I’m pretty sure that the appalling Norwich defeat is becoming a distant memory that will certainly go down as a low point of the season so far, but with 30 Premier League games left to play, I don’t want to be very downhearted just yet.
However, the Arsenal camp isn’t all peachy and creamy right now, as faces have been facing the ground, while players like Aaron Ramsey, Gervinho and Olivier Giroud will probably be hoping for the ground to open up or something close to that.
Arsenal’s vice-skipper, Mikel Arteta, has been vocal about the disappointment of the weekend’s game but Arsene Wenger has raised his concerns over Chelsea’s 10-point gap the Gunners with just eight games gone,
“The gap is very unpleasant, we had an opportunity that Tottenham could win and we could win, and we both lost. That of course makes the gap a lot bigger.
“You cannot say you do not worry about that, but what is more disappointing is that we could not score.
“After we went 1-0 down we had the ball for 70 minutes and could not score a goal.”
The boss also blasted the poor overall offensive performance, rather than singling out individuals for criticism. To add to the sad news, the boss has confirmed that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out for a while, as he suffered a hip injury in Carrow Road.
With Arsenal’s English speedster duo of Theo Walcott and the Ox out injured, the resources in attack has suddenly become bare. This means that Wenger could be forced to resort to Marouane Chamakh or Andrey Arshavin but on the bright side, Lukas Podolski will probably be playing for 90 minutes henceforth.
Moving away from the gloomy news, I bring you more good tidings in regard to Arsenal’s midfield maestro working his way to full fitness alongside Mr. Consistency and that Frimmy Denchster. Jack Wilshere, Bacary Sagna and Emmanuel Frimpong were part of the Arsenal Under-21 side that eased past Everton yesterday afternoon. The young German sensation, Thomas Eisfeld, scored a brace before he was substituted in the 73rd minute and it’s also worth noting that Wilshere supplied both assists to the German youngster.
Everton’s Apostolos Vellios opened the scoring when he robbed Ignasi Miquel off the ball before placing it past Damian Martinez as early as the fifth minute. Shortly afterwards, Wilshere was in the thick of things as he rolled the ball backwards for Eisfeld, that drilled his effort past Jan Mucha in goal.
The Arsenal Under-21 scored the match clincher when Wilshere cut in through the right hand side, before slipping in Eisfeld that finished aplomb to put the game beyond doubt. Wilshere also got a yellow card in the game, showing the Arsenal faithful that his combative side didn’t disappear after 14 months out.
With Abou Diaby still suffering from a severe case of Diabytes, Wenger clearly not having faith in Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey still playing like shite, Wilshere’s transition into the first team won’t be as hard as Per Mertesacker scoring for Arsenal. Wilshere’s introduction will also spur on Arsenal’s Spanish midfield duo, Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla to up their games because, the young Englishman can play in both their positions efficiently.
Wilshere made a name for himself in the 2010/11 season when he manned the box-to-box role perfectly and he’ll definitely be the perfect link between Arsenal’s midfield and attack this season. Many have been tipping him to make his comeback against QPR this weekend, but the Capitol One cup encounter against Reading makes more sense in my opinion.
Arsenal had a very bad day in the office against Norwich but a commanding performance against Schalke 04 tomorrow will go a long way in healing the wounds inflicted on Saturday. We shouldn’t expect fireworks from Wilshere after being out of the game for so long but having a player of his immense quality in Arsenal’s disposal is a big plus for Arsene Wenger and his team.
Elsewhere, former Arsenal trainee, Fabrice Muamba, put his nightmarish year and all his troubles behind him as he married his heartthrob, Shauna Magunda, that was by his side throughout his life-threatening ordeal that took place on the 17th of March, 2012 in White Hart Lane.
Football became a united family as several clubs, players and fans showed their respects to the retired holding midfielder, singing his songs, raising awareness for him and most importantly, praying for him. Five months after the experience, Muamba announced his retirement from the beautiful game and probably went to concentrate on other affairs of his life like, you know, marrying Shauna.
King Thierry Henry flew all the way from New York to become Muamba’s Best Man, while the Guest of Honor was Dr. Andrew Deaner, the cardiologist who ran onto the pitch at White Hart Lane and saved the midfielder’s life with his quick thinking.
Other football dignitaries graced the occasion with the notable names being Manchester United legend, Andy Cole, all his former Bolton teammates and Arsenal’s former skipper with the little boy inside him, Robin van Judas Iscariot Per$i£.
Finally, I’ll like to notify my esteemed readers that the voting sequence for the Nigerian Blog Awards has begun and I’ll be honored if you can vote for your daily Arsenal digest, Gooner Daily, as the best Sports Blog category.
While you’re at it, also vote for Movie Reviews in the Best Topical blog category.
Sayonara.
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