This time last year I spent a couple of days doing squad assessment posts, taking look at each player and giving them a grade.

We’ve been doing end of season ratings over on Arseblog News, but I thought, in order not to drag it out, we could Twitterfy the assessments this year and keep them below 140 characters each (mostly). Starting with:

GOALKEEPERS

Wojciech Szczeseny: Not outrageously bad but became a bit complacent, got dropped for Fabianski and came back more more focused. Can, and must, do better. C

Lukasz Fabianski: Came in from the cold after a year out injured, played well, got injured again. Gets a B on performances alone.

Vito Mannone: Had early season chances when Szczesny’s ankle was bollixed, did ok, but never enough to convince he’s got a long-term future. C-

DEFENDERS

Bacary Sagna: Struggled in what could be his final season with us. The impact of two broken legs hard to ignore. Loved that Sunderland display though C-.

Carl Jenkinson: Much improved, signed a new deal, now nearly as famous as his dad. C+.

Per Mertesacker: Solid, reliable, consistent, like an experienced pack mule. You try moving stuff up mountains without a mule. B+

Laurent Koscielny: Had some early season wobbles and was obviously hypnotised by Pulis when making the rugby tackle against Man City. Stormed back like a hero. B+

Thomas Vermaelen: It just never happened for the captain, his form was wayward, he gave away penalties and assists and found himself benched for the run-in. D

Sebastian Squillaci: *unfollowed* – Z

Johan Djourou: Played just twice before being shipped off to the Bundesliga to present a range of shows on ‘Die Shopping-Kanal’. N/G.

Kieran Gibbs: It’d fair to say he’s made progress this season. Still a bit brittle but left back looks healthy with the competition between him and Nacho. C+

Nacho Monreal: From Malaga to London in January. That is a change and a half but he coped well enough and hopefully we’ll see the best of him next season. C.

Andre Santos: #wtf [instagram pic of some poo] – D-

MIDFIELD

Mikel Arteta: His consistency is amazing, faded towards the end of the season, but relished the responsibility and was a crucial part of the team. B

Abou Diaby: Started the season well but then                                                                      before coming back and then                                        once more. Knackered again, we should take him to the woods then drive off. E.

Aaron Ramsey: Grew as the season progressed and played a very important role in our end of season run-in. Has a good platform to kick on for next season. C+

Jack Wilshere: Worries about his injuries still dominate. Hopefully the surgery will see him get through next season without problems so he can reach his potential. C

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Suffered a bit from second-season syndrome but showed enough near the end to suggest he won’t be Terence Trent D’Arby. C-

Francis Coquelin: Arsene Wenger got his Coq out quite regularly in the first half of the season, but from January on we saw little of his thrusting runs or combative tackle. D

Tomas Rosicky: In cryogenic deep-freeze from August – February, made his now customary contribution to the run-in adding zip and energy to midfield. C+

Santi Cazorla: What a joy he is to watch, a brilliant signing who made a fantastic contribution. Player of the season for me. A.

ATTACK

Olivier Giroud: I think it’s been a decent season for the HFB. 17 goals, 11 assists. The issue was always that we had no back-up. Showed enough to suggest he can kick on next season. B

Lukas Podolski: Similarly Podolski’s stats are good, but it’s also easy to see why doubts exist about him and how he fits into the team in the long-term. B-

Theo Walcott: Finished top scorer, got a good load of assists too, and although still frustratingly uninvolved at times, had his best season by a long way. B+

Gervinho: Ended up with 7 goals and 5 assists but it’s the horror misses that people will remember. D-

Andrei Arshavin: Ultimately a massive disappointment, content to see out the final year of his contract. About as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. F

Marouane Chamakh: *reported for spam* FO

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So, there you go. If you want to have a look at the ones on Arseblog News, they’re here in parts 1 – defence, 2 – midfield and 3 – attack. Ratings are, of course, subjective and not meant to be definitive. Argue, debate, discuss, by all means, but don’t get your nose out of joint over them, life’s too short.

And speaking of life being too short, silly season is well and truly upon us with plenty of rumours flying about. I did enjoy the fella who declared that Arsenal had tabled a €30m bid for Stevan Jovetic, spent the next couple of hours re-tweeting the fact he was trending in certain regions, along with people’s tweets of praise, yet remained steadfastly silent when Fiorentina quite categorically denied they’d had any contact at all with Arsenal.

Given the expectation and, let’s face it, optimism (misplaced or not) that surrounds our summer business, I suspect there’ll be plenty more of this kind of stuff, as there’s nothing in this world that garners clicks and follows like an Arsenal transfer story. Worth bearing in mind, especially as we haven’t even reached June yet.

Till tomorrow.

After Arsenal secured fourth place with the 1-0 win over Newcastle United and a chance of Champions League football next season, Arsene Wenger hailed his “special” players. In particular, he praised their mental strength as they overturned a seven-point gap from Tottenham Hotspur. The resilience showed in the team’s performances as they went nine league games unbeaten, and swapped their usual swashbuckling style for a more pragmatic approach. The belief was sowed after Arsenal’s Champions League win over Bayern Munich and set the tone for the rest of the season. It was a design based on efficiency, greater organisation and communication at the back but very reliant on taking what little chances the team creates. Arsenal took those chances and while getting to fourth place was overwhelmingly team effort, here are the five players who I think stood out most in 2012/13.

1. Santi Cazorla

The selfless way in which Santi Cazorla ended the season almost makes you forget just how good he was at the start of the campaign. Indeed, he had to alter his game twice for Arsenal in the season; the first, when he joined the club, as he was deployed in what was at the time, an unfamiliar role just behind the striker. He certainly gave no impressions as such when the season kicked-off and he started incredibly, asserting himself as the hub of creativity that Arsenal were built around. But that was also the team’s problem because at times – especially during a bleak period in the middle of the season – they were too reliant on the Spanish schemer.

Cazorla’s best performance was probably in the 3-1 win in October against West Ham United, showing just why he has the best passing figures in the final third of any player in the top 5 leagues. As ever, he glided across the pitch to always end up in dangerous positions but it’s remarkable to see just how high he played in that match: almost on level with Olivier Giroud. Actually, Wenger deserves a lot of credit for the tactical foresight to play Cazorla as the “second striker” and in the game, unsettled West Ham’s defence by starting high up, moving backwards to receive the ball and then bursting forward unexpectedly to get into good scoring or passing positions. That’s how he got his goal in the game, picking the ball up on the edge of the area and letting fly with his left-foot.

It was when Tomas Rosicky returned to the side that Arsenal could share the burden of creativity and Santi Cazorla was shifted to the left wing. He was less explosive from the side but he was no less influential, often drifting infield and getting into positions that he only knew how to get to, yet was still Arsenal’s chief playmaker. It will be interesting to see how Arsenal share the responsibility to create next season; fielding Cazorla in a roaming role on the left allows Wenger to name another creative midfielder in the line-up. Yet, Cazorla is so good that he must surely be central to Arsenal’s plans next season.

2. Per Mertesacker

Criminally, it took three-quarters of the season for Arsene Wenger to make Laurent Koscielny his 1st-choice centre-back (although it is said it might have come sooner had Naxto Monreal not arrived when he did as having a left-footer alongside him – Thomas Vermaelen – would supposedly bed him into the squad much quicker). Thankfully, Wenger realised Per Mertesacker’s worth earlier in the season although it came at a cost: a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in September in which he was dropped because it was felt he lacked the mobility to cope with The Blues front four. However, Mertesacker was a mainstay in the side soon after.

Laurent Koscielny’s stellar end to the campaign was probably more aesthetically pleasing but Mertesacker represented an ideological shift to Arsenal’s backline, and that’s why he makes it ahead of him in this list. Because Per Mertesacker does things that the other centre-backs don’t do, and his presence in the line-up has a calming effect on whoever he partners. That has been evident in the case of Koscielny whose performances alongside captain Vermaelen had looked slightly erratic, as the stats show here, but has improved immensely with Mertesacker alongside him. Indeed, is there a case, considering the contrast in displays from the first half of the season to the second, that Mertesacker makes Koscielny better? The answer is probably no, but the fact that it is even discussed highlights how crucial Mertesacker has become to this Arsenal side.

3. Mikel Arteta

If I was to say Arsenal were a stronger team in 2012/13 as opposed to the last, much of that reasoning would be down to Mikel Arteta. Because last season was a side largely by the awesomeness of Robin van Persie and his goals masked structural deficiencies in the squad. Alex Song and Mikel Arteta weren’t much of a partnership as neither player took responsibility to hold in front of the defence. This season, Arteta has done just that on his own and in the second half of the campaign, was liberated in a sense, by the breakthrough of Aaron Ramsey.

Tactically, Arteta has been superb, breaking up play with both his reading of play and improved robustness in the challenge. Indeed, those are backed up by the stats, completing on average 3.2 tackles per game and 3 interceptions, making him Arsenal’s best defensive player (and top 10 in the Premier League). But he’s also the team’s first line of attack, initiating forward play with his accurate passing (and has an underrated burst of pace too which allows him to get away from the opponent’s first line of press).

4. Theo Walcott

While Gareth Bale often finds his free-kicks hit the back of the net with pinpoint accuracy, Theo Walcott can sometimes see his shanked horribly off-target. Both practice hard at set-pieces; Theo Walcott more so on his technique than necessarily trying to craft a niche from such shooting opportunities. For Gareth Bale, detail is everything, from the stance to the run up, and he strikes the ball in particular way so that it achieves maximum top spin rather than bend.

From that example, one might dissect a harsh conclusion of the paths of the two careers, but players both ought to be mentioned in the same breath as the season now that the season is behind us.

Theo Walcott’s numbers are magnificent, scoring 14 goals and delivering 10 assists altogether in the league. He’s not carried the team quite in the same sense Gareth Bale has, and in any case, the comparisons are unfair, but he’s transformed himself into one of the best players in the Premier League.

Walcott’s performances in the middle of the season in particular, were of the level we’d expect him to become and against Newcastle in the 7-3 win, he delivered one of the most destructive performances of the season. Theo Walcott is key for Arsenal because he’s probably the only player who gives depth to their attack, whether that’s starting from the middle or the right.

