Aidan Bennison, a long-time reader of this blog and head writer of Gunner Central, has agreed to join AFCB as a regular contributor.

Aidan is in his first year of Media studies at university in Australia and is well on his way to becoming a sports journalist. He has previously represented the Australian Paralympic Football team at last year’s International Championships in Holland and has a soft spot for Aaron Ramsey.

The best part of Aidan’s previous blog was his insightful player ratings posts that featured shortly after each Arsenal game. He will be bringing those posts with him to AFCB as well as providing some assistance with match previews.

I hope you can welcome Aidan to the team (two people make a team, right!?) and enjoy his contributions to AFCB, starting tomorrow with his player ratings from the Hull game.

Thoughts?

Have your say on Aidan joining the Arsenal FC Blog by leaving a comment.

All that matters right now is that we go to Hull City tomorrow night and pick up three points.

There’s been a bit of bad blood in this fixture over the past couple of years and with us fighting for the league and Hull desperate to avoid relegation I don’t expect anything different. This will be a fierce, physical encounter where the odd goal might be all that separates two teams of vastly contrasting quality.

Our boys go into this one a little bit understrength with Cesc Fabregas and a host of others unavailable. Alex Song serves the second game of a rather ridiculous suspension while William Gallas and the long-termers are also out and Tomas Rosicky is a doubt for a so far unnamed injury. We can only hope it doesn’t turn out to be another two-year problem.

Of the players that are available I expect the same back five that played against Porto to start, particularly given the rather straightforward efforts that were required in midweek. There are no travel issues so I see no reason why any of them should be given a rest, including Sol Campbell.

Further afield Denilson will come into the side for Song with support coming from Abou Diaby and Samir Nasri.

Nasri took on the Fabregas role midweek and performed superbly while Diaby showed yet again why he has gone from scary own-goal scoring dingleberry to one of the most constructive midfielders in the Premier League. I have absolutely no doubt about the pair’s ability to take on the responsibility of driving our attack from the midfield and am really looking forward to watching them play.

The front three will likely be Andrey Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott, with Emmanuel Eboue providing the punch off the bench. An alternative to that setup could see Eboue start on the left and Arshavin be given a rest after his midweek performance, however my advice to the manager would be to play the in-form Russian and sub him off early if the job gets done.

Another player I am keenly looking forward to watching is Bendtner. Woeful finishing against Burnley was followed by a hat-trick against Porto and it’s anyone’s guess as to what he will come up with tomorrow. My prediction would be at least one goal to continue his charge towards the 10 I have predicted he will score before the end of the season. Maybe he’ll score six tomorrow?

I can’t really be bothered going into Hull’s strength and weaknesses because the simple fact is that if we turn up tomorrow and play well we will probably win.

Here’s to three points and the other two dropping some points.

Huzzah!

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No-one would argue against the fact that with Madrid topping the Spanish league and players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka in their team they looked a decent chance of winning the competition this season. And while their recent record in the Champions League is quite simply pathetic – six Round of 16 defeats in a row – Madrid’s exit makes Arsenal’s life just that little bit easier.

The Premier League will resume this weekend but with half of the final eight quarter-finalists decided, I do feel like lingering on the Champions League and the reality of us actually winning the big-eared trophy.

Our form this season in the league would indicate that facing Manchester United or Chelsea (if they get through) in the next round is probably going to cause us some trouble. Bayern Munich have Arjen Robben in form and Franck Ribery back from injury and despite a schizophrenic season have somehow made their way to the summit of the Bundesliga.

As for Madrid’s conquerors, Lyon are a unit that have exceptional talent and a remarkable tactician at the head of their operations.

Claude Puel produced the masterstroke of the European season against Madrid overnight by pulling of Jean-Alain Boumsong and asking Jeromy Toulalan to play at centre-back. The move freed up Cris to play as a sweeper and clogged the midfield to nullify Real and provide a platform for Cesar Delgado and Miralem Pjanic to exert their attacking influence on the game.

If Puel, who actually served as captain in the Monaco side Arsene Wenger managed all those years ago, continues to show such tactical acumen his Lyon side are likely to cause us real problems should we meet them in the next round or beyond. Lyon are a team to avoid, I feel.

