I never really figured out whether there was any truth to the accusations levelled against the chefs at Marriott who prepared the infamous lasagne dinner in May 2006.

Dean, My Liverpool supporting friend worked at the Four Seasons at the time and the whisper doing the grapevine within the hotel industry was that the chefs involved were Arsenal season ticket holders.

You will of course understand if I add a big fat ’allegedly’ to that accusation, but you have to admit that it’s damn funny if that were the case.

Encounters with the Spuds usually throw up some sort of drama and tonight’s match is no exception. It’s almost like it’s ’Calamity Spuds’ time and you wonder where the twist will come from.

I would suspect that Harry Redknapp has more on his mind today than he would have wanted to deal with. Getting one over Arsenal in the league is probably hard enough, but I’d hazard a guess that ‘Arry’ will be wondering how events will unfold when he stands in the defendant’s dock at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

I’m told employers can be quite accommodating when it comes to exploring different ways their employees could work. It’ll be interesting to see how Tottenham could accommodate ‘Arry managing the club if the Gaffa at the Southwark Court decides to give the Spuds manager an invitation to be a guest of the state enjoying Her Majesty’s pleasure.

Not that I’d want to second guess the laws of natural justice that dictate that ‘Arry is innocent unless proven guilty; it’s just funny to think of him running Tottenham from behind bars….but I digress.

There’s a small matter of 3 points to be collected at White Hart Lane and Arsenal have no option but to collect these 3 points if we’re to maintain the title challenge.

The Gunners will be buoyed by the return of our talismanic striker Van Persie, but he is likely to start on the bench. I think it will be premature to expect anything significant from the Dutch ace, and perhaps he would provide more value when we meet Manchester city in 10 days time.

My sense is that Wenger will go for a starting line-up of:

• Almunia
• Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy
• Diaby, Denilson, Nasri
• Walcott, Bendtner, Rosicky

I’d hazard another guess that Van Persie, Eboue, and Eduardo will feature at some point in the game.

Tottenham have their own personnel issues with their hatchet man Wilson Palacios taking a deserved customary break for his propensity to feature in the referee’s little book. Aaron Lennon is also struggling to regain fitness and won’t make the squad.

I was bemused earlier this week when former Arsenal player Perry Groves became Palacios’s agent and started rallying Wenger to purchase the Honduran to run riot in the Arsenal midfield.

To tell you the truth, if some of these guys were good enough at what they proclaim to be in punditry, they’d actually be managers rather than prostituting themselves to every media house for the Queen’s shilling in exchange for an opinion.

Wenger let Palacios go for a reason and I’m still of the view that he’s not of the quality Arsenal need. I’ll go as far as saying that of the so called defensive midfielders in the market today, only Michael Essien and Alex Song fit the bill as ball playing defensive midfielders.

The rest like Palacios, Mascherano, Obi Mikel, Loric Cana and a host of others may be good at doing their ‘hatchet man’ impressions, but that’s all they do; break up play and sometimes with a tint of a violent streak for that is what the urban myth about defensive midfielders suggests.

You know it’s that one man action hero of the Chuck Norris ’I’ll-stop-anything-that-comes-towards-me-at-all-cost’ legend. You don’t really need to play football, you just have to scare the living shit out of the opposing team with a blood thumping, rib cracking menacing demeanour that would make Tony Soprano’s henchmen look like saints.

In case these guys hadn’t noticed, Alex Song, Denilson and even Craig Eastmond have performed really well and they actually play some football while at it. Arsenal’s game isn’t just about ’breaking up play’ – we’re more into ball playing midfielders who contribute to the overall game rather than just stop play and yet have questionable attacking instincts.

Tottenham’s tactical options will probably revolve around using Peter Crouch, but Arsenal were comfortable when dealing with the lanky fella in the reverse fixture at the Emirates. Besides, when Tottenham play Crouch, they naturally gravitate towards lumping the ball forward in hope that Crouch might do something with it.

The Spuds will be reeling from the disappointment of being dumped out of what looked like a shoe-in into the FA cup final, and in truth, they only have themselves to blame. The elusive coveted 4th spot for a champions league place also seems like slipping away and they will be desperate to make amends.

We’ll know tonight whether a desperate Tottenham will suit Arsenal fine. From the Gunners point of view, there is zero margin for error and a win is paramount; if only for the reason that it’s against Tottenham.

Wouldn’t it be funny though if they had lasagna last night?

