Wolves strategy was pretty obvious, and wasn’t a bad one as far as these things go. They came out and played like the game was only 20 minutes long–they were sprinting from station to station, aggressively closing down Arsenal whenever the Gunners had the ball, and generally did well in putting the Gunners on the back foot. It was akin to a boxing match where the underdog comes out swinging extra hard, knowing that his only real hope of winning is to knock out the champ in the first few rounds. Their hope must have been to try to grab a quick goal or two early, and then park the bus in front of their own goal for the remainder of the match. Wolves played well, and were certainly the better team in the first 20 minutes, creating the first several scoring chances.

But they never really got a quality shot on goal in the first spell, and by the middle of the first half they were clearly tired and had to dial down the energy and intensity. You could definitely feel the tide of the game turning, and Arsenal opened our account off a corner in the 28th minute when Wolves defender Ronald Zubar was so preoccupied with keeping Eduardo away from the ball that he didn’t notice the ball deflect off his leg into the goal.

It wasn’t too much longer before we doubled our lead–Ramsey played Eduardo into a one-on-one, and, instead of passing the ball back to Ramsey, who would have been through onto goal, Eduardo decided to shoot off-target. Which would have been bad had it not been for Wolves defender Jody Craddock, who deflected it back onto target past keeper Wayne Hennessey. It was kind of a funny moment, actually–Ramsey was arguing with Eduardo about not giving him the ball back as the ball was actually going into the net.

Then we grabbed a wonderful goal right before the break when van Persie put Cesc through on goal with a superb pass, and Cesc coolly finished to make it 3-0 Arsenal. And that was basically the game. We came out after the break and absolutely dominated possession, it looked like we were toying with Wolves. In the 66th minute, Hennessey could only punch out a corner kick, and he violated a rule every pee-wee keeper is taught–if you’re going to punch it out, punch it to one side or the other, not the middle. But he punched it out to the middle, and Arshavin reacted quickly to get to it and poach it into the corner of the net.

Of course, this being Arsenal, we couldn’t have a clean sheet, and gave up a soft goal on a corner very late in the game when Craddock, completely unmarked, got his head to a corner kick and headed it nicely past Almunia. And that was it–4-1 Arsenal, an away win, and into 2nd place for at least a day. Abou Diaby had to leave the match in the 24th minute with what looked like an ankle injury, so we’ll have to wait and see how serious it is.

The biggest storyline, for me, though, was how good Aaron Ramsey looked in his first league start–you can tell he’s inexperienced, and he made his share of mistakes, but he was by far our most energetic player, and it seemed like he was everywhere. He made a clear statement, and that statement was “I’m ready to play and I’m ready to play now.” We famously won a bidding war with Manchester United for his services before last season, and I have to think that Alex Ferguson is banging his head against a table after watching this match, especially since United haven’t had much luck with midfielders under the age of 50 lately. If Ramsey can keep up that level of energy and intensity, he should be playing ahead of Diaby, no doubt about it.

On to the ratings:

Almunia 7. Rarely troubled, not at fault on the goal, and did well getting out and controlling his area on corner kicks.

Sagna 8. Co-Man of the Match. Maybe his best performance of the year–controlled his flank on defense, got forward on the attack. If this is how he responds to competition, maybe he should be benched for Eboue more often?

Gibbs 7.Another quality performance from the youngster.

Vermaelen 6.5. Not a bad game, but why in the hell was he ducking after losing his man and allowing him to get his head on the corner? If you lose your man and see him getting a shot away, the least you can do is try to get up and stop it…

Gallas 7. Solid performance. Looked like he picked up some kind of foot injury late in the match, but he finished the match, so hopefully there’s not too much to it.

Ramsey 8. Co-Man of the Match. Popped up everywhere, and made a case for future inclusion in the first-team. I remember watching him last season and wondering why Wenger paid so much money for the kid. I am no longer wondering that.

Diaby 6.5. Looked pretty average before he was subbed out. Hopefully he’s okay, although it has to be said that the team looked stronger after Song came on for him.

Cesc 8. It’s a measure of just how good of a player he’s become that he scores a goal, distributes the ball around and generally orchestrates the offense, and we chalk it up as an average performance by him. Also, how much do you love this guy? After he scored, he immediately deflected the attention to Robin van Persie, who really made the play which set up the goal. Classy, classy, classy–honestly, the day he leaves Arsenal is going to crush me. I hope it doesn’t happen for a long, long time.

Eduardo 8. He didn’t score a goal, but it was his presence and pressure which forced the two own goals. Was very active and moved very well the entire match, and also made his case for a regular place in the first 11.

Arshavin 8. Was a menace to Wolves the whole match, and his goal was one of those goals that looks unspectacular, but is actually very, very difficult. First, to react as quickly and instinctively as he did is a mark of a great player, and then to redirect the ball into the corner on the first touch is much, much harder than it looks.

van Persie 7.5. For the second consecutive match, failed to score but was still instrumental in the Arsenal attack, especially on the third goal.

Song 7.5. Okay, I realize that part of it was due to the fact that Wolves was playing with so much energy and intensity early. But honestly, if you were to do a comparison of possession and scoring opportunities before and after Song came on for Diaby, I think it would be shocking. He came in, and seemingly instantaneously we were blunting Wolves’ attack, controlling the midfield, and creating opportunities at the other end.

Nasri 6.5. Made a bit of an impact in his brief cameo.

Rosicky 6.5. Good in limited action–had a very good chance he should have done better with.

Any of four or five players could have won the (very prestigious) Man of the Match award, but I decided to give it to Sagna and Ramsey, because I don’t believe either of have gotten it yet this year, and both really did have superb games.

