The trio of Rooney, Vidic and Edwin van der Saw helped the Red Devils advance past a withering Arsenal side. The Gunners had their chances but were unable to put them past the fabulous van der Sar. Just two weeks ago, we were fighting in four competitions, but now we only have the Premier League left to salvage a trophy. Could a classic Arsenal meltdown see them fall out of the Champions League spots?
Rooney displayed his great passing ability today.
The match started with some back-and-forthfrom both sides. Arsenal enjoyed more of the ball but it was United who opened the scoring in the 28th minute. Wayne Rooney floated a brilliant ball towards Javier Hernandez. Chicharito put a strong header towards the corner of the net, but Almunia made a great save. The rebound fell to Fabio and he deposited the ball into the open net. Nothing Almunia could have done. One-nil to United.
The Gunners tried to strike back but were unable to. Denilson should again why he is completely useless. He did not make any horrible mistakes but he just detracts from the game as a whole. Simply a poor player. Hopefully, he will depart from the club in the summer and I won’t have to berate him anymore.
United, surprisingly, extended their lead early in the second half despite total dominance by Arsenal. The United counter-attack is deadly. Rooney scored off his head but a lucky bounce gave him the goal. Even though his goal was [...]
The Gunners will have yet another chance to bounce back on form tomorrow evening against Manchester United at Old Trafford. After the referee knocked us down, can we get up and beat the league leaders. The Red Devils are also looking to get back on form after two consecutive defeats against Chelsea and Liverpool in the league. The team that is able to rebound from poor form will be the team that earns a place in the FA Cup semifinal.
Szczesny will miss six weeks, leaving Arsenal with only one healthy keeper.
We both will be missing some key players. Cesc, Szczesny, and Walcott (not to mention Vermaelen) will miss the match. United will be without Nani and Rio Ferdinand. Nani has been United’s best player this season in my opinion, despite his shocking header to Dirk Kuyt. He will leave a big gap in the United attack.
Wojceich Szczesny will be out long term with the injury to his finger that he sustained in Barcelona. Here is Wenger addressing that situation: “We need now an experienced goalkeeper as cover for Almunia because Mannone is out for six weeks so we cannot call on him.
“Mannone is here at the training ground having treatment but he cannot play for the next six weeks. We can call him back [from Hull City] but he is not available.
“We have Wojciech out, in my opinion for six weeks. We have Fabianski out for the rest of the season. We need absolutely [...]
Leyton Orient are not any better than Barcelona. Arsenal confirmed that tonight with an easy victory of the League One side. Orient put up quite a fight in that first match-up but this game was to go to the Gunners from the very beginning. The Gunners scored five. Nicklas Bendtner was the man of the match with a hattrick. We have bounced back brilliantly from the League Cup disaster and now we will head to Old Trafford in the quarterfinals.
It was all about Bendtner tonight.
Leyton Orient may have liked their chances tonight because of the huge disappointment at the weekend. We jumped on top early though, as Marouane Chamakh finally put one in the goal. Tomas Rosicky put a low cross into thee box and Chamakh put the ball low in the corner. Chamakh hasn’t scored since November so hopefully this goal will lift his confidence.
Our second goal did not come until the 30th minute. Kieran Gibbs floated in a quality cross towards the head of Bendtner. The Dane flicked his head and the ball sailed into the corner. Brilliant finish with the head from Bendtner, who doesn’t never needs confidence. Arsenal, however, were not done scoring in the half.
Late in the half (43rd minute), Nicklas notched his second of the night. Bendtner curled one around the keeper and into the bottom corner with his right foot. Another marvelous finish. His finishing was world class tonight and I will be surprised if he doesn’t start in place of RVP [...]
We have a match against Leyton Orient tomorrow night. With everyone still recovering from the Carling Cup Crisis (CCC), the Gunners will host Leyton Orient and the winner will advance to face Manchester United at Old Trafford in th next round. Everyone is already looking past this match to the Barca meeting, and that’s what worries me. Robin van Persie will miss the next three weeks with injury, and Cesc is still questionable for the Camp Nou game. Injuries are aplenty in the Arsenal camp. Will we be eliminated from the FA Cup tomorrow?
Tomorrow can be a bounce back game for the Gunners, or it a can be a match that sees us fall further down the slippery slope of embarrassing defeats. That’s what that game on Sunday was, embarrassing. The second goal was just plain embarrassing. Why couldn’t Birmingham just have scored a goal from open play without us just handing to them? Why!?
Let’s get to the injuries. Here is Wenger: “Unfortunately, we had bad news on the scan and he will be out for the next three weeks for sure. It could be longer. The shortest delay we can imagine is three weeks [so] he is definitely out for Barcelona.
“Alex Song has a knee problem as well. From his scan we had good news, it is only blood from a kick on the outside of his knee. He is out for Leyton Orient and has a very small chance for Saturday. But he has a [...]
Disappointing evening as the Gunners are forced into a replay against Leyton Orient. We took the lead early in the second half off a header from Tomas Rosicky. All looked to be be in order, as the Gunners passed around the ball without a care in the world. Orient were not done though. Our defense collapsed under the pressure of Jonathan Tehoue and he was able to beat keeper Manual Almunia, who should never play again for us, in my opinion.
Rosicky scored for the first time in over a year.
Arsene Wenger didn’t care enough to put a few quality footballers on the pitch today. Only decent players were Arshavin, Song, and Sagna, and they weren’t enough. The back four consisted of Kieran Gibbs, Sebastien Squillaci, Ignasi Miguel (who?), and Bacary. The midfield was made up of Denilson, Song, and Rosicky. Arshavin, Chamakh, and Bendtner played up front. Basically a reserve side, besides the three players I mentioned earlier.
