Happy New Year!

Borrowing from the lyrics of the very popular old school song 'Odun nlo sopin' by the C.A.C Good Women Choir, "Odun a ya abo fun wa" ( the year will be fruitful for us)

What a way to start the new year, a 2 - 0 win over Westham at the Emirates.

Match Report soccernet.com

Everton 1 - 4 Arsenal (and other gist)

Its been awhile, a lot has happened since we lost that game to Sevilla. We drew our game in hand against Newcastle, and hot on the heels of that lost to Middlesbrough. We did beat Chelsea against all odds which was nice. We drew against Portsmouth last week and relinquished leadership of the Premiership to ManU. Needless to say December has not really been our month but somehow the gods of soccer have been on our side, we head into the new year back at the top of the tables, 2 points ahead of ManU.

Da Silva Eduardo (47)
Da Silva Eduardo (58)
Emmanuel Adebayor (78)
Tomas Rosicky (90)

It was quite the strange win. Everton went ahead in 19 min from a corner which seems like Bendtner cleared right onto Yakubu's head or Cahill's boots. Our play was quite frustrating in the first half, our passes fell short and it seemed like the players were unaware of each other. I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when it was half time.

I don't now what happened in the dressing room at half time but the boys came out and in the 47th minute a Eduardo controlled a long ball (!) from Clichy, turned and slotted the ball in past Tim Howard. We were level. He scored the exact same goal again in the 58th minute and we went ahead. Just as I was wondering why Arsene hadn't made any changes (we were well past the 70th minute mark), Bendtner got a second yellow card and got sent off. Oh no! It was all the more sad because apparently Adebayor was waiting on th sidelines to come on for him! Bummer. He came on for Eduardo instead and 4 mins later a 'comedy of errors' occured. A goal kick from Almunia landed in the Everton half, Yobo for some strange reason decides to let Howard deal with it, Adebayor kicks the ball at Howard who fails to catch it, the rebound drops for Adebayor who has left the keeper behind and he scoes our 3rd goal. So much for my fears that being one man down might cost us the match. In the 84th minute Arteta was awarded a red card for his well placed elbow in Fabregas' face. Unfortunately the Oscar went to someone else but Fabregas deserved the nomination, for a second there I thought his eye had popped out or something. He did get booked for an unrelated infarction and was quickly replaced by Rosicky who scored our 4th in injury time. With ManU's suprising loss to West Ham (Imagine, they were a goal up, a missed penalty, and an eventual 1 - 2 loss) we once again moved to the top of the tables. We will be meeting a decidedly chuffed West Ham on New Years day.

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 ...

Arsenal 2 - 0 Bolton

Ore darlin', this one is for you.

Kolo Toure (68)
Tomas Rosicky (80)

Again, I had to content myself with monitoring the match on MatchCast from Soccernet.com. Aargh! I am this close to junking my TWC service and signing up with DirecTv.

I was just releasing my breath (held over the duration of the international week), thankful that we managed to come through unscathed as per injuries (save for Senderos, but Gallas was back so we had that covered) when I saw this pix and later read that RvP would be out for a month. Damn. After I calmed down I realised that RvP's absence was not necessarily a bad thing what with Adebayor, Eduardo, Hleb, Bendtner and of course Walcott. This is not the Arsenal of two seasons ago, the fact that RvP is out really means nothing, we have several pple capable of scoring goals in the attack, midfield, even defence ;) (we all know Lehman can assist, even score goals, now if we can only get him to understand that he needs to go across the field, avoid 11 players from the opposing team and put the ball net ...) Speaking of Lehman, it would be a shame if he is going to end his career in goal for The Arsenal on this note. Wenger refused to list him for the Bolton game after he declared him fit and match ready ( he was in goal for Germany) He has been talking a lot of smack lately and its not like his injury, time out wasn't legitimate. He really should keep his flapper closed and concentrate on getting his 1st place jersey back the right way - proving he is worthy to the coach. Almunia has served well in goal due in part to the excellent work the defense is doing in front of him, and by defence I mean Flamini (1 contract renewal coming up).