5. Olivier Giroud

The popularity of Olivier Giroud it’s argued is symptomatic of the club going nowhere fast. Whether that’s the case or not, it must be agreed that he has had to shoulder a tremendous amount of responsibility. He’s Arsenal’s only recognised striker – and as such, only probably makes this list by default. Nevertheless, it’s still been a big season for Giroud.

He has scored 11 league goals, which is not a shabby return for somebody who is still developing himself. But his role goes beyond being just the main goalscorer and as such, it is probably why Wenger is willing to overlook some of his deficiencies. Not that he has many because Giroud can do everything. He’s technical (for a big man), can hold the ball up, and bring others into play, runs the channels well and works very hard. That means it carries little risk for a team that is still adapting to playing with each other. In that sense, Giroud acts as bit of a buffer, lessening the impact of this adjustment period by taking hits for the team as they strive to find better balance and understanding. Of course, Giroud still has a fair bit to go before he can call himself Arsenal’s undisputed first-choice striker but for Wenger, that’s alright if only what Giroud does is make Arsenal play.

Honourable mentions

Aaron Ramsey: Had a great end to the campaign, and promises to be a crucial player for Arsenal once he becomes a little more decisive.

Kieran Gibbs: Has tough competition in the form of Monreal but has arguably surpassed him in recent months. His recovery speed is a huge plus.

Laurent Koscielny: Another player who ended the season well, if only because he never really got the chance earlier on. His anticipation is a joy to watch.

So, off into the summer we go after a day of relative peace and enjoyment across Goonerdom.

There was much to bask in, those who belittle celebrations of where we finished miss the entire point of being a fan. When the papers write you off, when opposition managers do likewise … so prematurely too, and when the same manager has a pop at your goalkeeper for speaking what turned out to be the truth, there’s a lot of fun in gloating.

It doesn’t mean we’ve lost sight of the bigger picture or lack perspective about the season in general, but it’s as part and parcel of the game as goals and cards and tackles and fixture congestion and certain players celebrating in games they didn’t even play in. If you could find no enjoyment from the outcome of the final day (distinct from the day and the events as they were unfolding), then you might need to think again about why you follow football.

In the wake of that finish came a statement from Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis, who made it clear the club have greater ambitions than that and have plans to make things better this summer. He said:

It is important to reiterate that for everyone at the Club, qualification for the Champions League is not our ultimate ambition. Our majority owner Mr Kroenke has made it clear that while it’s an achievement to make the Champions League our ultimate objective is to win the major trophies. We all share that clear ambition and will be driving the Club forward to achieve it. Arsène and I have already been planning what we need to do to strengthen so we are better placed next season.

In terms of what he said, I don’t know that anyone could argue with the sentiment, but there’s certainly a credibility issue here. I know that gauging reaction to a piece online doesn’t provide you a definitive view of how fans think, but many people simply don’t believe him. The fact that below the statement came a link to renew gold level season tickets provided perfect fodder for those who think that this is all just cynically timed talk to get people to renew before we sell everyone and replace them with cheap, injured imports from Ligue 3 (is there a Ligue 3?).

While I’m convinced that this summer will see a change in how we spend and the quality of players we target, I can understand the other point of view also. Once bitten, and all that. We’ve heard the talk many times, but until people see Arsene and Ivan put the money where their mouth are they will remain skeptical. Actions speaking louder than words and all that.

I think the changes in our financial situation, along with the ever-increasing pressure for the club to create a team which can, at the very least, challenge for the title, will see us do more in the transfer market this summer than we have in any year under Arsene Wenger. We already have money to spend, the coffers are boosted by new commercial income which provides stability and increases spending power, plus we know we’ve got another year of Champions League income too, so there really are no excuses not to improve the team.

All three of the teams above us are about to change their managers, we’re now in a stronger position than we’ve ever been since the move to the new stadium, and while I’ve understood some of the caution of recent years, there comes a time when you have to speculate to accumulate. I don’t mean going out and just spending money for the sake of it, but using this financial power to purchase wisely and properly.

I don’t think you’ll ever stop Arsene Wenger trying to unearth the hidden gems, but you can take a gamble or two when you’ve brought in established quality. I’ve got no problem whatsoever with a free Yaya Sanogo as long as we draft in somebody with experience to immediately improve the team. Already we’ve seen names like Lewandowski and Higuain bandied about. Yes, please. This is the calibre of player we should be looking at in the first instance, and there’s no harm adding some depth to the squad with a Sanogo-esque deal once that’s done.

Maybe it’s just me and my glass half-full ways, but I think there’s a real chance for Arsenal to kick on to another level next season. That’s part of why finishing 4th was such a celebration because it makes it easier for us to do it. You have to be blind not to see the potential. Champions League football is a big draw for the kind of players we, hopefully, want to bring in, and although what we needed to wouldn’t have changed with a 5th place finish, it would have been so much more difficult to achieve.

We’ve come through some years of pain and austerity since the move to the Emirates, but the club have been very open in recent times about how they can do things differently now. The money is there, there’s some medium to long-term assurance about off-pitch income and how that can increase, we’ve maintained our place at Europe’s top table, and there is, in my opinion, the core of a good squad there.

I fully understand those who have doubts, but I really believe that with the proper additions, I don’t see any reason why we can’t fight properly for the title next season. And isn’t that what everyone has wanted all along? The trophy-less years are a frustration but the bigger issue for me is our lack of competitiveness and the inability to go the distance in a season. We now have what it takes to address that issue.

It’s easy to talk about how ambitious you are, it’s another thing entirely to show it. We’ve worked so hard to get to this point, it would be almost criminal not to take advantage of it. The money’s there, go spend it and spend it properly.

Till tomorrow.

Match report – By the numbers – Player ratings – Video

Anyone who tells you they enjoyed any moment of yesterday that came before the final whistle in our game is either a liar or just not very well in the head.

I felt unwell throughout the game, stomach churningly unwell. Once Howard Webb had blown up, it was like I’d been given an injection of delicious morphine. When Theo Walcott bamboozled his way through the Newcastle defence and hit the post just after the news that Bale had scored at White Hart Lane, I had visions of that miss being like a Leicester penalty. It felt like a Newcastle goal was inevitable.

Thankfully, it didn’t happen, we closed the game out, won the match, finished fourth and secured Champions League football at the expense of our neighbours who, let it not be forgotten, crowed a bit too early after beating us at their place in February. Andre Vilas Boas spoke about how we were in a “negative spiral” and with a 7 point lead and 10 games to go it looked like a tall order, in fairness.

8 wins and 2 draws later, 26 points from 30, and here we are. Our spiral – wonderfully illustrated here by @Antouman – was the most positive we produced all season. We hadn’t gone any further than 5 games without a loss for the duration of the campaign, but when it came right down to it we produced at exactly the right time.

You have to give credit to the players for the way they ground out results and to the manager and his assistant for realising that this team needed to change in order to get where we needed to. There was, I believe, a realisation that we couldn’t play the expansive, attacking football Arsene Wenger likes. I think it came down to lack of quality in the squad and the manager cut his cloth accordingly.

Instead of going out to win games, we set out first and foremost not to lose them. The away win at Bayern Munich provided an instant boost after a miserable couple of weeks, and from then on we saw an Arsenal team that defended well and ground out results in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever seen from a Wenger team. Thomas Vermaelen, the club captain, was dropped for Laurent Koscielny and the goalkeeping situation was improved by the addition of Fabianski and the kick up the hole it gave Szczesny while he contemplated life on the bench and, at times, not even in the squad.

I don’t think we can underestimate what a risk the Fabianski move in particular was, bringing back an error prone keeper who had spent a year out of the game with injury, but in the end his record was P5, W5, keeping two vital clean sheets away at Munich and Swansea. As for Vermaelen, he struggled this season, no doubt about it, and when Koscielny came into the team he never looked back.

He’s forged an outstanding partnership with Per Mertesacker, they complement each other brilliantly, but it’s helped by the fact the Frenchman has developed into a quite brilliant centre-half. His performance yesterday epitomised the team over the last few months. He was solid, hard-working, brave and committed, and when Arsenal needed a goal from somewhere he gave it to us for the second year in a row.

Against West Brom last season he hooked home what turned out to be the winner in the 55th minute. Yesterday he hooked home the winner in the 52nd. Similar time, similar goals. If you’ve ever been hit by lightning, avoid standing under a tree in a storm with Koscielny because it strikes twice when that bloke is around. It was hard to see where a goal was coming from, I have to say, grabbing it in a 1-0 from a set-piece, how very Arsenal.

It meant an excruciating final half hour or so. It wasn’t a goal we built on, but became lead we were determined not to lose. Thankfully the home side weren’t up to much but like so many of the games in recent weeks it’s hard not to fear the deflection, the moment of brilliance, the spawny rebound. It never happened, and Sp*rs ultimate misery was compounded by misinformation that spread through the stands about a Newcastle equaliser.

Arsene, and the players, celebrated with vigour at the final whistle, and criticism of that is beyond churlish in my opinion. While there wasn’t a trophy at the end, this was a game with a huge amount at stake. Those who complain about celebrating would be vociferous and vicious about us finishing 5th, and, frankly, after the run-in they deserve to enjoy what they’ve done. I don’t think anybody’s suggesting it’s the same as actually winning something, but it has to be viewed in perspective and under the circumstances it was completely understandable.

We’ve just gone 10 games unbeaten in the league, beaten off Sp*rs to finish in the top four, got Champions League football next season, on the day what is there to not celebrate? Should teams who avoid relegation with a dramatic last day result remain stoic and unmoved by what they do? The league title is the main prize but within the league there are many smaller competitions and we were involved in one yesterday.

Afterwards, Arsene Wenger said:

In the last three months, I believe we have been remarkably consistent. We won every away game so it’s a good springboard for next season, to transfer that belief into the start of next season. Since February 1, we have taken more points than anybody else in the league. I don’t believe that’s just down to coincidence, just to the fact that the group has grown. This team has grown throughout the season.

And it’s hard to argue with that. Results bear it out and our final league position is the one we deserved based on what we did over the duration the season. Yet there’s still much to do and what we’ve done ought to the very minimum requirement for this football club. Without wishing to put a dampener on proceedings, we can’t forget the dismal cup exits, nor can we ignore the 17 point gap between us and the champions.

