After two weeks off, I’m still looking forward to the Spurs game on Saturday, October 31.
Between now and then are Birmingham, AZ Alkmaar in Holland, West Ham away, Liverpool at home in the Carling Cup.
So, despite not playing for 13 days, October is still a busy month for Arsenal with the biggest game on the last day of the month.
Takeover talk is a weekly theme in English football now, and Birmingham has just been sold to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, who has promised to spend £40 million in the January window and market the club in China.
After international breaks I’m obliged to modify one of my theories. It’s all very well to say that every football match contains the previous match, but does that still apply when your players have been travelling all over Europe and Africa, playing in World Cup qualifiers ?
Arsenal’s last game was a 6-2 thumping of Blackburn but that doesn’t mean they’ll hit the ground running at 3pm and comprehensively outplay Birmingham. In the hectic, eventful world of football, October 4 is a long time ago. Arsenal beat Wigan 4-1 but I doubt if they’ll win this game by 4-1. It’s possible, I reckon, but unlikely.
The main thing is to find some rhythm, win the game, and hope you don’t pick up any injuries, since Wenger will need all his players for Alkmaar and West Ham, not to mention Tottenham. Samir Nasri says he is fit, so he might feature. Nasri can add a lot to Arsenal’s season if he links well with Arshavin.
In truth, I’m feeling my way back into the Premier League campaign after not thinking about it for two weeks. So I’ve started to look again at Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester City, to see where Arsenal are and where they will be.
Spurs are at Portsmouth tomorrow for Pompey’s first game since their takeover. My lawyer friend Mark Jacob is a director there now. I can’t see Spurs losing that game but stranger things have happened.
Sunday’s 4pm Sky game is Wigan v Man City, so City boss Mark Hughes has the advantage of knowing what Arsenal have done. He will expect Arsenal to beat Birmingham by one or two goals, as most of us do. Hughes also has one more day to prepare his team and recover from knocks.