Sevilla 3 - 1 Arsenal

Da Silva Eduardo (11)

Whats in the water? First Fergie, now Wenger gets sent off! One can only pray that whatever it is stays across the pond! Quite the lack-luster performance from Arsenal who seem set to finish second behind Sevilla in group H. The interesting thing is when the group draws were initially held, I was of the opinion that the only team to worry about would be Sevilla in this case I can hate to be right. On the bright side though, we are theoretically through to the next stages and I am thinking seeding doesn't matter going into the draws for the next round.

So it has happened, we have finally suffered a defeat. Better here than in the Premiership though, I tell you. I expect every newspaper, radio program, tv program and sports website to make a song and dance about the loss, I hope the lads find a way to blot out the impending brouhaha and just concentrate on the task at hand, with 7 premiership games in December, notable among which is the away game to Chelsea on the 16th a CL and Carling cup engagement each, we need to be focused and ensure this performance does not mark the beginning of the end (I shudder as I type that, picture me snapping my finger over my head 3 times).

Next up we face Aston Villa away on Saturday, and our game in hand comes up on Wednesday the 5th against Newcastle.

Match Report soccernet.com

Correction: We are home to Chelsea on the 16th. Thanks anon.

Top of the Tables

Ah, a lot has been happening on the soccer front.

Da Silva Eduardo (8)
Da Silva Eduardo (50)
Neves Denilson (69)

We beat Sheffield United 0 - 3 away to move into the quarter finals of the Carling Cup where we will meet Blackburn Rovers away on the 18th of December.

Match Report soccernet.com

Francesc Fabregas (48)
William Gallas (90)

We drew Manchester United 2 - 2 at Emirates, with Gallas performing a remarkable feat - getting his name on both sides of the score sheet. I was expecting us to win the match, we did beat them at home and away last season. A draw is not half bad, we are still top of the tables thanks to a higher goal aggregate and we do have a game in hand. I am glad to see that the boys showed they can get 'A' result in a crunch, no fluke, we are the real deal. When all else fails, (skills, etc) character is what helps you 'breast the tape' (that an steroids but that is a totally different sport!) ahead of your fellow competitors. It is now quite clear that this Arsenal squad has character in spades. Twice in a week we have come from behind to squeeze the points through, nice! But ehn (Oliver Twist) make una squeeze a little more ehn and collect all the points at stake. 'You can do it put your back into it!'

I didn't watch the match (I am ashamed to be typing this) not my fault though, my trusty (NOT!) Internet feed messed up at the last minute and I just didn't have the energy to get dressed and race to Santa Monica to watch it at the pub so I turned to Gamecast on soccernet.com. I have decided when I lose my last 10 lbs I will reward myself with a DirecTv subscription (Entree - Setanta, sides - HBO, ShowTime. ;-). Apparently the first half was uneventful, though not for Sir Alex who felt that the only remarkable thing that occurred in the 90 plus mins of the game was some play which I can't now recall by his side in that half. When the Rooney/Gallas combination produced the first goal in the dying minutes of the first half, I began to fear our goose was cooked. I did a little jig in the 48 min when Cesc leveled the score. I was strangely calm when Ronaldo once again put ManU in the lead in the 82 min, somehow I just knew the worst we would do is share the points. I wasn't surprised when we once again drew level in the dying minutes of the 2nd half. I was surprised it was Gallas who scored and I am sure he was relieved (he certainly sounded relieved in the post match interview) I guess Sir Alex was just pissed to be sharing the points after taking the lead twice cos a lot of the stuff he said post match just didn't make sense. He complained about being heckled by fans, (err hello! What do you expect the fans to do, rub you on the head?) he complained about the officiating ... 'All we are saying, please shut your mouth!' Re: Officiating, a couple of accounts of the match I read reported that the ref was a bit officious. Its interesting that I observed the very same thing with the Liverpool - Arsenal match which he officiated just the week before.

We drew Slavia Prague away, nothing much more to report, we play Sevilla at home on the 27th of November

Mathieu Flamini (44)
Emmanuel Adebayor (52)
Alexander Hleb (78)

We coasted back to the top of the tables yesterday with an easy 3 - 1 win away over Reading. Flamini scored his first goal this season which has been a long time coming

Match Report soccernet.com

Next up we play Wigan at home on the 24th of Dec, I hope and pray we come through the international week ahead unscathed (I am replaying the video of Rvp's injury in my head, yikes!) Speaking of international week, I saw this yesterday. I see the 'bombast' has left the big German, perhaps he blew it out over his birthday cake? German 2nd division ehn? He really wants the German No. 1 short badly. Well Almunia is looking solid in goal, he might just get his wish come January.

Liverpool 1 - 1 Arsenal

Francesc Fabregas (80)

Coming off our 7 - 0 rout of a 'shell shocked' Slavia Prague and given Liverpool's current form ( a 2 - 1 loss to Besiktas on the 24th, 1 - 2 win against Everton on the 20th, 2 - 2 draw with Tottenham on the 7th and 0 - 1 loss to Marseille at home) I was rather confident The Arsenal would be able to clinch all 3 pts up for grabs in this fixture. Forget that our away record at Anfield is not the best; the last time we had a victory at Anfield in the PL was October '03 and our most recent defeat (4 - 1) was in March of this year ( I can still hear my friend all the way from Nigeria enthusiastically screaming down the phone ... ) I was encouraged by our current form. The lads seemed to finally be getting the hang of playing great football and (most importantly) getting the results. Its not one or the other.