Did I mention that Stone Cold Arsenal is looking for new writers? Just in case I didn’t, we are looking.

If you have the passion and fire for Arsenal, and you feel you want to share your thoughts, your passion and your emotions with the thousands who read this blog daily, visit our Write For Us page to find out more.

That’s right, you can’t go forth and multiply without the necessary cojones in the same way that you can’t go and wrestle the right to play in the Champions League semi-final without the balls to stand up and be counted.

I think it’s an attribute that someone called ’testicular fortitude’ when describing the audacity of the last minute goal against Wolves over the weekend.

It’s going to be a strange night tonight, a cup final if you will. It’s a night where form goes right out of the window and audacity and courage takes over.

In truth, Barcelona will be cursing themselves for not killing off Arsenal when they had the chance.

Years ago, I was introduced to a fairly unsavoury character who made Tony Soprano look like a pussycat. My associates and I were organizing an event in South East London, and had to shop around for ’security’ because we had a tight budget.

It wasn’t the sort of event that you’d go down the market and haggle for a £8 an hour bouncer to satisfy the minimum requirements of your entertainment licence. This was one of them events that you actually needed the security and had to stretch your budget.

So in interviewing the new prospect, he decided to share some anecdotes about some of the ’challenges’ his boys had to deal with. I suppose he wanted to impress me so as to nail down the lucrative contract.

What sticks to my mind was his assertion that in his type of business, if you have a chance to deck the opposition an finish them, the worst thing you can do is let them get up and come back at you.

For the sake of expediency, I’m sure you’ll excuse me for not going into detail.

His take on the issue resonates with the current situation Barca and Arsenal are in. It’s fine pontificating about the galactic football that Barcelona unleashed in the first 45 minutes of last Wednesday’s opening tie, but the object of the exercise was to win.

The fact of the matter is that Barca succumbed to what Arsenal has been accused of for years on end – Pretty football with no end result.

It was clear that Barca were the more worried team in the last quarter of the match, and for that reason, I believe Arsenal have a psychological advantage.

It’s not going to be an easy game by any means, but Arsenal were past their stage fright by the time Fabregas buried the equalizing penalty. Arsenal had the momentum and Barcelona knew it and it rattled them.

Everyone outside the Emirates has taken the view that there’s no chance in hell for Arsenal to come out of the Camp Nou with a victory. I tend to feel being written off especially in Europe does work to Arsenal’s advantage if you think of previous results against both Inter and AC Milan at the Sansiro, Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, and the Old Lady in Turin.

Both teams are affected by the walking wounded with Arsenal missing 5 preferred first choice players. I doubt if those on the pitch will be taking the view that they are not worthy and that has to be a good sign.

The expectation is that the boys have been forced to watch the DVD of Wednesday’s game so many times that they’ve had to live and breathe it enough to know what is tactically needed for the game.

We have the personnel to address the changes needed and my sense is that the victory has to be driven by our mental strength. Arsenal gave Barca too much respect when they rolled into town, we have to redeem ourselves and yank that confidence away from them.

The boys have nothing to lose. Go out there and play your game.

Show that you all have the balls to fit the mental fortitude and character that you’ve shown us this season.

For tonight’s game, we will be sharing our thoughts and emotions on twitter. Follow us on twitter and join in the conversation during half time and after the game.

Stone Cold Arsenal is looking for new writers. If you have the passion and fire for Arsenal, and you feel you want to share your thoughts, your passion and your emotions with the thousands who read this blog daily, visit our Write For Us page to find out more.

Enjoy the game wherever you are.

Last night, I hadn’t even finished pouring a glass of wine and settling down before I heard the excitement of Sky’s commentator Martin Tyler’s voice barely 2 milliseconds after the kick-off.

“Oh shit!”, was the first thought on my mind when I rushed into the living room to consider the inevitable. I wasn’t so much worried that Manchester United had scored, I was more worried that Rooney had scored.

My reason for this fear has nothing to do with the fear of Rooney. He’s a striker and it’s his job to score so I would suggest that he’s the most likely Man United player to score. My issue is with the sycophancy that follows any goal he scores from the media and the entire football establishment.

I was thinking to myself whether I can deal with the “Rooney is the best player in the world” back slapping that I find really suffocating.

But the thing is this – yesterday’s game showed that he who dares wins. Let’s face it, Man United were very pedestrian yesterday and they paid for it.

Arsenal can quickly learn a lot from last night’s game on two fronts. Firstly, the form of the day rules. Despite the universal predictions of a Manchester United hammering of the Bavarians, the form of the day is what counts.

