It’s a half-sunny Saturday morning in old London town and it’s time for Arsenal to turn the tide by beating Reading at the Emirates today.
To do that they need goals but nobody knows where the team’s next goal is coming from.
The kind of striker Arsenal need is somebody who takes up scoring positions naturally, like Leroy Lita.
When you watch the bouncy Reading striker, he often moves into positions from which goals can be scored but the ball does not go to him. He’s a natural who thinks, “Next time, the ball will come to me and I’ll score.”
This season Leroy Lita has scored at Anfield, Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge.
In October, when Arsenal were playing well, they won 4-0 at Reading, giving Steve Coppell his worst defeat since promotion.
Arsene Wenger likes the way Reading play, with honest running, few bad fouls, and plenty of players in attack, so today’s game will not be dull. Reading are not Bolton or Blackburn.
We don’t expect Reading to stamp on ankles, as Pedersen did so viciously to Eboue, or, when it’s an Arsenal throw, to run up to Wenger and try to grab the ball out of his hands. That was ridiculous behaviour by Pedersen and worth a booking.
Don Howe says in the Hampstead & Highgate Express that he wishes Steve Sidwell had never left Arsenal.
Rafa Benitez might play with one up against Barcelona at Anfield and may even rehearse that by doing the same against Man United today’s lunchtime game.
That clash looks too close to call but I’m looking forward to it. Hard for United to win but if they do they should be champions.
Benitez can speak to Mascherano in his own language and it will be interesting to see midfielder in the starting line-up, which could be soon. I’m sure Rafa understands that Mascherano was more pivotal to Argentina’s World Cup team than the more eye-catching Tevez.
Bayern’s caretaker boss Ottmar Hitzfeld says they have to win their next two games against Hertha Berlin today and then the second leg against Real Madrid, where they are 3-2 down.
If Bayern go out now, and don’t qualify for next season’s Champions League, they won’t have the money to take the club forward. And the club will be outside the competition that all the top players want to compete in every year.