Arsenal 2-1 Palace: Some start!

Match Report | Match highlights | Wenger's thoughts

Before the season started I spoke of unpredictable campaigns, but this was ridiculous. True, in the end we defeated Palace 2-1 and kept a potential title challenge on track, but considering the buzz around the camp and the expectations that followed prior, this wasn't a performance that merited our credentials.

We started brightly, yes. Our midfield was on top of Palace's rather easily, but individual performances were getting found out later. Ramsey was uncharacteristically sloppy, Alexis was understandably struggling with fitness, and after looking at his showing, it's tempting to say that Santi Cazorla is on a downward slide. I think Wilshere knows he is under the spotlight and was trying to make the most of the chance he was offered, but it seemed like he was forcefully trying to produce something, akin to playing controlled and composed football.

Yaya Sanogo was really awful. Bar lively displays against Bayern and Man City, Sanogo has always looked bad to me ever since he came to Arsenal. The sentiment surrounding him had meant that I refrained from making a judgment on him last season, but it seems clear now that he hasn't improved one bit from 2013/14. Arsene Wenger's stubbornness to not admit that Sanogo was a fail signing in a nearly failed summer of 2013 has not only affected our momentum on the pitch, it has also wrongly influenced the minds of plenty of Arsenal supporters, who too, are guilty of not believing their eyes.

Wenger's fixation on Sanogo is perhaps because he was a frustratingly typical buy during a time when supporters were clamouring for Higuains and Suarezs. While Ozil went a long way to restore belief and optimism, the obvious notion of "Well, what could have been if we had bought someone established?" also remained.

Wenger's backers assumed that Sanogo would be perceived as a joke buy in a deeply flawed transfer window, and sought to defend him (from no one) even before he had a chance to prove himself. The truth is, it was the circumstances of the buy that had angered the fanbase rather than the player himself. Lest we forget, this club was talking about Bayern-esque days to arrive and then bought an injury-prone, free striker from Ligue 2 in the same month.

It is my firm belief that people want Sanogo to succeed simply so that Wenger would be proved right. For every good pass he executes, supporters conveniently seem to forget his previous seven poor lay-offs. Sanogo, like Ozil, is a player who supporters are fooling themselves into believing is a success, with one prime difference. Ozil has all the ingredients to succeed; Sanogo doesn't.

We fell behind against the run of play to a Palace corner. Now, I've already admitted that I know as much as the art of defending as Lady GaGa, but wouldn't it have been sensible to have a man at the post to head off a potential goal? All the evidence has suggested that having an extra man on the line has helped prevent goals, none more so than Gibbs against Hull. Moreover, why in the world was Alexis handling Hangeland's zone? It was no wonder that Hangeland got a good head to the ball - Alexis might be robust, but few would argue that him and Hangeland are an aerial mismatch.

Speaking of Sanchez; I really hope he gets his goal. I feel that he really, really needs it. He seems to be bringing the pressure of expectation upon himself, and is trying too hard to prove that he's worth the £30m. A goal would do him the world of good - it would take the pressure and the spotlight off him to perform.

We did get an assist from him to whet our appetites, though. He swung a ball in from a resulting free-kick which Koscielny headed in quite superbly. His movement and understanding of where the goal was was excellent. If I had tried that I would have wound up in a heap with a broken neck.

Aside from a headed goal against Sunderland, has Koscielny always scored on Totteringham Day's and important times?

Unfortunately, Laurent's leveler wasn't the catalyst we needed. For all the attacking quality we had in the team, we looked leggy and dysfunctional as a unit. It's tempting to say that we haven't shaken off the side effects of the World Cup yet, but I don't think that's the case. Cazorla, Ramsey and Wilshere, even Sanogo looked sharp in the Community Shield. And even if they weren't fit enough to start this match, oughtn't the manager gone for options like Chamberlain or Rosicky on the bench? Yesterday was either the fitness coach's fault or the manager's. A case to ponder for Shad and Arsene.

Elsewhere, Kieran Gibbs tweaked his hamstring around the 60th minute. He'll probably be sidelined for a couple of weeks, which screws up our threadbare defence even further. We now only have four match fit defenders, just enough for Besiktas but not nearly enough to sustain a title challenge. Wenger has to decide if Chambers is a firm right-back option or a centre-back one, so that he can proceed with his defensive recruitment.