You see, football pundits and book makers remind me of credit rating agencies who need to be taken out back, made to kneel down facing the wall, and given a good hiding.

These rating agencies provided assessments of financial institutions that were so far off the mark, they brought the world economy to its knees, yet few bothered to question the credibility of the nonsense they spewed.

I mean, how the hell did they not see the world-wide economic crash coming. It’s like NASA missing a comet heading for earth and yet they tell us all is well and they’re focussing on a trip to Mars instead.

I never believed that a Manchester United win was a full gone conclusion for the simple reason that Bayern Munich are not mugs. The English media seem to think they are, but the German team didn’t just walk out of the cotton fields into the quarter finals of the elite European club competition.

Secondly, Arsenal can learn that focussing on our strengths is more important than being fascinated by the spectacle of Barcelona.

In yesterday’s press conference, Stevie Stammers from the Sunday Mirror tried desperately to push Thomas Vermaelen to provide a response as to whether he or Arsenal would be intimidated by Leonel Messi.

Vermaelen’s answer was as cold and as witty as they come: “We have no time to be intimidated, we have a job to do”.

Simply put, he who dares wins.

As the Catalans roll into town, the news wires, tabloid columns and air waves are filled with all manner of hyperbole and little to do with football.

It’s all about the romance of Cesc Fabregas playing against his boyhood team before he allegedly joins them; about the return of Thierry Henry to Arsenal; and pretty much about Barcelona steam rolling Arsenal (that’s what they say anyway if you believe them).

I’ve rarely commented on the fiction and tabloid diarrhoea that seems to occupy journalists from both countries who seem obsessed with forcing Fabregas to move to Barcelona. If the Arsenal captain farted, they’d find a story to go with it – like how the young Catalan can’t cope with Arsenal’s diet and therefore will be leaving for Barca in the summer.

Even so, we’re going to steer clear of the suffocating shit stirring that will occupy us until kick-off tomorrow night at 7.45 pm.

There’s a reason why the matches between Arsenal and Barcelona are generating interest all over the world. It’s undoubtedly the long overdue meeting between two of the best free flowing and exciting teams in world football.

They are teams that thrive on an attacking and scintillating brand of football. While some might point that this attacking mentality tends to throw defensive discipline away in the case of both teams, football purists would argue ”so what! It’s bloody exciting”

I think that regardless of the results of the two-legged tie, if you can’t enjoy the spectacle of two exhilarating teams coming at each other without inhibition, then you shouldn’t be watching football at all.

But why is it that Arsenal and Barcelona can command so much respect around the world for their brand of scintillating football?

Granted, Barcelona may have been at it for a bit longer as Arsenal pretty much went back to the drawing board following the dismantling of the ’Invincibles’. However, the ethos and philosophy of both clubs is admirable.

In a lot of ways, one of the most intriguing things about the last generation of Arsenal players is that they were never as successful in Europe as this current crop of players. Even the ’Invincibles’ really struggled to reach the heights that this current Arsenal team has reached in Europe, despite the accolades they collected domestically; and despite the superstars they had in the team.

I think in there, lies the answer to the evolution of the current Arsenal side. I suspect it’s a factor many people still obsessed with a certain brand of football that combines power with technique fail to see time and time again.

This current Arsenal team is normally and unfairly compared to the ’Invincibles’ and this is wrong in a lot of respects. For one, the ’Invincibles’ were at the peak of their careers and this is not the case with the core of the current Arsenal side.

Secondly, Wenger has slowly moved away from the archetypal team of the last decade, and slowly focussed on a core of mobile, pacy and technically gifted players.

The football establishment , stuck in their time warp of Neolithic ideas of what football should be like, have been quick at beating this Arsenal side with a very big stick. The team has been accused of being light-weight, not being strong enough and not showing the brute force seen elsewhere in the football league, etc.

Not enough credit is given to this Arsenal side for the distance they have travelled and the evolution they have shown in the game. Even more annoying, are the misguided truths and inconvenient lies that suggest that this brand of Wengerball is ineffective and doesn’t work.

I read a fascinating article yesterday on Untold Arsenal that blows one of the myths about Arsenal not being ’clinical’ in front of goal. This is a myth peddled day in, day out until it has become fact among the pundits and hacks – yet the plain truth is that Arsenal are the most lethal and clinical team in the EPL and in Europe.

Don’t believe me? Read Jerome Harwood’s article about this on Untold Arsenal.