I don’t think that’s being negative, that’s being realistic, and while we should all enjoy what we’ve done since that defeat at Sp*rs, we can also want the manager and the team to improve for 2013-14. I was reading back on last season’s post-final game blog, and this is what I said at the bottom:

To be perfectly honest, I’m quite glad to see the back of this season. It can go and sodomise itself with a rusty spoon as far as I’m concerned. We can use the summer to recharge our batteries, take stock of where we are, and then make plans to improve. In the end there was a 20 point gap between us and the champions, and we need to work on closing that.

I feel much the same this time around. While there was a pay-off and release on the final day, I don’t think it was particularly enjoyable throughout. There was too much wrong, on and off the pitch, too much anger, too much frustration and silliness, and it was borne out of what the club did, or failed to do, in preparation for this campaign.

There’ll be those who’ll say it’s Groundhog Day, that we’ll simply repeat the cycle next year, but my hope is that it will be different simply because the financial landscape has changed. If we haven’t used the money available to us, a decision made by the manager, perhaps it was borne out of caution because we lacked a safety net. Now, with a big lump coming in from Emirates, and further funds to be added through the new kit deal, we’ve got the ability to spend bigger and better than we have.

And make no mistake that’s what we have to do. Arsene spoke about how it was great that we wouldn’t be losing players this summer. Although I think one or two will depart we won’t be losing a star (is that because we don’t have one to lose?!), and he’s right to speak about the benefit of stability. Yet stability without additions will mean stasis, we have to progress and improve.

Finishing fourth gives us the platform to attract good players because of Champions League football, the increased financial security gives us the ability to buy those players, and keeping the squad together allows us to take a step forward without having taken two backwards as we have in summers past.

But look, we’ve got a whole summer to worry about those things, to debate and discuss and get wrapped up in the silly season and speculation. For now, let’s take heart from the fact that both on the pitch and off, we can see with much more clarity how progress can be made, and take it from there.

Till tomorrow.

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So here we are, the final day of the season.

After a long and, at times, difficult campaign, it all comes down to what we do today. It’s in our hands and we all know what’s required. Win and we have at least a qualification game for the Champions League; draw and as long as Sp*rs don’t win we’ve got the same; win, and Chelsea lose, and we finish third.

The temptation will be to look at today as the decisive day but the reality is we are where we are because of the entirety of the season. Mistakes today will only compound the ones that came before, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t feel confident. We’ve got plenty of experience of this situation, our form is good, we’ve got good players and enough quality to win this game.

Talk of bonuses for Newcastle staff if they win today is irrelevant, it’s all down to what we do and how we play. Tuesday’s win over Wigan has, hopefully, opened the floodgates a bit in terms of goals. Podolski got his first Premier League goals in a month, Theo Walcott has scored in his last three games, Aaron Ramsey finally got a league goal, and Santi Cazorla hasn’t scored since March so he’s due one.

In terms of the team, if Arteta doesn’t make it (and I wouldn’t be surprised if they patched him up, stuck the old cortisone plunger in there and sent him out) then Jack Wilshere is the only real choice. The fact that neither player could be considered 100% fit if they do play puts an onus on the others, particularly Ramsey and Rosicky, to make up for that. Thankfully they’re both players whose energy levels make them suitable candidates for that job.

Up front, I think I’d stick with Lukas Podolski. Arsene Wenger spoke about giving him some time in the central striker position and after two games in which he found the role a bit of a struggle, he scored twice against Wigan. It would be a harsh reward to find himself benched after that, and should we need a bit more up front later on in the game then having a fresh, rested Giroud, after his ban, seems like a good option to me.

I don’t see anything changing at the back, the back four were good on Tuesday, although Nacho Monreal has usually been selected for the away games and perhaps the manager might look to his greater experience. You’ll remember Gibbs was a late sub last season, pulling off a fantastic late block to keep West Brom out, so if there’s any superstition involved that won’t be far from the manager’s mind.

Arsene Wenger says :

What is at stake is a desire to stay at the top and to play top-level European football. There is a difference between the Champions League and Europa League. Why? The Champions League plays with the best teams in Europe and that is what we want to do. Yes the financial consequences are big but that is not the most important thing for me.

We just need one more push, one more performance, one more result. As has been the mantra in recent weeks it makes no difference how we do it, once we do it. It would be nice if we could cruise through a game for once, take control and not let it go, scoring early and often, but as I said yesterday the chances of that seem slim. Not just because recent results suggest this will be a close game, but because we’re Arsenal and we just don’t do things that way.

If we can find a wringer to put ourselves through, we’ll do just that. However, I think we’ve got what it takes to win this game today. If we do that we can ignore everything else. The players know that the level of competition for next season is down to them and what they do. They’ll want Champions League football and they have to show that today. Even if the performance isn’t brilliant, there can be no excuse for lack of effort or endeavour today, and I think if we work hard enough we’ll take three points.

I can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to it, we’re playing to avoid losing something rather than winning anything, but a solid 90 minutes (plus stoppage time, of course), and we’ll have done it.

Come on you reds!

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If, for some reason, you can’t see the game later, you can follow it on the live blog, where every nail-biting kick will be brought to you in real time. Check back later for a post with all the info, or you can bookmark the default live blog page and updates will begin automatically closer to kick off.

Right, time for some breakfast, then an interminable wait for 4pm. Is it too early for a drink?

Until later.

Morning chums.

A quick Saturday round-up for you. Firstly, some quotes from some mad people who are genuinely looking forward to tomorrow’s game against Newcastle.

Arsene Wenger: Sometimes you think it would be nice to have a game with no pressure, but when you have one you think, ‘let’s get it back, it’s so boring’. What would be terrible would be to go to Newcastle and have nothing at stake for us. We have what we wanted so let’s just finish the job.

Jack Wilshere: I think excitement first of all. When we get into the game, we’ll see what happens. Maybe a bit of nerves will come into it.

Olivier Giroud has spoken about how Montpellier won the title in France on the final day of last season, and look, I get why the players and the manager have to make confident noises ahead of this game. They should feel upbeat, it’s in their hands, results have been good lately, and we’ve got the experience of having done this before. More than once.

Personally though, I don’t find anything enjoyable about it at all. If the result goes our way I’m sure I’ll be delighted and happy, but it’ll be relief more than anything else. Like finally getting off a train with no toilet and finding somewhere to have a wee after sitting cross-legged for an hour. It’s a lovely feeling but one precipitated by a period of increasing discomfort and pain.

I can’t get the final day of last season out of my head and that excruciating game against West Brom knowing that one goal would leave us in 4th. As bad as watching Mr Shinpads lift the Champions League for that pack of knobbers, knowing it would have deprived us of our spot in that tournament this season would have been unbearable.

Only a win will do for us tomorrow. Sunderland might try hard but they’ve little to play for and they’ll want to get away from their angry manager as quickly as possible. Spurs know they’ve got to win to have any chance of finishing top four and I fully expect them to do it. Although we beat Wigan quite comfortably on Tuesday night, you need only look at the sequence of our recent results to think it’s probably going to be a tight game tomorrow.

Before Wigan it’s been: 1-0, 1-1, 1-0, 0-0, 3-1, 2-1. The late, late rally against Norwich made that scoreline look more respectable than the game felt. But hey, I don’t want to come across as overly negative. I think we’ve got the form, experience and the quality to win tomorrow, but in all honesty I’m looking forward to it about as much as a trip to the dentist. And the dentist is drunk. And uses a Black and Decker drill. And instead of Novocaine he injects you with Painacaine, a new invention which makes you feel all the soreness multiplied by 75. And his hands are covered in warts and he’s not wearing gloves and at one point, as he’s leaning over you, he dribbles some of the spittle from the tobacco he’s chewing into your mouth.

So there.

In other news, away from the final day stuff, comes a story from France that we’ve agreed to sign 20 year old Auxerre striker Yaya Sanogo on a free transfer. I don’t know anything about him, really, other than he ticks a lot of the ‘haha typical Arsenal signing’ boxes in that he’s young, French and has had a lot of injury problems.

Auxerre want to keep Sanogo but he feels they didn’t treat him well during long lay-offs. Could prove masterstroke IF he stays fit #AFC

— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) May 17, 2013

So he’s apparently very talented but somewhat brittle. Therefore, getting him on a free doesn’t seem like an unreasonable gamble to take. I don’t fall into the group of people who know with absolute certainty that this is the only transfer we’ll make this summer, eschewing more experienced and better quality options simply because he’s young, French and injury prone, just how we like ‘em, har har!

Shoot me.

I suspect this is about adding some depth to the striking position for next season. We’ve bemoaned it all season long, how we didn’t have anyone to fill in when Giroud was out, not even a promising youngster. Well, if he signs now we have that option. It doesn’t mean we won’t sign anyone else because as our defensive record show this season, it’s lack of goals that have hindered us, and I think that will be a major factor in what we do in the transfer market this summer.

It’s the age old ‘You can’t please some of the people any of the time’ thing when it comes to transfers. They complain when we don’t make them, they complain when we do. They are seeking Goldilocks’ porridge in every single deal but sometimes the porridge is a bit lumpy and sometimes the porridge is a bit cold. And hey, not all the porridge is good porridge but at least give it a try before you throw your toys out of the pram.

And on that horrendously mixed metaphorical note, I’m off to try and forget about tomorrow until it happens. Have a good Saturday.

Hello and welcome to Friday.

The day of reckoning draws ever closer. By 6pm Sunday we’ll know what next season will bring in terms of European football, but it strikes me that what we need to do this summer won’t be too heavily influenced by where we end up.

Accepting that Champions League football is a draw for certain players, it doesn’t mean you can’t sign quality just because you finish outside the top four. Clearly Luis Suarez is a crazy man but he’s also a rather wonderful player. The Mugsmashers managed to sign him despite scoffing from Europe’s lesser plate and have never given him a moment of Champions League football.

The reality is that our summer business should be predicated on the massive points gap between us and the title winners, not the very small one that will exist between us and 4th if things don’t go our way on Sunday. Maybe it’ll make it a bit more difficult to do the business we want but we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves for that. Perhaps better investment last summer, or even a January booster, might have made this Sunday irrelevant, so little changes either way for me.

If we do what we need to, and win the game, it’s not as if you can mark the season down as a success. We’ll have achieved the minimum required, no more, no less. It’s not a laurel to be resting on in any way. We can be encouraged by what we’ve done in the last few weeks, and how we’ve done it, but it doesn’t alter the fact that this squad needs to be more competitive in all competitions.

