot is going in. All you can do is pick a side and take away the low shot in that direction.

Since I'm on that subject, a quick observation - Fabianski has improved tremendously and has done so at the right time for us. But, long-term, I insist that he is not the answer in goal for us. The ideal strategy for me would be to get a solid age 34-to-36 keeper to be the No. 1 for one season or at most two, with Wojceich Szczesny playing in the cups and learning from the older guy.

Anyway, needless to say, Arsenal were well under the cosh after going down to 10 men. The Baggies had their tails up, and were looking to take advantage of Thomas Vermaelen coming into the game. Gervinho was sacrificed, the intention clearly being to bunker at that point. At the time, I felt it was far too early to do so, and frankly only some woeful finishing from the home side allowed us to get away with it.

Lukaku in particular tormented us after the red, having come on earlier for Dorrans. Sagna was nothing resembling a match for him, and he often had the time and space to do exactly as he wished. Koscielny also continued his up-and-down play. He made some timely blocks and interceptions along the way, but was badly out-jumped on a corner kick in the 80th minute by Gareth McCauley. Thankfully, he lashed a towering header wide of the post.

Arsene continued to shore up the defense, with Rosicky coming off for Kieran Gibbs. Ten minutes is a long time to bunker, but at least he went all-in with his chosen strategy.

The Baggies should have equalized four minutes later, though. Nacho Monreal allowed Billy Jones to get his cross into the box, but our center-halves did well to close down Morrison. The ball took an unusual deflection out to Lukaku on the left, who was completely unmarked? Why, you ask? Well, that would be because Sagna decided to drift inside (where two men were already all over Morrison) instead of marking the back post (which was, you know, his job and stuff). Lady Luck was adorned in red and white again though, as Lukaku's composure failed him. NORAD is now tracking the shot, as it reached low Earth orbit.

Speaking of launching satellites, it was Long's turn soon after. The Baggies were really turning the screw now, and it was Lukaku at the heart of it again. He took advantage of his now customary time and space and combined with Liam Ridgewell to find Long open in the penalty area. Long could only do his Lukaku impersonation though, another chance frittered away.

It wasn't all Brom failing, though. Jones (who was easily their best player on the day) played in the substitute Markus Rosenberg. Fabianski was super sharp to come off his line and timed his dive at the Swede's feet to perfection.

All hands were now emphatically to the pumps, and additional help came as Francis Coquelin was thrown on in place of Cazorla. The Arsenal defense held though, even when temporarily down to 9 men when Giroud limped off. What felt like eons passed, but finally Webb blew his whistle and the day was ours.

We are now one point behind the now Bale-less nearest and dearest, having played the same amount of games. Chelsea is a point behind, and they play their game in hand today against Sunderland. Whisper it, but Manchester City are only six points ahead, and their game in hand is the derby against United (which I predict that they will lose).

There's still a long way to go, and many points that need to be earned. So far, so good though.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Fabianski 7, Monreal 7, Koscielny 6, Mertesacker 5, Sagna 3, Arteta 7, Ramsey 7, Gervinho 8 (Vermaelen 7), Rosicky 8 (Gibbs 7), Cazorla 8 (Coquelin N/A), Giroud 7

Man of the Match: There have been quite a few Gooners who have been clamoring for Tomas Rosicky to play more all season long. Those Gooners are extremely smart individuals.

Preview by Numbers: West Bromwich Albion v. Arsenal

2013-04-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

The Hawthorns, West Bromwich

Saturday, April 6

10:00 a.m. EDT, 15:00 BST

Match Officials

Referee: Howard Webb
Assistants: Darren Cann and Adrian Holmes
4th Official: Lee Probert

Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 2 - 0 West Brom
This Match, Last Year: West Brom 2 - 3 Arsenal
All-Time in All Competitions: 64 Arsenal wins, 36 West Brom wins, 29 draws
Arsenal's League Form: W-W-W-L-W-W
West Brom's League Form: W-W-L-W-D-L
Weather: Mostly Sunny, 7 C / 44 F

59.9%. Arsenal's odds of finishing Top Four are now just a hair below 60%. Of course, those odds are a little longer than Chelsea's (70.2%) or Tottenham's (61.8%). But, the odds are better than 50/50 with eight games to play.

Four of those eight games are on the road, and of them, West Brom has the best home record, with 29 points (Newcastle has 25, Fulham has 24, QPR has 13). That means three points tomorrow would be a significant hurdle moving forward. Arsenal still needs help from the Chelsea and/or Spurs to drop points, so the Gunners can't take their foot off the gas pedal now.

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Diaby (knee)
Doubts: Walcott (pelvis), Wilshere (ankle)

This Nacho doesn't even have knees!

There appears to be not much difference in terms of who was available last week and who is available this week. There is "an outside" chance Theo Walcott and/or Jack Wilshere could return, but I would not expect it. Both returned to light training this week.

Nacho Monreal left last week's game with a knee injury, but he has been declared fit for tomorrow. As a result, I see almost no reason to tinker with the starting XI, even if it does mean more of the "which Gervinho are we going to get?" game. Unless Monreal drops for Kieran Gibbs, which is equally plausible.

Wow, this section looks empty when there aren't a ton of players hurt; I suppose that's a good thing.

Predicted XI: Fabianski, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, Cazorla, Gervinho, Giroud.

West Brom Squad News

Out: Thorne (knee), Gera (knee)
Doubts: Morrison (hamstring)
Suspended: Mulumbu (first of three)

Oh, not this James Morrison...

Team news is light for West Brom as well, which is making for very quick writing of this preview, I must say. The only doubt is Scottish midfielder James Morrison, who has not played since picking up a hamstring injury against Stoke just before the international break.

The Baggies have two long-term injuries, as both George Thorne and Zoltan Gera are out for the season with ACL injuries. Youssouf Mulumbu starts serving a three match ban for the red card he picked up last week against West Ham.

Since this section is so empty, the following is some things I learned about the city of West Bromwich: The Latin motto on the town coat of arms translates to "Work Conquers All," but we all know that all work and no play makes West Brom something something, the town was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bromwic, or "broom village", and it's the largest town in the U.K. without its own Royal Mail postcode.

Current Form

Not only was Mulumbu's sent off last week, but West Brom
somehow allowed Andy Carroll to score twice...

Since that week in February where Arsenal decided to crash out of two competitions by losing at home to Blackburn and Bayern, and aside from that couple of minutes in Tottenham in early March, things are clicking along pretty nicely for Arsenal. They have won six of their last eight in the league and remain in some measure of striking distance for the Top Four Trophy. But, you probably know that story already.

As for West Brom, you may recall that they had a high flying start to the season (they were in third at one point in late November!) Since then, they have tumbled as far as ninth, after a stretch through the beginning of February that including one draw and no wins in six matches. They righted the ship a bit to win three of four after that, but since then have drawn Stoke and last week lost to West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park. The Baggies are now 8th in the table with 44 points. They look to be coasting to a comfortable mid-table finish.

Match Facts

Saint Marton of Fulop eased Arsenal's passage to third place.

After two Almunia-related debacles in 2010/11, Arsenal have won three straight against the Baggies. Last year, Arsenal won comfortably 3-0 at the Emirates and 3-2 at the Hawthorns, a bonkers final day of the season match in which, as you may recall, Marton Fulop was the hero for Arsenal. Also, that Kieran Gibbs slide tackle. Also, Santos scored.

Arsenal won 2-0 in the reverse fixture at the Emirates in December, a match played after losing to Swansea but before losing to Bradford City. The Gunners scored both goals from the penalty spot on that day, with Arteta converting in the 26th and 64th minutes. There was quite a bit of controversy regarding whether Santi Cazorla dove to draw the first penalty, but you should also remember that Arsenal dominated the entirety of the match and West Brom never really threatened to score.

Arsenal had won five straight against West Brom prior to 2010/11; they have now won eight of their last ten against the Baggies. West Brom's last win over Arsenal at the Hawthorns was in 2005.

The Referee

Howard Webb duck face.

The referee is South Yorkshire-based Howard Webb. You might have heard of him.

Arsenal have seen Webb three times this season, winning twice and drawing once. They won 2-0 at Liverpool with Webb in the middle in early September, beat Tottenham 5-2 in November, thanks to Emmanuel Adebayor's red card, and drew Swansea 2-2 in the FA Cup at the Liberty Stadium in January. Arsenal are unbeaten in their last four matches with Webb in the middle.

Oddly, this is the first time Howard Webb will work a West Brom match in over two years. I'm not really even sure how something like that happens. The last time Webb was in the middle for the Baggies, they lost 2-0 at Bolton on Boxing Day in 2010.

Around the League

I think we all know what the biggest game in this list is... that's right, Stoke and Villa...