By evolving the team, Wenger has made it more effective in Europe, while still keeping it very competitive domestically. In a lot of ways, the only other team that compares to this is Barcelona.

Structurally and in terms of the technical capability of the team, Barcelona and Arsenal are very similar. The two clubs operate with players of the same mould physically and technically, and aspire to the same virtues of total football.

Arsenal’s misfortune is that they play in a league that is peppered with teams that prefer to use an unsavoury brand of brute force disguised as commitment and grit. They play more with teams that thrive on physicality with a ’kick and chase’ mentality.

Over the last few years, the Gunners have learnt how to take care of themselves on the pitch and they continue to balance the physicality needed with the vision of playing scintillating football.

In truth, the media, pundits and hacks still harp on about Arsenal being ‘weak and lightweight’ – yet there is no evidence of this. Mind you, I differentiate physicality from the cowardice of kicking Arsenal players off the park, carrying out cynical rotational fouling, and literally breaking legs of Arsenal players in late challenges. There’s a difference between being physical in a contact sport and being violent.

Despite these similarities that put Arsenal and Barca head and shoulders over many teams in the world when it comes to playing total football, the two clubs couldn’t be so far apart.

When it comes to club management and administration, Arsenal are light years ahead of the Catalans. In recent times, football finance and football debts have been a key area of concern, and for the foreseeable future, there’s no getting away from the fact that you need to balance football with proper financial stability to survive for the future.

Just as an example, last year, Barcelona’s debt stood at €350m and they made a profit of €8.8m, despite winning 6 trophies. Arsenal on the other hand made half year profits this financial year of over £35m, and managed to reduce the mortgage on Emirates stadium by a staggering £100m.

Arsenal’s strategy is clearly to drive down the mortgage repayments over the next 2 or 3 years, while still remaining very competitive. This despite all manner of doubters including a handful of Arsenal fans who’d rather see Arsenal spend that money on so called ’big name’ players.

The fact of the matter is that Arsenal at the moment are at the cusp of something great, and will in 2 or 3 years, be debt free of the stadium mortgage. Not only will we have a squad capable of challenging domestically and in Europe, the club will also have an obscene amount of ’organic’ money to use to develop the squad and move the club into total domination of the game in years to come.

Not even Barcelona will be able to match that, and it’s hard to see any club in the world that will be generating tens of millions of pounds every year.

While we wait for the rest of the football world to catch up with Arsenal’s vision and financial stability and superiority off the pitch, we can marvel at Arsenal’s technical superiority on the pitch against a team that is also technically superior.

Like I said, regardless of the results against Barcelona, if you can’t enjoy the game, then you need to stop following football.

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• He Who Dares Wins, There’s No Other Way

There’s the next 3 points to collect out of the remaining 21. Birmingham City have done fairly well this season and have the second best defensive record at home, shipping only 10 goals so far.

Alex McLeish’s boys have already relieved Chelsea and Manchester United off 2 points each at St. Andrews, and there’s nothing to suggest that it’s going to be easy for the Arsenal today.

The recent history between the two clubs has been highly publicized in the last few days, especially since Eduardo is likely to play at the ground where he nearly lost his career 2 years ago.

I get the sense that Arsenal will want to exorcise the demons of Feb 23rd 2008 and today’s as good as any an opportunity to cross that threshold.

My fear is that Birmingham will resort to unsavoury tactics to try and stop the Arsenal as recent encounters suggest this is a pastime of some of their dodgy players.

I still can’t erase the image of Liam Ridgwell hacking Theo Walcott down and turning around to hi-five his team-mates as if to say ”mission accomplished”. The Birmingham defender recently did the same to McCarthy and wasn’t even hauled into the referees book.

It’s incidents like that which encourage players to live dangerously on the pitch as they get bolder and bolder every time they get away with this mindless violence and thuggery.

Arsenal must not be distracted though. Not even by the thought of Barcelona turning up in North London. There’s 3 points to collect today and nothing else will be acceptable.

The Gunners have become adept at wearing down teams and killing them off in the last 15 minutes of games, and this has all the hallmarks of being such a game. Birmingham on the other hand have been the worst team at conceding in the last 15 minutes of games.

There were doubts about Nicklas Bendtner playing today following his ankle injury that saw him substituted at the West Ham game. However, the Great Dane is likely to start as he is critical to Arsenal’s charge for the title.