Anyway, that’s it in terms of Arsenal for two long weeks. We’re back in action two weeks from today against Sunderland on the road, which will be a tricky match. The two weeks off will hopefully give the guys on our injury list some extra time to get healthy again, and with a lot of international teams only playing friendlies, maybe some of our guys will manage to stay healthy through the break.

I’ll post a good highlights video when I find one, and will post with any news should any occur. Enjoy the rest of your weekends.

Arsenal: Starters: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Ramsey, Diaby, Arshavin, Fabregas, Eduardo, van Persie. Subs: Mannone, Senderos, Rosicky, Nasri, Song, Silvestre, Eboue

Wolves: Starters: Hennessey, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Stearman, Edwards, Henry, Castillo, Milijas, Doyle, Ebanks-Blake. Subs: Hahnemann, Kightly, Keogh, Halford, Jarvis, Mancienne, Maierhofer

Interesting that Song starts on the bench in favor of Ramsey. Ramsey is more skilled than Song, but not nearly the defensive presence. Arsene is either (a) just going all out on the attack today, banking on the fact that Wolves probably aren’t going to be able to keep up with it; or (b) just trying to prepare for January, when we’re going to be without Song, to see if Ramsey is a possible replacement for the month. I like Ramsey, but I have to say I’m skeptical about this–as I mentioned in the preview yesterday, we’ve been prone to giving up goals away from home, and Wolves will have some chances. I’d feel better having Song there to win and keep the ball in midfield. But we’ll see. Also noteworthy is Eduardo starting on the frontline.

None of the Big 4 clubs were in action this morning, but the other three members of “The Magnificent 7″ were active–Spurs and Villa both won, but Manchester City lost focus and gave up a late equalizer at home to Burnley. All three are now within 2 points of us, although we have a game in hand on Manchester City and two games in hand on Spurs and Villa. Let’s get out there and get those 3 points to put some more separation between us and them, and we can sit back and watch the Chelsea-ManU carnage tomorrow.

Also, not to get too preachy or serious, but it is worth reflecting for a moment on the meaning behind the poppies on Premiership clubs’ shirts today. They honor the soldiers who served in World War I, which was in many ways the bloodiest, most brutal war in history. Over 1 million men died at the battle of the Somme alone, over 8 million soldiers died in the conflict, and over 7 million more were permanently disabled. Many European countries lost 10-20% of their adult male populations. While the poppies are specifically intended to honor the British war veterans, we should remember all who died or served for the Allied Powers, who sacrificed so much to put an end to the age of imperialism and set the stage for the modern era of democracy and self-government. Okay, back to football.

Come on Arsenal.

Position: 17th, 2-4-5 (10 points, -7 goal differential)

Recent Form: LLDDD

Home Form: 1-2-2

Away to the midlands tomorrow to face Wolves at the Molineaux. Wolves are a solid side–I picked them to stay up this season, and I actually hope they do. They play much more entertaining football than sides like Brum, Hull, Blackburn, Bolton, Stoke, etc., and I’d hate to see another West Brom situation, because it would send a clear message that the way to avoid relegation is by playing tight at the back, hoofing the ball upfield, and kicking the opposition up in the air whenever they have the ball. I think this is already happened in the Premiership to some degree, and it really does make more much less entertaining viewing. So aside from tomorrow’s match and the fixture at the Emirates, I wish Wolves all the best.

But the fact is that they are a much inferior club to Arsenal, and there is no excuse for not winning this match. While Wolves have had some decent results at home (beating Fulham, drawing with Aston Villa), there is a substantial gulf in class between the two sides, and if we play our game they will be overmatched.

Arsene Wenger came out and said this was a very important match to win, because the Manchester United-Chelsea match is an opportunity to pick up points on at least one of those clubs. And he is, of course, right. A win tomorrow puts us very, very close to the top of the table. I think that in order to win the league, you have to do the following three things: (1) win almost every match against non-top 4 opposition at home; (2) win almost every match against mid-table and below clubs away; and (3) fare relatively well against top 4 opposition at home and top half of the table clubs away. Last season, we did very well at (3), but were unable to do (1) (losses at home to Hull and Aston Villa, draws with Spurs, West Ham, Sunderland, and Fulham) (2) (losing away to Stoke, draws with Spurs and Boro).

In our 6 league matches against fellow Big 4 opposition, we went 2-3-1, for 9 points. This was more than Manchester United (5 pts.) and Chelsea (4 pts.). But those clubs both finished well above us in the table, because they consistently beat all comers at home and played very well away. I think it was a matter of focus–at times, especially in the first half of the season, we seemed to go into games assuming we were going to win, and were punished for it. If you want to win the league, you’ve got to come into every fixture prepared and focused, and we didn’t do that last season. So far this season, with the exception of the last 20 minutes of the West Ham match, we’ve done this, but matches like the one tomorrow will really tell us a lot about how legitimate our title chances are.

They’ve been pretty tight at the back at home, only surrendering 6 goals in their 5 matches at home, and Arsenal has been prone to giving up goals in bunches away from the Emirates (9 in 5 matches), so don’t be surprised if this turns into a closer match than many expect. Wolves have two solid strikers in Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, and are capable of putting the ball into the net, so Gallas, Vermaelen, and Song will need to have good games.

The team news for us is good news in that there is no news–no new injuries picked up in Wednesday’s Champions League fixture against AZ. If we can make it through this match without picking up any knocks, we’ll be bolstered by the returns of Walcott and Rosicky, with Denilson and Clichy hopefully not too far behind them. Lineup:

Almunia

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs

Diaby-Song-Fabregas

Nasri-van Persie-Arshavin

I suspect that’s what we’ll see, although it wouldn’t surprise if Eduardo started up front instead of Nasri, either. I suspect Eboue, Rosicky, and Ramsey could also see some action as well. It’s a strong lineup, and should be enough to see Wolves off.

