As we already guessed, William Gallas will be out for the season after that accident against Villarreal. It has been confirmed that it is indeed medial knee ligament damage and that is not a few weeks on the sidelines, its months. As it turns out we have also lost Almunia for what looks like three weeks with an ankle injury that was originally sustained from that despicable excuse for a human being…El Hadji Diouf.

Gael Clichy is also going to be on the sidelines for a couple of weeks with a back injury sustained in Tuesday’s game as well…  At this rate Bakary Sagna’s head is going to fall off after the Wigan game whilst Kolo Toure suffers an influx of Gout after next weeks return leg in the Champions League.

Wenger said this at his press conference yesterday:

“Gallas is a quick recoverer but we think he will be short to come back before the end of the season, It’s a big, big blow but that’s where the squad come in. I believe as well we have lost Manuel Almunia for three weeks and we lost Gael Clichy for two weeks with a back problem. We lost three players on Tuesday night so we have to once again rely on the depth in the squad – that is quite strong. As well we have to rely on our mental strength because until now we have dealt well with all our injury problems. Robin van Persie and Eduardo will have tests tomorrow morning. They might be available. And of course we have Andrey Arshavin available for Saturday.”

This could not come at a worse time. We could face Man United potentially FOUR more times this season, add that to two clashes against Chelsea (exc. CL) and a game against Liverpool (exc. CL), it means we need our strongest defence out there. With all due respect to Kolo, Sagna et.al. Gallas is our best defender, he is better than Kolo, better than Bakary, better than Gael, Djourou and Silvestre. Its a massive loss. In my view no player has redeemed himself more this season than Willy Gallas.

Take a look at the oncoming fixtures:

If I was offered 1-1 after the first 45 minutes i wouldn’t have just bitten your hand off, id have probably kissed you. The first half was worrying, we lost Almunia and Gallas to injury and went a goal down, albeit a rather good goal from ‘Spazillian’ Marcos Senna but still, things were not looking at all good. But, one thing we have learnt over this season is that when Arsenal are down, they sure as fuck are not out.

Highlights | Wenger’s thoughts

It was the typical game of two half’s and as soon as the kick off was taken in the second you could see the lads intent, we had been lacking the final ball as we so often have this season but when the ball fell to Fabregas in a similar position as to where he found himself at the weekend for the second against Citeh, he floated in a similar ball to the Tognator who chested it up and hit a magnificent bicycle kick into the far corner. It was truly magnificent and there will not be many better goals scored this season, there is one thing you can’t deny about Adebayor and that is that in the big games he really turns up. The first half passed him by but the second was when he really came alive.

Adebayor has admitted that he didn’t really have a clue what he was doing, to be honest, I don’t care. It was genius:

“I’m really pleased with how I played – I don’t even know how I scored, but the most important thing is that the ball went in the back of the net. The most important thing is to play and do something good here and I think we have done that quite well.”

I’m sure he is head over heels with that goal.

Next week Villarreal will be looking to return the favour with an away goal but at the Grove you will always fancy us to score at least one, van Persie should be back along with Eduardo meaning our attacking threat will have doubled. We must be favourites to go through now but remember, we are only halfway and there is a lot more time left in the tie.

On the injury front we couldn’t have had a worse night, Gallas looks like he is out for a long time, along with Almunia who has an injury knock. Wenger said this about Gallas after the game:

“With Gallas, it looks quite serious and could be a medial knee ligament injury,” said Wenger. “We will have to assess it. I am not a doctor, but the first signs do not look too good.”

The diagnosis looks slightly better for Almunia:

”Manuel is a reoccurrence of an ankle injury, which probably will be a couple of weeks.”

That is a massive blow for us, the defence is not rock solid but the experience of William Gallas is vital, not only to the defence but the team too. You just have to wonder if he might have played his last game for Arsenal after the events of this season. We should get more information on Gallas over the next couple of days.

On Almunia – We can live without him but Fabianski is still yet to convince me 100%, he is a fantastic shot stopper but when the ball is crossed in he has a tendency to flap. At this stage of the season you do wish that we had an experienced number two to rely on…

One thing that i realised when i was watching the game was just how young our midfield was, Walcott 20, Song 22, Denilson 21, Fabregas 21, Nasri 21. I might not be bang on with those but its around the right area…that’s an average age of 21. Name a better midfield, or even a midfield as good as that, at that age, in Europe. I bet you can’t.

One lesson taken from today is that we really need to buck our ideas up in the first half in away ties, against Roma we paid the price for a sloppy start. We did it against Villarreal last night and we only just escaped after Ade’s equaliser.

Last night proved that Villarreal are no soft touch and are in this competition on merit, they were not the only team to prove that either with the Manc’s drawing 2-2 against Porto at home. I’m sure every Gooner will be hoping for a win at home for the red and white army along with a goal-less draw out in Lisbon.

That my friends, would be just perfect.

’til tomorrow.

“Our attitude was spot on and overall we had great determination and put them under pressure.”

Our attitude was shit, we had no urgency at all. Anyone can see that. We did not want to win that game as much as Sunderland wanted a result out of us, all after it started so brightly with Arshavin getting a start, having a couple of fizzing chances and then Robin Van Persie missing a chance that he would normally have stuck away. Lets just say if it was Eduardo there i would have steaked a hell of a lot of money of the ball ending up in the back of the net.

Moan about their defensive tactics Arsene, moan about the referee, moan about the pitch, moan about the rough tackles, moan about injuries but just accept this.

We. are. not. good. enough.

If we can’t beat Sunderland, West Ham, Hull and Sp*rs at home we don’t deserve to be in the top four at the end of the season, even if we have beaten Man United and Chelsea.What does that count for when we slip up to the (with all due respect), shit teams.

We have a midfield with the creativity of a brick barring Andrey, Our other main creative players simply do not turn up sometimes. Van Persie didn’t really feel like it today by the looks of things, Nasri was anonymous and you would have needed a bloody secret agent to track down Niklas Bendtner.

Our crossing was woeful, Sagna was good in defence but whenever he crossed the halfway like he left his talent in the other half of the pitch. It says something when a central defender is your most attacking forward in the last minutes of a game doesn’t it? Yes, I’m on about William Gallas.

We are looking fine in defence but what good are 0-0′s doing to us? I would much prefer a 3-2 scoreline because we would actually get three points. Its been FOUR games without a win now in the league and in all competitions we have scored five goals in the last six games, with four coming all in one game.

Its truly despicable.

I have been trying to be upbeat but every time i try i get disappointed, sooner or later people are going to snap and Arsenal, there is no point in freezing the season ticket prices for a fourth year running because at this rate, there are going to be spare ones next season if we are not careful. Fans are getting really narked at this team not giving 100% and living their cushy lifestyles with their bleached hair, cars with ’25′ embroided on their seats, slick motors and pink, orange, green and powder puff boots. Joe Bloggs out there is listening to another six thousand people getting laid off and becoming unemployed, going back to their families saying they might lose the very roof over their heads.

Will they really care about a bunch of overpaid thick twats kicking a football about? Especially if they are not even trying.

Everyone that watches football, be it at the ground, pub, armchair or radio is paying a tiny bit towards these players wages, its escapism, but its getting to the point where people are thinking, you know what. Fuck em!

If they gave away a weeks wages between everyone that has lost their job in the last few weeks they would be much, much more comfortable. For example, if Ade really is earning 110K a week, that would probably keep every family that has had someone laid off in the past month fed for an entire year.

A message to all the Arsenal players.

At least look as if your trying? Please? Hell, you might even need more Mango moisturiser to soften those legs of yours that may get caked in mud?

Sort it out, or fans will vote with their feet.

Sorry, many fans won’t agree with me im sure, not many do. Its what i think, i reckon its true. Do you?

Up the Gunners.

Til Tomorrow.