Here we have @anicoll5
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Good morning Positivistas on the third Monday in January. Today I am told by experts is “Blue Monday”. Well for reasons that you and I know, and saw and listened to during yesterday afternoon, rather than the babblings of cod-psychology this is not in anyway a Blue Monday but a RED MONDAY. Flaming red, a redder than an angry baboon’s arse kind of day, a day when any Arsenal fan who did not flicker to life with at least small smirk on their lips must be, sadly, dead. Rest in Peace brave gooner, struck down at the moment of footballing ecstasy.
I must admit I approached yesterday’s contest with just a shade of trepidation. Despite the about face by the media after the result was in, Citeh are not a bad side and their recent PL form is good, their form at the Etihad year after year very good indeed. To lose to a good team, champions, at their ground who are in form is no shame. No that was not the concern. To lose and not perform though, to fail to play as we can play and allow ourselves to be brushed aside, to be dismissed as nothing, that was the worry.
Well if that was the apprehension then what happened, after about 2½ minutes of the game anyway, was the exact opposite. We performed, from 1-11, in an absolutely exemplary form. With the ball we were creative and cutting, without the ball we were measured and unrelenting. Citeh, a good side in good form at Fortress Etihad produced nothing, absolutely NOTHING. I cannot recall Aguero so toothless, Silva as bereft of invention, indeed the little Spaniard looked like a schoolboy who had wandered into the wrong game.
I could legitimately name 11 Arsenal players, 14 in fact if we add in the subs, who produced exactly the right performance on the right day, at the right time. Men of the match. The choice of starters was right, the set up on the pitch was right, the substitutions were perfectly timed. From a few minutes into that game there was, in my mind, no doubt who would win and who were the superior footballing side. It did seem to me also, and this is an irritation of mine that I have highlighted before, that not once when an Arsenal player was knocked off the ball and no foul was given, did any player lie on the ground moaning pointlessly at the referee. We got up, we got on with it, we let Kompany and his increasingly unmerry men get on with whining to Dean (much good it did them- Ho ho ho).
As ever after a notable win there is no shortage of informed comment out there in the mainstream and social media, facts, figures, names, statistics, etc. I would still like to find the Opta statistics geek who calculated the 35% possession figure. There are, in every journal and blog, with multiple explanations of how factor X is responsible, or Plan Y, and of course Z “as I said so often etc”. As we know so well victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan.
The nice thing about this blog is we don’t need to explain, because we know.
Have a good week !
Positively Arsenal 
In a nutshell, andrew.
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And try this for size, not only for the vid, but also for the photo of Le Coq’s passion and Ollie’s smile. Sums up how we all felt after the game, don’tcha think?
http://news.arseblog.com/2015/01/video-francis-coquelin-performance-v-man-city/
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This write up it as glorious as the win. Very well played Andrew. And thanks.
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Thanks Andy Nic: a superb write up about a superb victory. Aaron Ramsey ran himself into the ground yesterday, and you can’t ask for more than that from any player. They all tried their socks off and will have earned a couple of days off, while the players who weren’t involved will have to double their efforts to force their way back in, which is just as it should be. I am more and more certain that one of the outgoings this month has had a really positive effect on the overall work ethic of the team. They will be a genuinely happy bunch now.
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This is a victory I would like to commend to the memory of our fallen comrade Zimpaul. He being the eternal optimist and idealist would have been gushing about the critical role of the youngsters coming through the ranks, Le Coq, young Bellerin, and the Ox. They were like young David’s slaying the giant Goliath, youths who from their teenage years who have been carefully nurtured at the club to acheive great things, stepped up on the biggest of stages and did not flinch. Of course they could not have done it by themselves as they were surrounded by a number of relatively ardened veterans who have been through the wars especially the celebrated deadwood, the Little Prince, Tomas Rosicky, who once again came on at the end to clinch the deal. Last but by no means least, ZimPaul must be chuckling in his grave to hear how twinkle toed Santi Cazorla made us tick, bamboozling the City bruisers trying to hack him to the ground, always the little elf that frustrates the bumbling giants.
So our 1st victory on the road vs a top-4 team since 2012. My friend ZimPaul would fully agree that this is truly the End of An Era and the start of another.
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I should also like to convey my appreciation for their supporters to all the bin baggers, cuff link manufacturers, Scarfistas, and general invertebrate fence sitters that follow our magnificent club;
I thank you
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anicoll5
You’ve got the job. That’s an excellent piece. Thank you.
And thanks to Shotta, too.
But thanks mainly, of course, to Arsenal.
The plunditocrasy were so upset. (It’s the first time I’ve seen Sky coverage, inc. the aftermatch stuff – in a long time).
The last time I saw le Coquelin live at the Ems, was the Dortmund match a couple of years ago, when he came on as sub, at left back. Coq was class. Some time after that came a crippling tackle from Ramires. Atkinson had done his thing, Coq disappeared of for some time. As always, I’m delighted to see players come back from injury, whether it’s physical, mental, or both.
And there were those complaining about Santi this season. How about Ramsey’s first game in a few weeks?
Aw, there’s so much I wanna say about every player, including the ones on the bench, but, again, thank you. And thanks to our away support. When I could here the crowd noise, apart from City fans trying to get decisions for their team, I could only hear the Ars fans.
COYG
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I see some of the knuckledraggers are targeting Ramsey again, going on about how awful he played yesterday and how often he gave away the ball, but Alexis and Ox who both lost the ball far more are praised by these same idiots.
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There is no media agenda against Arsenal, look at this brilliant pro Arsenal headline from the Mirror
Premier League diary: Why winning at Manchester City was the worst thing possible for Arsenal
the article goes on to say the result could destroy Arsenal’s season, really it does
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-diary-winning-manchester-5003321
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Sam @samuelJayC · 23m 23 minutes ago
Italian media on Podolski’s first 3 games for @Inter “Podolski is soft and absent; he does not really puts his opponent under pressure.”
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You just have to understand that some people can’t survive without a scapecoat. It’s the core of their existence and their whole world collapses if they don’t have someone to blame, someone to whinge about. If it’s not Arsene, it’s one of the players, or the medical team, or Dick Law/Ivan Gavidis/Dan Kroenke or David Cameron or the fucking Pope. They just can’t get through the day without having a good moan.
Let them wallow in their suffering.
Either ignore them – just don’t visit the places they frequent – or have fun at their expense.
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That Mirror article is actually quite funny, eduardo – very tongue in cheek.
“Football isn’t about playing well! It’s about shopping!”
If that isn’t a piss-take of the WOB, I don’t know what is.
What’s really interesting is the picture of Ollie’s goal. How many City players can you see? There’s one of the Ferdies, Hart, Fat Frank and another pair of blue socks behind Fats. Where are all the others?
I think Wojciech lured them all into the showers for a quick fag.
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ZimPaul will be there smiling his head off at that wonderful performance & Andrews mention of baboons arses.
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You’ve got to say those baboon asses are tickled pink. Masterful job Sir Andrew Nicoll. Your prose and pictures are so beautiful. We at PA are so damn lucky to have you amongst our ranks.
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Well played indeed Andrew, perfect article befitting a near perfect win for the Arse.
Personally, I was most pleased for Coquelin as a bad game for him might have had terminal consequences; talk about stepping up to the plate.
Alexis’ industry tracking back was as important a contribution as his goals scored have proved on other occasions.
Ooooospina seems to be writing his own scripts these days, unfortunately for Chez.
But as others have already pointed out, it was the nature of the team performance that most caught the eye, the single factor that caused City the most problems.
Truly terrific stuff all round.
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Great piece Andrew which perfectly dove tailed a great win. Your words rolled around my head recreating the scenes from yesterday. Maybe the Baboons Arse should be our mascot on here.
Personally I thought our performance was that good that city got away with 0-2 and if we keep turning in games of excellence someones going to get a real beating.
Its amazing how the press and wobs won’t give us any credit and are coming out with multitude of excuses for the result even including parking the bus and players missing in the list. Of course we’ve never had players missing and I thought it was in the banned excuse list anyway, strange that.
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‘Twas a game to remember.
So mighty was the performance I didn’t even over celebrate the goals.
Just the perfect everything…….an A.W. Pellegrilling!
Didn’t come out of nowhere though
Our boys had been building up to it
The otherworldAlexis’ performances kept the lame brains enthralled while kinks were being ironed out
Santiago built up steam to fuel his complexities
LeCoq came back with more than a point to prove
A restrained Mozart was more than itching to go for broke
Kos’ return, Debuchy’s return, Nacho’s return all perfectly coincided with the tiring, refreshment & ailing of Gibbs, CC fresh and Hector, the slow return of Theo, the loan out of Poldi (& Yaya), the sacrificial losses of MA8 & Debuchy, and finally the yielding of Szczesny for Ospina….???……all looks like the planets aligning for the Arse, finally.
Who else could have written this but the Gods…..we even have “one” of ours in Skyy punditry!
It looks like its time.
God bless ZimPaul
Our gooner on the other side.
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Can anyone remember us giving away a free kick in a dangerous position just outside our penalty area? I know they had 16 corners, but I can’t recall a single free kick.
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I knew we were going to win because I knew Pellegrini was going to play two lumps in the middle to compensate for the lack of Toure. So did Arsene, apparently, seeing how he lined up a team whcih was designed to keep Agüero and Silva quiet.
The moaners are quite unbelievable. Some of them are claiming this victory gives Wenger enough leeway to not do anything in the transfer market. The bastard at Le Grove swears buying players is as easy as going to the market and picking up a liter of milk. He cites Chelsea as an example of how easy it is to purchase players.
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Ps.Thanks Shotta.
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yesterday’s result has been explained to me, and it seems it had nothing at all to do with Wenger, it was all Steve Bould’s doing, and the defeat and the defending at Stoke or the defending and draw at Liverpool had nothing to do with Bould, both of those, are down to Wenger, as were all the defeats, over recent years. You could not make up the nonsense the cult of Wenger out spout
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Hayden has been ruled out for the next few months after undergoing ankle surgery
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Brilliant Andrew, no crude and infantile triumphalism, just a sober, dignified celebration of a truly outstanding performance (with a hint of relief)…..
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Georgakos @ 6:27pm – Glad you mention the gloating and triumphalism on some Arsenal blogs, podcasts and on Twitter. This is simply the reverse of the needless dooming and glooming after a defeat or a draw. And it is the same parties who are guilty. As most of the players said yesterday it was a very good victory but from hereon let us take it one game at a time.
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Excellent write up. Perfect example of quality over quantity, just like Arsenals possession% last game. That part about facts and statistics caught my eye as Im somewhat into the whole numbers thing and had a interesting experience. During the game I was a bit annoyed at Giroud for his(in my eyes) lack of movement. Most of the time it seemed as if he avoided doing his part in pressing or doing it half-heartedly. However when I looked at the actual figures he hadnt been a slouch.
He had in fact covered THE longest distance of any player during the game! Not only that, he had also made the most “sprints” (Im assuming those are runs at max speed) which is among the most demanding physical actions a human can do. What is even more impressive was his success at the one on one duels with Kompany, Demichelis and the two Fernands, in particular the aerial duels. He won 7 of those against VK+MD out of 10 attempts. The way he controlled several long balls from Ospina while shrugging off any player from Citys midfield or central defense was exquisite.
My point is that its possible to make informed comments, but it requires consideration of so many factors, timeconsuming analysis, viewing the game in as many angles as possible and above all humility; acknowledging that one can be wrong and cannot make absolute statements or tainting them with bias. Mainstream and social media tend to lack most, if not all of those factors. At least they didnt fail to acknowledge Girouds contributions yesterday. Alongside Monreal he has been one of Arsenals most maligned players so it was wonderful to see them combine to win the penalty and have their best performances in a Arsenal shirt at the place where they the season earlier had perhaps their poorest.
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What an excellent write up! Yesterday was Wengerball at it’s finest – ya Gunners ya!!!
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Thanks Andrew.
I still feel the performance away to Tottenham last season was more impressive for the fact that there was absolutely no pace in the side that day (I think all the speedsters were out injured), and for the almost sublime arrogance shown in dropping anchor at WHL in the NLD with just one minute in the clock, spending the rest of the game practising deeeeeeeeefensive drills, which made me laugh , hysterically, inbetween chewing my toenails. However we have been told by the great and good that AFC don’t do such stuff, which must mean that these football matches seen by millions if not billions were mass hallucinations? I get confused. So I come here. And find people discussing the Football. Which is a blessed relief I can tell you.