Of the four positions still up for grabs I would put my house on Sevilla, Barcelona and Bordeaux to qualify. Meanwhile Chelsea v Inter Milan is as balanced a tie as you will ever see with the winner likely assume the status of competition favourites.

Barcelona’s qualities do not need repeating while Bordeaux are much like Lyon, guided by a superb manager in Laurent Blanc and possessing the sort of team ethic that saw Porto win the trophy in 2003. Should Arsenal face the French champions there will also be the added novelty of attempting to preventing Marouane Chamakh, a man set to join our club at the end of the season, from having a telling impact on the tie.

Sevilla are probably the weakest of all the prospective opponents in eyes: always hovering around the Champions League places in Spain but only really making an impact in the second tier of European competition with two UEFA Cup wins in 2006 and 2007. They are a good side but if I had to choose the opponent that would offer us the best hope of getting through to the semi-finals it would be them.

I suppose what this is all amounting to is the old cliche that there are no really easy games left at this level of the Champions League. We are certainly a good chance of winning the tournament for the first time in our history this season yet there is still a very long way to go.

But with the quality of teams on show it will be hard not to enjoy every minute of it.

Thoughts?

Have your say on Arsenal’s Champions League chances by leaving a comment.

The latest installment is a terrific set from Emirates Stadium during Arsenal’s 5-0 win over FC Porto.

Once you’re done falling in love with the photos, be sure to check out Voelkel’s website and Flickr page.

(Oh, and please, please, pretty please don’t steal them. They’re copyright.)

Thoughts?

Have your say on Voelkel’s terrific photos by leaving a comment.

The star men were Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin and Nicklas Bendtner, who shrugged off an erratic weekend performance against Burnley to register his first hat-trick for the club.

The Danish striker took full advantage of some terrific Arshavin’s lead-up work to shoot our boys into a 2-0 first-half lead before completing his trio from the penalty spot after substitute Emmanuel Eboue was pulled down in the area.

In between Bendtner’s second and third goals came an amazing strike from Nasri which put the tie to bed at a time when Porto were threatening most. Picking the ball up on right-hand side of the pitch the Frenchman bobbed and weaved past four defenders before slamming his shot in from an exceptionally tight angle.

A better goal has not been scored by an Arsenal player this season.

Nasri was given a huge opportunity in the role he craves ahead of Alex Song and Abou Diaby as the advanced midfielder in Cesc Fabregas’ absence and responded with a terrific performance. At times you couldn’t tell whether it was him or the captain controlling the game, sliding passes around nonchalantly and most importantly impacting on the score with a couple of pre-assists and a majestic goal.

Arsenal v Porto photo compilation by photographer Ryu Voelkel

His performance was a reminder of what he is capable of when played in his best position and made sure that the captain’s absence was not felt. He seems to be finding form at the right time after breaking his leg in pre-season and his last two games will surely give the manager the confidence to rely more heavily on Nasri in the remaining weeks of the campaign as Cesc’s fitness is carefully nurtured.

Shortly after Nasri’s wonder goal came a terrific breakaway effort created by Arshavin and completed by Eboue. It was effectively the Russian’s third assist of the evening and he was another that shone bright, producing some dazzling dribbling to torment Porto’s right-back time and time again. He showed no ill-effects from his recent hamstring injury and linked well with Nasri and Bendtner all night.

Then there was Bendtner.

On one hand there doesn’t seem much point embellishing on a hat-trick which was completed via two open-goal tap-ins and a penalty kick. But the fact that Bendtner ended the game with the match ball tucked under his arm was testament to two of his best characteristics as a player: his unerring self-confidence and the unique ability to be in the right place at the right time.

There’s no denying that last night should have been the Dane’s second hat-trick of the week rather than the first, but the fact that we can even say that shows what he is bringing to the team at the moment.

During the difficult winter period where Arshavin was asked to play up front for several games on the trot we produced some good results but were not playing good football or creating very many chances. Now, with Bendtner back in the side, we quite simply look awesome in attack. Whether he is scoring goals or not the fact is that we are playing better as a unit and a lot of that comes down to his presence in attack.

Sol Campbell returned to the side to partner Thomas Vermaelen at the back and both defenders had strong games. They were supported well by Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna too, who should also be applauded for the quality of their crossing on the night. So often we are critical of the wing-backs inability to deliver in dangerous balls into the area but there were no such problems against Porto.

Alex Song showed we he is just as important to the side as Cesc Fabregas with another typically dominant performance in the middle of the park, aided well by Diaby who held his position well and was disciplined enough to let Nasri do most of the attacking. On the right was Rosicky whose good performance was somewhat undermined by the great displays around him.

While it’s important to keep a sense of perspective after a performance and result like this – we haven’t won anything yet, this was only Porto, there’s a long way to go etc – I don’t think that perspective should get in the way of enjoying a terrific night for the club.

As supporters of this club we are continually spoilt with astonishingly attractive and attacking football and on nights like these it is worthwhile just sitting back and enjoying the positive energy that is pinging about just now.

We’re into the last eight of the competition yet again and regardless of who draw in the next round, we’ve reiterated our standing as one of the very best clubs in Europe.

Thoughts?

Have your say on Arsenal’s terrific 5-0 defeat of FC Porto by leaving a comment.

Well done Nicklas!

Have your say on Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Porto by leaving a comment.

Tonight our team must overturn that deficit to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and we will have to do it without Cesc Fabregas.

The captain’s hamstring tweak means he misses out with the extra responsibility of creative midfield duties likely to fall to Samir Nasri. The Frenchman put in a superb performance against Burnley on Saturday after moving central as a result of Fabregas’ substitution and he should be supported from more defensive positions by Alex Song and Abou Diaby.

Nasri has a real platform to show us what he is made of tonight.

His move from Marseille to Arsenal has seen him go from star man to a medium-sized fish in a big pond but he was not touted as France’s great hope a few years ago for nothing. He is a fighter and a natural leader, a player that relishes responsibility and is the most like-for-like replacement for our captain. If he plays well tonight it will send a clear message to the club and the supporters that a very special career for Arsenal may still be on the cards.

Song’s return is a no-brainer but there is an argument to be made for Denilson’s inclusion given that Diaby has only just returned for injury and did not start on the weekend. However, with the team requiring goals I feel the Frenchman will get the nod over the Brazilian and look to hurt Porto with his surging runs from the heart of midfield.

In defence Sol Campbell returns to the team to partner Thomas Vermaelen, while the need for stability over style should see Emmanuel Eboue benched and Bacary Sagna reinstated on the right. Gael Clichy should will play on the left while Manuel Almunia, who participated in the pre-match press conference, will captain the team from between the sticks.

Up front Nicklas Bendtner will have the opportunity to put Saturday’s shocker behind him while support on the flanks could come from a number of players. Personally I feel the manager will plump for a combination of experience and pace and that means Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott with Andrey Arshavin, Eduardo and Eboue providing possible impact from the bench.

I’m a little bit at a loss to try and predict what sort of game tonight will be.

Porto will know that it could very easily be a repeat of last season’s 4-0 win at The Emirates if they let us take control of the game, so it will interesting to see how they respond to that threat. Will they play a counter-attacking game in the hope of locking us out at the back and sneaking an away goal of their own? Or will they play the sort of attacking game that allowed them to grab a deserved 2-2 draw at Old Trafford last season?

It is worth noting that despite Porto’s victory in the first leg they certainly didn’t show themselves to be a brilliant side. Although our performance was poor and we deserved to lose, the feeling I get is that if our boys can play near the best then we will simply have too much attacking power for the Portuguese side to handle.

An interesting night awaits.

Thoughts?

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Yet in some ways a struggle rather than a breezy victory was just the right preparation for the crucial European with Porto on Tuesday. It was also a poignant reminder that if the team with the worst away record in the Premier League can still cause us some trouble, so will every one of the remaining nine clubs that stand between us and the title.

The reasons for our Saturday afternoon struggles were essentially twofold: Nicklas Bendtner’s wastefulness and Cesc Fabregas’ hamstring tweak.

