Despite convincing victories over the likes of Blackburn and Bolton most Arsenal fans know that the true test of their side’s title credentials is when they come up against one of their rivals for the Premier League crown. That feeling was not lost on Arsene Wenger who talked up last Sunday’s clash with Manchester United as much as he did when Chelsea visited last November.

Unfortunately for the Gunners they came up woefully short on both occasions. Back in November Chelsea romped to a 3-0 victory at the Emirates and looked like champions-elect. On Sunday a United side, supposedly weakened by the loss of Ronaldo and injuries to Vidic and Ferdinand, were similarly dominant, to the extent where it looked like men against boys at times.

Credit to Arsenal they recovered from that Chelsea setback to re-assert themselves in the title race and they could have overtaken United with a win on Sunday. In fact ever since Arsenal briefly reached the summit with a win at Bolton last week there has been a feeling among the fans that this could be their year.

But all too predictably the wheels came off the Gunners title charge once again. In a performance similar to the one seen in last year’s Champions League semi-final United ripped through the Arsenal defence to finish the game off with just minutes of the second half played. This left Arsene Wenger and the fans to question whether they have enough quality to match the country’s best.

It would be easy to blame individuals, Almunia put the ball into his own net, Clichy looked vulnerable against Nani and Arshavin was isolated up front, but it seems that the side lacks a match winner to force the issue in the biggest games. Dare I say a Thierry Henry type figure?

United certainly have a match winner in Wayne Rooney, who again demonstrated why he cannot get injured if England are to have any chance of winning the World Cup next summer.

Wenger can only look on ruefully at such talent but with a reported £30 million in the bank, the time has now surely come for Wenger to splash the cash and buy a proven match winner. If not then results like Sunday’s could become an all too regular occurrence.

The football betting suggests that Arsenal will now have to settle for a place in the Premier League top four and the club faces another season without a trophy unless they can do something special in the Champions League.

It may have been a free transfer but Sol Campbell’s return has raised more than a few eyebrows.

Ok I haven’t seen him in training where he has apparently done enough in the past few months to impress Arsene Wenger, but I saw him struggle through Notts County’s match with Morecambe last autumn and he looked nothing like a Premier League player.

Even in his last few months at Pompey I felt he had lost that extra yard of pace and, although his reading of the game is still top notch, if his legs are gone he will struggle.

So coming back to the Gunners, even as cover, is a huge risk. He will not be a first-teamer but if Vermaelen or Gallas picked up an injury in a crucial game, say against a United or Chelsea, is Campbell still good enough to cope with some of the best strikers in the country?

There has been relatively little disquiet among the fans over the move, mainly because they trust Arsene Wenger to get it right. The Frenchmen has rarely got things wrong in his time at the Gunners, so anyone questioning his decision making does so at their peril.

So if Campbell has proved his fitness then an experienced head could be just what Arsenal need as they make a push for their first Premier League title since 2004.

Beyond the first choice paring of Gallas and Vermaelen we have Silvestre, another veteran, and Philippe Senderos who, after a few years of stagnation, has seen his career splutter to a halt. Everton were linked to the Swiss player, though he now looks set to move to Celtic.

Wenger probably saw Campbell as the least risky option when it came to signing extra cover at the back – quality players are hard to come by in the January transfer window.

The move it is still something of a football gamble though. For it to come off I think Campnell should only play in a handful of games as this would give the first choice defenders a valuable rest in the hectic run in.

However, if an injury crisis hits the Arsenal defence and Campbell is expected to play in a long run of games his aging limbs could lead to costly defensive mistakes at the most crucial stage of the season, putting a massive dent in the team’s Premier League odds.

With the dust settling on a slightly disappointing season for the Gunners, I’m taking a moment to look at the areas that need strengthening for the start of next season. After all, Arsenal’s weaknesses have been the main discussion amongst Arsenal fans of late.

Finishing 18 points off leaders Manchester United in the Premier League is a very large gap and issues will need to be addressed in the summer to prevent this happening again.

Injuries did play a key part in their failure to land a trophy. Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo suffered major setbacks this season. Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Adebayor also missed crucial periods of the season.

However, one would hope with injuries always inevitable in such a fast paced and gruelling league, the squad would be able to deal with such
setbacks. Arsenal’s squad was stretched to the limits though and at times, the lack of experience in reserve was a majorly negative factor.

Personally, I believe their main weakness was the midfield. Arsene Wenger even admitted the loss of Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb disrupted the midfield, and they found it hard all season to find the correct balance.

Denilson and Alexander Song played massive parts this season, but neither of them are quite playing at their full potential. This is an area Wenger may look to strengthen, with Miguel Veloso of Sporting Lisbon a potential target.

Arsenal’s defence has been questioned this season for lacking a leader similar to that of Tony Adams or Martin Keown. William Gallas was stripped of his captaincy during the season and Kolo Toure doesn’t strike anyone as a natural leader.

Brede Hangeland has had an inspirational season at Fulham, assisting in their Europa League qualification. He might well be the missing link in the Arsenal centre half position.

As for the forward line, the rumour mill has been turning for a few weeks now, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie’s future up in the air. Adebayor has stated this week he intends to stay at Arsenal but with interest from Chelsea and AC Milan, a bid from either club may be too hard to refuse.

Robin van Persie is also stalling over a contract offer from the club. However I can’t see the Dutch international going anywhere. He still has a lot to achieve at the Emirates.

If Adebayor were to leave though then he would need to be replaced and either one of Edin Dzeko or Klaas Jan Huntelaar could fill the void. I
suppose we will have to wait and see.

Taking everything into account, this is the team I am hopeful Arsenal will be fielding first game of the season.

