I wish we would be a little more conservative against the better sides. Perhaps do not over commit our full backs as often and rely on Cesc and our front men to do the damage. Sometimes it feels like we are playing into the opposition’s hands

The first thing I would like to do is throw an arm around Alex Song, throw the other arm around Emmanuel Eboue, tell them that we are proud of their performances for their countries. They still should be there fighting for the cup. Explain how much you know they are hurting. Then suggest the answer to take all that pain away. When they look up at me, in search for the answers. I just tell them to take out all their frustrations on the rest of the Premier League, starting with Manchester United next week.

Alex Song has been missed in the heart of the Arsenal midfield. Denilson hasn’t reached his best form since his last injury so Song’s return should ease the pressure for the new deflection king.

Bacary Sagna has been carrying a shoulder problem according to Arsene, so I expect Eboue to be used whenever possible. Having said that, I cannot imagine Arsene selecting Eboue at right back against any of the top sides. As far as I can remember, Eboue has only played at right back at the Emirates.

The flip side to Ivory Coast going out is the return of the Drog. Hopefully his lack of form during the tournament will transfer itself smoothly across to the Premier League. To be honest, I do not care much about what players are available or on form for the other clubs as long as we have pretty much everyone to select from.

I read a comment on another blog that I found myself nodding away to. I will rewrite it in my own words because at the time of writing this, I do not have internet connection and I am likely to forget to do so.

We have to go into every game with 100% commitment from the very first minute, let us not look back and think what could have been, every tackle, every pass, every movement should be made with a burning desire to pick up the three points. If the game is moved away from football and into a battle then we have to at least match the opposition and should do more. Play without fear, yet still using the brain. It is in our own hands, it is now down to us to show everyone how good we really can become.

Ole Gunner said it better but that was the general gist of things, with some extra dramatic lines added for effect. Did you feel it? no? well fair enough.

Aston Villa (a)
Manchester United (h)
Chelsea (a)
Liverpool (h)

There is little doubt that those set of fixtures are stupidly difficult. I remember looking at that group of fixtures at the start of the season thinking oh my word, how hard will that be, well we are almost here. I like to look at it the other way. We are in control of our destiny, having that collection of fixtures may be what wins us the title. If we beat Manchester United and Chelsea are the big six pointers, as it were. A chance to halt the competition whilst elevating ourselves into a great position for the final run in where the fixtures get a little easier.

I get worried about difficult games in a row, especially in such a short space of time because we have fallen at those hurdles in the past. Hopefully our good form can turn that tide the other direction. Winning breeds confidence so if we can start tomorrow with a victory at Villa Park then that will set us up nicely for the United game. They are going to be mega up for that game so we have to match that.

One thing I would like to talk about is our approach in these games. We take on the big teams just as we do with any other side. Chelsea and Manchester United adapt when facing us. All of a sudden they play more defensively and concentrate on stopping us, we push on in search of the goal and can get caught out at the back.

I wish we would be a little more conservative against the better sides. Perhaps do not over commit our full backs as often and rely on Cesc and our front men to do the damage. Sometimes it feels like we are playing into the opposition’s hands when the whole team push forward in search of goals. It is a slight contradiction to our philosophy as they way we play has helped us become the league’s top goal scorers. I just feel in recent years our gung ho approach leaves us a little exposed. It would be interesting to see how Chelsea reacted to most of our players behind the ball at Stamford Bridge, not giving them any time on the ball then breaking at them when we win the ball back, it may give us more space to attack and at the same time our back four would be more protected.

I suppose changing the way we play just like that isn’t quite so simple, especially at such an important stage of the season.

It looks like Fulham’s Chris Smalling is all set to go to Manchester United after Fulham accepted a bid from the Surrey based club. Apparently Fulham rejected a bid from Arsenal earlier in the day. After losing out on Aaron Ramsey Fergie will be doing all he can to bring the player to Old Toilet. Ah well, not to worry. I suppose we cannot get all the best talent all the time.

On the subject of transfers the Klass-Jan Huntelaar rumour has resurfaced. He is back on his way to Arsenal again. *The easy part of this is to just forget that Wenger has already said that he isn’t interested in the player*

He is unhappy at the lack of football he is getting at Milan after previously being unhappy about the lack of football at Madrid. I sense a pattern emerging here.

He would be a perfect fit for our side *also forget about his lack of versatility* and would score millions of goals.

Let us be real for a second if we can, he may be a good goal scorer who did very well in Holland (as Kuyt has done) but he is not on Arsene’s radar. Wenger has had many many chances of buying him and has declined.

Arsene is due his weekly press conference today, so I am sure I will have some interesting comments to write about tomorrow.

Back again tomorrow with some pre Villa stuff.