Time for a new beginning 2012 – 13 Season

Todays result will mean a lot, it will mean that St Totteringhams days was once again achieved in the season, it will mean that we will be able to draw a line in a very poor season and rebuild with quality during the summer, it will mean we will now be able to attract the players we want and need to take this team to the level we need it to be at, more importantly it will give another reason for Robin van Persie to re-sign for us and finally it will also mean that Harry Redknapp’s dream of managing a team that will finish above Arsenal is dead and buried, along with his other dream of managing England, where he was never in the running, how funny is that?

Yes, this season was more like the great Escape just to keep the film analogies going we were poor for much of the season and we got away with it, West Brom was by no means an easy fixture for us as everyone kept on saying, they were going to get the win for Roy Hodgeson for his final game before picking up the England managers job, but everybody seemed to forget that Arsenal are actually above West Brom in the league and we play better football as well,

We also had our own reasons for extra effort, one was to secure third place so we don’t have to pre qualify for the Champions League and secondly it also was the final match of Pat Rice’s Arsenal career after 44 years of top quality service as a player and assistant manager.

I hope with all of my heart that Yossi Benayoun is offered a new 2 year deal with Arsenal, the guy is top top quality and has proved to be a fantastic asset to Arsenal and woithout his goals we would not have finished abouve Spuds this season, come on Arsene sign the bloke up.

The match report is below and for added value I have also included the Spuds match report that is well worth a minute of your time to read, just for the comic value, enjoy yourselves.

Match report from the web

Arsenal find relegation form for run in

Three points in four games is not the type of form Arsene Wenger wanted but unfortunately he was again unable to motivate his team prior to KO to beat a team who were there for the taking, it seems the only way he can motivate them is when they are struggling at half time and by giving them a massive b*ll*ck*ng.

Arsenal will be playing in Europe next season one way or another, but are we destined for the Europa League, the Champions League or is it in a pre season friendly?

Either way there is a real possibility that the Spuds will finish above us, just how on earth did Wenger allow that to happen?

The Norwich players alluded to what it may be after they secured the draw, they said Arsenal were arrogant, and I totally believe them because the first half display was as poor a display that I have witnessed even with a fantastic opening goal in the second minute of play by Yossi Benayoun.

Watching Yossi play is a lesson to all the Arsenal players, the on loan player is one of only a handful of players who seemingly want to regularly put a full shift in whenever they play, it is as if a we were still unmotivated and lack desire, like the win will come to them rather than going out and earning it.

Anyway, Arsenal are a flakey team, we have had three dips in form over a season and all at the wrong times, just when we needed to demonstrate our calibre we showed our soft belly like a submissive dog offering their throat to the bully alpha male dog.

I have questioned Wengers motivational tactics many times before, there are just some times when self reflection is not just good enough, you need to enter the pitch ready to walk through a wall to win a difficult match and that is a huge flaw that Wenger has not got in his repertoire of personal man management.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next week, but everything is out of our hands now, we have to rely on luck now and Chelsea not winning the Champions League, anyone for some Lasagne?

Match report.

Arsenal's hopes of automatic Champions League qualification were severely dented as Norwich earned a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners' afternoon had started so well with a goal from Yossi Benayoun after just 65 seconds. However, the Canaries, already guaranteed their top-flight status for next season, rallied and were level after Wojciech Szczesny spilled Wes Hoolahan's shot before Grant Holt's deflected effort gave the visitors a deserved half-time lead.

Arsenal rallied after the break as a brace from Robin van Persie in the space of eight minutes put the home side back in charge, only for Norwich substitute Steve Morison to grab a deserved point. There was still time for referee Anthony Taylor to miss a clear shove by Kyle Naughton in the back of Van Persie as he looked to tap in a winner at the far post before Canaries goalkeeper John Ruddy made a couple of important blocks.

Arsenal have a slender two-point lead in third place and now must hope Tottenham and Newcastle fail to make up ground on Sunday as the race for Champions League qualification is set to go to the wire.

A win looked a very safe bet indeed when Benayoun marked his 32nd birthday with the opening goal after a minute's play. He picked the ball up on the left side of the Norwich penalty area, cut inside and curled a sublime effort up over Ruddy into the far corner.

That should have settled any nerves, but instead, the Canaries were galvanised.

Bradley Johnson's chipped free-kick was headed goalwards by diminutive Canada frontman Simeon Jackson, and the equaliser came in the 12th minute.

Full-back Naughton, on loan from Tottenham, raced forward down the left and played the ball through to Hoolahan on the penalty spot. The Republic of Ireland midfielder did not really connect properly with his shot but it was enough to squirm past Szczesny and across the line.

Now it was Arsenal whose resolve was tested, as the atmosphere grew decidedly edgy.

Norwich continued to ask questions of the home defence and went ahead in the 27th minute. A quick break saw Hoolahan release Holt at the edge of the Arsenal area. As former Norwich loanee Kieran Gibbs backed off, the 31-year-old's shot caught the defender's boot and looped over Szczesny and in.

Stoke is a tough place to go and with the history of Ryan Shawcross and Aaron Ramsey added to the mix it had the potential to turn very nasty indeed.

The headlines for Stoke were all about Arsene Wenger getting ripped by the Stokies doing  a Wenger, but for Arsenal fans the headlines were all about Gary Lineker taking the piss out of Arsene but not mentioning the behavour of the Stoke fans on Aaron Ramsey, however.

At the end of the 90 minutes a 1 – 1 draw was acceptable although there was a more developed argument of Arsenal taking the 3 points rather than the home team.

The result now means that third place will not be decided on this day and there are still four teams all capable of finishing 3^rd or 4^th in the premier League.

Here is the report from the web

Arsenal missed a chance to capitalise on Newcastle's slip-up in the race for third place in the Premier League as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.

The Magpies' thrashing by Wigan opened the door for the Gunners to move six points clear and all but clinch a Champions League spot.

Am I missing the point in this, Chelseas best chance of playing in the Champions League next season will be to finish in the top for of the Premier League, it will not be trying to win the Champions League and by not getting 3 points from this game will practically rule them out of qualification.

If they get do get past Barca in a few days time

Franco Di Santo fired the Latics - who last week beat leaders Manchester United - ahead on the break after seven minutes, before Jordi Gomez doubled their lead inside 90 seconds.

Thomas Vermaelen reduced the deficit with a bullet header on 21 minutes, but the second-half onslaught from the shellshocked Gunners never came as the Latics moved five points clear of the relegation zone.

10 man Wolves carry no threat.

Usually this fixture has generated 3 points for Arsenal but you go into the away fixture with some trepidation, this season was not the case as the wheels had already fallen off the Wolverhampton Wanderers team bus and with Mick McCarthy sacked a few weeks ago they have not gained a single point since.

In effect this game was over before it begun, in the first few minutes Walcott was fouled in the penalty area, Wolves went down to 10 men  and RVP scored the resulting penalty and then Theo scored our second a couple of minutes later, job done.

The rest of the game was dour, it was like an Arsenal keep-ball session, Arsenal passed the ball and passed the ball and passed the ball, Wolves tried but ran out of steam after having a 10 minute period of pressure with little return, Theo got the bird from the Wolves because they thought he dived to win the penalty, when actually it was a penalty, the sending off was down to the referee not Theo.

City Gents to learn that money cant buy you love

Today was all about giving Manchester City a lesson in humility and how to put a team together without spending 800 million on the way.

Today was all about the home fans showing Samir Nasri just exactly what we thought of him after he turned his back on Arsenal for the lure of his own greed.

Today was all about finishing off Manchester Citys title challenge and making sure they end up trophyless again.

Today was all about showing all the ex Arsenal players that Arsenal FC are on their way back and that they are now at the wrong club

Today was all about showing Man City how to do the Poznan, with panache and sarcasm all in the same instance

Today was all about winning to achieve all of the above.

Lacklustre Arsenal can learn a lot from Hughes

This game was always going to be tough, QPR is filled with a team of players who hate Arsenal or have something to prove against us.

Mark Hughes history of animosity with Arsene Wenger, Joey Barton, Adel Taarabet ex Spurs and linked with a move to us last season that never materialised, Shaun Wright-Phillips, snubbed us

QPR didn’t need any motivational speeches before we entered the stadium, this was the game that they wanted to win more than any other game in the premier league, and it showed.

If only they could perform like that every week then they would not be in the state that they are at the moment but that is there problem, they are filled with some truly gifted players, but they are all prima donnas who need their egos massaged on a regular basis.

Arteta thunderbolt seals easy win

Today was a perfect day, the sun was out Arsenal were playing at home to Aston Villa and before we had even turned up you knew that this game was going to be a home win, Arsenal are playing well on the back of 6 straight wins, I have a good thirst and was looking forward to a few cold ones in the Eaglet pub and see the Away Boys play live whilst