Hull City preview: treble

Hello everyone.

So, it all comes down to this. A cup final. The first one in three years. And, just as it was back then, we're overwhelming favourites to lift the cup.

However, that's where I'd like to stop drawing comparisons with that fiasco. I remember I wasn't able to watch that game, because it wasn't broadcasted (can you believe this?), but I was quietly confident we'd win. You can imagine my surprise, anger and sorrow as a late mess-up saw Birmingham win the cup.

This is what Arsene said on that final:

Look, you can always slip or have a lack of communication. You can never guarantee that will never repeat. The only thing is that what happened to us was in the last minute of the game and that leaves you very, very little time to respond.

Little time indeed, that's why I hope there won't be any such thing tomorrow.

There's also no room for complacency. Hull may have finished sixteenth, we may have beaten Steve Bruce's side twice, and they most definitely will play without both their top strikers (I remind you, Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long are cup-tied), but they are still a Premier League team. Hull have still got to that final, therefore taking them lightly can be costly.

Arsene acknowledges that our status as favourites doesn't guarantee us anything and should not lull us into a false sense of security:

“To be favourites doesn't guarantee you anything. It just means if you turn up on the day of the game with a good performance you have more chance of winning. So let's focus on turning up with a great performance.
“I don't believe we need any warning [about Hull]. We know that a final is a final, that Hull are a Premier League team, they can pass the ball, they can create chances. It's just down to us to perform well on the day of the game.
“I honestly don’t feel there is any danger of complacency - we know the difficulty of the task. If you look at our run in the FA Cup, we’ve had a hard run."

A hard run is a mild word. It could have been made harder only if we had to play City in the semi-final, but then again, didn't we nearly go out at that stage? Wigan proved more than capable opposition by demonstrating they hadn't beaten City earlier at the Etihad for nothing. The Latics sat deep against a disjointed Arsenal side, took their chance on the counter and went within 8 minutes of going through. Only our character and grit prevented it. Then Fabianski did the rest.

Oh, by the way, Fabianski. Should he play? Way I see it, there are two possible variants. I would not be surprised at either outcome.

First one: Fabianski starts the game. It's not like there's no reason in this decision. The elder Pole is our cup goalkeeper and, more importantly, he's why were got into the finals in the first place. His match-saving performance against both Liverpool and Wigan saw us through. Moreover, a good day at a sunny Wembley may just convince the Pole to stay. Which will be wonderful, cause it'll save us the pain of finding a back-up keeper of his standing. No small feat.

Second one: Fabianski doesn't start. Instead, Szczesny, as our №1 goalie, regains his place between the sticks. Again, the benefits are clear. Wojciech has featured in roughly 45 games this season, he's been near impeccable and, more importantly, he will definitely stay at Arsenal beyond the final. Far beyond. The younger Pole will definitely itch to help his team win a final, it'll mean a lot to him, not the least because of that three-year-old mistake.

Apart from this dilemma, the squad should be pretty straightforward. Vermaelen and Oxlade-Chamberlain face a race against time to make it, everyone else is available. Sagna will play and, when asked whether the Frenchman's contract situation can affect the way he (Sagna) performs, Arsene said:

I told you many times for me a professional is to give your best until the last day of your contract. That's for me the real professional. I don't doubt his integrity, his desire to win and his commitment at all.

So, I expect our usual back four, Arteta and Ramsey as DMs, Ozil under Giroud and Cazorla and Poldi on the flanks. It's our optimal line-up and I think we should stick to it.

Speaking of Arteta, he is another player, whose future is not secure. Along with Thomas Vermaelen and Lukas Podolski, the Spaniard is soon out of contract, but, unlike these two, his contract will expire in a year. Our de-facto captain will hold talks with the club this summer and I really do hope they go well. Arteta has become an integral cog to our machine since joining from Everton three years ago and, despite his age, still has a lot to offer. He may sometimes be slow on the ball and not able to track runners, but his brilliant positioning and near-perfect passing ensure he almost never needs to. Another thing to consider, is the sheer number of players leaving. Fabianski, Sagna and Viviano will most definitely leave, while we also need at least a striker and a centre-back to challenge for the title next year. It's already four players to buy, do not let this situation get out of hand by allowing Arteta or Vermaelen (and Podolski) to leave.

