But very proud of Hipster Gooners Everywhere!
From: The minds of http://hipstergooner.blogspot.com/
Leave a comment if you would like to know how to purchase one.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Preview: Arsenal v. Porto, Champions League Round of 16, Second Leg [UPDATED]
Emirates Stadium, London
Wednesday, March 9
1945 GMT, 2:45 pm EST
1945 GMT, 2:45 pm EST
- Referee: Frank de Bleeckere (Belgium)
- History: 2 Arsenal wins, 2 Porto wins, 1 draw
- Arsenal's League Form: L-L-W-W-W-W
- Porto's League Form: W-W-D-W-L-D
Predicted Line-Up
guesses italicized
Almunia
guesses italicized
Almunia
Sagna - Campbell - Vermaelen - Clichy
Nasri - Denilson - Song - Diaby - Arshavin
Bendtner
Subs from: Fabianski, Traore, Silvestre, Eboue, Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott
Out: Fabregas (hamstring), Gallas (calf), Ramsey (leg), Gibbs (foot), Van Persie (ankle), Djourou (knee)
- Porto won the first leg 2-1 in controversial fashion.
- Cesc Fabregas has been ruled out, after being pulled from Saturday's match against Burnley in the 39th minute
- Sol Campbell will return to the side from his groin injury. William Galls remains out. Gallas will miss the trip to Hull Saturday as well.
- The only other Arsenal injuries are long-term injuries to Aaron Ramsey, Kieran Gibbs, Robin van Persie, and Johan Djourou.
- Alex Song's two match ban does not apply to Champions League ties. He will be available Tuesday, but unavailable Saturday at Hull City.
- Porto has never won in North London; they have lost 2-0 and 4-0.
- Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal have never won a two-legged tie in European competition after losing the first leg. It has happened four times (Manchester United 2009, PSV 2007, Bayern Munich 2005, and PAOK Salonika 1997 UEFA Cup.)
Arsene Wenger is Very Disappointed in You 3/8/10
Not to bring up old wounds, but he looks and sounds so disappointed!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley: A Little Bendt Out of Shape
Not even close, Nicklas. Pic via Guardian.
Arsenal 3: Fabregas 34, Walcott 60, Arshavin 90+4
Burnley 1: Nugent 50
They sure do like to keep it interesting, don't they?
There was some interesting talk in the ladies room of Nevada Smiths after the match, says friend of the blog Gloria. I don't remember the story as it was relayed to me exactly so I won't quote it here. Basically, the gist was it involved Nicklas Bendtner and his inability to score.
Not hard to find things to gripe about in this one, but three points are three points, so I won't harp on them. We've said it before, in our Top 100 lists, that there must at least be one hundred goals that would have been scored if Robin van Persie were healthy. Bendtner missed at least five brilliant goal scoring opportunities yesterday. Eduardo missed another. Andrei Arshavin missed two (I blamed his rustiness coming back from his hamstring injury) before scoring. That's eight golden opportunities that went by the wayside. This could've been 11-1.
There was plenty of restlessness at the Emirates yesterday, especially after Burnley equalized. Arsenal took a first half lead on a really first class goal from Cesc Fabregas, putting the ball through Brian Jensen's legs after a brilliant lofted pass from Samir Nasri. But then, a few minutes later, Fabregas was pulled for Abou Diaby, after re-aggrivating the hamstring injury he first hurt in December. EVERYBODY PANIC!!! He's highly doubtful for Tuesday's Champions League tie against Porto. Thankfully, Alex Song's suspension is only for domestic play.
Burnley's equalizer came in two steps: on a long ball lofted to the center circle, Bendtner made no effort to challenge for possession, and the Clarets lofted the ball deep in the other direction. Then, the central defense, which I never trust with Mikael Silvestre on, tries to trap David Nugent, on loan from Portsmouth, but fails. Nugent is clear and chips the ball over a helpless Manuel Almunia.
From that point on, Theo Walcott took over. Yes, that's right. Theo Walcott played with tremendous skill, poise, and pace in the second half. Once Burnley brought themselves level, Walcott realized it was time to stop crossing it to Bendtner and time to finish one himself, which he did with a striking left footed shot to the far post, ten minutes after Nugent's equalizer. It was Walcott's first goal five months.
But the lead never felt comfortable until Arshavin buried the game with seconds to play. The Gunners inability to finish off golden scoring opportunities was a little worrying. But as it stands, though Chelsea has a game in hand, the table reads 63-61-61. Hard to complain when you've won four straight in league play. But we were this close to starting a Robin van Persie chant after each of Bendtner's misses.
Not hard to find things to gripe about in this one, but three points are three points, so I won't harp on them. We've said it before, in our Top 100 lists, that there must at least be one hundred goals that would have been scored if Robin van Persie were healthy. Bendtner missed at least five brilliant goal scoring opportunities yesterday. Eduardo missed another. Andrei Arshavin missed two (I blamed his rustiness coming back from his hamstring injury) before scoring. That's eight golden opportunities that went by the wayside. This could've been 11-1.
There was plenty of restlessness at the Emirates yesterday, especially after Burnley equalized. Arsenal took a first half lead on a really first class goal from Cesc Fabregas, putting the ball through Brian Jensen's legs after a brilliant lofted pass from Samir Nasri. But then, a few minutes later, Fabregas was pulled for Abou Diaby, after re-aggrivating the hamstring injury he first hurt in December. EVERYBODY PANIC!!! He's highly doubtful for Tuesday's Champions League tie against Porto. Thankfully, Alex Song's suspension is only for domestic play.
Burnley's equalizer came in two steps: on a long ball lofted to the center circle, Bendtner made no effort to challenge for possession, and the Clarets lofted the ball deep in the other direction. Then, the central defense, which I never trust with Mikael Silvestre on, tries to trap David Nugent, on loan from Portsmouth, but fails. Nugent is clear and chips the ball over a helpless Manuel Almunia.
From that point on, Theo Walcott took over. Yes, that's right. Theo Walcott played with tremendous skill, poise, and pace in the second half. Once Burnley brought themselves level, Walcott realized it was time to stop crossing it to Bendtner and time to finish one himself, which he did with a striking left footed shot to the far post, ten minutes after Nugent's equalizer. It was Walcott's first goal five months.
But the lead never felt comfortable until Arshavin buried the game with seconds to play. The Gunners inability to finish off golden scoring opportunities was a little worrying. But as it stands, though Chelsea has a game in hand, the table reads 63-61-61. Hard to complain when you've won four straight in league play. But we were this close to starting a Robin van Persie chant after each of Bendtner's misses.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Preview: Arsenal v. Burnley [UPDATED]
Arsenal drew at Turf Moor in December; Burnley equalized on a first half penalty, conceded here by Vermaelen. Pic via Guardian.
Emirates Stadium, London
Saturday, March 6
1500 GMT, 10:00 am EST
- Referee: Chris Foy
- This Match, Last Time: Arsenal 1 - 0 Burnley (December 20, 1975)
- All-Time in All Competitions: 43 Arsenal wins, 33 Burnley wins, 21 draws
- Arsenal's Recent Form: D-L-L-W-W-W
- Burnley's Recent Form: L-L-W-L-L-L
Predicted Line-Up
guesses italicized
Almunia
Sagna - Silvestre - Vermaelen - Clichy
Fabregas - Denilson - Diaby
Nasri - Bendtner - Eduardo
guesses italicized
Almunia
Sagna - Silvestre - Vermaelen - Clichy
Fabregas - Denilson - Diaby
Nasri - Bendtner - Eduardo
Subs from: Fabianski, Traore, Eboue, Rosicky, Walcott, Merida, Arshavin
Out: Vela (international duty/jet lag), Campbell (groin), Gallas (calf), Ramsey (leg), Gibbs (foot), Van Persie (ankle), Djourou (knee)
Suspended: Song (first of two, accumulation)
- Arsenal can go top of the league with a win, but it's highly unlikely. To do so, Arsenal must win by at least four goals to beat Chelsea on goals scored, and Manchester United would have to lose at Wolves. Arsenal can still go top with a United draw, but it would then have to be a seven goal win. And bear in mind, Chelsea will have a game in hand after this weekend.
- The Arsenal midfield situation looked like it was getting exceedingly dire thanks to Ramsey's horror injury and Song's 10 yellow card suspension. Thankfully, Andrei Arshavin and Denilson are both likely to return from injuries. Denilson probably has to start with a limited midfield; I think Arshavin will feature off the bench, but I'd love to be wrong on that.
- Abou Diaby passed a fitness test Friday and will return to the side, after his mysterious knee injury nobody remembers him picking up at Porto.
- Sol Campbell did not pass his fitness test and will not feature in the squad with a groin injury, with William Gallas still out, Mikael Silvestre will start.
- Carlos Vela will not return from international duty with Mexico in time to feature. Mexico played New Zealand at the Rose Bowl in California late Wednesday night (early Thursday in England). Vela scored for Mexico in a 2-0 win.
- Speaking of scoring in international duty, Nicklas Bendtner scored for Denmark, but they lost surprisingly to Austria 2-1.
- Also, I like to think that all of England now understands the frustration that is Theo Walcott.
- Burnley has insisted that they will play a physical match against Arsenal this week. Hmmm, where have we heard that before?
- Burnley has picked up 22 of a possible 39 points at home this season. They have picked up 1 of a possible 42 points away from home, thanks to a 3-3 draw at Manchester City.
- Before this season, Burnley's last year in the top flight was 1975/1976.
- Since 1975, Arsenal has won all three cup ties they've played against the Clarets: two FA Cup ties and one League Cup tie. All three ties were over the past two seasons.
- Burnley's last win over the Gunners in North London was at Highbury, 2-1, on September 7, 1974.
- Alan Wiley was originally listed as referee, but it's now listed as Chris Foy. I'm just glad Guardian was as duped as I.
Saturday: West Ham United v. Bolton Wanderers; Boleyn Ground at Upton Park, London
Saturday: Wolverhampton Wanderers v. Manchester United; Molineux, Wolverhampton
Sunday: Everton v. Hull City; Goodison Park, Liverpool
Monday: Wigan Athletic v. Liverpool; DW Stadium, Wigan
FA Cup Saturday: Portsmouth v. Birmingham City; Fratton Park, Portsmouth
FA Cup Saturday: Fulham v. Tottenham Hotspur; Craven Cottage, London
FA Cup Sunday: Reading v. Aston Villa; Madejski Stadium, Reading
FA Cup Sunday: Chelsea v. Stoke City; Stamford Bridge, London
Out of Action: Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, and Sunderland
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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