I thought Arsenal and Chelsea would both win on Saturday.
Arsenal strolled it against Aston Villa and were the only team to win by three goals. Chelsea, suffering from Benficaitis, could only draw 0-0 with Spurs.
At Anfield, Liverpool were beaten 2-1 by Wigan and Kenny’s job may be in jeopardy.
Who wants that job, I wonder.
At the Emirates, Szczesny’s handling was superb, Arteta and Rosicky were very good.
Shay Given should have saved Gibbs’s low shot from a narrow angle but it went in off his elbow.
When Song found Walcott in the box, the winger controlled the ball neatly and slotted for 2-0 and game over in 25 minutes.
At the end, Arteta hit a high-velocity free-kick that gave Shay Given no chance.
Since February 18, when Arsenal lost in the FA Cup at Sunderland, and they realised they couldn’t win anything, they’ve played very well and look like ending their season in style. Various players are scoring the goals, not just RVP.
They’re now defending well enough to beat Manchester City in two weeks time and I think they will. I really do.
But they’ll need Koscielny fit enough to play the whole game. He’s been excellent in his second season. But he now has tendonitis and didn’t play against Villa. He failed the internal warm-up.
So here we are again : Arsenal remain the most consistent also-rans in English football.
Won nothing for seven years. But the club makes a profit and Wenger will be in charge for as long as Stan Kroenke is alive.
Profits through harmony. An £8m salary through harmony.
Roll on next season and more of the same : you know you’ll love it.
At Stamford Bridge, Didier Drogba’s lookalike couldn’t score against Spurs, so it finished 0-0.
We don’t know if the real Drogba will ever be seen again, except for 10 seconds when he scores a goal.
The first half was like watching a match in slow motion. Chelsea couldn’t win because they were playing at Frank Lampard’s pace. Essien and Lampard were running in treacle.
Would RDM ever have picked such a sluggish team? It looked like the team picked the team on Saturday and Benfica was on their minds.
These old men can’t play Saturday/Tuesday because they’ve got too many games in their legs already.
Harry’s teams always tail off and this Spurs outfit is no different.
Oddly enough, I thought Gareth Bale was potent at times, having one of his better recent games. But he needs good players round him.
Adebayor was always a shocking player, even when he was scoring goals at Arsenal from great passes by Fabregas. And missing three times as many as he scored.
He can’t dribble or pass or head the ball properly and in 1,000 years he could never score the wonder-goal that Peter Crouch hit past Joe Hart at Stoke. What does Adebayor do except sometimes run fast? What can he do? He was hopeless the first I saw him play for Arsenal against Manchester United. I always found him half-interested,annoying and, very quickly, unwatchable.
If Spurs are bent on self-destruction, they’ll sign him Adebarndoor permanently.
Be honest: Marseilles didn’t keep him, Arsenal didn’t keep him, Man City didn’t, Real Madrid didn’t, and Spurs won’t.
Citeh need Jose Mourinho to give them some spirit and discipline.
At the moment they’re a bunch of stars who don’t play together.
Manchester United have played half a season with half a team, and no midfield, but they’ll win the league by five points.
And United will go back on top tonight by beating Fulham at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex, believing strongly in the value of experienced players who can help younger ones, is going to give Rio Ferdinand on new pay-as-you-play contract.
Newcastle overwhelmed West Brom at the Hawthorns.
Far were too powerful, far too strong.
Ben Arfa, playing wide right in a 4-3-3, was on fire. He made the first goal, scored the second, and made the third in a marvellous 3-1 away win.
It’s a crying shame that Djibril Cisse can’t be fined six month’s wages by QPR.
He was sent off when Rangers were losing 1-0 at Sunderland, who then won 3-1.
He’s been sent off twice already and will miss four games now. Half of their remaining matches.
Have you ever seen a bigger prat? Have you ever seen a less professional professional footballer than Djibril Cisse? He made a stupid two-footed tackle that asked for a red card, and which was a red card all day long in any league.
But when the ref pulled out the red card, Cisse fell on the floor holding his face, laughing, miming disbelief. My wife Jan, dismayed by his tantrum, said, “He’s like a two-year old !”
Manager Mark Hughes is a plank who’ll be sacked in this calendar year.
QPR need more players like Sean Derry and Jamie Mackie.
Although he has has no pace and not much skill, Derry knows where the ball’s going to be and can make himself useful in so many ways.
It’s called a football brain.