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Would you like it if the game against Chelsea got postponed?

Ok, I know the weather forecasts in London sound promising and the game is likely to go through but would you rather that the game is called off? Not to sound like a coward or anything, but at a time like this I would have preferred a game against a weaker opposition. Our form against top sides has been ludicrous for the past couple of years. This Arsenal team is heavily dependant on confidence when it comes to winning games. After losing to Manutd last week, this match against Chelsea does not feel auspicious at all.

A quick look at the fixtures reveals that we have a good number of away games coming up. We do have one home game within the next five fixtures though. It’s against Manchester City. No matter how chimerical our away record is this season, I always believe that home games are easier. But sadly, we do not have any easy home games coming soon. What we do have is a couple of manageable away game coming up against Wigan and Birmingham respectively. So would you rather face Wigan away or Chelsea home as your next game? Surely the majestic Wigan.

But then again, will there be a better time to face Chelsea than now? Chelsea are out of form. In fact, I do not remember them playing this bad since 5 or 6 years ago. With one one win in their last six games, getting to play Chelsea now is like gold dust. Fat Frank should be rusty having just made his comeback from injury. Didier Drogba should also be low in confidence after missing the penalty against sp*rs. A win for Arsenal is definitely on the cards then.

Another reason why this might be a good time to face Chelsea is because we are in luck with injuries currently. The only big player missing is Vermaelen and he should be back by the end of January. Other than that our strike and midfield options are at a maximum. The sad thing is, so are Chelsea’s. They also have players coming back and the only injuries they have is in defense. But personally I do not care about the opponent as long as we are injury-free.

As they say, Weather is very unpredictable. Forecasts predict the game will probably not be called off. Plus, the Emirates is built to resist such conditions and we are lucky to have such a majestic stadium. But what do you want? A lovely match under the sun which you are confident we will win or a blizzard that freezes the engine of the Chelsea bus? Do let us know.

2010: 12/23
POSTED BY: Haider
CATEGORY: Match Related
TAGS: Arsenal
Chelsea
Drogba
Emirates
emiratesviewpoint
Lampard
4 comments

It’s time for revenge Barca, ‘cause revenge is sweet

Oh let’s cut the crap. We all knew who we were going to face next. Admitted that we ‘wished’ for something else but deep inside our fragile hearts we knew that it was time- time for revenge.

Some Arsenal fans are already moaning about how unlucky we are and that we can never win against a side like Barcelona. Really? If Arsenal fans feel like that then we seriously do not deserve to be in the Champion’s league. What’s the point of playing in the Champion’s League if we do not have the guts to face Europe’s top teams? It defeats the purpose, really. If not now, then when? We would eventually have to play them anyway. After playing in this elite competition for 13 seasons consecutively, we should be able to cope with this type of pressure. If Arsenal can ‘beat any other team’, why won’t it be able to beat Barcelona?

Arsenal are the underdogs in this match up. I know some fans prefer that we stay underdogs but frankly speaking, I don’t want us to be underdogs anymore. Why you say? Because I think Arsenal deserve more than just being a good club playing good football. I want Arsenal to be a club that puts fear into even the most elite clubs. I don’t want opponents claiming that they ‘rather face Arsenal than Chelsea or Manutd’. You know why people keep saying things like that? Because Arsenal never won the Champion’s League before. Yes, we went to the final once but ask any neutral footy fan if he or she remembers that game. I bet the answer would be ‘no’.

Arsenal are really unlucky. We again face Barca at the Emirates first. Personally, I would have preferred an away game to start with. That way we actually know where we stand when Barca come to play in our turf. It gives us the mental edge. But no, that won’t happen because lady luck’s a friggin’ Barca fan!

The one man who will be a key player for this tie is obviously our skipper Cesc Fabregas. He has to step up soon. I do not know what’s wrong with the chap. Before his injury he seemed very rusty. He made his comeback against Manutd the other day and he seemed even rustier. I mean, at a game like that adrenaline alone should make him be on his toes. But no, Cesc Fabregas’ 65% pass completion rate off the bench made him the most wasteful Arsenal player on the pitch. But the game is at the end of February and he has time to recover. But he has to step it up for this game, not just to the next level but to his maximum level.

At the end of the day, though, this is the biggest and the toughest game for Arsenal so far this season. I know revenge itself is not a good enough reason to play this game. But our pride is at stake this time. I am fed of us being the weaker of the two clubs playing the same way. I want us to be the best at what we do. I believe so, but the world does not. It’s time to put an end to this once and for all. Arsenal shall not only beat Barcelona, but go to win it all the way as well. Let’s keep believing, because it will make us stronger.

2010: 12/17
POSTED BY: Haider
CATEGORY: Match Related
TAGS: Arsenal
Barcelona
Cesc Fabregas
Champions League
Chelsea
Emirates
Manchester United
5 comments

Who Should Arsenal Face: Barcelona or Real Madrid?

So the much anticipated Champions League draw is tomorrow afternoon (in my time zone anyways). The four teams that we can draw are Schalke, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Real Madrid. Does anyone have a feeling like me that it’s most likely going to be one of the Spanish giants?

Our Champions League campaign started on a high when Arsenal comprehensively won the first three group games, but had to wait to the last game in order to secure qualification. We only have ourselves to blame for making things so difficult. But as many people predicate our team, that it wouldn’t be Arsenal if they didn’t do things the hard way.

Some fans seem to think that it’s best not to focus on the Champions League and actually get eliminated early to focus on the Premier League. This could be maybe because of the disappointing performances against Shakhtar and Braga, so the ‘hope’ of winning the competition has dissipated. Unfortunately, Arsenal have found themselves in a similar sort of position in the Premier League for a countless number of times in the past few seasons and yet haven’t been able to capitalise on them.

One of the fans I talked to recently said that he wants Arsenal to face Real Madrid to give them the same 5-0 thrashing that Barcelona did (woah, that’s the spirit!). Many may also want to face Barcelona early on in order to take revenge of last season. That is a possibility, especially since our team does look a lot stronger than when we faced Barcelona the last campaign. This time, Samir Nasri is firing at all ends and we have the likes of Chamakh and a fit RVP, so Bendtner is less likely to be our primary front-man. Others of course, are still wary of facing Spain’s dominating footballing forces and would much rather fancy their chances against Schalke or Bayern to progress further into the tournament.

Questions about our weaknesses remain. Football pundits ask whether Fabianski is ‘good enough’ to protect the Arsenal goal for them to win the Champions League? Does the Arsenal backline possess enough quality and depth to prevent the likes of Messi and Ronaldo scoring goals aplenty? Is Chamakh prolific and lethal enough for the Gunners attack to lead us to glory?

The problems are there. But do we sulk about them and lose confidence, or accept them and move on? The latter seems to be the right way to go. Does it really matter whether we face Barcelona or Real Madrid early in the competition? We’ll have to face them eventually if we are to win. So why fear them at all?

I cannot accept any element of fear in this Arsenal side. We are a team that has played in this prestigious competition for 13 seasons so far. The team needs to exuberate confidence and the winning mentality must flow through the veins at all times. Whether we play at Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu or at the Emirates, we must be in it to win it.