The Premier League kicked off yesterday with teams fighting for their various causes while Arsenal wait to strut their stuff on Monday night.
Chelsea started the Post-AVB era with a win over those goons from that Rugby outfit with Didier Drogba reaching joining the Premier League goal scoring century club. The self-proclaimed world’s best striker, Nicklas Bendtner didn’t need a beach ball to score the solitary goal that was enough to inflict a third defeat in a row to Liverpool.
The last time Liverpool lost three League games on the trot, Gerard Houllier was still the gaffer (2003) but King Kenny Dalglish hasn’t ruled out a top four finish. After spending over £126m in a year or so, Dalglish has the Carling Spoon to show for it which isn’t that bad considering the fact that Arsenal gunned for it last season. But Liverpool finishing in the top four is as realistic as Lionel Messi growing taller than Nikola Zigic.
While Carlos Vela ran the show for Real Sociedad against Zaragoza, Arsenal’s loanee at Bolton, Ryo Miyaichi was on fire again as he capped up a scintillating performance with a late assist for Ivan Klasnic in Bolton’s 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers.
The best result from Saturday’s fixture list was undoubtedly Everton’s win over the team with the Chicken on a Basketball from White Shite Lane. The game also marked David Moyes’ 10th anniversary with the club and the victory couldn’t come against any better opponent.
Three weeks ago, Twitchy Ol’ ‘Arry was a king on the throne leading his fierce rivals with 10 points and being strongly linked to the vacant England managerial post. Today, he has probably grown an extra twitch because a win for Arsenal over Newcastle on Monday would make Arsenal have the stench of Tottenham on their ‘nostrils’.
I remember when a wrote an article on 11 reasons why Tottenham can never finish above Arsenal, some readers barraged me with comments and labeled me as a “delusional Gooner” amongst other words.
Guess who’ll have the last laugh in May?
If Arsenal ever ends up in 17th place, Tottenham will be relegated.
At Arsenal, news on Lukas Podolski potential transfer, Tomas Rosicky’s contract and Robin van Persie’s future has dominated the headlines.
Word on the street is that Arsene Wenger is about to “break his wage policy” to offer Tomas Rosicky a two-year deal despite the fact that he has gone above the ‘dreaded’ 30-year mark. Rosicky has done enough to earn him a new deal and we can only hope that Little Mozart would maintain this form as well as to rub off his influence on Aaron Ramsey.
Lukas Podolski earned himself an early bath in FC Cologne’s 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin but the reaction of the Gooners on my timeline was simply hilarious:
“ @DmitryMD: Podolski wants to have a rest before he will play for Arsenal. That’s why he got a red card”
Van Persie has been on the end of constant speculation regarding his future with predators like Manchester City on the prowl. Arsene Wenger is getting tired of it all and he has officially ruled out van Persie’s exit:
We will not lose anybody to Manchester City, or to anybody else because we want to keep our players. I can only let people talk. We want to keep Robin Van Persie, that is clear, we will do everything possible to extend his contract, that is clear.
“I was very adamant but at the end of the day, it (Nasri) was a difficult situation to manage. We had the players and we felt that [Aaron] Ramsey and [Jack] Wilshere could work.
“Would we keep Robin even if he doesn’t extend? Yes, of course. Our plan is just to keep Robin van Persie, even if we buy any player.
Alex Song is one of the finest defensive midfielders in the business and he has added a new ‘trick’ to the magic box that already contains an amazing technique, deft first touch, high work rate, the stamina of an Ox (not Oxlade-Chamberlain), superb marking skills and brilliant positional play.
Alex Song is now a potent force in Arsenal’s attack and he has created a boatload of assists this season, with a considerable chunk of them for Robin van Persie.
His defense-splitting pass to van Persie against Norwich was sumptuous to say the least. Van Persie finished it off with a cheeky lob over the Norwich goalie. He invoked the spirit of Lionel Messi when Arsenal hosted Dortmund by taking on some defenders before crossing the ball for RVP that sent his header goalwards.
When the chips were down against the Merseysiders (Everton at Emirates and Liverpool at Anfield), Alex Song supplied two similar perfect projectiles for van Persie and Arsenal’s captain finished both efforts in the same magnificent similar fashion.
Song has said that he’ll continue to keep the ‘supply line’ running:
“Everyone knows that Robin can make the difference in every single game he plays. We are happy and lucky to have him in our squad, I work well with him in training and I know how he moves.”
“When I have the chance I try to give him a good ball, and if I do that then I know he can score at any time”
Van Persie formed this kind of telepathy with Theo Walcott last season and its heartwarming to know Alex Song has pledged to feed him with more assists.
I won’t mind another “ammunition” against Newcastle.
To compound Tottenham’s misery, the world’s best left-footed Chimpanzee, Gareth Bale has hit out on his critics that have accused him following his recent auditions for Team Great Britain’s Olympic Diving Team.
For once, I’m going to agree with Bale. Monkeys don’t “dive”, they “swing” from trees to trees.
He probably imagined Wojciech Szczesny’s post as the nearest tree so he “swung” in that direction winning a fictitious penalty in the process.
The great Arseblogger has a thing for John Terry and Phil Collins, mine’s Gareth Bale.
Sayonara.
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