Those of you who know me well, are aware of the fact I suffer from a weak ticker. Well, any progress made these fast few years on the solidification of such anomaly with me heart was completely erased this past weekend (yeass, sorry for the delay … just a lot on at the mo’). What a fantastic game. Any footy fan couldn’t really ask for more. Arsenal have been playing fantastic passing football. Manchester United have the best counter attack in the whole league. Both teams tried to play their game, and though not successful at times, they provided a fantastic display of the beautiful game. Now, a point against Man United is great, especially since it keeps us on level tally with a game in hand. Since I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, I’ll start with the positives.

The lads put the pressure on. It’s not every day you get to see Ryan Giggs heading balls out of his own box. Truly satisfying. Their passing was OK, and they weren’t afraid. Their resilience was just awesome. This team never gives up. Even after conceding a stupid goal (see negatives a little further on), they pushed on. Thanks to a wicked catch from the linesman (who needs goal-line technology, eh?) we leveled the match in the last minute. But what a tense minute it was, eh! They made me proud the way they didn’t lose hope. Their attitude is awesome, and come the end of season, that may be the difference between winning the league or not. There were however some concerns.

The goalkeeping is a major worry for me. Almunia is good, but he is definitely missing experience, which differentiates him from a world class player. Lehmann is good; Short-tempered but good. Almunia has done well but has made some mistakes, which I suspected would cost us … eventually. And I think it did on Saturday. Almunia attempted to get the ball from Man United and missed, leaving three clear black shirts in our box, all willing to get credit for a simple tap in. But can Wenger put Lehmann in, especially after his dick comments these past few weeks? That’s a tough one. Wenger has always given players a chance, even with mistakes. Let’s hope Almunia has learned from what he did wrong. Our defense is also a little inconsistent. Gallas and Toure have wicked individual talent, but didn’t seem to gel. Air battle was also an issue; They don’t seem too confident there. They are probably two of the best central defenders. If they can gel and practice some more on air defense, we should be fine (Update: Although I didn’t watch the Champions League tie today, it seemed we were good defensively). Nonetheless, I am a proud Gunner all me life and right now I feel incredibly proud of this team. They are really proving many critics wrong (how many people wrote Arsenal off after Thierry left, eh?).

Chelsea seem to getting over the shock of losing the Special One. They are on a great run, and are now fourth in the table. Why is it that when Lampard wears a blue-coloured shirt he plays absolute blinders, time and time again. Put a white shirt on him, and the transformation from midfield genius to absolute tosser takes about 3.23 seconds! He is playing great, scoring goals and assisting! Manchester City played Sunderland, which was quite possibly the most boring game of the season. The goal was great, and celebration was very interesting, but I regret having chosen to work from home to see that! Still, City stay at third, with Manchester United second, and Arsenal sneak into first because of goals scored.

Champions League this week. Arsenal made 8 changes from the team that played United, and managed a draw, securing a pass to the second round. I was talking to a friend of mine who reckons the Gunners will fail in their Premier League bid, but will take away the European Championship. Interesting. Our form in Europe is good. What does everyone think? Chelsea got a draw, and Manchester scored 4 (again) to make it through to the second round also. Two matches left in the group stages and we’re into the elimination round. Let’s see if Arsenal can make it top of the group.

On a final note, just to let you know I managed to pull some strings and get an executive box for the Peru-Brazil game for WC qualifying. I will get to see first hand Ronaldinho, Kaka and Robinho thrash Peru at home! Be envious everyone. Peru always loses, but at least we get to watch some of the great players of the game, eh? LOL. Laters.

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