When Arsene Wenger elected not to go out into the transfer market in January, a lot of noise could be heard with fans remonstrating about the fact that Wenger had placed his faith on the 22 year old Dane.

There’s absolutely no evidence so far to suggest that the Arsenal manager was wrong, and in fact, Bendtner has exceeded all expectation having bagged 6 goals in 6 games. I’ve suggested before that it’s hard to see how buying a striker could have matched Bendtner’s return so far.

Furthermore, Arsenal has statistically done very well with Bendtner in the team when we play mid-table opposition. In the 7 away games to mid-table teams that the Dane has started, Arsenal has collected an average of 2.57 points per game.

All signs are that Alex Song will continue in central defence with the suspension of the ’Verminator’. The Cameroonian ace slotted in seamlessly last week and is a good bet to partner the veteran Campbell.

My sense is that Wenger will go for a starting line-up of:

• Almunia,
• Sagna, Song, Campbell, Clichy
• Denilson, Diaby, Fabregas
• Nasri, Bendtner, Arshavin

It’s not going to be a walk in the park, but I would expect that Arsenal are professional enough to do the job that they were sent to do at St. Andrews.

Enjoy the game wherever you are.

On a week that much has been made about Nicklas Bendtner’s inability to hit a cow’s arse with a banjo, the usual suspects are trying their level best to create a crisis. The suggestion is of course that Arsenal’s profligacy over the weekend will surface again.

This coupled with the over-sensational focus of the absence of Captain Fabulous and his predecessor William Gallas through injury surely makes for a ’crisis’ headline.

My sense is that a lot of talk before tonight’s game fails to give respect to the remaining members of the squad – who on any given day, are formidable opponents for anyone who would dare cross the white line.

In truth, it was two moments of madness that cost Arsenal the first tie at the Estadio do Dragão 3 weeks ago. I would suggest that such a freak occurrence is a once in a blue moon freak show and it’s not likely to happen again.

Arsenal need to give one of them ”over my dead body” performances and put this game even beyond the reach of any referee or match official, let alone the Porto team.

Porto don’t travel well, especially to the British Isles where they’ve suffered 12 out of 14 defeats, with the remaining 2 being draws. A brace each from Van Persie and Adebayor ensured that their last visit to the Emirates was very uncomfortable.

Hopefully, our boys will remind them that this level of discomfort is a common occurrence for any footballing side that cares to venture into North London. The task is straight forward – keep a clean sheet and score, and Plan B if our defences are breached is to score more than Porto – at least 2 goals more.

Tactically, Porto will try the much bandied about blueprint for beating Arsenal. They will hope that we slip up in possession high up the pitch and they can then use their pace to counter attack.

Any chance of them getting a goal at the Emirates will increase the ’squeaky-bum-o-meter’, and they would hope to use this to destabilize the Gunners.

With Song and Campbell back in the team, the options Wenger has are kinder than they would have otherwise been. My first instinct was to hope that if Campbell wasn’t available, then Wenger should move Song back into central defence and play Denilson in the defensive midfield role.

My take is that Wenger might go with a starting line-up of:

Almunia
Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy
Song, Diaby, Nasri
Rosicky, Bendtner, Arshavin

At some point in the game, you would expect to see Eduardo, Walcott, Eboue or Denilson

Despite the loss in the first leg, the Arsenal team showed enough industry and creativity to suggest that they were the better team then and are likely to be the better team tonight.

Interestingly, the much maligned Denilson was statistically the best player in that first game at the Estadio do Dragão. If you take into account factors like pass completion, tackles and interceptions, fouls committed (or not) etc – the young Brazilian had a game of his life, this despite scaring the living daylights out of Sol Campbell in the first few minutes.

With Alex Song now back as the midfield general, and Abou Diaby also available for selection, it is hard to know who Wenger will go for, though Nasri’s man of the match performance on Saturday gives Wenger a very big headache.

I’m quietly confident that Arsenal will see the tie through but if ever there was a case of a need to show zero complacency, then this is one of them. As much as Porto don’t travel well, they’re not mugs and they won’t just turn up to make up the numbers.

Nicklas Bendtner for sure has some redemption to seek at the Emirates for his transgressions over the weekend – but in the same vein, the young Dane has squeezed Arsenal out of some very tight spots and has shown his value.

His goals against CSKA Moscow and Standard Liege in the last two years in the Champions league suggests that Bendtner is a key part of tonight’s equation.

