Pradeep Kachhala
It's not often, especially this season, that Gooners get to watch Arsenal without the proverbial white-knuckle ride. However, Tuesday night was almost the exception. In truth it didn't tell us much that we didn't already know, such as that in Miquel, Frimpong, Coquelin (sans the writhing around comically after a challenge in the first half) and Chamberlain, we have a promising group of players, who may be able to make the step-up if given time. On the other hand, this is almost a direct dichotomy from other players at the club who no longer seem to be motivated to perform their tasks, such as Arshavin, Chamakh, Fabianski and Mannone. The horror of losing two goalkeepers in one game means that, somehow, Almunia could "force" his way back into the side. It made me think of those ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ movies from the 80s, where, just when you think that Freddy Kruger has gone, he suddenly appears from nowhere.
Anyway, considering we were written off at the group qualification stages, it was comfortable to watch Chelsea, City and United squirm and in the case of the latter two fail to get to the knock-out stages. Better was the finish to our group, where, much like during the rest of 2011, the Germans decided not to do the Greeks a favour and Marseille slipped through the back door. Any preferences as to whom we would like in the knock-out stages? I should prefer to avoid Napoli, and possibly Milan, but remain optimistic that a favourable draw will give us a chance of reaching the quarters at least.
The injury curse continues. Even more strange, it seems that Santos wasn't even supposed to go to Greece until Pat Rice discovered that Martin Angha didn't qualify for the work permit to travel! He joins Jenkinson, Sagna and the perma-crocked Gibbs. Worryingly, Wenger believed that he would be off for quite a while, which leaves us short on the left. Unbelievably, we could actually be playing all four centre-backs at the weekend, assuming Djourou and Vermaelen play in the right- and left-back positions respectively, with Mertesacker and Koscielny in the middle. The main concern is that another injury will put us on the verge of our usual New-Year defensive crisis - has anyone got Sol Campbell's number?
Nice to see that we are putting up three statues to commemorate the 125th anniversary. Absolutely no problem with the choices of Chapman, Adams and Henry. Not only is this a great gesture, especially as two of the three are still involved with football, but it adds some impetus to the rest of the players, present and future, to aspire to their standards.
Saturday sees a tricky home game against Everton, who have the knack of producing the goods against the better sides in the EPL. Following our home draw at Fulham, dropping further points before Christmas isn't something that I have included in my letter to Santa. However, the following week sees the biggest challenge since that 8-2, which is a visit to the Eastlands, on which I will comment next week when, hopefully, we will not have any further injuries, as we will need our strongest squad possible.