Bolton had earlier sacked little Sam (of the orange crate in the Bolton dressing room fame). I was not surprised to hear this, I was not pleased though. It seemed little Sam's desire to actually play football was the reason Bolton seems to have wandered into the bottom 3 and apparently made camp next to the site they had broken ground on to erect a magnificent edifice. Little Sams departure could only mean that for sure Bolton would revert to their old way of doing things, being a pack of dirty, time wasting shitkickers with 11 men behind the ball as often as possible. (according to arseblog.com)

The stats on Matchcast were like astounding; 19 shots (with 9 on goal), Bolton managed 1 shot (none on goal); 65% possession for Arsenal while Bolton had 35%. They did make good use of their possession with 20 (14 for us) fouls and 5 yellow cards (1 for us). Going by these stats I must say I am disappointed that we only scored 2 goals (and to read about Adebayor's theatrical collapse right in front of goal does little to quash it.)

Toure opened scoring in the 68th minute form a freekick 25 yards out (many thanks to Ivan Campo for fouling Cesc). Hleb fed Walcott who by the way is making Wenger teary eyed with his performance in recent weeks, who made a cross across the area for a fit again Rosicky to turn in at close range in the 80th minute. 90 mins and its 2 -0 to The Arsenal! 3 points in the bag, still sitting pretty at the top of the table. Go Gunners!

We have a busy week ahead; we play Slavia Prague at home on Tuesday in the CL, Liverpool on Sunday at Anfield and Sheffield Utd on Wednesday at Bramall Lane on Wednesday.

Arsenal 3 - 2 Sunderland

Robin Van Persie (7)
Philippe Senderos (14)
Robin Van Persie (80)

We are doing well this season, coming from behind and getting the result. My loyalty to the team astounds me. I had had a late night and (maybe too many screwdrivers) went to bed at like 3 AM and the match was to start 4 AM my time. I set my alarm and hoped for the best. I did wake up but alas the good fortune I had last week with my internet stream/feed eluded me. I had to content myself with MatchCast on Soccernet.com to monitor the scores, and the highlights on FSC later in the day. I just saw the highlights. Great freekick by RvP in the 7th minute. Senderos scored his 3rd goal for The Arsenal (in 92 appearances) off a failed backheel attempt from Diaby. In the 19th minute it would have been 3 - 0, Hleb (oh how I love thee) made a cross from the right which Fabregas missed but Diaby was on hand to bury beautifully. Imagine my surprise to see the linesman's flag up, offside?! Omo I look de replay well well, nothing like dat, Fabregas was onside as was Diaby when the Hleb crossed the ball, abi the linesman mistake Sunderland defender for Arsenal attacker? God dey. We looked set for a walk through the park at this point and then Sunderland begin to come back from the dead. A long ball forward from Dwight York ( I was just reminiscing about his ManU days and fantastic partnership with Andy Cole the other day) was controlled by Jones who beat Clichy but was denied by Almunia. The loose ball bounced back and was controlled by Wallace who easily found the back of the net since Almunia was not on his line. Jones leveled the score with a brilliant header just at the beginning of the second half. Arsene subbed out the right side (Theo Walcott in for Diaby, Eboue for Sagna) and Hleb switched flanks. Time to grind out the result. In the 80th minute, RvP scored off an effort from Walcott who perhaps redeemed himself on the howler he had had a couple of minutes before.

Apparently this match was no walk in the park for Arsenal, kudos to Roy Keane and the lads from Sunderland, The Arsenal still rules though ;-)

Next up we face Bolton at home on the 20th

West Ham 0 - 1 Arsenal

Robie Van Persie (13)

I was up at 6:30 am, helpless cos FSC was not showing the Arsenal match, delayed or otherwise (they showed the Chelsea - Fulham and the Man U - Birmingham matches instead, wankers!) Logged on to my computer and was pleased to see that Man City was winning 2 - 1 against Newcastle in the 83rd minute. Correct I called a 2-1 win so my 3 pts were practically in the bag (I was very pissed when Elano scored, 2-1 is afterall a win, why did he feel the need to score another goal? did he not know I also had 3 pts at stake? Over-eager son-of-a- ....) For some reason I started messing about with the streaming application I installed last month or so (God bless U Chxta) and lo and behold I heard the in studio commentator ask viewers to hang on for the live broadcast of the Arsenal match! Yes!!! I quickly got my head phones out.

We don't exactly have a stellar record against West Ham, certainly not away to them, and we did lose to them twice last year so Understandably I was quite nervous. The fact that we have been playing quite well, winning two of our matches so far coming from behind (truly indicative that our goal and fold attitude was surely a thing of the past) did calm my nerves a bit, but then again this IS football.

