No More Dropped Points

By: travis | December 12th, 2008

Tomorrow is a trip to Middlesbrough and a vital game if this team wants to make a run at a title. I feel like every game from here on out could be labelled as a must-win, and while that may not necessarily be the case, it almost is. What needs to be proved tomorrow is some kind of consistency, especially in the league. It’s tiring to see a good performance against the likes of Chelsea, only to come out flat-footed against a much weaker Wigan. Perhaps Arsene could slip a little something into the players drinks to trick them into thinking they were playing Liverpool. Then maybe results would be more consistent. There’s got to be something more he can try.

There is reason for concern tomorrow, as our form away at Boro the past couple of seasons has not been good. I remember watching last seasons loss, and wondering how a squad that should be dominating lost, I believe on a goal by former Gunner Jérémie Aliadière. They’ve been in decent form this season, and sit at 12th on the table currently. Far from unbeatable at home, this game is the sort of result that will end up counting a lot more at the end of the season when determining a title.

A number of players who were given a rest mid-week should be back. Van Persie, Fabregas, Sagna, Clichy, and Adebayor will hopefully all make a return. Considering that they make up nearly half of our first team side, it would be pretty crucial to see them come back. Van Persie had a couple of blundering misses last week against Wigan and he must be in top form.

There’s plenty of non-Middlesbrough chatter, with talk of Philippe Senderos returning early from his loan to Milan. While I don’t know how possibility of that – he’s on a year loan – I am a fan of giving Senderos another shot as a Gunner. He can’t be much worse than what we have right now.

Struggling striker Nicklas Bendtner has received backing from the boss that he will come good. It’s nice to see that from Arsene, but there’s concern from a lot of people that Bendtner doesn’t have what it takes to cut it in the Premier League. He’s only grabbed one goal in 11 hours of football this season, and with Eduardo set to come back the Dane will have to work even harder to get first team time. That’s if Eduardo returns in form and free from complications after his horrific injury. On the one hand, Bendtner is still only 20 years old and perhaps shouldn’t face such expectations, but on the other, a lot of players were contributing significantly at his age.

In non-related football matters, Johan Djourou talks about his habits off the pitch, including his skin products, jewelry habits, and an addiction to Football Manager. Link courtesy of commenter evaldo. Cheers for the link.