Deprived of internet at home thanks to a debacle with the ISP, means no blog, no thoughts on Birmingham, no nothing for a few days. Long have the internet gods looked distastefully towards Third-Gen, and that shows no signs of abating just yet.

A lot of analysis has been flung around in the leadup for the Greatest Match of Our Time. Barcelona bring with them romance, verve, but most importantly an astronomical benchmark in relation to Arsenal, not to mention the world’s best player in Lionel Messi.

And yet, despite all their abilities, their form, their hype and skill, I cannot shake my fanatical, deluded belief that Arsenal can win this match.

You won’t get any empirical reasons from me today. oday’s blog will be light on analysis, high on polemic, partly because Barcelona’s strengths play to ours, and our weaknesses play to theirs, so it’s all rather circular logic.

But mostly because, win or lose, Arsenal finally have a chance to test themselves, in the Champions League, against the best. It’s what we as fans want, it’s what the neutrals want, and I hope beyond all hopey-hopeness, it’s what the players want.

It’s a chance for Vermaelen to rise up in his ninja-tastic way to keep their rampant attack at bay. It’s a chance for Gael Clichy to show their defence what real wing pace is.

It’s a time for Diaby to show his power in midfield, for Sagna to show rock-like reliability, a time for Bendtner to blunderbus his way through.

With any luck, it will be a time for Cesc Fabregas to show his old club exactly what they’re missing.

And for a fleeting moment, perhaps time for Wenger to vindicate his football ideology, against the ultimate team under his own maxim.

The stadium will be bathed in red and white. The chants will be ringing. Thierry Henry will get a lovefest upon arrival, but for 90 minutes (before a dreaded second-leg at the Nou Camp), we have to back our team, despite their flaws, despite the players some love to hate, despite our lack of big name signings, despite the fact we’re not bankrolled by some exiled African dictator.

This is Arsenal. They are Barcelona.

And we’re going to win.

That is all.

Filed under: Arsenal, Champions League | 6 Comments »

Up front, I think all the perceived injustices spurring Arsenal on have worked a swell trick in keeping our season chugging along.

But am I the only one who thinks that talk of ‘revenge’ going to Birmingham is just silly?

What happened to Eduardo two years ago was sickening, the beginning of the end for the season. It was also the match that put the striker’s career in total limbo as he began the long road to a remarkable recovery.

But time heals many wounds (unless you’re a Spurs fan) and with Aaron Ramsey being the more recent victim of a seriously bad tackle, for me the emphasis on Eduardo is as unseemly as it is expected.

This match should be like any other match. To put ‘added significance’ on it is not going to help this team in the slightest. Taylor plies his trade for Watford on loan – the whole foreboding of St Andrews means we’ve got a player stuck in our head who won’t be even playing. For that matter, the odds of Eduardo playing are slim to none, too.

We should be looking at the always dangerous McFadden, the tenacious ex-Gunner Seb Larsson, or the fact they’ve had a wicked spell at home where none of United, Chelsea, Spurs or City have come away with anything more than a single point.

It’s a fortress. And the reason for that is not that man Taylor. It’s because Birmingham are a team that work for each other, play to their strengths and get on with it.

We should too.

I have my trust in Wenger to drill this into the players. He’s done the Eduardo questions already (what else will journalists ask?), but as team talks go, it’s all about keeping up our winning streak and playing on the Blues’ recent sketchy form.

With Vermaelen’s suspension upheld (but not extended), I expect Campbell to be called into duty again alongside Alex Song, who coped well enough against West Ham as a pair.

Denilson should then take defensive midfield duties but expect Abou Diaby to chip in too. Bendtner will continue to hold up the line from the off. While I expect Nasri to keep his place, I would not be surprised to see Walcott (scorer of two goals the last time we played here – now who’s obsessive about previous fixtures?), possibly in place of the lacklustre Arshavin.

The little Russian’s been frustrating at best lately, but if he does start, many of us will be demanding a better performance.

That actually counts for every single one of the players out there. Yet another cup final, yet another lung-bursting effort, boys.

We’re proud of how far you’ve come. But since the horizon is peeking into view, why stop now?

COME ON YOU RED AND WHITES!

Filed under: Arsenal, English Premier League | 1 Comment »

Apologies for the lack of a West Ham match report – those who follow Third-Gen on Facebook will know I was suffering from a pretty bad fever over the course of Sunday and Monday, so the energy required to write a magnum opus was never there.

In short, a lot of players stepped up to the plate against West Ham – I’ll start with our regular boo-boys Denilson, Almunia and Eboue, who so often are victims of the fans’ ire. Denilson was everywhere against West Ham and his good performance as a shielding midfielder was capped by his opening goal. Eboue, another candidate for ‘Arsenal’s most improved player’ alongside Alex Song, gave the Hammers’ leftback hell as he tormented them with his sneaky dribbles throughout the match.

And Almunia was surely the toast of London with an emphatic penalty save off the usually-assured Diamanti.