However, Sol Campbell, Andrey Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky will have to stand up and be counted as the senior and most experienced members of this squad. They’re also the three likely to be on the field who are capable of grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck if need be.

Arsenal’s half-year results, released last week, make for comforting reading for the simple reason that despite a recessionary environment the club has largely managed to stick to plan as regards property sales and debt management.

The plan was that The debt incurred to build the new stadium would steadily be paid down with proceeds from the sale of property developed at Highbury. Wenger has also had to keep transfer expenses under check and, over most of the duration at least, ensuring Champions’ League revenues to build a healthy cash flow. Increased revenue from the new stadium, would also contribute to maintaining these healthy cash levels.

That Arsenal managed to pull the lot off in the midst of a global recession is praise worthy, especially considering Pompey’s travails, the fan revolt underway at Manchester United, and the debt to equity conversions by the Abramovich’s of the world.

Given that we still are in the title race, this could be the season where the whole project comes to fruition.

Ryan Shawcross, responsible for two broken legs so early in his career, bravely says “I won’t change my style despite Aaron Ramsey’s injury”.

He certainly won’t unless harsh penalties are exacted for mindlessness. Knowing that you’ll miss a lengthy stretch of games, for starters, and that your manager will kick your head in for inviting such a fate on yourself, your certainly going to change your style Mr. Shawcross.

And is “style” the apt word at all for Shawcross’s exploits? Whatever you wish to call it “style” doesn’t ring true

.

We play Burnley today, with Denilson and Arshavin available again. The big question is whether Diaby will be available alongside Cesc in midfield.

Denilson hasn’t been at his best lately and Rosicky or Nasri alongside Cesc isn’t quite a “like for like” substitution. Eboue there perhaps with Nasri and Arshavin on the flanks?

Gallas remains injured, and I find Campbell a far more reassuring option than Sylvestre. Arseblogger suggests Campbell isn’t a certainty leaving me uneasy. We’ll see.

Easy as the run of games ahead seems on paper, we are variously encountering quite a few teams competing for top four finishes or aiming to avoid relegation. Add to this our Champions’ League commitments, couple more rounds of meaningless international friendlies, and our wretched luck with injuries, and an easy run-in isn’t self evident at all.

We need application and luck to successfully negotiate this stretch with every game crucial to sustain our title challenge.

Finally, I’d like to draw readers’ attention to Richard Williams’ verdict on Theo Walcott in the aftermath of the England-Egypt friendly:

Here are pertinent extracts, and I’d appreciate our readers’ views on the analysis and the verdict:

…sort of incisive contribution that Arsenal’s supporters have seen too rarely this season since the return of the young forward from the latest operation to cure his congenital shoulder problems.

Sparingly used by Arsène Wenger, he has made only seven starts this season, three of them since the turn of the year, with just one goal, against Blackburn back in October, to show for his efforts.

One of the problems of playing Walcott on the wing is that, unlike Lennon or any specialist in the role, he has no tricks – and, bizarrely, in three years under Wenger, playing almost invariably on the flank, he does not seem to have picked up any.

On several occasions, facing his marker with the ball at his feet and space waiting to be exploited behind the defence, he was comfortably dispossessed at the first time of asking by Said Moawad or Hossam Ghaly.

His failings would have been more obvious in the context of a better collective performance. Fortunately for him others were doing even worse. Wayne Rooney, spoken of during the week as one of the two or three best players in the world, produced what may have been his worst 45 minutes of football since turning professional, giving the ball away with what should have been straightforward passes on several occasions, while his strike partner, Jermaine Defoe, gave a tepid showing that led to his withdrawal at the interval.

Great credit had to be awarded to Egypt, who looked every inch the champions of Africa. Solid in their ball-winning capacity and athletic in their ability to spring forward against an anxious England defence, they were rewarded for their first-half supremacy by an excellent goal from Mohamed Zidan.

And, in conclusion, “Seconds later Walcott was leaving the field, to be replaced by Wright-Phillips, having been unable to provide a shred of evidence to change the minds of those who believe that the golden display of September 10, 2008 was a bit of a fluke and that he has not trained on.

Let’s see: The young player has endured a season without a sustained run that enables one to find form; on the back of this he goes into a game where the opponents put in a solid performance and quite a few of his own team mates put in off colour performances, and doesn’t acquit himself particularly well.

What are your views on Walcott?

Well then, here’s to three points against Burnley.

For the 4th time in 20 years, the Gunners face the drama at the Britannia stadium. It’s the sort of fixture that gets hacks and pundits all mouthy about the other side of football that focuses on physicality and set pieces.

