What do we think about the future?
Tuesday night : West Brom v Arsenal.
2011: Wenger’s contract is up in June 2011.
Will he go before then? Maybe.
Usmanov’s intentions : to sell his stake. He bought more Arsenal shares to make his stake more attractive. He has often sold stakes in companies in the past. Times are very hard for the big players in Moscow, so Usmanov has been selling stakes in his companies since January. Can he find a buyer? Danny Fiszman thinks not. Or, at least, we think Danny thinks not.
Will Arsenal be sold? Yes. It will be dramatic. It will be news that comes with no warning. It will be shock news that comes out of the clear blue sky on a morning just like this one.
Arsenal got lucky on Sunday.
Stoke came back from 2-0 down at Villa Park with three minutes to go and got a 2-2 draw
That made Arsenal’s 0-0 against Fulham look a bit better.
11 games to go, six points to make up.
It can be done.
Villa are workmanlike, lacking class, with a thin squad, missing skipper Laursen, Agbonlahor can’t hit a barn door right now.
Note this : on a bad day Aston Villa were still able to score two very good goals. Petrov smacked one in from the edge of the box. And sub John Carew volleyed in for 2-0, a sidefoot strike that looped over the keeper. But Martin Shawcross scored with a storming header and Glenn Whelan rifled a shot into the bottom corner to ruin Martin O’Neill’s 57th birthday. All four goals were great goals. Agbonlahor miskicked a chance at the near post for 3-0.
O’Neill has always said everything depends on keeping his players fit.
If Martin Laursen comes back, that will be huge. Laursen is the captain and wins balls in both boxes and is as important to Aston Villa as Fabregas is to Arsenal.
Inter Milan drew 3-3 with Roma.
On the highlights I saw, Roma should have won comfortably. But Figo saved it with a fabulous cross to the near post, which Crespo headed in. Roma’s first goal was headed in by De Rossi, who is suspended from the Arsenal game.
We went out halfway through the Carling Cup Final and as we were coming home and I said, “I can catch a bit of the Barcelona game, they’re having a wobble at the moment.” We got home about 7 and there was half an hour left and the score was Atletico Madrid 2 Barcelona 2. Then Henry made it 3-2 but Forlan slotted a penalty in 80 minutes. Tiny poacher Aguero made it 4-3 at the death with a left foot shot that squeezed in off the post. What a game! I wish I had seen all of it.
Three weeks ago Pep Guardiola’s runaway leaders had a 12- point lead that is now 4 points. Things can change quickly in football. On the day that Man United beat Spurs 4-1 on penalties to win the Carling Cup Final, Barcelona lost 4-3. Barca have no win in four games in all comps while Juande Ramos’s Real Madrid have won ten league games in a row.
Let’s face it, all teams have a wobble. Except Arsenal, whose 0-0s are amazingly consistent. Their defence keeps a clean sheet. And their attack does the same