Of course, there should never have been a penalty in the first place, when Franco went down easier than a starving call-girl while Vermaelen had eyes for nothing else than the ball. The inept linesman made the call with the referee a full 50 metres behind the ball, who could never have seen the ‘tackle’. Arsenal are appealing the incident, though despite Vermaelen’s innocence, it’s an uneasy course of action with the FA quite capable of labelling the appeal ‘frivolous’, and extending the ban.

But Vermaelen was professionalism personified as he walked off without any protestations (try that out sometime, John Terry), and it set up the platform for a man-of-the-match performance from Alex Song. Forced to deputise as a centreback, Song and Sol Campbell dealt with every West Ham attack comfortably, only letting one chance from Carlton Cole through, who hit the outside of the post.

With 10 men, Arsenal showed plenty of character to not only score a second goal (Fabregas from the penalty spot after Upson handballed), but to play West Ham off the park for the majority of the match. It was a top notch performance, and while Manchester United won their game against a pitiful Liverpool side, it shows how close the run-in is now, with us topping the table for 24 hours.

Chelsea are the first to have blinked, and if we can win all our games (which is pretty much what it will require to win this thing), Manchester United will be under all sorts of pressure to do the same.

Which brings me to the headline of today’s blog…

Manchester United’s next fixture is a tricky trip to a resurgant Bolton side who have demonstrated as much flair in attack as ugly aggression in the tackle. While their loss to Everton the other day will have done them no favours, they remain an uneasy fixture at the Reebok, and it will be interesting to see how the Trotters rock up to that match.

The big news, however, is Wayne Rooney’s niggly knee. He will surely be rested on Saturday and it will be interesting to see if his support act (aka, Manchester United) can cope without 70 per cent of their entire side.

While the absence of one Englishman will make the headlines, the inclusion of another could pose an Arsenal scriptwriter’s dream premise – little Jack Wilshere smacking one in to deny United the points.

Next season, we could see Wilshere sneak around 15 appearances for Arsenal as his burgeoning talent comes through. For now, he’s enjoying a productive loan spell for Bolton and has already gotten off the mark in the goals department.

We’ll have our eyes firmly fixed on how Arsenal handle a daunting trip to Birmingham ourselves.

But in an open plea to our on-loan boy wonder: Do us a favour, Jack!

Thoughts, well-wishes and job offers in the comments.

Filed under: Arsenal, Blogging, English Premier League | 2 Comments »

And the draw for the Quarter Finals is out:

Lyon vs Bordeaux
Bayern vs Man United
Arsenal vs Barcelona
Inter vs CSKA Moscow

Which means, should we do the unthinkable and beat Barcelona over two legs, we’ll have a semifinal against Inter Milan, with the second leg at the Emirates.

If this doesn’t make our season all the more OMG-Friggin-Awesome, I don’t know what will.

Thoughts on the draw, in the comments.

Filed under: Arsenal, Champions League | 11 Comments »

It’s quarter final draw time – when you look at the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Liverpool, you always have to be appreciative of being in the running at this point in the season.

As the headline suggests, I have a gut feeling we will draw Bayern Munich tonight, though I’m not saying they’re our ideal team to face. Ideally, one of Bordeaux, Lyon or CSKA would be great, but if it is Bayern or Inter (regardless of what the Mourinho brigade will tell you), I still rate our chances.

If it’s Barcelona or Manchester United, find a religion that suits you and start praying.

My predicted draw – teams in red to face each other in the semis, same goes for teams in blue.

[Bayern - Arsenal
Bordeaux-Lyon]
[CSKA Moscow-Manchester United
Barcelona-Inter]

Let’s see how close I get come draw time. For those trying to figure out what time the draw takes place, it’s at 12-noon, Central European time. If you need to do the maths, just google the time in Nyon and work it out from there.

Seems my life can’t move forward until this draw is out of the way. Then I’m ready for a looooooong Saturday before kickoff at West Ham. Come on!

Filed under: Arsenal, Champions League | 13 Comments »

Above is the well-publicised leak (thank you Arseblog) of either a commemorative shirt being released next season, or our actual kit for next season. As feedback goes, people will be clamouring for it if it is the real thing (there are many pages linking to how this is actually a fake), and I for one will be ordering it immediately if it proves to be the real McCoy.

On to the blog, and today I’m dealing with the Felipe Melo spiel – more to the point, how I feel the club should be resorting to transfer rumours in some sick, twisted fantasy of mine.

Arsenal need to publicly tap up Felipe Melo – even if the debate lingers over whether we need to reinforce central midfield.

Since the Patrick Vieira-Real Madrid fiasco of 2002, Arsenal have long appeared a soft touch when it comes to staving off reported interest in the club’s players.

After Vieira left, Spanish papers targeted Thierry Henry, who eventually left for Barcelona (credit to him last night after getting a start against Stuttgart ahead of that idiot, Zlatan). After Thierry, we’ve never heard the end of Cesc-to-Barcelona headlines.

Late this season, rumours have circled around Roma’s pursuit of Gallas, who allegedly also want Eboue and Vermaelen.

