More in depth features
Arsenal 3 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Didn't go to this match - had to do a Budget report. But as Martin Thorpe says, like the Budget, Arsenal sprang a surprise at the end.
ANR had a correspondent at the game who is filing later. But his initial observation was that David Elleray had a hand in the critical opening goal, stopping a moving ball for the free kick on 83, perhaps causing the Wednesday defence to lose concentration.
He also reports that Arsenal looked tired - the game coming too soon after the exertions of Saturday.
And by all accounts, it was not too dissimilar, with Arsenal trying to break down an obdurate side - albeit one who tried to play football.
Wenger paid tribute to the perseverance of the side, rising above tiredness, and the level of technical skill.
It seems like the addition of substitutes during matches is causing problems for opponents - and as Danny Wilson remarked - with Petit, Diawara and Kanu on the bench - it was frightening.
On Saturday Derby had problems handling Kanu. This time, softened up by Kanu and Diawara - who has hit the post three times in five games - it was Emmanuel Petit who made the difference, with his quick thinking free kick.
Some reports say Arsenal didn't deserve to win 3-0, although their pressure justified victory. The tabloids rave about Dennis's brace - bringing his goal tally to 13. Kanu added one in between with some neat footwork, dummying the keeper.
The broadsheets posit the scoreline flatters Arsenal - but are quick to point out that they have now gained 27 out of a possible 33, have not been beaten at home for 24, or by Wednesday, here, since 1962 [the days of George Eastham - and Joe Baker.]
Arsenal 1 Derby County 0
Derby are a bit of bogey team for Arsenal - ever since they beat them in the FA Cup over 100 years ago.
The same spark and spite was in the air as the home match last season, when Laursen tugged Bergkamp's shirt - leading to his hamstring and general fitness problems.
This time the shaven headed Carsley tried to make his life a misery - and succeeded in part.
Derby, playing a 4-3-3, were also playing for a replay at Pride Park - man marking Arsenal players all over the pitch. They were taking no prisoners, as Eranio's late tackle on Tony Adams, illustrated.
Dennis Bergkamp was shackled but when he got free for a few seconds he nearly inflicted maximum damage setting Overmars up with a finely judged pass.
But the first half was one of physicality, bordering at times on illegality - and the yellows count mounted steadily, notably Laursen on Overmars, and Sturridge on Bergkamp.
Stimac (whose name anagramtically can be I'm a ....git) was a rock - albeit a theatrical one. But that didn't stop Nicolas Anelka mixing it with him, and then reacting angrily to Steve Dunn's intervention.
The best Arsenal chances came from Parlour, who seems to have renewed confidence in his goalscoring ability after his Leicester brace.Wanchope had a couple of chances, the best when he turned Adams and fired for the bottom corner, but Seaman tipped it wide.
Vivas replaced Hughes, who fractured his arm and will be out for three weeks. The Argentinian's spikey play, and defensive awareness was better suited to this match.
The Arsenal attacks mounted as the half progressed, becoming a raging torrent towards the end.
Overmars had a couple of long runs, and had Hoult scrambling as he bent a shot round the last defender. Bergkamp playing further forward wriggled free of Carsley and sent a shot narrowly over.
And then he found space in the area, turned to the outside and reverse passed to Anelka who switched the ball from right to left and shot low and precisely - against an upright.
Kanu came on for Ljungberg, and immediately started playing neat intelligent balls which increased the flow of play. His confidence seemed infectious - and a more measured less frenetic approach ensued.
Diawara came on - and showed again sheer enthusiasm, chasing lost causes and getting in a centre which any winger in the country would have been proud.
The goal, when it came, in the last minute, was a testament to Arsenal's perseverance in general and Dennis Bergkamp's in particular.
Bergkamp could well have seen yellow - and another suspension - if he let his afternoon frustrations get the better of him. But he beat Carsley wriggling free for a corner.
The kick hit Adams, ran to Keown, who shot - straight at Kanu's stomach. The Nigerian, a natural ball player, reacted quickly, hitting the dropping ball on the half volley, beating Hoult - at six yards - for pace.