Obviously the ideal situation is to win our game, see what happens in the others, and then make our plans based around that, but hopefully the word ‘contingency’ has been bandied about a bit because it would be unwise not to think it couldn’t happen to us. Still, three points makes all of those concerns subside, but between now and Sunday it’s hard not to worry.

In terms of the team for the trip to the Laura Ashley Monster Belly Bowl, we’re likely to be without Mikel Arteta with Arsene Wenger looking for a solution elsewhere:

Honestly, his chances of being available are minimal. I have to be realistic and prepare for another solution.

Jack Wilshere?

He is an option, yes. We will monitor him until Sunday and I will make a decision very late over what I will do.

To me Wilshere is the only realistic option provided he’s fit enough. We know he’s scheduled for post-season surgery on his ankle, the risk is whether or not he might cause himself some real damage. I suspect, given that he was about to come on just before Theo Walcott’s goal on Tuesday, that he’ll probably be all right. The boss said he’d only use Jack in an emergency and, well, this comes pretty close.

It’s not run around and wave your arms in the air screaming territory, but missing the experience and calm of Arteta for such an important game is hardly ideal. Ramsey and Wilshere at the base of a midfield with Rosicky at the top is about the best we could put out. There’s no Diaby, as we know. Francis Coquelin is a tidy player but he hasn’t started a game since the FA Cup defeat to Blackburn in February and his last appearance was a brief cameo as we held on against West Brom at the start of last month.

That leaves Jack, and although there are doubts over his fitness, I think we’ll be able to get something close to 90 minutes out of him. I suppose the other option is to deploy Ramsey in the Arteta role, move Rosicky back into the middle, play Santi as the most forward midfielder and play somebody else wide (perhaps Podolski with Giroud coming back as the main striker), but I’d worry that we might be a bit lightweight in there and we’ll have used up all our attacking eggs in one basket.

The Podolski/Giroud decision is another one that isn’t obvious either. After two games where he struggled, the German scored twice on Tuesday and it’d be difficult for the manager to drop him after that. Yet Giroud, for me, is a much more rounded centre-forward who holds the ball up well and will be nice and fresh after his three game ban. No doubt we’ll get more from Arsene in today’s press conference on the various permutations.

Right then, onto this week’s Arsecast and I’m joined all the way from the USA, and from Stan Kroenke’s home town no less, by Paolo Bandini. On the agenda is the Wigan game, how we cope with the absence of Arteta, the looming Newcastle game and all the other bits and pieces that have gone on this week. Also in there, some sports goods advertising while Mick Bendtner and Arshavin do a duet.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here 22mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

If you fancy a look at the book Paolo mentions, this link is your friend, and remember, the Arsecast can be found on Soundcloud (where you can subscribe/follow) as well as in their apps.

And that’s about that for this morning. We’ll have all the news from the press conference over on Arseblog News, and I’ll be back here tomorrow as usual.

Have a good one.

This is the end, beautiful friends, this is the end, my only friend, the end. Of our elaborate plans, the end of everything that stands, the end. Hmmm, Jim Morrison wasn’t really the eloquent poet he’s been made out to be was he? After 9 months of fretting, sweating and swearing, it all comes down to Sunday. The hazy Jaeger fuelled train journeys, last orders at the Euston Tap, the scramble for flights and hotels, the cheering, the jeering, the singing, the clinging, the clenching and the quenching. One final hurdle to complete ‘operation bare minimum.’

Tuesday’s victory over Wigan leaves our destiny in our own hands. Without wishing to be some kind of evangelist for anxiety, there are some reasons I won’t be resting easily before Sunday evening. For a start, I don’t like the loss of Mikel Arteta to injury, not one bit. I think he has been the foreman of our recent defensive solidity. He’s grown into the captaincy in Vermaelen’s hiatus and I think his communication and awareness, alongside Ramsey’s unrelenting energy, has been integral to our shape.

I don’t think he quite gets the credit he deserves, I suspect because the Spaniard doesn’t fit the clichéd mould of defensive midfielder that has become a bit of a fetishism for many. He’s not big, he’s certainly not ugly and he doesn’t rampage around the pitch shouting, “GRRRR! WHACK! SMASH! MEAT!”  His style is much more akin to Gilberto Silva. (Indeed, he does a similar job to a corresponding level of muted appreciation). In a team that has begun to, finally, finally see defending as a collective responsibility, his intelligence, alongside Ramsey’s lactic-tolerant limbs has assumed even more importance.

Essentially, the Arteta and Ramsey partnership perfectly genuflects the Mertesacker Koscielny axis that sits behind it. It’s a pleasing symmetry but one that bears more uncomfortable comparisons. When the BFG is missing, we don’t have a defender to replicate his calm, organisational skills and we have much the same issue with Arteta. Nobody else in the squad offers what he does and one way or another, we’re going to have to compensate with a square peg.

Much of Newcastle’s attacking strength lies behind Papiss Cisse, with the likes of Gouffran, Ben Arfa and Cabaye offering threat from midfield. Without Arteta I worry that we don’t have a shop steward figure to marshal that threat. This article points out that Newcastle’s recent tumble in form has emanated from Pardew’s increasingly negative approach. With the spectre of relegation now removed, it remains to be seen whether that caution will still inhibit them. It might free them. If it does, they have the quality in the final third to worry us.

Many Gooners may have found solace in Pardew’s ill advised “I don’t care if we lose 4-0” quip following Newcastle’s win at QPR. Despite subsequent retractions, such sound bites attract negative attention and there’s a chance he’ll have something to prove now. Pardew will want to atone with a committed performance when chief amongst Arsenal’s desires for the weekend, is that the Barcodes are mentally on the beach.

That said, there are reasons be positive, aside from the obvious that we’re better than Newcastle and really ought to beat them with a good, committed performance. I think Arsenal playing away from home in this scenario is favourable, especially against a team with little to play for. I fear the atmosphere would be very anxious and tetchy if we were playing at home. Whilst the 3,000 of us up in the gods at SJP will get through our share of fingernail sandwiches, the general environment should be a relatively dispassionate one that should allow us to relax and play our game.

The return of Giroud is a tick in the positive column too, particularly for an away match. Walcott has scored 3 and Podolski 2 in the time that Giroud has been suspended, so it feels a tad harsh to say the forward line hasn’t worked in his absence. But we have missed The Frenchman’s ability to knit the frontline together with his hold up play. Walcott and Podolski have demonstrated what we already knew. Put them in front of goal and there’s a good chance they’ll score (which you can’t necessarily say of Giroud himself).

Without Giroud however, there have been very large spells of inertia in the final third. Walcott has shown with his final product that the “winger / striker” hybrid role he has been playing hasn’t simply been a by product of ego. We need Walcott and Podolski closer to the goal because they compensate for the shortfall in Giroud’s finishing. But neither provides any sort of outlet when Arsenal come under pressure. The Frenchman is as much a defensive aid as an attacking one, in that he offers relief for his teammates.

His return also means Arsenal will have something approaching a goalscoring threat on the bench if required. One would assume that Podolski will be restored to the sub’s bench. Gervinho played just 18 minutes of Giroud’s suspension, so we can probably guess where that leaves him in the pecking order. Given Podolski’s current level of fitness, he’s probably better deployed as a weapon in reserve in the short term.

I do really hope that Sunday isn’t the last time we see Bacary Sagna in an Arsenal shirt, though I suspect it might be. I’ve written many times this season that I think the criticism of his performances have been harsh and, in many cases, lacks understanding of what’s been put on his plate. In an attacking sense, having Walcott as close to goal as possible makes sense, but Sagna has taken on an additional burden as a result.

It’s not so much a lack of protection. Since Ramsey has come in to reinforce the defensive midfield, I think we’ve amended that quite well. It’s usually a lack of a passing option in possession that has made Sagna’s job much harder. Leaving that aside, Sagna is very experienced and is one of the bigger personalities in the squad. Even if he is phased out next season with a gradual handover to Jenkinson, I think that would be infinitely preferable to losing him.

A lot will come down to the player’s will of course, but in the past we’ve been a tad hasty to let experience leave and if Bacary goes, we will absolutely definitely need to buy another experienced right back. Jenkinson has developed well this year, but I’m not convinced he has the consistency to shoulder 50+ games yet. At left back, we’ve tended to play Gibbs at home and Monreal in the away matches. I would be comfortable with a similar approach to the right back slot next season.

I was talking about Sagna on twitter this week and a few of us concurred that his display at centre half versus Sunderland was probably the best individual performance from an Arsenal player this season. It would be one of the mini tragedies of the Emirates era if Bacary Sagna left Arsenal without winning a trophy. For now though, sentiment is cast aside and the top 4 “trophy” all comes down to one game. Strap yourselves in, I don’t envisage that Sunday will be much fun . LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

Morning all,

we’re heading towards the final day of this Premier League season, and it really seems to have flown by. There’s no reason it should have, in fairness. Some of it has been excruciatingly awful and there were Interlulls galore, but here we are. Times flies when you’re having … erm … maybe time just flies.

There’s been a lot of talk about a potential play-off game for third place if results play out a certain way on Sunday, but I think the likelihood of that is pretty slim. And even if it was required it’d be a grand old thing, knowing that we can play with little pressure because we’d have a qualifying round, at least, and if we won we’d avoid that and make Chelsea play another game. I think we just need to concentrate on getting the result we need at the Wonga Manboobs Arena and worry about what the others do after the fact.

Harking back to Tuesday night, and Theo Walcott has revealed that Arsene Wenger gave the team a bit of a going over at the half-time break:

We got a rocket. We’ll keep that in the dressing room,. But it’s great that the manager has that passion and it got a bit more out of the players. We all knew how big it is, not just for the manager but the fans, the players and the club itself. It’s massive to be in the Champions League. The manager gave us a kick up the backside. I felt we did show some good play in the first half but we didn’t manage to take our chances. Thankfully we did in the second.

Certainly Arsenal were more clinical in the second half, taking their chances while Wigan spurned a great opportunity to go ahead. I had visions of the Koscielny miss coming back to haunt us in a big way, but thankfully those further up the pitch spared his blushes and his overall performance wasn’t coloured by that one incident.