Saturday (early): Reading v. Southampton; Madejski Stadium, Reading
Saturday: Norwich City v. Swansea City; Carrow Road, Norwich
Saturday: Stoke City v. Aston Villa; Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
Sunday (early): Liverpool v. West Ham United; Anfield, Liverpool
Sunday: Tottenham Hotspur v. Everton; White Hart Lane, London
Sunday: Chelsea v. Sunderland; Stamford Bridge, London
Sunday: Newcastle United v. Fulham; St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne
Sunday (late): Queens Park Rangers v. Wigan Athletic; Loftus Road, London
Monday (night): Manchester United v. Manchester City; Old Trafford, Manchester

Arsenal 4-1 Reading: Walkover

2013-03-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

Bloody hell, Reading are awful, aren't they?

This was always going to be one of the easier games of the run-in for Arsenal, but few would have imagined that a side fighting for their Premier League lives would display so little ambition and fight. A rampant Gunners side made easy work of them, and frankly should have at least doubled their score on the day.

The boss had some personnel decisions going into the match, mainly around Theo Walcott's injury during the international break and the fact that our weak opponents would allow for some rotation. Nacho Monreal was preferred to Kieran Gibbs at left back, there were starts for Tomas Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey, and Gervinho stepped in for Theo.

The visitors managed to win a corner inside of the first 60 seconds, but Arsenal asserted their dominance immediately thereafter. Olivier Giroud reacted quickly to get an early header on goal, but former Gunners keeper Stuart Taylor was there to collect (Side note: Has any man in sports made as much money to do so little as Taylor, the Professional Number Three?).

Not too long after, a perfect minute of applause and song was followed at the Emirates (and the Pig, naturally) in memory of Rocky Rocastle. Reading's away support, in a highly classy move, joined in.

Perhaps the man himself was looking down on the proceedings...if he was, he would have been delighted to see Arsenal take the lead a few minutes afterwards. The Gunners let the ball do the work on this occasion, with a series of passes leaving Reading defenders chasing shadows. Giroud found the overlapping Santi Cazorla on the wing, and the Spaniard's resulting low cross was perfect. Gervinho ghosted in off the shoulder of the last defender and hammered the ball into the empty net.

The early lead was welcome, but the rest of the half would prove to be frustrating. Over and over, Arsenal would carve open what passed for the Reading defense, and over and over the chance would be spurned. Gervinho in particular was wasteful. As many plaudits as he will gain for his tally of a goal and two assists (and he did have a pretty good game), it should be noted that he still lacked end product on far too many occasions. I remain to be convinced that he has turned a corner quite yet, but I'd love to see it happen.

When the Arsenal players weren't missing chances, referee Chris Foy was missing obvious calls. It is a damning indictment of the standard of match officials these days that he is nowhere near the worst in the division. But, he had a horrendous afternoon - evidenced by his failure to award a penalty against Taylor for his challenge on Giroud. Look, I'm a keeper and I give my brethren the benefit of the doubt every time. That collision had to be a good four seconds after the ball bobbled away though.

Later, Cazorla just missed wide, followed by Gervinho blazing a shot over the bar. Somehow, Arsenal trudged into the locker room up by a solitary goal despite their comprehensive dominance.

I would love to know what Reading's new boss, Nigel Adkins, had told his club during the interval. Whatever it was, it didn't work - Arsenal doubled their lead just three minutes after the restart. Gervinho was the provider this time, as he teed up Cazorla at the top of the box. Santi picked his shot through a mass of bodies and threaded it just inside the near post. Taylor had no chance, and the points were effectively won.

Much like the first half, the Royals saw precious little of the ball and accomplished nothing when they had it. There was one instance where Pavel Pogrebnyak had the ball at his feet in the penalty area, but Laurent Koscielny nullified the danger with a brilliant sliding tackle. Alex Pearce was able to get a shot away from the resulting corner, but Lukasz Fabianski held it well.

The third was inevitable though, and Gervinho made up for a horrific cut-back to no one by playing in Giroud a minute later. Giroud's shot was pacy and powerful, but from Reading's perspective Taylor had to stop that. Absolutely shocking goalkeeping.

It's difficult for any side to play 90 perfect minutes, but it was disappointing to see us concede a stupid goal just two minutes after going up 3-0. Fabianski had a nice little shutout streak going, and to lose it through no fault of his own must be galling for him. As has been the case all season, the narrowness of our fullbacks has resulted in a goal against. This time, Bacary Sagna was much too far off of Reading captain Jobi McAnuff, allowing his cross to come in uncontested. Nacho Monreal was torched for pace by Hal Robson-Kanu on the back post, leaving him with an easy tap-in.

Worse, Monreal collided with the post as he slid to try and prevent the goal, and he eventually had to be subbed off for Gibbs. Here's hoping he's not too seriously injured.

Arsene made his last two subs with 15 minutes to go, Giroud and Gervinho making way for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski. Clearly, the boss wanted to kill the game off before Reading had a chance to pull another one back.

He got his wish, and it was AOC in the thick of it as Foy finally awarded us a penalty. He got the ball out on the wing and made one of his trademark surging runs into the area. Adrian Mariappa lost out badly to AOC's pace, and could only foul him as he went by. Replays showed that the contact was outside the area, but swings and roundabouts - we should have had one in the first half. Mikel Arteta put the penalty kick away, cool as you like.

Arsenal didn't rest on their laurels though, and Taylor was called into action again to fist away a shot by Ramsey. The Welshman hit that one right at the keeper, but his passing and movement were solid on the day.

Foy blew the full-time whistle soon after, and three precious points went into the books for the Gunners. Results elsewhere were mixed - our nearest and dearest saw off Swansea, but Chelsea hilariously managed to lose at Southampton. Still, it looks like our boys are peaking at the right time (in the chase for 4th anyway), and the run-in is piss easy other than Everton and United. I would say at this point that it would be a tremendous disappoint to not finish somewhere in that top four, and should in fact be the minimum expectation.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Fabianski 7, Monreal 7 (Gibbs 7), Koscielny 8, Mertesacker 7, Sagna 7, Arteta 7, Ramsey 7, Cazorla 8, Rosicky 7, Gervinho 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 7), Giroud 7 (Podolski 7)

Man of the Match: Many will say it should be Gervinho...as it turns out, many are incorrect. The Ivorian did have a goal and two assists, but Santi Cazorla was the best player on the field.

Preview by Numbers: Arsenal v. Reading

2013-03-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

Emirates Stadium, London

Saturday, March 30

11:00 a.m. EDT, 15:00 GMT

Match Officials

Referee: Chris Foy
Assistants: Simon Beck and Dean Richards
4th Official: Mark Halsey

Reverse Fixture: Reading 2 - 5 Arsenal
This Match, Last Time: Arsenal 2 - 0 Reading (April 19, 2008)
All-Time in All Competitions: 11 Arsenal wins, no Reading wins, no draws
Arsenal's League Form: D-W-W-W-L-W
Reading's League Form: W-L-L-L-L-L
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 6 C / 42 F

Only nine games to go this season.
Tick tock goes the...... calendar?

Don't you just hate international breaks? There we were, nicely winning big away games against teams that had troubled us at home, Bayern Munich and Swansea, when then suddenly, everyone goes away for almost two weeks, killing the momentum.

We're down to the final nine games of the season. Arsenal are four points back of Spurs with a game in hand (thank you, Dimitar Berbatov.) Of their remaining nine opponents, Arsenal won the reverse fixture against five of them, drawing two (Everton and Fulham, both of which saw Arsenal blowing a lead) and losing two (United and Norwich, oh God, remember losing that game? That was depressing.)

Okay, it seems doable, right? 27 more points up for grabs. Arsenal's odds at finishing Top Four (capitalized because "trophies" are proper nouns) are now higher than Spurs (funny what a few weeks can do.) 70 points on the season would give Arsenal a 94% chance of finishing in the Top Four, so that's, what, seven wins from nine? The odds are still better than 75% even with six wins from nine. Five wins, however, will almost certainly not be enough. And let's also keep an eye on Everton, okay?

So yes, Spurs' recent little tumble has made the numbers a little easier to digest. But you can't go into Saturday's game and take 20 points. It's three at a time. And against 19th place Reading at the Emirates, three points is a must. The Royals are fighting for their lives and they'll have the infusion of a new manager to help.

Let's get back to business, shall we?

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Diaby (knee), Walcott (pelvis), Wilshere (ankle)
Doubts: Gibbs (illness)

At least he's back on Twitter, so we can know when he's
making stir fry.

We'll start with the good news, in that Lukas Podolski (ankle) and Bacary Sagna (knee) will both be able to return from their respective injuries. Hooray for options!

On the flip side, Jack Wilshere will need another "two weeks" to rehab his ankle, as Arsene Wenger does not want to rush him back, given his history of injuries. I've still got my fingers crossed that he's not on the "Diaby timetable."

