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Our friends over at Never Captain Nicky Butt brought this cheeky pen to our attention…

Looks like a strike by the players of the MLS could mean this season is cancelled. I’m sure Landon wouldn’t be too unhappy about this… Caught Offside

The vote of confidence for Manuel Pellegrini, not a good sign… A Football Report

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What’s true though is that Champions win those matches, when you are tired, and the terrible playing surface makes your legs feel even heavier than they do already. Champions score in the 93rd minute because they keep going until the final whistle. No exception. We’ve scored five goals in injury time in the last four matches. That isn’t luck. That’s not willing to settle for less than three points, no matter how cheated you have been in the 90 which have gone before.

Hull got away with murder. Fagan and Mendy had around 10 fouls between them alone in the first half without so much as a sniff off a yellow.

The ‘Sol Campbell should have had a red card debate’ is a complete non starter because the Hull player was offside to begin with and so no penalty should have been given in the first place. Never mind that he flung himself to the ground when he realised the ball was running through to Almunia. Not that you’ll hear that version of things.

But let’s not be having facts get in the way, let’s have a discussion about why Sol wasn’t sent off. Let’s feel sorry for poor, poor Hull who worked so hard kicking Arsenal for 90 minutes, but couldn’t do it til the end of the match. Let’s focus on a perfectly legitimate tackle by Sol which won the ball, his standing leg slipped, and he carried on in to the man in no malicious or dangerous way. Let’s not ask Brown about Boateng poking Nik in the eye, or his leg-breaking, knee-high, horror tackle. Let’s not mention that the penalty was offside.

How lucky were Arsenal? The diving, cheating thugs!

Boateng should have had two straight reds, his tackle on Sagna was a leg breaker as I’ve said. It was reckless, and, I might even posture malicious. But no doubt he is not that kind of player. Certainly not the kind to poke Nik in the eye beforehand, somehow seeing them BOTH getting booked. Is that a new FIFA directive? The person assaulted shall also get booked, even though the person assaulting should get a red? Boateng has been sent off seven times in his career, three of those times against us, and he should have got two straight reds yesterday. He very clearly IS that kind of player.

Please excuse the quality of the images, I tried everywhere to find a proper image of both incidents, but had to revert to capturing them from video. In the second, can you even see the ball? That’s how late he was. How high he was speaks for itself.

Match of the Day chose not to replay ANY of Boateng’s red card offences, yet talked over Sol’s tackle even when they all agreed it was a perfectly good and fair tackle. Let’s get this straight, Boateng’s tackle was an absolute disgrace, a true horror tackle. Why they thought a red card, a poke in the eye, and that tackle didn’t warrant a replay I will never know.

He now gets a one game ban when it should be three. For either of the red cards he should have got but didn’t.

Mariner was an absolute disgrace, as was the linesman in our half, no matter what the half. There was many an offside both missed, so much so that the travelling Gooners cheered when we finally got one. The most important one he missed, of course, resulted in the above ‘penalty.’ He never clamped down on Hull’s fouling. Yet again the stats will show that we got almost as many yellows as they did for a fraction of the fouls (just checked the stats, how the hell did we only concede six less free kicks than Hull? – oh yeah, Mariner).

There was also a clear foul on Clichy in the box, the type which Rooney and all English players regularly get. He got nothing.

In the chat room, the doubts crept in around the 70th minute. I said it would be ok, even said ‘who fancies a 93rd minute winner’ (you can check if you like) but thoughts of matches from last season came flooding back for everyone in the room and most thought it was just gonna be one of ‘those’ games. But I’ve been trying to tell you all season that this isn’t one of ‘those’ seasons. Will you listen now? I was having a psychic day, because at 12.30pm, in a text discussion about Nik I texted that ‘Nik always scores when it really matters.’

My how he did that yesterday. I’ll take him missing 50 chances per match (though I wish he wouldn’t) if he always scores when it’s really needed. Wouldn’t you?

Arsenal finished the game with 63% possession, not surprising as it was a) against Hull and b) they only had 10 men, but Hull cannot feel hard done by. And as Arsenal fans, we shouldn’t forget that this is only the fourth game Hull have lost at home this season. We scored our 100th and 101st goals of the season, and no other teams has ever scored as many goals as we have by this stage of a league campaign (80).

Where last week Man United were lauded for keeping plugging away in the manner of Champions to finally break down Wolves, Bendnter ’saved our blushes.’ The double standards in the way things are reported irks me. Have I mentioned it?

Phil Brown actually said he hoped Arsenal go on and win the title post-match. What was that about? He was obviously insane because he said Campbell should have been sent off twice and, yep, you guessed it, Boateng isn’t that kind of player.

Five down, eight to go. Almost half way there.

So how did the players do themselves?

Almunia had a quiet day, but looked more assured than what we’ve come to expect with what little he had to do.

