A truthful Gooner quits the club + 2014/15 predictions

No, it's not me.

I still have truckloads of Arsenal passion in me. Even though I know that the ship of Arsenal is going to sink regardless of whether we win the FA Cup or not, my pure love for the club means that I'll always be there.

However, Arsenal Truth, a blogger that has been saying the absolute reality of the situation for around six years, has withdrawn his support for the club, exiting after yet another unnervingly accurate post.

Let me get this straight - I have no affiliation whatsoever with Arsenal Truth. I haven't the slightest clue about his life, nor does he care about mine. I seriously doubt he'll ever read this post. However, his exit from blogging genuinely took me aback, which made me spill my thoughts on the Internet.

Arsenal Truth, by the way, is the reason I've become enlightened to the ugly truths surrounding Arsenal Football Club, also the reason why I started this blog. His critical analysis and predictions, that are nearly always right, has made me wise to the depths of incompetence of Arsene Wenger. Even though I've never met him, I have respect for the anonymous guy who ran the site.

A note to the Arsene fan base: Instead of arguing over what will happen next season, why don't you go to the Arsenal Truth archives instead? The evidence of Wenger's incompetence and his regularly accurate predictions written there are so true, it's scary.

Here's an extract from Arsenal Truth. Who could possibly disagree with this?

"If this season ends up potless and Arsenal uncompetitive, for obvious reasons, somebody quite simply HAS to be made accountable! I am also leaning further and further towards wanting David Dein back at the club, even if it means having his sidekick Usmanov with him. Dein would be at the forefront, the beached whale would be peripheral, and his vulgar money is really no different to Kroenke's.

They're all in it for the prestige and the profit - but at least we know Dein cares passionately about Arsenal, and has the ruthless, naked ambition that the rest of the Arsenal board evidently lacks. Dein sacked Terry Neill and brought George Graham to Arsenal, they didn't even get on, but Dein sat it out because George was a legend and a winner. And Arsenal need that now, not a board full of corporates and a manager that even alongside Dein, best friends as they are, wouldn't be allowed to get away with this ludicrous incompetence."

Many would assume that this post was written around the 6-0 Chelsea game, or maybe the 5-1 Anfield demolition. Wrong, it was actually written in September 2010, approximately one week after we thumped Blackpool 6-0. 4 years later, barely anything has changed.

Arsenal Truth is one of the few Arsenal blogs that I've seen, which speaks with absolute conviction and truth regardless of the final scoreline on Matchday. It's the first Arsenal blog I had come across that took such a violent and aggressive turn from other Arsenal blogs, yet was bang on the money in the long run.

Arsenal Truth, as you would expect, is anti-Wenger, but speaks with reason. While I believe Le Grove is better than Truth, AT was the first blog I had found, hence I followed it more.

Not anymore. Now that Arsenal Truth has called it quits, I'm left seething over Wenger, because he was mostly responsible for a loyal supporter turning his back. I hope I won't end up his way under Wenger stewardship.

I genuinely understand why Arsene's supporters are angry with the Wenger Out section. After all, I was one of them around 2 years ago. However, whichever way you look at it, the Wenger Out crew has always been right. The truth may be bitter, or it may be what you don't want to hear, but it remains the truth. Wenger remains a con man, a procrastinator, a tactical joke, a poor motivator, an excuse-hunter, a dictator, a miser and a two-faced fallen philosopher. Loads of evidence, and archival match reports from Le Grove, Arsenal Truth (and indeed, this blog) suggests the same.

For five whole years, everything has stayed the same. The only change has been an increase in our bank balance, which was down to Mr Gazidis, not Arsene Wenger. Anyone who thinks that a football manager was responsible in striking deals with PUMA and Emirates are off their rocker, frankly.

Every year, it's the same mistakes. Under Wenger, those mistakes are certain to continue. We won't compete for the Champions League nor win the Premier League EVER. We'll always find supporters - desperate to not see their fallen hero being blamed - lambasting injuries and refereeing decisions instead. We might pick up some cups along the way, but let's face it, they'd be a poor substitute for our proud history.

In fact, I can make 10 bold predictions for the next season. If Wenger stays, regardless of what happens in the FA Cup, the following will happen in 2014/15. I guarantee it.




