Premier league - 24/25th October 2015

So I haven't blogged for a little while but that does not mean I have not been following the action... First off Arsenal beat Everton by two goals to one and this win helped them to go joint top of the league. 

Arsenal have been playing well recently and Arsene Wenger seems to be using the same players. Now he plays Theo Walcott in a more attacking position than before. 

Manchester City and Manchester United had a nil nil draw which was a little surprising because normally it is a goals thriller. However the draw helped Manchester City to stay top of the league. 

The shock of the weekend was Chelsea losing by two goals to one to West Ham. It is early days but seeing Chelsea down in 15th is very strange but I am sure they will some good wins to see them climb back up the table. 

Premier League 7th May 2015

I have blogged about the premiership for a while, however I haven't missed a match! Arsenal beat Hull City by three goals to one and it was a good win. 

I still don't know why Arsene Wenger is not playing Theo Walcott and it particularly annoyed me our previous game against Chelsea as that point we still had a little chance to win the premiership which has now gone. 

This because Chelsea beat Crystal Palace one nil and they won the title and that is another year that Arsenal don't win the title so it is frustrating but at least it help Arsenal secure second place.

Premier League - Easter Bank Holiday Games

In the bank holiday fixtures Arsenal beat Liverpool by four goals to one and it is probably the best football Arsenal have played in sometime. 

I am not always happy with the line up that Arsene Wenger goes for but this line up was very effective albeit he left Walcott and Gibbs who are two of my favourite players but most importantly a Arsenal won the game and collected three valuable points. 

Manchester United beat Aston Villa by three goals to one and this was a good win for them and keeps them in the title race. 

Chelsea beat Stoke City by two goals to one and this helped them to lead at the top and with a few top matches coming up this win was vital. 

Shock of the bank holiday fixtures was Manchester City losing to Crystal Palace and before the game I would have bet my months salary that Manchester City would have beaten Crystal Palace comfortably. 

This was a bad loss for Manchester City and they also dropped to fourth in the league and it will take a real miracle for them to retain their title. 

 

So the last eight/nine games of the league are looking exciting and realistically any of the top three Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal can awin it. 

Premiership - 1st January 2015

I haven't blogged in a while mainly because I wanted to get some well earned rest from blogging as well holding down a job. 

My lack of blogging was not particularly helped by watching Arsenal mess things up time and time again. 

New year but same old Arsenal as soon as I saw the team line up I knew it was going to be a tough match to win against a Southampton team that have had an amazing start. 

So I was not too surprised when Southampton beat Arsenal by two goals to nil. Arsenal defence is probably the worst I have ever seen. 

They are not comfortable in the air and when the other team is running at them the defence backs off. 

So it was another terrible loss for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger has no plans to strengthen the defence in the transfer window so it could be a really tough next five months for the team. 

Elsewhere Manchester United drew one  all with Stoke City this was a surprising result as Man United have being doing well and if they had won this match it would have helped to consolidate their third position and even challenge for the top two positions. 

Manchester City just about beat Sunderland by three goals two to help them retain the title they won last year. 

I don't think Manchester City are playing well but they are doing enough to win their games and get those valuable points. 

The shock of the day was Tottenham beating Chelsa by five goals to three. This loss would have really have hurt Chelsea because many including myself had gifted them title and I did not see them losing a match. 

So this loss to Tottenham has definitely made the race to the title a little more interesting as Manchester City and Chelsea are now only separated by goal difference.  

Premiership 22nd/23rd November 2014

In last weekend premiership games Chelsea beat West Bromwich Albion by two goals to nil. It was another good win for Chelsea who cannot stop winning! 

The premiership is really theres is to lose and I suspect if they are still leading by Christmas then it will be difficult to see them not winning title. 

Manchester City beat Swansea City  by two goals to one and this was good win as they came from behind to win this match and they still have every chance of winning the premiership. 

Manchester United beat Arsenal by two goals to one and it was embarrasing loss for Arsenal. 

The makeshift defence struggled to contain Manchester United and what compounded Arsenal embarrassment was it Manchester United first away win all season. 

Arsene Wenger insistence on play 4-5-1- formation is doing more damage than good that Olivier Giroud came off the bench to at least score a goal. 

Overall poor Arsenal performance and it seems like Manchester United have played themselves back into form. 