Speaking of Diaby, Arsene Wenger said on Thursday morning that he had "a little problem." By Thursday afternoon, it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and he's out nine months. I mean, what do you even say about that? He injured himself in training. It's a shame. That's all you can say. It's such a shame.

Kieran Gibbs has been sick with the flu, so I suspect Nacho Monreal, fresh off his assist against France and his goal against Swansea, will retain his place. Also, out-of-form Theo Walcott, as you know, picked up an injury in England training and will miss at least this match.

Predicted XI: Fabianski, Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud.

Reading Squad News

Out: Roberts (hip)
Doubts: Kebe (groin), Federici (ankle)

Reading will have Pavel Pogrebnyak available after he served a three match ban, but he hasn't played a match in five weeks and likely lacks match fitness.

In terms of injuries, the only player certainly missing out is Jason Roberts, who is out for the season after a hip operation. Jimmy Kebe (groin) and Adam Federici (ankle) are both doubts with their respective injuries. On the other hand, Danny Guthrie and Alex McCarthy are both back in training.

Current Form

Oh, wrong kind of form... Sorry, it's been a while.

Can we even talk about form? I feel like it's been a million years since Arsenal played and it's been even longer since the North London derby loss. Arsenal won their last two games on the road by 2-0 scorelines at Bayern Munich and Swansea. I vaguely recall them happening.

As for Reading; they have lost six straight across all competitions, and I guess, yes, that's the kind of thing that can get your manager sacked when you're in a relegation battle. Among those six, they lost at Old Trafford twice, each by a single goal. They lost games at Everton and Stoke. But, the real crushing blows were home losses in relegation six-pointers, including 3-0 to Wigan and 2-1 to Aston Villa. Reading enters the weekend seven points adrift from safety.

Reading have picked up only five points on their travels this season, drawing at QPR and Swansea and winning at Newcastle.

Match Facts

They should throw hats onto the pitch after hat tricks, like in
ice hockey. And then, they should have made Santi wear them.

Across all competitions, Arsenal have played Reading 11 times and won all 11, including two meetings at the Madejski earlier this year. In late October, the two sides met in an absolutely bonkers League Cup tie, which saw Reading go ahead 4-0, only to blow the lead and eventually lose 7-5 in extra time. During that extra time, Reading even allowed Marouane Chamakh to score twice. Yeah.

The sides met at the Madejski again in mid-December, when Arsenal were coming off their cup loss to Bradford City. Lukas Podolski and a Santi Cazorla hat trick put Arsenal ahead 4-0, but Reading scored twice in five minutes to cut the deficit in half after 71 minutes. Theo Walcott's 80th minute goal put the match to bed.

As for their other four league meetings: in 2006/07, Reading's first top flight season, Arsenal won 4-0 away and 2-1 at the Emirates. In 2007/08, Reading's last top flight season before this year, Arsenal won 3-1 away and 2-0 at the Emirates. The sides have also met in six cup ties won by Arsenal.

The Referee

"Woah, hey. Slow down there, sparky. I've got this."
I imagine Chris Foy is the kind of person that calls people
"sparky" on the pitch.

The referee is Merseyside-based Chris Foy. Arsenal have seen Foy three times this season and all three were at the Emirates. Those matches include the 0-0 season opening draw with Sunderland, the 7-3 win over Newcastle just before New Year's, and the 1-0 win over Stoke in February. Across those three matches, Foy did not book a single Arsenal player. Last season, Foy worked three Arsenal matches that all ended in draws.

As for Reading, Foy has taken charge of their 1-0 loss at West Brom in September, a 0-0 draw with Norwich in November, and a 4-0 win over Sheffield United in the FA Cup in January.

Foy found himself in the midst of some controversy two weeks ago in a match between Sunderland and Norwich, in which he sent off Canaries goalkeeper Mark Bunn for handling outside of the box after half an hour. Not long after, Foy gave Sunderland a penalty for another Norwich handball, which gave the Black Cats an equalizing goal, in what would go on to be a 1-1 draw. To be fair though, the linesman flagged for the penalty.

Around the League

Saturday (early): Sunderland v. Manchester United; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Saturday: Manchester City v. Newcastle United; Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Saturday: Southampton v. Chelsea; St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Saturday: Swansea City v. Tottenham Hotspur; Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Saturday: West Ham United v. West Bromwich Albion; Boleyn Ground, London
Saturday: Wigan Athletic v. Norwich City; DW Stadium, Wigan
Saturday (late): Everton v. Stoke City; Goodison Park, Liverpool
Sunday (early): Aston Villa v. Liverpool; Villa Park, Birmingham
Monday (night): Fulham v. Queens Park Rangers; Craven Cottage, London

The FA's Dereliction of Duty

2013-03-20T00:18:00.000-04:00

There are many beautiful and wonderful things in this world that are badly let down by those charged with their stewardship. The Football Association of England, however, staked their strongest claim yet for leadership of that clubhouse with their cowardly and despicable failure to throw the book at Wigan Athletic's Callum McManaman for his brutal attack on Newcastle United's Massadio Haidara.

Some out there may not have seen the incident in question. Here it is, in all its hideous splendor:

I cannot fathom how a sane and just person can see this footage and come to the logical or moral conclusion that nothing untoward has happened. I cannot wrap my mind around how an intelligent person can arrive at a conclusion other than that this was a deliberate attempt to injure a fellow professional.

We have all heard the litany of excuses that come with the territory here - hell, as Arsenal supporters that song is well overplayed for us. He's not that kind of player. He's a good, honest kid who was just trying to win the ball. He was just a few seconds late, he couldn't stop in time. Alternatively, you can read Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan's odious defense of the player, a marvel in cognitive dissonance when you recall that the man saw his own career cut short in similar circumstances.

Yeah, tell it to Eduardo...or Aaron Ramsey...or Abou Diaby. That's just on our team, in the last few years. All suffered grotesque injuries as a result of horror tackles like this, and none have been the same since. They all have had their livelihoods affected by needlessly violent play.

That isn't to say that legitimately mistimed challenges don't happen - far from it, you might see 20 of them in an average game. The difference is that those challenges rarely result in injury to either player. At worst, they'll warrant a talking-to or a yellow card if it's been persistent from one party.

What you see in the GIF above is a calculated attempt at the old "reducer". You will hear this term lionized by the usual suspects, chiefly older players and the media types that fell in love with the sport decades ago. Ha ha, wasn't it great when Graeme Souness almost ended that guy's career? Ho ho, wasn't it excellent when Roy Keane did end Alf-Inge Haland's? Boys will be boys, right lads?

It's hard to be surprised at how this keeps happening when we've made a cottage industry out of putting these men up on pedestals.

Admittedly, my first thought is that the perpetrators are mainly psychopaths who do it out of some nefarious machismo, a need to make up for lack of innate ability, or both. Naturally there are times where that is the sum total of the explanation. I think that may oversimplify it though. Given that the villains in these cases are often British, I wonder if there isn't something infesting the grassroots of the game where the need to opt for the reducer is deliberately instilled into young players.

Unfortunately, football players now are far stronger and faster than their counterparts of the 70s or 80s. The same reckless tackle that may have given an opposing player a bad bruise and second thoughts now gives them a year on the shelf with a fibula in tatters.

Ultimately though, these tackles exist because they are tacitly endorsed by the guardians of the game. The FA has a long and storied history of insularity, arrogance and short-sightedness - the national team's current woes can arguably be traced back to decisions they made in the early part of last century, especially their smug belief that no one else in the world could teach them anything new. Then, you know, this happened.

It is one thing to be a failure when it comes to the 11 dolts in Three Lions kit and their risible output. It is quite another to inadequately protect the players under your care due to what is perceived to be political expedience, despite the fact that these empty blazers have all the gravitas of a mailroom clerk.

Their excuse for not reviewing the footage was the sort of flimsy technicality that would make the sleaziest ambulance-chaser embarrassed for his profession. One linesman thinks he saw part of the incident, so no action can be taken so as not to "re-officiate the game." What a rich vein of stupid this is!

First, remember how I mentioned the increased speed of the game a few paragraphs ago? That doesn't just have consequences for unlucky femurs - it has also made the game much harder to effectively adjudicate. That is true even for the best referees, let alone a habitually substandard one like Mark Halsey who would have been put out to pasture ages ago if there weren't a dearth of quality match officials.

Compounding the problem is that the fossils at the top of FIFA have had their heads firmly in the sand on this issue. This effectively prevents the national bodies from straying off-message. However, other leagues do allow for retroactive video review of an incident after a match has ended. This starts from the sensible notion that referees are fallible, and some actions deserve punishment regardless of whether the official got it right the first time.

Basic common sense, as ever, eludes the FA much like German, Argentinian or Brazilian shots on goal elude their goalkeepers.

It isn't just that, though. That lack of common sense forms a toxic alchemy with the arrogance of infallibility, the insularity against readily-available technology and the small-but-potent chorus of voices who gallingly find nothing wrong with these tackles.

