Arsenal vs. Everton

4-1, The FA Cup, Emirates Stadium, 08 March 2014
Özil 7,
Arteta (pen) 68,
Giroud 83, 85

There was no better way of responding to the recent tough games than a more or less comfortable win over Everton, taking us into the semi-finals of the FA Cup and Wembley!

We started the game in brilliant fashion, by scoring! In the first proper attack that we had Cazorla provided an excellent pass to Mesut Özil and the German international struck at once to put the ball past the 'keeper! It must have felt great for him to score again, since it has been quite some time since the last time and there has undoubtedly been some rough critique laid on him lately.
   However, one player in particular that is worth mentioning from this game is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He may not have scored, but he sure was amazing nonetheless. He created most of our chances, at least it certainly felt that way, and in the first half he had one thundering shot from outside the 18-yard-box saved by the 'keeper, another shot blocked right in front of the goal and another shot forcing yet another decent save out of the 'keeper. Unfortunately he did not create a second goal at the time, and Everton had time to equalise before the end of the first half through Lukaku.

Fortunately we did step up for the second half, and ended up completely dominating it. Cazorla's curling shot forced a great save out of the 'keeper, and ten minutes later we would take the lead back. When Oxlade-Chamberlain was brought down in the box we were awarded with a penalty, and Arteta had to score it twice for it to register! He started with a low and assured strike that hit the back of the net, but it had to be re-done as Giroud stepped into the box too early (he redeemed it later, though) and Mikel Arteta slammed the second one in as well, this time going for a higher strike that went over the 'keeper!
   As mentioned, Olivier Giroud redeemed himself before the end of the game. The first of the two goals came when Sagna cut the ball back to the fellow Frenchman, whose strike from close range left the 'keeper with no chance. The second goal of Olivier Giroud came two minutes later, through a great counter-attack. Rosicky played the ball to Özil, and Özil to Giroud, who fired it into the back of the net!

At the semi-finals, played at Wembley, we will face Wigan, last year's winners, who beat Manchester City in their quarter-final!

Arsenal vs. Liverpool

2-1, The FA Cup, Emirates Stadium, 16 February 2014
Oxlade-Chamberlain 16,
Podolski 47

We got the chance to take vengeance for the last game, and we took it! It may not have been a complete thrashing, but at least it feels as though we are back on track.

The game could have started just as the one a week ago did, when Sturridge let loose a shot mere minutes from the start, fortunately Fabianski was there to make a decent save. The same striker then fired wide a few minutes later, before we introduced our attacking play.
   Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanogo linked up well together as the former played it to Sanogo, who instantly played it back to the Ox, brilliant from Sanogo but unfortunately the angle got too steep for the Ox before he released his effort and the chance was squandered. The same, however, cannot be said for the Englishman's second chance. Sanogo headed the ball down and fired it towards the goal, but it was blocked by Gerrard and fell to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who put it past the 'keeper! It was definitely important to get a good start to the game, to dispel any lingering ghosts from the former game, and it was certainly gratifying that we got it!
   Before the end of the half Özil created a decent chance as he advanced towards the goal, showcasing some skilful footwork, but his cross/shot was blocked and it fell to Podolski, whose shot was fired over the bar. On the other end Fabianski had to make another save, this time it was Suarez who fired it.

The second half began as the first one ended, with a great Fabianski save from a Suarez shot. Then it was time for us to, once again, to find the back of the net. It was a quick counter that did the trick this time, Özil passed the ball to the Ox, who cut it back toward the penalty spot and Lukas Podolski got there in time to fire the ball into the back of the net! A while later Özil fired a dangerous shot towards the goal that was saved by the 'keeper, while Fabianski had to make a save himself on the other end.
   Things took a turn for the worse with half an hour to go as Liverpool was awarded with a penalty and Gerrard scored from the penalty spot. However, Fabianski was determined not to let another one go past him and he made a stunning save, jumping in right before the feet of Sterling and punching the ball clear with just the one hand, shortly after the penalty.
   Even though he had been very solid throughout the game, Fabianski did provide some drama towards the end as he missed a punch when Liverpool had a free-kick, fortunately Agger headed it wide!

With this result we qualify for the quarter finals, where we will face Everton. Once again we will be playing it at the Emirates, we have certainly been lucky with all the home draws so far!

Arsenal vs. Tottenham

2-0, The FA Cup, Emirates Stadium, 4 January 2013
Cazorla 31,
Rosicky 62

Like every North London Derby, winning this game meant more than mere qualification to the next round in the cup. It is all about showing that North London Is Red.

We were excellent throughout this game, completely dominated through a brilliant passing game that has seen us through more or less this entire season so far. Fabianski was called into action early on, though, as Eriksen got into a one-on-one with the Polish 'keeper, who made a great save. On the other side of the pitch, where most of the action happened, Walcott had two shots, one on target that was saved by Lloris and a second that was deflected wide. In the resulting corner Gnabry fired mere inches over the bar. Eriksen created another chance for Tottenham with a free-kick that went slightly over the bar, while Cazorla fired wide and Walcott saw his effort saved as he too got in a one-on-one with the 'keeper.
   Half an hour into the game we took the lead. Gnabry made a great run, and while Walcott drew the defenders' attention Santi Cazorla was completely unmarked on the left-hand side. Gnabry provided the necessary pass for the Spaniard to fire into the back of the net. He may not have scored too much so far this season, but he certainly chose the right occasion for this one! We almost added to the goal before the end of the half as Walcott had a volley going over the bar and a free-kick was inches away from being met by Sagna at the far post.

The second half started much like the first, there might have been a slight improvement in Tottenham's play, but it was most certainly far from enough. After fifteen minutes Walcott hit the side netting as he got past Lloris but found the angle to steep to score from, but then came the goal that sealed the game.
   When Tottenham were looking for the equaliser with all save one man and the 'keeper in our half, Tomas Rosicky nicked the ball off of that one man and ran across the entire Tottenham half to chip the ball over Lloris and score! A truly wonderful goal, showing the true spirit of the Czech midfielder.
   The only sad news of the day was that Walcott was stretchered off with ten minutes to go as he injured his knee. We can only hope that he will be back before long.

So another North London Derby played, and another North London Derby won. Things are definitely looking good at the moment!

In the next round we will face Coventry at the Emirates. It's a game that we will be confident to win, but one must never underestimate the opponents in these cups, as shocking results appear rather frequently.

Injury Update:
- Giroud missed out on this game due to sickness, but should be back for the Villa game next Monday.
- Bendtner will be out for a month due to the injury he picked up in the last game.

Champions League Last 16 Draw

We have been drawn against the same team we were drawn against last year, that is Bayern Munich. Needless to say it is one of the toughest (if not the toughest) opponent we could have gotten, but nevertheless there is hope, considering the away game last year and more particularly our autumn. The home game will be played on February 19, and the away game on March 11.

FA Cup Third-Round Draw

Our first game of the FA Cup this year will be a derby, and not just any derby, but the North London Derby!

We will face Tottenham at the Emirates on the 4th of January, in what will surely be a magnificent game!

Champions League Group Draw

For the 13/14 Champions League group stage we have been drawn in group F, along with Marseille, Dortmund and Napoli. Hence, we will be facing teams from France, Germany and Italy. Needless to say, it's a tough group. However, we definitely have a good chance of qualifying if we play like we have been playing recently!

Brighton vs. Arsenal + 5th Round Draw

3-2, The FA Cup, Arnex Stadium, 2013-01-26
Giroud 16, 56,
Walcott 85

This turned out to be quite the intense cup game! Fortunately we managed to grab the late winner, but Brighton proved to be a rather tough obstacle to cross.

We took the lead after about fifteen minutes, through a brilliant shot by Olivier Giroud! He found the top corner of the goal with a powerful strike! Unfortunately the joy proved to be short-lived as Reading equalized from a corner approximately thirty minutes into the game.

At the start of the second half we recovered our lead, once again it was Olivier Giroud who scored for us! This time the Frenchman's shot was from a closer range, due to an amazing assist from Diaby, but it was quite an achievement to get a shot away as the keeper closed him down. Yet this lead proved to be even more short-lived than the first one as it took five minutes until Brighton found their second equalizer. However, we had one player on the bench who would come on to make the difference. Theo Walcott continued his good form with yet another goal, and it was quite an important one too! As we took a corner, the ball eventually found its way to Walcott, whose shot was deflected off a defender to find the back of the net!

Needless to say it is great to have qualified for the 5th round, where we will face Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates! It is always a relief to get drawn at home for these games. Next game will be against Liverpool on Wednesday in the Premier League.

Champions League Last 16 Draw

We have been drawn against Bayern Munich for the first knock-out stage of the Champions League. It goes without saying that this is some really tough opponents but it's not over till it's over and we can definitely beat them as long as we come together as a team!

Capital One Cup Quarter-Final Draw

We have been drawn another away game for the quarter-final of the Capital One Cup. This time, however, we will face Bradford City at the Coral Windows Stadium. After the historic comeback earlier this week you definitely feel that we are capable of producing any result in this cup, we will for sure enter this tie with confidence!

Capital One Cup Fourth Round Draw

We have been drawn against Reading in the Capital One Cup fourth round! It will be an away game against the newly promoted side and it will take place on the 30 of October, that is a Tuesday.

Champions League Group Draw

The annual Champions League Group Draw took place today and we have ended up in a rather tough group I'd say.

We will face FC Schalke 04, Olympiacos FC and Montpellier Hérault SC.

The campaign will start off away against Olivier Giroud's old club and French champions Montpellier. We then go on to face Olympiacos at the Emirates. That is followed by yet another encounter at the Emirates, this time against the German team, Schalke. Then it is a tough away trip to Germany followed by the return game against Montpellier at home. We end the group stage in Greece against Olympiacos.

So there will be lots of tough games and trips, but if we can get the goals coming we will definitely qualify for the next stage!

FA Cup 4th Round Draw

If we beat Leeds tomorrow night we will face Aston Villa at home in the 4th round!

A decent draw, even though it is a Premier League opponent I'm confident that we will win, but, as mentioned, full focus on Leeds for now!

Udinese vs. Arsenal & Champions League Draw

2-1, Champions League Play-off, Stadio Friuli, 24/9 -11
van Persie 55,
Walcott 69

Amazing team performance throughout the game and what a comeback in the second half after being 1-0 down at half-time. This was just what we needed after some harsh weeks where we've lost both Fabregas and now Nasri.

We had a good first half but unfortunately found ourselves one-nil down just before half-time, and the second half didn't start much better as Udinese got a penalty just after half-time, fortunately Sczcesny saved the penalty and we didn't look back!Through some brilliant work from Gervinho, van Persie scored his first for the 11/12 campaign!
Not too long after that Walcott more or less sealed the game through a great strike by the young Englishman!

After Walcott's goal Udinese didn't ever look too likely to get back in the game and a great victory in the end for us!

So, looking ahead to the group stage, we will be facing Marseille, Olympiacos and Dortmund. Its a decent draw, we should definitely qualify from it!

Injury Update;
-Gibbs will miss the United clash as well, same goes for Wilshere.
-Diaby is still out as well as the suspended ones (Frimpong, Song & Gervinho).

FA Cup 5th Round Draw

We will face Leyton Orient away in the fifth round of the FA Cup, which is a good draw considering that towards the end it was us, Chelsea/Everton and United left!

It will be our first away game in the cup this season, but I'm confident that we will win it!

FA Cup 4th Round

If we beat Leeds in the replay on the 18th or 19th of january, we will face Huddersfield Town at the Emirates for the fourth round of the FA cup. So we faced Watt's loan club in the third round, maybe we will face Afobe's loan club in the fourth round...

Champions League Draw, Postponements & BBC Awards

Yeah, a pretty eventful weekend, which saw all but two Premier League games postponed, and if it isn't the first time then it is one of the first times that Emirates has had to cancel a game due to the weather. So we will face Stoke on another occasion.

There were four possible teams that we could get in the CL Draw, Schalke, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Naturally we were drawn against Barcelona, though I won't look at it in a bad way, so what if they're considered the best team in the world, on our day we can totally beat them!

This weekend at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year event, out skipper were awarded the pleasure of handing out the rewards!

Carling Cup Draw, World Cup vote and Goal of the Month

Yeah, a quite eventful day in the football world, but the major event of the day must have been the World Cup Vote! I'm not going to hold it in anymore, the world cup of 1018 goes to Russia! and the world cup of 2022 goes to Qatar! Disappointment for England as their bid was beaten by Russia's, but at least I got to hear a very good speech by Arshavin, who played a big part in Russia's bid, as he is captain of their national team, but is unfortunately not likely to play in that world cup.

We will face Ipswich Town in the semi finals of the Carling Cup, an exciting two legged final which will begin in Ipswich.

The goal of the month video came out today as it is the start of a new month, and my vote went to Samir's against Tottenham, as I think that it was a sublime finish! But Theo's strike at Donetsk came close as well, have a look yourself:

Champions League Group Draw

Today the draw for the group stages of the Champions League took place, and Arsenal has been drawn against Shaktar Donetsk (Ukraine), Braga (Portugal) and Partizan (Serbia).
It will be a rather hard draw, since we have to travel to both Ukraine and Serbia, but we should of course manage to qualify from this group, but you can never take anything for granted in the Champions League!

Interesting is that this will mean that we will meet up with Eduardo who left us this summer for Shaktar, in an interview just after he left us he said that the one team he didn't want to face was Arsenal, due to his time with us (not because he didn't enjoy his time in London, simply just because he still has warm feelings for the club), but his wish didn't come true..

Injury Update;
-Nasri (who recently went through a knee operation) and Bendtner (hamstring problem since last spring) are expected to be back in three to four weeks.
-Denilson (abdominal injury) will be back for the Blacburn clash.
-Ramsey is expected to return in November, he's made a great recovery from that horrific fracture against Stoke last season.

Champions League Draw

Well, it feels like the biggest football news of the week!'

We are going to face FC Barcelona in the quarter final! It certainly was the toughest opponent, but we are going to put up a hell of a fight for that spot in the semi-finals!
If we were to beat Barcelona, we would be up against Inter or CSKA Moscow in the semi-final, well, that's basically the road to Madrid for us.
It certainly won't be easy, but in the previous draws in this competition we have had lots of luck, so it was expected that we would get one of the tougher teams.

We will play at Emirates on the 31st March, my birthday, and the return at Nou Camp is to be played on the 6th of April.
But for now it is West Ham in our focus, tonight looks to be a fight to stay in the title race, both Cesc and Rosicky is back from injury and Song is no longer suspended!
But Gallas is 80% out of the Barcelona clash, and certainly out of both the West Ham game and the Birmingham game.

West Ham vs. Arsenal

2-1, the FA Cup, Upton Park, 3/1 -10
Ramsey 78,
Eduardo 83

After a completely rubbish first half we only got better and better, not least thanks to Diaby and Nasri who came in for Merida and Wilshere in the second.
There isn't really much to take from the first half, except that West Ham grabbed a goal in the 47th minute..

But after that things only got better, Nasri and Diaby really was the injection that we needed, and we gradually got back to our game, with a great chance for Diaby and then Song on the rebound.
Robert Green had a great game, but when the game was approaching 70 minutes, they just couldn't keep up anymore and after some great passing in the box Ramsey got the chance he needed and beautifully smashed it in!!
And just five minutes later Vela crossed deliciously to Eduardo, who headed the ball straight to the top corner of the goal, and Green couldn't keep it out!!
After that we just dug in and had some great chances, but we're in the 4th round!!

And in the 4th round we will travel to Stoke of all places! We haven't had any luck in the FA cup draw so far this season! But there will hopefully be more chance for luck in the FA cup this season.

Injury Update:
-Arshavin has picked up a slight problem with his foot, he could be back for the Bolton game.
-Denilson has a chance to return for the Bolton game, after picking up a back injury against Villa.