Kanu could very well become the veritable joker in the pack for Arsenal. As soon as he came on Derby had trouble coping with him. His unpredictability and highly unusual style of play could be vital assets in the next two months.
And he seems incident prone - which is no mean thing for a forward.
Sturridge, was also incident probe (sorry - got a cold) in this match.He had already been booked was sent off for arguing.
Arsene Wenger said:" it was a difficult first half, but we knew it would be hard. We created a lot of chances in the last 25 minutes. But we showed good spirit and although we were lucky to score in the last minute, deserved to win."
Jim Smith said:"the pressure told in the end. We couldn't hold possession enough to relieve the defence." He added that if Derby had put their chances away in the first half, it would have been a different game.
So Arsenal meet the winners of Chelsea v Man United, for a possible rematch of last year's final, or a date with the auld enemy.
Sundays at a glance
The Petit to Lazio story - as outlined in one red tab, is rubbish acording to the Mail on Sunday. Sven Erikson says he knows the Arsenal manager and directors well, and he denies any bid, saying they wouldn't let him go anyway. This despite reports in the Italian press of a £10m bid.
Similarly Aston Villa's interest in Martin Keown, expressed in the Express on Sunday can be dismissed, given his commitment to Arsenal.
The News of the World says Arsenal will clinch the signature of Matthew Ellington the England u-18 and Peterborough for £1.25 -£1.5m.
Arsenal are 2-1 to retian the FA Cup and 10-1 to retain the Double. Arsene Wenger plays it down by saying:"we are in a weaker position than last year." [not the team, but the position vis a vis semi opponents and the mathematical position in the league.]
Boa Morte is reportedly in contention to play on Tuesday - against Sheffield Wednesday after making a speedier recovery from a cartilage problem than expected. Credit is put down to new physio Tony Goldberg.
Nelson Vivas's wife is reported to be back in Argentina for the birth of their baby, but Nelson is staying in London until the end of the season to help fight the cause.
The BSkyB-Man U take-over is widely tipped to be blocked. The announcement is due this week.
The Wimbledon home match has been put forward to Monday 19 April.
POSTSCRIPT - week to 5 March
Arsenal and Liverpool at £15m apiece came behind Newcastle (£17m) and Man U (£23m) in the Deloitte Touche salaries survey, which excluded sponsorship deals.
Letters about the Sheffield United rematch continue with Ivor Hall's suggestion that such fair play should be the order of the day for the leader of the Welsh assembly elections - rather than changing the electoral system to suit the Labour Leadership.
Meanwhile Paul Gibson corrects David Poyner's letter last week saying the team that scored off the ref thereby knocking Huddersfield out of the First Division in the fifties, was Tottenham, not Arsenal.
Arsenal and Spurs seem to after the same players these days. Robbie Keane is the latest with Spurs showing an interest, following an Arsenal inquiry.
If anyone harbours any lingering fantasies that the Premiership is a full blooded English affair should have analysed the nationalities on show (including benches) at St.James Park - Greek, Peruvian, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, Austrian, Nigerian and French.
Cantona and sardines: Ruud Gullit came up with a literary puzzler of his own on Sunday, referring to his sides performances as "not the egg of Columbus".
The state of the Newcastle pitch for Sunday's match was likened to a local allotment. Wenger called it "terrible", while Gullit called it a "disadvantage" - but to whom?
Arsenal could have fallen into the trap of believing their own publicity on Sunday. Arsene Wenger said:"Maybe they thought 1-0 was enough." And perhaps the Corinthian efforts of the previous Tuesday had their downside:"I don't know if we were weary after the cup tie but in the second half we didn't come out enough."
When the Ipswich players heard Stewart Houston was going to be George Graham's assistant at Spurs, they wrestled him to the ground.
If Arsenal meet Chelsea or Spurs in the FA semis they reportedly want the match played at Wembley.
ANR learns that the No10 Policy Unit football team has two more Gooners besides James Purnell - Peter Hyman, the unit's media analyst, and Highbury season ticket holder and David Miliband, head of the unit.
