New season

So, no Welbeck nor Wilshere (you'd think we'd be used to it by now) - it'll be interesting to see who gets a start against Stoke. Ozil is back, I'd be surprised if Gabriel doesn't start in defence, not sure whether Debuchy will be given the nod at right-back to take some revenge for the injury he picked up (in cowardly fashion) last season against this lot and who will be wide I wonder, The Ox or Ramsey, who will lead the line Giroud or Theo (or perhaps Alexis) - all good possibilities to think on prior to kick-off? Come on Arsenal!

So, Theo started up top, Ozil was indeed back and Gabriel & Koscielny bossed the defence, ably assisted by the excellent Belerin & Monreal at full-back. Le Coq was very good Theo scored a good goal from a superb Ozil set-up (which was preceded by an excellent Coq unloading) and Giroud came on to score a good second. However, both players missed easier chances, we hit the goal-frame twice & their keeper played out of his skin - we should have scored more! Still, another three points which should set us up nicely for our mid-week travels to far-off lands, not to mention a trip to lowly Chelsea (in Fulham, West London) next Saturday. Today was a 3 o'clock kick-off, that made a nice change.
Onwards and upwards, come on Arsenal!

Did you see the mighty spuds storm into 12th place... What a team

Golry Golry

and CYSO

Yes.

Over to Fulham on Saturday lunch-time for a match against Chelsea. I'm quite looking forward to this one, methinks it could be a bit needly, if you know what I mean. Have to say I fancy our chances (despite the Zagreb misfiring) and it'll be interesting to see which eleven starts. For me it's Belerin on the right, Monreal on the left plus Koscielny and Gabriel in the the middle of defence, Le Coq has to start too (IMO), plus Ramsey, Cazorla and Ozil, then Alexis plus another up front, from The Ox, Theo and Giroud. My guess is we'll start with Theo to frighten the Chelsea defence with his blistering pace (well, that's how we went at Wembley in the Community Shield). We'll see - it's gonna be good!

You can guaranty that you are going to lose this one because after all the bull that the special one has said about wenger

I was really enjoying the match, thought the first half was good and then along came the Diago Costa cameo, excellently directed by referee Dean which finished it for me. Yes we conceded a poor set-piece goal (again) and after going down to nine men conceded a second, deflected one but those four minutes towards the end of the first half ruined the match. Four minutes - that's how long it took Dean to not notice Costa's physical abuse of Koscielny through to giving a red card to Gabriel who had entered the scene as a peacekeeper (as did Cech and others). Amazingly poor refereeing (and in fact poor vision from linesmen and fourth official IMO) allowed a flashpoint to become a saga. And they say that having to check a screen for video replays would halt the flow of the game, what a joke. With referees like Dean the pantomime is all and his mis-management beggars belief! Horrible!

They are only human they cant see everything.... Especially if the perp is trained in causing havoc that the officials dont see

It looks as though Dean will be relegated from the Premier League as the FA have chosen to cancel the red card (and 3-match suspension) given by him to Gabriel. At last! Some sense in the matter although, of course it doesn't help us having a man short for half the game. Next up the FA are looking at Diego Costa - some come-uppance due there too. And, while we're at it why not reprimand manager Mourinho for ungentlemanly conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute for his after-match comments (and, well for being him)!

I hope Eva got a good pay off

I suspect she's going after Chelsea too, legally. Good luck to her - it can't be nice taking a slagging-off from a slag like Mourinho in public!

And there we go, Diego Costa gets a 3-match ban - that's more like it. Can we get Mourinho now, please? Pretty please?

Back to football then - got to stop Leicester becoming the New Invincables tomorrow. I wonder what eleven we'll start with - I'd imagine Theo will get the nod up top to give that Leicester central defence the run-around, perhaps with Flamini kept on to plug the midfield gap, along with Arteta given that Cazorla is otherwise engaged, Cech back in goal and probably a switch of the full-backs too. We'll see, anyway, work to be done - come on Arsenal!

Well pleased with that Arsenal performance in a game where both teams went for the win and concentrated on the football! Good goals from both teams, great that Alexis finally got off the mark with a catch-up hat-trick, Theo played well and took his goal well and nice to see Giroud get on and net one too! We've got some Euro work to do in mid-week and then I'm really looking forward to the visit of United - time to put them back in their box!

Come on lads, a big win today - come on Arsenal!

That's the way you do it - pity we didn't get a fourth goal (that Ramsey miss was a shame given an excellent build-up) but Alexis is magic!

Watford away, a potentially tricky one but one we must win if we're serious contenders - I think we are, come on Arsenal!

Serious contender for what?? 4th place or are we aiming for 3rd this year??

FrenchSpur wrote:Serious contender for what?? 4th place or are we aiming for 3rd this year??

Third was last year Frenchie, do keep up!

3-0, now that's a good win. Great second-half performances from all (except Cech who had little or nowt to do), nice goals from Alexis, Giroud and Ramsey (at last)- now looking forward to welcoming Everton next weekend. OK, there's a CL match in between but the Everton one is another must-win, just to conserve our place at, or near the top. Come on Arsenal!

And another top performance - should have scored more but got the 2-1 win on tired legs. Special mention to Cech, Kos, Gabriel, Santi, Le Coq, Mesut and Ollie up top. Two well-taken goals - now we head for Swansea - yet another must-win (not to mention a League Cup-tie in Sheffield on Tuesday against Wednesday - OK, I won't mention it) - come on Arsenal!

Our injury list is getting longer - who'd have thought it, eh? We'll probably have Joel Campbell on the right at Swansea and this is (finally) his first-team chance. He's been out here, there and everywhere on loan, he's played 50-odd times for Costa Rica, now he gets to play with the Big Boys in the First Team - good luck to him. A difficult match at Swansea so we'll have to be up for it - come on Arsenal!

Nice one. Good, steady performance with second-half switch into top gear and three well-taken goals. Poor old Fabianski got taken advantage of where Kos reacted well to score, good header from The Big Man and a nicely fashioned and well-taken goal for Joel Campbell - I sort of fancied him to show something and he put in a good shift. Next up, our neighbours from the poor end of town who have clearly been playing above themselves in recent times and must be brought down to earth - come on Arsenal!

Have to say "Well done" to Tottingham, they played well throughout the match and I was glad we managed to nick a point TBH. OK, we could have gone on to win but with Giroud in missalot mode there wasn't much we could do - Alexis is looking knackered, Santi probably shouldn't have started the game cos he was out on his feet, replaced by Flamini in the second half - we were down to the bare bones but great to see Gibbs come on and do the business, thanks to the excellent Mesut Özil. So, still up there with City at the top - I'd like our players to get a rest until the next match but most of 'em will be off playing meaningless friendly internationals (Alexis - stay home!) and will return completely worn out BUT we do have some players regaining fitness - step up The Ox and The Welsh Jesus - so I'm thinking we'll be up-and-at-em in a coupla weeks.

Up to The Baggies on Saturday. Need a win to keep the momentum up, will certainly not have all our walking wounded back and perhaps we'll have to do without a couple of the worn-out international players - Arsene, in you we trust. Pick a team to win - come on Arsenal!