I don't know if anything short of a generation-and-a-half of the game's powers dying off before we see the easily-implementable changes that would prevent this from happening. In the meantime, these incidents will continue unabated...all with the FA's intangible seal of approval.

The cowards don't even have the minerals to own their incompetence.

Swansea City 0-2 Arsenal: Crucial Late Strikes

2013-03-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

Time is running out in Arsenal's mission to get back to the top four. Every dropped point from here until the end of the season is a potential season-killer, as evidenced by Everton's heroic defensive effort to beat Manchester City. Thankfully, two late goals allowed us to keep pace with the rest of the field, and puts some pressure on our nearest and dearest for their game today.

The manager largely kept faith with the eleven who so successfully raided Bavaria in midweek, with just Nacho Monreal and Abou Diaby coming into the team in place of Kieran Gibbs and Tomas Rosicky. As expected, Thomas Vermaelen and Wojceich Szczesny remained on the bench.

Arsenal largely stuck with the same tactical setup that undid Munich, and they could have taken a similarly-early lead with a little luck. Swansea packed their defenders deep in their half, so Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain decided to have a pop from long range. The ball fizzed past the beaten Michel Vorm, but unfortunately it rebounded off the crossbar.

That almost proved to be costly, as the only three chances of any note that Swansea could muster on the day all happened in a four-minute window soon after. First, Ki Seung-Yueng's excellent pass left Nacho Monreal for dead, but thankfully Angel Rangel could only shovel a tame shot wide.

Next, Michu couldn't get a volley from the edge of the box on target, but came a lot closer soon after thanks to a mistake by Carl Jenkinson. He horrendous cross-field pass just ahead of our penalty area was intercepted by Jonathan De Guzman, who played in Michu. You would have bet money on him scoring, but he didn't so much as test Lukasz Fabianski in the Arsenal goal, dragging his shot wide of the post.

The home side had much of the possession thereafter, but it was Arsenal who came closer to scoring through Santi Cazorla. He teed himself up for a half-volley and rocketed a dipping effort on net, but it was right at Vorm and ultimately comfortable for the Dutch keeper.

Swansea took control of the game again soon thereafter, but only passively so. I had been surprised as to how unambitious they were (it felt like the FA Cup win against them all over again), but it occurred to me that they don't have much left to play for this season. They have their trophy, they're safe in midtable, and are already in Europe thanks to that trophy win.

Meanwhile, Arsenal were mostly poor on the ball in the rare instances where they had it. Diaby in particular looked miles off the pace, and made one wonder why Rosicky wasn't back in the team after an excellent performance against the German champions-elect.

Halftime didn't do much to change the rhythm of the game. One early Cazorla chance aside, both sides canceled each other out. It should be said though that Arsenal were much better defensively, far more solid-looking without the captain in there. However, it should also be mentioned that Theo Walcott has been utter toilet since signing his new deal. He contributed nothing once again today.

Substitutions were not made until the 70th minute - insert my usual rant here. Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey came on for Oxlade-Chamberlain and the ineffectual Diaby. The former elicited the usual groans when he made a determined run forward only to play a useless pass across. There were better things to come from him, though.

There were better things to come from Cazorla too, as he orchestrated the opening goal that admittedly looked like it was never coming. He scything run from right to left took him past most of the Swansea defenders. His cutback to Ramsey on the back post was perfect, but Olivier Giroud intercepted it. The Frenchman did well though to play it back to Monreal, who demonstrated why placement is often superior to power. His shot threaded through a forest of bodies and then past the outstretched hand of Vorm. The Spaniard could not have picked a better time to open his Arsenal account, that's for sure.

Whatever fight was left in Swansea was killed off by the goal. The visitors had much of the ball in the final minutes of the match, and added gloss to the scoreline with an injury time counter-attack. Swansea poured attackers forward, but the play was broken up. The ball came to Giroud, who sprung Ramsey out on the right wing. The Welshman played it to the onrushing Gervinho, but the pass was poorly-hit and behind the Ivorian. It was a 2-on-1 though, so Gervinho had time to corral it, move forward, and slide a low shot past Vorm and into the net.

It's a St. Patrick's Day miracle!

Anyway, the win takes us back above Everton into 5th, two points behind Chelsea in 4th (though they have a game in hand). Our nearest and dearest are a further two points ahead in 3rd, again with a game in hand. Liverpool's risible loss to Southampton has opened up some welcome breathing room between us and them, however.

There isn't much else to say. Job done, with equally important missions coming up.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Fabianski 7, Monreal 7, Koscielny 7, Mertesacker 7, Jenkinson 7, Arteta 7, Diaby 5 (Ramsey 7), Oxlade-Chamberlain 7 (Gervinho 7), Cazorla 8, Walcott 5 (Gibbs N/A), Giroud 7

Man of the Match: Not for the first time this season, Santi Cazorla was the engine that made us go.

Preview by Numbers: Swansea City v. Arsenal

2013-03-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

Liberty Stadium, Swansea

Saturday, March 16

11:00 a.m. EDT, 15:00 GMT

Match Officials

Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: Darren England and Harry Lennard
4th Official: Dean Whitestone

Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 0 - 2 Swansea
This Match, Last Year: Swansea 3 - 2 Arsenal
All-Time in All Competitions: 7 Arsenal wins, 5 Swansea wins, 2 draws
Arsenal's League Form: W-D-W-W-W-L
Swansea's League Form: D-L-W-L-W-L
Weather: Cloudy, 4 C / 40 F

This is the universe, by the way...

10 MATCHES THAT WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE! The Arsenal Universe, at least. Maybe the whole universe, I don't know.

The mission is clear. 10 matches remain and Arsenal Football Club are five points back of fourth place. There are 30 points left on the table for the taking. Swansea away, Reading home, West Brom away, Norwich home, Everton home, Fulham away, United home, QPR away, Wigan home, Newcastle away. Arsenal have to overcome the Evil Rich Russian's West London side and/or their bitterest rivals from up the road. Who else to do the job than this loveable ragtag bunch of misfits!?

Really, this plot leads itself perfectly to the classic sports movie. Can this team that hasn't really convinced anybody all year turn it around when it really matters?

Let's find out...

Your Heroes

Out: Wilshere (ankle, but not that ankle), Sagna (knee), Podolski (ankle)

Starring Sir Ian McKellen as
Arsene Wenger.

Like any film, there are obstacles for our heroes to overcome, and right now, it's the absence of Jack Wilshere. Wilshere's the engine that drives the midfield, so of course, in the Hollywood movie that is this season, he finds himself out of the lineup at a critical juncture, forcing everyone else to rally.

With Lukas Podolski still out with his ankle knock, Santi Cazorla will retain his place on the left wing, meaning it's likely Tomas Rosicky who will continue in Jack's place in front of Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey, as he did in Germany on Wednesday night.

As for the back line, Thomas Vermaelen was dropped for the test in Munich and Arsenal's back four (plus Lukasz Fabianski, of all people) responded by becoming the first team to keep a clean sheet against Bayern Munich all season. I think Kieran Gibbs retains his place at left back, Carl Jenkinson will retain his place at right back with Bacary Sagna still out, and the Koscielny-Mertesacker partnership has to continue based on recent evidence.

As for which Pole starts in goal, well, the fact that that's even a question is mind boggling, so I can't expect to wrap my head around an answer.

The Antagonists

Out: Agustien (thigh), Flores (ankle), Taylor (ankle)
Doubts: Moore (calf), Britton (hip)

Is the other guy Michu?

Well, let's be honest, the biggest villain on the other side of the pitch is Michu, who has three goals in three games against Arsenal this year. Arsenal have struggled to maintain Danny Graham in the past, but he was sold to Sunderland in the transfer window.

Swansea will be sweating over the fitness of Luke Moore, who left last week's loss to West Brom just after the hour mark with a calf injury. He returned to training this week but still faces a fitness test. Leon Britton missed last week's trip to the Hawthorns with a hip injury and is also a doubt.

Kemy Agustien is on the way back from a thigh injury but he will still be far too short for this match. Chico (and the man) Flores is out with ruptured ankle ligaments, and Neil Taylor, a long term absentee with an ankle injury, is expected to make a return for the Swans next month.

Recent Plot Arcs

Swansea won the Capital One Cup, this year, which, according
to CapitalOneCup.com, is "awarded annually to each of the
best men's and women's Division I college athletics programs
in the [United States]." Congratulations?

Well, Arsenal's story has been wild, as you no doubt know. Every time it looks like they've turned a corner, they got shot right back down, whether it be by Blackburn Rovers or Tottenham Hotspur. As it stands now, they had ten days to recover from losing the derby, then put in a brilliant performance while coming up just short against Bayern. You have to think that's some kind of momentum, and with another long break coming up after this match, it's imperative to get another three points under their belt now. It's not always easy to win after playing in Europe in midweek, but Arsenal have a record of four wins, three draws, and no losses in such weekend matches this season.

