But, unfortunately, there’s some bad news as well. For starters, while I wouldn’t say we played poorly, we certainly could have played better. We did score twice, but our finishing was poor, and generally our execution in the final 1/3 of the pitch lacked quality. I’m not sure if it’s because of the drop in quality of players because of injuries, fatigue from the international break, or just because these players haven’t had the chance to really play together very much this season, but Standard’s defense was really there for the taking and we should have been quite a bit more lethal in attack. And despite the fact that Standard offered little going forward, we continued our worrying trend of only allowing a few shots, but allowing really dangerous shots when we do–Standard hit the post a couple of times. Almunia only made one save all game.

The main point of worry, though, is injuries. We suffered two injuries this game, and both came where we can least afford it. Gallas left at half-time–I assumed that it was because he took a nasty blow to the head when he and Arshavin tried to head the same ball (his eye was nearly swollen shut by the end of the half), but apparently he has an ankle issue, too. No word on how serious it is or whether he’ll be available for Chelsea on Sunday. More certain is the diagnosis of Kieran Gibbs, who, as cruel fate would have it, injured his foot a couple of minutes into injury time right before the final whistle. Broken metatarsal in his left foot, out for around 3 months. Frak. When I first saw it and read about it, I thought, “Arsenal medical staff strikes again,” thinking they had misdiagnosed his “bruised foot” from the international break and sent him out to play when he shouldn’t have been out there. But that injury was in his right foot, so the fact that he suffered two foot injuries in the span of little over a week appears to be just a coincidence.

Make no mistake–this is a real problem for us. With Clichy and Gibbs both out injured, our options at left back are distinctly unappealing. We have Armand Traore, a talented young player who doesn’t seem to have the defensive chops to play the position as well as we expect, or we have the option of playing one of our reserve center backs (almost certainly Silvestre) left-back; or we can move one of our starting center backs to left back, and either play reserve center backs or drop Alex Song to the backline. Any of these options make us significantly worse.

And the Gallas injury hurts too, because it forces Wenger to either play Song out of position or play Mikael Silvestre. I suspect he’ll go with the latter. You’ll remember last season that it was Silvestre, against Chelsea, who gave up on the ball that Didier Drogba beat him to score the goal which put us out of the FA Cup. Look, Silvestre seems like a decent teammate and a good guy. But there’s no escaping the fact that he has been exposed as a footballer well past his prime, and no longer able to play at the highest level of the game. He’s got some veteran savvy, but all the experience in the world does you no good if you can’t keep up with and physically impose yourself upon defenders.

And, unfortunately, he seems to be Wenger’s preferred option. I don’t think we’ve gotten the whole story on why this is, but Senderos seems to be out of the picture unless absolutely necessary. It’s a shame, too, b/c I’ve always thought Big Phil was a pretty decent player who just lost some confidence and made a few high-profile mistakes. Especially against a striker who relies on brawn as much as Drogba does, I think Senderos would be our best option on Sunday. But Senderos was pretty clear about wanting out of the club in August, and the relationship between him and the club seems to have soured. Although it is to his credit that, if this is the case, he hasn’t been giving a bunch of interviews about it like so many other players would have.

At any rate, I am very, very, very worried about the ability of a Sagna-Silvestre-Vermaelen-Traore backline to deal with the likes of Chelsea. Having no depth on the backline really cost us down the stretch last season, and it should have been very apparent to Wenger that we needed reinforcements this season. And yet, we just replaced Toure with Vermaelen. I don’t understand why it wouldn’t have been worthwhile to go out and get a player like Sakho or Bassong, young guys who would have been willing to be a back-up and play on the Carling Cup squad for a season or two with the implicit understanding that they’d have a chance at the first-team once Gallas moves on. For all Wenger’s genius in the transfer market, his persistent blind spots can be downright infuriating.

I have to hop on a plane in a bit, so I won’t give a full recap–I’m sure you’ve read about it and seen the highlights by now anyways. But we definitely controlled this match. Aside from a couple shots which hit the posts, Standard never really threatened. On the other hand, it felt like, especially in the first half, we created a lot of opportunities, but just lacked a killer instinct. It seemed like we hit the post or put balls a few inches wide half a dozen times. But Nasri’s goal was a very composed finish, and Denilson’s goal…well, the keeper should have saved it, but it was a brilliant, audacious effort, and sometimes those catch the keeper flat-footed and you get rewarded. It was a well-deserved victory, and frankly, the scoreline probably flatters them a bit, it felt much more like a 4-1 game than a 2-0 game.

