In day to day life I am a well mannered young man. My parents are probably quite proud of how they raised me, I am polite, considerate and hold down a respectable job. However for certain 2 hour periods between August and May I shed this persona and become a foul mouthed angry man. I’m not sure what it is but as soon as the whistle goes to start the game something changes, perhaps Derren Brown hypnotised me to do this when a whistle blows. I shout at the ref, call him a c*nt if he does things wrong, I give abuse to the opposition, I get worked up when passes go astray or shots miss the target. I recall last season against Barcelona, one of the girls who sits behind me asking “I hope you don’t kiss your mother with that mouth of yours”, perhaps I had uttered c*nt too many times that night? After the game my legs are usually sore from the tension of standing and my shoulders hurt too. I get so worked up about Arsenal, day to day they are pretty important to me but for those 90 minutes they are the most important thing in my life – nothing else matters. It’s great to have this back!

The Emirates Cup kicks off today with us playing AC Milan; Cesc and van Persie are missing due to World Cup commitments and Diaby, Denilson, Song and Bendtner are all injured (already). I suspect the absences in the middle will allow the younger players to get more of a game than they would have expected, I would hope Jack Wilshere gets to shine again as he has done in the other pre-season games up until now. This season could be a big one for him and I hope he gets his chances. I will be watching today’s game at home with a mate, but tomorrow will be at the stadium – sat in club level for a change. I wanted to see what it’s like and there will be a smaller queue at the bars I would imagine.

In his press conference yesterday the talk of transfers unsurprisingly came up, comments like “we can win the title without any more signings” is not the sort of thing we want to hear. A centre back is a must, and Arsene knows this but I suppose it is finding the right one. I don’t want us to start the season with only 3, because that won’t work, you just know it. Our cover at CB, Alex Song, is injured so that rules that option out. It’s pretty important to strengthen here and I will be quite worried about how we will last the season so weak in such an important position. There was also stuff about Cesc, but it was pretty much a case of we will not negotiate with Barca. Good. Moving on….. Goalkeepers were discussed, but I suspect that Mark “I love Arsene, no really I do” Hughes is unlikely to sell to us even if they do sign Green as a replacement. But we still have a  month of the transfer window to go, so I’m not getting too worried yet.

Enjoy the game if you go today, I will post updates via twitter during the afternoon. Thanks for reading.

Team news wise; it’s Sol and Sylvestre at centre back. Denilson is a doubt and Song is still out. Another makeshift midfield or perhaps Nasri – Diaby – Rosicky as the middle 3. Van Persie might start, I would say yes given what he displayed on Wednesday – a few goals and bring him off on the hour if he can’t complete the game. We need this put to bed earlier rather than later today. The collective gooner nerves can’t take much more I don’t think.

It should be 3 points for us today, a decent performance will ensure that. Lets hope that happens.

We were given hope early on when Diaby won the ball well in the centre circle, made the pass to Theo and he made a run forward, Bendtner was with him but the pass he was given was terrible and it bobbled at his feet. He got a shot off but Valdes saved it. However Bendtner did very well to pounce on the rebound and toe-poke home a ball that was probably not the easiest thing he has done in football.

We were 1-0 up, at the Nou Camp. Perhaps, just perhaps it might happen. But then the brilliance of Messi shone through, a hat trick in just over 20 minutes pretty much put the tie to bed. In the first leg I didn’t see anything special from Messi to warrant “the best player in the world” label he has, but last night he showed that he is the best and best by a long way. His late goal I think was one too many for Arsenal hearts, 3-1 would have been a more comfortable loss.

In the midfield we battled better, Denilson and Nasri pressing more than happened in the first leg but we still stood off too much. Clichy was back at his best, it was good to see, but he did get exposed when no-one covered his forward runs and the left side was left open. Rosicky however was poor, if he wasn’t fully fit he should not have played. Eduardo should have started in his place I think, but it doesn’t matter now.

After the game Nic and Arsene did interviews and both said we were beaten by a better side. No question about that from me. It’s the simple reality. We now have to pick ourselves up for our next league game in a weeks time. Hopefully our walking wounded will have recovered and we might have a few more players to pick from, more on our injuries in the coming week but I looked last night (thanks to those who helped on twitter) and I am not sure we have any of our first team outfield players who has not been injured at least once this season. It has really hurt our push for trophies. Something needs to be done to fix our injury problems.

