Cole or no Cole, victory would be sweet
111 comments May 6th, 2007
I’d be very surprised if Ashley Cole played today. He was an un-used substitute in the Carling Cup Final, and Chelsea have already drawn attention to a niggling injury he’s got. I can’t wait for Cole to play at the Emirates – whilst I with Arsene agree that our anger at him is borne out of love and subsequent betrayal, I don’t agree he should be met only with “respect”. He should be met with boos, and plenty.
But perhaps if Cole doesn’t play, it’ll allow us to concentrate more on the task in hand: beating Chelsea. With Liverpool Reserves slipping up again yesterday, third spot is up for grabs. As Arsene has pointed out, it would be nice to improve upon last season’s fourth, plut it would give us another £500k for the transfer kitty.
By all accounts, Wayne Bridge has been Chelsea’s best left-back this season, whilst at Arsenal, Gael Clichy has improved tremendously. The main flaw in his game is that, much like Ashley Cole, he can’t really cross. For Cole, this was unimportant, as his passing moves with Robert Pires often put one of them in on goal where they could either shoot or square it along the ground. Arsene’s style of play now has more width, and the full-backs need to be able to get to the byline and play a decent cross in. If Clichy’s attacking play can match his super-positive defending, he’ll be the best left-back in the league.
The good news: A win today and we’ve prevented Chelsea taking the title. The bad news: A win today and the we’ve handed United the title. The best way to look at it is just to win for ourselves, our pride, and our chances of third place.
Patrick Vieira has been speaking about Abou Diaby, who will start today if Tomas Rosicky fails to be fit:
“When I saw him play, physically he is quite similar. But Gilles Grimandi told me that he is better technically than I was at that age.”
Maybe so, but brilliant though he is, Diaby doesn’t have the inherent understanding of the game Vieira was presumably born with. It’ll come.
And finally, although Arsene says he’s still making his mind up about this summer’s transfers, it seems Julio Baptista is off and Åukasz (pronounced, brilliantly, as “Woo-kash”) FabiaÅ„ski is, well, on.
It’s been a funny old first season at the Emirates. Let’s end it in style.