Premiership - 18th October 2014

So the premiership returned this weekend and Arsenal drew two all with Hull City.

 This was one match I expected Arsenal to win but as I said preseason, Arsene Wenger failure to strengthen the defense will be very costly. 

To be fair Arsenal were lucky to come out with one point after a ninety minute equaliser curtesy of Danny Welbeck. But with all the talent that Arsenal had on the pitch getting a draw seems quite ridiculous.

Elsewhere Manchester City hammered Tottenham by four goals to one. This was always going to be a tough away game  for Tottenham so I was not too surprised by the score line.

Chelsea beat Crystal Palace by two goals to one and I thought Crystal Palace really held their own and it is shame there efforts went unrewarded. 

Premiership 4th/5th October 2014

In last weekends premiership games Chelsea beat Arsenal by two goals to nil. It was a shocking performance by Arsenal. 

Upfront something seemed to be lacking and the typical Arsenal way of trying to walk the ball in the back of the net was evident. 

However I question why Arsene Wenger chose to drop Alex Oxlade Chamberlain to the bench especially as he had played well in the previous European game. 

Chelsea were not brilliant but they did what they needed to do to secure the three points. 

Manchester United beat Everton by two goals to one and Everton where on unlucky if they had converted the penalty then it may have ended differently. 

I am not surprised Manchester United have started stringing results together. After all the assembled a hundred million pounds team. 

They done have to have worry about European games and they can focus on winning the premiership. 

Manchester City also got a good win as they beat Aston Villa by two goals nil. Manchester City continue to look impressive as they want to defend and win their title back.

Premiership - 27th September 2014

In this weekend Premiership games Arsenal drew one all with Tottenham Hotspurs. This was a very winnable match for Arsenal but somehow it did not happen. 

As soon as I saw the line up I knew it was going to be struggle. Arsene Wenger has a bad habit of putting Arsenal's best players on the bench and then bringing them on when it is too late and he did exactly that in this match so it was two dropped points for Arsenal. 

Liverpool drew one all with Everton and it was probabl a fair result but for either of these teams it does not really help their title aspirations. 

Liverpool did incredibly well last season and it was always going to be interesting to see if they could one better and win the title. But so far they have been very inconsistent. 

Chelsea beat Aston Villa by three goals to nil and they are back to their winning ways after last weeks draw with Manchester CityManchester City who beat  Hull City by four goals to two and they had to come back from two goals to nil. 

Manchester United also had a better weekend they beat West Ham by two goals to one. It would have been an excellent win if Wayne Rooney had not got sent off. 

But I am sure Luis Van Gaal feels like very relieved Man just to get this win under his belt. 

Preview of English Premier League

The Premier League returns today....yes! So I thought I would share with you guys my expectations and predictions for this season. 

For the first time in about thirteen years I am actually excited about the Arsenal team. Arsene Wenger has spent some money and now Arsenal can realistically challenge for the title.

I say this but with a caveat I am still not sure about the defence and only time will tell if this defence is good enough. 

To be frank I have no idea whether Manchester United will even finish in the top four. The experience defenders like Rio and Vidic have gone and I am not entirely sure who they have been replaced with. 

It not enough to have a world class manager like Van Gaal you also need the players that can perform on the pitch. 

Liverpool will have an interesting season and now Luis Suarez has been sold to Barcelona this has reduced their fire power. 

Last season Liverpool where very close to winning the league but they did not have the distraction of European games so it will be interesting to see how they cope. 

Chelsea will always be favourites to win the title but to be fair they have not spent to much money this season. 

Last champions Manchester City should get a top four finish if they are consistent as they where last year. 

They where a bit fortunate to win last season but it was primarily down to their consistency which no other team had. 

Ok so with my analysis complete the following teams will finish in the top five:

1. Arsenal !!!

2. Chelsea 

3. Manchester City

4. Manchester United

5. Liverpool

Okay who is your top five? 

Arsenal v Hull City - FA Cup Final

In the FA Cup final Arsenal beat Hull City three goals to two and this after extra time had been played. 

Arsenal started of this match very badly and they where two nil down within the first ten minutes. 

It was at this point that I started having visions of Arsenal's others bad losses against Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and Everton. 

But some how Arsenal where able to get back into the match thanks to a free kick taken by Carzola. 

It was a very tense but highly entertaining match and it was the mid point of the second half that I noticed that the Hull players where looking tired. 

At this point Arsenal scored the equaliser but Hull held on and Arsenal had to wait and score the winning goal in second half of extra time and win the trophy.

Overall it was a fantastic match and one that certainly saved Arsene Wenger's job because had Arsenal lost it would have been difficult for him to justify why he should stay in post. So after a nine year drought Arsenal finally won a trophy. 

FA Cup review - 12th/13th April 2014

In this weekends FA Cup games Arsenal narrowly beat Wigan on penalties to make it to the final. 

This game was on the back off Arsenal recent three nil loss to Everton. So Arsenal played in a very cautious approach and where worried about conceding. 

However once Wigan went one nil up all of the sudden Arsenal's previous cautious attitude went out of the window and they became a lot more of an attacking force. 

This approach helped Arsenal to get the equaliser but it took the penalty shoot out  of them to go through. 

Wigan played well and they did all they could to win the game but they came up short in the penalty shoot out. When their first two penalty shots where saved by Lukas Fabianski. 

Arsene Wenger will be a very relieved manager and he knew that if he lost this game that would have probably been the end of his time as an Arsenal Manager.

He started off playing with a much more attacking team and even put Olivier Giroud on the bench. He brought on Giroud as a sub and he was much more effective. 

So Arsenal are through and they will play Hull City who beat Sheffield United by three goals to two to make it to the final. 

Premiership review - 5th/6th April 2014

In the weekend premiership fixtures, Chelsea beat Stoke City by three goals to  nil and this was a good win for Jose Mourinho and it keeps Chelsea in second place. 

Man City beat Southampton by four goals to one, Southampton started off really well. However Man City where soon in the ascendency and won the game and the match.

This was a good win for a Man City and with two games in hand it does gives Man City an advantage of winning the league. 

Manchester United beat Newcastle by four goals to nil. This was a good win Manchester United and it should keep the fans off David Moyes's back. 

The shock of the weekend was Everton beating Arsenal by three goals to nil. By all accounts Arsenal played a shocking game and in the some parts of the game they had very little possession. 

Arsenal made few tackles and had few shots either on or off target. What was most surprising was that Arsene Wenger waited for Arsenal to be three nil down before making any substitutions. 

So this was a bad loss for Arsenal and they now have it all to do to hold on to the fourth spot. 

However Arsenal can still win some silverware in the FA Cup and the semi- final game takes place next weekend. Hopefully if Arsenal make the final it might help their season end on a positive note. 

The league leaders Liverpool beat West Ham by two goals to one. It was quite a controversial game with the referee given West Ham a strange equaliser. 

However Liverpool where able to put the controversy behind them and score that all important second goal. 

This was a good win for Liverpool and it takes them a little closer to securing their first league title in over twenty years. 

Arsenal v Chelsea review 23rd December

Arsenal's game with Chelsea ended in a nil nil scoreline. Arsenal where pretty poor in this match, hence why they only had one shot on target. 

For some strange reason Arsene Wenger decided against using subs for this match. It was obvious that some of the players where tired and needed to be subbed. 

Chelsea also employed a rather unusual strategy for them. Chelsea where defensive and only hit Arsenal on the  counter attack. 

Both Chelsea and Arsenal's strikers had poor night neither Oliver Giroud or Fernando Torres looked like scoring.

The result meant that Liverpool are top of the league on goal difference from a Arsenal for Christmas. 

Premiership review 23rd November 2013

The Premiership returned yesterday after the international break and Arsenal beat Southampton by two goals to nil.

This was a good win as Southampton where third in the league. I am mightly relieved that Arsene Wenger took this game seriously. 

This win was also needed after the disappointing loss to Manchester United. 

This winning this game would has helped us to stay top of the league and continue in the winning mentality.

Which is so desparately needed after eight seasons of no trophies. I was pleased that Olivier Giroud got the goals.

As I think he has not had a good start to the season. So hopefully this will encourage him to be more confident in front of goal. 

Lastly this win has helped us to break our  poor November record where we have not had many wins in this month. 

 

Elsewhere Chelsea beat West Ham by three goals to nil and this win has put them in a top four position and and just four points behind Arsenal. 

I was surprised at the ease in which Chelsea beat West Ham as the rivalry between both clubs would make this kind of scoreline difficult to get. 

Lastly Liverpool drew three all to Everton and I was not suprised by this result has merseyside rivalries would make this a tough encounter. 

However I was suprised that Brendan Rogers named Kolo Toure as a sub and then didn't play him. 

I would have thought the Rogers would know how important Kolo his to the defence. 

Liverpool have not been conceding too many goals. That is I fully expect Kolo to be back in the back four in the next match.

So with Liverpool drawing and Arsenal winning it has extended Arsenal lead at the top to four points. Definitely exciting times if you are an Arsenal fan!

Arsenal's season so far

As we are now on an international break, I thought it would be a good time to look at Arsenal's season so far.

The stats do not lie and Arsenal are in a better league position now than this time last year.

Arsene Wenger may have added a few new players, but the existing players have all started to play well especially Laurent Koscielny  and Aaron Ramsey.

Aaron Ramsey is scoring goals that has surprised fans far and wide. 

The end of summer signing Mesut Ozil has been a bit of relevation and his link up play has been second to none. 

So the area of the field that Arsenal still have a problem is upfront. We are still trying to walk the ball into the back of the net. It has been particularly hard for Oliver Giroud this season. 

I cannot see Arsene Wenger buying a striker in the January window so our bet is to hope Lucas Polodski returns from injury to partner Oliver Giroud. 

We are currently top of the league and how long we stay largely depends on when our injured players are coming back to help the squad to deliver our first trophy in eight years.

 

Champions League - Wednesdays games

In this evening Champions League games Arsenal beat Borussia Dortmund by a goal to nil. 

It was an amazing match and to be fair before the match I would have been grateful for a draw. 

But once the Aaron Ramsey scored then I started to believe we could win this. Aaron Ramsey has been a revelation this season. 

I cannot believe it is the same player that I spent all of last season moaning about!  

Now I feel really guilty about how desparate I was Arsene Wenger to get rid of him. 

To think he has scored eleven goals this season and will probably get more. 

This was a really good win for Arsenal and apparently Arsenal are the first English team to beat Borussia Dortmund at home since 1964!

Next game is away to Manchester United and winning this Borussia Dortmund game will give the team a lot more confidence for the match against Man United. 

Chelsea beat Schalke by three goals to nil and Samuel Eto scored two goals. 

This means Chelsea need a point from their next game to ensure that they qualify for the next round. 

This was a good bounce back result for Chelsea after their surprising away loss to Newcastle. Winning this game may put them back on track. 

League Cup - round up 29/10/13

Yesterday's league cup matches where interesting to say the least. Arsenal lost two nil to Chelsea. 

Arsene Wenger practically put out a first team squad but he chose the wrong striker in Nicholas Bendtner. 

Nicholas looked overweight and could barely run for the ball. It looks like his Arsenal first team days are long gone. 

Nicholas could prove me wrong and end up scoring some amazing goals. Somehow I doubt it, Arsene Wenger needs to get rid of him quick before he drags the team down with him. 

Other than a poor Nicholas Bendtner, there was no width or creavity in the Arsenal team. 

Arsenal has three crucial matches coming up and the first one is against Liverpool and nothing less than a win will do. 

By contrast the much maligned Man United beat Norwich City by four nil to progress to the quarter finals. This win would have eased a little bit of the pressure from David Moyes's shoulders. 

But the reality is, is that for the big clubs winning the league cup is not enough. Success is measured by winning either the Premiership, FA Cup or the Champions league. 

So Arsenal losing wasn't great but what will help is if they can win the previously mentioned trophies.

English Premier League - transfer window

The transfer window has officially closed until next year. As an Arsenal fan it was a notable relief to hear that Arsene Wenger had bought a fantastic player like  Mesut Ozil.

However as cautiously optimistic as I feel, I also realise that it will be a tough year and however as good Mesut is as a player.

We are still lacking in the strength and depth that other premier league teams have like Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea or Tottenham who have spent over 100 million pounds in the transfer window.

Arsene Wenger purchase of Mesut Ozil will at least help to make us more competitive this season and ultimately help to bring silverware back to the club.

Other than the big spending Tottenham Hotspurs most premier league teams added one or two players.

Other notable buys include Man United who bought Mourane Fellaini for £27.5 m and outside the premiership Real Madrid bought Gareth Bale for £83.2m! huge a mount of money lets hope Gareth can live up to the expectations of his price tag.