So, we just need to beat Villa to go back to the top of the league .
On the face of it that should not be too difficult. However, as the referees seem to be doing everything possible to help City and Chelsea, I must admit to a certain amount of trepidation.
I might be getting my excuses in first, but the refereeing recently has been woeful. We have not benefited from it very much at all, in fact, we have suffered quite extensively. Recent awful officiating sort of makes me understand why the bookies have City, then Chelsea as favorites.
Villa are poor at home, we are very good on the road, so we should win, but the fear remains that we could be somehow thwarted.
As ever, I wont be predicting the team, or telling Arsene how to set up, but feel free to do so in the comments section.
I hope we win, and win with a flourish. Games like this we simply must not drop points if we are to maintain the challenge.
The pressure is on and we have to triumph . The way things are going it could be like this until the last game of the season.
Up the Arse!
Positively Arsenal 
Dexter @ 6:57 pm
Haha!
Hunter understood I think.
LikeLike
Great stuff from the big man.
Wilshere!
The way Özil (not sure if it was him or Carzola?) created the first was nice.
LikeLike
Well, well, well…..I want, no I demand, a goal fest…….
LikeLike
Poor display today but a win is a win. Back to the top!
LikeLike
I thought Jack was quite poor……
LikeLike
Weird second half. Good game to win after the long pause.
On to Fulham.
LikeLike
a villa player broke rosicky’s nose…is that a foul ?
LikeLike
Still, in seasons past you could see this being a draw.
LikeLike
I cant review that game,I dont know what to make of it.
And how the hell did Jack get MOTM,?
LikeLike
Thank goodness we got the points. Sounds like the injury disruption and consequently extensive added time upset the momentum. But we got the job done. Onwards and upwards.
chelski and shitty are constantly trumpeted as the favourites for the PL title in the media and it seems to me that whether consciously or not, the refs are leaning more and more in their direction with little calls here and there in their favour. It stinks and anyone not in denial can see it. It’s not just rose tinted gunners commenting on this as it is a subject I often discuss with non Arsenal supporting friends.
LikeLike
“And how the hell did Jack get MOTM,?”
I guess a goal and an assist in the same game got him noticed
LikeLike
George, other than us getting the points there is not much to say. It was ugly.
I thought our back 5 played well all the same.
LikeLike
Yes Pass,But take away that 20 seconds and he was anything but MOTM.
Surely it was Kosser.?
LikeLike
Passenal, the biased calls are sickening this year. You hoped that was over with Fergie retiring but it seems to have gotten worse.
LikeLike
Monreal stood out for me today.
LikeLike
Koz was brilliant, but I would have said the BFG.
It appears one of the main things we’ve been missing these last few season is our own BFG. Solid, reliable, calm under pressure and incredibly f*cking tall. I love Mert. You have to love Mert.
Little bit hairy there for a while, quite possibly for the reasons Passenal mentioned, but job done in the end. Always a tad extra pressure when you are playing catch up (on a Monday). So great to get the points.
Arsenal.
LikeLike
scored one and created one as well I think!
LikeLike
I hope Monreal hasn’t broken his foot.
LikeLike
we had a great first 40 mins i thought…doing the cobra…patient and composed hypnotic left right up and down and then ….konscielny bossing them with overhead pirouette kicks behind his back …then strike…brilliant.. only a few passionate words from bould for the dicking around in last minutes and all will be well…. second half again no particular worries…till someone broke rosickys face and they scored ..held on pretty well….flamini..heroic again…gave evryone orders all night where to pass where to stand where to go ….we defended our lead and pissed everyone else off hopefully…and 3 lovely points. gnabry was fed grenades as a child… explosive tough solid quick sharp …painfull to play against him i reckon…clearly another case of wenger not “having it” for the modern game …the ox showed no fear coming in which is very good to see. all stations calling lucas podolski aha….goals aha… quick aha
LikeLike
I thought all of our creative players were a bit off. We had some nice moves (in the first half) but far from what the team is capable of. It happens.
NEXT!
LikeLike
The players started to over elaborate towards the end of the first half . One pass or flick too many when they could have scored a third which would have killed off the twattish villains. That sloppiness continued 2nd half and they scored an inevitable goal, that thankfully turned out being only a consolation.
They made far too much of a game that could have been wrapped up before the 52nd minute (the end of the first half!). And yet again we’ve been seemingly unlucky with injuries. Hopefully Nacho and Tomas will not be too badly hurt, but after the shocking news regarding Theo, gawd only knows.
Here’s hoping.
A vital and hard fought 3 points, thanks to Giroud and Wilsheres guile and Koscielny and Per’s focused determination.
Although I’m being a bit critical, coming out of that game with a victory cannot be understated. We now go on to the next game, against Fulham. Win that and we may well see us with a bit of breathing space over at least one of our closest rivals.
UTA!!!