The first half was somewhat boring. We had chances to take the lead, but Orient put up a good fight in their home ground. Nickolas Bendtner and Marouane showed us why they don’t play all that often. Bendtner can’t control the ball because of his horrendous touch. He tries to shoot even when he shouldn’t and ends up blasting it wide. Chamakh has just disappeared since RVP returned. He can’t score and doesn’t really come close.
So we go into the break scoreless. Still optimistic because Arsenal usually wear out [...]
With everyone still basking in glory of the Barcelona win, Arsenal will make the short trip to East London to face Leyton Orient in the FA Cup. The 5th round matchup looks like it should be a easy win for the Gunners. Orient are sitting at 10th in League One. Orient has been in the news recently because of West Ham winning the Olympic Stadium, which is situated right near Orient. Many think this will spell trouble for the club and its future.
After all the buildup for the Barcelona match, will it be hard for the players to get motivated against a League One side. Orient’s home ground is Brisbane Road, which has a capacity of just over 9,000. Could Orient pull off the stunner and advance to quarterfinals? Or will Arsene Wenger and the Gunners stay alive in all four of their competitions?
No one will be surprised if Wenger starts some of the reserves on Sunday. Coming off the Barcelona match, and with a Premier League showdown with Stoke on Wednesday night, it might be the wise thing to do. We don’t want to be knocked out of the FA Cup though. Wenger wants to win more silverware than he can hold at one time:
“We want to go for every single competition. How far will we go? I personally believe we can go in every competition to the end. But we can as well stop very quickly.
“It’s just down to how much we believe and how [...]
Arsenal, down to 10 men, managed to beat Huddersfield town this afternoon in a thrilling FA Cup 4th round tie. The Gunners were down to 10 mean because of a sloppy challenge from centre-back Sebastian Squillaci, which lead to a straight red. Huddersfield were looking to force a replay but Cesc Fabregas saved the day with a late penalty. Not all good news for Arsenal though. Samir Nasri was injured and taken out of the match in the first half and now will be forced to miss some time.
Fabregas scored the winner from the penalty spot
Arsene Wenger put out a fairly decent side to face the League One side. Chamakh playing striker, with Bendtner and Arshavin on the wings. Diabymade his return in the midfield, along with Denilson and Nasri in the midfield. Squillaci made his return to the squad at centreback, with Koscielny. Eboue and Gibbs were the outside backs. Manual Almunia made his return in goal.
Andrei Arshavin and Nicklas Bendtnerwere Arsenal’s most dangerous attackers from the start of the match. The Russian captain’s form is improving. He is creating chances with his footwork but he is just having trouble finishing. Bendtner, on the other hand, is flourishing out on the wing and scoring goals regularly. I was skeptical about Bendtner on the wing but he has proved me wrong. Bendtner would open the scoring in the 21st minute. Bendtner drove down the right side before firing a shot that ricocheted off Huddersfield defender Peter [...]
The Gunners will take on Huddersfield Town at the Emirates Stadium Sunday in a FA Cup 4th round match. Arsene Wenger has already told us that both Abou Diaby and Sebastien Squillaci will make their returns from injury for the match. I suspect that many of the starting eleven will not see the pitch Sunday because Wenger will likely rest them for Tuesday night’s premier league match against Everton.
Almunia and Rosicky will also return to the squad and Sunday according to Wenger: “Definitely back in the squad is Diaby, Squillaci, Almunia and certainly Rosicky.” Even with Almunia returning, Wenger will stick with polish keeper Wojceich Sczcesny as Arsenal’s number one keeper. “At the moment Wojciech is No 1,” said Wenger. “He’s done nothing for me to take him out.”
Arsenal should be able to take care of Huddersfield at home. Huddersfield sits at third in League One and are looking towards gaining promotion to the Championship. The Gunners hope that they can help Huddersfield by beating them in the FA Cup so that they can focus on their promotional aspirations. All kidding aside, this should be an easy win for Arsenal, even with the reserves playing.
Transfer News
Let’s get to some transfer news. Mexican international Carlos Vela will leave North London to join West Bromwich Albion on loan. Wenger has talked about the need to find a taker for Vela, who hasn’t received much playing time. Wenger doesn’t want the 21 year-old to let his talents go stale while sitting on [...]
Arsenal will be advancing to the fourth round of the FA Cup after beating Leeds United 3-1 earlier tonight. Samuel Nasri was spectacular, again showing why he is contending for player of the year, scoring the first goal of the match. Nasri was again brilliant while a certain short Russian was anything but. Leeds did make Arsenal sweat in this one a bit. It wasn’t the easiest of matches playing at Elland Road.
Nasri has continued to be in top form
The Gunners got off to a great start from the opening whistle. Andrei Arshavin sent a pass towards Marouane Chamakh who had the awareness to step over the pass and that left Nasri alone with the keeper. The Frenchman was as cool as could be and put a low strike past Kasper Schmeichel in the 5th minute. That would be the highlight of Arshavin’s night, a lucky pass meant for Chamakh that lead to a goal.
Arsenal kept up the pressure after that first goal but failed to score on numerous chances. Chamakh was able to get himself open for a Nasri cross in the 10th minute. The ball was perfectly placed for Chamakh and he made decent contact with it but was denied on an outstanding save from Schmeichel. In the 19th minute, Arshavin had a perfect chance on goal but just missed the ball. Several minutes later, Bacary Sagna made a run down the wing and put the ball right across the mouth of the goal [...]