On Cesc – He was kicked (by Puyol) in the same place that he was kicked against Birmingham at the weekend, but he did not crack his bone before the Puyol challenge. “We will have to fight more without him here” was a fair statement, we missed him earlier this season but I suspect Samir Nasri will be able to fit into the central playmaker role following his foray there previously. But Cesc should be fit for the World Cup as it is only a small crack in the bone and not a break.

On Arshavin – It is a calf injury and he will be out for 21 days minimum, but Arsene doesn’t think he is finished for the season despite reports to the contrary from Russia.

On Gallas – Also his calf, but he will be out longer than 3 weeks. Arsene admits it was a mistake to play him against Barcelona. He also doesn’t feel that was his last game for the club.

van Persie – “We are trying to get him back as soon as possible anyway” but I do wonder if there now might be more pressure from Robin to get back a little bit sooner.

Clichy and Denilson are ok to face Wolves.

Looking towards the game Arsene admitted that he will rotate a bit, players do need some rest given how high the output was against Barcelona in midweek. I also think the enforced changes might perhaps see an adjustment in formation, perhaps more 4-4-2 based than 4-3-3 without completely changing things. I would expect Eboue at right back with Theo in front of him tomorrow. We should go at Wolves, there is no point sitting back and hoping for things opening up. They are there for the taking despite their recent form. I expect Sol to start as well, Arsene said “(Sol) will be back tomorrow” during his press conference, so Alex Song will be in the midfield no doubt.

There, again, has been much hysteria that our season is over as we are now without Cesc. It isn’t. I even saw some ludicrous posts on a forum that we might struggle for fourth place. Fucking crazy some of our “fans” are, I mean we have 10 points on 4th place and have some very winnable games even without Cesc playing. Lighten up people. As I said last week the world has not ended, this has been a good season and in truth better than we hoped for. Keep keeping the faith and get behind the team tomorrow!

We will start with the excitement; another early goal, this time from Denilson – his Brazillian shaped ankle allowing him to curl a shot past Robert Green in the West Ham net on 4 minutes. A nice early start out of the blocks for us, which was a sign of things to come but we had a few chances but never quite got them on target.

Then came anger; a ball was fed over the top, Vermaelen and Franco went for it, there was contact and Franco went down. The linesman flapped his flag in a “look, ref, look!” manner and the ref ran around 50 yeards to give Vermaelen a straight red and West Ham a penalty. It looked harsh in front of me, and on MOTD it looked even harsher, both players were watching the ball, there was slight contact but it was not a obvious foul, nor was it a goalscoring attempt as the ball was up in the air at the time. But red card it was and Vermaelen looked annoyed but didn’t have a hissy fit like some players do and went straight off to applause from the home crowd. The West Ham penalty was well saved by Almunia, justice perhaps? The half-time whistle went almost immediately after, Arsene was furious on the touchline and waited for the ref as the crowd boo’d him off the pitch.

Then came the panic and nerves; Would Sylvester come on? I hoped that Song would move back and he did (I hope Arsene sticks with this for the 1 game Vermaelen will miss). As the half opened West Ham were on top, we looked a bit unbalanced playing with 10, Bendtner was replaced by Diaby to immediate effect – the latter having simply better ball control in tighter spaces than the former. We then settled and started to take charge of the game again. But it was still nervy, would an equaliser knock the wind out of our sails? But a penalty for hand ball was awarded, quite why no yellow was given who knows – it was Upson’s second bookable offence, perhaps the ref thought it harsh to award a red and penalty at the same time….oh, hang on?

Then came the elation; Cesc stepped up and scored. I cannot describe how much relief I felt at this moment, I had been so tense up until that point – how I am going to last the next 7 games who knows! But we had the game, 3 points and the league lead safe. The crowd, those who were still there, went wild.

So we climb to the top of the league, perhaps until later today when Utd and Chelsea both play, but we have done our bit. 3 points was all that could be asked for. But the manner in which we did it sends out a clear signal. We have had the late winners where in previous season we would have accepted a draw, today the team fought so hard to win this game, massive character shown, would this have happened before? Would the players have concentrated as much with the injustice in their minds? Song was immense at centre back, Denilson played very very well in the middle, Diaby made some amazing turns when he took possession and was again showing why Arsene has faith in him, Eboue was also fantastic.

Finally a word on Cesc, yes I love him, he is by far and away my favourite player, but he was again cool headed to take than penalty and his celebration (I had to view that on MOTD as at that precise moment I was hugging the guys in front) showed he loved that goal and he loves the club we love.

7 games to go now, just think of the next one, Birmingham away. That is all we can do. We have a massive chance, believe gooners, believe!