Also, if you’ve got a few minutes, Tom Adams wrote a very, very good piece on Patrick Vieira and his importance to Arsenal FC over at ESPN Soccernet–I highly recommend checking it out. He says it better and in more detail than I will here, but Vieira really is an Arsenal legend (named by the fans as the 5th greatest Gunner of all time in the official site’s poll a few years back), and was really probably more important than anyone not named Thierry Henry in the successful Arsenal clubs of the late 90s and early 2000s–he gave the club a steel and a toughness that we have not been able to replace since he left. He was left out of the France squad for their upcoming playoff tie against the Republic of Ireland, and his international career could well be over.

Anyway, that’s about it. A win picks up ground on either Chelsea or United, if not both, and sends us into the international break with momentum on our side, which we’ll need since we square off with Chelsea on November 21. Have great weekends.

Come on Arsenal.

There’s not much else to say other than that that was a sublime performance by Arsenal. The trophy draught is frustrating, but honestly, when Arsenal plays like they did last night, dominating another club through sheer skill, technique, and teamwork, it just reminds me how lucky I am to root for Arsenal.

Anyway, first things first. I know that technically, mathematically, we haven’t qualified for the knockout stages yet. But the sequence of events that would have to happen to keep us out is EXTREMELY unlikely. I mean, we’re talking about “Jon and Kate’s kids grow up to be normal, emotionally stable adults” unlikely. I mean, we’re talking about “Transformers 2 sweeps the Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Bay), Best Actor (Shia Lebeouf), and Best Actress (Megan Fox)” unlikely. I mean, we’re talking about “Heidi and Spencer get Ph.Ds in molecular biology and work together to cure cancer” unlikely. I mean, we’re talking about “Chelsea failing to win and their fans not immediately blaming the referee” unlikely. Okay, I’ve got a million of them, but you get the idea. It’s unlikely. We ARE through to the knockout stages, and that’s how I’m proceeding.

The question addressed by Homey and others in the comments after last night’s game was whether we should try to win the group or be content with second place. The past few years, Arsene Wenger has seemingly been very content to finish second in the group, so long as we advance–look at the lineup we trotted out against Porto on Matchday 6 last season. That was basically the Carling Cup squad plus Almunia and Gallas.

But last year, the clubs who were in the pool of first-place finishers wasn’t that much different than the pool of second place finishers. Behold the two pools, with their UEFA Ranking coefficient (coming into the 2008-2009 season) in parentheses:

First-place: Roma (16), Panathinaikos (37), Barca(4), Liverpool(3), Manchester United(6), Bayern(11), Porto(17), Juventus(23)

Second-place: Chelsea(1), Inter(9), Sporting(21), Atletico(67), Villareal(13), Lyon(8), Arsenal(5), Real Madrid(10)

Average ranking of first-place teams: 14.625; average ranking of second-place teams: 18, although that’s really just dragged down by Atletico’s bizarrely low ranking. Both groups had 6 teams ranked in the top 20, one club just outside the top 20, and one club substantially lower. In fact, the second-place teams had more top 10-ranked clubs (5) than the first-place group (3). Ask clubs like Roma (who drew Arsenal in the first-round) and Juventus (who drew Chelsea) how much good finishing first did them.

But I do think this year may turn out to be quite a bit different. More so than in past years it seems like there are a number of smaller clubs which may well sneak into the knockout stages: If CSKA Moscow can beat Wolfsburg at home next matchday, they have a very good chance at going through, Romanian side Unirea Urziceni (gesundheit!) has a decent chance to make it, Rubin Kazan and/or Dynamo Kiev both have a better-than-you-think shot at getting out of Group F.

There is no such thing as an “easy” draw in a European knock-out tie (PSV taught us that), but there’s no doubt that some draws are more desirable than others. Sure, if we win our group, there’s a chance we could draw with a Barca, Juventus, or Real Madrid. But if there’s a 1 in 4 or better chance we could draw a club from Eastern Europe not accustomed to playing at this level, it’s worth it.

It’s also worth noting that at this point, it wouldn’t take much for us to win the group. All we have to do is beat Standard Liege at the Emirates. Standard has shown quite a bit more than people thought they would, and will almost certainly host AZ on the last Matchday with a good shot at getting into the Europa League knockout stages. But without discrediting them, the fact is that we should win this match easily. I say we should play most of our first-team against them, take care of business there, and then we can basically just send the Carling Cup team to Greece in December, and make sure our stars are rested and focused on Liverpool the following weekend.

As for the match itself, we were in control from start to finish. van Persie very nearly started the game with a bang in the 3rd minute with a brilliant shot which was just pushed around the post by Romero (and it was all downhill from there for the young Argentine keeper). Then we had a period where we struggled to create real chances, but in the 25th minute, Cesc took a crafty shot from outside the box which wrong-footed Romero, who couldn’t get enough of a hand on it to keep it out. It was bad keeping, but it was a nice shot by Cesc to force Romero into making as top, and he was rewarded. We continued to press until, right before the break, Arshavin put a nice ball forward to Nasri, who beat his man and then put a composed finish past Romero. It was a nice play and a great moment for Nasri, scoring a goal in his first start on the season.

We struck again shortly after the break. It was again down to Arshavin, who put Cesc through on goal beautifully, and Cesc relaxed and finished nicely. Throughout this, AZ created very few chances, the best of which was a nearly point-blank shot in the 56th minute that Almunia did very well to push up off the crossbar. Then, in the 72nd minute, we conjured up a bit of magic–Eduardo back-heeled a wonderful ball forward to Arshavin, who took on his man and put Diaby through on goal in the box, and Diaby finished well.