No internet streaming for me today, FSC showed the game live. Yippee! 5 mins to kickoff and I noticed that Lehman made the sub list. After all that smack he has been talking? Theo 'Okada' Walcott was on the bench as where Bendtner, Gilberto and Diarra AW decided to play Adebayor upfront with Cesc, Flamini, Hleb and Rosicky in the middle and Clichy, Eboue, Gallas, Sagna and Toure in the defence. The 'Nordic' Spaniard was in goal. Why play Adebayor alone upfront? I wondered. It soon became clear. Rafa had Alonso, Gerrard and Cesc's Shadow Mascherano in the midfield all of whom are quite adept at breaking up attacks hence no room for our usual 50 passes en route to scoring. With those 3 behind Kuyt, Torres and Voronin, I see Rafa planned to keep us occupied at the wrong end of the field. 7 mins into the match, Fabregas fouled Alonso at the edge of the box and a free-kick was awarded. Captain 'G' delivered a blistering volley, so hot it cleared a space in the wall (Flamini! Irregardless, though contract renewal please) just large enough for the ball to pass through and end up in the net. We where a goal down, (there goes my 3 pts for this match on FaceBook, of course I called a win with a clean sheet) My friend with whom I was watching the match had to comment on how calm I was, all cross legged on the couch (see he had previously observed me watching an Arsenal game, the Fulham game I believe it was, I was on my feet in front of the tv the whole time and by the end of the first half I was in need of Tylenol) "This is what the 2007/08 Arsenal side has elevated me to" I replied. "We have consistently been able to come from behind to win our fixtures this season" I inform him, "I am not worried see I am as confident as a turkey that the 3 pts are in the bag". Yeye boy just had to throw sand in my garri, "Not against the rest of the 'Big 4', you have no such record against them." [Picture me sulking for like 30 secs] This is our first 'Big' game in the PL this season true, and the outcome of this game is oh so crucial yeah we need to maintain our unbeaten record but also irregardless of the advantage of a game in hand, Man U are snipping at our heels and they are next up for a trip to the Emirates, next weekend to be precise. The high of a win coupled with the advantage of our home turf (fans and all) is really much needed. Its early yet, I believed the lads would come through and get the result. I had to wait 63 mins before The Arsenal drew level. Hleb's pass on the left arrived just in time in Cesc' path and he tucked it away in the net behind Reina to make the scores 1 - 1. The win eluded us with Cesc finding the lower post and Bendtner blazing the ricochet over the bar. Sigh. I was a little disappointed when the referee blew the final whistle. I believe we could and should have taken all 3 pts from the game. I have seen the team as a whole play much better and although they still managed to dominate the game (especially in the 2nd half) this fact worries me, are we peaking a whole month ahead of the Christmas break? I don't think so. Anyway you look at it that was some quality footy at Anfield on Sunday. Eboue was up to his apparently usual 'gamesmanship' (word of he day) antics. I am thinking perhaps AW should have started Walcott instead of Rosicky ... the Professor knows best, and Cesc was quite quiet, I guess its not easy lugging around such a 'heavy' shadow. Anyways, the 1 point was sufficient to put us back on top of the table ahead of Man U, that and a better goals scored tally. We face Sheffield on Wednesday in the Carling Cup at Bramall Lane and then Man U on Saturday at The Emirates. I expect to see a really confident side against Man U on Saturday, and I hope the lads will make a better job of capitalising on their chances, we won't have the luxury of squandering them. I am sipping on my Coke, no ice ...

Steaua Bucuresti 0 - 1 Arsenal

Does anyone know how these cable channels decide which matches to show? Espn is yet to show an Arsenal game in the current CL champaign! Well thats not exactly true, they did show our first game albeit delayed on ESPN Deportes ... is there somebody I can petition so I can watch more Arsenal games legitimately?

From all reports we played okay, the most important thing being we secured the 3 pts at stake. This seems to me to be our biggest achievement this season thus far, getting the result. I am happy.

I saw the second half of the ManU vs Roma game. Of course Roma was determined to not succumb to another 6-1 routing, while ManU were determined for a repeat performance. They eventually succeeded in securing the 3 pts at stake in the 70th minute with a really good strike from Rooney.

I was on the phone with Princess on Saturday after the Arsenal match. She asked what I had been up to and I was like I watched the game, we won etc etc. 'O which reminds me' she says, 'I have been seeing boys hawking football club stickers, I want to buy Arsenal sticker for my car.' Why? I asked, 'To support the team I know you love and also to remember you' How sweet! I am thinking and I actually begin to blush when it occurs to me, you mean there is a time in the day when this woman is not thinking about me? You mean she actually needs something to jog her memory!?

Arsenal 3 - 0 Sevilla

Francesc Fabregas (27)
Robin Van Persie (59)
Eduardo (90)

I called the game at 2-1, didn't think Sevilla wouldn't score. I am not complaining.

Meanwhile e be like say JM don commot Chelsea ... soccernet.com

Convincing start for Gunners soccernet.com

Young Gunners firing on all cylinders soccernet.com

Arsenal 3 - 0 Sparta Prague

Match Report soccernet.com

Sparta Prague 0-2 Arsenal

Match Report soccernet.com