Chelsea v Arsenal is at 12.45pm on Sky Sports 1.
And the draw for the Carling Cup quarter-finals is the same day.
Good news that Vermaelen has recovered from cramp and will be available for the Chelsea game. He had a tremendous shot from 25 yards well saved by Bolton keeper Bogdan. That indicates TV5 might soon be back to his best. He can win games – and keep them won.
Seven wins in Arsenal’s last eight games is, to many people, an impressive stat.
However, the “quality” your esteemed leader talks about so much was missing against Bolton Reserves, who managed to score first at the Emirates.
Obvious points : You cannot play Fabianski if you’re serious about winning the Carling Cup. Frimpong and Oxlade are raw and immature. Coquelin was more reliable than those two. Frimpong lost the ball to Muamba, who played a one-two with Darren Pratley and went on to score.
Late on Frimpong tangled with Gary Cahill in the box and did what he would do in the centre circle. He couldn’t reach the ball, so he rashly kicked Cahill’s leg. Frimpong got away with that because he was wearing an Arsenal shirt and playing at home. No other reason.
One player DID produce some quality.
Arshavin then turned the game upside down by scoring one goal and supplying a pinpoint pass for Park’s winner. The Russian put it on a plate for the South Korean, allowing him time and space to hit the ball first time round the keeper.Park ran offside about five times, which an experienced striker should not do.
An enthusiastic young crowd of over 50,000 saw Arsenal progress to the last eight.
Their next Carling Cup opponents will be either Cardiff, Crystal Palace, City,Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpoool or Blackburn
PS The Myles on Twitter is not me.
Every six or eight weeks, when I remember, or when I have a minute late at night like this, I check out Twitter Search to see what, if anything , is being written about me.
Tonight I’m surprised to find a Twitter Account had been opened by PalmerMyles.
Have people got nothing better to do?
If I had time to tweet, I would.
But I’m too busy. I’d love to read what other people are tweeting but I don’t have time. I’m doing too many things, getting involved in too many projects, although that’s a lot of fun for this old beatnik.
But, realistically, I can’t do more than I’ve been doing for the last eight weeks and I’d actually be more effective if I did a bit less. So I’m working on that. Less will be more, I hope.
On balance, I reckon it’s going to be an interesting football season.
And I’m very sure that young Andre Villas-Boas will achieve a lot more in his career. He’s impressed me from day one. A proper coach : bold, dynamic, knowledgeable, flexible, not in awe of big names.
What a goal by mean little Luis Suarez against Stoke. A wickedly whipped shot curled just inside the post. Fantastic!