According to the Scotsman, Chelsea's Graeme Le Saux has put his running fued with Lee Dixon behind him.
Tom Pendry, chairman of the All Party Sports Group said this week that it may be interested in regulations against clubs taking ever younger players, following the lead from the French Sports ministry.
According to a Chinese News Agency, Alex Ferguson said international friendly matches should be stopped. He adds that:"I have great respect for what Arsene Wenger has done for Arsenal."
Dennis Bergkamp and Nicolas Anelka have been chosen for Johan Cruyff's Premiership side to face the current and 1992 Barcelona teams in a three way tournament at the Nou Camp on 10 March. Daresay Dennis Bergkamp isn't playing.
Arsene Wenger told the Economist his aim was to break down the national suspicions that existed at the start and to rebuild a "new identity". "Each person brings from his own culture the positive side," he explains, "which all comes together in the service of efficiency. That is the beauty. It is almost magical." He adds in competition the best wins. The article says Arsenal are building up a big following in France.
Strange that Indy had Arsenal 9/4 for the draw at Newcastle, while the Guardian had Arsenal at 9/4 for the win. Arsenal are 11/4 favourites to retain the FA Cup.
Howard Sun, colour co-ordinator says the FA should change red cards to blue as everything would be more peaceful. Next he'll be suggesting Arsenal change their shirts.
Talking of Arsenal shirts, they seem all the rage at Leicester. First a local buisness seminar had one as first prize at Filbert Street recently, then after Steve Walsh got Bergkamp's, Matt Elliott got Tony Adams' saying they're in great demand!
And there's talk that Brighton & Hove Albion are having a shirt amnesty and will trade in Arsenal and Man U shirts for Seagull ones.
Ray Parlour won the Times Fanstasy Player of the Week. Well he did score with his left foot.
Dennis Bergkamp told Reuters how much he'd learnt by coming to England:"It's a strange league, the English league, and you never know what will happen in the last few months of the season. Foreigners can learn from the English football mentality because it's different to everywhere else in the world."
Stange where Arsenal crop up like in the Sunderland and Preston interim reports. Sunderland's said it had the fourth highest average gate - only 167 behind Arsenal, and the club is confident of overtaking them. Meanwhile Preston's refers to the revenue swelling Cup tie.
Arsenal rose to the fourth best defence in Europe in the prestigious Reuters Euro-rankings - behind Hapoel Haifa, Inter Bratislava and Partisan Belgrade.
Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp, Marton Keown and Michael Platini are all quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying that a mid-winter break would be good for the game.
Paolo Wanchope is refusing to sign a new contract with Derby, leading Derby manager Jim Smith to say:"I don't know what's going on in his mind."
Newcastle 1 Arsenal 1
Two points dropped - or one won? At the end of the season, suspect the latter.
Arsenal had to battle against the vicious inhospitable elements of the North Sea, the vagaries of yet another 'sub-standard pitch' and a refereeing performance of such biased proportions as to be laughable.
Newcastle started well, passing and moving with aplomb. But Arsenal's superior passing and ball keeping technique saw them gain the ascendancy. The early departure of Garde with a badly bruised ankle, for Hughes - which reduced the French participants on the pitch to under a quarter - didn't disrupt Arsenal. However, I thought the lack of Petit, ultimately cost Arsenal two points.
Parlour volleyed over from a knock down and both Anelka and Overmars had shots at Given. Tony Adams' injection of pace in the last third created two chances.
Newcastle had a stifling game plan - two banks of four denying Arsenal's midfield and forwards any space, trying to nick the odd chance which came their way. It meant Keown and Adams - and to a lesser extent Dixon and Winterburn became playmakers from the back.
Newcastle had a great opportunity to make their game plan work when Nobby Solano - who at one point last year thought he was going to Arsenal - found himself free on the right and crossed for Alan Shearer to stick it home. But the England centre forward seemed to step over the ball.
Refereeing decisions were starting to go against Arsenal. Overmars was booked for bringing down Hamann. And within a minute Bergkamp was extremely harshly booked for what looked like a fair tussle in the central midfield.
