As fans, this is the kind of day that we live for. The alarm shrills, sleepy fingers grope for the off switch and the first coherent thought to form through the fog of recently departed sleep is ‘Arsenal. It’s tonight’. This is the big one folks. Our nearest rivals have done all we could ask to ensure the pressure remains fully over in the red and Arsene has done all he can to prepare the players to work within that pressure. You can feel the expectation, tension and excitement vibrating in every Arsenal fan you meet, in every tweet and every status update the nervous thrill as our penultimate ‘cup final’ approaches.
I want you to put your hand on your heart and tell me: Did you truly believe we’d get through the first eight of these ten games and only draw two, losing none? When Arsene cranked up the tension with his ten cup final speech, how many of us thought ‘that’s a big ask’ after a sometimes infuriatingly inconsistent season? I knew we had the ability to do it, and in public I sounded resolute, but that little voice inside me kept chipping away. Long unbeaten runs in this version of the premiership where squads packed with first choice internationals can get easily relegated are so very difficult to establish. It is as George pointed out in a recent post a much, much tougher league than it used to be.
And yet here we are. Tantalisingly close. Like that bloke and his ginger girlfriend off Game Of Thrones trying to climb the impossibly tall ice wall, just a couple of last gasps from the parapet. One false step and they plummet to the eternal winter of the Europa league, two more herculean lunges and they are gazing down over the meadows and rich pastures of the UCL. So what then of tonight’s ice wall? What of Wigan? What, I wonder, will they bring to the table ? We have all been attempting to read the tea leaves after their heroics against the Oil Barons on Saturday. It’s as if everyone is reading the same thriller and trying to work out where the plot is leading them. Will Martinez have kept them away from the champers and go go girls? Will they be hung over or inspired by Wembley? Did Macmanamanamanam have the game of his life or is Kieran in for a roasting like that his predecessor endured?
Sorry to disappoint you but I’m not in the business of making predictions. Go to Blackpool and visit a fortune teller if that’s what you want. Who predicted Wigan to beat the oil men, Bradford to beat us, or us to utterly humiliate Bayern away from home? Who on earth thought the Spuds would, after their customary end of season capitulation, find the inner strength and belief to cling, no matter how tenuously to their top four ambitions? The point is none of us know. I’m sick of bloggers pretending they do. Remember when Theo had a temporary contract extension as his people and our people got round the table to thrash out a deal?
You all read as I did countless bloggers airily asserting that “Walcott is already gone, we all know that” and “Of course everyone knows we have lost Theo, we need to ask who if anyone will be brought in to replace him” that kind of pathetic, self serving egotistical drivel that passes for amateur journalism. I challenged one prominent blogger to make a full and public apology if and when Theo re-signed but I had just as well piss in the wind. As far as I can see these people have their negative agenda whether conscious and deliberate or innate and unacknowledged. They like the sound of their high pronouncements with the clear implication that they somehow know the future. Well they don’t. And nor do we. We haven’t a clue. The form book, the squads, the manager’s experience all point to us winning. But no matter how much I expect us to I don’t know and nor do you so lets leave predictions to Eileen Drewery and just try to enjoy the match.
My mate Wilb, when asked what result he wanted if watching a match as a neutral always answered without hesitation “Extra time and penalties”. He wanted as many minutes of football entertainment as the two teams could give him. I am enormously out of step with many of you I know because for all the edge of the seat nail chewing, for all the times the dog has slid from the room on her belly emitting toxic farts of terror as I scream at the screen and bite the furniture, I am actually thoroughly enjoying the fact that this season is going to the wire. Like Wilb I want as much as I can get out of this thing. Yes I hoped both Spuds and Chavs might lose at the weekend because like everyone else I’m conscious that it would buy us leeway should we have ‘one of those days’ either tonight or on Sunday. But they didn’t lose and so we get to go to the very end of the season still needing to win our games to be certain, still hoping the others slip up and help us. It is squeezing the season until the pips squeak and I’m loving every second of it. My hopes are that we stay unbeaten to the end and kick off 2013/14 with something already to defend. I pray we finally see a summer with none of the usual upheaval (please God no transfer activity to further disrupt us) so that the squad defending that nascent unbeaten run will be the ones who earned it.
Of course to realise my dreams we need to stay focussed and keep defending like we have been lately. We have at last a settled defensive partnership which breathes calm and stability and provides the perfect foundation for our more advanced players. We have a midfielder in Aaron Ramsay just coming of age and putting in the kind of dynamic never say die performances that are little short of inspirational. With the experience and guile of Tomas, Santi and Lukas and a proper captain at last I think the side looks as balanced as I can remember. When you factor in the youngsters like Wilshere and Oxelaide-Chamberlain who are hammering on the door wanting their place the future is very bright indeed.