You could tell that West Ham came to this match secure in the knowledge that the 3 pts were theirs for the taking. The first 10 mins was quite hectic, and Adebayor's failed attempt at goal in the 3/4th minute had me clutching my pillow. 8/9 mins later Adebayor held on to the ball and made a quick pass to Hleb on the right who crossed it across goal. Van Persie intercepted it with his head and we where a goal up. That seemed to calm down the Hammers a bit. Although they did take their revenge via a rather scary tackle on Hleb by Noble which left Hleb clutching his knee howling for his mummy (slight exaggeration). He had to be stretchered off and Arsene not wanting to take any chances (the guy just came back from a knee injury) broke the 70 min rule and subbed Hleb out for Eboue in the 31st min. Van Persie would have made it 2-0 soon after but for the interception Greens fingers provided. I think the goal line would have been very different if not for Robert Green who made many an impressive save during the course of the game. He was really the man of the match for the Hammers.

I was quite impressed with Flamini (contract renewal please), he effectively choked supply to Ashton and Camara. This is not to say the English man didn't have one or two impressive shots on goal, I am happy to report that Almunia was on hand to receive everything he had to dish out.

Freddie Ljunberg was on the prowl to score against us and 9 mins into the second half he did manage to slot one in although (thankfully) it was ruled offside, why? I don't know perhaps the Big G was a Gunner on Saturday? I like Freddie and all that, even after all the smack he was talking about the club about the time he left, and I want him to score against us, just not when said goal woulll mean us sharing the points or worse leaving empty handed! I was amused at the 83 minute substitution for the Hammers (L Boa Morte for L Bowyer) perhaps flooding the pitch with ex-Arsenal players would do the trick? Na final whistle signalled the 3 pts in the bag, We still reign at the top of the tables. Of course we have Man u and Man City (interesting) nipping at our heels, but I think we have everything under control.

We will be away to Steaua Bucharest tomorrow as per our CL champaign and we will be meeting Roy Keane and his lads on Sunday.

How could I forget to mention the rugby, basketball, volleyball, handball, american-football … amazing score line that Portsmouth achieved against Reading? I was as usual multi-tasking (watching the Arsenal game on my laptop, watching the Chelsea game on on mute on tv, keeping tabs on the score lines for all the other games via soccernet) I didn't really pay much attention to the scores from the Portsmouth/Reading game until like the 81st minute when my jaw promptly dropped at the scores (at that time it was 6-3). Only for me to blink and see 7-4, wonderful! Apparently that game set a new record for number of goals scored in a premiership match (the prior record was 10 goals)

Also all I can say re: the 2nd yellow card against Drogba is, haba! The guy seems not to realise he is not in the chorus line for a broadway show. That was a very high kick, if for nothing else for the sake of the 'family jewels' he shouldn't be kicking like that o!

Manchester United 2 - 0 Chelsea

I was not intending to miss this match and in the aftermath of Jose Mourinho's and Roman Abramovich' decision to 'mutually part ways', the match became must see tv so much so that I was willing to haul my behind out of bed early on a Sunday morning get dressed and all that and drive all the way to Santa Monica to watch the match at an English pub at the invitation a friend. Princess called just as I was leaving the house and I didn't have the heart to tell her I was not on my way to church so I lied! (Father forgive me but You sef sabi) So we arrive, we pay the gate fee and shared a very, very greasy breakfast of Heinz baked beans, runny eggs, tomatoes, sausage and toast washed down with a not nearly large enough cup of hot cocoa yum! (one can only wonder why I am not losing the last 10 pounds abi?) We sat next to a group of proxy ManU supporters (I am guessing) who had something to say at every turn, nothing like alcohol fueled soccer commentary I tell you. I did agree with then on one thing though, ManU had a duty to win the match one time for JM and the Premiership as a whole ans to teach AM an important lesson, you don't sack the most successful coach your team has ever had, you leave him in peace to do his work. My friend was really excited at the fact that Mikel Obi was starting and he had a very very brief wavering of allegience I am happy to report ManU won out. Mikel played all of 30mins (?) before getting sent off on a very strange call. I am thinking the referee should have awarded the ManU penalty earlier and not compensated by sending Mikel off, the boy's studs hardly left the ground and he was going for the ball ... Anyway, after many saves Tevez finally got the better of Cech in the dying minutes of the first half and I could just see it coming too; ManU corner by Giggs to Brown back to Giggs low cross across Chelsea and unmarked Tevez heads it in. The Blues go into half time a man and a goal down. They returned in the second half and it seemed to me like they were content to just play it safe and not concede anymore goals while taking extra care on their part not to score any. Could the boys be trying to send RA a not so subtle message? In the dying minutes of the 2nd half, Saha scored from a penalty awarded for a challenge on him by Tal Ben Haim. Jose must have been somewhere, cigar in hand, terrier in lap laughing his head off.