The equaliser gave Hull some impetus and they came back into the game. They managed to string passes together and make a few breaks on goal. Had I been watching live I would have been very worried. But yet again the dirty side of football came to the fore, a Hull player went in studs up on Denilson and was booked, whilst this was taking place Boetang and Bendtner appeared to come together – replays showed that Boetang struck Bendtner in the face but both players were shown yellow.

This was not to be the only card Boetang would see, he made a proper Englishman’s challenge on Sagna, right above the knee by planting his foot on the Arsenal player – just like Phil Brown likes to see. Should have been straight red but a yellow was shown.

Arsenal v 10 man Hull should have been easy but they went negative in the second half and we missed two sitters, a draw looked likely. But 3 points was ours, a Denilson shot was parried into the path of the advancing Bendtner who fired home an injury time winner. That might be really crucial come season end. 3 points was ours.

Now onto Phil Brown. Having studied at Allardyce Polytechnic he is not of Premier League calibre. I hope he and his team go down and he never darkens the doors of the Premier League again. Fuck you and your dirty anti-football Brown.

So we keep pressure up at the top of the league, we are joint on points with Chelsea and one ahead of Utd, yes they have a game in hand but they still have to play each other in a game that could take one team out of the title run. We need to keep winning, it doesn’t matter how crap we play, it’s the results from now on in that are important.

Believe Gooners

Today I think that will be helped by the support for Aaron, he says he is overwhelmed by the support he has received in his official statement, but you can tell he is clearly still distressed by the whole thing and also what is interesting is what (or who) he does not speak of. There will be a number of banners in the ground, REDaction and arseblog have had some made, try and get to the ground early if you can to take a look – I will try and get some photos.

Team news wise there are some players back from injury; namely Arshavin, Diaby and Denilson, however Sol is out and Gallas remains sidelined so I would expect Sylvester to start. Alex Song is of course missing due to his two match suspension. However the team should be strong enough to convincingly beat a poor Burnley side who are a much different prospect to the team we faced in December. Arsene thinks we are still in the title hunt, and he is right. But our run in might not be the 10 easy games as some predict, there are a few tough games in there as well but as long as we play to our best we can be up there come the end of the season.

Make it loud today gooners.

By comeback I don’t just mean last night, I also mean having been 11 points behind Chelsea after they beat us and now being level on points with them and top of the league. After that defeat pretty much everyone wrote us off, even I thought we had little chance of being in the mix with the leaders. But football this season is very open, we have had a great run of results that has seen us climb back up there to now and we are top of the table.

Last night though was not all fun as a fan. I arrived at the ground hoping that the two goal margin required to take us top of the league was a mere formality, given the way the players set out I think they had the same mindset. Bolton started pretty well and were closing us down and often first to the ball. We had a few chances but nothing that was really a goalscoring opportunity. Then a swipe at a clearance by the returning Clichy saw the ball end up in the middle of our box, a few headers and the ball fell to a Bolton player and it was in the back of the net. 1-0, this wasn’t meant to be happening.

The crowd were still behind our players and urged them on, but it didn’t seem to transmit onto the pitch. We were still coming off as the second best team and Bolton had plenty of attacks. One such attack was ended by a clumsy challenge from Denilson which gave away a penalty. From my seat on the opposite side of the goal it looked like a penalty and there was no surprise when the ref pointed to the spot. Almunia went the correct way but the ball still ended in the back of the net. We were 2-0 down to these cloggers and only 28 odd minutes had been played.

The first half continued with very poor play from us, many people sat around me were saying this was the worst they had seen us play in a long while, and I have to agree – we were awful. I recall Cesc stood at the restart after the second goal shouting and clapping his hands, but it hadn’t seemed to encourage the players that much. However on 44 minutes the team released the handbrake, dipped the clutch and selected first gear, we were playing at last! Rosicky was fed a ball on the right of their area, took a few paces then smashed it past Jaaskelainen, it looked a great goal live. It was 2-1 just before half time. Maybe, just maybe the comeback was on. The fans got back behind the team and the atmosphere really kicked up a gear.

The second half started much as the first had ended, we clearly had stepped up a gear and the players looked like they thought we could win this. Our passing was better and we began to break down the 5 man midfield that Bolton had brought. Then there was the controversial moment, Gallas challenged  Mark Davies and the Bolton player stayed down (more on this in a bit) and Arsenal played on. The ball broke to Cesc on the edge of the area and he shot into the net. 2-2. We went wild in block 6, I recall my shoulder (which has been sore for fucking ages) hurting even more after jumping around and hugging grown men stood near me. That goal was another for our captain fantastic in what has been a great season for him.

