Stoke vs. Arsenal

3-1, Premier League, Britannia Stadium, 27/2 -10
Bendtner 32,
Fabregas 90+1 (pen),
Vermaelen 90+4

Tragedy and unbelievable happiness, I'll start with the goodies, we finally got our Britannia win!! And besides that, Chelsea lost at home to Man City!! So now we are only 3 points after Chelsea, and 2 Points after Manchester United, and we don't have many difficult away games left!!

Moving on to the tragedy, Ramsey suffered a horrific injury, his leg was in a completely wrong angle, so I guess we won't be seeing him around in a while..
It really felt like a reminder of Eduardo's injury two seasons ago.. It's such a shame since Ramsey really improved this season, with 27 apps, 16 as sub.

The game in itself was quite rough, but you wouldn't expect anything else when you travel to Stoke.
The start was pretty much the same as earlier games at Britannia, us conceding a throw-in goal from Delap, but after that we began to dominate the game and eventually Bendtner recieved a lovely pass from captain Cesc, and headed it home!

In the second half Stoke started a bit fresher, but eventually we began dominating again and had pretty good control of the game, Ramsey had a penalty shout turned down, but the replay clearly shows that it was a penalty.
When Shawcross brutally tackled Ramsey he recieved a red card, but that wasn't much consolation for us, it was clearly decided not to show any pictures of the tackle or of Ramsey's leg, since the only pictures we could see of the injury came just when it had happened, after that the only thing they showed was the Arsenal players' despair and Shawcross walking off the pitch in tears.
Vermaelen and Fabregas seemed to be the ones that were the most shaken by the situation, so it feels just right that they were the ones to win this game for us.

The minutes after the incident was pretty absent, but we jumped into action when Bendtner's shot found Pugh's outstretched hand.
And finally the ref gave us a well deserved penalty, Fabregas wanted to take it again, and he did it pretty much the same as last weekend's penalty against Sunderland, a well placed shot, Sörensen went the right way, but the shot was too wide for him to catch, so the captain got his 16th goal of the campaign, that put a cheerful smile on the Arsenal players, staff and not least the fans!
He dedicated the goal to Aaron, clapping on his right leg in front if the fans.
A couple of minutes later Vermaelen could round things up when Sörensen couldn't hold Rosicky's shot, and Cesc managed to pass it to Vermalen, who easily tapped in 3-1 in the open goal.

So it was an evening with mixed emotions, but hopefully Ramsey will be fit for next season..

Injury Update;
-Since I write this just after the game no news have yet been established on Ramsey's injury.
-Gallas, Arshavin & Diaby didn't make it back to this game, but hopefully they'll all be back for the Burnley clash.
-Eduardo made his comeback from the recent hamstring problem, he came in from the bench in the 83rd minute.

Arsenal vs. Sunderland

2-0, Premier League, Emirates, 20/2 -10
Bendtner 27,
Fabregas 90 + 3 (pen)

Brilliant display, but we really should have scored some more goals! We had tons of chances, but eventually the big numbers will come, I'll be waiting for them!

We totally dominated the game, Sunderland had perhaps two or three real good goalscoring opportunities, compared to the fact that we had perhaps fifteen or something, so you can't say that we didn't deserve all the points! And the victory taste all the more sweet since United lost at Goodison earlier today! So now we are only 2 points after United, still 6 after Chelsea though.

It took a little while to break the deadlock, and it was great that Bendtner finally got a goal after his innjury, he if someone needed it, but credit goes to Eboue, who made it soooo easy for the Dane.
Walcott started the game, and he seems to be getting better and better in every game, it really is nice to see, he just kept on running past the defence!

But they really left it late! But with a minute left, the business was done, when Cesc was brought down in the area, he finished it himself, beautifully placed in the corner, not with power, but with finesse.

So to sum it up, we are back in the road after some disappointment in the Champions League.

Injury Update;
-Song and Almunia returned to the starting eleven, but Gallas, Arshavin, Eduardo and Diaby were still out, hopefully they will make the trip to Stoke next Saturday, we will most certainly need a solid defence and some height for that game

Porto vs. Arsenal

1-2, Champions League, Estadio do Dragao, 17/2 -10
Campbell 18

There's not words to describe how weird that referee was in his decision that led to Porto's winner.. I'm soo disappointed in the decision, and the ref is from Sweden, which really doesn't make things any better..

We played quite well, Porto's first was unlucky for Fabianski, who dropped it in, but after that we responded well and eventually Fabregas' corner found Vermaelen, who headed towards Rosicky, who headed back to Campbell, and the power in his header was just astonishing.
When we got our goal we kept going strong with some great chances, and in the second half we should have been given a penalty when Rosicky was brought down in the box, and he wasn't the only one that recieved tackles, Fabregas was clearly their main target for the evening.

When Sol accidently got a toe to a ball that Fabianski picked up, and the referee gave Porto a free kick in the box, but the fucked up shit was that when the referee stood in Sol's way, a Porto player passed another player and he scored, and the referee gave them the goal!! I mean, when you give a team a free kick in the box, the defending team should always have time to gather their defence, but this time it was just like giving Porto a goal, since they could take it at once!

Anyway, we are just simply going to take it to Emirates for the return, we won 4-0 against Porto at Emirates last year, so hope is certainly not gone.

Injury Update;
-Gallas(calf), Almunia(finger), Arshavin(hamstring), Song(knee) and Eduardo(hamstring) all missed this game
-Song is likely to return for the Sunderland clash, Almunia is 50:50, but the rest + Diaby will be out.
-Diaby picked up a medial knee ligament injury

Arsenal vs. Liverpool

1-0, Premier League, Emirates, 10/2 -10
Diaby 72

There really isn't words to describe how great it feels to be out of that negative trend and most importantly, back in the titlerace, Chelsea lost and United got a draw, so we are only six points after Chelsea now.

It was a really tight game though, and the last twenty minutes was almost unbearable, especially when it was one minute left and Liverpool was given a freekick in a good position, but fortunately it was stopped in the wall and after that time was up for Liverpool, and we got our so richly deserved win.
Diaby headed our late winner in, Rosicky provided the assist, a very beautiful pass.

This was the boss' 300th Premier League victory! And my 100th post!

Injury Update;
-Nasri will be back for the Porto game next week, he received a knock to his head, but is already feeling better.
-Song picked up a medial knee injury and is a concern for the game next week.
-Arshavin picked up a hamstring problem, and is another concern for the Porto clash.

Chelsea vs. Arsenal

0-2, Premier League, Stamford Bridge, 7/2 -10

We played great football, but if it's one thing i've learned from watching Arsenal it is that playing nice football doesn't win you the game...
Now we're 9 points behind Chelsea, but we did pick up 11 points in 2 months or something, so let's not give up yet...

January Goal of the Month

Just watched this clip from Arsenal.com, thought it would be a way to round January off on a brighter note, at the time that I voted, it was Rosicky's against Bolton at the Emirates that were the most popular, but personally I prefer Fabregas' against Bolton at home, anyway, enjoy the clip;