LikeLike
BOOM SHAKALAKA
RESILIENCE.
JACK is back and its about time .
CONGRATULATIONS TEAM. CONGRATULATIONS AW. CONGRATULATIONS ALL.
LikeLike
excellent first half saw us go up and down the gears when needed and apart from the goal laiden two minutes there were other nearly chances that just quite didnt come off.
Arsenal walked off the pitch at half time totally in control and had the game been at the emirates many would of taken the opportunity to take the early train Home.As it was Villa excepted their lambertastin and came out to ” have a go ” in the second half and duly ARSENAL accepted their role as containers and waited for their chance to counter. ALthough we broke a few times nothing was really happening for us and rosicky was brought on to liven things up unfortunately after a quick punch to the face he had to come off, of course the ref didn’t think it warranted stopping the game. With Nacho also having to come off injured, after a great run down the left,the team looked a little disjointed. The forced subs see the welcome return of gibbs and the ox but still villa pressed. After Santi was a little careless in his own half villa scored and the commentators roared louder than the crowd just to make it sound exciting.
The goal was followed by a chorus of “we forgot that you were ere” from the best away fans in the country and then came the villa onslaught only it didn’t. although villa threw several long balls into the box and at one point per was bundled over allowing benteke a free header nothing really happened and even allowing for the six minutes of injury time the gunners faithful had nothing to fear but the fear of being dealt a cruel blow by the ref or the ball hitting a member of the crowd and going in.
At full time we had the three points and the position at the summit but tomorrow on the doom blogs you will hear about dropping one goal difference to all our rivals and being very lazy in the second half.
in reality it was another job well done away from home with the pressure of knowing everyone else had won, and so to the next COYG
LikeLike
Interesting article…
http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/13/are-poor-officials-gifting-manchester-city-the-title-ahead-of-arsenal-or-chelsea-4260509
LikeLike
Why cant i post comments?
Found this interesting
http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/13/are-poor-officials-gifting-manchester-city-the-title-ahead-of-arsenal-or-chelsea-4260509
posted this comment severally….
LikeLike
sorry team spirit, when it comes to poor officiating, you cant put arsenal and chelsea in the same sentence. not even in the same paragraph. we have played both teams this season ane the same treament from the refs.
LikeLike
I cannot believe what I am reading on twitta. Poldi is off, blah blah blah…. based on him being non plussed about not getting any game time last night. It amazes me, that some Gooners will go to amazing lengths to find something to have a whinge about.
Lukas wouldnt have expected to come on after the injuries to Nacho and Tomas. It wouldnt have made sense, well to me anyway.
I am sure Pod will get lots of game time in the coming weeks anyway.
I was surprised Gnabry started in front of Tomas, but Serge was one of our better players in the 1st half. When we were hanging on a bit towards the end of the game, we really missed the pace of Theo and Gnabry, so maybe that is the kind of player AW is looking for in this window.
A speedy outlet would give the opposition something to worry about for sure, IMO anyway.
LikeLike
i am gutted for rosicky…he was on his mighty come back..his face right before coming on was glowing ..fullfilled..accomplished..chewing his gum, combing his hair with his hands..happy and ready to go to work…and what happens? some cunt breaks his nose in his field of profession because the fucking refs in this country allow violent play as part of the game…
LikeLike
and a big fuck you to all them bastards who are constantly bigging up city and chelsea
LikeLike
collision they say?!?!?!?!?! MMMMGRRRRAAAHHHHH
LikeLike
Hmmm … broken nose depends medical science being what it is. Not always a train smash. What a ‘orrible pun that is. Let’s see what the doc says in due course.
LikeLike
“Because of the football we play, because we pass the ball quicker, more precisely and faster than most other teams they tend to resort to harder, occasionally rasher challenges, it’s a fact, it has happened for years, but the fact remains it ends in our players getting injured more often, it’s just a bi product of the football we play, yeah the tackles are hard, but nobody comes in to a challenge looking to injure a player, I’m a Gooner and think Vlaar’s challenge on Monreal was a great on, had koscielny done that on Benteke we would all be cheering like mad. I think we need to be realistic about it, football is a hard, contact sport and we need to recognise that and accept that these injuries happen, and move on, Keown would have played on with a broken nose, he tried to play on with a broken leg for crying out loud. We are in with a big shout of winning the league but with injuries this is the time to see how complete our squad is COYG!!!”
KILL THIS PRICK…….SO JUST CAUSE WE ARE TOO GOOD ,,ITS OK FOR THE REST OF USELESS CRETINOUS SCUM TO KICK US? AND REFS TO WAVE PLAY ON CAUSE IN ENGLAND FOOTBALL IS A “HARD TOUGH CONTACT SPORT?” ….FUCK YOU WOOHOOHOO..AND FUCK YOU TOO.
IT HAPPENED ONCE WITH EDUARDO..NEVER AGAIN…
IVAN!!! WAKE UP!!!