On to the ratings:

Almunia 6.5. Only made one save (on a muffed shot) all match, and never had to struggle. It’s worrying that he seemingly never has to make saves, but neither of the shots which hit the bar were his fault. Another decent performance where he didn’t have much to do.

Eboue 6.5. Made a few decent runs, but wasn’t as involved as he could have been, and didn’t have too much to do at the back.

Gibbs 6.5.Solid performance from Gibbs, of the kind that I think we’re dearly going to miss for the rest of the calendar year. Sigh.

Vermaelen 6.5 Was solid at the back, but against a punchless team like Standard, really should be getting forward a bit more.

Gallas 6.5. Only played first half, but played well, and got his head on a couple of dangerous balls–could have been rewarded with a goal on another day. Here’s hoping he’s okay.

Denilson 8. Great performance on his return from injury, and showed that he’s going to be an important part of this midfield going forward. He also probably played well enough to make Wenger think about playing him in the holding midfield role and Song at center back if Gallas can’t play on Sunday. If everyone was completely healthy, who would be playing in our midfield? It would definitely be Cesc and Song, and I think Denilson may very well be the third member of that.

Song 8.5 Man of the Match, for the second match running. My goodness, he’s having a good run of form. I think he represents our best hope of slowing down Chelsea–he’s got the physicality and aggressiveness to battle with Drogba & Co., and I could see him really disrupting that diamond formation.

Cesc 6.5. Not terrible, but just never really got it going. Gave away possession a few times on bad passes, and wasn’t a consistent threat. Also lost his temper again, and drew a yellow (although he incited retaliation which drew a red). Looks like a guy who could use a day or two off to me.

Arshavin 6.5. Confirmed what we thought–he really gave it a go as the center pivot forward in the 4-3-3, and I think he’s our best option, but several times got bullied off the ball by bigger defenders. Still, big ups to a guy whose head bleeds all over the place and just asks for a couple of stitches and a clean jersey and gets right back out there.

Nasri 7.5. Looked pretty good up front, and showed some poacher’s instincts on the goal. I like Nasri.

Vela 6.5. I also like Vela. He looked pretty solid, I thought–creative and dangerous, and really could have easily scored early in the game, when his shot off a corner kick hit the post. He’s got a world of talent, and I think he really could be a very good high-level striker in another year or two if he continues to get experience and mature. Plus, my roommate thinks he’s “soooooooo hot.” So he’s got that going for him.

Walcott 5.5. Looked off, couldn’t adequately use his pace and skills to create chances.

Rosicky 6. Decent substitute performance, especially considering he was playing further back on the pitch than he normally does.

Silvestre 6. Looked fine, as he played the entire second half. But the problem isn’t against lesser teams like this, it’s against teams which really test how much gas he’s got left in the tank. We may have to find out next week.

Well, that’s that–we have now made the knockout stages 10 years running, which is a remarkable level of consistency. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we should all be grateful to support a club that has established such a level of year-in, year-out success, even if it hasn’t translated to trophies the last couple of seasons.

Also, in good news, the club announced this morning that Alex Song signed a new long-term deal with the club. Song has really come into his own this season–there aren’t five better holding midfielders in the world at the moment. And it’s shown not only in the difference in possession we retain this season versus last season, but also in Fabregas’s performance. Song has given Cesc what he had in Flamini and what he was missing last season–someone to cover his back and allow him to go forward, but also to win the ball consistently and get the attack moving the opposite direction. Song has quietly become one of my favorite gunners this season, and I hope he plays for us for a long, long time.

I’m going to be traveling for Thanksgiving, but will try to drop by and update once or twice on goings on, and I should be able to have a preview of the Chelsea match up Saturday night. Hope you all have a happy and gluttonous turkey day.