Davies had to be stretchered off the pitch, the crowd did antagonise the situation and with hindsight it probably wasn’t the best thing to do but we have been on the end of many a “hard challenge” in the past when teams like Bolton “get in our faces”. And remember Gallas is a good, honest pro who doesn’t usually go out to injure opposition players.

The impetus was clearly with us and the Bolton players looked dejected after throwing away a two goal lead. We pressed and pressed and I felt that we had plenty more goals in us, the win was on. It didn’t take too long, after a few corners the ball fell to Vermaelen and he got back to his scoring ways by hitting the ball into the net from about 12 yards out, had it not been for Cesc and Alex Song the Belgian would be our player of the season so far. 3-2 in front and more pandemonium in the stands. The crowd were really behind the team and hopefully that had a positive effect on their game.

But at 3-2 I was a bit nervous, whilst I wanted to be top of the league all that was important to me now was the win. Another goal was needed, but we looked to ease up a little and Bolton had a few chances that made it difficult for me to relax. But that goal was to come, Arshavin the scorer this time and it was 4-2, the goal was met with chants of “we are top of the league”.

Walcott and Vela were introduced late on to keep the attacking threat up, and we nearly got a fifth; Arshavin and Walcott broke, Theo was in the clear but Arshavin was very selfish and took a shot. Theo went ape shit at him, he was screaming at him during the ensuing corner, which is fair enough as that should have been a goal for Theo which would have really wrapped the night up for us. But no bother we won 4-2 and are top of the league!

Now going back to the Gallas challenge. It didn’t look too bad at full speed but these things often don’t when the players are close together. There were calls for Arsenal not to play on, but against Everton they played on, and more importantly later on in yesterday’s game a Bolton player went down and BOLTON played on – you have to play to the whistle, it is the ref who stops the game. Afterwards Arsene said this:

“I am sorry if the (Gallas) tackle was not good. I apologise.”

No doubt there will be a backlash against this, but I doubt Gallas meant to cause a severe injury, he doesn’t have that reputation. We have been on the receiving end of a number of hard challenges from physical sides like Bolton, Blackburn etc in the past, perhaps it is time we showed that we have that tough edge to our game.

Diaby limped off late on, it looks like he has a calf injury which was caused by a kick in the first Bolton game, but this is a worry as he has been a good player in our sparse midfield lineup.

But we can revel in being top of the league for a few days. We are well clear of 4th place at the moment and properly in the title hunt. It’s good to be a Gooner!

Denilson and Theo Walcott will be back in the squad for Wednesday’s game against Bolton. Some extra bodies in midfield can be no bad thing! However Fran Merida will miss the game having been kicked on his ankle shortly after coming on in Sunday’s game.

Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey are out for 21 days, hamstring and thigh injuries respectively. Nicklas Bendtner will be back in training next week, but is unlikely to be ready for the Stoke game but should be ready for Villa on the 27th Jan. Little time to find out if we do need a striker, I think that door is closed.

Robin van Persie is said to “be doing as well as can be expected”.

Our two goals were somewhat fortuitous, both deflected efforts, but I will take them. Our equaliser, initially hit by Rosicky  came late in injury time and saved our blushes and cruelly robbed Everton of 3 points. We were lucky yesterday to come away with something from that game. Whilst no player can be singled out as being the reason we did not win the game; Manuel Almunia was very poor, his distribution was again sub standard, he rushed out a number of times and near the end of the game clattered Traore when there was no need to come to clear the ball. I really do wonder when Fabianski will get his chance this season.

Diaby on the other hand continued his recent good form, and hopefully this run of games he is getting will be the making of him. He has become a real asset of late, something we need with the absence of Fabregas and Song. Denilson would provide us with something but he worrying collapsed yesterday with no player around him, the fact that happened and play continued is not something any player or fan should wish to see give the recent tragedies that have hit young players in the game. I can’t yet find any news on what caused him to collapse or his condition.

The optimist inside me will argue this was a point gained rather than two lost, yes we didn’t capitalise on Chelsea not playing but Utd didn’t pull any further away from us either. We need Fabregas back, but only when he is fully ready as I don’t want him risked. Bendtner is due back in two weeks “probably” but the addition of a striker in the transfer window would not be a bad thing. However cover at centre back must be far more pressing, and perhaps getting a keeper should be on Arsene’s mind at the moment. We are by no means any worse off after yesterday, but it could have been better had we not performed poorly.