As for Swansea, they come in having won the first piece of silverware of the season (done by becoming the first team in the cup to finally beat Bradford City this season,) but their league form is a bit rocky. They have not won consecutive league matches since beating West Brom and Arsenal months ago. In fact, they have won just four of 14 matches since that day at the Emirates, beating the likes of Fulham, Stoke, QPR, and Newcastle. Those wins over West Brom and Arsenal in late November and early December also mark the Swans' only victories against teams ahead of them in the table (Swansea are currently ninth.) However, in the league, only Norwich and Everton have won at the Liberty Stadium this season (Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool all settled for draws.)

History

Wilshere's facial expression, after scoring the FA Cup winner,
seems more like "I just ate too much sour candy!"

Okay, Arsenal and Swansea have played each other a million times already this season, and by a million, I mean three. Both sides have won one with the other ending in a draw.

Swansea won the first meeting at the Emirates in December 2-0, with Michu scoring twice very late in the match. When the sides met in the FA Cup a month later, it was again Michu drawing first blood, just seconds after his introduction as a substitute. Lukas Podolski and Kieran Gibbs scored two minutes apart to give Arsenal a 2-1 lead in the 83rd, but Danny Graham equalized in the 87th to force a replay at the Emirates. Arsenal went on to win that replay 1-0, thanks to Jack Wilshere's 86th minute goal. So, seven goals between these two sides in three meetings this season; six of them were scored in the 81st minute or later.

Arsenal lost this match last year, 3-2. Arsenal scored early, but Swansea equalized just after the quarter-hour mark after a controversial penalty. Nathan Dyer put Swansea ahead in the 57th minute, but Theo Walcott equalized for Arsenal in the 69th. The celebration was short-lived, however, as Danny Graham put Swansea on top for good just a minute later.

Another Villain, Maybe

Villainous!

The referee is West Yorkshire-based Jonathan Moss. Arsenal have only seen Moss twice in his short Select Group career (this is Moss's first full season working in the top flight, at age 42.) Last season, Moss was in the middle of Arsenal's 2-1 win at Aston Villa and earlier this year, he worked Arsenal's 1-0 win at Wigan Athletic. Two road wins for Arsenal, both of which included an Arsenal goal from the penalty spot.

Swansea have had Moss twice this season and failed to win on both occasions: they lost 2-0 at Stoke in September and drew 0-0 with Liverpool in November.

Moss showed 11 red cards in 32 games last season, but has only shown one, to Steven Pienaar of Everton, in 24 games this year.

Meanwhile...

Arsenal also need some help, in the form of Chelsea and Spurs dropping points over the next two months. The other nine matches in the fixture list this weekend are:

Saturday (early): Everton v. Manchester City; Goodison Park, Liverpool
Saturday: Aston Villa v. Queens Park Rangers; Villa Park, Birmingham
Saturday: Southampton v. Liverpool; St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Saturday: Stoke City v. West Bromwich Albion; Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
Saturday (late): Manchester United v. Reading; Old Trafford, Manchester
Sunday (early): Sunderland v. Norwich City; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Sunday: Tottenham Hotspur v. Fulham; White Hart Lane, London
Sunday (late): Chelsea v. West Ham United; Stamford Bridge, London
Sunday (late): Wigan Athletic v. Newcastle United; DW Stadium, Wigan

Bayern Munich 0-2 Arsenal: We Went Out on Our Shield

2013-03-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

I freely admit that before the match, I had never dreaded watching an Arsenal match nearly as much as I have this one. Given how badly they tonked us at home, given how tactically inept we generally are and the missing bodies that we had, I thought this may be a cricket score. I don't mean that 20-20 one-day shit either, I mean the 5-day test international kind.

The big news was that Wojceich Szczesny was not only benched, he was left home in London entirely. Such was my state of mind that I theorized on a message board I post at that Lukasz Fabianski was playing only to prevent Szczesny from having this battering on his psyche, in much the same way that the home 0-5 loss to Chelsea in the the 1998-99 League Cup destroyed Alex Manninger's career.

Oh, and also that Jack Wilshire guy didn't play.

On the other hand, Thomas Vermaelen also didn't get into the starting XI, so that was progress. Kieran Gibbs returned, Laurent Koscielny slotted into central defense, with a midfield three of Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky. The rest of the team essentially picked itself.

Anyway, if you had told me that this match would have a goal in the third minute, I would have asked "Oh, who on Bayern scored it?" Instead, the home side found themselves picking the ball out of the net before they could find their bearings in the game.

It all came from nothing, too. A Bayern player won a long ball, but there was no one to pick up the scraps. It bobbled to Koscielny instead, who played it quickly up to Cazorla. The little Spaniard played it first time up to Ramsey with a lovely flick of the boot. The Welshman ran at the Munich backline with purpose, and shifted it to Rosicky as the red shirts converged on him. Tommy wasted no time playing it wide to Theo Walcott, as David Alaba fell over. Half the Bayern defense swarmed towards Walcott, while the other half ball-watched. That allowed Theo to cut it back across the face of goal to Olivier Giroud, who had slipped in unnoticed. He emphatically hammered his shot into the roof of the net, with Manuel Neuer stranded in the Bayern goal.

You would think the teams swapped shirts before the opening whistle.

Bayern did recover quickly though, and Fabianski was called into action a minute later to get behind a tame long-range shot. The match quickly settled into passive domination from the home side, though they rarely threatened. A few long-range shots were comfortably handled by our reserve keeper, but that was the sum total of their contribution to the half. It must be said that Arsenal were much better defensively than they have been since the first two matches of the season. The suicidally-high line was abandoned for a more sensible withdrawn defense, and Koscielny was excellent in place of our erstwhile captain.

A special mention has to go to the goalkeeper though. As I mentioned, I thought he was only playing as a sacrificial lamb. His previous inability to perform a minimally-acceptable level has been well-documented. But, he was absolutely fantastic today. He was everything that he had not been before - decisive, confident, fundamentally-sound and a serious vocal presence behind the defense. It was apparent even in his body language - I don't know what's gotten into him in his long absence, but if it continues then frankly Szczesny has to be on the bench for the Swansea game.

That said, I do feel that the home side were somewhat there for the taking, and as good as the result ended up being, this was there to be won. Especially in the first half, Walcott and Ramsey were found wanting on the offensive side of the ball. Passes were misplaced with disturbing frequency, and better performances from the two of them may have seen us through to the quarterfinals.

However, in fairness to Bayern, they were better in the second half and they carved us open a few times. If Arjen Robben in particular had his shooting boots on, we might have conceded the goal that would have ended the tie prematurely. The Dutchman had a glorious chance in the 65th minute when he was put through clean on goal, but Fabianski did brilliantly to stand his ground and parry the shot away. Since we're on the subject, Toni Kroos is another who will be thankful that Arsenal could not find a third goal.

As time ticked along, it became apparent just how unfortunate the risible joke of the first leg was. Even if we had lost 2-1, we'd have gone through. I'll spare you my usual rant as to how tactically inept we were on that day, but one can't help imagining what could have been if we had a manager who didn't need until mid-March to work out that perhaps TV5 should sit, and that maybe we don't have the personnel for a high line.

I won't even get into the fact that Gervinho came on as a sub in this game.

Sadly for us, the second goal came too late to let it sink in for Bayern mentally that they were in trouble. It was nice when it came - Koscielny doing exceptionally well to nod in a corner kick despite Javi Martinez being draped all over him. Had that come 10 or 15 minutes earlier though, it might have triggered Bayern's gag reflex. As it happened though, the home side were able to comfortable see out the last few minutes.

So, once again, Arsenal manage to recover from a hideous first leg just enough to make it interesting without progressing. Once again, it calls into question why we can't play a decent enough first leg to not have to need a ridiculous miracle to go through, and it also makes me wonder why we can win 2-0 at the Allianz but somehow lose in the FA Cup to a team that couldn't beat Millwall at home.

I do feel better about our chances of getting 4th place, but make no mistake - this does not make me believe for one nanosecond that the rot isn't still deep inside our setup. I would still give half my soul to see Stan Kroenke on a one-way rocket to the Sun.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Fabianski 8, Gibbs 7, Koscielny 8, Mertesacker 7, Jenkinson 7, Ramsey 6 (Gervinho 6), Arteta 5, Cazorla 7, Rosicky 6, Walcott 6 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 6), Giroud 7

Man of the Match: I don't know what odds you could have gotten before the match but Lukasz Fabianski came out of nowhere to play perhaps the best match of his life.