In fairness, it is a clash between two very different schools of football styles. Wengerball on the one hand seeks to use technique, pace and movement as the primary approach to the game. Stoke City on the other hand will do what they do – get physical.

Much has been made about the legend of the Rory Delap throw. However, focussing on this strategy that Stoke employ and forgetting the football that they play is folly.

Stoke will try and mix it – and to their credit, will focus on what strengths they have. The potters have scored 15 of their 26 goals this season from set pieces, 14 of these at home. In this respect, it won’t be at all surprising if they try all manner of tactics in the dead ball situations.

Arsenal must approach the game like it was a cup final. I think a lot of people under-estimate how much the team’s confidence was knocked in recent weeks following the consecutive losses to Chelsea and Manchester United.

The Gunners have since done well to place themselves in a tidy position at the top of the table. Contrary to popular belief that we were out of the title race, the points clawed back in respect to Chelsea and United’s leads simply showed that hacks and pundits are full of hogg wash.

A lot of focus has also been placed on the 2 previous games Arsenal has lost at the Britannia. My sense is that these have no bearing on the game today simply because the personnel and the circumstances are different.

Arsenal has handled Stoke City very well when playing at the Emirates – but playing Stoke away has its own nuances, not least the effect of the home crowd.

Last season’s fixture was a frustrating affair – and the loss was as much a result of Arsenal’s complacency. It was a match that the Gunners finished with 10 men with Robin Van Persie receiving a straight red for his challenge on the Stoke keeper. It was also the game Gael Clichy netted his first goal for Arsenal.

To navigate this game, the team will have to be efficient and not only deal with the set piece attacks – but also be clinical in putting away our chances. 3 points this evening will go a long way in building the momentum.

Arsenal is a confidence team and momentum begets this confidence. We need to set aside the injury situation with Arshavin, Gallas and Diaby still out for different reasons.

Arsenal Winger, Theo Walcott

It’ll be a big game for Theo Walcott who has just started picking up some decent form. It’s as good a chance as any for the young winger to make a contribution to the team’s success – something that he has struggled with this season. Capello and Baldini will be watching and in that respect, Theo will be under pressure to perform before the England team playing Egypt is announced this weekend.

The team have enough in the locker to grind out a result and my sense is that Wenger will go for a starting line-up of:

Almunia
Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy
Song, Denilson, Fabregas
Walcott, Bendtner, Nasri.

Enjoy the game wherever you are.

Sunderland’s visit to the Emirates this afternoon provides a welcome distraction from the drama of the midweek European tie in Portugal. The Gunners need to set aside the disappointment of the referee assisted robbery at the Estadio do Dragão and focus on the task at hand against the Black Cats.

With Chelsea and United playing away from home, it’s paramount that the Gunners keep focus and do a professional job to collect the 3 points. There’s absolutely no point going on about a favourable fixture list in comparison to Arsenal’s title contenders if we’re not going to do what is required of us.

The reverse fixture at the Stadium of light on Nov 21st 2009 was the first game without our talisman Robin Van Persie. He had just picked up the horrific injury that has ruled him out for the season while on duty with Holland a week earlier.

Some have suggested that the team was affected by what happened to Van Persie against Italy. A more realistic explanation is that Arsenal have form in producing indifferent performances on away games after lengthy international breaks.

With Sunderlands Darren leaving Arsenal’s noses Bent, today is as good a day as any to rectify the matter and apply pressure on United and Chelsea.

The Black Cats have had a reversal of fortunes since their purple patch when they beat Arsenal and Liverpool and totally bum rushed United to a ’Fergie time’ assisted 2 all draw. They’re currently staring at the wrong end of the table, devoid of ideas as to how they can arrest their steady decline into that ’Oh so dodgy relegation zone.

The Gunners will be aware of the need to keep discipline and focus and to approach the game with a no nonsense attitude and determination to bag the 3 points. The omens look good and despite the injury situation, Arsenal should have enough in the locker to see this game through.

Sunderland have had a dismal record away from home against the big 4. Since their most recent promotion to the Premier league, they’ve only picked up 3 points from draws in 14 matches away from home against the big 4.

Arsenal on the other hand have only suffered one defeat at home to an opponent lower than 10th in the league table. This was against West Ham in April of 2007, the first defeat at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners’ record this season at home against the teams occupying the bottom half of the table have been well above average. Arsenal have picked up 2.71 points per game against lower league opposition and have scored 35% more goals in these games compared to last season.