He and Per Mertesacker have forged a tremendously consistent partnership over the last few months and, I could be wrong here, but I think we’ve only lost a single game all season in which they’ve both started together at the heart of the defence (Bayern Munich at home). Since the manager dropped Thomas Vermaelen we have improved defensively and I think Koscielny and Mertesacker complement each other extremely well.

It’s funny, if you look at the league table you’ll see that Manchester City (31) are the only club to have conceded fewer goals than Arsenal (37) with United and Chelsea on 38. It suggests that for all the criticisms of our defence – and make no mistake they’ve been valid, for the most part – our biggest problem this season has been up the other end of the pitch.

We had periods in this campaign where we were utterly toothless in the final third. I remember a few consecutive games (I think around the time of the Norwich match) where our first attempts on goal came as the games headed into injury time, and those performances have been costly when it comes down it. When you combine that lack of firepower with silly, individual defensive mistakes it doesn’t do much for your points tally.

It took that thumping by Munich for us to finally come to the conclusion that if scoring was something of a problem, we were exacerbating it with how reliably we were conceding. It’s better late than never, and while it hasn’t made for completely comfortable viewing in the last few weeks, there’s little arguing with the results it’s brought about. We need one more push, one more solid defensively display, and I think we’ve got the goals now to get us where we need to go. All going well, we can find better balance in the transfer market this summer.

Elsewhere, we expect Arsenal to clear the decks once this season is over, and Marouane Chamakh proves himself the master of understatement. Talking about his future, he says of a move this summer:

Yes, this is possible because there is a good chance that I will not stay at Arsenal. If I come back to France, it will be in Bordeaux.

I’d say there’s a very good chance indeed he won’t stay at Arsenal. Having moved to West Ham on loan in January he hasn’t made an appearance since the 30th of that month in 3-1 defeat to Fulham. Those who watched him at Bordeaux, and noted his Champions League scoring record – not to mention his early months at Arsenal – will tell you there was a decent, but limited, player in there somewhere.

People point to the return of van Persie from injury as the killer to his Arsenal career, but this is a bloke who has self-destructed in quite spectacular fashion. I doubt there’s a club in Europe who would pay an actual transfer fee for him at this stage. Maybe, just maybe, we could get something nominal for a guy who has made just a handful of starts in 2 seasons and scored just 1 league goal, but I think it might to be a tough job to even give him away.

While the likes of Arshavin and Squillaci are out of contract and will move on regardless, the transfer fixers still have to work to sort out the situations of Chamakh, Park, Denilson, Santos and Bendtner, none of whom have any future at the club. Maybe we could have sale ‘Buy one Get one free, get one free. Actually, make that two free! Did I say two? I meant ALL.’

Even the great Dick Law and Order might struggle with this one.

Till tomorrow.

Have Arsenal acquired a certain game intelligence over the last few months? That’s the impression that they gave last night having, for a large period of the game, been forced on the back foot by Wigan Athletic, but responded magnificently in a devastating eight-minute spell to score three goals and eventually prevail 4-1.

Actually, Arsenal were probably at their best for the first 20 minutes of the match as they sent wave after wave of attacks at the Wigan goal but only had a Lukas Podolski header to tell for it. It’s tempting to say that the handbrake was well and truly up for the next forty minutes yet this is part of Arsenal’s game which has developed over these last months, for they remained resilient despite coming under immense pressure and they chose the right moments to pick Wigan off.

It’s an important distinction to make because when Arsenal were playing poorly, they actually did the opposite, as Thomas Vermaelen explains: “We’re looking at how the opposition has set up and reacting to it, rather than playing our own game,” he said in December.

Now, as Theo Walcott reveals below, the tempo is set at the beginning of the match so that Arsenal are better placed to react and that then Arsenal to use his pace to hit teams on the counter-attack. “Every game is tight and everyone is fighting for their lives,” says Walcott. “We know teams will have to come at us, but we have great strength on the counter-attack and hopefully we can utilise that.”

Of course, it was nervy watching Arsenal hang on and you might argue it was partly their own doing. Because their strategy of pressing in their own half, unless the opponent is forced all the way back, invited Wigan on to them as much as it gave them extra space on the counter-attack. It’s the correct idea, although the use of it can become self-perpetuating at times as it gives Arsenal an excuse to drop deep. Had Arsenal not scored when they did, it might have led to an even nervier finish so perhaps it was apt that it was Santi Cazorla – a class above everyone on the pitch – who made the difference, delivering all four assists.

On the note on Santi Cazorla, the way Wigan defended, with only the wing-backs defending the flanks (as they left their two wide forwards up the pitch), it gave Arsenal freedom of the flanks and as such, the two wingers were the key players.

Theo Walcott constantly terrorised his opposing full-back, Roger Espinoza, and actually, because of the way Wigan’s back three denied him space behind to make those runs he so frequently makes, it made him more effective. Because that mean instead he had alter his game and play like a classical winger. That was okay because Wigan effectively handed him the freedom of the right touchline and as Espinoza hardly got any help from his winger – who in this case was Aruna Kone – it forced a centre-back to be dragged wide to try and cover.

On the left flank, Santi Cazorla played wider than he usually does nevertheless, that still didn’t stop him ending up on the right flank to set up Arsenal’s second (and then behind the striker for Arsenal’s third). Actually, the second goal was almost a work of art, sculpted in the image of Arsene Wenger because it saw all three strikers end up in a different position to where they started. Podolski moved wide left, Cazorla drifted all the way to the right and Walcott went central and for the goal, the England striker was able to connect with Cazorla’s cross.

For the final goal, it was Aaron Ramsey who Cazorla set up and the Welshman showed great composure to give Podolski “the eyes”, especially as the German was on his hat-trick, before firing past Joel Robles’s near post. It was a welcome goal because it also finally put to bed the unenviable distinction that Ramsey had of being the worst shooter in the Premier League having attempted before the match, 41 shots without scoring.

Goalscoring is an obvious area to improve on for next season nevertheless, it’s been a campaign where Ramsey has improved massively in all areas of his game. Most recently, it’s been notable how intelligent his runs have become, often drifting wide to become the extra man, or pushing beyond the opponents first line of press so that his team-mates can find him unmarked.

It’s this energy that Ramsey brings that has made his presence in the line-up deceptively vital. There are no figures for how much he runs but I bet it’s lots (actually last season, he covered the most ground on average of all Premier League players). Indeed, there is almost a filibustering quality to his guided hustle, granting a sense of control that is essential to this team.

Mikel Arteta must be grateful for his presence because it’s liberated him as well. Yet, Ramsey remains a divided figure among fans. He’s set the tempo for the way Arsenal have played in the last months and it’d be just reward should he help Arsenal get the final Champions League place.

Match report – By the numbers – Player ratings – Video

In typical Arsenal style we made it a bit difficult for ourselves, but in the end that was a game won on merit and off the back of some excellent performances.

If the opening goal wasn’t quite as early as in previous weeks, it was sufficiently timely to settle us down and give us the platform we needed. The corner routine, looking for a Mertesacker flick-on, didn’t quite work, but it confused Wigan enough that they let the ball bounce to Lukas Podolski who nodded home from just a couple of yards out.

We were full of purpose and running, putting Wigan on the back foot, and really should have been further ahead towards the end of the half when Laurent Koscielny contrived to miss from a couple of yards out after another Cazorla corner. Unfortunately for us, that miss came at a time when we went through our most careless phase of the game. Our passing was off, Wigan grew in confidence and equalised shortly afterwards.

Mike Dean had ignored a couple of Cazorla tumbles which you may or may not see given – and I’m fine with the ref playing on as long as the same standards apply to both sides. When Maloney went down under pressure from Arteta, it was frustrating to see the referee award Wigan a free kick in a dangerous position. He’s good with the dead ball, his free kick skimmed the top of the wall, just inside the post, and although Szczesny got a hand to it he couldn’t keep it out.

Some might apportion blame to Podolski for not jumping or the keeper for not saving it, but for me it was just a fantastic free kick (made more annoying by the fact it should never have been given). So, level at half-time and the visitors came out flying at the start of the second. But for a massive Szczesny save from Koné we could easily have been behind and with the momentum changed and the pressure on who knows what might have happened? The importance of that stop cannot be underestimated.

They seemed to lose some rhythm when they lost McManaman to injury and shortly afterwards we blew them away with three goals in 9 minutes. Firstly Cazorla’s wonderfully weighted ball found a perfectly timed Walcott run in the middle and the England man poked it home under the keeper. Then the Spaniard nodded a headed clearance back into the middle for Podolski to lob home the third, and when Aaron Ramsey was set free down the left (again by Cazorla), he had two players in the middle waiting for a tap-in but gave the keeper the eyes and lashed it home high into the net.

At that point it was done and dusted. Although Wigan had a couple of decent efforts subsequently, they knew it was all over, that relegation was inevitable, and the three points were going our way. The game played out to its inevitable conclusion, we went back up into fourth place and our Champions League destiny remains very much in our own hands.

Afterwards, Arsene said:

We became a bit edgy and nervous at the start of the second half. But in these types of games you need to keep your nerve and continue to play like there is nothing at stake basically. When we scored the second one it was a massive blow for Wigan and they never recovered from that. It then became a comfortable win with goals three and four. It was a tight game.

And the scoreline certainly does add a bit of gloss to what was an edgy evening. I think the Szczesny save was one of those huge moments that tends to get forgotten when the final score is so emphatic, and that was coupled with desire to win that hasn’t always been present this season. Theo Walcott, for example, had the kind of game that if he could replicate on a much more regular basis would make him a far better player and us a better team. Not only was his delivery and decisiveness in the final third excellent, he coupled that with genuine hard work and commitment when we didn’t have the ball.

His goal tally this season is excellent, no question, but to see him get back, make tackles, and even shoulder people out of the way was great to see. Please do that every week. At the back Mertesacker and Koscielny continue their excellent partnership; Rosicky wasn’t necessarily eye-catching but played a big role in how we won that game, while Santi Cazorla added the creativity we needed to take the points.

I know he was credited with four assists but I’m not 100% sure you can give him the one for the Ramsey goal. It wasn’t as if he set him up with a scoring chance, and the Welshman had a lot to do after receiving the pass. I was delighted to see him get a goal, and at home, because his recent performances have deserved that. He’d had a good first half, struggled a bit in the second, but you’d have to have a cold, cold heart to begrudge him that goal based on his contribution and renaissance over the last few months.

