So… that was pretty boring. I let my little guy stay awake and watch the recording of this one with me, hoping for fireworks. He was asleep before the half. As was I… well, nearly.

It seemed Citeh were bent on, as they say, “parking the bus.” Which they did, and I can’t say I blame them. Should they get three off Spuds next week, they may wind up in fourth place and subsequently, in Europe next season. A lucrative haul for them, indeed. I hadn’t given it much thought until I heard DJ Tayo on “It’s Up for Grabs Now” this past week (love that show), when he called Manchester City potentially getting into the Champions League “the death of football.” I hadn’t considered it much, but as he said it I knew just what he meant. And, he might be right. Sure, you could argue that it’s already begun, what with the massive transfer fees and the erosive de-anglicizing of football. But, this could seriously upend the game if the Man City model is successful. Sure, it would be worse if they were running away with the league by ten points, but I think a lot of people wrote them off and assumed this mercenary tactic simply would not work. You couldn’t, after all, simply buy your way to the top of the English Premiership… the finest leagues in the world… could you? I’d say a fourth place finish is a strong argument that you can, or at least come close enough so that it makes sense in the ledger books. Scary stuff, indeed.

It was nice to see Patrick Vieira get the warm & fuzzy from the Ashburton Grove crowd. Legend. I wouldn’t expect any less. Although, it was a shame his applauding off the pitch had to be coupled with the booing onto the pitch of Adebayor. I’m not sure quite what goes through the disillusioned head of someone like him, but it must be disturbing. Did he think he could get himself back into good graces with Arsenal by wearing red boots? Was he trying to be cute with the pigtails? I haven’t seen a smile that forced since Lisa Marie Presley showed up on stage and jammed her tongue into the mouth of Michael Jackson. Shiver. You could just tell in the way he came onto the pitch that the atmosphere had gotten to him. There was an added weight on his shoulders. A weight that a true professional wouldn’t allow. And it’s a good thing too, because had he put City ahead, we would have seen the Emirates first old-school pitch invasion. With pig-tailed Adebayor being carried off overhead in a sea of pitchforks and torches. But, no… instead, he was his typical lackadaisical self, pretending to be having a grand old time with all his old Arsenal buddies. All of which appeared to not want a thing to do with him. At one point, he came over and hugged Alex Song after a challenge. I don’t think Song even acknowledged his presence. High road. That boy is all Arsenal. I’m getting a Song shirt next season, for sure. But, Adebayor… I’m never more glad that he’s left. He was never Arsenal. Way back in August 2009, while writing up the coming season, I wrote:

Offsidebayor… we hardly knew ye. I can’t wait to see you sluggishly moping about the pitch up norf. Dazzle the Mancs with your first touch like a rapist. Bungle your way around, and do your dopey dances when in late April, you’ve scored your 11th goal.

And here we are, in late April… and he’s scored 13. So, I was slightly off. But, I’d say we’ve certainly gotten the better part of that deal. £25 million? That’s nearly £2 million per goal, so far. I’m thinking perhaps he wasn’t worth it, eh Sheikh Mansour? But, if his efforts squeak their asses into Europe, perhaps. Either way… fuck ‘em.

Sorry to lump this in with the Adebayor rant, but my recording of the game gave no footage prior to kickoff, so I didn’t get to see the reaction of the crowd to Kolo Toure. I hear it was good, and well it should be. I miss him.

So, Citeh parked the bus and nicked a point off us. That’s about all that can be said about the match. I hope our remaining two fixtures against Rovers & the Cottagers are a bit more exciting. We need just one more point to secure third place, worst case being we get it on GD over Spuds. I can’t help feeling a bit “meh…” with the wind up to this season, but I immediately think of the injuries. So many. How is it possible? It’s getting near time to look forward to next season, but not quite yet.

Divers: Keane

It’s never a boring affair when we play Spurs, is it? True to form, this match was a gritty fight down in the dust. We seemed to be getting bossed around the pitch most of the match, and only after going down to ten men did we seem to seriously kick up the fight a notch. But it was too little too late.

It needs to be said… Emmanuel Eboue is not a Premier League quality player in any way, shape or form. I understand full well that we are short on players, especially in the midfield. But know this… Arsène Wenger’s insistence on putting Eboue on the pitch is an insult, not just to Arsenal fans, but to all of top flight football itself. I’ve said this before… it’s bad enough when you put in one poor performance after another, but to compound that with a shit attitude and shit judgment is just beyond acceptance. He needs to go, and at the very first opportunity. Preferably to Tottenham, where he can wallow away the next five years in the Championship (before they get relegated again).

Emmanuel Adebayor was well on his way to putting in his laziest performance this season when his hamstring piped up and said “Ah, fuck it… time for a nap.” and he went prone. I can’t say I was very upset about it. I hate to see any of our players injured, but I also can’t help feeling that he’s just in the way of others who might do better when he’s fit. Andrey Arshavin, and even more surprisingly, Eduardo Da Silva were both on the bench, but neither made an appearance. The announcer mentioned that Arshavin was warming up at one point, but he was never used.

All kudos must go out to the rest of the team, who really did put in a lot of work to get us this point. And, came close to getting us all three near the end. Oh, how that would have been the sweetest thing in the world, but it wasn’t to be. Gael Clichy took a serious shot to the head and went off a bloody mess. Even superficial head wounds can bleed like the dickens, so let’s hope it’s nothing serious. As much as it pains me to say it, Tottenham put in a pretty decent effort of the match, particularly with the addition of Wilson Palacios in midfield. He was a pretty tough nut all match. Robbie Keane looked like shit and spent most of the match on the turf looking up pleadingly to the ref. I guess he was desperate for his Homecoming Goal and was typically willing to dive just to get it. Benitez was right, someone like him can’t be great on a truly great team. Back to the slags, Robbie.

Had Eboue not been a fuckhead and brought us down to ten men, a draw would have felt pretty awful. But in light of his idiocy, a draw doesn’t feel too bad. Particularly in the manner we got it. It felt like if we had another five minutes, we could have taken the match.

van Persie 23 – Divers: van Persie, Arbeloa

Wow… where to begin with this mess, huh? First off, I’m pretty disappointed with the result but at the same time, pretty damn proud of the effort Arsenal put in to salvage that point with just 10 men on the field. At the same, time I feel gut-punched and fucking robbed by the miserable prick that is Howard Webb. But I’ll get to that later.

We started the match looking pretty sharp, I thought. Although, I didn’t get my wish in midfield. Once again, we saw Denilson and Song start, but unlike some past performances, they both did pretty well. Even more so once we went down a man. Samir Nasri was back and it made a big difference. At 23′ he launched a beautiful ball from left midfield into the center near the edge of the area and Robin van Persie scored one hell of a gorgeous goal. He took the ball on his chest between two defenders, brought it down to his left foot and immediately flicking it off to the right to create space and then pouncing on it with his right foot to smash it past Reina, who was really just getting his arm up when this shot was already rippling the nylon. The commentator invoked the name Bergkamp when describing the goal later on. Well put.

Near the half, Robbie Keane equalized with an admittedly nice shot after a long ball up from one his fellow twats caught our defenders off guard. You get the feeling Robbie’s not a very popular guy around The Grove, eh? This goal didn’t improve his standing. To make matters much worse, Cesc Fabregas joined his pals on the injury list after a collision with Xabi Alonso, of all fucking people. It was a fair tackle that either of them could have taken the knock from, but just our luck it was Cesc who came away with knee ligament damage. Scans will tell us more tomorrow. Get well soon, Cesc.

After the equalizer, Liverpool poured it on. They made attack after attack, and continued after the restart. Then at 62′ Emmanuel Adebayor was shown his second yellow card after a bullshit dive by Arbeloa. There was contact to be sure, but Arbeloa made as though Adebayor kung fu chopped him all Emma Peele style right in the fucking larynx and went down like a steaming sack of shit. Howard Webb, who was consistently shit all night, saw fit to throw Adebayor off the pitch. How this fuckhead still has a job officiating is beyond me. How many points has he cost various teams this year? Our total may be as much as 5 by Boxing Day. Think on that.

But, with all that, our remaining 10 men toughened up right quick. Denilson and Song played better than I think I’ve seen them play ever, and RvP was still threatening. Toward the end it looked as though we were pretty much on the back foot, but we hung in there tough. That can’t be ignored. If I were a Liverpool fan, I’m not sure what I’d think about my side not coming away with all three when a third of that match Arsenal were down a man and without their talisman. It’s definitely not league-leading stuff. I think their days in that spot are well and truly numbered.

So, now we’re off to Villa Park for Boxing Day in what is now a much more vital match for us than I would have thought yesterday. And it will not be easy. We’ll be limping in there, but if the 10 men show up who finished the match against Liverpool, it might just be all we need. COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Update: Most news outlets this morning are reporting that Cesc will be out for four months. FOUR. MONTHS. He’ll be back in time to help us fight back to the top half of the table, is how they’re making it seem. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Another Update: I forgot to mention this… I thought it was a great reception Emannuel Eboue received from the Emirates faithful at the end of the match. After The Ebooing, it was nice to hear them cheer him onto the field, even though he only played a few minutes. It was as if to say, “Yeah, you fucked up… but you still wear our shirt. All forgiven.” He did alright too… you could sense he felt the urgency of the side as well.

Faubert 75, Adebayor 90 – Divers: None

We had to work for that one, didn’t we? With a Champions League match this past week and all the travel involved, it’s no doubt that the boys were dragging just a bit. But they didn’t let that stop them. We handled the Hammers and kept possession most of the match, getting our passing game humming along. It was a build up. You could feel it slowly, but it was a build up. Despite several counter attacking runs from the oppostion that threatened, the press was constant from the Gunners. And then at 75′, luck finally broke our way. Emmanuel Adebayor shot wide through the area from the right, but the West Ham fullback Julien Faubert got a toe on it to correct Manu’s shot and get our opener. Then in injury time, Niklas Bendtner played a beautiful long ball when he spotted Manu up the field. He collected, skipped around the keeper and buried his shot in the open net. Argument settled.

The scoreline is somewhat flattering for Arsenal, I have to say. West Ham played a pretty tough match throughout. There were more than a few times that I thought we might be in trouble. And, given our history at Upton Park, you could sense that possibility was never far from the surface. But in the end, we hung in there and came away with a much needed 3 points.

It’s also worth mentioning that Phil Dowd probably got the red card call on Carlton Cole wrong. The replays show it was a yellow at best. But Dowd sent him off with aplomb, as if he were sick of dealing with the menace that is Carlton Cole and would have no more of it. He must have seen something no one else saw, because Cole’s tackle looked harsh, but legitimate. Am I wrong?

Van Persie 31 & 48, Adebayor 40 & 71 (pen) – Divers: Bendtner?

Sadly, I didn’t get to watch this one, as the channels here elected to show the Man U win over Aalborg instead. Disappointing, really. But, I caught all the highlights online later last night. It appears our boys were having a grand old time and Porto were made to suffer after our humiliating defeat to Hull.

Emmanuel Adebayor got himself a brace, one a bouncing header off a corner and then a penalty kick after a somewhat suspicious foul on Bendtner. I’ll give Nik the benefit of the doubt on this one, but I’d say it appeared he went down a bit too easily on the corner of the area after Guarin came up an kicked the back of his legs. A shot there can take the largest of men down, but in the replay, it didn’t seem like much of a shot. Whatever… only Nicklas knows for sure.

Robin van Persie also got himself a brace with two excellent goals. The first, a lovely little slide in front of the defender to flick home a byline cross from Adebayor. And another quick run through traffic to left foot a nice low shot past the Porto keeper. Would that we could see goals like that from Robin more regularly. We’d be unstoppable.

Next up, Sunderland. After Hull, I’m not sure what to expect with this match. I’ll have to mull it over.