If Wenger sees Chambers as a right back, that would mean there is a large hole in our centre back options which would need to be tended through the transfer market or our youth academy. If Wenger chooses Chambers as a centre back and seeks to promote Bellerin as Debuchy's deputy (which wouldn't be the worst idea), then that would mean we are still short of one centre back (we need four, remember).

Apparently we're going for a Greek defender called Kostas Manolas, a guy I never heard of. I looked him up and it turns out he's the nephew of "Greek football legend Stelios Manolas". Suffice to say, I haven't heard of Stelios Manolas too. I wouldn't care anyways - as long as he's good, we're good.

Giroud was much more sharper than Sanogo when he came on, simply because he's a much better player. Let's face it - for all his limitations, Giroud isn't going to come under any threat from Sanogo. Once Theo Walcott is fit and Sanchez has (hopefully) been integrated into the team, I hope to see Sanchez play through the middle more often. There's no doubt he'd be a much better striking alternative than Sanogo.

Sanchez played really well in the last 15-20 minutes, two dreadful crosses aside. He seems like a hardworking guy who has all the attributes to make it big at Arsenal, but nerves are somewhat creating a barrier between him and the road to greatness. Hopefully him and Wilshere try to keep their minds on their games and not on expectant fans, such as myself.

We got the winner, and we left it really late to get it. Giroud held it up for Debuchy (Sanogo couldn't have done that), Mathieu fired it right at the keeper, and who else popped up on the rebound but Aaron Ramsey? I'm telling you, if you haven't already heard it, this is a player who is currently topping Cesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard at their best, and he may not even have reached his prime yet. It'd be a great achievement on Arsenal's side if we manage to keep a player like him for five more seasons. He's our best, and possibly only all-round midfielder. I'd be astounded if he didn't win the PFA Player of the Year, injuries aside.

Rambo's goal was much needed and the timing of it dramatized an eventful day, but we really should be hoping for more from this team. This was the exact same team that played against Manchester City so well, so arguing that match fitness was key in our sluggish play is incorrect. A managerless Palace in the Emirates Stadium is as good as it gets in the Premier League, and we almost made a right mess of it.

Unlike yesterday, the tie against Besiktas is a must win. They aren't a good enough outfit to cause us any major problems, providing we're serious enough to come flying out of the blocks early. We have a really good team and aren't affected much by injury. Even though results are greater than performances, we really should be delivering both. This isn't a performance that we will get away with on another day.

Till Tuesday.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

Arsenal 2-0 Palace: Our Ox on the field carries the burden this time

After a frustrating 45 minutes, Oxlade-Chamberlain struck twice to save Arsenal the blushes, giving us a 2-0 victory in the end. At half time, I won't deny that there were genuine concerns for me, even though I knew that there were 45 more minutes to go against a tiring Palace side. Once again though, this Arsenal side have demonstrated a willingness to up their game when necessary for three vital points.

The first half - let's face it - was a pretty drab affair. Frankly, aside from the Monreal chance created by Ozil, it's a wonder how most of the Emirates crowd managed to stay awake. Even though in the end we did manage to get those all-important three points, people tend to overlook these vapid, boring minutes where we were clueless in front of goal.

I'm not going to do that, though. If we want to win the title, we need to vanquish our negatives, and pointing out those flaws is certainly at step one. One of the reasons that I was imploring the manager to spend was because that striker would have that knack of scoring goals from decent positions, unlike the tap-ins that Giroud comfortably tucks away. The first half against Palace was a clear example of how toothless we were in the final third, largely (if not completely) down to a clear lack of movement at the face of Speroni's goal.

This kind of flawed attack is exactly what's going to cost us later this season. Players like Podolski, Giroud, Santi Cazorla and Ozil were completely stationary near the D, barely making runs either at the goalkeeper or across the face of goal. I can understand Giroud lying idle with his back to goal; after all, he's supposed to pivot the balls off to his teammates. However, players like Podolski, Cazorla and Ozil really don't have many excuses for a lack of movement near the box.

This is why I feel that players like Wilshere, Rosicky and now Oxlade-Chamberlain will have a very good second half of the season. Unlike a majority of the squad, the above mentioned players are ones who are prepared to make electrifying runs and press the opposition higher up the pitch, rather than sit back and soak pressure.