1. In the transfer market, Arsenal will not do even half their business early (before the World Cup). Even though there is a possibility of needing to buy around 8 players to have a complete squad for the next season, I'm sure we'll make a circus of it.

2. Arsenal will fall short of players. There will be at least one panic purchase on deadline day, and in the end we'll lack in depth in at least one area. Whether it's goalkeeper, defence, midfield or forward, I don't know. Whatever happens, fans will come out with their excuses. Stuff like Wenger wasn't allowed to spend by the board, World Cup was an unnecessary distraction or clubs deliberately didn't sell their players to Arsenal, will be doing the rounds.

3. Arsenal might buy one world-class player, but he would be bought due to fan pressure, not out of some master plan. It'll be synonymous to the £42.5m splash on Ozil. This one would possibly be on deadline day too.

4. Arsenal will not win the EPL, nor will they come close to winning the Champions League. We might win the FA Cup or the Capital One, but we won't win trophies a club of Arsenal's stature should win.

5. 90% of the mistakes that I've mentioned about Wenger (to see them together, click here) will recur. Whether they are unnoticed by deluded supporters or are spoken by the mainstream media remains to be seen.

6. There will be negative, Villa-ish results at least thrice next season. Boos ringing around the stadium are certain to follow, if these matches happen at home.

7. Even though lack of transfers will have a huge impact, Wenger's insane tactical approach, and his clear inability to motivate his team during the crunch clashes will prove decisive in us not competing. Of course, Wenger's apologists will instead blame injuries and refereeing decisions.

8. There will be an injury crisis, somewhere after the Christmas schedule.

NOTE: This isn't because fate, luck and destiny loathe Arsenal, it's because Wenger overplays his key players until they can barely walk, and then overrules his medical staff advice like the dictator he is. It's not a coincidence that Arsenal have topped the injury list for the past five years.

9. Mesut Ozil will not be as successful as people think. A lot have got it wrong with Ozil, they think this season is his adaptation period. If so, shouldn't he have a bad first half of the season and then a good second half of the season? Why is it the other way around?

Fact is, Ozil never was good with Arsenal once he learnt the Wenger way. Sure, he started his season brilliantly, but once Wenger started to impose his tactical approach on Ozil, the guy faded. Wenger also overplayed him throughout the Christmas schedule and heaped pressure on him. He surrounded Ozil with weak and slow people which exposed his flaws even more. Ozil's injury was predictable, really.

Of course, there is every chance Ozil can resist Wenger's suicidal man management. World class players like Cesc and Robin did. However, if Ozil manages to set the league alight next season, it would be inspite of Wenger's management, not because of him.

I fear Ozil will go the way of Arshavin.

10. The season, as the past ten, will end up as 'not good enough'. A majority of Arsenal's fan base, to not heap pressure on their beloved philosopher, will instead glorify what he will 'achieve' throughout the following season, make themselves believe that better days are set to arrive and continue their futile exercise of hoping that Arsenal, under a zombie manager, will put things right the eleventh time around.

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While I can't guarantee that all of these will happen next season, certainly around 8 of these points will transpire under Arsene Wenger. Most of them happened this season, they happened last season, and also the season before. If you don't want to believe that it's happening, tough, but it'll happen anyways, and you'd better deal with it then.

Frankly, it's embarrassing that a blogger from India can predict the impending disaster with such certainty, before one of football's supposed greatest managers can do anything about it, or even know it. I'm in no way suggesting that I could be a better manager than Wenger, for I have zero footballing managerial experience. But if me, Le Grove and AT can see what's coming, why can't Wenger?

It doesn't take anyone to be a football manager to realize that Arsenal needed a bloody striker for two seasons. You don't need to win the Premier League to have an opinion on Wenger's laughable tactics. If people loathe Hitler for killing millions of Jews, did any German retort by saying, "Well, you haven't been a dictator, you don't know how hard it is!"

In honesty, I feel sorry for Arsenal fans, I really do. The Arsenal fanbase is, in my opinion, one of the most loyal and patient ever. However, Wenger destroying his own legacy is having an adverse effect on these fans, who are now filled with self-doubt, false belief and are forced to accept mediocrity from time to time. Wenger is killing the club, feeding Gooners with the poison of hope, destroying their passion and trust and in return, delivering nothing.

