Arsenalist

Emmanuel Adebayor’s thinking of taking it one game at a time and not targeting silverware carries a lot of merit. Better be to be focused on what’s next then worry about what might happen months from now. Make sense. But I can’t help look at our upcoming Premiership schedule and think that we have a good chance of grabbing the next 12 points and creating a bit of a buffer against wannabe contenders like Man City and even create a 4-5 point gap between us and Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea.

Coming up we’re home to Derby, Newcastle, Sunderland and Bolton. Two clubs that’ll be fighting for survival, a struggling Bolton side and Newcastle. In the same stretch Liverpool is playing Birmingham, Reading, Wigan and Scum while Man Utd deals with Chelsea, Birmingham, Wigan and Aston Villa. Chelsea plays Man Utd, Fulham, Bolton and Middlesbrough. Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea are all playing two away and two home games in this stretch. We need to get a minimum of 10 points from the next four because the other three teams are bound to drop some points along the way. Is it wishful thinking? I don’t think so, I think we’ve proven so far this year that we can score and create chances against teams who are just looking to get a point and play an ugly defensive game, something to be expected from our next four opponents at the Emirates. Last year teams had success against us at home and managed to get those blasted 1-1 ties but this year has to be different.

This is from a couple days ago but the Soccernet Insider (David Young I believe) had a great article on burying the ghost of Thierry Henry where he also talks about the scum destruction. He ends the article with:

Wenger’s kids may well have been overawed by the presence of Thierry Henry in his final two years at the club as they are now playing with a freedom that was absent when all the focus was on the legendary No.14. This team are title contenders who will get better as the season moves on.

The Independent is picking teams in the Champions League and suggests that English teams are at a disadvantage when competing for the Champions League because of a congested schedule – I see what he’s saying but I don’t buy it because it all comes down to priorities. I think Wenger’s got his priorities straight and obviously gives much less weight to the Carling Cup and even the FA Cup as evidenced by last year’s lineups (even though it pissed me off to no end to see the squad for the CC final).

There’s an article from Arsenal.com which I interpret as Wenger telling Walcott to step it up and exert himself whenever he gets playing time. I don’t know and maybe I’m being a little pessimistic but I even sense a slight, slight, slight hint of a doubt. Asked if Theo is “ready”:

Frankly I don’t know yet, I could say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. No because he is long enough in the game to have learned and yes because he is still young. He told me he knows it’s an important year for him. I studied the team who won the World Cup for France in 1998. They all started age 18. If you don’t get in the team at 18, 19, 20 doubts start. He’s at an age now where you expect him to exert his personality and turn up in big games. OK he will still look young on occasions but as well it is [time] to show that this guy can be a player.

There’s an article in the Daily Mail about Jens Lehmann which looks like it’s been written by Jens Lehmann. The Cannon has a great story about Armand Traore and a knuckleduster.

A big huge thank you to the Arseblog for a link yesterday – did some crazy stuff to my stats charts. Thanks for reading and grab the feed.