Sagna started sloppily but got going as the first half wore on. Was lucky not to have his leg broken by Boateng.

Campbell had a bit of a mare to be honest. After being booked (wrongly) for giving away the penalty that should never have been, he was lucky not to get a second yellow for a deliberate handball on the edge of our box which Mariner and his linesman failed to see. His ‘tackle’ was fair and warrants no further discussion.

Vermaelen was Vermaelen and really stepped up to the extra responsibility which comes with playing alongside an aging centre half. Flung himself at absolutely everything.

Clichy played well and should have had a penalty in the first half. There are reports that he was booked for diving, which just adds to the catalogue of disgraceful decisions made by Mariner. Getting back to his imperious best with every passing match.

Denilson. What can you say? To be honest, apart from his shot in the 93rd minute which Myhill parried, he was the invisible man. On two occasions I actually forgot he was playing. That all being said, his shot was probably the second most important thing to happen yesterday, so how do you quantify that?

Diaby played well, even if he wasn’t as imposing as he has been.

Nasri was tired and nowhere near as effective as he was against Porto. That being said he worked hard, but it was clear he wasn’t 100%.

Eboue was also quiet, something most of the players suffered from today, but he still made a few trademark surges to the by-line. How he was taken off and Denilson was left on is beyond me. But Arsene knows best.

Nik was Nik. He missed the easy ones and popped up to score when it was most needed. You don’t get much more vital than 93rd minute with league title hopes hanging by a thread. He looked sluggish as well and, like the rest of the team, will benefit from a week without a match.

Arshavin started the liveliest of all the players and was rewarded with a goal in the 12th minute. from then on he did what he does best, drift in and out of the match. Missed an absolute sitter, which was almost a carbon-copy of his miss last weekend.

Subs

Theo came on for Eboue and made an instant impact. While his final ball was often lacking, his direct style and pace causes Hull problems and helped unsettle them.

Eduardo came on from Nasri and seemed to play deeper as well. Didn’t see much of the ball but was efficient when he did.

We didn’t make a third substitution cause we had no players left.

To summarise, 90 minutes of poor football, six minutes added time, and a late winner … This must be how Man U fans feel every week. For all those moaning that we were lucky, just remember that our luck quota seems to increase the harder we work, and all that is in a climate of referees that obviously hate us. The fact that we were crowing over how good the ref for the Porto match was a real eye opener. We got to see what it was like to get a fair official.

All last season, all we heard is ‘pretty football wins you nothing’ and ‘it doesn’t matter how good your football is if you can’t win matches’ well we won this one, It was ugly, it was dull, we were poor and they were only there to foul, foul, foul, and dive occasionally. We ground out yet another result when we would have definitely only drawn or even lost last season. I don’t care about losing to Man U and Chelsea, that can be explained, but it always pissed me off when we went to places like Hull and Stoke and struggled to get a result. Not anymore. They are the places where Arsenal are winning the league this season while United and Chelsea struggle.

Side note – If Hull could muster a quarter of that spirit and effort, they’d be sitting mid-table with out a relegation care in the world.

Our first was only our second goal in the first 15 of a league match this season. The last one was at Burnley and that finished 1-1. I’m starting to dislike scoring in the first 15 in league matches and would be obliged if they could stop it please and thank you very much.

The generation behind the next generation at Arsenal (ie the U18’s) won 4-0 to go 11 clear in their league, while the JET scored what is being called goal of the season for Doncaster. Couldn’t find video of it, sorry.

The future is Arsenal, of that there is no doubt.

There’s a superb interview with Wenger here, before the Hull match. No other manager on the planet would ever give an interview this articulate, cultured and full of pure, unadulterated class. I will leave you to read the article in its entirety, save for the following quote for any of those people doubting that Arsenal is Arsene’s club now as much as it always been. When asked if he found it odd that his name was so similar to Arsenal

“You could call it coincidence, I prefer to believe in fate.”

Many don’t believe in fate, but you look at how this season has gone, it’s sometimes hard not to.

Even just a little bit.

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This week from the tipster I’m looking at the weekend’s fixtures and finding some value.

This weeks accumulator is:…

Barnsley to beat Crystal Palace
Doncaster to beat Derby
Reading to beat Bristol City
Burnley to beat Wolves

Available at 19/1.

As our bonus this week…

QPR to beat Sheff Utd at 11/4.

Don’t forget to check out my new website www.iamthetipster.com

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During Kevin Keegan’s first spell as manager at the club, the team earned the nickname the entertainers and were challenging for the title in the mid 90’s. In the 95-96 Newcastle looked odds on to win the league as they were 12 points clear of Man Utd but the Old Trafford outfit clawed back the difference and the Geordies finished 2nd.

Now if you know a Newcastle fan they will always tell you about one of these two matches.