How do you describe this situation? One word - fraud.

Don't let a 3-0 win against a disinterested Newcastle, or penalty shootout relief against a Championship side fool you; Arsenal is a mess. The backroom staff don't get a say under Wenger, the rotten system - flawed on ALL levels - will not change, players will get fed up and leave, Wenger will pick up his salary, the clueless board will not challenge him, and Arsenal will remain godawful under his dictatorial reign. On every level, the club remains hamstrung.

Hopefully if Wenger leaves in the summer, all the madness will stop and fans will be fed with genuine optimism. I have always supported Arsenal, but today it is more out of loyalty than pure passion. If Wenger is to leave, that passion will return.

Otherwise, if the chaos continues, years from now, I might end up like Arsenal Truth.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle: Ozil struts his stuff as Arsenal seal North London superiority

In one of the most routine victories ever, Arsenal beat a team comfortably who, by all accounts, came to the Emirates Stadium just for the heck of it.

This was one of those wins where it was hard to find any negatives to balance the positives. There was, however, that drab opening 22 minute spell that sucked the life out of me. Sure, we had possession and we had an Ozil chance that whisked past the post, but other than that, it was dire.

I was worried. If Newcastle would open the scoring - they did come close when Sissoko curled an effort past the far post - then there was the real chance we might lose the support of the crowd. Coming back to win would have been difficult, considering our team's fickle mood-swings.

However, as it stood, Arsenal were just biding their time. We won a free kick around the 25th minute, Santi curled it in and Koscielny (who else?) dived to meet the ball and guide the ball into the far post. That's three goals for him directly responsible for St. Totteringham's Day, all in the same fashion. It's almost like the script was written.

The goal was what Arsenal needed, as we let go of the handbrake and started to impose ourselves. Against a Newcastle side with absolutely nothing to play for and Ozil in the mood, it was pretty easy. Podolski could have made it 3-0, when his low strike, which seemed to be going in was saved by Krul, and later when he was denied a headed goal after another Krul save.

We did get what we deserved just before half-time. Arteta floated a ball on the path of Giroud who was making a rare run behind the defence. The back two of Williamson and Collocini are particularly slow players, which probably helped Giroud put in an improved performance. Imagine how much chaos a quicker striker would have created. Remember Theo Walcott's hattrick against Newcastle in December 2012?

Anyway, Giroud controlled the ball perfectly, but then went for a shot instead of passing it to Ozil. His two strikes, both saved by Krul, kind of highlighted how poor he is in finishing one-on-one situations. There wasn't any clever attempt to curl it past the keeper or round him - instead, Giroud just decided to put his foot through the ball and see where it took him. On this occasion, he was saved by the deflection falling to an offside Ozil who tucked it in, but he won't be saved every day. He needs to be careful.

In the second half, after Gouffran showed evidence that Newcastle were theoretically still in the game, we proceeded to kill the game off. Ozil, who was simply breathtaking after scoring the second goal, took advantage of a Ramsey reverse and bulleted the ball in for Giroud to meet with his head. I don't know many Arsenal players who could have delivered that flat speedy cross like Ozil did, he deserves more credit for that than we give him.

I liked Ozil's performance yesterday. While I thought his performance at Hull was overrated, the Newcastle one wasn't. He was all over them, really, and showed elegance along with end product. Kudos to the guy, for what I think was his best performance in an Arsenal shirt since Napoli at home.

Kudos to Wenger too. He made absolutely the right call by removing the influential and essential trio of Ramsey, Ozil and Giroud, who deserved a rest. Come to think of it, he did the same against Hull, removing Ozil, Giroud and Podolski when the game was practically over. Is this a sign of a newfound positive man management from Arsene?

After the most comfortable win since, well, last week, Wenger said:

"It is a step forward [to fourth], but we need to make another one because we have another home game [on Sunday]. It is another opportunity to win again. What is important is to focus on our performance. Game-by-game, they look strong and convincing now."

Fourth could be sealed if Manchester City defeat Everton on Saturday, as seems increasingly likely. However, I haven't given up hope of third, so I hope Everton defeat City and we defeat West Brom. I know the chances of Arsenal overhauling City are slim to none, but as I said before, it's better to fight for third than stay content with fourth.