Preview by Numbers: Bayern Munich v. Arsenal, Champions League Round of 16, Second Leg

2013-03-13T00:01:00.000-04:00

Allianz Arena, Munich

Wednesday, March 13

3:45 p.m. EDT, 19:45 GMT

Bayern leads 3-1

Match Officials from Czech Republic

Referee: Pavel Kralovec
Assistants: Roman Slysko and Martin Wilczek
4th Official: Antonin Kordula
Additional Assistants: Radek Prihoda and Michal Patak

All-Time in All Competitions: 1 Arsenal win, 3 Bayern wins, 1 draw
Arsenal's Premier League Form: W-D-W-W-W-L
Bayern's Bundesliga Form: W-W-W-W-W-W
Weather: Cloudy, 1 C / 34 F

UEFA's headline for this reads "History and form favors Bayern." Yeah, thanks.

In many ways, this is just a little hurdle before Arsenal's run-in, the "10 Games That Will Define The Universe"™. How much can Arsenal really expect from this tie, away from home and needing to score three? Their expectations are such that their #1 goalkeeper is being held out to rest.

As such, there really isn't much to say in this preview that hasn't been said already. But, I promise I'll come back strong at the weekend. I've got good plans.

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Szczesny (rest), Podolski (knock), Sagna (knee), Wilshere (ankle), Monreal (cup tied)
Doubts: Diaby (Diaby-itis)
Accumulation Trouble: Koscielny, Cazorla, Vermaelen, Arteta, Podolski, and Ramsey each face a one match ban with their next yellow card.

"Three" weeks...

The good news is that Kieran Gibbs is back from his thigh injury, but the bad news is DEAR GOD, JACK, NO! NOOOOOO! TAKE ME INSTEAD!

Jack Wilshere will be out "three weeks" with an inflamed ankle. It's not the same ankle that caused him to miss all of last season, which is a relief, but you also never like to hear the phrase "three weeks" when it comes to Arsenal injuries. Is that three weeks on the Gregorian calendar or is three weeks on the Diaby calendar?

Speaking of Diaby, he's still questionable with what I believe was a calf injury. He's in the squad but faces a fitness test. Lukas Podolski has been carrying a knock, which would explain why he's been limited to cameo appearances off the bench; he does not make the trip. And, of course, Nacho Monreal is unavailable, as he is cup tied.

The surprise of the squad news, as alluded to earlier, is that Wojciech Szczesny is being left behind to rest. I think that pretty much speaks for itself in terms of how much faith Arsene Wenger has in getting a result in Munich.

Bayern Squad News

Out: Ribery (ankle)
Doubts: Robben (calf)
Suspended: Schweinsteiger (one match), Boateng (second of two)
Accumulation Trouble: Dante and Martinez each face a one match ban with their next yellow card.

There's some good news for Arsenal in terms of who could be missing for Bayern Munich. Jerome Boateng serves the second of his two match ban for his Matchday 6 red card. Bastian Schweinsteiger will miss this match due to yellow card accumulation. Frank Ribery injured ankle ligaments at the weekend against Dusseldorf and will miss out. Arjen Robben did not play at the weekend due to a calf problem and faces a fitness test today.

Current Form

Alright, if they're going to be allowed to use the bear,
we get to use the dinosaur.

It's hard to talk about Arsenal's form because, well, they have not played in 10 days. They say form goes out the window in derbies, so how much does losing 2-1 to your bitterest of bitter rivals contribute to the lack of form Arsenal have right now? Ultimately, it feels like you have to take this match as a one-off, hope to gain some sort of momentum from a positive display, and then take it from there for the rest of the league run-in.

As for Bayern Munich, they are continuing to bend everyone over the proverbial barrel. They are 20 points clear of Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga. Since we last saw the Bavarian side, they beat Dortmund 1-0 in the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) quarter-finals, they beat Werder Bremen 6-1, Hoffenheim 1-0, and Fortuna Dusseldorf 3-2. They have still lost only twice this season, across all competitions, while drawing four, and winning 30 (31, if you count the DFL-Supercup, the German equivalent of the Community Shield.) That's a win percentage of nearly 84%.

Match Facts

The only time Arsenal have overturned a first leg deficit
in Europe since 2004, Nicklas Bendtner had a hat trick.

I'm not going to go into ridiculous detail about Arsenal's history against Bayern Munich here as I normally would, because you can just read the first leg preview and that tack on "miserable 3-1 home defeat" to the list of matches.

What we should talk about here are Arsenal's previous attempts at overcoming first leg deficits in Champions League knockout play. Since 2003/04, when the Champions League switched to the 16-team knockout phase set-up, Arsenal have lost the first match of a two-legged tie six times, including this year. In the five previous occurrences before this year, Arsenal have come from behind to win the tie only once, against Porto in 2010, when they overturned a 2-1 deficit by winning 5-0 at the Emirates.

The other four occurrences ended in losses: to Bayern Munich in 2005, to PSV in 2007, to Manchester United in 2009, and to AC Milan last year. It should be noted, in some manner of consolation, that Arsenal did win the second legs against Bayern and Milan in those ties; they drew against PSV and ... well, we all know how that United tie ended...

Only twice in the Champions League have any team overcome losing the first leg at home: Ajax did it 1996 and Inter Milan did it (against Bayern Munich) in 2011.

Arsenal have only won three times in 12 matches on German soil. Bayern have only lost once ever against an English opponent at home (technically their Final loss to Chelsea last year doesn't count in that statistic.) In 1992, Bayern lost 2-1 to Norwich City in the UEFA Cup.

The Referee

I can't think of a caption.

The referee is Czech Republic based engineer Pavel Kralovec. An engineer by trade, Kralovec has been a UEFA official since 2004, but only worked his first Champions League match on Matchday 2 of last season. This is his first time being involved with either Arsenal or Bayern Munich.

As for other teams from their respective countries, Kralovec has worked Manchester City matches in the Champions League twice: a 2-1 City win over Villarreal last season and a 1-1 draw with Dortmund this season. That Dortmund match was the only German match Kralovec has done in the Champions League to date.

This is his seventh UEFA Champions League match, overall.

Around Europe

Last Tuesday: Manchester United 1 - 2 Real Madrid

Real Madrid wins 3-2 on aggregate.

Last Tuesday: Borussia Dortmund 3 - 0 Shakhtar Donetsk

Borussia Dortmund wins 5-2 on aggregate.

Last Wednesday: Paris Saint-Germain 1 - 1 Valencia

Paris Saint-Germain wins 3-2 on aggregate.

Last Wednesday: Juventus 2 - 0 Celtic

Juventus wins 5-0 on aggregate.

Yesterday: Schalke 04 2 - 3 Galatasaray

Galatasaray wins 4-3 on aggregate.

Yesterday: Barcelona 4 - 0 AC Milan

Barcelona wins 4-2 on aggregate.

Today: Malaga v. Porto; Estadio La Rosaleda, Malaga

Porto leads 1-0.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Arsenal: Two Fateful Minutes

2013-03-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

Arsenal outplayed Tottenham for almost 95 minutes of yesterday's edition of the North London Derby. Unfortunately, the game consisted of 97. However, it would be misguided to say that Arsenal deserved anything out of the game. Once again, the stubborn insistence on refusing to coach the basic tenets of team defense has consigned us to defeat.

That said, the first 20 minutes was one of the most heartening periods of play in the season. The side defended tenaciously and played with the drive and energy that has been sorely lacking against lesser opponents. To their credit, the hosts also defended well and kept Arsenal largely on the periphery.

Despite the overall fine play of the team, there were individuals who were found wanting. Theo Walcott was invisible throughout the match. I had expressed concern about his new contract back when he signed it, and occasions like this are exactly why. He added nothing.

Olivier Giroud was another one. The fine form he had displayed a month or two ago has dissipated to nothing. He did do a fine job in his target man duties, but without a support striker up there with him there is no one to collect the scraps. But, when he has the ball at his feet and an opportunity on goal, I never think it likely that he will score.

Exhibit A came 10 minutes in, as a long raking ball from Mikel Artera was corralled beautifully by the French striker. Had he acted decisively, he would have had a free shot on Hugo Lloris' goal. Instead, he hesitated and allowed Jan Vertonghen to slide in and clear the danger.

Other than a few crosses that Lloris collected (and one excellent intervention to cut out a low pass from the excellent Carl Jenkinson), Arsenal never seriously threatened. Our counterparts, on the other hand, were content to soak up pressure and look for an opportunity. It's odd, I had figured that they'd tear into us from the off and try and take advantage of our shaky defending. Their caution paid off though, as a single ridiculous two-minute stretch was enough to give them all three points.

It began in the 37th minute with Spurs breaking upfield on the counter. Gylfi Sigurdsson's pass to the onrushing Gareth Bale was excellent, but it should never have been allowed to put him in alone on Wojceich Szczesny. Thomas Vermaelen - who did have a decent opening 20 minutes - was caught out and could only hopelessly lunge (and miss) at the pass. Per Mertesacker was statuesque in allowing Bale to run by him uncontested.