Arsenal 5 - 0 Derby

Vassiriki Diaby (10)
Emmanuel Adebayor (25)
Emmanuel Adebayor (pen 50)
Francesc Fabregas (70)
Emmanuel Adebayor (79)

Coming off Derby's 1 - 0 win against Newcastle, I didn't want to take this game for granted, last season especially we had a very worrisome record against the smaller under-rated teams, sharing points unnecessarily and at times even dashing the points out all together. I needn't have bothered. I was up bright and early to watch the game and my boys no dissappoint me at all.

D - Guns blazing, we opened scoring in the 10th minute with Diaby's rising drive from the edge of the penalty area, a feat he almost repeated a couple of minutes later but for the Derby keeper who denied him.

E - Adebayor made it 2 in the 25th minute, with a pass from Cesc he parted the defence, skipped around the keeper and of course your fathers relative is Bob!

R - 4 mins into the 2nd half, as if dem never suffer reach, we got a penalty off of Oakley pulling Eduardo down in the box. Yes Adebayor stepped up and yes he scored. At this point I was very happy I had called a 3-0 win and I felt it was only good that I also get my 3 pts in my mini-league on FaceBook abi how una see am?

B- Just as I was thinking 'any minute now Arsene will be making his first change of the game', Cesc made a correct drive from 20 yards. I was not even upset that Cesc stole my 3 pts from me. Then it occured to me, this is a good match for a spelling lesson ...

y - 80 mins into the game, Adebayor chested down a long ball, shoke off his marker and stroked in the ball. The young man scored his first hat-trick for Arsenal.

We are still sitting pretty at the top of the table, 2 points ahead of Man U (who inched up after an interesting win over Chelsea) and with a game in hand! We play Newcastle on Tuesday in the Carling Cup which should be fun, then we play West Ham away on Saturday in the PL.

Match Report soccernet.com

Tottenham 1 - 3 Arsenal

Missed the first half of the game, (I set my alarm and forgot that it doesn't go off on weekends!) Great comeback from the boys, to think I actually called it! Nice to see us topping the tables once again. I saw the Chelsea match, daylight robbery. It seems the gods are smiling on Blackburn, what with the Lehman assisted goal they scored against us that ensured we shared the points and now the very legitimate Chelsea goal that was disallowed ...



Match Report soccernet.com

Match Report arsenal.com

Arsenal 1 - 0 Manchester City

Infact! I no know say Schmeichel picken don reach to dey keep o. The boy do well sha, even im papa no fit stop Fabregas shot so ...

The boys were looking good today, I expected a bit more from Manchester City with their 3 game unbeaten record and all but you know they are our 'wife'. I must say I was a lot more comfortable with Almunia in goal ( I can't believe I am actually typing this!) and he did have one or two saves didn't he? Lehmans Achilles injury could not have resurfaced at a better time although one can only wonder if this was a real re-occurrence of said injury or just a way for him to take some much needed time off to get himself together. Either or I wish him 'soonest recover'.

Match Report soccernet.com

Blackburn 1 - 1 Arsenal

Interesting to note that the two goals scored came 18 mins into the game and 18 mins from the end of regulation time. Again, Lehman was credited with an assist on the opposing teams goal. I think Arsenal played a better game than they did last weekend although one could also say I was able to focus more on this match seeing we took the lead early on. Either or we had no business sharing the points, I really hope we are not once again towing the line we did last season.

Many thanks to Chxta for this info, I was able to watch the match live as opposed to waiting till 11 to watch it (recorded) on FSC.


Match Report soccernet.com

Arsenal 2 - 1 Fulham

(I am trying to write this post and my STUPID Bayern Munich fan friend is guffawing in my ear!)

As I was saying ...

80 mins into the game I had already composed this post in my mind - Same ole same ole, it seems the only thing Arsenal is committed to this season is to continue the losing to/drawing with soapy teams. Then Toure managed to get a penalty which Van Persie scored superbly and Hleb ensured we didn't lose our opening game. Big up to the Fulham keeper (I think he did well considering 10 mins to the start of the game he didn't know he would be starting) As usual one can only hope Lehman is back on his meds!

Match Report soccernet.com

Match Report arsenal.com