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Right, time for some FIFA. And if time permits, I might change the layout of the blog or something, you never know.

Till then, Happy St. Totteringham's Day. Have a good one, Gooners.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

The fight for fourth, Moyes' sacking, Newcastle preview and CL thoughts

It's been a busy week of football, one I regret missing out on.

A lot has happened in terms of football in general, so please forgive me for turning my attention away from Arsenal in this post. Without further ado, let's get right into the thick of it.

Hull was the performance of the old...
...and by old, i mean six months ago. The 3-0 win against Hull displayed football by Arsenal that we had gotten used to around the September-December period. And there was one man who was at the centre of it, just like he was in the thick of it half a year ago.

Aaron Ramsey was simply... well, Ramsey. I didn't expect much from him because he had just returned from injury, and one assist against West Ham didn't exactly mean he was 'back', as such. Indeed, I tried to downplay his importance to every Gooner I knew, for I didn't want to increase the burden on his tired shoulders.

How wrong was I? Ramsey bossed it. His direct, purposeful running was an acceptable surrogate for Theo Walcott's absence. His all-action midfield play is irreplaceable, really. He immediately got back in his groove with a goal and an assist, not to mention being significantly involved in the third. I had genuinely forgotten how good he was, and didn't want to hype his earlier season form for fear of setting unfair expectations on him.

However, I didn't need to. Ramsey's performance leaked of efficiency and enthusiasm. It's getting impossible to raise the bar on his expectations. Had Wenger not overplayed him and rashly attempted to bring him back to action, we could have been a lot better off than we currently are.

Podolski deserves mention too. Even though I'm increasingly of the opinion that deploying him on the left flank in a 4-3-3 isn't the best idea, I want Podolski to do well at Arsenal. His second goal was one only Aaron Ramsey could have scored in this present Arsenal team, which highlights how much we need him.

Podolski is a rarity at Arsenal. He gives us that cutting edge, the final product and covers his defensive deficiencies by smashing the ball into the net. Goals win football matches, to use the redundant footballing cliche, and Podolski offers that. Which is why, in the absence of Theo, the guy is becoming indispensable.

Work out the math. How many players currently at Arsenal would have scored the goal that Podolski did against Hull, or even West Ham? Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and maybe Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky. With the latter two not exactly in their prime currently, Walcott injured and Ramsey only being one guy, Podolski continues to deliver the goods. And that's why Arsenal need him.

Moyes had to go...
I'm not saying this from an Arsenal perspective. As a Gooner, I think what he was doing was hilarious. Bringing a title winning side to practically mid-table unwittingly is beyond remarkable. United were hopeless and hapless under him.

However, hearing United supporters protesting to Moyes' sacking and trotting out "#InMoyesWeTrust" was almost stupid. Moyes was given time to gel with the players and build on a foundation set by Ferguson, and he failed miserably. He lost the dressing room, pampered Rooney, never found a stable backline and mismanaged van Persie and Kagawa.

However, the reason why he had to go was because of what he did back in last summer. By firing a backroom staff full of winners, he was drilling a box of nails into his grave.

As a football fan, I believe that modern day managers can be successful by living off the information from their backroom staff. By piecing together knowledge from your medical staff, your transfer negotiator, your scouts, your first team coaches, etc., you could make informed decisions and take the club forward. By being a figurehead to experts working behind the scenes, the manager can mould that information to take calculated risks.

Maybe that's what Ferguson saw in Moyes. Maybe Ferguson believed that Moyes could act as a nominal leader, take advice from United's superb backroom staff and carry on business as usual. It is a lesser known fact that Ferguson was an awful tactician, so instead of going around with his own tactics (like Wenger does), he took advice from his coaching staff.

However, Moyes blew it. Inspite of Ferguson's pleas, Moyes made what was his worst decision as Manchester United manager, in my opinion, by hiring Everton's staff and firing Ferguson's staff. Is it really a surprise that their negotiating staff failed to lure Coentrao, Alcantra and Ozil to their team?

As their dog turd of a season wore on, he eventually lost the players, the support and the plot. He panicked into giving Rooney a megadeal, and overpaid for Juan Mata. He made insane decisions like playing Januzaj as central attacking midfield and Valencia at right back. Some legacy.