Match 1) In the 96-97 season Newcastle got a bit of revenge by beating eventual champions 5-0 at St James’ Park…

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Match 2) In Kenny Dalglish’s first match in charge of Newcastle in Europe, Barcelona came to town. Not many would have expected a Tino Asprilla hat-trick along with a 3-2 win but thats how it went down back in ‘97…

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With the team bouncing straight back into the Premier League, who knows how they will grow from there…

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Let’s get this all clear before we start. Depending on who you talk to, if they aren’t an Arsenal supporter you could very well believe the following: Ramsey’s leg broke itself, it did this, just before he managed, with his self-broken leg, to be too quick for Ryan Shawcross, who was only fractionally late going for a 50:50 ball. Shawcross, as you all know by now, is a lovely lad, who has never done this sort of thing before, apart from the time he crippled the ex-25 after the ball was long out of play last year, or the year before that when he broke Francis Jeffers ankle from behind, or when he did this.

Now none of this is me saying he might have had intent. Nor is it me saying he is a malicious player. What I am saying is that when a player has been reckless in the past, you cannot use the fact that he is ‘not that type of player’ as a defence. He is very obviously a reckless player. You do not accumulate two leg-break credits by the time you are 22 by being Denilson-like in your tackles.

As expected, with the exception of Patrick Barclay, Arsene Wenger received more criticism for his post-match comments (which were fair, accurate, and very understated given the circumstances) than Shawcross has received for his tackle. This simply cannot be right.

The hypocrisy drives me insane. On the one hand the press tell us that Arsenal are the neutrals choice due to their overwhelming desire to play football the ‘right’ way no matter what they are facing, yet on the other they tell Arsenal they need to toughen up and ‘don’t like it up ‘em’. It’s almost schizophrenic.

We watch as teams in every division hit the wall, buried under a mountain of debt, while we hear Wenger accused of being stingy. We listen to Ferguson moan about everything, right down to the three extra seconds he thinks his team weren’t afforded, while Wenger is castigated for daring to say a leg-shattering tackle is ‘unacceptable.’

But in May, if it the fates should so deem that this battered, bruised, fractured, and ‘fragile’ team may lift the Premier League team, those same papers will be lauding Arsenal for winning it the right way, while on the other page discussing how we only won it because Man United or Chelsea threw it away. Isn’t that how leagues are won? Didn’t Man United only win it last year because no other team could get more points than them?

So what do Arsenal have to do to gain press approval? Only have players who dive if they’re English? Forgo football for tactics which wouldn’t even be tolerated in rugby? Or simply win something?

Should winning come at any cost? I for one don’t think it should. There is a pride in being an Arsenal supporter that no other club can boast. A moral high-ground bought and paid for which we have every right to stake claim to. We sit at the top of the fair play league at the same time as sitting at the top of the most fouled league and most injured league. We have not had a red card in over a year. We do not hound and harass referees in the way Chelsea, United, and so many others do. We appeal for blatant penalties like cricketers. When the finger isn’t raised, we simply play on.

Well I have a finger to raise for the rest of the league. It is firmly extended and waiting for May. It is pointing upwards from the middle of my hand, and it will be waving like a crazy in May, of that I’m sure.

Ramsey doesn’t just symbolise one player and one injury any more. He has, inadvertently, become the figure-head for the entire Arsenal team. A team which has decided enough is enough. He represents those who were broke before him, and the players know that he also represents what could happen to any one of them at any time. His injury, to Arsenal, has become much more than a badly broken leg. It has become a cause, a force uniting (almost) all Arsenal fans at a time when fractures in the support where showing wider and deeper than before. He has reignited a spark in those feeling jaded by the lack of trophies and humiliations at the hands on United and Chelsea. He has caused many of us to fall in love with our club all over again, and for others reinforced just why we put ourselves through ‘it’ every single week.

Anyone watching Match Of The Day, having not had the pleasure of watching the full match against Burnley at the weekend, would be forgiven for thinking Super Nik only missed three glorious sitters. This was not the case.

In the second half alone he missed enough for a double hattrick and I don’t mean half chances, I mean full-on, let it hit you anywhere and it’s in an open net from six yards out chances. The first one he missed, in the first half , was because he was off celebrating the goal in his head before he even made contact with the ball. And what a ball from Eboue who was absolutely electric all day. For Nik, the chances just got easier while his standard of miss got worse. When he was subbed with 15 to go he got a roaring chorus of ‘Super, super Nik’ he gestured to the crowd with shrugged shoulders, a ‘what else do I have to do’ sort of thing. Learning where the goal is would be a start.

It was unbelievable, so much so that a scoreline of eight or nine one would not have flattered us on the day.

It was a strange start to the match. Where most of us were expecting blood and thunder from the Arsenal team and raucous support from the home crowd everything was eerily subdued, so much so that the only free kick given (or even called for) in the first 20 minutes was for a Nasri handball. There was a real reluctance for anyone to tackle and it weird watching Burnley fly up to Arsenal players only to stop dead rather than complete the tackle/assault on the Arsenal player. Refreshing, but weird all the same.

When the tackles did finally start going in Foy clamped down with immediate yellow cards (when deserved) to the delight of the home support, but the first hard tackle, which might have won the ball cleanly, came with a full-blooded, studs up challenge. It was one Theo was not appreciative of, and his reaction of squaring up to the Burnley player and shoving him in the chest (twice) probably would have earned him a booking on another day. Not this one though. Not with banners draped all around the Emirates reminding Foy just exactly why Theo was reacting as he was. Or the ‘Get Well Soon Aaron’ Tshirts worn by Arsenal right up until quick off. Even Foy knew better.

Foy showed amazing understanding for a referee but Theo’s reaction was indicative, not only of the teams awareness of Ramsey, but also of a little bit of bite he seems to have added to his game lately, he’s not quite Mr Super Nice Guy anymore, and he is a better player for it.

When Diaby started warming up early in the second half we knew it had to be for someone, and while most of us hoped Wenger was going to break a habit of a lifetime and make a tactical switch early on and take Deni off, it was for our captain, who just seemed to come to a stop no longer after the superb opening goal. He just didn’t have his turbo-boosters, but that was the only sign that was something up. Hopefully it’s not a bad reoccurrence of the injury which kept him out for three weeks earlier in the season, but Porto seems a big doubt.

That first goal, what a goal. The pass from Nasri was Cesc-like in its beautiful chipedness, and Cesc’s finish, striking the ball just as it hit the ground to slot it between Jensen’s leg was a technique Nik could do well with studying.

After Cesc was replaced, Nasri was moved back in to the middle to join Diaby (superb) and Denilson (better than usual) and he just started running the show. He was man of the match, though it was close between him, Eboue, and Theo, but the authority he stamped on the game was from a page straight out of Cesc’s midfield manual, and he seemed to revel in the responsibility.

As the afternoon wore on, I’m afraid you can blame no-one but me for Burnley’s equaliser. Not five minutes before Nugent shinned the ball over a stranded Almunia (good game with authority and brave takes) I had commented to Clownshoe about Nugent’s shitness.

I should have known.

It was typical of this Arsenal team, we should have been goals clear, enough so that Burnley’s goal should have been only a mild annoyance instead of bringing us all to ‘one of those days’ mindset.

Theo had other ideas. His goal, with his left, was a fantastic placed shot and no more than his efforts on the day warranted. He has come in for a lot of criticism this season, most of it unwarranted, but he answered in the best way possible and was a constant threat to Burnley, so much so that we could have went all Villa on their asses and just pinged long balls over the top for him to run on to and cross for Nik to miss.

Arshavin, even though he scored, looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on the pitch and his introduction dropped us to 10 men. His attitude was appalling and he needs to sort it sharpish.

At 2-1 Burnley had a glorious chance to make 2-2, wholly undeserved it must be stressed, but with that butternutted cunt (and yes he is a cunt because he managed to somehow pass his normal level of shitness to put in a display which was nothing short of horrific) at the back anything was possible.

Thankfully though they didn’t and we managed to get a third in the 94th minute from Arshavin to put the game, finally, to bed.

A four goal winning margin would have seen us, briefly, regain top spot, and this was indeed a game which we would have drawn last year, such was the manner of it, but I didn’t want top just yet. Too much pressure. We’re perfectly fine where we are.

For now.

Next up Porto and the Champions League. Are you ready?

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And after Walcott’s genius there is some other crackers from this weeks 2 Good 2 Bad…

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This advert has made the list not because I like powerade, not because it shows Rooney’s accurace, but because the lad is topless. Woah woah woah I don’t mean it like that. What I am saying is that the most lethal striker in the world at this moment in time isn’t some well chiselled, tanned and waxed bloke. He’s just a pastey hairy Englishman without the ridiculous six pack, basically what I’m saying is he a real man and it’s good to see someone like that at the top of the game rather than those like after the jump…Bit more of this…

And a bit less of this…

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According to the info on the video he wrote: “To Wayne, best wishes.”

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This week from the tipster I’m looking at the weekend’s fixtures and finding some value.

It’s FA Cup weekend so there should be some decent games.

This weeks accumulator is:…

Arsenal to beat Burnley
Everton to beat Hull
Man Utd to beat Wolves
Chelsea to beat Stoke
Newcastle to beat Barnsley
Charlton to beat Stockport
Norwich to beat Yeovil

Available at 6/1.

As our bonus this week…

Chelsea and Cardiff to draw at 6/1

Don’t forget to check out my new website www.iamthetipster.com

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