Anyway, it's a topic we can discuss on a summer day, when we have nothing better to do, for now let's concentrate on the cup. And win it. End this goddamn trophy drought.

Come on you Gunners

The tale of two Poles + Arsene talks manager rotation

Hello everyone.

The grand finale is still a couple of days away, but there were some interesting pieces both in the media and coming from our manager, so I decided to talk about these.

Starting with the good news: Szczesny will receive the Golden Glove. I was under the impression that with the same number of clean sheets, the keeper with a better CS -to -games played ratio becomes the sole recipient, but it seems I was wrong. Both Cech and Szczesny will receive this accolade and I'm so much happier for the Pole.

I've already said I think the younger Pole has done remarkably well this year (he is my candidate for the player of the season) and it was hugely important for him to be noticed and rewarded for his effort. We've conceded 41 league goals, 20 of those came in just four games, which means only 21 goal in 34 matches. That's almost 0.5 goals per game and exactly half of those games were clean sheets.

These numbers are brilliant, something that was acknowledged by the FA (or whoever awards the prizes) and so Szczesny gets his much-craved reward. Good for him. 

His older counterpart, Fabianski, was meanwhile talked up by Koscielny:

"Lukasz is a very good goalkeeper. He's a big professional and he's the first in training to prepare".

Well, was there any doubt? Fab had little practise during the last year (couple of years?), but was brilliant when called upon. Something Koscielny talks about:

"He plays the FA Cup - a little like Iker Casillas at [Real] Madrid, who plays in just the cups. But he's done the job well, every time when you call on Lukasz to play he has done the job".

I gotta admit, I like Fabianski's character and professionalism. He's featured on a number of (highly) important occasions and was always brilliant. Sometimes (more often than not) Fab slotted in with little to no time for preparation (Bayern Munich this year) and was the reason we won or at least didn't lose the game by a greater margin, if we had some other second keeper.

Two occasions stand out for me this year: Liverpool and Wigan in the FA Cup. During the former he made a string of fantastic saves to repeatedly deny both Suarez and Sturridge, thus ensuring we won. As for Wigan, he was the absolute hero during the penalty shoot-out, making two crucial stops to give Arteta and Giroud some breathing space and a platform to build our success on. And I haven't even mentioned just how good the Pole was a year ago in an away match against Bayern.

It'll be sad indeed if Fab goes in the summer, but I hope we'll at least crown his stint at Arsenal with the FA Cup. It may even change the Pole's mind, who knows.

In other news, Arsene has given a usual pre-game press conference, where among other things, he discussed the current situation with Premier League managers. On Sherwood he said:

For me if it's a Tottenham manager or any other manager it's always sad news when somebody loses his job. The only thing that looks a bit worrying is that the speed of the rotation level in the Premier League gets quicker and quicker. That's not a very good sign for the Premier League.

No comment here, didn't like that clown. And on the overall situation:

I think every club has the responsibility to make the right decision. I believe that technical stability is important for the development of the game. At the moment people think a lot about that so we accept in our job as well that if directors are not happy, or owners are not happy with us, that we can lose the job. But still technical stability is important for the development of the game.

Well, that's a bit more interesting. It's the first time in my memory so many managers were fired inside one season and that just demonstrates how important instant success has become.

The owners, the board, etc. etc. do not value stability any longer. Only delivering numerous trophies can help you keep your job at this high level and even that seems to under threat nowadays.With Guardiola hinting at a move away and even Pellegrini warning his own club against trying to force a certain play style on him, the situation is unstable even at the seemingly successful clubs.

The Club top executives do not understand that it's hard to hit the ground running immediately and so seek external solutions, when a manager doesn't deliver on their (sometimes overly ambitious) standards. The problem is not so much as who the manager is, but rather how much time he has spent with the team. Every manager needs some time to adapt to a new club in order to achieve something. All of this makes me value Arsene even more. We can say whatever we like, but Arsenal is the most stable club in the league for the past 18 years. And I think it's no coincidence we've reached and maintained such a high level under the guidance of one man only.