If the replacement, touted to be Louis van Gaal, does come in, he'll have to sort out the backroom staff. Otherwise, if the new manager's pedigree is modest, I'd expect to see more of the same.

Perhaps this should be a lesson for Wenger. While Moyes took the advice of incompetent ex-Evertonians in the backroom, it is widely known that Wenger acts as a one-man army. He does not heed the advice of his backroom staff at all, a result of his egocentric and dictatorial mindset. Would any medical staff sanction playing Ramsey for 112 minutes, only after two days of full training?

Wenger has to learn. Ferguson took the advice of his coaching staff and became a footballing legend. Moyes ignored it and became a laughing stock. Wenger, for a good decade, is ignoring the advice of behind-the-scenes men and is watching his Arsenal regressing.

For me, the writing is on the wall.

Real Madrid have exposed Bayern's weaknesses...
While I think Bayern are currently the best footballing side in the world, that doesn't mean they're flawless. There were glaring errors in their matches against Arsenal, errors that a better manager would have taken advantage of. Ancelloti did.

After our 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena, I had said:

"I still fancy Bayern to win the Champions League. However, I say that because I don't find any other team that can match their prowess. Real Madrid, maybe, but I'm not so sure."

I didn't see the match, so I don't know the tactics Real employed. I did hear people say that Real should have had a bigger lead going into the second leg, so it seems like Carlo got his tactics right. Either way, the second leg at the Allianz promises to be a cracker. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Anyone but Chelsea...
Since the season began, I had predicted Chelsea to win the Premier League. It wasn't a pleasant thought, and I wasn't supporting them in any way. And even though Jose somehow managed to get his buses past Anfield, it's unlikely they'll win the title.

However, I have this nagging feeling that they are going to win the Champions League. I don't know why, because they certainly are underdogs against the might of Real and Bayern. They may even be too weak to get past Atletico.

Looking at Mourinho thumping his Chelsea badge against the sea of Anfield incensed me a bit. It was then, when I realized that I want Chelsea to suffer as much hurt as possible this season. I hate the club, the plastic fans, the mafia owner and the anti-football manager. Why the fuck do you spend billions and then play like Stoke City?

I think I hate Chelsea more than Tottenham Hotspur, which really is saying something. And that is why I find the nagging feeling, that they might win the CL uncomfortable. Should they perform that feat, the niggling thought might eat me up.

Anyone but Chelsea.

Everton did us a massive favour...
I didn't expect them to lose against Southampton, be it at St. Mary's. However, to lose like they did - by scoring two own goals - was as surprising as it was delighting. Needless to say, fourth is well and truly in our hands now, and looking at City's win over Crystal Palace, we're forced to be happy with what we have.

Today could be St. Totteringham's day...
With Newcastle United coming up in a few hours, three points would seal Arsenal's superiority over Tottenham for the 19th season running. Remarkable, really.

On comparison to the previous two seasons, where we had to wait till the last game of the season to establish North London superiority, it shows how much we have progressed and how much Tottenham have regressed. St. Totteringham's Day has almost gone under the radar due to the prospect of going four clear of Everton.

I find it surprising how little I care over St. Totteringham's. I barely even care about top four, really. Bar the FA Cup, this season is over for me. All I care about is Wenger's possible departure and decisive additions in the summer.

Until then, it's just getting through another Matchday.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

Arsenal 3-1 West Ham: Fourth place trophy recovered

So, despite the majority of problems surrounding Arsenal Football Club, we're in control of fourth place. A scary first half performance turned into a much more controlled, composed second half display as we dispatched Allardyce's side away, quite comfortably in the end. Thoughts: 

Podolski was, is and always will be inconsistent in a 4-3-3...
I know that Podolski is a fan favourite. I know that people are in disbelief that Wenger doesn't play him more often. I know that he had a cracker of a performance against West Ham. But I, unlike a lot of Arsenal supporters, am not convinced.

Despite his goals and assists, Podolski strikes to me as a player who is the jack of being a winger and a striker, yet the master of none. At times he'll convince you that he's capable of playing as a striker/winger, but at times he'll demonstrate that he's not capable of playing in both positions. I firmly believe that Podolski is not a pure winger, neither is he a pure centre forward.