The only downside is that we’ve probably lost Mikel Arteta for Sunday’s trip to Newcastle. A calf strain means he’s likely to miss out, but it couldn’t take the shine off what was a hugely important win. The final home game of the season ended positively, a win on the final day of the season guarantees us at least a qualification game for the next season’s Champions League and the chance to build on what has been an excellent final third to this current season.

It might not be where we want to be, but winning on Sunday gives us a much better chance of getting there than the alternative. Now it’s time to rest, recover and get focused for what’s going to be another nail-biter this weekend.

Till tomorrow.

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It seems like an age since played our last game. Then, thinking back to that very fixture, it seemed like it took an age in itself. Walcott’s early goal against QPR was followed by a goalless 89 minutes, plus stoppage time, and despite the relegated team’s relative ineffectiveness, just one moment could have changed the whole outlook of our season.

In the meantime, Chelsea and Sp*rs played each other and dropped points that mattered while picking up the full complement in their other games. At this point of the season we should be glad it’s in our hands. Despite how precarious it is, it’s still a position of strength and after 10 days off we should be fully recharged for this one.

Wigan arrive on a high, having won the FA Cup, but it will have cost them physically and mentally. It must have been odd for them to win the cup and not be able to celebrate it properly, knowing their final two league games of the season were still to come (another reason why the cup final should remain the final game of the domestic season), and I do wonder if it will all feel a bit anticlimactic this evening. Will cup success, and rightful satisfaction at that, dampen their motivation?

Consciously, I doubt it; subconsciously, you never know. Their task is as clear as ours. Win the final two games and they’ll achieve what they need to. There’s a kind of weird parallel between the two teams and the situations we’re in. They’ve pulled rabbits out of the hat in the final weeks of seasons past in order to avoid the drop, we’ve done likewise to finish in the top four. Never more so than last season when we endured that torturous 3-2 win over West Brom which saw us finish third and Sp*rs fourth. Our neighbours then had to watch the disgusting sight of Chelsea winning the Champions League knowing their place in the competition was then gone.

This time around it’s a straight scrap between us, them and the other them. A win tonight will lift us above Sp*rs into 4th place. A win on the final day could see us finish 3rd if Chelsea lose to Everton, but regardless of that result we’ll stay in 4th if we beat Newcastle no matter what else goes on around us. Arsene Wenger says of this evening’s game:

Both teams have to go for it, so it is difficult to know what will happen. It should be an open game. Two months ago our destiny was not in our hands. Today it is so we have done very well, so now let’s finish the job and continue to play like we have done and take the points.

With regard to the team, I suspect we might see a change up front. Lukas Podolski has struggled in his two games, and the manager’s attempt to explain why he’s been subbed so often are as clear as mud. I think he might go for Theo Walcott tonight and bring Gervinho or Oxlade-Chamberlain into the front three. Podolski could be an option from the bench should we need a goal in the latter stages of the game.

With the news that Jack Wilshere is to undergo minor surgery on his ankle at the end of the season, Tomas Rosicky should continue in midfield with Ramsey and Arteta, and the only other possible change is Gibbs for Monreal at left back. Lukasz Fabianski is fit again but Szczesny should continue in goal.

It’s likely that Wigan will try and replicate the system and performance which worked so well against Man City on Saturday. The difference, this time, is that they should be facing a team which is properly motivated and a manager who will be trying to win the game rather than not lose it. They had success down the flanks against City, particular on their right hand side, and traditionally that’s where we’re most vulnerable.

Santi Cazorla is, ostensibly, the left-sided part of the attacking trio, but because of the free role he has there are often gaps for the opposition to exploit. It means that the midfield need to provide cover when needed, Ramsey and Arteta need to be fully switched on for this one because McManaman will cause us problems if we don’t snuff out the danger early.

From our point of view, we can talk about bright starts but we got that against QPR then played like we were running through molasses for the rest of the game. We’ve lacked goals for a number of reasons. The lack of a real focal point in the absence of Giroud, the lack of width as wide players come inside for various reasons, and a lack of creativity exacerbated by a dearth of movement and options for anyone to find someone to pass to in the first place.

If Walcott is played down the middle it means whoever plays on the right can stay wide and give us some width. Wigan need to win so could leave space behind for Theo’s pace to exploit, and it’d be good to see a bit more decisiveness and responsibility taken in the final third. This is an area of the pitch where you can take a bit of a risk but we seem disinclined to do that in recent games. Let’s hope that changes.

We know what we need to do, three points or bust. I think this is likely to be another tight, nerve-wracking fixture, another potential banana skin to avoid, but we have to take hold of this game and use the physical advantage we’ll have after so many days off. It’s the final home game of the season, the crowd will be right up for it, the team need to be too.

If we find it hard going again, as we have done a number of our recent games, then I’d worry that this might be just one game too far, but, if we can click – and I know it’s been some time since that’s happened – then I’m confident we can take three points and make it a sad night for the visitors.

Fingers crossed, come on you reds.

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Remember, if you’re stuck in work or out and about and can’t see the game, we’ll have full live blog coverage. Up to the second live text updates on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Check back later on for a post with all the info or bookmark the default live blog page.

Until then.

Morning all and welcome to a brand new, and incredibly, important week in the life of Arsenal Football Club.

As expected, there were no favours done yesterday. Sp*rs won against Stoke, no surprise whatsoever, and the other results at the bottom end of the table had a direct impact on Wigan. Both Norwich and Newcastle won which means that the FA Cup holders now have to win both their final games in order to stay up.

None of it really changes our situation though. While it might have been nice to have some margin for error, that was lost long before this weekend. It suits us to point fingers at the Orcs but the reality is we’re responsible for where we are and looking for that lot to do us a favour just isn’t right. There was an inevitability about Sp*rs scoring the winner but nobody was predicting anything other than three points for them so it’s no surprise.

Here’s the table as it stands:

Anything less than a win tomorrow night needs us leaving a favour from Sunderland at White Hart Lane on the final day of the season. If we win, a win at Newcastle will guarantee us at least fourth, and we could finish third if Chelsea lose their fixture at home to Everton. A win also relegates Wigan which means that Newcastle will have nothing to worry about on the final day. Update: Newcastle are already safe.

Yet, although the pressure is on, there’s absolute clarity about what we need to do. Two games, two wins. That’s always been our target and that hasn’t changed. We go into a game tomorrow night having had 10 days off. There can be no excuses when it comes to effort and endeavour. At this point of the season it’s practically unheard of to have that amount of time between games. It’s normally a slog from one game to the next, legs are tired, injuries and strains and aches shape team selection, but we should be in good shape.

And that’s something we need to take advantage of. Look at how we started the game against Manchester United a couple of weeks back. Think back to that awesome performance against Chelsea a couple of seasons ago. High-tempo football, pressing all over the pitch, giving the opposition no time to be comfortable on the ball. If we can’t manage that for two games as important as this, well, then we’ve got real problems.

Wigan will arrive with plenty of confidence having won a trophy, and beaten last season’s champions to do it, and, of course, they beat us in this fixture last season. But there’s also a reason why they’re staring relegation in the face and that’s what we need to exploit. The importance of Champions League football next season is impossible to ignore. It will shape what we do this summer, and how we can do it, and the players need to be aware of that.

On the one hand you want them relaxed and feeling good, not overly-burdened by the task at hand, but on the other these are professional footballers and pressure comes with the territory. If you can’t handle it, you’re in the wrong game. But our form is good, we’re 9 games unbeaten, the players have shown some serious resolve in certain fixtures even if we’ve struggled in others, and they should feel confident about this one.

It’s the final home game of the season, Champions League football next season is in our own hands and after some of the crap we’ve produced this campaign I don’t think we’re in any position to complain about the situation we’re in. Heads down, work hard, get on with it.

We’ll get some team news later on as Arsene meets the press this morning. I don’t think there are any fresh problems – unless somebody’s done something in training that hasn’t leaked – so we should have as full a squad as possible bar the suspended Giroud and Diaby. We can take a proper look ahead to the game tomorrow, and all the other bits and pieces.

Until then.

Well, despite the best efforts of all and sundry to make the  Beer TV Company Electronics Corporation Money Lending Institute Washing Powder FA Cup Final as tawdry as possible, Wigan returned some of the magic of the competition yesterday by means of … football.

You know, the thing it’s actually about. Not relentless punditry, daft kick-off times and commercial tie-ups. A late winner gave them the win they thoroughly deserved on the day, and it’d be a hard-hearted person – or a Man City fan, obviously – who didn’t enjoy what it meant to them, the manager and their fans.

A tiny club like that beating off the oil rich billionaires and their hapless bunch of think-they’re-so-great players. Roberto Mancini can complain about his squad all he likes, he bought those players. He went hell for leather to get Samir Nasri from Arsenal on the back of a three/four month purple patch when, if he’d asked any Arsenal fan who’d watched him game in game out, he’d have been told this was very much the exception and not the norm. As you might expect, after talking a lot beforehand, Nasri was the first player taken off and another big game passed him by.

Mancini, trying to win the FA Cup let’s remember, then took off Carlos Tevez and put on Jack Rodwell. Think about that for a minute. It was only fitting when it was Rodwell’s lack of marking on Ben Watson allowed Wigan to score the winner. That’s not conservative, it’s just terrible management. Taking off a striker in a cup final for a kid who has barely played all season. City looked a shambles yesterday, as you might expect given the rumours surrounding a new manager, conveniently leaked on the morning of the cup final.

And you know what? It’s fantastic to see it. This idea that money is the only way to build a football club is put to the sword by the gigantic clusterfuck their season has been. Appointing a new manager will only hand over that mess to a new man. Maybe he’ll cope better than Mancini but it seems like there’s a lot wrong under the surface as well as in the playing squad.

If I were Arsene Wenger, I’d be all ‘Hey, you know the way you like buying players from us and it always works out really well and that … *cough* … well, how about we swap our Belgian centre-half for your Belgian centre-half? Ok, you can pay us £12m too, go on then!’ In a football world packed from top to bottom with absolute shit-stains, Kompany seems like one of the good guys, and he’s clearly at the wrong club. Kom to us, Vincent!