So yes I think we can. Heck I know we can. Will we? Let’s just say I bloody well hope so.
Positively Arsenal 
Dean is fucking us right over here.
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This guy has an agenda. He was the same guy that celebrated when the Spuds scored on us, so we shouldn’t be surprised that he is reffing against us.
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Good old Mike Dean….ever reliable.
TWAT!!!!
No fear…I hope AW brings on the Ox.
Sustained assault on their back 3 should do it
They really aren’t that resilient @ the back.
Gerv on the LW would terrorize Boyce
COYG!
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Yes, George and if you mention it people are going to tell you that there is nothing in it.
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The only thing to do is to take it out of the hands of this clown. We are going to have to score a few goals in the 2nd half.
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Yes Paul-N, hopefully early in the 2nd.
Then I can see Dean sending off one of ours to please his paymasters
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Wigan should never be in this game. They were given a life line by Dean.
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It’s like ice out there.
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2 more please!
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Fuck yeah’!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuck you, Mike Dean.
The pundit is pissed that Joel didn’t get his head split by Walcott.
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We have to murder dem.
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Look at Arsene, he looks like wet duck. Put on a hat or you’ll catch cold, Arsene!
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Come on Ramsey.
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Phew
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That’s my boys. Great goal. Put Wigan away. Don’t leave it in deans hands please. One more goal.
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There you go. Don’t act surprised, Wigan fans, you were never in this.
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One more please!
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Four more.
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Yes!!!!!
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Someone notorious is going to die tonight.
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Did you see that look off by Ramsey? class!!!
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Mike Dean is crushed.
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Goal differantial.. Work on it. Do it….
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Pauly, when Ramsey adds goals to his game, we’re looking at massive, massive quality. Let’s not forget Aaron was made captain for the team which Gareth Bale plays in, at twenty years old.
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Rosicky looks like Jenko’s dad.
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Tidy if quiet from Tomas, fantastic from Lukas. Now the kids have a run out.
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Oxo through the middle?
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Agreed, Gains. The young man is going to be top class. He has been big time in the run in.
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I hate to see teams like Wigan a team like Stoke stay up. That cannot be right!
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Lets try that again.
I hate to see teams like Wigan go down while a team like Stoke stays up. That cannot be right!
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Tomas only looked quiet because Santi, Aaron and Mikel are on fire. Personally, I thought he was our best player of the first half.
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We’re playing like they are down to ten men!!
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Gainsy, I suppose I am guilty of raised expectations where my favourite player is concerned, forgive me.
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Not me, Paul. Wigan has been one of the dirtiest teams we’ve face d through the years along with Stoke, Hull, Birmingham, Sunderland and any team with Joey Barton in it. Besides, Stoke wasn’t even the nastiest team we faced this season. That honor falls to Everton.
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Tata Wigan. Sorry but it had to be done. Hope you come back next year and start playing much earlier than April.
WELL DONE THE ARSENAL!!!!
so glad Aaron got his.
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No, Stewart. I will not forgive you.
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Yah, Everton were nasty.
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Gains, Martinez has them playing with a different style. I rate what he is trying to do and would like to see him rewarded for it.
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The F.A. is getting smart. That tele money is being doled out intelligently.
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Oh and I agree with you about Everton…they were terrible.
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Martinez doesn’t play beautifully against us, that’s for sure. Plus their pitch is awful.
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Santi MOM no question.
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Why did Walcott say that 1-1 was fair in the first half? jeez!
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I’m fucking angry…4 fucking 1…..we should have destroyed them completely, we should be relentless…..I demand 8 fucking 1…,
Strange, Podolski scores two but I’m still not convinced……
What, this is Positively Arsenal? Oh, I thought I was on Le Groan….
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What the fuck….I’m fed up of WordPress asking me to confirm my details…
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I’m well pissed off, only 4 fucking 1..why didn’t we bag 8? Took our foot off the peddle…not good enough…we should be relentless. Podolski scored two but I’m not convinced….
Oh I’m on Positively Arsenal….I must of turned right and not left I thought I was on Le Groan…..
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As of this match, we are 3rd in goals scored and 2nd is goals against. That bodes very well for next season.
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Hahaha GP
maybe your details keep changing.
When in doubt always make right..
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Martinez is a top class manager….top man….dare I say that I see him managing a top 4 Premier League team…..
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Maybe Martinez will take the Everton job. I heard he is first choice.
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