Perhaps knarked by this, Bergkamp controlled a hasty clearance from Howey, and his through pass [through the legs of Dabizas] found Anelka ahead of the last defender - a sight as exciting to Arsenal fans as Ian Wright in full cry.
The Frenchman who is in such scintillating form - having an excellent month, shimmied around Given and stuck it away with aplomb.
Dennis B was really fired up now and finding space, let fly. The ball spun up, and the Dutchman was first to the rebound which took a wicked deflection a foot past the post with Given beaten. Perhaps two points went in that moment.
Arsene Wenger said that he was disappointed to drop two points because he felt that Arsenal could have scored another in the first half.
Anelka had a good chance from an inswinging corner. But instead of using his head, he preferred to control it with his body and make sure - and the chance went begging. Perhaps that is an aspect of his game he needs to sharpen up on to become a complete all round player.
The refereeing decisons got worse and worse as the game progressed. Referee Mike Reed pulled back play for an Arsenal foul, when Overmars was breaking dangerously. Solano went unpunished for a foul far worse than either of the Dutchmen's.
And then most ridiculously of all Louis Saha speeding down the left beat Dixon, but trod on the ball, and fell over. Reed blew for a foul against Arsenal.
Anelka was given offside when he clearly wasn't. And in one move he completly dummied Dabizas and was setting off after the ball, but was blatantly body checked. The worrying aspect of that was the thought that Reed just saw it as a collision, unable to perceive of the skill which lead to it, waving play on.
Nevertheless, Dennis Bergkamp was still fired up. He received the ball on the edge of the area, beat one player and tried a bender, which was blocked. He again raced to the rebound, felling and trampling two central defenders in his wake, only to be denied by Given.
Gullit changed things round on 60, replacing Brady and Solano with Ketsbaia and Lee. And Newcastle pressed to such an extent - a goal was in the air.
After several corners, it came from the unlikely source of Hamann, who dribbled through the centre of Arsenal's defence beating Keown and Adams, toe poking a bender past Seaman. The German admitted after the match he was lucky.
Wenger put on Upson for Overmars to play the last ten, with the defence reverting to a back three, and Dixon and Winterburn playing in the same position as the Bruce Rioch days. Presumably Wenger was looking for the second goal, otherwise the move would have been sooner.
There was still time for more bits of bad refereeing, the most blatant being an Arsenal free kick which deflected off Shearer's back, by an angle of about 30 degrees, for a GOAL KICK.
There was an article in one of the Sundays about Premiership refs possibly going full time next season. I can't see it making much difference to this one. You either have it or you haven't, and in many ways paying £60,000/yr could make matters worse.
After the match, Nigel Winterburn pointed to Newcastle's changed system in the second half, and the fact that they came at Arsenal, making it difficult for them to break out.
He added:"People will start to write us off now - I hope they do. A point here isn't a bad result."
Wenger said he thought it was a defensive mistake for the [Newcastle] goal, and he wasn't used to players going through the centre of Arsenal's defence.
He added:"We knew it would be difficult There's a long way to go. Everyone will have difficult games. But Manchester United have a big advantage. We have to get 25 points from our remaining games."
Wenger added he thought Chelsea were the bigger danger because they had less European commitments.
And finally, anyone watching Anelka closely - and it would appear most press men don't - would have seen him smiling and chatting away to Arsenal colleagues during the game - and to Didier Domi at the end.
The goal was his 15th of the season. Twenty would be an important milestone and big achievement for the 19 year old, and quite attainable, now.
COMMENT
Anth Courtney writes:"Come on guys....sure there might have been some bad decisions, but to not give Dietmar the due credit for his goal sounds like a bad whine......if Bergy had scored it we'd be going on about it for years..."
Team Injuries
07/03
Petit - ankle
Garde - bruised ankle
Hughes - arm (three weeks)
Arsenal's record prior to Newcastle (supplied by OPTA)
Goals 43
Average/game 1.31
Shots 330
% on target 47
% goals to shots 10
Short passes 9072
Long passes 1232
Pass completion 79%
Crosses 422
Cross completion 21%
Goals conceded 12
Goals conceded/game .46
% of tackles won 66%
Blocks/interceptions 1688
Fouls 313
Yellows 47
Reds 5
Foul Play Table
Sheff Wed - 478
Leicester - 518
Aston Villa - 526
Wimbledon - 530
Man U - 584
Newcastle - 587
Arsenal - 598 (5 Red,47 Yellow,313 Fouls)
Riches League (Deloitte Touche) 1996/97 season
Manchester United £87.9m
Newcastle United £41.1m
Liverpool £39.2m
Rangers £31.7m
Tottenham Hotspur £27.9m
Arsenal £27.2m
Arsenal are third in the Premiership attendance League on 38,095
Goal Ratio League
Arsenal are 14th - 23 games and 24 goals
Goals/game 1.04
Minutes/goal 86 mins
Arsenal are second in the HOME POINTS league
Arsenal are fifth in the AWAY POINTS league
Arsenal are fourth in the S.Mirror's average attendance in 34 years league (!) - 31,149.
Arsenal have not lost at home for 23 games
Arsene Wenger is the 8th longest serving manager in the Premiership.
Arsenal are currenly third in the Mail 's Entertainment League
Anelka's Premiership record
Minutes 2018
Goals 12
Shots on target 38
Off target 37
Assists - 4
Passes - 592
OPTA Leagues
David Seaman 5th- 55
Lee Dixon -7th - 658
Nicolas Anelka - 10th -655
Dennis Bergkamp -9th -666
Most fouled
The NoW says Ray Parlour is the fifth most fouled player in the Premiership (on fouls for). He's been fouled 43 times prior to Preston. Ginola is top at 52.
Statistics - history (Premiership games up to Villa, from Carling OPTA)
Matches -16
Goals -15
Average goals/game -0.94
Shots - 218
% on target - 48
%goals/shots 7
goals against - 7
Average goals against/game -0.44
Tackles - 552
Tackles won - 70%
Fouls - 181
Yellows - 28
Red - 3
Arsenal are currently 10th in the MoS European League:
Played 27
Won 11
Drawn 11
Lost 5
For 31
Against 20
Points 54.3
POSTSCRIPT to 11 March
So the secret is out as to Arsenal's next sponsors. On Saturday, in the second half, Arsene Wenger wore a coat with the large initials BP emblazoned across the chest. The company incidentally hasn't a bad social or environmental record, as oil companies go.
Sega would have something to say about that. The computer games people are reportedly (Times) very close to signing a £12m, three year deal. A car company is also apparently in the running, but the Sega deal is advanced stage, and part of a planned £50m campaign for the new console Dreamcast, launched in the autumn.
A fourth meeting between Arsenal and Newcastle at Wembley in May would set an FA Cup final record. They first met in 1932, again in 1952 and then last season. Arsenal interrupted Newcastle's sequence of victories in the 1998 final.
How things change. Gone is Ian Wright's rap music and in comes Kanu's Christian music. The Nigerian said before matches I pray that Arsenal will win and that I might score the winner. One paper said that although Kanu had indulged in some last minute sheep rustling, he fleeced nobody.
Incidentally, Kanu shirts are cheaper now, as the Nigerian forward announced he's dropping his Christian name. It's a Brazilian thing.
Arsene Wenger hinted that he might favour playing Kanu in a Christmas
tree formation, with Anelka up, with Bergkamp and the Nigerian
as the second tier. He said it would be useful in European games:"Unless
you have a link player who can hold the ball in such important
games away then you have no chance."
Igor Stimac said:"Keeping Bergkamp quiet is like trying to catch a mosquito with your bare hands."
Alex Ferguson said that the draw [against Chelsea] at Old Trafford has give Arsenal a massive advantage in the Premiership:"Of the three of us Chelsea's scenario is probably the worst. That leaves Arsenal in the best position and probably favourites for the league."
Young Arsenal player Jamie Day has been transferred to Bournemouth for £20,000.
Coventry's forward exertions against Charlton, have left them a bit toothless for the Arsenal match. John Aloisi faces a three-match suspension after being sent off and Noel Whelan misses the game because of his eighth booking.