As for Wigan, I said all along I wanted them to win it, and I’m delighted they did. Now though, I want us to smash them. It is possible that we can beat them and, if results go their way today, they can still survive on the final day (although that could mean needing us to beat Newcastle). I don’t think them winning the cup will have them any more or less motivated to get something from our game, they know how important Premier League survival is, and hopefully we can take advantage of the effort they put in yesterday.

They worked extremely hard and by the time Tuesday comes around we’ll have been off for 10 days. I know they’re all professional athletes but that could be telling in the final half an hour. Hopefully it’s a case we’ve got the game sewn up by then but going by our recent form it’s not likely be that easy. Anyway, we shall see how it goes.

As for today, there’s little happening from an Arsenal point of view but obviously we’ll be keeping a keen eye on what goes on when the Orcs entertain Sp*rs. Emmanuel Adebayor, on a high after his first goal in 16 months, says he wants to ‘kill’ Arsenal. Good for him and his desire to play to the crowd. He’s like a bloke on a cart who is pulled around for 26 miles of a marathon then jumps off and sprints for the line, gormlessly waving at the crowd as he leaves his exhausted pullers behind.

That said, there is simply no chance that the Orcs will get anything from today’s game. Sp*rs will win today, convincingly. Probably by three or four goals. It is inconceivable that they could draw or even lose. That will not happen, it cannot happen, and it will not happen. Stoke will lose. They will win. No other result is possible. I don’t know why anyone would even consider it. It is impossible that Sp*rs drop any points today.

After Chelsea’s win yesterday made third a probability for them, it means it’s down to us and them for 4th. It’s in our hands, let’s not forget. If we win both our games it doesn’t matter what Sp*rs do or how much they win by today in the game they’ll definitely win. Which is some comfort.

Right, have yourselves a good Sunday. Till tomorrow.

In the absence of any real Arsenal news, and given that it’s FA Cup final day, I’m going to post something I wrote for the Arsenal Collective a little while ago.

It’s about the first Arsenal game, I remember, the FA Cup final in 1979 and what that game, and other cup finals, taught me as a young Arsenal fan.

Have a good Saturday folks.

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ONE ROOM, LOTS OF LESSONS

The first game I really remember is the FA Cup final of 1979. I watched it with my Dad that Saturday afternoon in our sitting room. He wasn’t an Arsenal fan. He has a vague allegiance to Fulham having spent time working in that part of London when he left Dublin in the 1950s. In fact, my first ever football memories are of watching my Dad play for his local side on muddy pitches when we lived in Yorkshire.

That day though, May 12th 1979, I spent in front of the telly wearing the Arsenal away kit. I remember it being given to me as a present, laid out in full on my parents’ bed. Shirt (made from strange, vaguely towely material), shorts (ultra nylon) and socks (socks). I think seeing it that day, the gorgeous yellow – blue – yellow, coloured, no pun intended, my view of Arsenal away kits since. The blue shirts just don’t come anywhere near the simple beauty of that combo.

So, the game. Arsenal 2-0 up and cruising towards the trophy. Then United scored twice in two minutes to make it 2-2. I looked to my father for some kind of reassurance. This couldn’t actually be happening, could it? I mean, how could these Arsenal players – to a man heroes to an 8-year-old boy (it’s only when you get older your critical faculties develop, you know) – manage to concede two goals to this Man United team – to a man monstrous, ugly brutes to an 8-year-old boy? I have a recurring nightmare about losing my front teeth and I am convinced that it was the sight of Joe Jordan in that game that did that to me.

I remember standing up, looking around for something, somebody, anybody, anything, to console me, to make it better, to make it stop, because whatever this was, I didn’t like it. I liked being 2-0 up. I liked the idea that being 2-0 up with less than five minutes to go was pretty much an assurance that you were going to win the game. Clearly I didn’t know football very well at all.

I didn’t know how it could transport you from elation to misery in less time than it takes to boil a kettle. I didn’t know that you could be happy and carefree then sick to your stomach seconds later. I didn’t know that something I was watching on television from hundreds of miles away could reduce me to panic. What if they scored again? What if it went to extra time? Although I don’t recall, I’m sure the commentators said something about how it would be United with the wind at their backs, boosted by the late comeback. And how could they not be? And how could Arsenal not be anything other than deflated?

I also didn’t know how quickly football can move you from happy to miserable and back to happy again. Before I even had the chance to get into a full blown tizzy about what I’d just seen an exhausted Liam Brady, socks around his ankles, took the ball from kick off, played it with the outside of his boot to Graham Rix who crossed it for Alan Sunderland who made it 3-2 and this time there was no way they could come back. I didn’t know much about football, but I knew that.

In that very same room, almost to the day one year later, I sat listening to the radio as Arsenal played the Cup Winners Cup Final against Valencia in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. We had one of those stereo units that looked like a piece of furniture, lift up the lid on one side and you had the record player and the radio, on the other the tape deck. I was glued to it, fiddling with cassette copies of my mother’s Neil Diamond albums.

It was 0-0 at full time. 0-0 after extra time. Then there were penalties. Liam Brady, my hero of all heroes, missed the first. At 4-5 Graham Rix had to score to keep Arsenal in it. He missed. I cried. It came just four days after Arsenal had lost the FA Cup Final to 2nd division West Ham. Trevor Brooking made me hate the phrase ‘stooping header’ for years.

Losing two cup finals in four days is tough going for any team and any fan. The year previously I had absolute faith that Arsenal would prevail because, well, it was the Arsenal. I supported them, clearly they were the best team and all others were second rate.  The following year I came to realise that despite my belief in them, football didn’t work quite like that. What I wanted or what I thought or believed was irrelevant. I realised that football has the power to lift you up and then drop you right back down, and then give you a sneaky kick in the bollocks for good measure.

But that room, that TV and that ‘stereogram’ are as indelible in my memory as Brady’s socks, as Sunderland wheeling away in triumph, and the crackling medium wave commentary I listened to as we lost that European final to Valencia. I still don’t claim to understand everything about football, but that’s where I learned that winning and losing, ups and downs, happiness and heartbreak, are intrinsically linked and you just can’t have one without the other.

Especially as an Arsenal fan.

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This post first appeared on The Arsenal Collective

Good morning.

Normally Friday is a busy day as we prepare for the weekend’s game. Arsene Wenger holds his press conference, we get the latest team news and so on, but due to the fact we’re supposed playing Wigan our game isn’t until Tuesday because of their participation in the FA Cup final.

It leaves us with a football free weekend, but I’m right behind Roberto Martinez’s team for the game against Manchester City. Underdog stuff, of course, the same way I wanted Man City to win when they were in the final against Sp*rs all those years ago. That might not have been underdoggy and much as Spurshatey, but you know what I mean.

It’d be fantastic if Wigan won the cup … and then we relegated Wigan. Ideally, tomorrow’s game would go to extra time, and possibly penalties (although I’d happily take a winner in Linighan time), and they’d arrive at our place absolutely knackered on Tuesday. Whatever happens I don’t think they’ll be any more or less motivated for the game. Premier League survival, like it or not, is more important for the football club as a whole than a trophy win, but obviously they’ll be trying to marry the two.

So, it leaves things pretty quiet again from an Arsenal point of view. The best we’ve got is a story linking us with Dortmund right back Lukasz Piszczek. He’d tick some of the boxes for sure but it’s difficult to get involved in speculation with the season still running. I do think right back, despite my love for Sagna, is an area which we can improve in as injuries and loss of form have taken their toll this season.

The question is: does Arsene Wenger have enough faith in Carl Jenkinson to make him the number 1 with a younger player like Bellerin understudying, or will he create a Monreal/Gibbs situation on that side of the pitch? While there’s certainly plenty of merit to a competitive environment it also has to be balanced with the need for a measure of stability in the back four. Chopping and changing isn’t always ideal, but if he’s got two players who get the system and can be slotted in and out without causing too much disruption then that’s surely the way to go.

That’s easier said than done, however, and keeping both players happy over the course of a season is one of the challenges the manager will face. As for Sagna, I think he’ll move on this summer. He’s been linked with PSG and Monaco, and while he hasn’t ruled out staying with us for the final year of his contract, I don’t know that I’d bet a lot of money on him being at the club next season.

Elsewhere, David Moyes is the new manager of Manchester United. As I said yesterday on Twitter, I think this is a good appointment for the competitiveness of the Premier League. I can see why he was given the job, you lose one miserable dour Scotsman, you look for something similar. He seems to have been fully endorsed by Alex Ferguson and he is a good manager who has done a good job at Everton.

But with Ferguson moving upstairs, casting a red-nosed shadow over everything he does, and the pressure and expectation far and above anything he’s ever experienced at Everton, it’s hard not to think there’ll be some instability at United next season. Even if he brings in Baines and Fellaini, I think he’s going to find his natural conservatism hard to shake and the bigger point is just how important Ferguson was to what United achieved. He was a once in a lifetime manager; for all his qualities, Moyes isn’t anywhere close to that and that can only be good for the other teams who hope to compete for the title.

Finally, BT won some of the TV rights to Premier League football and announced their plans yesterday. Rio Ferdinand as an ‘an interviewer, programme maker and football expert’, Michael Owen as a co-commentator and a return for the risible Tim Lovejoy. I know there are many media directories, listing ‘talent’ available, but this is ridiculous. Whatever about Ferdinand, who clearly wants to be the next Bruce Forsyth, Owen has all the personality of a shoe … with its tongue cut out, and Lovejoy … well, this says more than anyone ever could.

All they’ve done is ensure more success for the sites who stream because nobody in their right mind would want to pay actual money to be ‘entertained’ by that pack of cretins.

Right then, onto this week’s Arsecast and joining me to discuss the Puma kit deal, the race for the Champions League and Arsene Wenger’s potential spending is John Cross. We’ve also got some newsflashes, a sad Arshavin and all the usual waffle.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here 25mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

You’ll notice that we’re now going to be serving the Arsecast through Soundcloud which means it should work via browsers on mobile devices and tablets, as well as their apps. If you’re a Soundcloud user you can follow me and all that stuff, and you can make time-specific comments etc on each podcast, so that’s all new and shiny and stuff. I’ve got most of the archives there too, but if you see any issues just let me know.

Right, that’s that, till tomorrow.

