And the happiest of all is that of Lauren. Nearly a year after his knee operation, the former Cameroon international has finally returned to the field, captaining a reserve side for 55 minutes against Hoang Anh Gia Lai from Vietnam. Lauren’s aim was to make a return to the first-team in Tuesday’s Carling Cup tie with Liverpool, and whilst he might be slightly short for that, it’s good to know he’s well on the road to recovery, especially after suggestions that he might still have been some months away.
In Lauren’s absence, Emmanuel Eboue has excelled, providing a dangerous attacking outlet. However, we have missed Lauren’s tenacity, experience, and defensive know-how. For me, prior to his injury he was the best right-back in the Premiership, evolving from an effervescent winger into a solid defender. With Eboue’s concentration lapses at an all-time high, we will welcome back Lauren with open arms.
Will Jens Lehmann return with us next season? After The Times suggested he might seek a longer contract elsewhere in the manner of Robert Pires, Wenger has spoken out, and he’s understandably relaxed about the situation: he knows that Lehmann will have to be replaced either this summer or next.
After saving the Wigan game from a) a draw, and b) being unspeakably boring, Cesc Fabregas is certain to start tomorrow. I’d imagine that might be in a 4-4-2, alongside Gilberto, with Hleb and Ljungberg or Walcott on the flanks. With the Carling Cup coming up midweek, I wouldn’t expect anyone to get a rest: although Emmanuel Adebayor has played plenty of minutes recently, his good form means it’s almost certain that he’ll be included.
Nwankwo Kanu is a very strange footballer. Nobody knows how old he is, or where his first name has gone. He is unbelievably lazy, has a terrible attitude, as well as a propensity to miss chances from a yard out, yet he has an almost magical control over the ball. In his time at Arsenal, he was one of my favourite players: he did things with his feet that I have never seen before, topping it all off with that remarkable back-flicked effort against Middlesbrough. I for one will be giving him a good reception tomorrow.
Sol Campbell is a tricky one. His West Ham walkout soured his reputation with the fans, though a Champions League final goal may have redeemed him somewhat. Speaking of the Champions League, we’ve got a good draw against PSV in the second round: we should expect to progress.
Finally Tony Adams: an Arsenal legend, he has now entirely disassociated himself from the club, including failing to turn up for the final day at Highbury or Dennis Bergkamp’s testimonial. To hear me chat about his return amongst other things, download the Arsecast. If you listen carefully, you’ll also hear me talking about “Patrick Vieira’s Testimonial”: an imaginary event that I seem to have created purely for your entertainment.
It’s a top-end of the table clash, and it should be an entertaining game. William Gallas and Tomas Rosicky both have an outside chance of being fit, though Thierry Henry is still out.
For the first-half of this tricky tie, Arsenal were poor. With an experimental team selection and a few injuries leaving our line-up without Cesc Fabregas, Alex Hleb, Tomas Rosicky, Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry, it was not surprising that our midfield lacked guile and craft. Mathieu Flamini, Julio Baptista, and Gilberto are not what you would call typical Arsenal players – though this was by no means a typical Arsenal performance.
Our defence was looking shakey, and the performance of Jens Lehmann again gave cause for concern – a couple of spilt balls and some dodgy claims on crosses. Emmanuel Eboue too seems to be sufferring with serious concentration lapses, and it will cost us eventually.
In midfield all eyes were on Julio Baptista and Theo Walcott, both getting rare starts. Walcott was bright, and had a great duel with Leighton Baines – one one occasion he attempted to square for Adebayor when a more established player would have shot – but overall I was again impressed. Baptista started dreadfully, lacking the quick feet and finesse to survive in a congested midfield. However, in the second half, a more open game allowed Baptista the space he needs to thrive as an attacking midfielder. There were definite signs of improvement from the Brazilian, who should try and think of 2007 as a fresh start for him.
However, the 74th minute introduction of Cesc Fabregas (and Robin van Persie) is what changed the game. Suddenly Arsenal had a creative hub, and in this last fifteen minutes Cesc provided two unbelievable long-passes for Adebayor. The first one was miscontrolled, the second resulted in the Togolese striker toe-poking the ball beyond the on-rushing Chris Kirkland to continue his rich vein of form.
There’s nothing like a late-winner, and one wonders why Adebayor didn’t choose this opportunity to “show us his moves”:
What we learnt is that without the creative players I named at the top of this article, we’re a bit of a blunt knife. We also learnt that 4-5-1 isn’t always the best option away from home – apart from Cesc coming on, we also switched to a 4-4-2, and that helped prove the difference. Against an attacking side like Wigan, we could’ve exploited the space they left by using an extra forward alongside Adebayor. What was interesting is that Cesc was in such a rush to win the game that he went with a more direct approach, and it paid dividends.
Anyhow, three points is three points, and that’s one down, five to go in our six-game winning run.
Fitting neatly around two cup ties at Anfield, our next six Premiership games are:
Wigan (Away)
Portsmouth (Home)
Blackburn (Home)
Watford (Away)
Sheff Utd (Away)
Charlton (Home)
These are games we could and arguably should win. 6 x 3 = 18. 18 points would do our position in the table no harm whatsoever. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be confident as we approach the Christmas period, with or without Thierry Henry.
It’s vital that we start this run well tonight at Wigan. Kolo Toure returns from suspension, but William Gallas and Tomas Rosicky are still out. Julio Baptista could come in for Mathieu Flamini, and it’ll be interesting to see whether Arsene goes for Djourou or Senderos alongside Toure: on form it should be the former, but Arsene is famously loyal to Swiss Tony.
Personally, I’d be glad to see us return to a 4-4-2: Wigan are an attacking side who will go forward, leaving gaps at the back for us to exploit (we hope).
Probably not. But still, you can’t help but have fond memories of Steve Morrow, particularly when you hear he’s just been appointed head coach of some football“soccer” team. Kansas, or Oz, or something… Dallas, that’s it. Who shot J.R.? I don’t know, and I doubt Steve does either. Look at him there, all professorial. Good luck, Steve: we too are “thrilled, honored and immensely proud”. While we’re on the subject of football“soccer”, does this transfer signal the end of the possibly the most over-hyped youngster of all time (and in a world where Sonny Pike exists existed, that’s saying something).
So no new Wenger, but perhaps a new Ian Wright? Certainly none of our strikers since then have shown this deadly combination of selfishness and arrogance. And don’t think for a second I’m suggesting that those are negative qualities: in a goalscorer, they’re vital.
“Drogba didn’t insult me in comparison to his team-mates and I can’t complain with him. Some of his team-mates insulted me terribly, but Drogba never does that, so I have no problem with him. Lampard is a specialist in insulting people very badly, but Drogba doesn’t say a word. He is a nice guy, he doesn’t insult people. Nothing happened with him. I like him. I think the handshake between us says it all.”
Bizarre. Perhaps when they were rolling around on the floor on Sunday, they were just playing. Like puppies, or something.
Tomorrow’s update should be choc-full of team-news for Wigan on Wednesday.
And the happiest of all is that of Lauren. Nearly a year after his knee operation, the former Cameroon international has finally returned to the field, captaining a reserve side for 55 minutes against Hoang Anh Gia Lai from Vietnam. Lauren’s aim was to make a return to the first-team in Tuesday’s Carling Cup tie with Liverpool, and whilst he might be slightly short for that, it’s good to know he’s well on the road to recovery, especially after suggestions that he might still have been some months away.
For the first-half of 
Probably not. But still, you can’t help but have fond memories of Steve Morrow, particularly when you hear he’s just been appointed head coach of some 