GK: Almunia
SW: Hangeland
CB: Toure, Gallas
WB: Sagna, Clichy
CM: Nasri/Veloso, Fabregas
AM: Arshavin
ST: Adebayor/Dzeko, van Persie

What are your thoughts on this? As always, let me know!

First Half Highlights: Watch

Robin van Persie 1-0 ‘47

Own Goal 2-0 ‘50

Their goal 2-1 ‘53

Robin van Persie makes it 3-1 85′: Watch

Full Match Highlights: Watch

All the Goals (nice package): Watch

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If I had a nickel for every time Arsenal dominated a game and came out with less than three points I’d be rich. Aston Villa can suck it.

Denilson 1-0 (atta boy!!!): Watch :: Download

Halftime Highlights: Watch :: Download

Who’s dominating who now? Honestly, these fucking announcers are so anti-Arsenal that they may as well be wearing Villa shirts when calling this game.

Abou Diaby: Watch :: Download

Gay foul + penalty: Watch :: Download

I’m not even uploading the last goal. Fuck it. Someone else did though. I aged about 2 years watching this game.

MOTD Highlights

Match Report

Arsene Wenger Interview

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Merry fucking Christmas.

Before the game:

Rafa’s going to miss this game because he has stones in his kidney…Nasri is back…a win will put the Gunners within 5 points off the leaders…Arsenal are 5th in the table after Villa won yesterday…This is Clichy’s 100th Premier League game

Arsenal Lineup: Almunia, Sagna, Djourou, Gallas, Clichy, Denilson, Fabregas, Song, Nasri, Adebayor, Van Persie
Liverpool Lineup: Reina, Abeloa, Carragher, Agger, Insua, Lucas, Alonso, Rieera, Gerrard, Keane, Kuyt

During the game:

Liverpool wearing some very hideous grey shirts with red shorts which doesn’t help watching this game.

RVP scores a cracker after a long-ball find from Nasri: Watch :: Download

Keane equalizes, we’re playing a tight line all game, finally got cracked: Watch :: Download

Alonso’s cunty tackle on Fabregas results in him being subbed out for Diaby. They’re talking about ligaments, not good. Watch :: Download

Adebayor is sent off for two of the softest yellow cards you’ll ever see: Watch :: Download.

Total bullshit. By this rationale Lucas should’ve been sent off about 8 times by now.

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After the game:

We played inspired football with our captain out and with 10-men, definitely something to be taken from this game. Probably would’ve won it with Fabregas and Adebayor in there for a full 90. The refs love Liverpool, what can you say, remember last year’s Champions League ties? The foul called on Toure and the foul not called on Hleb, that alone pulled Liverpool through and today they got more help.

Arsene Wenger Post Game Interview

Post-Game Analysis and Interviews – Adebayor included

MOTD Highlights

Here’s the Match Report.

After a slow start, Arsenal score off their first corner. Some bad marking fro ‘M’Brough leaves Ade open who powers a downward header. Arsenal look shaky but get the lead.

Adebayor: Watch :: Download

Aliadiere comes back to haunt us again. This little runt is very annoying. The goal is the result of a failed Clichy clearing:

Aliadiere: Watch :: Download

Watch MOTD Highlights

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We’re missing Walcott on the right side, the opportunities to carve them open were there but Denilson lacks the quality to take advantage. His passes into the box are usually lower than they need to be, lack pace and are generally of a poor quality. We didn’t have anybody who could run at Boro’s back four and they defended us rather comfortably.

Arsenal were in cruise control from the first minute of the game, almost expecting the goals to come and the 3 points to follow. Boro was the more motivated side and played with a zeal that the Gunners lacked. Wins against Chelsea and Man Utd are worth nothing if you can’t take care of business against lower table teams. The goal was the result of a bad clearance by Clichy and although he doesn’t make many mistakes, the ones he does make prove to be fatal.

Song makes me as nervous as Senderos used to and that’s no good thing. Him and Silvestre in the back line do not exude any kind of confidence in their play and they’re very touchy-feely in the way they deal with long-balls, runs down the middle and worst of all they leave their challenges rather late. January can’t come soon enough for us, we need to invest in our defense and midfield more than at any other time. Rosicky is out till 2046 and Samir Nasri is in and out of the lineup, leaving the talented by often anonymous Abou Diaby to fill the creative role and that’s not what he’s good at.

Eduardo is making good progress in training and could be part of our league fixtures late in the month so I’m not too concerned about our strike power, Walcott and Nasri’s absence makes them look poorer than they actually are. The game was low on chances for both sides and we have the lack of quality in midfield to blame for it.

Gunners drop two points, title chances keep fading. I have some match highlights but don’t feel like putting them up, what’s the point. MOTD Highlights will be posted later, check the Match Report.

We’re getting killed right now:

Bruno Alves 38′ 1-0: Watch :: Download

Halftime Highlights: Watch :: Download

Lisandro López 54′ 2-0: Watch :: Download

WATCH FULL MATCH HIGHLIGHTS :: Download

Jeez…we are bound to face Barcelona or Juventus. It’s a weak side but even still we looked rather toothless in attack. Bendtner and Vela’s partnership was being disrupted by Porto’s backline and Bendtner just doesn’t have the talent to create with the ball. Eboue’s trying to get back in shape but he looked very nervy.

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During the game:

Emmanuel Adebayor scores: Watch :: Download

First Half Highlights: Watch :: Download

We’re winning ugly which is just as good as winning pretty. It’s a comfortable 1-0 lead because Wigan aren’t threatening but at the same time we’re not dominating either. I’ll take it.

After the game

Game over. Match Report. Commentators piss me off. Eboue got booed, so what?

MOTD Highlights

Arsene Wenger Sky Sports Interview :: Arsene Wenger Longer BBC Interview :: Steve Bruce Interview

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Slow day, thought I’d make a post: