Author Archives: Michael Roberts

Just How Far Are Arsenal From Chelsea & United?

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Well today Arsenal had a golden opportunity to beat Chelsea, especially in the 43rd minute when Baptista got on the wrong side of Boulahrouz and got fouled in the box. The Dutch defender was rightly sent off and Gilberto comfortably scored the penalty to give Arsenal the lead.

From then on you expected Arsenal to dominate the game with the extra man but that didn’t happen. Chelsea, seemingly galvanised from the dismissal, stepped up their game in the second half and could have arguably won the game at the death.

As could have Arsenal, when Eboue’s excellent shot beat Petr Cech and smashed the bar.

But the game ended in a draw which on the balance of play was probably a fair result. Arsenal suffered yet again from not taking their chances with Baptista, Adebayor, Hleb and Cesc scuffing tames shots against Cech – who to be honest didn’t have a real save to make.

Chelsea were dangerous in attack and clinical while Arsenal never looked like scoring that second goal. People will point to the absence of Titi and Van Persie but we can’t expect those two to score all our goals – simply put the rest of the squad just don’t contribute enough.

The draw confirmed Manchester United as Premiership Champions and Chelsea as runners up.

But how far are Arsenal from competing for the title?

Since winning the Premiership last in 2003, Alex Ferguson took 3 seasons to find a new team that is capable of winning the league. He lost Van Nistelrooy, Beckham, Keane & Sheringham and replaced them with Saha, Ronaldo, Carrick and Rooney.

When we lost Adams came in Toure, and Seaman was replaced by Lehmann. Football is ever changing and the challenge after any success is to do it again with a new team.

But the biggest players we have lost in recent seasons are Bergkamp, Vieira and Pires.

The problem is that Fabregas is currently filling the Bergkamp and Vieira roles by himself – and a goalscoring midfielder like Pires just hasn’t been replaced by either Rosicky or Hleb. Rosicky’s second season next year will be the real test, while the jury is still out on Hleb.

Next season will be a stuggle if the wide players don’t start scoring. Gilberto is our highest scoring midfielder despite being a defensive player!

I’m not sure about our defence with William Gallas.

I know that’s stupid to say considering he is a fantastic defender and more importantly a winner, but on more than one ocassion he hasn’t looked that great next to Kolo.

Maybe it’s because they’re so used to being next to a leader. When Toure was playing alongside (a fit and focused) Sol Campbell they were awesome, but it was clear Sol was the organiser at the back – and Gallas has always been alongside John Terry who is a born leader.

Or maybe as a team we just don’t concentrate defensively?

Whatever it is, Arsenal’s defence doesn’t look water tight like it has in the past and we’re prone to conceding sloppy goals.

In my opinion, Arsene has some real thinking to do in the summer about the currently squad at his disposal.

Chelsea Preview: Let’s End The Season On A High

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Well Sunday marks our final home game of the season.

It’s been another one of those transitional seasons and while most fans will be disappointed there is plenty to look forward to next season.

Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie should be back, who when fully fit will be like two new signings. Scoring has been a major problem this season and without our two highest scorers for much of the campaign you can’t blame us for struggling.

But at least we’ve secured 4th place and have the chance to play in the Champions League again.

And with Liverpool against AC Milan in this years Champions League Final, are the omens good for yet another Barcelona and Arsenal Final next season?

We can always hope!

But onto the game on Sunday, and we see the reigning Champions visit the Emirates for what should be an interesting encounter.

Ideally, Manchester City will beat United in the derby so that Sunday’s match has an even great significance.

Then it will be even sweeter if we get a result against Chelsea.

Arsene Wenger expects Arsenal fans to show Cashley Cole ‘respect’ if he plays which I suppose is the diplomatic thing to say. Personally I hope he gets the abuse he deserves but with Wayne Bridge being the better left back then it wouldn’t at all surprise me if he plays instead of Cuntface. And funnily enough that’s what Wenger expects.

The early team news is that Tomas Rosicky is only 50/50 for the game, while Freddie is definitely out with a hamstring problem. That means it will probably be Hleb and Baptista in midfield with Adebayor alone up front. Baptista has been hot and cold this season but he does offer a threat in the air which could trouble Chelsea, especially if Carvalho is still out.

I’m personally really looking forward to the game and despite the fact that Chelsea have been poor and looked tired recently against Newcastle, Bolton and Liverpool you would expect them to raise their game against us. What better way to make things better by beating Arsenal in their own back yard?

Despite that though, I’m confident we can beat Chelsea and cap of a miserable week for the Russians.

So Who Do You Think Will Make It To Athens?

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It’s a strange time of the season really.

While I’m intrigued with who will get through the Champions League Semi-Finals and make it to Athens, the emotional memories of that night in Villarreal where Jens Lehmann made some simply outstanding saves and denied Riquelme from the penalty spot to take us to Paris come flooding straight back to me.

That still brings a tear to my eye!

But a year on and Arsenal aren’t in the mix – the 4 teams remaining who are fighting to get into the final are AC Milan, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

So who will make it?

Manchester United are 3-2 up against AC Milan but the Italians have 2 away goals which could count for a lot. You can see United scoring at the San Siro but can they keep out Kaka et al who can be a totally different prospect in front of their home crowd?

And despite United’s major injury problems over the past few weeks they could see the return of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic at the back which could prove vital.

And on top of that, the huge lift from this weekend’s football (virtually sealing the Premiership) will give the team a big boost going to Milan.

It’s a tough one to call, but I can see Rooney and Ronaldo helping United to score twice against an aging Milan defence. That would mean Kaka would need to score 3 goals and I just can’t see that happening!

For me United will progress.

And what about the other Semi-Final?

It’s a tough one, but if Chelsea score even one that means Liverpool need 3 goals. At Anfield that’s possible (remember Olympiakos?) but to do that against Chelsea is a totally different ball game.

Liverpool need to score first and score early to put the pressure on Chelsea – they’ll have to make a decision to either nick an away goal or hold on to what they’ve got.

Chelsea are a funny team – they’ll either go all out and smash Liverpool scoring 2 or 3 to completely kill the tie or they could be subdued, not get into the game and let Liverpool score a couple and progress.

And Anfield you just don’t know what will happen.

It’s like against the games against Arsenal this season. We beat them convincingly 3-1 in the FA Cup but then in the league everything went for them and they beat us 4-1!

You would think that the outcome of the tie totally depends on the performance of Peter Crouch. The best defender in the league this season – Ricardo Carvalho – is out and Michael Essien will have big problems coping with the height of Crouch.

The two Bolton goals at the weekend exposed Chelsea’s weakness at defending set-pieces and Essien was at fault for the second, leaving Kevin Davies with a free header to equalise. The first goal they conceded was scored from poor defending and uncertainty at the back.

Whatever happens it will be fascinating, but I fancy Chelsea to conclude a miserable week by crashing out of the Premiership and Champions League in a matter of days and for Steven Gerrard to lead Liverpool into another one of those memorable victories at Anfield.

So who do you guys think will make it to Athens?

Manchester United Are Premiership Champions

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Well Chelsea have blown it.

After having the chance to really put the pressure on last week at Newcastle they stuttered to a dull draw when United only drew against Middlesbrough. And a win at St James’ Park would have put Chelsea only a point behind United.

But now, after again disappointing against a weakened Bolton side (with 6 first team players out injured) they find themselves 5 points behind with only 3 games to go.

Surely Manchester United know they’ll be lifting the Premiership Title once again.

The fact is United can draw against Manchester City next week, and if Arsenal beat Chelsea at the Emirates then the title race is over.

It would have been good to see a title race go right to the wire but now with United effectively having a 6 point lead (5 points with a superior goal difference) then it’s all over now.

I was watching the Manchester United game today and Everton did brilliantly to go two goals ahead and blow the Premiership wide open but I haven’t seen a worse collapse in some time.

In the second half, United looked lost and really didn’t look like scoring at all. But the Everton keeper gifted a goal by dropping a simple corner and only a few minutes later Phil Neville thought he was playing for United and scored a sloppy own goal.

Then after that there was only one winner and Rooney scored the 3rd and United reserve Eagles finished the game in stoppage time.

I’d say for a while that whoever wins the league will win the FA Cup, and that could push them on to win the Champions League.

And at the moment United have that momentum and could sweep the treble, and Chelsea could end up with just the Carling Cup.

But could today signal the start of a Chelsea collapse?

They will not give up in the Premiership but mentally the players and Mourinho will think it is all over with the number of games remaining, the big 5 point gap and harder fixtures coming up.

And going to Anfield on Tuesday, Chelsea will know that if they lose then they have been dumped out of two major competitions in only 4 days.

Well at least Cashley Cole has that valuable Carling Cup medal anyway.

Has Mad Jens Made The Sensible Choice?

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Well Jens Lehmann has ended speculation about his future and has agreed a years extension to his current deal, meaning that this is the third successive one-year contract he has completed with Arsenal.

We all know Jens can be quite mad at times but I’m glad he’s decided to stay at Arsenal. Premium goalkeepers are hard to come by and there’s no way I would be comfortable with Manuel Almunia in goal for Arsenal for an entire season. It would be like having Zinedine Cygan in to replace William Gallas!

Jens’ form hasn’t been great in the last few months, but you would say that has been alongside a lot of Arsenal players who have under-performed during the same period. The antics against Spurs showed that his tendency to be erratic hasn’t got any better though and hopefully he can be more focused next season.

And a word on the sad news that former Arsenal player Alan Ball who passed away yesterday. He played for Arsenal from 1971 to 1976 and many Arsenal legends have been paying tribute to him on the official Arsenal website.

He scored 52 goals in 217 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions and only played more games for Everton in his career, and of course was part of the England team that won the World Cup in 1966. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.