Then, in the 82nd minute, off a corner kick where we could have had a penalty for a handball in the box, AZ countered, and substitute Lens caught Almunia leaning to score a consolation goal. And that’s how it ended, 4-1 Arsenal.

It was a beautiful performance, and showed what the club is capable of. Nasri looked good in his first start, and gives us another option both up front and in midfield. I also think we may have figured out how to play with a lead, which had been a problem. And that is wholeheartedly embracing the old cliche that a best defense is a good offense. The problem is that Arsenal don’t have the size to defend set pieces or crosses into the box very well, and the players aren’t used to playing conservatively. Based on how we’ve played the past two matches with the lead, I think at this point the best thing the club can do is just keep attacking–if we keep the ball in the other side’s half they can’t score, and the best way to protect a two-goal lead is by scoring a third goal. The corner kick which led to the counter was drawn by Gallas making a run into the box. This was with the club up 4-0, in the 81st minute. And that seems to work much better for us than playing tentatively and staying back, so that’s fine by me.

Anyway, on to the ratings:

Almunia 6.5. Saved one goal through a spectacular save, gave up a soft goal by leaning the wrong way. It all evens out, I suppose. Didn’t really have too much to do.

Eboue 6. Showed what he is capable of by making several marauding runs down the flank and through the middle. Also showed what he is capable of by leaving the right-side exposed several times.

Gibbs 7.Looked comfortable filling in for Clichy, and very nearly grabbed a goal for his troubles. I think he’ll continue to improve as he matures and gets used to playing with the first-team.

Vermaelen 7. Generally untroubled, made a few forward runs, marked his man well.

Gallas 7. Ditto. Was really getting forward a lot, too.

Song 6.5. Solid performance–consistently shielded the back four and won the ball in midfield. He needs to abandon his delusions about making spectacular through balls, though–the few times he tried to put someone through on goal he just gave the ball away. As long as he plays within himself he helps the team a lot.

Diaby 7.5. Grabbed the goal, worked hard, and generally had one of his best games of the season. But I still don’t think he should be starting if everyone else is healthy.

Cesc 8.5. Co-Man of the Match. Worked hard, grabbed two solid goals. Good day for the rudder of the Arsenal. Based on recent form, is he the best midfielder in the world at the moment? 8 goals and 11 assists in 13 games would point the Ouija planchette towards “yes.”

Nasri 7.5 Disappeared for long stretches, but when he did get involved, reminded us what he’s capable of contributing. Beautiful move to get past his man and finish on the goal. He’ll only get better as he gets fit again and shakes off the rust.

Arshavin 8.5. Co-Man of the Match. He hasn’t been playing that well lately, but he bounced back in a big way last night with numerous dangerous runs, and three assists. He seemed to be popping up everywhere, it was a great game. Not to rain on that parade, but does it bother anyone else that he doesn’t actually seem all that happy when Arsenal score? You almost never see him run over to congratulate the scorer as enthusastically as the rest of the team. Hmmmm.

van Persie 7. Didn’t score for what seems like the first time in a while, but was still involved in everything and looked dangerous.

Wenger’s Tie 7 Solid, even underneath his big winter jacket.

Eduardo 7. I still think his loss of pace will keep him from ever being the same player he was before the injury, but he still has a world of skill, as he showed on the backheel that started the move that led up to the 4th goal.

Ramsey 6. Nondescript.

Rosicky 6.5. Looked lively in a brief cameo.

Raspberry Peach Snapple 10. Holy crap. I’ve never really seen this flavor before, so I picked it up to drink while I was watching the match last night, and this must be what heroin is like. You hardly ever see this, but if you see a place that sells them, trust me–buy all of them and horde them. Or just drink them all at once. You won’t regret it.

We’re almost 1/3 of the way through the season, and I think you’d have to be pretty content with things so far. Diaby’s headed own goal against Manchester United and the collapse against West Ham notwithstanding, we’ve made a very bright start to the season. We just need to do a professional job on Saturday away to Wolves, and since at least one of Chelsea or Manchester United will drop points, a win will put us functionally second in the table (remember the game in hand). Not bad.

The other news is that Stan Kroenke bought up a few hundred more shares of Arsenal, taking him right to the brink of the 29.9% takeover threshold. I am completely confused by this whole thing, and can’t tell if he’s content to be a silent investor or he actually wants control of the club. If it’s the latter, both the current board and the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust seems okay with it, so he’s at least convinced them that a takeover by him wouldn’t actually change how the club is run. We shall see.

Arsenal: Starters: Almunia, Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Nasri, van Persie, Arshavin. Substitutes: Mannone, Silvestre, Rosicky, Senderos, Eduardo, Sagna, Ramsey.

AZ: Starters: Romero, Jaliens, Moisander, Moreno, Poulsen, Holman, Mendes da Silva, Schaars, Martens, Pelle, Dembele. Substitutes: Swerts, van der Velden, Lens, Wernbloom, Didulica, Ari, Pocognoli.

Eboue starts at right-back and Sagna gets a day off, which shouldn’t hurt us too much. Given Eboue’s flexibility, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Sagna came on as a late sub and Eboue moved further up the pitch, either. The big news is that Nasri gets his first start of the season–it will be very interesting to see where he actually plays, because I think it will tell us whether Wenger sees Nasri’s role being up front in the 4-3-3 or being out on the left in a traditional 4-4-2, which is how he was mainly deployed last year.

I’ll be DVRing the game, so will try to get a recap and ratings up either late tonight or tomorrow. Also, just because I thought it was randomly funny–in addition to all your great legitimate comments, this blog gets a ton of spam comments, generally for erection pills, porn sites, or exciting real estate opportunities. The site has a spam filter, though, so usually about once I day I go through to make sure none of them are legitimate comments that got sorted by mistake before I erase them.

