What a way to start 2012 from an Arsenal point of view; Manchester City lost right at the death thanks to some Shaolin Soccer from Sunderland’s Ji Dong-Won, Yakubu and Blackburn gave Sir Alex Ferguson the blues, Aston Villa surprised Chelsea and Swansea continued their impressive form in the Liberty Stadium against Tottenham.
Arsenal ended 2011 with a 1-0 victory over QPR and Arsene Wenger can give himself a pat on the back for ending the year in fourth place despite being 17th in August.
With the shaky form the top two have shown in the tail end of the year, the second half of the Premier League campaign will certainly have its twists and turns.
However, Laurent Koscielny believes that Arsenal’s Premier League fate is in the club’s hands:
“It was very important to win QPR because we drew against Wolves.
“It’s good for us that we’re fourth, so we need to stay in fourth and maybe get to third. We work every day to get stronger.
“We know we still have to play at home against Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham so we have all the cards in our hands”
Arsenal is just nine points behind the league leaders and there are so many more mouth-watering fixtures coming up. Manchester City hosts Liverpool soon and we all know that Kenny Dalglish’s Red Army are famous party spoilers.
In other Arsenal news, Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Thomas Vermaelen has suffered a calf strain and that will add more woes to the thin-bare defense.
Francis Coquelin came in his stead and put up an impressive shift but Arsenal cannot afford to keep fielding players out of position, especially when Emmanuel Frimpong has joined Wolves on loan.
Total Football Madness has reported that Arsenal is about to make a move for Manchester City’s Wayne Bridge and I’m sure that his potential arrival would being mixed feelings amongst the fans.
Aaron Ramsey is another player that has done well in the ‘Cesc role’ and he has gotten a lot of games under his belt after coming back from that career-threatening injury.
Ramsey has been happy with his progress this season and it’s fair to say that the young bloke is slowly harnessing that potential he’s renowned for.
The boss said that his team never lost belief and he has tipped Robin van Persie to continue his excellent form well into 2012.
Robin van Persie has become the heartbeat of Arsenal this season and speculation has been rife regarding his contract issues but the talisman has hinted that he’ll remain at Arsenal.
Disregarding the football perspectives behind him staying, van Persie talked about how he’s enjoying life in London and how he’s happy seeing his children grow there too.
He made sweet tunes about the politeness of the people and how his son Shaqueel didn’t want to return back to the Netherlands.
It was also expected that he’ll talk about something football related and he paid tribute to the Gooners for their amazing support. He said a lot but my pick of the bunch remains:
“I have to admit I love banners like ‘We don’t need Batman, we’ve got Robin’ and stuff like that.”
I wrote eons ago that we should…
Forget Cesc Batman, we’ve got Robin.
Sayonara.
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