That's it for today. Back tomorrow or Saturday for a complete preview of the cup final.

Until then

Norwich 0-2 Arsenal: 5 on the bounce and we end it in style

Hello everyone.

Arsenal have got the job done yesterday with a professional 2-0 win over the now-relegated Norwich and there were a lot of things to like about our performance. I'll come back to these a bit later and start with the usual line-up against the Canaries.

It sprang a few surprises, truth be told. While Rosicky for Cazorla was pretty obvious, Sagna as a centre-half and Fabianski in goal definitely wasn't. I also didn't assume our midfield trio would be the strongest one, but I guess momentum issues crossed the manager's mind and he decided to play as good a side as possible.

Arsene probably opted to give Mert some well-deserved rest, while Vermaelen could still have been a bit short. Why Fab started in goal? There might be several explanations.

First, the older Pole could have been given some playing time ahead of a Cup final. A game with nothing at stake to just get the feel of competitive football, before being thrust into action in one of the most important encounters we had in nine years.

Second, it could have been just to rest Szczesny. This way it was, most likely, the last game Fabianski featured in for Arsenal.

While the second explanation seems more logical to me, I would not claim to possess the ultimate knowledge. There could have been a zillion other reasons I cannot think of, moreover, Arsene himself has confirmed he doesn't know which players will start in five days at Wembley, so view this sub the way you like.

Whatever reason Arsene had in mind to back his decision, I feel genuinely sorry for Szczesny. He could (and should have) got the Golden Glove, instead it'll go to Cech. The Pole may have been promised a start against Hull, he may have been convinced that he's being rested for the good of the team as a whole, but in the end, Szczesny would not get the prize he so craved. I just hope he'll have a chance to get it. He's got years with Arsenal in front of him, the opportunity should come.

Back to the the game, and from the very first minutes it had the feel of the last league game, in which teams had nothing to fight for. Norwich pretended to care for the first ten minutes or so, then they just surrendered possession and invited the Gunners to come forward. Arsenal took no hesitation in doing so and this resulted in three quality moments inside the first half.

First, some slick quick interplay led to a brilliant backheeled pass from Giroud. This pass fell right into the path of Podolski, whose fierce shot was heroically saved by Ruddy.

The second moment of danger occurred soon after. Giroud found some space in the box to go one-on-one with the keeper, but the Frenchman's right-footed effort was splendidly tipped over the bar by Ruddy.

The third one Giroud created himself. He received a pass on the the edge of the penalty area, turned and let fly with his left, but again Ruddy was on hand to palm the effort away.

There was also a half-chance for Ramsey, who produced a shot of his own after fooling two defenders, but it was blocked by yet another defender. The teams went into the tunnel minutes later.

The game continued in the same vein after the whistle for the second half blew. And this time around, Arsenal's relentless probing was rewarded.

We broke down the middle after one of Norwich's rare forays forward, Rosicky found Giroud who was thinking a shot, but then the Frenchman spotted Ramsey in a good position at the far post and crossed the ball towards the Welshman. Aaron, still moving backwards to make himself some space, lashed out a shot on the volley that Ruddy could only stare at. The beauty of the goal was such that even home fans acknowledged it with applause.

Nine minutes later Arsenal added another. Gibbs received a pass on the left and produced a low cross for Podolski to finish. The German missed the ball entirely and it fell to Jenkinson, whose effort left Ruddy with no chance. Jenks celebrated with unparallelled joy, which is understandable, given how much he loves the club.

The game calmed down after the goals. Arsene took off Ramsey, Giroud and Rosicky to give some playing time to Wilshere, Sanogo and, most notably, Diaby. The Frenchman was greeted warmly by the Arsenal fans and I liked it.

After all, it's hard not to feel for Diaby. He hasn't wasted his career like Bendtner, for example, he is an honest, hard-working chap who just wants to play football. I hope he'll manage to do it, though I'm not completely sure he'll do so for us.

Arsenal let their guard drop a bit in the final minutes, so I must give some credit to Fabianski, whose decisive punching about ensured we got a 17th clean sheet. We have almost made it 3-0 in the dying seconds, but Sanogo's deflected shot was saved.

This is what Arsene said afterwards:

"We wanted to finish the job well and not concede. We have won 11 games away from home, I think it's the best in the Premier League and it was our 17th clean sheet - that is remarkable as well. We just wanted to finish the season well and we did it in a serious way so it's a good basis to prepare for the FA Cup final next Saturday".

And on finishing fourth, despite acquiring 79 points:

"Yes, unfortunately it's the first time in the Premier League that you finish fourth with 79 points and it was very tight. I believe that Liverpool can be frustrated tonight, we can be frustrated, Chelsea can be frustrated because only one team can win it. But at the top the number of points made by all the four teams is top quality".

Also, a word for Liverpool. After it became clear Arsenal won't lift the PL Cup over their heads this season, I wanted Liverpool to do so. It would have showed, that sometimes money cannot buy you titles and, as I have more than a couple friends who support the Reds, I could have at least joined in on their celebrations.

However, Liverpool didn't manage to win the league. And the reason is not the loss to Chelsea or a draw with Palace, but rather weak defense. To concede 50 goals inside a season is unacceptable for a team with title aspirations and even a brilliant Suarridge duo wasn't able to rectify that. So my condolences to Liverpool fans, but it's not the last couple of games that cost you the title.

That's it for today. Back later

Until then enjoy the win and steady your nerves for the upcoming final

Norwich preview: bow out nicely

Evening everyone.

Tomorrow we face a relegated Norwich in the final PL game of the season. Well, they are nearly relegated, but as the Canaries are not likely to overhaul a 17 goal difference, I'll just call them relegated.

It's hard not to feel sorry for them in a way. Norwich play not the worst kind of football, moreover, they were under an assistant manager for the last (and most important) 5-6 games. You can point to Sunderland that had pulled off a miracle against top-level opposition, but Poyet has been their manager since October and had time to work on the team.

Back to the game, however, and everyone bar Oxlade-Chamberlain (and Walcott, naturally) should be available. This can, on the hand, give the manager a selection headache and, on the other, he might just play the weakest side possible. While Arsene has said it's important to do well in a game leading up to a cup final, it's much more important to ensure all your key players get there.

Actually, I'm in two minds about rotating. In my view, to maintain the momentum you have to play roughly the same team. Also, fielding the same players provides you with a better chance of winning the contest. They know how to bump off passes of one another, where to run, how to defend at set pieces, etc.

So I'd keep the same core of players, that features week in, week out with just a couple of changes to rest our aces and give a chance for the likes of Wilshere to whip back into shape. This means our usual back five (maybe with Monreal, should Gibbs turn out to be not 100% fit), probably Flamini, Ramsey and Wilshere in midfield, Podolski and Rosicky on the flanks and Giroud up top. It's a good mix that provides us with a chance to get three points comfortably, while also keeping our goal under lock and key (let's not forget, Szczesny is on course to get the Golden Glove).

Elsewhere, Koscielny has signed an extension to his contract. Though his previous one happened to be in 2012, a new offer was made, and accepted. This shows just how important Kos has become to us and that Arsene was keen to tie down the Frenchman with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain sniffing around.

A target for much criticism upon his arrival in 2010, Koscielny has evolved in one of the best centre-backs this Club has ever seen. There have been (and still are) a couple of dodgy moments, concerning the Frenchman, like a bunch of red cards or seemingly unneccessary fouls in the penalty area, but all of this can be forgiven, and that's down to how awesome Kos has become. May his outstanding partnership with Mertesacker at the heart of our defence long continue.

Finally for today, Arsene has hit out at FFP regulations. This is linked to a punishment UEFA deemed worthy of rule-breaking Man City. Instead of kicking the money bags out of the Champions League, they just decided to fine the Citizens £50 million and cut the number of players available to them in the next CL season.

On which Arsene says:

"You would think that you accept the rules and you're in the competition or you don't accept the rules and you're not in the competition. Then, everybody would understand it."