Finally, and this may be harsh, Szczesny wasn't great on it either. Bale only had a few seconds after collecting the ball, and Szczesny did come partially out of his net. He then stopped and allowed Bale to pick his shot, where a simple dive at his feet would have had a great chance of smothering the danger (There isn't much of a penalty worry there because those tend to be cases where the forward has rounded the keeper rather than the keeper diving at the striker straight on).

Most sides in the world, coached by damn near anyone else in the world, would have been stung into action by the goal conceded and tighten things up. Arsenal, coached by the single most inept tactician in Europe, instead conceded another just like it a minute later.

This time, it was Scott Parker who played the defense-splitting pass. This time, it was Vermaelen who stood rooted in place while his man eased past him and onto the diagonal ball. This time, there wasn't much Szczesny could do, though the nitpick is that he took a terrible first few steps off his line, away from the direction that Aaron Lennon was running.

Either way, a fiercely-contested 0-0 where anything was possible became 2-0 and mission impossible in the span of two minutes, mainly because the powers that be at this club couldn't coach Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta to defend a parking space.

The hits kept coming, too. Just before the hour mark, Tomas Rosicky made a substitute appearance. I'm fine with that...hell, he probably should have started in place of Aaron Ramsey. But, instead of taking off the Welshman (who was in the book by this point, mind), he took off Jenkinson and shifted Ramsey to right back. The best part is that the Corporal was easily our best player on the day on both sides of the ball. He put in quite a few tasty crosses that deserved better, and his energy often had the home side on the back foot.

While Rosicky did provide some incisive passes once the rust came off, overall the substitution had made us significantly less dangerous. Had it been for Ramsey, the balance would have been far better.

To be fair though, it was a wonderful, slashing run from Ramsey that led to our goal. The Welshman eviscerated three defenders before being hauled down just outside the area. Walcott curled a decent ball into the 18, which was contested by Mertesacker and Bale. The BFG got a slight touch, deflecting it off of Bale's head and past the diving Lloris.

I won't lie - despite it all, I thought 2-2 was the most likely scoreline once that one went in. Perhaps this was the last dregs of my naivety talking, but I felt like we'd kick on and remind our neighbors about their place in the world. Instead, Arsenal muddled along the same way they had before. Actually, the best two chances of the remaining time both fell to Spurs. Bale missed a sitter when Sigurdsson put a chance for him on a plate (OMG BETTER THAN MESSI!), then the Icelandic midfielder passed up a wide-open shot to try and pass to the double-covered Bale.

And that, friends, is the real kick in the balls about this game. Spurs are a very good team, but they are far from being a great one. As bad as we've been this season, as horrific as the last month or two have been, we still easily could have won this game. I shudder to think about what United are going to do to us when we play them next.

The rest of the half petered out, and even six minutes of injury time were not enough to fashion a half-decent chance to test Lloris. Our season went out with a soundless whimper, against our most hated rivals.

Save us, unnamed Qatari businessmen. You're our only hope.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Szczesny 6, Monreal 7, Vermaelen 4, Mertesacker 5, Jenkinson 8 (Rosicky 7), Arteta 7 (Podolski 6), Wilshere 6, Ramsey 6, Cazorla 7, Walcott 5, Giroud 5

Man of the Match: LEEEEERRRROOOOOYYYY Jenkinson! One of the few bright spots of a miserable day.

Preview by Numbers: Tottenham Hotspur v. Arsenal

2013-03-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

White Hart Lane, London

Sunday, March 3

11:00 a.m. EST, 16:00 GMT

Match Officials

Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Assistants: Darren Cann and Simon Beck
4th Official: Andre Marriner

Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 5 - 2 Tottenham
This Match, Last Year: Tottenham 2 - 1 Arsenal
All-Time in All Competitions: 71 Arsenal wins, 53 Tottenham wins, 45 draws
Arsenal's League Form: L-W-D-W-W-W
Tottenham's League Form: D-D-D-W-W-W
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 9 C / 49 F

It would not be difficult for me to explain, in words, how important this North London derby is for both teams involved. However, I am instead going to do it with numbers, and a chart, because it's more striking that way. I'm pretty sure it should enlarge when you click it.

The chart covers the percentage chance each team will qualify in the top four. On the far left, you see the current situation. Spurs are at 67%, Arsenal are at 53.2%. The second series of bars shows you what happens to the scenario if Arsenal wins; they basically switch. Arsenal's odds improve to nearly 72%, Spurs drops close to 50%. In the third series, if Tottenham wins, Arsenal's odds plummet below 38%, while Spurs will nearly be at 82%. If it's a draw (far right), very little changes.

The magnitude of this six-pointer is right there in the chart. It's a drastic swing in both directions. A match of this importance to the table would be huge anyway, but throw into the mix that it's a derby, and suddenly Sunday is much more than just a football game.

Sunday will define this season for both of these teams, in one way or the other. Or, they'll draw, and it'll define nothing...

Arsenal Squad News

Out: Sagna (knee), Gibbs (thigh)
Doubts: Diaby (calf)

Bacary Sagna will miss out on the derby on Sunday. Last year
at White Hart Lane, the advertising board broke his leg.

SOUND THE KLAXON! DIABY IS A DOUBT! DIABY KLAXON!!

It sounds as if Diaby is on the more likely than 50/50 side to be available with a slight calf problem, but that's not really the big story, since I would not have expected him to start. Then again, Arsene Wenger has been deploying Santi Cazorla on the wing and playing with an extra midfielder, so I don't know what's going on anymore.

The bigger news is that Bacary Sagna is still out with a knee injury he suffered against Bayern Munich. After Sunday, Arsenal have 10 days off before the second leg in Germany, so one hopes Bac will be better by then. In the meantime, boyhood Arsenal fan Carl Jenkinson will get another chance, and you just know he'll want to impress against the hated Spurs.

Wait, doesn't Gareth Bale play on that side? Fuck.

Predicted XI: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertescaker, Vermaelen, Monreal, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott, Giroud.

Tottenham Squad News

Out: Dempsey (calf), Huddlestone (knee), Defoe (ankle), Sandro (knee)
Doubts: Kaboul (knee)

Bale Bale Bale Bale Bale. Bale Bale. Bale Bale Bale. Bale.

Spurs are without American-international-who-is-now-dead-to-me Clint Dempsey for a fortnight with a calf injury. Sandro is out for the season with a knee injury he picked up against QPR in January. Tom Huddlestone has not played since late January with a knee injury. Jermain Defoe last appeared against West Brom earlier this month and left with an ankle injury after 39 minutes.

Younes Kaboul is close to a return; he's been out since August with a knee injury which required surgery.

As for the rest of Spurs' squad news: Bale Bale Bale Bale Bale Bale Bale.

Current Form

Santi Cazorla scored twice last week against
Highlighter Fashion Disaster F.C.

Arsenal's form has been all over the map in February, much like it was last season. Arsenal went through the month of February last year moderately unfazed in the league, but they crashed out of the FA Cup to Sunderland and lost 4-0 in Milan, which put a damper on things. This year, they've won four of five in the league, but crashed out of the FA Cup to Blackburn and lost 3-1 to Bayern Munich. It's basically the same exact situation. And at that stage last year, Arsenal beat Tottenham 5-2 to emphatically turn things around. The similarities are eerie.

As for Spurs, you may or may not have realized that they are unbeaten in 11 league games dating back to December. They also lost to Leeds United in that span, but I digress; we're talking about the league here. After losing to Everton on December 9, Spurs have won seven league games, drawn four, and lost none. The list of teams beaten, however, isn't particularly impressive: Swansea, Villa, Sunderland, Reading, West Brom, Newcastle, and West Ham. They've drawn Manchester United in this span, but they've also drawn QPR, Norwich, and Stoke. However, 11 games unbeaten is an impressive run, no doubt about it.

Match Facts

Let's aim for this again, shall we?

Since Arsenal's last trip to White Hart Lane, these two sides have met twice at the Emirates, with Arsenal winning both by a 5-2 scoreline. You'll remember those stories well, no doubt. Earlier this year, Spurs went ahead early but were reduced to ten men after a red card to Emmanuel Adebayor. Arsenal then scored four straight before Spurs pulled one back. The Gunners added a final goal in injury time for good measure, just so they could duplicate the now famous scoreline from last year's match at the Emirates.

You'll remember that story well too, I'm sure. Spurs went ahead 2-0 and were coasting as they suspected they would widen that gap they kept telling us to mind. Then, a booming Bacary Sagna header and Arsenal were back in it, level by halftime. Tomas Rosicky put Arsenal ahead in the second half, then Theo Walcott scored his patented goal (under the keeper's arm and into the far corner from the right wing) twice to make it 5-2.