Arsenal: Starters: Almunia, Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Denilson, Song, Fabregas, Nasri, Arshavin, Vela Subs: Mannone, Silvestre, Sagna, Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott, Traore

Standard: Starters: Bolat, Camozzato, Sarr, Felipe, Mulemo, Goreaux, Witsel, Mangala, Carcela-Gonzalez, Bezua, Dalmat Subs: Rocha, Nicaise, Moussa, Van Hout, Cyriac, Ramos, Gershon

Looks like Arshavin is getting a run out as the center forward. As I said after the Sunderland game, I just don’t think Eduardo is up to the task. Arshavin’s going to have trouble there, as well–he’s too small to effectively use his body to shield defenders off the ball, and he doesn’t exactly have a lot of positional discipline. But he’s creative, a brilliant playmaker, and is much more comfortable on the ball than Eduardo, so I think he’s probably a better option. Denilson returns from injury, and gets his first start in some time. Gibbs returns from his bruised foot as well. And Nasri gets another start up front, which I think tells us pretty firmly that Wenger views him as a forward, not a midfielder, in the 4-3-3 set-up. It’s also interesting that there are no real midfielders on the bench–I’m not sure if Ramsey is injured or just getting a rest, but if we should, god forbid, take an injury to Cesc, Denilson, or Song, I’m not sure who comes in off the bench (probably Nasri drops back and a forward comes on).

I’m at work so will be watching it on tape delay as usual, but will try to get a recap/player ratings up at some point tonight or tomorrow morning. This really should be a win without too much difficulty–I’d like to see us come out and hang a strong performance on them to give us some momentum and self-belief heading into Sunday’s showdown with Chelsea.

Come on Arsenal.

Not to disrespect them, but Standard really shouldn’t pose much of a problem for us. Of course, they grabbed 2 quick goals against us at home and gave us a real scare, but we managed to come back for the 3-2 win. We’re much tougher at the Emirates, though. They’re currently 4th in the Belgian table, and missing talisman Steven Defour. It would be a shock if we didn’t come away from this fixture with a win.

It’s also a good opportunity for Wenger to rotate the squad and rest some players. I’m not sure if the international break was solely to blame, but it did seem like a lot of players looked tired and flat on Saturday. And with Chelsea coming up on Sunday, a lot of the players could probably use a few days to rest and refocus. My sense is that we’ll see a lot of younger players get some action tomorrow. Having said that, trying to predict a lineup is to some degree an exercise in futility. But here’s my best guess:

Almunia

Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs

Fabregas-Denilson-Ramsey

Walcott-Eduardo-Vela

But Senderos, Rosicky, Song, Nasri, Silvestre, Wilshere, Arshavin, Mannone, or Traore could also be involved in the starting XI, and I wouldn’t be surprised.

In other news, Fabregas has responded to another upsurge in speculation that he might depart for Barcelona with characteristic awesomeness:

“It does not affect me at all because it’s been going for years. To be honest I just don’t think about it, I don’t want to and I don’t think I should because I’m at a great club and in a great team. I’m very happy where I am and there is very long season in front of us. The last thing I want to do is get disconnected from what I have to do which is to play football for my team and for the Club that pays me. I’m really looking forward to a great season with Arsenal.

When asked whether he thought he might stay at Arsenal for his entire career, El Capitan responded: “Why not? I have never thought about it. I’m only 22. You never know what your career will bring but why not? I’m in my seventh season now and I’m really happy, better than ever.”

Te amo, Cesc. Te amo. It must be so tiresome for him to have to deal with these constant rumors, and is, more than anything, unfair to him, because he’s been the consummate professional and team player throughout his time with the club, and has never given the slightest outward indication that he’s unhappy at the club or looking to leave.

In other news, Stan Kroenke bought 10 more shares of Arsenal stock, bringing him right to the brink of the 30 percent that would require him to make a takeover bid. I still have no idea what’s going on, but I wish he’d either make his intentions clear one way or the other so we’d know what the future of the club’s ownership would be.

Anyway, that’s it–here’s to 3 points and winning the group tomorrow. 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.

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.

Well, as Peevish said in the comments, that wasn’t much fun.

To start with, though, let me just say that this is not a bad result for Arsenal. Yes, we’re a much better club, but AZ are the defending Eredivisie champions, and has now played 35 home matches in European competition, and has lost just once. And Arsenal are still very much in control of the group. As for how we ended up with this result, however–well, I think that is something we should be upset about.

I didn’t think we played well at all. We just looked sluggish to me the entire match, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of passion or urgency out there. For the most part, the team seemed too content to keep possession with safe passes without making any real attempt to attack or score, which reminded me too much of how the squad played during the first half of last season. I think it was pretty clear how much we missed Eduardo’s touch, Rosicky’s imagination, Walcott’s pace, and Bendtner’s work rate, any of which I think would have helped open up AZ’s defense a bit more.

We had a couple of good chances early, one in particular where van Persie probably should have scored but shot directly at the keeper. Then, in the 36th minute, we scored on a brilliant move. Arshavin got the ball in space, drew the defenders to him, passed the ball off to van Persie on the left, and RvP, who had a decent scoring chance himself, instead opted to send a perfect pass back through the middle to Cesc, the Rudder of Arsenal, who was running towards the far post and buried the goal into a wide open net. We often talk about how strikers need to be selfish to a certain degree, and that’s true, but as Robbie showed, being unselfish has its virtues as well. It was the kind of beautiful goal that reminds us all why we love watching Arsenal, and it was a nice touch that after scoring Cesc, instead of wheeling away to celebrate, immediately acknowledged van Persie, who really did create the goal.

After that, we created a couple more chances but could finish none of them, and even though we seemed in control of the match, you just got the sense the players felt a little too comfortable with a 1-0 lead. Late in the game, we just started to look a little soft and undisciplined as AZ threw everything they had forward. We had a penalty shout turned down with substitute Vela was brought down in the box. I’ve read reaction on some of the blogs this morning that said it was a bad call, but for me, Vela didn’t actually have the ball and the AZ player did look like he was attempting to play the ball, so I think the no call was correct.

After missing a very good chance off a set piece late in the game, AZ was to equalize in the 92nd minute. Arshavin committed a mental mistake by getting an offside call right around midfield–in that situation, that is one thing you absolutely cannot do, because it gives them a chance to put ten men in the box and have the goalie take the free kick and put a long ball into the crowd. That’s exactly what they did, and Diaby failed to mark his man, who got up and headed the ball down to his man, whom Song had given way too much space, and he volleyed the ball well from point blank range.

It’s just worrying, because I think it showed a lot of the club’s weaknesses: the inability to kill off a game, poor defending of set pieces, and mental lapses in important moments. Aside from Diaby’s header own-goal against United, we had generally been much better about these things so far this season, but these were the issues we struggled with last season, and it came back to bite us yesterday.

At any rate, that’s behind us, and we’re still top of the group, with 7 points from 3 matches. Olympiakos is 2nd with 6 points, AZ has 2, and Standard just 1. If we beat AZ at home in 2 weeks, that esentially guarantees us a place in the group stages. This was likely just a speed bump, and will hopefully be a learning experience for the team–maybe this will be a wake up call for the players about what happens when you get too complacent and don’t finish games off. If it was going to happen, I would rather it happen now in the group stages, where we can recover, than in the league, where it would be 2 dropped points that we couldn’t get back.

Anyway, on to the ratings:

Mannone 6.5 Just didn’t have that much to do, really. Dealt well with a few balls into the box and his positioning was generally pretty good. Can’t be blamed for the goal–it was a hard shot at virtually point blank range.

Sagna 6.5. Solid, if unspectacular, performance.

Clichy 6.5.Didn’t really contribute much to the attack, but used his pace and made solid decisions. Showed no ill effects that I could see from the ankle injury.

Vermaelen 7.5. He didn’t score, but put in a strong performance. Shut down El Hamdaoui all night, and was one of the few Gunners who seemed to have a lot of energy and showed a real desire to win. Might have been motivated by a chance to beat his old rivals, since he’s played in the Eredivisie for the past few season.

Gallas 6.5. Not great, not bad. Meh. I know what you’re saying–”Martin, you’re just using what you’ve written about him the past two games again.” Not true. You see, last time, I write “not bad, not great.” Totally different, see?

Song 7.5. Worked hard, bossed the midfield, shielded the back four–in short, did everything he should have done.

Diaby 6. I was at the bar on Saturday watching the Birmingham game, talking to a fellow Gunner about Diaby, and this fellow fan yelled at the screen when Diaby made a mistake–”Use yo’ fuckin’ head, boy!” That sort of sums up Diaby perfectly, doesn’t it? The only thing is, it should be taken figuratively, not literally, because when he does actually use his head to play the ball, he seems confused about which goal he is defending and which goal he is attacking. An otherwise solid performance was marred for me by two plays: (1) he very nearly scored another own goal off a defensive header; and (2) as much as anyone, he was at fault for the goal, because he allowed his man to get an untroubled header on the free kick, putting it in perfect position for the volleyed goal. He has got to stop making so many stupid mistakes–use yo’ fuckin’ head, boy…

Cesc 7. Pretty quiet game for the rudder, notwithstanding the goal, and even there he created a golden chance that others created.

Eboue 6.5. Certainly not a bad performance, but pretty anonymous for most of the match.

Arshavin 8. Man of the Match. It was his instinct that started the first goal–watch it again. His presence caused the defender’s sloppy first touch, he took the ball away, kept it, and drew the defenders to him before playing it off to RvP. Was really the one guy who was consistently running around trying to trouble AZ’s backline all game.

van Persie 7.5. Inch perfect pass to Fabregas for the goal, and nearly scored off a free kick early in the second half. Could have done better with a great chance early in the game, though.

Vela 6.5. Picked up a yellow card after about a minute on the pitch. I’m not sure for what, it seemed to be for talking trash to the other side. But he generally looked up for it, and seemed to have a smile on his face the whole time he was on, which is refreshing. I kind of love this guy, and hope he continues to develop and plays for Arsenal for years to come. Very easily could have had a penalty in the 84th minute.

Ramsey 6. Decent cameo, but didn’t really have time to make an impact on the game.

Wenger’s Tie 6.5 Solid.

In other news, Fabianski and Nasri both played in the reserves match against Wolves yesterday, which means one or both of them will be back in action soon. Saturday might be a bit soon, but don’t be surprised if you see them get some action in the Carling Cup match against Liverpool next week, and then return to the first-team against Spurs the following weekend.

Have good weeks.

Arsenal: Starters: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Eboue, Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Arshavin, van Persie. Subs: Almunia, Silvestre, Gibbs, Ramsey, Wilshere, Vela, Merida.

AZ: Starters: Romero, Moreno, Moisander, Poulsen, Jaliens, Schaars, Mendes da Silva, Martens, Holman, Dembele, El Hamdaoui. Subs: Swerts, Klavan, van der Velden, Pelle, Lens, Wernbloom, Diduluca

I have to admit that I am a bit surprised, given that Almunia has supposedly been “fit” for close to a week now but hasn’t made his way back into the first team. I have to think this is one of three things: (1) Wenger is so pleased with how Mannone is playing he’s willing to let it ride with the young Italian at the moment; (2) Almunia still has some lingering effects from the chest infection; (3) Almunia still hasn’t got enough game simulation action practice in training to convince Wenger he is match-ready yet. Number 1 seems extremely unlikely to me, so I would think it has to be (2) or (3), or some combination thereof. Still–if we don’t see Almunia between the sticks on Saturday against West Ham, I would think that’s a good indication that something is up.

The only other question is how our squad will be configured. That could be either a 4-5-1, which Wenger has used in European road fixtures often in the past, with van Persie the lone striker and Arshavin on the left; a 4-4-2, with van Persie and Arshavin up top and Diaby on the left; or a 4-3-3, with Eboue joining Andrey and RvP up top. It will be worth keeping on eye on how far up Eboue and Arshavin get in attack, and how deep they are tracking back, to see how aggressive Wenger wants the team to be.

As you may have heard, AZ is going through some tumultuous times the past few days. Their ownership, which also sponsors their shirt (and their stadium) is bankrupt, so they were frantically trying to sell the sponsorship rights to the shirt as of this morning. The club will supposedly be formally put up for sale within a couple of days, and, depending on the new ownership’s commitment, the team could be broken up soon. This could affect this game in one of two ways: (1) the distraction of everything going on could make AZ lose focus and play poorly; or (2) the club could realize that this might be their one big opportunity as a group to make a big splash on the European scene; (or, I suppose, (3)–all of this is psychobabble, and they are professionals who will block everything out and go out and play hard like they always do).

At any rate, big match for Arsenal, and one from which we will hopefully take all 3 points, putting one foot firmly into the group stages. Wenger’s 60th birthday is on Thursday, here’s hoping the team goes out and gives him a win as a present.

I’m DVRing the game, so won’t be following it as it happens, but will try to do a recap and ratings either tonight or tomorrow morning. But as always, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below. Come on Arsenal.

Oh. I also suppose you want some actual “facts” or “information” about AZ, not just my bizarre Harry Potter fantasy world of what they must be like based on the simple fact that their name is kind of like something I read about in a book. Sigh…fine.

AZ are the defending Eredivisie champs, but haven’t been quite as successful so far this season, currently sitting 6th in the table, with 5 wins and 5 losses in their 10 matches. However, they have been pretty formidable at home, winning 3 out of 4 and outscoring their opponents by a margin of almost 2 goals per game. Last season, they had the best home record in the Eredivisie, winning 14 of 17 home fixtures and outscoring their opponents 38-7. All time, they have played 34 home matches in UEFA competitions. And they have lost…once (to Everton a few years ago). Their home stadium is quite small by European standards, holding a little more than 17,000 supporters.

Generally speaking, I find the smaller venues to be much tougher places to play than the big, sparkly new stadiums. The fans that get those tickets tend to be die-hard supporters, and those stadiums are usually older and put the fans very close to the field, which can unsettle visiting clubs a bit.

Make no mistake–this is not an easy place to go into and win, and I really think this match is going to be quite a bit tougher than most pundits and Arsenal fans think. Especially given our rotation and injury issues (see below), a win would be a very, very good result for us, and draw here would be nothing to be ashamed of.

AZ’s main danger is Moroccan striker Mounir El Hamdaoui. The former Spurs forward (although due to injuries and other issues, he never played a first-team match for Tottenham) has emerged as a top quality striker for AZ. He scored 24 goals in 32 games in all competitions last season, and already has 6 goals in 8 games this season. A player of his quality will no doubt be looking to impress an international audience with a good performance against Arsenal, so Gallas and Vermaelen will really need to focus on locking him down.

Midfielder David Mendes da Silva is apparently the main playmaker/distributor for AZ, so our forwards will look to track back and disrupt his rhythm, and Alex Song will try to make sure that he is in for a long day. Their defense is held together by veteran Dutchman Kew Jaliens, who was a teammate of Robin van Persie’s on the Netherlands 2006 World Cup side, and will be looking to shut him down. And we’ll also need to look out for Stijn Schaars–he captains the side, plays regularly for the Dutch national team, and is tough in the tackle and has a dangerous left foot.

As for us, we’ve got our fair share of injury woes to deal with. Theo Walcott is out 3-4 weeks with the injury sustained against Birmingham. It’s really a shame. Theo came into this season with a lot to prove, but hasn’t had an opportunity yet because of injuries. More importantly, it hurts the team quite a bit, as we were really depending on him as one of our attackers in the 4-3-3. Hopefully he’ll have a safe and speedy recovery. This almost certainly means that he’ll be out of action until we return from the November international break on November 21st.

Rosicky is also out with a minor knee problem, but Wenger seems to think he’ll be fit for the West Ham game on Saturday. Bendtner, Denilson, Djourou, and Eduardo are still injured as well. Fabianski and Nasri will not feature, but will play in the Reserves League match tomorrow against Wolves, which means they are both pretty close to a return. The only good news is that Clichy returns to the squad after a minor ankle injury.

The injuries to Eduardo, Bendtner, Rosicky, and Walcott mean that we’re really stretched for attackers, and Wenger really has a lineup dilemma on his hands. Aside from van Persie and Arshavin, we have Carlos Vela, who has barely featured this season, and youngster Sanchez Watt. I think this means Wenger will abandon the 4-3-3, at least for this match, in favor of either a 4-5-1 with van Persie up top and Arshavin and Eboue on the wings, or a more conventional 4-4-2, with Arshavin joining van Persie up top, Eboue on the right, and Diaby playing out of position on the left. My best guess at a lineup:

Almunia

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy

Eboue-Song-Fabregas-Diaby

van Persie-Arshavin

I really do think we’ll see quite a bit of substitute action, especially if we can grab a lead, for this match. Expect to see Ramsey get some significant action, and if we go to a 4-5-1 he could even start. I think we’ll see Wilshere as well, and possibly Vela or Traore, some guys we haven’t seen much of so far this season.

I think we’re pretty much a lock for getting through to the knockout stages at this point. But a win tomorrow would give us 9 points already, and at least a 5 point advantage over the 3rd place team in the group. Last season, only one club (Shakhtar Donetsk) had as many as 9 points and didn’t make it through the group stages. Especially with 2 of our last 3 group stage matches at home, it’s no stretch to say that a win tomorrow puts us into the group stages.

I think this matters because, as I mentioned in the comments the other day, we have a pretty tough schedule coming up over the next few months. How’s this for a 3-week span?:

11/21–Sunderland (home)
11/24–Standard (home)
11/29–Chelsea (home)
12/2–Bolton (home) (but possibly a Carling Cup fixture instead)
12/5–Stoke (home)
12/9–Olympiakos (away)
12/13–Liverpool (away)

That’s 7 games in 22 days for those keeping score at home. A lot of them are very tough, important league fixtures which could very well be crucial to our title bid (especially the Sunderland, Chelsea, and Liverpool fixtures). It would be really nice if we already basically had our place in the knockout stages booked at that point, so we could rotate the squad and rest some guys against Standard and (especially) Olympiakos, and instead focus on making sure everyone is rested and full strength for Chelsea and Liverpool. So I would argue that while we do have some margin for error, getting a good result in tomorrow’s match is actually very important, and could have some very positive spillover results in other competitions.

In other news, Andrei Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas were both listed among the 30 finalists for the Ballon D’or award. Either Ronaldo or Messi will win, but it’s an honor to be named among the world’s best 30 players, and both deserve it, although I’m a bit surprised and disappointed Robin van Persie’s name wasn’t on the list. Elsewhere, Arsene Wenger confirmed that Sol Campbell will be training with the club for a bit, although he said there is no chance he will sign with the club. Elsewhere, Arsene Wenger slammed Birmingham’s traveling fans as “stupid” for chanting Martin Taylor’s name while Theo Walcott was lying on the pitch yesterday. And quite right. While I don’t think the tackle which injured Theo was dirty, Taylor’s tackle 2 seasons ago most definitely was, and to glorify someone who maliciously broke another player’s leg and almost ended his career is pretty classless. Wenger has also given an interview talking about why he didn’t go to Real Madrid last summer, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t said before.

Also, Chelsea lost to Aston Villa, and Liverpool lost to a beach ball Sunderland. Manchester City drew, and Alex Ferguson might get suspended for calling someone who is fat and out shape…fat and out of shape. Great (and hilarious) news, the lot of it.

Anyway, I’ll have a game thread up for the match tomorrow. I’m not sure if the game is being broadcast live here in the states, but Fox Soccer is showing a tape-delayed broadcast of it at 5 p.m. tomorrow, and streams shouldn’t be too difficult to find if you want to watch it live.

Come on Arsenal.

Didn’t get to see the game, but from the looks of things, it was one of those games that easily could have been much more lopsided than the end result–I think 2-0 flattered the Greek side a bit. 12 shots on goal, many of them golden opportunities from close up, is quality, and I think we’re almost always going to win if we can create chances like that. The lack of finishing continues to be troubling, but it seemed like bad luck as much as anything here–Cesc hit the crossbar, their keeper made several quality stops, etc.

Since I didn’t get to see the match, I’m not qualified to give a match report or rate players (not that I’m ever actually “qualified,” but I’m even less qualified than usual here). So I won’t say anything else about the match. But as I said yesterday, I think the most important thing is that we already have a 5 point lead on the 3rd place squad in the group–if we can get 4 points from our next two matches against AZ, I think we’ve basically punched our ticket to the group stages, especially with a home fixture against Standard after that.

Blackburn on Sunday, and then it’s the international break. Chelsea and Liverpool are the late fixture on Sunday, and Aston Villa locks horns with Man City on Monday, so if we can lock down 3 points we’ll definitely pick up points and move up the table.