The final home match of the season arrives today, Norwich City visiting The Emirates for the first time. They bring some uncomfortable memories with them having been Arsenal’s opponents in the first Premier League fixture back in 1992 with The Canaries flying away with a 4 – 2 victory, the second and so final league win at Arsenal. There was a certain symmetry with the rubble of the North Bank and the Arsenal back four that day. Perhaps we should have known things were going to go awry when one of the parachutists ended up disappearing into the building site. Still he had a banner for The Sun so it wasn’t all lost.
Today’s match has parallels with 1995/96; winning the last home game with Bolton was a pre-requisite to qualify for the Uefa Cup. That was achieved with Dennis Bergkamp’s strike; fast forward to this season and a win is imperative for third place. This fixture is – on paper – a routine home win. Norwich have lost seven of the last eleven. It is poor enough form for their comfortable mid-table position achieved through an exemplary team ethic, to have become a comfortable lower reaches position. This season has taught us that nothing is straightforward. If you need that emphasising, Norwich’s last win was at White Hart Lane.
But this is about Arsenal playing to the maximum of their potential, realising their ambitions. Mikel Arteta is missed, the domestic record in his absence is poor; Arsenal have not won without him in the team in a Premier League fixture since he joined. Talismanic the Spaniard may be; absent he definitely is. That record is bizarre and needs putting to rest. Whilst he will return next season, there are some in the first team – a number of the squad as well perhaps – who are very possibly featuring in an Arsenal shirt for the last time.
Amongst them, Yossi Benayoun made his sadness clear on Twitter. The Israeli has been a key player in recent months, adding a touch of guile to the attack and certainly different options on the left. Some deride him but I believe he is a good player to have in the squad and his experience cannot be easily dismissed. That said, I am not sure that Arsène will look to extend the deal or make it permanent in the summer. Much will depend on the movement of others with manager non-commital over the future of his strikers this summer. I can understand that players want to wait and see what offers come but to be honest there are seasoned internationals on the bench – Park will replace Diaby in the squad – who must surely place more value on their careers than their paycheques?
The situation is muddied with players such as Vela, Bendtner and Arshavin returning from loan. There is a surfeit of players for three places even before the arrival of Lukas Podolski. Arsenal do indeed love a striker, a pity that so few of them have been able to produce their best form on a consistent basis. It is an area of the team where I think there will be the majority of transfer activity this summer; the problem is that new homes have to be found for them before new blood can come into the club. When one of them tells his current employer that the club is not good enough for him, I am not convinced that will be an easy job. Still I am sure that nice Mr O’Neill sought clarification from the, um,confident Nicklas Bendtner.
Those are thoughts for another day. Back to this afternoon. Theo Walcott will in all likelihood not be fit until next weekend which seems likely to mean Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain continuing in the side. On the left, there is a conundrum for the manager. Gervinho’s directness was a thorn in the side of Stoke last weekend and with Norwich possessing a similar liking for the wider areas of the pitch as the team from The Potteries, the Ivorian may get a nod over the more thoughtful Benayoun. Either could make a strong case for inclusion.
Overall, it is hard to see many changes for Arsenal, if any:
Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Rosicky, Song, Ramsey; Oxlade-Chamberlain, van Persie, Gervinho
Talk of contracts becomes more intense as the summer approaches. Arsène’s self-imposed deadline of resolving Robin van Persie’s situation before the commencement of Euro2012 seems optimistic. The Dutchman offered little clue as to his future, proferring the view that he would always be a ‘Gunner’ wherever he was in the world and wherever his career takes him. A turn of phrase that is as ambiguous as it is non-commital. Quietly this has taken the pressure from Theo Walcott who is in a similar situation. The young England international has not engaged with the club over his future, perhaps (understandably) waiting for new signings and some clarity in the Summer.
In what shape or form that will arrive for either of them is unclear; whatever, as long as the club resolve the issues quickly and efficiently. Neither is irreplaceable but situations need to be handled effectively to ‘spin’ the situation as favourably as possible. Obviously it is ideal if both sign – and I suspect they will – giving the squad a great platform to take their challenge to the next level. By coincidence today’s Arsenal On This Day revisits 1958, a time when the club imposed their pay scales onto the players, paying them at the value they deemed fair which is something demanded now.
But it is the result which is important; performance is not so long as the outcome is three points to Arsenal. Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it.
’til Tomorrow.
Khalifha,Now you are talking shit.End of.
ok we’ll see, goodnight gooners
YW
I thought the ref today was gutless. Never showed any authority and bucked every major decision.
I wonder if boozy is actually Paul Merson. He talks as much sense.
i think the problem weve had this year is our midfeild is full of individuals who are all trying to audition for the role of cesc
even the likes of song are moving further up and trying their hand at the perfect assist..
problem with that method is that it leaves gaps in the midfield…arteta was here for about a month and he saw what was happening and he stayed back and controlled it..gelled the unit together..
we got better and now hes out..
its gone back to how it was at the start of the season..
The first goal benayoun failed to track the norwich fullback and left gibbs with a two on one situation, the resulting cross led to szesney spilling the ball into the net. Conclusion: wenger should have warned benny to track his full back but what else could he have done?
2nd goal, vermaelean storms forward from defence but leaves a gapping hole in the defence, song fails to cover for him as the defensive midfielder and we get countered with norwich scoring through a deflection. Conclusion : wenger cannot be blamed, maybe should have told song to maintain his position in the absence of arterta.
3rd goal: vermaelean leaves his position which leads to space behind, norwich exploit this and scores. Conclusion:wenger could have done nothing. So stfu.
I know the result is awful and etc… But I pray to god that corruption wont favour towmorrows game! So fuckin tired of constant decisions going against us! Aston villa might get a draw but the 1st goal will be crucial! Newscatle I fear the ref might screw city up for that ! Howard Webb appointed ref Ffs! Ramseys attitude was disgusting I like the lad and believe in his ability but…. Coquelin a dead starter 4 me and push song foward when he goes anyway! Stick djourou right back and Walcott will be back aswell!
So one thing is clear then, the press was right, we are a one man tesam, just they got the wrong man!
Andrew.why not Jenkinson at RB?
Pedantic, don’t tell me that, did you see the defending, geez man!
You got that right
He is doing well at Zenit though
Adios, goodnight.
Yes khalifha ,But you included everyone.
And not all were at fault.Most,perhaps,but not all.
A Liverfool fan on twitter
“At least we dont need a new no.9. Turns out the one we have (Carroll) is f**king awesome.”
At £35 million he fucking should be. Pity he isn’t.
I just think he hasn’t had enough game time at all! I like the guy tho but can see wenger putting him there! In such a big game..it’s essentially a final tbh!
its going to be tough
but i did think a win v norwich and a draw last day would have just about done it..
we are going the long way round, as usual..
the results went against us in midweek..we need the next ones to go our way..
it could be another valuable point on the board..
lets fucking hope so..
I’m with you there JJ
Still there’s always the Europa League.
Back in September I (and many others) would have been happy to even be in a Europa place. How things change.
Fuck the Europa league insane champion league. We fuckin deserve! Wev been screwed by decisions against us all season there no way we dont deserve 3rd or 4th!! Have faith in city 2norrow guys! And hopefully villa:/
Just think if we had spent over £100 million last August we could have won the Milk Cup (on pens).
Spend so fackin money Arsene.
no matter what happens with AW, whether he takes us further or takes us backwards, we should be naming the stadium after him
Spot on, JonJon. Can we call it the WengerDome? WengerWonderland? (Kroenke would go for that, I bet. Stick a bloody Wal-Mart in it, he would.)
Serious, though, what to call it? Everything is mostly named after streets over here, or districts- Bramall Lane, Elland Road, Anfield, so dull.
I’ve always liked the idea of El Sardinero, named after a fish, but also get the sense you might be a bit squashed in there, sardines, because it’s such a popular place.
Fukin just watching the highlights…thats a fecking stonewall pen!! pah.
By my count three penalty claims by us and one by them went unheeded by the ref. I guess in this game the calls didn’t Even out quit Evenly.
goonerkam
I am well pissed and your last comment made perfect sense.
I know exactly how you feel man. I’m not saying we were perfect or that there isn’t areas of our game that can’t use improvements or refining. But that was as pathetic and gutless a performance by a referee that I have seen since. The Newcastle game last year. A clear hand ball violation. A bear hug and drag down on kosher in the box. A trip and a push into the net of our captain. Three pens and none given. We did enough to win that game and we were foiled. Again. At the most critical time in the season. And now we have to watch others and wait for favorable results. On top of that ,having to see and read crap from individuals hell bent on seeing the club fail so that they can get rid of coach and manager. A wish they have secretly or openly harboring for years. Individuals no where to be found when the team and club are doing well. Opening their trap and pushing buttons left and right. Their plans are clear for everyone to see and they dare call themselves supporters. Backstabbing two-faced sons of b•••••-.
We will build on top of this and improve, I’m sure of that. It is one sure way to get rid of snakes in the grass people.
Oh well. Keep the chin up and take care of WBA.
ABOUT all we can do and hope for favorable results in other pertinent games. Starting with today. 3rd or 4th . Hopefully 3rd. We have earned the right, IMHO.
hmm i find myself torn between wanting Newcastle to send Nasri out of the title race and us clinging to 4th spot. Its a very unplesant choice.
I guess we have to hope for city working their magic now.. and to be dependent on city. that suck monkey balls…
Please tell me today is saturday.
what we are experiencing in midfield is similar to the Viera/Fabregas of 2005.Viera couldn’t simply stay back and do all the dirty work while Fabregas had no defensive duties.This is what is happening with song/Ramsey.song realises he can put a beautiful assist while Ramsey is not playing with defensive duties causing enough space in midfield.Without being in the dressing room I believe the duo do not relish playing alongside.or why did the team improve dramatically after the changes?
I watched the match again*without shitting my pants* so i think i can give a very balanced view – When norwich were 2 goals up they had 4 men against our 4 defenders in open play, turns out when you have nothing to lose you actually play like there is nothing to lose e.g arsenal/milan – the team was not expecting that, neither was i!
Its not as if arsenal cant win without arteta rather you can say we need midfield cover for song.someone who would do some pretty good marking and closing down.In the win against city it was arteta who closed down and won the ball before finishing of in style
9gerian, yes and no, yes arterta helps in closing down, and no that song can’t mark players on his own – but you are hundred percent right, song and ramsey do not play well together, neither of them were defensively minded enough especially ramsey – once norwich was on the attack we had to resort to last ditch tackles, there was no protection for them.
http://aculturedleftfoot.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/arsenals-future-in-their-hands/
Sunday’s post is here.
I guess they played with nothing to lose but I think Mr song is not happy doing all the dirty work in midfield while others get the ball and lose it again.I believe song has a lot of respect for Arteta unlike Ramsey. you could see that in his eyes when he was tracking back for the 1st goal.song wasnt the one jogging rather it was benny and ramsey
Them meaning the Defence
see you in todays post khalifha