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.

Sunderland: Starters: Fulop, Bardsley, Mensah, da Silva, McCartney, Henderson, Reid, Cana, Richardson, Henderson, Bent. Subs: Nosworthy, Healy, Zenden, Murphy, Ferdinand, Campbell, Carson.

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

Traore starts at left-back. It’ll be interesting to watch him this game–I think I remember coming into the season Wenger saying something to the effect that he didn’t consider Traore a left-back anymore, that his defensive deficiencies made him a left winger exclusively. I’m also glad to see Ramsey in there–I thought he was still hurt from internationals, but he impressed in his previous start and earned the chance to build on that. Another good performance or two and you’d have to say he’s passed Diaby on the depth chart. Rosicky and Nasri, who are more traditional wingers than strikers, play on the forward wings, so Eduardo is our only true striker, as Arshavin and Vela both start on the bench. On the plus side, though, injuries and suspensions have forced Sunderland to field a pretty improvised lineup, too.

It’ll be a tough fixture, but we need three points here if we’re really title contenders–let’s get out there and do it. Come on Arsenal.

Position: 8th, 5-2-5 (17 points, +1 goal differential)

Recent Form: DWLDL

Home Form: 4-1-1

Last Meeting: Arsenal 0-Sunderland 0 (2/21/09)

Back in action at the Stadium of Light tomorrow, for what I expect to be a very tricky match. Seriously–this match scares the hell out of me. For one thing, it’s a road match against a top half side with a very good home record–those matches are always tough, no matter what. But throw in the fact that nearly half our first team is injured, and that everyone is already talking about next weekend’s matchup with Chelsea, and this has all the makings of an Arsenal stumble. I dearly hope I’m wrong.

Sunderland is a quality side, much improved from last season. This is due mainly to the hire of Steve Bruce as manager–Bruce did wonders at Wigan, bringing in quality bargain buys like Valencia and Palacios, as well as youngsters like Lee Cattermole, who followed the gaffer north to Sunderland. The club also gave him a bit of money to play with over the summer, and he appears to have spent it wisely–his main transfers were Darren Bent, who has already shown himself to be a bargain (honestly–compare his production with strikers who were much more costly, like Berbatov, Santa Cruz, and Pavlyuchenko); Lorik Cana, who was immediately appointed captain and has become a mainstay in their midfield; and the aforementioned Cattermole, one of the more promising young midfielders in the Premiership.

Sunderland still plays a very English brand of football–disciplined, tight at the back, and relying a lot on toughness and physicality. But they have opened up a bit under Bruce, who has brought in some skilled players and installed a little bit of an attacking mentality in the club, which is in stark contrast to the way Sunderland played under Roy Keane and Ricky Sbragia the last couple of seasons. And even then, they managed a draw in both their games against us last season.

You wouldn’t necessarily characterize Sunderland as an explosive team per se, but they do have two quality strikers who complement each other well in Darren Bent and Kenwyne Jones, who have combined for 13 goals this season. Their midfield is full of battlers like Steed Malbranque and Lorik Cana, and their backline is anchored by Anton Ferdinand and Michael Turner. We catch a little bit of a break tomorrow, though, as starting keeper Craig Gordon and Cattermole are both out injured, and Kenwyne Jones and Turner are both out on suspensions–in particular, Jones is exactly the kind of bruising physical striker that has given us problems in the past, too.

Their home record is very good–they’ve only lost once, to Chelsea, in 6 matches at the Stadium of Light. In their two best results of the season, they beat Liverpool at home and drew at Old Trafford in a match they very easily could have won. I watched that match in its entirety, and I can definitively say that this is a team that will make us pay if we expect to just show up and win. That happened with alarming frequency last season, but with the exception of the West Ham game, we’ve so far been able to avoid that pitfall this season. But hopefully the team isn’t suffering from too much of an international hangover and comes out focused and motivated.

In squad news, obviously the injuries are a big concern. van Persie is out for a while, and while Gibbs’s injury is apparently minor and he may be able to play on Tuesday against Standard Liege, he is out tomorrow. In better news, Theo Walcott is back in the squad–I still doubt he’ll start, but don’t be surprised to see him come on as a late substitute. Denilson, Traore, Wilshere, and Vela are also supposedly going to be available, although I don’t see any of them starting unless Wenger is really convinced that they are match fit–the midweek Champions League fixture would be a much better chance for them all to get a run out. It will also be interesting to see how those who played full matches on Wednesday fare. Fabregas and Arshavin played the entire match, as did Eboue, and Sagna and Gallas both played a full 120 minutes against Ireland. I’m sure there’s others I’m forgetting, too. For example, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sagna get a breather this game.

Lineup:

Almunia

Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Silvestre

Fabregas-Song-Nasri

Rosicky-Eduardo-Arshavin

(UPDATE: So it sounds like Wenger is thinking that Vela will start, and that Arshavin may not play because of the fatigue from internationals. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect in terms of a starting XI tomorrow.)

But given those tired from internationals and those returning from injuries, it wouldn’t surprise me if our lineup was significantly different from that. Between injuries and fatigue, the Emirates is basically a field hospital right now, and Wenger’s just going to have to check with the players and trainers on an individual basis to see who’s really ready to play.

This is a tough match, and given all the surrounding circumstances (injuries, internationals, etc.), it’s the kind of match that last year’s club would have either lost or drawn. But these are exactly the kind of matches a team has to be able to win if it’s a serious title contender. Tomorrow could reveal a lot about what kind of team this Arsenal squad is. A win keeps us clear of United and keeps the pressure on Chelsea going into the the showdown at the Emirates a week from Sunday. Let’s get those 3 points.

Come on Arsenal.

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.