With Rosicky and Jack not in the starting XI, it was the Ox who stepped up this time and got a goal immediately after the break. While everyone was standing still and passing sideways, Oxlade-Chamberlain made a lung-bursting run from midfield into space. Santi Cazorla executed an easy ball with perfection, and Chambo looped it over the helpless keeper. 1-0.

After taking the lead, we inexplicably proceeded to apply the dreaded handbrake against a medicre side like Crystal Palace. Instead of making runs near the box and killing off a newly promoted team, we passed the ball pointlessly and acted like the game was done. We're getting really dependent on Bould's usually fail-safe defence, grabbing a goal and sitting back for a lot of games this season.

If playing like this - defending for long periods and snatching goals - is indeed a part of our game plan, then I honestly have no issues with it. However, I'm not sure that playing pragmatic football to such an extent is part of the whole idea. Arsene Wenger is a person who's fond of blowing teams away, and I'm sure that he didn't buy Mesut Ozil for him to contribute in scrappy one-nillers against the likes of Palace.

Such a strategy of football may work well against average, yet stubborn opposition. However, it can and will backfire against powerful attacking prowess' like Manchester City's or Bayern Munich's. We need to find a perfect blend between attack and defence, instead of playing pragmatically - a euphemism for "parking the bus" - against a mediocre Premier League team.

We did add more gloss to the scoreline, in fairness. Some intricate play between Giroud and Chamberlain saw the latter get quite a lot of space down the left hand side. Chambo's hunger to score was apparent when he drove up the pitch and shot it past Speroni. In whatever fashion we did it, ultimately we bagged three points, and that is what matters.

This is a very good result, in light of knowing that Manchester City and/or Chelsea are guaranteed to drop points tonight. Personally, I'm looking forward to this encounter, because it's two opposites pitted against each other with a common objective - to get closer to us.

Mourinho's staunch defence and Pellegrini's scintillating attack means that we should be in for a game which should really fascinate the strategists. That's not to say that the neutrals won't enjoy this; should City break through Chelsea's parked bus, Mourinho's men would be forced to come out of their shell and make a game of it.

This game is hardly a title decider though, and I'm planning to watch it as a neutral. Even though I hope for City to take the lead and the game to culminate into a goal-fest (not unlike the 6-3 game we had to endure), I expect Chelsea to take the lead, City to peg back and finally make it 1-1 at full time. However, I could so easily be wrong.

You know why? Because football is crazy.

P.S. I was thinking of writing a piece on the Kallstrom madness that surrounded deadline day, but it felt futile when there was already a piece on the Internet mirroring my thoughts. Check it out.

Also, ha ha to United.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

Arsenal vs Palace: Match Preview

I wish I could feel excited about this game.

However, I don’t. Even though I decided to get behind the team after the manager yet again underwhelmed, I still cannot get to the terms that Wenger so readily refused to spend, even though a reasonable amount of targets were at our disposal. I’m still seething in the aftermath of another failure of a transfer window.

I did see it coming, though, and that considerably reduced the pain of seeing the Draxler and the Vucinic deals fall apart. It was completely expected, yet the realization of failure early in the window didn’t stop me from feeling pretty drained at the end of it. The frustration of seeing an inactive manager lie through his teeth has reached new heights, if possible.

However, what frustrates me the most is that there are people who blindly support him, not realizing the humongous blunders that he has done over the years. It’s really hard to believe that people are so fixated on the “Wenger Knows” quote that they will go to any lengths to defend the stupid decisions that he has taken, instead blaming the board, the debt and the Financial Fair Play.

People fail to realize that Wenger succeeded in his early years at Arsenal because he had inherited George Graham’s defence. I won’t deny that Wenger deserves huge applause for capitalizing on those foundations laid by Graham, though. He introduced a new diet to prolong the careers of players like Tony Adams, and mixed ageing legs with exciting new talents.

It worked remarkably, as Arsenal were firmly on the up in the early 2000s, reaching the pinnacle of their success in 2004. Arsene Wenger rightly deserved applause for that, because he found a perfect blend between experience and young blood, leading to some mesmerizing counter attacking football and staunch defending.

However, once the defenders started “moving on” and The Back Four disappeared, it became clear that Wenger couldn’t teach his team to defend to save their lives. To top it all, he sold all of the experienced players and replaced them with teenagers, who had nobody to look up to. Once the foundations that Graham had led began to disappear, so did Wenger's success.

No wonder we saw such shameful defending for 5 whole years. Pat Rice was barely given any input by a dominating Wenger, and the wage budget was destroyed by wasting resources on duds like Stepanovs, Poom, Almunia, Vivas, Bothroyd, Pennant, Diawara, Malz, Aliadiere, Bentley, Stack, Jeffers, Wright, Inamoto, Hoyte, Cygan, Shaaban, Awusu-Abeyie, Senderos, Lupoli, Traore, Mannone, Denilson, Diaby, Eboue, Nordtveit, Bartley, Merida, Bischoff, Silvestre, Wellington Silva, Squillaci, Djourou, Andre Santos, Chamakh, Gervinho, Arshavin and Park Chu Young.

I know that building the Emirates Stadium meant that we had to keep a check on our resources and not spend too much, but I strongly feel that that was used as an excuse for not buying top talents when available. Upon analysis, Arsenal Truth has clearly pinpointed the wastage on flop signings. Of course, I could cut the manager some slack had he only bought a couple of flops, but such a high number is astounding.

The board are a spineless bunch of profit-hungry businessmen who put blind faith in their manager, giving him too much freedom and interested only in CL qualification. It speaks volumes that Wenger’s job approaches untenable only when Champions League is on the line, because the board members are only interested in the profits that come along with it.

However, it seems like Gazidis is growing a backbone in recent times. He oh-so cleverly made a public declaration that Wenger would have the funds that he needed to make major signings. Deals with the Emirates and Puma were well-publicized as well, which means that the club will rake in £180m from July 2014 onwards.

Our booming financial conditions meant that Wenger was rightly held 100% accountable for any signings made in the window. While even after 2006 there were no signs that Wenger was denied funds by the board (Wenger’s supporters merely assumed that to absolve Wenger of blame), now there was irrefutable proof that the board were willing to provide Wenger with a bottomless pit.

However, by then Wenger was so disillusioned with his megaflop “Project Youth” campaign, that he refused the fact that he needed to spend big. Even throughout the years when he was supposedly denied funds, he refused to buy top talents at a cut price, instead trusting his deadwood. Witness Xabi Alonso’s failed transfer to Arsenal because Wenger opted to keep faith in Denilson; how stupid does that sound now?

We’ve passed two transfer windows since Ivan made the Gooner family wise that Wenger had an £80m transfer kitty available, yet the only marquee signing that Wenger made was Mesut Ozil, a last ditch panic purchase. For people who are open-minded enough to notice, Wenger has been turned into a power-hungry, procrastinating, profit-making, arrogant dictator after getting too much freedom since 2006. Since David Dein left and the board was replaced with a bunch of money-oriented businessmen who didn’t know squat about football, Wenger was given a lot of trust and power, because he was the only higher authority left in the club who understood football.

However, the lure of having single-handed control, undisputed authority and the ability to get away with everything except CL qualification at a club like Arsenal went straight to Wenger’s head. From being a wise philosopher and a winner at Arsenal, Wenger slowly lowered his expectations because he knew that his new bosses would be okay with failing to win the title regularly.

And now, even though we have a great chance to win the title, we are been backstabbed by a shadow of a man who is living off past glories and knows that the board and a majority of Arsenal supporters will defend him should he fail. Wenger has NO MOTIVATION to aim for the stars this season, since his contract is secure (with a possible pay rise) and CL qualification is in the bag as well.

Many would find this hard to believe. After all, they hear Wenger's wise quotes in press conferences and see his frustration on the touchline when Arsenal are losing, and believe that he knows best. They listen to Wenger saying that he wants to win the title and assume that he’s telling the truth, instead of considering the possibility that Wenger might just be building his PR image to the footballing world.

Bloggers like Arseblog, Gunnerblog as well as sports journalists, who speak a mainstream tone of Wenger nobly bearing pressure under an impatient fanbase lead the average Arsenal fan to think along the same lines as well. No one stops to think that they might be wrong, or that they might be unknowingly contributing to one of the biggest lies in world football history.

There is a reason that people who want Arsene Wenger out never stop complaining, even in good times. It’s because they know that there is a logical explanation behind the scenes for surprising Arsenal results, and that Wenger does not deserve half of the praise that he gets from everywhere. They know that under Wenger, we will always struggle to win things; winning the Premier League or the FA Cup this season won’t change that. Maybe it will, because it might remind Wenger of the times that he used to be a winner. I’m not counting on it, though.

Since 2006, the situation at Arsenal has always been massively complex. There are many theories to explain this steady decline of the club, out of which the widely accepted one is “It’s the board’s and the players’ fault, they didn’t co-operate with Wenger, and our beloved boss has been made a scapegoat”. However, I firmly believe in the theory that I have explained above, because it is supported by facts and figures, and explains ALL of the madness surrounding the club.

Even though I believe that the club has been managed like a circus for a long time through good times and bad, I will still remain an Arsenal fan. Despite knowing about the huge cover-ups and the vast masses of deluded Arsenal fans, I shall never leave this club to join another. I don’t want to brag, but I think that this speaks volumes of me. 

I am independent enough to have my own opinions, despite of what the world thinks. Even though there was a time that the club was filled with clueless board members, a manager who didn’t care about the club, heartless players who wanted out and fans who were horribly split (I am, of course, talking about the end of the 2010-2011 season),  I still had 100% of Arsenal DNA in me to sustain the disappointments.

I, of course, will still stand beside the team and cheer them on, even if I know that Wenger’s inactivity is certain to cost us dear in May. I have said a lot of times before that the players who currently don the red and white are a million times more deserving than the facades of Clichy, Song, Nasri, van Persie and Adebayor. The joy of watching honest, hardworking players give their sweat and blood for the club seems to lessen my pain of inevitable disappointment that’s certain to follow.

Today we face Crystal Palace at home, which is the calm before the storm. Our season – which seems like a dream come true so far – may just suffer a confidence shake up in the games that follow Palace. One cannot rule out the possibility that after the Palace game, the team might fall down a slippery slope and never recover.

The 90 minutes that follow may be one of the last times in a long time that you get to see a rock-solid defence and a scintillating attack. Enjoy it while it lasts.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

Palace 0-2 Arsenal: Below par, but who cares?

A sigh of relief echoed North London as Arsenal edged out Crystal Palace by winning 2-0 at Selhurst Park. It was a surprisingly poor performance from a team who are apparently challenging for the title, and one that shouldn't be repeated. Ever.

If Arsenal were facing any other team apart from Palace, they would've undoubtedly lost. Crystal Palace is arguably the worst team in the Premier League, and without any managerial stability, they were at their weakest point. Compare them to Arsenal, who are top of the pile, on a 7 match unbeaten run in the Premier League and playing a full strength squad. Yet we had to scrape past them and rely on a penalty and a header to get 3 points. I know I said earlier that "Results > Performances", but isn't it a good performance that leads to a good result?

I had said in the match preview that Wenger's failure to set his priorities and playing a full strength squad would lead him into trouble, and so it proved. Mathieu Flamini limped off the pitch in the 7th minute due to a groin injury, which will most likely rule him out of the next four games that may well define our season. Well played, Wenger.

His replacement, Serge Gnabry, did all right, at least better than the others. Santi was rusty, Ozil anonymous (he looks jaded), and Ramsey's solo playing angered me. For the last time, how can Wenger not notice Aaron not noticing his teammates?

For me, Olivier Giroud was the only player who was trying constantly to create chances and win half-balls for us in the first half. And while Arsenal overwhelmingly dominated possession, Palace's direct play and better chances ensured that they went into the dressing room as the happier of the two teams. Arsenal were actually lucky to go all square, and were left to thank Marouane Chamakh's comical miss.

A massive improvement was needed by the Gunners, but it was a stroke of luck that got us the lead. Gnabry, who had space in the box, feinted intelligently and invited Guedioura's reckless slide onto him. A fair penalty was given, which Arteta dispatched professionally. 1-0 to the Arsenal it was.

However, he turned from hero to villain in the space of 20 minutes, when he pulled down Chamakh and earned himself a red card. It was cowardly play from Chamakh, and while I agree it was a foul, it certainly did not merit a sending off, primarily because he wasn't denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.

However, the brilliance of the Arsenal team as a whole to contain a Crystal Palace assault quite calmly was a welcome sight to see. The old Arsenal, filled with teenagers and inexperience, would've crumbled at this game. They would've probably sulked over the red card and screwed up the match, leaving Wenger to hunt for excuses in the post-match conference.

Not this Arsenal. Bacary Sagna's brilliance and Szczesny's saves of the season, in particular was noteworthy in our attempts to preserve this lead. Granted, we needn't put ourselves in this position and should've had the game done and dusted in the first half. However, the experienced heads of Sagna, Nacho Monreal (who was impressive on the left wing) and Koscielny realized that this win would be a load off, and that 3 points - any 3 points - would be vital in the long run. It is said that title winning teams have a trait of grinding results when things aren't going their way. I'm glad we showed that trait today.

The game was over when Ramsey took the ball till their box, realized he couldn't go any further, and played it to Giroud to score an easy header goal. Ollie deserved that goal after another excellent all-around performance, and he is slowly becoming more and more influential in this Arsenal side. Credit to the players for holding on to another crucial win, and maintaining our two-point gap at the top.

Afterwards, Arsene said:

"It was not a game of brilliance but it was a game of efficiency and patience. For us it was about being patient and not making a mistake and we did that well. The pitch was a bit slow, maybe we were not the sharpest as well and the two together made us create less chances than we are used to but we were serious and determined."

We face Chelsea on Tuesday, which marks the beginning of a tough set of fixtures. I'll put a blog in tomorrow highlighting the factors that can affect our performances in the coming matches, but till then it's time to savour another important Arsenal win.

Hats off to the players, and especially the defenders, for managing to keep a rare clean sheet. Till tomorrow.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal: Match Preview

This should be a piece of cake.

With Crystal Palace in second bottom position, looking destined for relegation already, and no proper managerial stability, we should be trashing this team, even if it is at their home. Quite frankly, we should take this game as one to vent our recent frustration on, due to narrowly losing against Dortmund.

This game can also be taken as a warm up, or a chance to rest our big guns before the towering fixtures arrive. After Crystal Palace, we host Chelsea in a crucial Capital One Cup fixture. I call it 'crucial' because it's the best way to win a trophy this season. It's about time that we lift the burden of "8 years no trophy" off our heads, and win something to shut the mouths of the critics. And these group of lads deserve it, because their a bunch of honest people who work their socks off every match.

Arsene Wenger believes that his team has learnt from the Dortmund game, by saying:

"Even if we lost there were a lot of positives because we controlled them quite well, a team who went to the final in a convincing way last year. Despite the disappointment, it should give us belief. I am quite confident and I think we have learned from the Dortmund game.”

I highly doubt that. Arsene Wenger's Arsenal are a team that have never learnt from their mistakes made in the previous years. Till today there is nervy defending of set-pieces, hardly any tangible impact of substitutes, constant overplaying of key players and a lack of winning mentality. I'm sorry, I just don't buy it.

Anyway, in team news, Flamini is fit again and Wilshere is facing a late test but reports suggest that it is short term. Arsene Wenger, however, has finally admitted that his ankle problem will be a recurring one due to him overplaying Jack. However, I don't think that either of them need to play today for us to win this one. I think that if we go with our second squad, namely the back five of Viviano, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal, the midfield trio of Mikel Arteta, Ramsey and Rosicky and with Gnabry, Ryo and Bendtner playing upfront we should comfortably win this. And if not, won't we have a better impact from the bench than we had earlier?

However, I don't have much faith in Wenger's man management, and I suspect that he'll start Giroud, Ozil, and Santi Cazorla for this match and probably play his worst team possible for the Chelsea fixture ("Because it's Capital One Cup, who cares about that, right?"). It's poor man management and he's clearly setting the wrong priorities, but that's Arsene Wenger for you. We just have to helplessly hope that none of our key players pick up a knock.

Anyway, irrespective of the squad, we should be winning this comfortably. If City beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and we win this, then we go 3 points clear at the top of the table. Not a bad position to be in after 9 games played, eh?

Here's to results going our way and another easy Arsenal win. Come on You Gunners.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )