It is still far too early to be talking about the title race as such, we do however need to remain in touch with the top and continue that until we get to the home straight

Feeling festive this Christmas eve? Nah, not me. I have had so much going on that Christmas is a little bit of a nagging annoyance this year. Bah humbug indeed. But hey, as long as the kids are happy then that is all good, supposedly.

I cannot quite process where I am going to be during the Aston Villa match, the in-laws house has been mentioned and if that is the case then everyone’s nose will be put out of joint when I up and leave and head to the nearest Sky Sports showing pub.

We are edging towards the January window and the expert sports journalists are doing a great job with all their research as usual. The Evening Standard have thrown in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar into the ring. Yeah, he has been mentioned for the last 3 years and Wenger has never shown any interest but this time it is all different. He has struggled at Real Madrid and then AC Milan but Arsenal are going to bring the Dutchman in on a short term basis. You better believe it. I’m sure if you want to, then you will.

Who needs the tabloids anyway? Gooners around the world are scribbling down their wish list. I am surprised that the press haven’t read the blogs and used the likes of Adriano to write some new stories.

Back to reality, Andrey Arshavin is finding Premier League life more difficult that he imagined it would be.

Arshavin said:

“I expected before I moved to England, if you are a good player if you play for a big team it is easier, But even if you play against Burnley or Wolverhampton, it is not easy – you don’t have time to turn or do any dribbling, if you get two touches you’re lucky.”

This is what makes the Premier League the most difficult in Europe. Every time you step onto the pitch, no matter what the opposition, they will try and get in your face (that expression makes me feel like hitting someone) and stop you from playing. I have watched plenty of La Liga and even the crap teams try and play football, it is in their culture, they way footballers are brought up. This is why I admire the likes of West Ham and Burnley, even though they are finding life difficult they continue to try and play football regardless of the opposition. Stoke City and the like only deserve to go one way and that is down. Can I blame them? Not really, it is all about staying in the division and getting paid but do I want to watch them? not on your nelly son. Give me a West Brom over a Stoke City any day of the week.

Arshavin has also been talking about the title race and his manager.

Shava said:

“We have had some chances to be very close to the top but we have not taken them so I am a little disappointed, But now if we win games in hand we are still in the race but at the same time we cannot lose more points.”

Just over half way through the season you cannot realistically not surrender anymore points and the same will apply to our rivals. It is still far too early to be talking about the title race as such, we do however need to remain in touch with the top and continue that until we get to the home straight. We have a period in February I think where we have some massive games back to back against the other top sides and after that it looks much better, so that run of tricky games will tell us what we need to know. All I wish for is a clean bill of health or at least as clean as possible.

We are picking up points at the moment and the last couple of weeks have been pretty kind to us but I will feel much happier when the players find their swagger and rhythm once again. I put this down to the amount of injuries and chopping and changing that the manager has been forced into. Once we can get a settled team and they can stay match fit then the performances will increase.

Arshavin is also pretty chuffed about his relationship with the Arsenal support.

He said:

“I am happy, I sometimes think they like me more than my wife.”

Clearly it is the loved up stage of the relationship, ask Eboue what it is like when he other half becomes fed up of you spending too much time with your friends or leaving the toilet seat up.

Mr Foresight Wenger can see tremendous changes in football over the next ten years.

“I believe that you will have some tremendous changes in the way the game is refereed,”

“You will have tremendous changes in the ownership of the clubs and you will have certainly one or two changes in the way the competitions are organised.”

How can you argue with the man? He has predicted enough to lead me to believe that he knows what he is talking about.

Oh I forgot to mention that Arsenal and Hull City have been fined for the squabble at the Emirates last weekend. To be honest I don’t really care just as long as we have all our players available, a few pennies out of the safe won’t hurt too much.

ok, if I don’t post tomorrow then I wish you a Merry Christmas.