With Diaby picking up an inexplicable knee injury a day after the game, my sense is that Wenger will go for a starting line-up of:

Fabianski
Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy
Denilson, Song, Fabregas
Rosicky, Bendtner, Nasri

I would expect that Walcott, Eboue and Ramsey will make an appearance at some point. Depending on how the game goes, it is feasible that Ramsey might be brought into the midfield and Campbell taken off to give the veteran a rest.

In such a scenario, Song may fall back into central defence, a position he is fairly familiar with. While Mikhael Silvestre is available, Wenger has voiced his hesitation about playing 2 left footed central defenders in the same game.

Wookash Fabianski will be the subject of the electric eyes following his performance in Porto. I’m still convinced he is a very good keeper and will come good to be one of the best in the business – and today’s as good a chance as any to exorcise the demons from the game against Porto.

Enjoy the game wherever you are.

April 18th 2009 and January 24th 2010 are two days ‘Wookash’ Fabianski dreads to recall, even though the former date is the Pole’s birthday.

It has something to do with the fact that on those two days, Arsenal were shown the exit sign and asked to unceremoniously leave the FA Cup. They were days that the young goal keeper had ’howlers’ that any professional sportsman would want to forget very quickly.

A mad rush of blood to the head from Wookash gifted an empty net to Drogba last April, and at the Britannia a few weeks ago – he wisened up to the folly of waiting for a Rory Delap throw to come to him.

Let’s face it – keeping goal is a thankless job. More often than not, the keeper spends long periods doing nothing constructive and requires constant discipline and focus to keep up with the game around them.

The problem for goalies is that mistakes they make or momentary lapses of judgement almost certainly end up with them picking the ball from the back of the net. Also, in this media savvy age where cameras cover every nook and cranny on the pitch, the actions or inactions of the goal keeper are easily amplified.

If Bob Wilson was keeping goal for Arsenal today and he had the howler that led to the goal at his near post in the 1971 cup final, Wilson would have had to go into exile, for the Sky cameras would have made is life a misery.

Goal keeping seems to be a subject that divides many observers when it comes to the Arsenal. I don’t recall it being that much of an issue in the past times of Lehmann, Seaman (who was the goalie that I most identified with), Jennings or Wilson.

There’s a cliché often used to say that a good goal keeper can save you at least 12 points a season, and Almunia doesn’t seem to jump out of the page for some when it comes to Arsenal goal keepers. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 points saving interventions that Almunia made in 2010 – when Denilson collapsed and Everton had a one on one with him; saving Agbonlahor’s shot across goal at the match against Villa on 27th of Jan; and his fingertip save of Ryan Babel’s shot last week against Liverpool.

All of those saves prevented Arsenal from losing or drawing a match and gained us points in that respect. Even so, it’s more than likely that Almunia’s transgressions will be the more amplified for it’s those mistakes that end up with us conceding goals.

Fabianski has had his high profile moments to impress and he has shown signs of a great goal keeper, and signs of poor judgement on occasion. This is not uncommon for a 24 year old goal keeper, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that some things will only come with experience. Good judgement is one of those aspects that will only develop with time and mileage on the pitch.

For the record, I think Fabianski is a very good keeper and will become one of the best keepers in the world. You can see this when he has a good game – the way he commands the box and the way he marauds around like he owns that piece of real estate within the box; the way he comes for crosses and the way he sweeps behind his defensive high line; and his general presence in the box.

What has eluded him so far is the consistency in good decision making. His individual skill and agility is not in question. The only way we’re going to find out if Wookash is really the answer to Arsenal’s goal keeping dilemma is to let him get on with it.

Some may argue that he’s not yet there and needs some more experience, but short of farming him out on loan at the risk of not having a 2nd choice keeper – Wenger seems to be convinced that the Pole is a good enough understudy to Almunia.

The manager has certainly gone out of his way to pump up Wookash by waxing lyrical about his ability to hold the fort. Definitely good people management and confidence building skills on the part of the manager.

My sense is that if the team defends properly as a unit and each person takes their responsibility seriously, it will make the life of a goal keeper a hell of a lot easier. There will be times during the game that the keeper is called upon to do something extra-ordinary and it’s on those occasions that Wookash can stand up to be counted.

Maybe tonight is a chance to prove that it’s 3rd time lucky for him and he can help propel Arsenal to a good position before the return leg against Porto in 3 weeks time.
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