LikeLike
Hunter
Duh, you Forgot Rambo and Diaby! I don’ understand why Vengaaar keeps signing all these girls (everyone knows girls can’t play footy). Although the experts tell me having his ankle smashed has nothing to do with Diaby being injury prone. I blame the physios.
LikeLike
@ layksite, of course I know bias against us is by far and cannot be compared with chelsea who seem to have secured the contract for howard Webb from Man U, but just the thought that attention is being drawn to any os such as compared to some of us being called conspiracy theorists… was the whole aidea
LikeLike
George – On the basis of what I have read today and previously, I am volunteering arse_or_brain to do our post game reports. Excellent stuff as usual. How say you?
LikeLike
Yes Shotta ,but he goes missing for months.
LikeLike
fisbury
January 14, 2014 at 11:57 am
yes i know i mean with relation to compeltely fucking up our season ( players psychology) …i dotn get it…..fuck the “customs” here and their neanderthal football practices..ivan needs to pull his thumb out his arse and ENSURE arsenal players safety on the pitch.
LikeLike
seriously annoyed that aggression and assault against our players is treated as a non matter. who is our captain nowdays ? what the fuck is he doing? why is he not in the ref’s face threatening to kill him if he doesnt stop these butchers coming at our players with INTENTION to harm ? matthieu…wtf? they are kicking your teammates…give some back man! three times a shard… one from them TEN FROM US!!! effin cunts and their effin league…..win it arsene and then piss in it and give it back to the f.a with compliments….
LikeLike
Thanks George.
Odd how people moan about imaginary problems after the game.
To win the league arsenal must get some good results in the team using ‘big’ games and city need to do worse. I expect both clubs to mop-up the remaining cannon fodder.
LikeLike
Jack lost possession far too many times. He seems to run into the opposition tackles.
LikeLike
City should be 6 points further behind.
LikeLike
i think jack was very good last night…in fairness ozil lost possession and made silly passes in greater frequency than jack….but in any case all that does nto matter..what matters is that it has become ok and acceptable to “kick and smash” arsenal and i dont see anyone doing anything about it….makes me sick.
LikeLike
George, only June and July,
LikeLike
Lambert on the potential signing of Grunt Halt from Wigan Pier (george’s home from home back in the day);
“Yeah, he is a man.” This fucknut is the new McLeish, Pulis, Alladyce etc.
LikeLike
Hunter,you are wrong and here is the proof . pic.twitter.com/o071KdcCXQ
LikeLike
To expand on finsbury’s post, as June last year, the meaning of “interfering with play” in the rule on offside is no longer open to individual interpretation. The opposition player has to a) attempt to play the ball or b) challenge for the ball or c) obstruct the goalkeeper’s line of vision. Those are the only criteria on which the ref can base an offside decision. None of those was the case, that is why it was a goal.
Totally agree about the influence of Sky on refereeing, by the way.
Onto Swarbrick – one very good thing he did was book the first player to make a bad foul on JW, thus stopping any rotational fouling plan in its tracks. One very bad thing was not stopping the game immediately after TR7 got a blow to his face which drew blood. I mean, hello! Head injury.
I’ve got no problem with Gnabry starting ahead of Rosicky – it’s a squad for a reason and Gnabry had earned another start after his performance in the previous game. It is a metatarsal injury for Monreal, so we’re back on top of the injury league again. (Sigh.)
@ PG
Can I volunteer Passenal to do the match reports? I think she is too modest to put herself forward.
LikeLike
@ Goonerkam
Are you as concerned as I am about the apparent haemorrhaging of players from the Ladies side? We have barely got 14 players in the first team squad now. We have lost several quality players in midfield and up front and although some of the players we have left are very promising, they are kids. Some good defensive replacements have come in, but the attack is looking very thin. I do hope there is not some underlying problem with the club, or a money issue, it just seems so odd that stalwarts like Ellen White and Katie Chapman would leave for WSL clubs which finished below us in the table.
LikeLike
pedantic george
January 14, 2014 at 1:53 pm
put it this way… jack’s wrong passes or loss of possession resulted because he was always in the middle of a battle … he did make a very bad touch in the start of the game that forced konscielny to have to deal with it other than that i also remember him tackling ala flamini when his control took ball a few inches forward …i can accept that as he was genuinely trying ….ozil (not a criticism) misplaced three times in a row because of being too relaxed but it wasnt only him as when the whole of our attack was dicking around in the last 8 mins of first half. plus some of them parallel @lets switch sides@ passes which went straight out… santi is unfortunate as ine mistake broought out the fury of bfg. Per-fectly reasonable reaction
LikeLike
and i want to volunteer to play alongside flamini..he cant kick them all on his own.
LikeLike
FG;
Is the extent of Monreal’s injury 100% confirmed yet? I havent seen anything.
LikeLike