Strange Brew

By: travis | February 6th, 2009

It’s odd that after more than a month of Arshavin-this and Arshavin-that, now that he’s actually an Arsenal player, the focus now shifts back to the struggling Gunners. Of course, this Sunday’s game is one of the biggest games of the year, simply because the stakes that both sides face. On the one hand, Arsenal is in search of a positive result and hopeful for a Villa loss to climb back towards the fourth place spot. Again, title talk is and needs to be cast aside for the remainder of the season. This club hasn’t proved that — yet. On the other side, Tottenham have brought in a few old players as ‘arry searches for a way out of the relegation zone. While I seriously doubt Spurs will go down, looking at the table, no one is really safe from relegation in the bottom half of the table. It should turn out to be quite the remarkable finish this spring. Spurs are in need of a win to boost themselves up the table, and Arsenal will be out to avenge their 4-4 draw (shocker of the year so far) last fall.

There’s good news ahead of this weekend: Eboue is available. Ok, that is a statement supposed to be laced with sarcasm, as I don’t know a single supporter who thinks that Eboue brings anything to the table. Sometimes, maybe sometimes, he puts in a solid performance — but usually not. The question that will dominate every Gunners’ supporter this weekend will be the role of Arshavin. It’s hard to see him getting more than a small cameo, although the BBC is reporting he should at least be named in the 18. That’s a good move, but how much can the Russian bring to the table? He hasn’t played in a competitive match since November, and the effects of that will linger. One of my hesitations in buying a player like that is you have to factor in that he won’t be in top shape — unless he is a gym rat — and he will have to adjust to the Premier League. So even if he is a bit of a disappointment from the beginning, the old adage ’six months to fit in’ needs to be kept at the forefront of one’s mind. Bust or not, it’s nice to see reinforcements brought in, and not the old ‘injured players returning are a new signing’ shtick.

In keeping things in line with the all-Arshavin, all the time, the player has wasted no time in stuffing his foot in his mouth with some sexist comments:

“If I had it in my power to introduce a ban on women driving cars and to withdraw all their licences, I would do it without thinking twice.”

“In my opinion a woman and a man are two absolutely different creatures.”

Perhaps if his skills on the pitch are as quick as his wit, we’ll have one heck of a player. By the way, since when is he Andrey, not Andrei? Who decided that all of a sudden? And why do I have this urge to drop a lot of money on an Arshavin jersey? I think it’s the draw of the ‘23′ that is luring me in. Time to go channel my inner ~~Beckham~~ Jordan.