Bendtner’s misses seemed to get worse as they afternoon wore on, tallying not one, not two, but five. He missed in every possible manner: dwelling too long on an early through-pass by Fabregas and failing to get enough purchase on a Theo Walcott dragback in the first half, heading wide from six yards, skying a volley high over the bar and dragging another Walcott cross wide in the second.

It was genuinely hilarious stuff, even with the game so tight.

Before any of Bendtner’s misses the captain had put us in front, capitalising on a jaw-droppingly good pass by Samir Nasri to slide home the opener.

His troublesome hamstring forced him to leave the pitch shortly after though and the team took some time to adjust to his absence. In the end Nasri and Tomas Rosicky stepped in admirably to fill the captain’s void with the Frenchman in particular producing an energetic and responsible performance to keep the creative flow ticking in around the 18-yard box.

When David Nugent punished some really poor defending to grab Burnley an undeserved equaliser the game’s outstanding player made his mark. Cutting in from the right where he had terrorised Burnley all game, Theo Walcott used his pace to find the space to slot home a delicious curler.

Spurred on by the ridiculous criticism of his midweek performance for England, Walcott responded  in the best possible way, with a performance full of pace and purpose and perhaps most importantly, end product. His goal is the easiest part of his performance to praise but a number of his final balls, usually wasted by Bendtner, that will also encourage Arsenal fans.

Decision-making and the final ball are usually Walcott’s biggest weaknesses but there simply were no such problems today.

At 2-1 we always looked winners and eventually managed to find the killer third goal through substitute Andrey Arshavin, who found the bottom corner of the net and celebrated in style.

While the margin of victory was somewhat disappointing I feel this was a decent performance by the team and a number of individual players in particular.

As I touched on earlier, Nasri is starting to play the really good football that we all know he is capable of while Rosicky’s continued impact on the team has been extremely encouraging. With Fabregas’ hamstring likely to require some nursing between now and the end of the season to ensure he is able to play in the biggest games, Nasri and Rosicky will have big parts to play in the games where we are expected to win.

On the left, Gael Clichy seems to have overcome his little blip while Manuel Almunia, although relatively untested, appears to have regained his confidence in the knowledge that there will be no more Manchester Uniteds or Chelseas this season. Meanwhile Walcott has something to build on while Emmanuel Eboue’s continued excellence from defence means our right side has some real verve and quality about it at the moment.

It may only have been Burnley but a number of the areas that appeared to be potential weak points are sorting themselves out and it bodes extremely well for the run-in.

Thoughts?

Have your say on Arsenal’s 3-1 in over Burnley by leaving a comment.

Have your say on Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Burnley by leaving a comment.

They are yet to win away from home, picking up just one point from fourteen away games this season, and currently have the worst away record this season. Meanwhile our home record is strong, our performances in the last couple of games has been good and we’re on a bit of a roll at the moment.

The injury to Aaron Ramsey will ensure that any complacency going into this game will be ironed out. The Arsenal boys know the media is on them at the moment and they will be waiting for anything to keep selling papers; a bad Arsenal tackle, a half-hearted physical performance. Anything.

It won’t happen though. Our team will be ready to send another message out to everyone that we are the team to beat, that we can cope with this sort of scrutiny and we deserve our billing as title contenders.

The early kick-off means a four-goal win would see us move to the top of the table, albeit briefly. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen. Honestly, I can see us scoring five or six.

Team news going into the game is mixed, Ramsey won’t be there, Alex Song misses out due to a two-game ban and Sol Campbell has surprisingly been ruled out. William Gallas will not return while Andrey Arshavin, Denilson and Abou Diaby will all be back in the squad.

The changes means Mikael Silvestre will slot in alongside Thomas Vermaelen at the back. The onus on attack may see Emmanuel Eboue play at right-back like he did against Sunderland, with Bacary Sagna benched.

Midfield will be Denilson, Cesc Fabregas and probably Abou Diaby, although the manager may see playing two just-returned players as being a little risky and draft in Tomas Rosicky or Samir Nasri to help out. Up front Nicklas Bendtner will be supported by two of Rosicky, Nasri, Arshavin, Eduardo or Theo Walcott.

I don’t expect us to take Burnley lightly and it is for that reason that I think we will beat them comprehensively.

I’m looking forward to it.

Thoughts?

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