I know a lot of Gooners are proud of the way Arsenal conducts itself off the pitch – there’s always been a touch of class about the red and white and Wenger’s behind-closed-doors transfer policy has been nothing but by-the-book.

Surely now, it’s time to fight fire with fire. Time to unsettle a few players, offer suggestive quotes about wanting certain players and get players and backroom staff in on the act. If Wenger feels too strongly about his principles in this regard, people like Cesc, van Persie and Arshavin – players the press will listen to – should surely start blabbering on, mischievously, about Lionel Messi this, De Rossi that, until those bastard clubs decide to shut their collective traps.

We might not need Felipe Melo – but Juventus are just one club who have given us grief over our coveting our players publicly. Is it time Arsenal dished some dirt straight back, despite the Juve chairman’s wishes?

Wishful thinking. But still – would you prefer to see Arsenal fall to the dark side of transfer politics, or keep their clean, classy image they’ve done so well to maintain of late?

Filed under: Arsenal, Blogging, Transfer Rumours | 7 Comments »

If there’s one story that will some up Arsenal’s season so far, it comes in the form of a most magnificent creature.

Perhaps I’m getting all Colonel SS Hans Landa on you, here, but allow me this simple analogy. Arsenal’s season seems to have been directed by the all powerful God of Cockroaches. You can lob grenades at us, you can declare nuclear war, you can bring down the Iron Curtain on our hopes and dreams, but Arsenal’s grubs will keep on prevailing.

The cockroaches scurry to Old Trafford in August. Through their sheer numbers, they disgust the Manchester girls into squealing about the place. One pint-sized Russian cockroach gets half-stepped on by a Scottish lump, who for labeling’s sake, we’ll call Darren Fletcher.

Yet still this marvel of animalia blasts a shot at girly-girl Ben Foster, who cannot find the tissues in time to pick the ball out of the net. Oily wings flutter, Manchester goes silent, and the pest inspectors are called in.

They resort to drugging one of the more maligned members of the cockroach brigade, who goes by the name of Abou. Poor Abou starts running in circles, and can’t remember which way he’s supposed to head the ball.

Meanwhile, Microwave Wayne does a cruel experiement to the rare albino cockroach, Almunia Manuelus, slicing him up and sending him every which way.

Yet the cockroaches lived on.

November comes. Winter sets in. While mere humans fester in their caves, huddling for warmth, the Arsenal scrape a minimalist existence. Infuriated by the infestation in the town’s north, a band of mercenaries head up from West London to put an end to our invertabrate ways.

Will our children ever forgive us? General Ancelotti makes the big decision that could alter living conditions in London for 60 years: He drops the Drogba on the Emirates.

Desolation. Title-chase? Long gone. Surely now, Arsenal Stadium lies in ruins?

A scratching is heard. On an outcropping of rubble, a small feeler emerges. Then another, then one more. Slowly, the insects emerge again, emitting a faint green glow. If anything, the cockroaches seem better than ever.

Even nuclear fallout could not stop them. From December to January, Arsenal lay waste to all and sundry, and have the choicest bits of breadcrumbs to choose from.

But one day, the cockroaches decide that they’re bored of the all the white bread on offer, and look to Birmingham’s horizon for some softer sour dough. The Villans get word, and man the barracades. Despite their best efforts, Arsenal fail to make the breakthrough, and are held at bay by Aston Villa.

Behind the scenes, the pest shop boys are called into action again.

Again, Wayne brings his trusty microwave and gives the cockroaches a deep, long fry. General Ancelotti drops the Drogba on his own Bridge (such is the levels of desperation), and yet, for all that, Arsenal return unscathed **.

Even some emotionally-unbalanced kid from the north tried to snap off the legs of one cockroach. But if anything, that just made the cockroaches angrier.

Now on a winning streak of five league games, the Arsenal brood is swarming over hapless opponents who can do little more than sit back, man the barricades and stomp, stomp, stomp.

This run of fine form has seen the rapid evolution of individual cockroaches. Shorn of “spinal” players like Fabregas, van Persie, Gallas and Alex Song, the Arsenal swarm has embraced invertebratehood, scraped for its existence and accumulated the three-pointers when it mattered most.

While everybody’s darlings, the Mancs and Chavs of the world, occupy their minds by thinking like hawks (they look in the barn, in the attic, in the cellar…everywhere they would think to hide), but the rats of this world (and by rats, I mean Arsenal cockroaches, not David Bentley) continue to damn well hang in there.

The pint-sized Russian cockroach, still smarting from being stepped on by some Scottish lump, has found slippery ways to weave between stomping defenders. The once-drugged Abou has come out of his stupour and finally knows which way to run.

And out of the ashes, a new frontman has emerged – Nicklas Bendtner. The Great Dane. Surely the Cockiest of them all?

**One cockroach, Denilson, has admittedly not quite been himself since the microwave incident.

Filed under: Arsenal, Blogging, English Premier League | 14 Comments »