If we want to bring out the best of Lukas consistently, it's not going to happen in a 4-4-3. To me Podolski always performs better in the space between a right back and a centre back down the left channel. While I used to say that Podolski has the potential to be lethal in our 4-3-3 system as a left winger, I really don't believe it now.

If we want Podolski to thrive, I'm convinced that the answer is playing him as a second striker in a 4-4-2. Alongside Giroud, an expert in laying off balls to people beside him, I think Podolski will perform well consistently.

However, I don't think we should employ a 4-4-2 now, especially after building a team suited to adjust a 4-4-3. I'm not sure that it would be the best idea for our creative midfielders to thrive, and if we look to play a diamond midfield, it would put undue pressure on the lone holding midfielder, especially seeing that our holding midfielders (Flamini, Arteta, Kallstrom) don't have a Yaya Toure physique.

Giroud's goal deserves praise...
I have been one of the rare people who support Giroud, yet want him dropped for a lot of matches. My answer is logical; while I'm sure that Giroud has a place in the team for Arsenal for future years to come, his mental and physical condition has been shot to pieces by Arsene Wenger.

Wenger has got it all wrong with Giroud. Ever since he's come to Arsenal (in 2012), Giroud has been thrown in the foray continuously by Wenger and expected to replace Robin van Persie. With utter disregard to his fatigued mindset and his tiring legs, Wenger has horribly mismanaged Giroud, so much so that I thought he was beyond repair now.

Don't get me wrong - I still want Giroud in the club. He's shown enough qualities in the first half of the season (when he wasn't tired) that has convinced me to think he'd be a strong backup option. We need Kanus and Wiltords on the bench to make a difference in turbulent times, and I think Olivier can be one of them.

However, Giroud's goal (and his performance afterwards) has led me to believe that he can still finish this campaign strongly. My earlier mentality of "Aargh, Wenger's killed the guy, best for him to limp towards the finish line and start afresh" has changed now. To me, Giroud seems like one of those guys with a fickle mind. With confidence, Ollie looks reborn.

As soon as he got the crucial goal that gave us the lead, Giroud immediately looked rejuvenated. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, stamina returned from nowhere as Giroud put in a remarkable shift after scoring a goal Messi would be proud of.

For me, this changes nothing. Giroud will still be fit as backup in a club like Arsenal, but he'd be a significant upgrade over the likes of Chamakh, Park and Sanogo. Perhaps we'd see a much more potent strikeforce under a new manager in the next season. That is, if Wenger leaves of course.

Ramsey makes us tiki-taka... 
When the Welshman was brought on, I didn't have high hopes. Indeed, I actually tried as hard as I could through social media to downplay his return, as I felt that undue pressure might affect his performances. Instead, the complete opposite happened.

I really had forgotten how good Ramsey was. Perhaps it's conceivable I was trying to downgrade his quality over the months to not get my hopes up like I had with Jack Wilshere. Perhaps I didn't want to believe that he's our saviour of the season.

Be as it may, Ramsey had an absolute screamer. As soon as he came on the team felt alive, reminiscent of how we were in the first half of the season. His mere presence just changed everything, including the scoreline, where he gave a sublime assist to Podolski's clincher. I'd feel much more comfortable about the FA Cup Final if Ramsey were properly fit.

Kallstrom's debut was overrated...
Personally, I didn't see the fuss in Kallstrom. While other people applauded him for a "fantastic" full Premier League debut, I thought he was completely average. Had a handy scapegoat like Arteta or Denilson played like how Kallstrom did, they would have been roundly criticized for an "anonymous performance."

Of course, I don't want Kallstrom to seem appalling just so I could berate Wenger for buying him. I already have the Denilsons, the Diabys, the Frimpongs and the Meridas to do that. However, it seems like the Arsene fan club are desperately trying to hype Kallstrom's performance in the hope of believing that their beloved Wenger had a grand master plan in place when he loaned in Kallstrom. Believe me, he didn't.

Even if Kallstrom surprises the whole world and bags more assists than Ozil in the coming month, there is no denying the fact that he was signed by Wenger just for the sake of signing somebody.

Santi Cazorla thoughts... 
Of course, he was brilliant. Completely deserving of the MOTM award. However, don't expect him to consistently perform like he did. Ozil's imminent return means that he'll be shifted to the left flank again, where we'll be mixed results from him. Again.