Today, in the comments section of a post I wrote in July about the Felipe Melo speculation, some spambot for some sort of stop smoking remedy wrote the following:

Hi there, I found your blog via Google while searching for first aid for a heart attack and your post looks very interesting for me.

I don’t really know why this was so funny to me, but it must have been for one of three reasons, or some combination: (1) that someone would have a heart attack and immediately turn to google; (2) that someone would google “first aid for a heart attack” and the first hit would be a four-month old blog post about how a soccer player might switch teams; or that (3) said person, having a heart attack and trying to figure out what to do, would then read a blog post, and then leave a comment about how interesting you thought it was.

A++, Spambot–you made my day.

Anyway, this is an important match, let’s get those 3 points so we can go into the international break and beyond secure in the knowledge that we’re already through to the knockout rounds. Come on Arsenal.

Ultimately, of course, such awards are pretty meaningless, and Cesc would probably be the first to say so. But it is nice that his superb play all month was recognized, as he was consistently pulling the strings for a club which was undefeated on the month.

You’ll recall that I was a bit worried about Cesc coming into the season, because he was injured for much of last year and wasn’t as good as we expected him to be even when healthy. But this season has been a different story altogether–Cesc has 6 goals and 11 assists in 12 games in all competitions so far this year, and had 4 goals and 5 assists in 6 October games. He was involved in over half of Arsenal’s goals on the month.

Congratulations, Cesc–you truly are the rudder of the Arsenal.

Gael Clichy reportedly has a stress fracture in his back, and will be out for about a month. Two weeks of that month will be the international break, but he will, at the very least, miss league fixtures against Wolves and Chelsea and Champions League matches against AZ and Standard. And frankly, when you hear the words “fracture” and “spine” in the same sentence, I think you have to prepare for a pretty long layoff—I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if we don’t see him in first-team action again until late December or January. This is particularly true because this is Clichy’s second spinal stress fracture in less than a year, as he missed much of last spring due to the same injury. Clichy’s just 24, so for him to have developed what appears to be a chronic/recurring problem of such severity so early in his career is cause for concern.

I’m no doctor, but when I used to run a lot I had a stress fracture in my leg, and it’s a very, very weird injury, in that it doesn’t actually hurt very much unless you’re doing the activity which caused the injury in the first place. And that almost makes it more frustrating, because within a couple days of the injury, you actually feel perfectly normal, but have to refrain from hard exercise for such a long time. Because of this, I think a stress fracture is one of the easiest injuries to exacerbate due to insufficient layoff time, and this is something Clichy, Wenger, and the Arsenal medical staff need to be very careful about. Because Clichy’s probably going to feel like he’s 100% by the end of November and early December, and going to be pushing to get back on the field. And we’ve got a lot of tough matches around that time, so the temptation to bring him back is going to be great. But the first priority at this point absolutely needs to be making sure he’s 100% healed from this, and then doing tests or biomechanical analysis to determine exactly why Clichy has suffered this very unusual injury twice now, and what can be done to prevent a recurrence in the future. Here’s hoping they can.

On the pitch, I actually don’t think this hurts us all that much. The fact is that Clichy has never been able to recapture the form he showed in 2007-2008, when he was the Premiership’s best left-back and looked like he was ready to become one of the world’s best fullbacks for the next decade or so. He’s still been a good player, but his confidence appears to be quite low at the moment and he hasn’t really been the same marauding presence down the left since the 2008-2009 season began. Add in an unusual number of bad defensive mistakes which have led to goals or scoring opportunities for the opposition, and I think we can say that Clichy, while certainly one of the better fullbacks in the Premiership, isn’t the world-beater we were hoping he would become by this point in his career.

While he’s still just 20, Kieran Gibbs will get another chance to show that he’s ready to play at the highest level. It’s unfortunate that everyone only remembers his slip which gifted a goal to Manchester United in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal last season, because up until that point he had done a very capable job filling in for Clichy. He has continued to shine for the England U-21s and the Carling Cup squad, and will be itching to show that he’s ready to play first-team football. He is also aware that Fabio Capello is eyeing him for a possible national team call up ahead of the World Cup, so he has every motivation in the world to play great football. If I may make a bold prediction, I say he’s going to impress us, and leave Wenger with a dilemma on his hands once Clichy returns to the squad. And Armand Traore is healthy again, so he will provide cover for Gibbs while Clichy is out.

Nicklas Bendtner is also out for a while with a groin injury, which forced his early removal from the Spurs game on Saturday, and Wenger said he would likely be out for around a month. Fabianski, Denilson, Walcott, and Djourou are still out with long-term injuries as well. In better news, Rosicky returns to the squad after being out with his knee injury, although Wenger says he will not start tomorrow. My best guess at a lineup:

Almunia

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs

Diaby-Song-Fabregas

Eduardo-van Persie-Arshavin

Eduardo’s really just a guess–Eboue could easily start there as well. It’s also going to be interesting to see where Wenger sees Nasri fitting into the 4-3-3–he got injured so early in the preseason it’s not clear what his role will be. Last year he mainly played on the left wing, but he’s capable of playing in the center of midfield, and played a bit as a supporting striker in France so could be moved to the frontline. Then there was all that speculation last season about him playing as a holding midfielder. It’s weird for two reasons: (1) Alex Song has played well enough to have a firm grip on that role at the moment; and (2) Nasri’s got so much skill and technique (and so little size and strength) that it seems like he’d be best used further up the pitch. I think he’ll probably start out on the bench this game, but will be starting somewhere soon enough.

I gave my general overview of AZ’s squad in the previous preview, so there’s no need to go over that again. The big news is that AZ will be missing their best player and primary attacking threat, Mounir El Hamdaoui, for the match.