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Wenger vs. Pellegrini – adds an other level to these games between the Arsenal and the Arsenal B (North) Team.
Cazorla pulling out the stops against his former mentor with Özil chilling and returning from injury on the bench. Holy crap what a performance.
Football doesn’t get better then that.
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Shotta makes an important observation about this game. Which does make it no interesting then that Tottenham game:
After the 2010 WC following extended leave for niggles and post WC fatigue both “Worldies” in the then Arsenal squad were played as soon as possible on return ,no genteel sub appearances spread over a few weeks were feasible. Which is the inverse of what we are seeing with the returning 2014 Worldies following injury and post WC fatigue. Özil had a few minutes last week, and I think he’ll get the start along with gently returning Walcott in the Brighton game. Sanchez might get a rest! Both new “Worldies” can be left out of games because the squad is bigger, stronger, better, faster! Indeed it is in fact a New Era. But the Groaners missed it start, we witnessed that they were too busy whistling out of there arses, in their own words: “won’t sign any more players, won’t sign Big players, won’t win a trophy, doesn’t do tactics, is a millionaire socialist Scrooge, orders the board that own the club about…is there anything more that I could say to help make myself look like a Proper Stoooopid Twunt….?”
By my measure the new era began with the signing of Chamberlain. During the darkest hour the club spent some serious farking moolah on, yes, another teenager, much to the Groaners ire. Six months later they were groaning about Chambo not playing enough (he was being protected, eased in, trained in the mystical defence stuff, bulking up etc. I’d have hope that the self declared Redzone experts would’ve spotted all that…?), but by then we’d seen him make his promising debut against Shrewsbury Town. I think it was his debut. Alongside Coquelin, who at the least impressed me that evening. So I was very proud to see both players start again in such a big game for the club this past weekend. And play well. Very well. It appears to our eyes that in this new era that Arsenal will not just make superstars (Chambo!) but that they can sign them too (Sanchez!). Almost as if, it was, like, you know, some kind of a plan! A plan I can admire. I hope they get Le Coq to sign on the dotted line! I’ve always been a fan honest guv!
Yes. It’s also true that I’m loving having Electric Sanchez at the Arsenal. Even when he forgets how to pass the bleedin’ ball. He was my fantasty signing. I think I’ve mentioned that once or twice, but in my defence only since he was signed!
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We did see some on field arguments involving the LB, LCB and LF around about the time of the Schalke games. Thinking back on Bouldies post match comments I’m not sure now if he was referring to Plodders’ plodding or the size of Santos waist after his return from holidays when discussing the left hand side of the team at that time.
So I think Tim/FH is probably right, the dressing room might be happier in spite of Podolski’s natural charisma and popularity – his teammates would’ve been able to like the person whilst being annoyed at the lack of cover from their colleague (at times)…
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In the modern PL I think they have to take one game at a time.
There are no easy games Graham Souness me old mucker (he helped muck up Liverpool and Rangers! Can I say that? I don’t know, but I just did!), we are not living in 1984 (IBSF)
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Thank you for all the encouragement, comments and wit today, a great day
And Brighton and Hove Albion not too far away !
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morning all.
always a great feeling to beat a big team and better still the defending champion on their own ground. i didnt comment before now because i was unfortunate not to see the match. i was only able to watch the extended highlight this morning. but from comments on here and some from friends i do believe our boys did really great to make life difficult for the doomers and the media.
there was so much talk about city missing yaya. but nobody said anything like that when we lost almost all our midfieders last season or even this season when arsene had to recall le coq from loan. this season alone, we have lost ozil, ramsey, wilshere, walcott, giroud, arteta, koscielny, debuchy, gibbs, rosicky, ospina, gnabry, sanogo for periods between two to six months. no club would lose the services of such players and still remain among the contenders for the champions league places.
this can only be made possible by only one man. arsene wenger.
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oooooooospinaaaaaaaa! three clean sheet from three. well, the doomers would say he is yet to be tested. i pray and hope he never get tested! we,ve played the defending champion in their home and he is not yet tested. maybe we need his luck to go all the way this season in the ucl and never get tested. like i always say, our goalkeepers hardly ever get tested, all i ask for is that they are ready when the test eventually arrives.
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Thank you very much Andrew.
It’s disturbing to see that many people are really annoyed Arsenal performed well.
what was silva doing on Sunday, nicking a living? Haven’t seen that article yet.
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Özil should get a run out at Brighton, and probably the Villa game too, to test his match fitness, Ramsey too can ease his way back up to full fitness and Wele might be back. I’d like to see Theo start next Sunday too.
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It is of course entirely predictable that many of those who were criticising the club for both lack of squad depth and tactical versatility are now beginning to question whether the likes of Ozil, Walcott, Wilshere and Welbeck will ever make the starting Xi again. Numpties, one and all.
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Well, judging by the reports, we all seem to be agreed that Sunday was different from anything we’ve seen in recent years. No feckless showing off. No collapsing under pressure from the home crowd. It was disciplined, unruffled, with flashes of assured class and, above all, the right decisions at crucial moments. Yes, Mike Dean put on quite a display.
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Semi Ajayi is on trial with Sunderland, he played for their U21’s last night, his contract is up in the summer,
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According to some pundits, we parked the bus against City. Never mind that we played with one holding midfielder, not two, and didn’t sacrifice any of our creative players in favor of a James Milner or Ramires type. We merely let City pass the ball between their two lumps in the middle and their back line. From there it was full on pressing and blocking the passing lanes whenever Silva got the ball. The same pundits also remarked about the way in which Nacho and Bellerin stayed back most of the game. But I remember Bellerin far up the pitch all second half. This was an Arsenal performance. Perhaps we were a bit more focused on staying compact while letting them have the ball, given how City didn’t have anyone linking the midfield to the attack, but it was a very Arsenal game.
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we certainly did not park the bus, how many times did Monreal and Bellerin actually end up our player nearest their goal, Monreal won the penalty, and Bellerin was inches away from getting the rebound from an Alexis shot, and there were many other times, and then Ramsey was also up in attack on many occasions, the only players who did not venture forward in open play were Ospina(not likely to happy at any time), Per, Kos and Coquelin, all of the other 7 were up in attack loads of time, Its lazy pundits and journos who come out with park the buss stuff, just because city did not have a clear cut chance
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I see Arsenal being linked with a pair of diminutive full backs from Valencia, veteran right back Joao Pereira and 19 year old left back Jose Luis Gaya, maybe this is what Wenger meant by his “we might have to be creative” in finding a solution to finding defenders, bring in couple of fullbacks and that frees up Chambers and Monreal to be used on a regular basis at CB, we would still have 1 experienced and 1 young fullback to choose from on either side and have Per, Kos, Chambers and Monreal at CB,
the reports say we might even get Pereira for free and that Gayo would cost around £15M
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Pereira was a regular at Valencia for last two seasons, but the new manager this season has not used him at all, and has made him their 3rd choice RB, despite Pereira being Portugal’s right back at the world cup. His contract is up in the summer and reports say Valencia might let him go for free just to get his wages off their books.
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FH
same poeple who cry and moan that we have no strenght and depth are those who are always quick to question if some of our players will ever get into the side. if we have three leo messi in the side, only one will play while the other will play but not at the same time.
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it a shame about semi, however both Hayden and now O’connor are in front of him and peggy coming up strongly on the rails. Hope whereever he ends up he does well
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This “tackle” perhaps explains why Coquelin’s development was momentarily stalled. What I remember from watching him in two games in 2012 was the power he put into his defensive headers: it really stood out. He has more than a bit about him. Flamini has done well for us too, and has more than helped the progression of this particular group. I find it hateful the way players are pilloried if it is clear that they are pretty much trying their best, and I feel he has attracted a lot of unfair derision, just as the excellent Monreal has done. While I don’t need to feel too sorry for them, as they all earn in a week more than I do in a year, I do feel real anger towards Arsenal fans who treat them so.
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The cartoonisation of the individual by the media FH – life transformed into an unending reality show by the media with an unyielding formula of name, blame and shame.
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17 year old PSG striker linked
http://www.espnfc.com/story/2254847/sources-arsenal-target-move-for-psg-striker-jean-kevin-augustin
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Good news – Winston Reid says it isn’t true we’re after him.
Phew – thank God for that.
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fh – great vid on Le Coq – could have been City on Sunday. Great reminder that he’s just been a forgotten man.
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I have just spent 92 minutes watching Blue paint dry.
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