Arsenal's record at the Lane has not been so peachy in recent years. More often than not, the games at the Lane ended in draws during the Wenger era. Arsenal's 2-2 draw there in 2004 won the league for the Invincibles (even if Spurs drew the match via a late penalty.) That match made it four straight league derbies at the Lane that ended level. Arsenal won the next league meeting there 5-4 in November of 2004. Then, three more draws across all competitions, before a 3-1 Arsenal win in September of 2007. Spurs won a Carling Cup semi-final second leg 5-1 in January of 2008, then drew 0-0 in the league there in 2009 (famous for Eboue being sent off within 37 minutes.) That match, by the way, is the start of Arsenal's poor record with Mike Dean, but that's another story. Spurs then won 2-1 in April of 2010 (that's covered below, as the referee was the same that day,) then lost 4-1 in extra time in the Carling Cup in September, drew 3-3 in April of 2011, and won last year 2-1.

So, after all of that, what it amounts to is that Arsenal have not won a league game at White Hart Lane since the 3-1 in September of 2007. Adebayor scored twice.

The Referee

Sassy Face.

The referee is Tyne & Wear-based Mark Clattenburg.

A brief aside: at the pub on Saturday during the Villa match, there was a brief conversation about how bad Arsenal's record is with Mike Dean in the middle (regular readers of this blog feature will know how often I highlight it.) At that moment, I (the go-to guy for referee facts) was asked with which referee Arsenal have the best record, since their record is clearly worst with Dean. I responded with Mark Clattenburg and we've been rewarded with him for the North London derby, perhaps as a test for my judgment.

Arsenal have lost with Clattenburg against Tottenham at White Hart Lane in the past; that happened in April of 2010. You may recall Danny Rose, something something something. But, after that match, Arsenal then went on a seven match winning streak with Clattenburg in the middle. That streak was snapped by Michu and Swansea City at the Emirates in December, but was perhaps restarted against Michu and Swansea City at the Emirates in January. So, Arsenal have won eight of their last nine matches with Clattenburg in the middle. The only referee trend Arsenal have that's better right now is that they've never lost at home with Howard Webb, but that was relevant in the reverse fixture.

As for Tottenham's record with Clattenburg since that April 2010 evening, they have won five of seven, including one match this year (against West Brom.) At the end of last season, Clattenburg was in the middle of a damaging 1-0 Spurs loss at QPR in which Spurs could not find an equalizer against ten men after Adel Taarabt (the goalscorer) was sent off. Back in October of 2010, he also screwed over Tottenham at Old Trafford, allowing Nani to score from a live ball while Spurs believed it was their free kick.

Around the League

There is no early game on either Saturday or Sunday this week. Sky Sports is airing Scottish Cup quarter-finals in those time slots.

Saturday: Chelsea v. West Bromwich Albion; Stamford Bridge, London
Saturday: Everton v. Reading; Goodison Park, Liverpool
Saturday: Manchester United v. Norwich City; Old Trafford, Manchester
Saturday: Southampton v. Queens Park Rangers; St. Mary's, Southampton
Saturday: Stoke City v. West Ham United; Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
Saturday: Sunderland v. Fulham; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Saturday: Swansea City v. Newcastle United; Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Saturday (late): Wigan Athletic v. Liverpool; DW Stadium, Wigan
Monday (night): Aston Villa v. Manchester City; Villa Park, Birmingham

Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa: Grinding it Out

2013-02-23T13:35:00.000-05:00

This was not a match that you will rave about on your deathbed to your grandkids. It was not pretty, exciting or effective for long stretches - and frankly, any other opponent would have walked away with all three points. But, you can only play what is in front of you, and Arsenal did just enough to drag themselves over the line to what may prove to be a vital victory.

Arsenal reversed their usual script against weaker sides, as they started strongly and nabbed a goal before many fans had found their seats. I didn't see who took the first shot, which was blocked by Nathan Baker. The rebound came out to Santi Cazorla, who brilliantly threaded the needle through two sets of legs and past the unsighted Brad Guzan.

Put the ball on net, and good things can happen.

The good guys dominated possession for a while after the goal, but settled into their now-familiar offensive stasis. Eventually, the visitors were able to haul themselves back into the contest and started to create chances of their own.

Frustratingly, both of Villa's most threatening first-half attacks came down our left wing with no one challenging the wide player. Would it have killed our coaching staff to pop the DVD of the Bayern match in sometime in the interim and break down what went wrong?

The first came when the excellent Andreas Weimann bombed down the left wing, with Nacho Monreal much too far off of him. His cross was dead on the mark, but Gabriel Agbonlahor failed to latch on to it. Several minutes later, Wojceich Szczesny was called into action on a similar situation. It was Weimann again who had the run of our left side, and his cross came in to Agbonlahor. The striker's effort was a decent hit, but at a comfortable height for the keeper to save.

Amazingly, Arsenal couldn't muster a response and were at times overrun by one of the poorest sides in the division. The Villains were up to 60% possession at one stage, a spell of pressure that saw Szczesny again called into action to parry a drive by Charles N'Zogbia.

The home side's ball-retention issues were mainly due to an indifferent effort from our midfield, Abou Diaby particularly culpable. Before he hobbled off with an injury for the ten-millionth time, he exhibited several poor touches, misplaced passes and giveaways in the middle of the park.

There were defensive issues as well, Thomas Vermaelen again at the heart of it. A feint from N'Zogbia put the captain on his backside, but thankfully the ball bobbled away from the Villa man before he could fire a shot on goal.

It wasn't all Villa though, as our guys managed a few half-chances. The best of them came from a neat passing move between Cazorla and Jack Wilshere. The Spaniard then sprung Olivier Giroud with a nice one-two, but the angle was tough for the Frenchman. Guzan cut it down further by coming off his line decisively, and he smothered the shot well.

That concluded one of the duller halves of football I've seen. Don't get me wrong, it's not in the same class as South Korea 0-0 Bolivia from the 1994 World Cup or anything - that's always the gold standard in terrible football for me - but it was boring. The second half had a livelier start though, as Giroud and Ciaran Clark both missed gilt-edged chances within the first few minutes.

Inevitably, that spark of life died out and the match resumed its former tedium. Arsenal probed around the edges of the Villa penalty area, but could not find a way through. The match was screaming for a few substitutions or a change in approach, but of course none were forthcoming. As is all too typical this season, our willingness to drift through games was punished by a thoroughly preventable goal.

For some reason, the center-halves continued to press forward despite our slender lead. An attack was broken up, and one of their defenders launched a simple Route One ball forward. Carl Jenkinson failed to clear it, and somehow Weimann was allowed to run unchallenged perhaps 10 yards with the ball. Jenkinson retreated to the wing to prevent a pass to the onrushing wide man, but Nacho Monreal was there and should have pressed. Instead, he retreated and allowed the Austrian all the time he wanted to pick out his shot. Weimann belted one on net. Szczesny saw it the whole way and it was from a fair distance out. However, it looked like he didn't expect the shot, and it slithered through his hands and in.

I hate to say it - I'm as big a fan of the Pole in Goal as anyone - but he is in horrendous form and our lack of an experienced backup pushing him for his place is beginning to cost us. What Lord Ferg over at the Evil Empire has done with De Gea and Lindegaard is instructive.

That finally sparked the boss into action, Lukas Podolski coming on for Jenkinson. Villa had opted for a full-scale bunker at this point, and Jenks had played a bit of a mare anyway.

It was all Arsenal at this point, but I'd be lying if I said I thought a goal was coming. Giroud, another guy woefully out of form and only playing because of our criminally-negligent lack of options, could only direct an open header right at Guzan. Things looked dire, and the mood didn't improve when Podolski couldn't manage to get to a wonderful low cross across the face of goal from Cazorla.

But, our Malaga Connection came through at the last to rescue the points. Wilshere started the move, playing a wonderful chipped pass over the Villa backline. Monreal timed his run to perfection, and he expertly sent a low cross into the penalty area. Cazorla received it in a shocking amount of space, and he made no mistake in lashing a shot into the far corner.

How badly did we need that one?

Theo Walcott came off for Laurent Koscielny to see out the last few minutes, which was done with a minimum of fuss. So, a big win for the men in red, although it wasn't quite as decisive as I'd have liked. Still, the points were the important thing coming off of our latest Worst Week Ever, and now we are just a point behind our nearest and dearest. If they drop points away to West Ham on Monday, we'll come out of this round of fixtures in good shape heading into the North London Derby next week.

That said, Arsenal is going to have to significantly step up their game if they're going to get a result out of that game. I don't think it's hyperbole to say our season hangs in the NLD balance.

The Modern Gooner Player Ratings:

Szczesny 5, Monreal 7, Vermaelen 6, Mertesacker 7, Jenkinson 5 (Podolski 6), Arteta 7, Diaby 5 (Ramsey 7), Cazorla 8, Wilshere 7, Walcott 6 (Koscielny N/A), Giroud 5

Man of the Match: No mystery here. Santi Cazorla.