Well, it's sophisticated to me. Kicking the best teams out of the strongest competition will make it that less interesting, so there'll have to be another way. I'd just put some restrictions on their transfer policy. If you go overboard with transfers, then you should be punished by not being allowed to do transfers. It's only logical.

That's it for today. Here's for the three points tomorrow, and we'll start looking ahead to the cup final.

Until later 

Gold for Szczesny?

Morning everyone.

Days drag by in a quiet atmosphere as we are approaching the final league game. Still, there was an interesting interview from Szczesny on Monday and I thought it worth dissecting. A nice change from all the talk about how we should pick ourselves up after losses, or about our greatness after wins.

First things first, the Pole is on course to get the Golden Glove. Up until two days ago I didn't even knew such a thing existed, but here you go. In case any of you are still in the dark (like I was), Golden Glove is a prize a goalkeeper gets for the most clean sheets (league only) in one season.

Turns out Szczesny had accomplished his 16th game without conceding on Sunday and this result allowed the Pole to match Cech's record. As the Blues keeper is out for the remaining fixture, the fate of the prize is in Szczesny's hands (quite literally).

I think it'll be very nice should he get it. There were some atrocious results down the season (it was hard to blame our goalie for any of them), but the main feature of this Arsenal side during 2013-2014 was consistently good defending. Apart from the four beatings (and I know it's a lot), there were just 2-3 occasions, when we've conceded more than once in a single game. Much of this is down to Szczesny.

It's always hard to recall important saves, but the ones from Cardiff (when we were 1-0 up) and Hull (same story) spring to mind. Szczesny was able to step it up and that was the difference in a number of games. The difference between 3 points and 1, 1 point and 0.

Back to his interview, however, and there were some interesting remarks there. Starting with:

"I think it's good to sign off with a win and sign off in front of our fans but with two games to go we had nothing to play for at home and I think we shouldn't really be in that position. We should be fighting for the title".

Absolutely right. There are reasons behind our failure to be title contenders till the end (psychological breakdown being my favourite), but when a team as good as Arsenal has nothing to fight for for two games, it just shows we've underperformed. Again.

"I never considered fourth place before the start of the season as a successful season and a good position. I play for Arsenal Football Club because I want to win the title every year".

Our greatness has faltered down the years (hope we can rectify that by clinching the FA Cup this season), but Szczesny is right again. Though no one could have predicted United's fall from grace and Liverpool's success story back in August, no Arsenal fan would have said fourth is what we should be fighting for. Finishing fourth is one thing, naming it our goal is another. Something the Pole acknowledges:

 "Obviously at some point, when you lose games and you lose the chance to fight for the title, then the new challenge is to secure the Champions League spot and that was the aim this season, but I wouldn't have taken it before the season".

He then goes to show the silver lining for all Arsenal fans, but for me it's the bit about dropped points that is more important:

 "We dropped some important points and lost games and had to finish fourth when we weren't probably the favourites to finish fourth. At least we managed to do that for our fans and hopefully we'll manage to get the FA Cup for them."

Thing is, I'm not as sure as the manager (or the players) that we've lost the title in big games. I've written back in December how it's much more important to beat lesser teams, so that when (and if) we take a beating from one of the big boys, it won't be crippling to our title bid. Just look at the table. We are five points of Liverpool and can be only seven behind potential leaders City. Had we won against Swansea, Stoke and, say, Southampton, we would be level with league leaders. How's that?

Finally, Szczesny also touched on potential transfers:

"It didn't happen for us this year but one thing we have learned is that that we are good enough to challenge next year, and hopefully add a little bit more strength as well with a couple of new players coming in".

 Another player goes on record to state we need acquisitions to uphold our title aspirations. Arsene has said only two to three players need to be added, but then he also spoke these would be "on top" of an existing consistent squad. The same squad that will most likely part ways with Sagna and Fabianski, while Viviano, Vermaelen, Arteta and Podolski could all join them. That means a maximum five (!) players have to be brought in to replace the ones that left. Plus the 2-3 for strengthening. Do you think Wenger will buy 7-8 players even if he had enough money? I somehow don't think so.

That's it for today, I'll most likely be back for a preview of our last league game.

Until then