Arsene Wenger said this week that if you sell a player for money, the rest of the squad get the impression you are not ambitious. "If we wanted to sell we could always pay £30million to buy Gabriel Batistuta as his replacement. That wouldn't be a gamble because everyone knows Batistuta is a world class player. But it means there would be no money left to strengthen other areas of the team."
One paper said this week on Arsenal's progress: Lucky Arsenal; lucky Arsenal fans, more like.
John Radford and Ray Kennedy have been voted thirteenth is the all time best British striking duo, with 22 and 25 goals respectively in the 1971 season. Rush and Dalglish came top in the Match of the Day poll.
John Radford, Brian Hornsby and David Court are set to appear in an Arsenal X1 at Sevenoaks for a children's charity on 14 March. The Gunnerettes will also be there, along with celebrities Tony Hadley Gary Wilmot and Bradley Walsh.
Jermaine Pennant has been called up to play for the England u-15s at Preston against Ireland on 12 March.
Peter Jones, the referee in charge of the first Sheffield United Cup match is strongly tipped to referee the Cup Final.
Seven year old Nicholas Shakir asks the Independent why they had Arsenal down to play Huddersfield, last Saturday.
The Northern Echo remembers a match in the fifties when Arsenal left back Dennis Evans heard a whistle [from the crowd], and thinking it was the end of the game, casually kicked the ball into his own net. Luckily Arsenal were 4-0 up against Blackpool at the time.
Fourth official for the Man U v Arsenal match Neale Barry reveals he was terrified of getting a shock, holding the electronic scoreboard up in the driving rain.
Dietmar Hamann, has tipped Arsenal for the title, despite knocking two points off their tally, saying they are one of the strongest teams he has faced, always capable of grinding out a result and wonders why they are still not in the Champions League.
Groundsman Steve Braddock reveals one of the secrets of the success behind the Highbury pitch this week - open corners which let in the wind and the light. Sports turf scientists said that pitch problems tend to occur with high enclosed stands.
POSTSCRIPT
To end February
Leicester's Steve Walsh asked for Dennis Bergkamp's shirt after the match last Saturday.
So that's why so many players try and get hold of a piece of Dennis 's shirt during matches.
They either want a piece of it as a souvenir or are laying claim to the whole item after the final whistle.
Marc Overmars, incidentally gave David Holdsworth's six year old son who was mascot for the day, his shirt after the FA tie against Sheffield United - along with an apology for ruining his day.
Marc, who is into iced tea, apparently gets on average ten letters a day from female fans. We hear that Emmanuel Petit gets considearbly more.
Preston and England's Tom Finney said of Overmars this week:"I think the lad is a good two-footed player, very similar to what I was."
The broadsheets liked Arsenal's performance last Saturday.The Times, for example said Arsenal were awesome, a combination of breathtaking skills, hunger and confidence bordering on arrogance.. much the same way as the magnificent Liverpool pass-and-move machines of previous decades used to sweep all before them at Anfield. Yes, they were that good.
Arsenal loses some potential players to other sports. For example, five years ago, Michael Gough, the England Under-19 cricket captain, marked Michael Owen in a football trial for Arsenal. And international hockey player, Abdul Momin, a former member of the England Under-16 squad, who was approached by Arsenal but preferred to concentrate on hockey. He finds much of the positional play similar to football.
Out of the 58 goals shown on Match of the Day on Saturday, twenty belonged to Arsenal. Each goal was showed three times, followed by an analysis.
Surely FIFA should be meeting to discuss whether the Youth World Championships should go ahead in Nigeria - where players have to have nine innoculations and bring their own blood plasma, rather than a replay.
So will Arsenal fall into the Chelsea rotation system, now with Kanu and Diawara pushing for places:" We have more offensive potential, but competition for places can make everyone better and it can make them weaker also, so it's up to me to use it well," said Wenger on Saturday.
ANR which lent its support on the website to "Eat a Veggie at a Football Ground Campaign", is withdrawing its support following the discovery of genetically modfied soya in the veggie burgers distributed free to football fans. Ole.
Maybe Man U should turn to genetically modified grass, after the state of their pitch for the Arsenal match. It is based on a nylon mesh and the strain used at Melbourne Cricket Ground, but seems uable to accomodate the Manchester rain. Man U groundsman Keith Kent said in the programme:"It's not the best in the world but it's a big improvement, and I like to think our players are able to play on it with more confidence again."
Saturday was a chance to heal some misplaced words in the past: "When you have Dennis Bergkamp behind you," said Wenger, with Anelka in mind, "you know you will get the ball if you make your runs."
Wenger has the full support of fans in his decision to push for the replay:"Ninety percent of the supporters and 99 percent of the other responses we have had agree with it,"said Wenger. Arsenal could have made history buy pulling pout of the comptition if FIFA han't allowed the match to go ahead.
A name like Bergolmo, seems seeping out of the annals of Italian defensive history. However center back Andre Bergolmo plays for Rosenberg in Norway and attracting Arsenal scouts among others.
David Poyner, in numerous letters to the press about the Sheffield United incident writes that in the 1950s in which an Arsenal corner struck the referee. "The kicker played the ball a second time, no other player having made contact, and Arsenal scored a goal that condemned Huddersfield to defeat and relegation. Perhaps this matter may now be rectified by staging a play-off between Arsenal and Huddersfield, the winners to compete in the Premiership and the losers in the First Division next season."
Arsenal's 19 year old reserve striker, north London-born Omer Riza, has joined Dutch club Den Haag on loan for the rest of the season.Ex-Arsenal midfielder David Hillier has joined Bristol Rovers for a nominal fee.
"Idon't know whether there is a place called Utopia, but I think I've found it at Arsenal, said Martin Keown this week adding he wants to remain at Arsenal until the end of his career.
Arsene Wenger has set his side a target of 75 points to retain their Championship, which means Arsenal have to get 29 points from 13 games or win nine and draw two of the remaining games. Wnger adds he thinks the title will be decided by whichever side wins the most home games.
Arsenal goalkeeping coach Bob Wilson said about Arsenal's young goalkeeper Stuart Taylor on World at their Feet:" "If he doesn't make it, I will feel responsible. He is an outstanding talent."
Arsenal's success has had an effect on property prices around Highbury, perhaps, according to an AXA Insurance survey. Arsenal came second in Axa's house price league table with a typical three-bedroom terraced house going for £230,000, up 8% on the previous year.
Olivier Dacourt, Everton's £6m rated midfielder, increasingly being linked with Arsenal, said this week that other French stars such as Arsenal duo Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira had been singled out by referees. Three midfield musketeers, soon?
Talking of refs, Peter Jones, ref at the centre of the Sheffield United storm is belived to be on the short-list for the Cup Final. And isn't it that every time Arsenal have beaten Sheffield United in the FA Cup, they have rached the final.
Daniel Talbot, son of ex-Arsenal midfielder, Brian Talbot, is apparently making good headway at the Arsenal Youth Academy. He plays further back than his Dad at centre half, but accounts say he tackles crisply and uses the ball well.
David Seaman is taking an active part promoting "No Smoking Day" on 10 March. "I don't smoke because I need a healthy body and mind to keep on top of my game. I don't want to pay the penalty," he said this week.
Transfer talk - Feb
The People says Sunderland want to revive their interest in taking Matthew Upson on loan.
A deal was allegedly put on ice when Adams and Bould became injured, prior to Christmas.
The People also said that Juventus had enquired about Nicolas Anelka, before his two goals at Wembley.
However, he's going nowhere talk, doesn't stop the Sunday Mirror saying Real Madrid could bid £10m for him.
The D.Mail says that Arsenal scouts watched Mallorca's Dani again.
Any potential deal will not be until the summer, because Mallorca have a chance of the Spanish title.
COMMENT
On Arsenal discipline, if you look at the table on the right, it is quite clear that the club are being unfairly picked on in the media about their discipline.
Arsenal have the Seventh best disciplinary record in the league.
If someone was to do a column inch count on Arsenal's bad discipline this season, they would no doubt come top.
And referees read newspapers.
Thanks