The bottom line is that AZ is an inferior squad missing their main scoring threat. We will be looking for a measure of revenge after gifting them a point two weeks ago when Arshavin stupidly conceded a free kick by being offsides so late in the game, and Diaby’s poor defending on the resulting free kick into the box gave them a last-gasp goal. This is also a very important match because a win would, in all likelihood, clinch our spot in the knockout rounds (the only way it wouldn’t would be if Standard were to win all 3 of its remaining matches, unlikely since they’ve only been able to salvage one draw from their first 3, and we were to lose our remaining 2). As I’ve said before, this would be a huge weight off because it would allow Wenger to rotate the squad in the final two group stage matches (home against Standard and then away to Olympiakos), and focus on fielding the strongest possible side in league fixtures against Chelsea and Liverpool. We’ve got a lot to play for and have been very successful at the Emirates in European fixtures, so anything less than 3 points would have to be viewed as a massive disappointment.

In other news, Robin van Persie has been saying things which reveal him to be all kinds of awesome. Regarding the win over Spurs at the weekend, he said:

It always feels good to beat Spurs. It even feels good when we don’t play them and they get beaten, so it’s especially good when we’ve played them.

Ha—take that, Robbie Keane. He also responded to the news that we drew Manchester City in the Carling Cup (the game will be on December 2, once again bumping our much-ballyhooed game in hand against Bolton to a later date) by saying:

What’s the draw? Manchester City away? Nice. I want to play that one. If the boss decides to let me play, I’m happy. I’d love to play. We fancy winning that competition.

Now, clearly, Wenger will not let him play in that match, and we do not actually fancy winning that competition. Our reserve team would really have to put together one hell of a game to get through to the semifinals—Manchester City beat our first-team at the Eastlands, and they have not been fielding a weakened side in the Carling Cup (they don’t have to worry about fixture congestion nearly as much as we do, since, you know, they didn’t qualify for Europe last season). But you know, in some ways, it’s a good draw for us, because I think everyone (me included) expects City to win that match in a walk. But that means that there is absolutely no pressure for the youngsters, and they can go out there with nothing to lose and play their hearts out. If they were to somehow scrape through, Wenger would be lauded as a genius, everybody would be falling all over themselves to praise Arsenal’s youth setup, and Manchester City would he humiliated. I’m smiling just thinking about it.

But I like it that Robbie is so positive. I think having a team leader with that kind of attitude is infectious, and rubs off on the younger players. I also sincerely bet he would love to play against Manchester City again, if for no other reason than to break his foot off in Adebayor’s ass in retaliation for “the stomp.” Remember Adebayor? He’s the guy who hasn’t scored a goal since then. Anyway, the chance of taking a stupid red, if nothing else, is ample reason to keep Robbie on the bench for that one.

Finally, van Persie has talked about how he’s growing more and more comfortable in the single-striker role in an article on the official site . It’s an interesting read, and it’s been clear from his recent performances that he’s thriving. And it’s not just the return, although 8 goals in his last 9 games speaks for itself, but just how comfortable and effective he looks.

I think at the beginning of the year many of you, me included, thought he would be better in one of the forward/wing slots, because he doesn’t fit the traditional target man mold like Adebayor or Bendtner. What I failed to realize, though, is that a traditional target man doesn’t have much of a place in the way we play, because our center striker actually gets very little of his service through the air. Instead, we work the ball up along the ground, and our “target man” gets balls into his feet. So he doesn’t need to be that physical or imposing or good with his head, but instead needs to have a good first touch and enough skill and technique to control and keep the ball with his feet until support arrives. And van Persie is great at that. He’s so dangerous at spinning defenders one-on-one and getting a shot off that guys marking him will generally give him a little bit of space to latch onto passes and hold play up. And our 4-3-3, when we’re playing aggressively, usually means that he has passing options to either side of him almost immediately, so he doesn’t have to use his body to shield the ball from defenders for any extended period of time. I guess at some point we should just stop being surprised when Wenger sees something that we don’t, huh? But it’s funny–while everyone debates whether Torres, Rooney, or Drogba is the best striker in the Premiership, Robin van Persie, bought for less than £3 million, just keeps scoring goals with the best of them. And that’s just fine by me.

That’s it. Here’ s hoping we get those 3 points and punch our ticket to the knockout rounds. Come on Arsenal.

For most of the first half, the game was pretty even, even though we were definitely creating more opportunities. Then, in the span of less than a minute, we broke the game wide open. In the 42nd minute, Sagna put a superb ball into the box that Robbie did very, very well to get a foot on and direct it through Gomes’s arms. It happened really fast, but in all honesty, it’s one of those goals that was much more difficult than it appeared–it may not make a lot of highlight reels, but make no mistake, it was a world-class finish by a world-class striker. Then, off the ensuing kick-off, Spurs lost possession and Cesc got the ball in the middle of the field, and then just…well, I don’t even know how to describe it. It was like one of Pele’s goals from “Victory.” He just ran straight through Spurs’ entire defense, got into the box, and put a fine finish past Gomes. All of a sudden it was 2-0 Arsenal, and stayed that way into the half.

In the second half, instead of getting overly tentative and defensive, we kept winning the ball and keeping possession. While we may not have been pushing forward for a goal, we were at least holding the ball and moving the ball forward, which was definitely in contrast to how we’ve been playing while ahead recently. Then, in the 60th minute, we finished the game off with a crazy goal. We had the ball, there was an obvious foul, and almost everybody on both teams stopped playing. The only problem is that the loose ball had gone to Sagna, so the referee called for a continuation. Once Sagna realized what was happening, he put a ball into the box, and it took a deflection directly onto van Persie’s foot, and he put it into the net. It was then 3-0 Arsenal, and we looked comfortable after that.

Beating Spurs is always important for the club. Beating a 4th place club is also always important. But in terms of this match specifically, this was important for a couple of reasons. First, we had just had two successive draws, against West Ham and AZ, and needed a response. It has also been one of Arsenal’s dirty little secrets this season that we have been conceding too many goals–we are currently tied for 8th in goals allowed, behind Manchester City, Aston Villa, Stoke, Birmingham and Fulham. We’ve scored so many goals that this has been overlooked, but in the big games against quality teams, we need to tighten up at the back. But aside from Manchester United and maybe Manchester City, Spurs have more attacking quality than any team we’ve played so far. So keeping a clean sheet makes a big statement. Not only that, but the way we did it–Spurs only got 4 shots on goal, and frankly, very few of them really forced Almunia into making a difficult save. Hopefully our backline can build on this going forward.

Almunia 6.5. Didn’t really have much to do. Looked a little tentative early, but settled in as the game went on. I think he did enough to at least keep his place for next week.

Sagna 8. Two weeks in a row he’s put good balls into the box. Good in defending his space, and two assists on good balls in on both of van Persie’s goals. Great performance.

Clichy 6.5.Solid performance from Clichy today, but does seem to be suffering from a crisis of confidence–several times he jumped into passing lanes to cut out Spurs attacks and start Arsenal counter-attacks. But needs to be a little more decisive in the final third.

Vermaelen 7.5. Concentrated on preventing Spurs from getting anything going on, and did so very effectively. Was charged with marking Crouch, who’s always tough to defend, but did his job very well.

Gallas 7. Had a few sloppy moments, most notably a handball which gave away a free kick just outside the box, but generally very solid.

Song 7.5. Great bounceback performance from Song. Generally good at winning and keeping possession. Arsenal had the majority of possession in the match, and that was down to Song’s performance more than anyone.

Diaby 6. No major mistakes, but pretty ineffective.

Cesc 8.5. Co-Man of the Match. Generally played very well despite squaring off against a very good holding midfielder in Palacios, and scored Arsenal’s goal of the season in netting the second goal with a superb solo effort.

Bendtner 5. Re-injured his groin early and had to be substituted, but looked very, very poor before that. Appears to have taken a step back from last season.

Arshavin 7. Made a few useful runs, and his aggressiveness kept Spurs defenders back a little bit, which may have opened up space for other Arsenal players, but never found a way through to goal himself.

van Persie 8.5. Co-Man of the Match. As I said above, both of those goals, the first one especially, are those kind of goals which look easy but are actually pretty difficult and take a lot of skill and concentration. 7 goals in 10 league games this season.

Eduardo 6. Played decently, but isn’t he supposed to be our “fox in the box?” He blew 2 easy, easy chances, which he should have done better with.

Eboue 6. Decent substitute performance, including a sublime through ball for Eduardo.

Wenger’s Tie 7 Solid. He seems to be sticking with the same tie now for league fixtures.

Ramsey came on very late.

All in all, a first-class performance by us. It looks like Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Sunderland could very well drop points today, so we continue to open up some space at the top of the table. I know it’s still early, but it looks like three horses have broken away from the pack, and we’re one of those horses. Hopefully we can keep it up.

We’ve got AZ on Wednesday, and a win there would basically punch our ticket to the group stages. Then it’s away to Wolves on Saturday, in a game we really should take 3 points from, before the international break.

Also, the Carling Cup draw took place, and we’ll play Manchester City at Eastlands. That’s a pretty tough draw, but will really give our second team a chance to prove themselves against top-quality opposition, including Toure and Adebayor. It sure would be nice to get a win there and make it to the two-leg semifinal, but it might be a tall order.

That’s it–have good weekends.

Arsenal: Starters: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Diaby, Song, Fabregas, Bendtner, van Persie, Arshavin. Subs: Senderos, Eduardo, Eboue, Nasri, Mannone, Ramsey, Gibbs.

Spurs: Starters: Gomes, Corluka, King, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Huddleston, Palacios, Jenas, Crouch, Keane. Subs: Woodgate, Dawson, Kranjcar, Hutton, Pavlyuchenko, Bale, Button.

Come on Arsenal.

Position: 4th, 6-1-3 (19 points, +7 goal differential)

Recent Form: LWDWL

Away Form: 3-1-1

Last Meeting: Tottenham 0-Arsenal 0 (2/8/09)

It’s here. The North London derby.

This is a bit of a strange admission, and may result in a loss of credibility, but so be it. But I think it’s hard for us Arsenal fans who are not from England, and specifically not from London, to understand the importance of this match.

This is because it’s rooted not so much in the actual competitions in which the clubs play, but in the fact that the two clubs are so close to one another and compete locally for media attention and the hearts and minds of those that live near the club. After all, if the goal of a football club is to win trophies, then our biggest rivalry should be with the other clubs that are competing to win trophies, right? And that would be Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and now Manchester City before Tottenham.

But there’s just something much stronger at play here. We all are aware of local rivalries where we live, and that’s probably the best way for someone not from England or London to really understand these derby games. For example, I am, unfortunately, a lifelong New York Mets fan. I now live in New York, and had to witness the Mets’ atrocious season while the Yankees spent their way to glory, their frontrunning fans bragging all the while. The Mets nightmare season continued when the two teams I hate the most as a Met fan, the Yankees and the Phillies, made the World Series. One of these teams will be world champions, and it makes me physicall ill.

But now, which team do I hate the most? Is it the Phillies, our division rivals whom we play 12 times per year and compete with head-to-head for a playoff slot? Not for me. It’s the Yankees, our crosstown rivals. And I suspect most Mets fans probably feel the same way.

Why? Because they’re the smug jerks we have to ride the subway with and work alongside every day, with their sanctimonious nonsense about who is and is not a “true Yankee” and the “Yankee way.” I was coming home late on Wednesday night, and rode the subway with a whole passel of sad Yankees fans, riding the subway back from their p.o.s. $1 billion stadium which is already crumbling after spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to watch their team lose. And I’m almost ashamed of how happy it made me, riding the subway and looking at their forlorn faces. I think it’s the kind of thing it’s a bit hard to understand if you haven’t spent much time in the NYC area, just as truly understanding the passion of the North London derby is a bit hard to really understand if you haven’t spent much time there. It’s not that we don’t intensely dislike Spurs, but that we can’t truly understand the full extent of the rivalry from afar, because the root of the rivalry itself is grounded not in the matches themselves, but in the local atmosphere and culture.

Okay, enough about baseball. For Spurs, Jermain Defoe, Spurs leading scorer on the season, is out with a suspension (stay classy, Jermain). Aaron Lennon will also likely miss the game with an ankle injury, while Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King will face late fitness tests to see if they can play. Luka Modric is out with a longterm injury.

For Arsenal, Rosicky, Djourou, Denilson, Walcott, and Fabianski are still out. Nasri looks set to make his first league appearance, although my sense is that he probably won’t start the game, since he’s still trying to build up fitness. That really leaves only two main lineup questions for us–goalkeeper and third forward. Arsene came out and said that he has decided on a goalie, but he’s not going to reveal it until lineups are submitted tomorrow. Fine, Arsene, be that way, but guess what? I’ve got a secret, too, and I’m not going to tell you about it. Hmph.

Second, who will start as the right forward? Bendtner and Eduardo are both healthy, and Wenger has deployed Eboue there on occasion as well. Aside from the goal, Bendtner was apparently pretty bad on Wednesday, and I think it’s really time we start wondering whether Eduardo’s injury hasn’t robbed him of so much pace that he may never be the first-team striker he could have been. Even though it’s not his natural position, then, I’ll guess Eboue gets the call.

Mannone

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy

Diaby-Song-Fabregas

Eboue-van Persie-Arshavin

This is a rivalry game, and after last season, we have a score to settle. You’ll no doubt remember that in the corresponding fixture last autumn we were up 4-2 in the 89th minute only to fall apart and end up with a 4-4 draw. It was as shocking and demoralizing as just about anything I’ve seen as an Arsenal fan, and must not be repeated. Spurs are off to a good start, currently sitting 4th in the table. At the outset of the season, I did predict them to finish 5th this season, ahead of Manchester City, and I think they really are a very good side.

They’ll miss Defoe, but still have Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch, both of whom have had success against Arsenal in the past. Robbie Keane has been shooting his mouth off all week about how Spurs are better than Arsenal this season. Most players with an ounce of good sense wouldn’t be jabbering about how they were better than any club after they had just lost at home to frakking Stoke City, but that’s Robbie. He always seems to score against us, too, which makes him doubly annoying. I have to admit I wouldn’t be too sad if Vermaelen were to dump him on his ass a few times tomorrow.

Tottenham’s real problem, though, is that they have struggled without Modric. The little Croatian maestro has settled in as one of the Premiership’s most dynamic playmaking midfielders, and was really pulling the strings at Spurs before his injury. Just as Cesc is the “rudder of Arsenal,” Luka was the “rudder of Spurs.” But they’ve really struggled to create chances without him. Just look at a quick breakdown of their 10 fixtures so far:

With Modric: 4 matches, 4-0-0, 12 points, 11 goals scored, 4 conceded

Without Modric: 6 matches, 2-1-3, 7 points, 10 goals scored, 10 conceded

Tom Huddlestone’s a decent young player, but he’s not nearly at Modric’s level yet and isn’t quite capable of bearing the playmaker burden (not unlike Denilson for us last season). Their other option in the center of the field is Jermaine Jenas, who can be quite inconsistent.

They’re a dangerous club capable of really brilliant football on their day, and have more skill than any club outside of the top 4 or Manchester City. They will get forward and attack, and the center backs and especially Alex Song will need to bring their best games tomorrow to stymie Spurs moves forward. While Lennon being out is a help, Spurs are also very dangerous down the flanks, so Sagna and Clichy need to be careful about getting too far forward, because if they can’t get back and cover their positions, Spurs are pretty dangerous when they can bomb it into the box.

For us, I think we’ll be able to get forward and create some chances, but we’ve got to make the most out of them and finish. Poor finishing and a lack of killer instinct have cost us dearly lately (AZ, West Ham), and Spurs are a good enough team to make us pay if we’re wasteful. Spurs may especially be vulnerable if Woodgate and King are both out, as that leaves them with a real lack of quality along the backline.

The key man for Spurs may well be Wilson Palacios, who will be tasked with shielding the backline and cutting out Arsenal attacks. He’ll be looking to keep Cesc quiet all day, which will be difficult on Fabregas’s current form. Palacios shut Arsenal down in the second fixture between the two clubs last season, and was man of the match, but that was a team without Cesc and Arshavin, in a game in which Arsenal played the entire second half with ten men due to Eboue’s stupid, stupid, second yellow card.

Tomorrow needs to be different. Aside from the rivalry implications, it’s an incredibly important fixture. A win would keep us in the top 3, and with Liverpool and Aston Villa both facing very tricky fixtures, could put some distance between us and some of the teams chasing us. On the other hand, a loss could dump us from third to potentially all the way down to 8th, and really strengthen Spurs’ Top 4 candidacy. It’s a crucial match, let’s go out there and get those 3 points.

Come on Arsenal.