The Chelsea v Spurs game has been a potential glitch in the formulae of our run in for some weeks. Now that column in the balance sheet (an apt analogy given what we are actually ‘competing’ for) has been filled, the permutations are simpler. Don’t cock it up and we’re 4^th at least. Yet somehow the clarity hasn’t brought me a great deal of peace. Regular readers will know that I have never viewed this charge for the Champions League money trough as straightforward and I still don’t.

I think there’s an excellent chance that none of Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea will pick up six points from their last two fixtures. I think it could just come down to whether 2 or 3 points are surrendered in any given game. I think goal difference could yet have the final say for either 3^rd or 4^th position. All three teams have visible delicacies. Spurs have been able to raise their game for fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester City of late, but anxiety permeates them whenever they are expected to win.

I think Arsenal have been a tad fortunate that the majority of their recent fixtures have been against teams with little or nothing to play for. Everton and Norwich were the only sides to whom the points were particularly valuable recently and both of those games were a struggle. Wigan will be fighting tooth and nail for Premier League survival and Newcastle could be too. Last week I said that I thought Arsenal’s defence were going to have to continue to carry us and so it proved against QPR.

Giroud’s suspension lasts for one more game and I don’t see a swift panacea for our recent bluntness upfront. Chelsea looked incredibly weary in the last half an hour against Tottenham and their participation in the Europa League might yet produce another spike in the graph. This is a season that might administer the final, injurious blow to cup football, which I think would be an enormous shame. If Wigan are relegated, many managers and chairmen will, unfairly I think, make a simple correlation with their run to Wembley. Millwall’s form collapsed after their F.A. Cup semi final and they were nearly relegated having seemingly looked safe.

The fortunes of the last three League Cup winners following their victories has hardly inspired either. If Chelsea finish outside of the top 4, I can’t really envisage an English side ever taking the Europa League seriously again. Gunnerblog wrote something that really chimed with me this week about “enjoying the race for fourth because it provides the illusion of genuine competition.” I’ve long compared it to Championship sides chasing a playoff place. It’s not really an achievement, it just narrows down what it considered mid-table and removes some of the banality of the Premier League.

James is right to use the word ‘illusion’. It is illusory. I allow “the race for fourth” to occupy me because, well, I want football to be a distraction and an entertaining one. And listen, I understand perfectly why qualifying for the Champions League is so important and it’s not just Arsenal that feel that way. Whilst I feel Arsenal’s big underachievement since 2005 has been almost entirely in the cups, I appreciate why the club prioritised the rewards of the top 4. Especially given the large mortgage they took on for the new stadium.

In fact, this year, it’s arguably more important to us to qualify than ever. Various commercial deals that are being struck and legislation in the wider footballing landscape suggest that, if we can just grimly hang on for one more year, the rainbow could be on the horizon. The revenues we stand to receive from the new overseas TV deal, Emirates and, reportedly, Puma, will boost our coffers more significantly than the new stadium itself.  To fall off of the cash cow at this stage would be a crushing blow when the jam we have been promised for so long is in our sights.

The reports from John Cross this week that Puma have agreed to hand over a fat stack of cheese to Arsenal generated a lot of discussion online. Understandably too. This is undoubtedly A Good Thing for Arsenal because it should have a direct impact on the team on the pitch. Yet I still felt abash about involving myself in the discussion. It made me feel uneasy. It exposes my ignorance and my hypocrisy all too readily.

The relentless commercialisation of society itself is something that I find incredibly uncomfortable. Indeed, a good deal of my professional life to date has been devoted to fighting avarice and greed. Yet I sweep those principles under the carpet for my football club. It’s easier to do with “The race for fourth” because I can bury that hypocrisy on the pitch and conceal it beneath the rug of a couple of London rivalries to boot. But speaking of megabucks deals such as these make my double standards naked. It strips away the delusion I clothe myself in.

There is also a much more practical reason for my unease. I know so little about the minutiae of such deals. I suspect many people are in the same position. Recently I have been taking Portuguese lessons and anybody that has tried to learn a new language in adulthood will tell you that nothing makes you feel more awkward or exposed than trying to speak somebody in else’s tongue. It’s because your callowness is so evident and no amount of reassurance removes that in your early wrestles with language.

To discuss this sort of deal in depth would represent a botched attempt at another language on my part. Hastily punching sentences into babelfish and regurgitating whatever it spits out. There is also so much about these deals that remain undisclosed. For instance, have you noticed that since the Emirates deal was renewed, their advertising presence inside the stadium has almost vanished? That’s surely a deliberate part of the renewed deal. To make room for other companies to advertise their wares on the advertising hoardings and to reduce the Emirates stigma on television. Presumably so that the next time the stadium naming rights go to tender, the Emirates association won’t be so marked. With that, I have slipped into the marketing lexicon, but you see what I mean. There’s so much information that is foreign to us.

I have always understood Arsenal’s need to qualify for the Champions League. It facilitates the ability to compete on a long term basis. That in itself sounds like the sort of phrase that’s tossed about in a boardroom powerpoint. Nevertheless, I’m donning the 3D specs and strapping myself in for this simulated competition and come 6pm on May 19^th, I’ll be as relieved / crushed / exasperated as everybody else. After all, we are the generation that sold our souls and we will get what we deserve. LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

It was a fairly quiet day yesterday from an Arsenal point of view, but there’s definitely stuff to talk about this morning.

Starting with last night’s 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Sp*rs. I didn’t watch, I have to admit. After a long day of work Mrs Blogs and I watched a bit of House of Cards (seemed apt, in terms of title at least), but I followed the score on Twitter. Given their propensity for late goals recently I was expecting the bloke who is trying to trademark having hands (I suppose he’d have Disney on his case if he tried ears, what with Dumbo and all), to score a late one but it remained a draw until the end.

While a Chelsea win would have been preferable, allowing us to draw one of our final games because of our superior goal difference, it’s back in our hands and I don’t think we can ask for much more than that. Win our final two games and we finish in the top four, end of story. We can finish above Chelsea too but are dependent on them dropping points to avoid a qualification round.

Still, at this point of the season, beggars can’t be choosers and while two wins was always going to be the target it makes things very simple now. This weekend may make life easier but I don’t see Chelsea slipping up against Villa and there’s more chance of Joey Barton becoming pope than there is of Stoke getting anything from their game against Sp*rs. The beauty of the situation is that we don’t have to concern ourselves with other results too much. Do what we need to do and we’re there. If we let it slip now we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves.

The other big story of yesterday was, of course, the retirement of Alex Ferguson. Let me get the nice stuff out of the way first. As a football manager what he achieved was extraordinary. His success, once he got going after some barren early years at United, was sustained and that’s an incredibly hard thing to do, as we know. The list of trophies speaks for itself and that, in recent years, he was able to do it with teams far less accomplished than some of his best was a testament to his management skills.

As well as that, the era when it was us against them, like two rutting stags, is surely a high point for any Arsenal, and United, fan. The intensity of the rivalry was something else, the games themselves were events that even Sky didn’t have to hype up the way they’re forced to these days. The drama was inherent in the contests. Vieira and Keane, Ferguson and Wenger, United’s golden generation against Wenger’s best teams.

It was epic at times, most of the time it was merely thrilling, nerve-shredding, passionate and hot-blooded. There were great moments for both sides. Overmars scoring that goal at their place on that incredible run to Wenger’s first league title, Giggs at Villa Park, Wiltord at Old Trafford to win the league, the van Nistelrooy day, the scrap in the tunnel, the day they cheated and booted their way to ending our unbeaten run. It was, despite all the ups and downs, the very best of football and for that we should be grateful to Ferguson as much as Wenger.

Yet, it strikes me there’s a touch of revisionism to the whole retirement thing. I don’t know if this is as prevalent in other countries as it is in Ireland, but regardless of the character of somebody who died, nobody will say a bad word against him.

“Well, there you, Seamus is gone.”

“He is.”

“Decent fella.”

“He wasn’t really, when you think about.”

“Come on, now.”

“He was an alcoholic who beat his wife.”

“Sure, don’t we all love a drink? It was the drink did the bad things, not him.”

“An inveterate gambler.”

“A game of cards never hurt anyone.”

“He was a rotten thief.”

“Needs must, you know yourself.”

“Never paid his debts.”

“Well …”

“Miserable with money, never bought a round, would beat up old people and rob their houses, nicked from the collection plate at church, had an affair with his own neice …”

“Ah, sure he was a grand lad really, have a pint.”

The very best things that Ferguson brought to the football world were borne out of his undoubted will to win, but they were completely and utterly at odds with ours and our desires as Arsenal fans. For all his talent as a manager he was rude, boorish, ignorant and incredibly, incredibly annoying. He was a hypocrite, what was good for his team was means for vociferous, spittle-flecked complaint when enjoyed, however rarely, by others.

People might laugh at ‘Fergie time’ now but think back to when a referee stuck 5 or 6 minutes of injury time on to a game in which we were holding a lead, or in a game in which we needed them to drop points only for a late goal to scupper things. Not so funny. He had a team who would berate and intimidate referees, very much in his image, yet when anyone had the temerity to question him, regardless of the legitimacy of it, he’d throw his toys out of the pram.

He danced on our pitch, he fought with our manager, he was so irritating one of our players chucked a slice of pizza in his face, and while I completely and utterly respect what he did, I didn’t like him then and I don’t like him now. I’m also sure that’s pretty much exactly how he wanted it. I realise there’s a vast difference between someone’s public image and the private reality. Lots of the tributes posted in the last 24 hours have spoken about the side of him that people didn’t see, the decent, charitable one, but having never been party to that I can only go from what he showed us.

And if you weren’t a United fan there wasn’t a great deal to like. He cultivated that, no doubt about it, revelled in it, I’m sure. It was part of how he worked, part of what made him and his teams successful, and he’d never make any apologies for it. Nor should he.

If things were less contentious in recent seasons and he wasn’t the same, objectionable, loathsome old crank, that was entirely down to us not being as much of a threat as we used to be. It wasn’t him suddenly becoming nicer in his old age. If we’d been more competitive you can be quite sure the opprobrium would have returned.

“Ah sure he was a grand lad really.”

No, he wasn’t. What he did was amazing, but I’m glad he’s gone.

The miserable old bollocks.