Arsenal 3 Burnley 0

FA Cup 5th round – The Grove

I have the copyright to all Carlos Vela’s chipped goal finishes. From now on they are known as VelaChip©.

Sorry, awful isn’t it? This is my second attempt at writing the blog after 600 words somehow got deleted due to my Internet being of the equivalent speed of a mouse running on a wheel.

I’m sure you all know about the game so i will swiftly dodge that part and its  a fantastic result for us.

What can i say about Eduardo’s goal? it was sublime and i for one couldn’t believe what he managed to do, he knew what he was going to do from the instant Song played that lovely ball and he finished it with amazing accuracy. We really do have a hell of a striker on our hands here, hes not flamboyant in the slightest but he has so much talent and the most fantastic mentality to boot. A fitting captain for the day.

It means that we are one step closer to Wembley which will be a first for this side, Hull are up next but we really should beat them with comfort considering their current form and they will be concentrating on survival instead of the FA Cup which means it is even more in our favour, no excuses for not getting to the Semi-Finals. Then, anything can happen.

Wenger’s reaction to the game was full of praise, its a case of wham, bam, thankyou maam’ for the rest of the season, lets just get the job done and move on, we still have 2 trophies and a CL place to play for and that is more than we had to play for at this stage last season as we were already out the FA Cup.

The whole team did very well against Burnley and hopefully the confidence given to the likes of Song and Eboue will show into what is the most important part of our season, Eboue will hopefully be more composed in front of goal now whilst Alex Song was imperious and it was by far his best performance in an Arsenal shirt.

Sorry for the appalling blog but my internet connection made sure that i lost a 600+ word post! Thank you Tiscali. Cunts.

Roma build up starts tomorrow,

Up the Gunners

I will start off with an idea that is either plain stupid or fairly good; time will tell i suppose. Anyway, without further a-do here it is.

Basically its just a bit of fun, i want YOUR Arsenal chants that you have recorded. They can be drunken, from the game, random chants or just a big old rant at something; either way i want you to record them and send them to me. Here is how you can do it.

• Record it on your computer with a microphone
• Record it on your mobile phone and upload it to your computer

Fairly simple? I hope so..

All you need to do after that is send it to me via my e-mail which is goonblogger@googlemail.com or upload it to YouTube and send me the link, either in the comments section or through my e-mail.

What i will do then is create a compilation of all the chants, put them into a podcast and post it on the blog. Its not a competition its just a bit of fun. They can be about anything too, Tottenham, Man Utd, any player or game you want. It is entirely up to you!

Please get involved because it will all be good fun.

Now onto tomorrows game against Burnley and it is likely we will see some faces we have not seen for a while, namely Theo Walcott and Eduardo who are in the squad for a game. I’m tipping one of them to start with Van Persie, Denilson, Nasri, Almunia and probably Clichy being rested.

Bendtner is likely to get another start up front with Vela or Arshavin alongside him, though i wouldn’t rule out a start for Eduardo.

It will be a tough selection for Wenger who must surely have one eye on our midweek game with Roma; of course, we would not have to look ahead to that so much if we did not waste chance after chance but that is in the past and we can’t rectify that.

Denilson really could do with a rest because he has made a hell of a lot of appearances this season; the most of any player. I am pretty sure he has not missed a game (in the league) since the defeat to Fulham at the start of the season, that’s quite some run of games!

All in all i expect us to win with something to spare and its a good chance for Bendner to show the form of midweek again against on of the leakiest defences in the Championship, with Arshavin looking for a start as he will be rested in midweek we will have the creativity for sure.

Its a chance for us to get to Wembley for the first time and we really can’t afford to blow it, if we do there are sure to be massive repercussions. We should not even contemplate it.

Stupid bloody FA Cup draw/setup/fixtures. Hull will await us if we win. I think its another home draw but can’t be sure.

Lets get behind the red army tomorrow.

Remember those chants.

Til Tomorrow – Up the Gunners!

He is back

Quite a bit over the last day or so and news that Theo and Eduardo are back in the squad for Sunday’s game, i will give you more on that in the match preview on Sunday morning/Saturday evening.

Anyway, a late late post here because I’m absolutely shattered and fell asleep before blogging so apologies if you came here expecting to see something earlier.

There was a bullshit story about Cesc going if Wenger goes which obviously meant ‘cue Man City rumours!’ in every office of every tabloid paper. Poor form really. Wenger came out straight away on the official site to rubbish such rumours and stated Cesc could stay until he is 32 and really secure legend status at the club, Wenger said on the speculation:

“I have never allowed anyone to question my commitment to this club, in the good and in the bad times, that has not changed in my mind, you have told me I am on their wanted list, I do not know if that is true or not. It is certainly not true because they have a very good manager in Mark Hughes. He is doing a good job. They have to keep confidence in him.

“On my side, I am contracted [with Arsenal] until 2011 and until 2011 I do not envisage to go anywhere else.”

Good to hear, and i expected nothing less. Whenever i have heard speculation about Wenger’s future i always rubbish it within seconds because he is a man of principle, one of the only in the game like that. Wenger will never cut short a contract, he will always see it out until the end. On Cesc Wenger had this to say:

“I hope his future will last longer than mine because I think he can still be here in 10 years. He should be one of the bases of this club. I think the Club should be built around personalities like Cesc and that’s why I hope he will still be here.

“He was born in 1987 and he is 22 years old in 2009 and at 32 he will still play.”

I really can’t see Cesc leaving for a long time, i just can’t visualise it. You know when you are watching a truly great footballer running with the ball such as Zidane and they never look like losing it? I just can’t see Cesc leaving for a long time.

Van Persie is Arsenal.com’s player of the month for the fourth consecutive month. Well done that man.

As you can tell from the picture at the top of the blog Cesc Fabregas is back in training, along with Mikael Silvestre, great news that he is back (Cesc) and he will give everyone a boost. I just can’t wait to see our captain back.

Our youngsters have done us proud by beating the Spuds on their own vegetable patch by 3 goals to 1, and they even had the vision to make it all the more painful for the spuds by leaving it ’til the dying moments before grabbing the winner and then putting the icing on the cake. J.E. Thomas looks a fantastic prospect!

The Fergie and Wenger love in continues.

Wenger has spoken about bans for malicious tackles and whilst i feel its hard to prove whether a tackle is malicious or not, the current system is a joke and needs to be changed. Especially for the likes of Kevin Nolan.

Right, more tomorrow with a match preview after that.

Up the Gunners