Obviously I want Cazorla to perform well for Arsenal. He's the most cheerful-cum-talented Arsenal footballer in the team. However, I won't for one second believe that him shifting to the left would flourish his form. He will have his good games, but would never find consistency.

Ozil's return will be a psychological boost...
 I expect the team's performance to raise a level once Ozil takes to the field. And that's not because he'd be providing assists all over the place. It'd be because his mere presence would lift the team.

I don't think we are set to see any superb comeback from Ozil. I think we'll be in for more of the same. However, it is impossible to shake off entirely the possibility that his return could provide a huge fillip to Arsenal. Let's see.

Token of gratitude to Tony...
After Crystal Palace beat Everton, fourth is completely in our hands.Yes, it's not where (m)any would like to be right now considering how many days we were topping the pile, but I am relieved to see that at least we're now on course to getting the consolation that seemed to be slipping from our grasps. Even though I loathe the coconuts out of Pulis, he has earned my gratitude.

Having said that, we might move a step further as well.

Third might be a possibility...

After City slipped up against Sunderland, they're now only 4 points ahead of us, albeit with a game in hand. However, it's interesting to note that their end-of fixtures include the aforementioned Palace and Everton, games where they are likely to drop points. Plus, you know, it's the Premier League. Anything can happen.

I'm not saying that City's slip-up means snatching third is a plausible option. I'm just saying that fighting for third is much better than fighting to stay at fourth. However weird it may sound, we must play the rest of the season with an objective of overhauling City rather than fending off Everton. It's what football (and our motto) is all about - moving forward.

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Right, that's that. I'll be out of town for a good couple of weeks and might not get the Wi-Fi to post any other blogs. It may well be the end of this month before I start posting again.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

Arsenal vs West Ham: Match Preview

You know what's embarrassing? That we're looking at this game as a potential banana skin.

West Ham are 11th in the table. We're 5th in the table and playing them at home, which has become a real fortress. Despite injuries and fatigue, we should we walking over this team.

We won't, though. That's how low Wenger has got us.

Granted, we have just played a physically and emotionally draining 120 minutes against Wigan. Players like Ramsey and Chamberlain who were just back from injury aren't fit to play this game, especially because they also played an awful lot against Wigan. Mertesacker and Sagna deserve a breather too.

But here's the thing - isn't it purely our fault that we are in this position? No one told us to drag the game on to extra time, we were the one's who created the mess. We had Wigan in the FA Cup semi final - that's as easy as it gets. Yet we made hot water out of it.

We knew Ramsey and Walcott were out in January. Arsenal bloggers everywhere have been saying that our medical staff is one of the crappiest in the league. Yet, instead of adding much needed depth, we've signed Kim Kallstrom.

Kallstrom has been proving to be useful in these times. With Ramsey, Flamini, Ozil and Wilshere out, he's almost guaranteed a start today. But consider this - had we bought more players in January (say a striker and a centre back), wouldn't they have been useful as well? I, for one, have been crying out loud for a striker and a centre back. Both of them would have been mighty useful today. In addition, I'm firmly of the opinion that had we got these players, they would have helped us today in keeping our title hopes alive, rather than our top four hopes.

I had said that the performance rather than the result was what terrified me against Wigan. I am utterly convinced that we're going to see a similar performance today. Whether it's enough to grab three points (or even one point) remains to be seen.

I expect we'll line up with Szczesny - Sagna - Mertesacker - Koscielny (if he makes it) - Gibbs - Kallstrom - Arteta - Rosicky (if he makes it) - Cazorla - Podolski - Giroud. I also expect us to come out with a 0-0 draw if we play anything like we did on Saturday.

In a broader sense, I genuinely think we'll finish fifth this season. We actually are fortunate that we have an easy run-in while Everton have Southampton, United and City, but I don't think Wenger will take advantage of that luck.

Martinez looks possessed to get fourth. Wenger, on the other hand, looks beaten. While I don't think in any way that finishing fourth is good for the club (the board needs a bigger jolt than that to change things around), I honestly am worried that Everton will overtake us for good this season.

The players need to prove me wrong, starting today. I'm not very hopeful though.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )