Pools Tips for this weekend, 3-4 April.

Draws: The race for the Premier League title resumes on Saturday and Chelsea - 12 goals from their past two matches - can get a draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Although United's home record is formidable, Chelsea may be slightly fresher, having had no match in midweek. United had to travel to Bayern Munich for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. 


In the Championship Cardiff v Swansea looks like another stalemate. Both sides are in the play-off positions, so don't be surprised if the Swans add to their 17 draws this season. In League One a reviving Exeter can take a point off promotion-challenging Colchester. Gillingham have not won away all season but they have drawn six and can increase that tally at Oldham. 


Aways: Tottenham are a good bet to beat Sunderland, Charlton are tipped to enhance their promotion challenge at MK Dons and Aldershot can gain their second consecutive win on the road by defeating Macclesfield. 


Homes: Unexpected victories this weekend can come from Bolton (against faltering Aston Villa), Bristol City (against poor travellers Nottingham Forest) and Southend (against Yeovil). 


TREBLE CHANCE (home teams): Birmingham, Manchester United, Cardiff, Coventry, Ipswich, Exeter, Oldham, Bournemouth, Dagenham & Redbridge, Dunfermline. 


BEST DRAWS: Manchester United, Cardiff, Coventry, Exeter, Oldham. 


FIVE AWAYS: Blackburn, Tottenham, Charlton, Lincoln, Aldershot.  


NINE HOMES: Arsenal, Bolton, Bristol City, Middlesbrough, Preston, Leyton Orient, Millwall, Southend, Hereford.

Pools Tips for this weekend, 27-28 March.

Draws: Two of the most likely draws this week are together on the coupon. Match No 10 features Wolves v Everton. Wolves are looking capable of avoiding relegation while Everton's record this year is as good as anybody's. Match No 11 is Barnsley v Doncaster, teams who have surpassed expectations in the Championship. Reading have been thriving recently, especially at home, and they can hold promotion-chasing West Brom. In League Two, Bradford City, under new manager Peter Taylor, can halt the play-off surge of Dagenham & Redbridge and a reviving Rotherham can get a point at fellow promotion contenders Notts County.

Aways: Middlesbrough are showing signs of stirring and can win at Watford, who have been sucked into the relegation battle. Improving Northampton are fancied to win at Lincoln and Aldershot can spring a surprise at Bury, who are faltering.

Homes: It may be worth taking a chance on Hull to beat Fulham and Plymouth to defeat Blackpool. Relegation-threatened Hull will probably be more motivated than middle-of-the-table Fulham while Plymouth are making a spirited attempt to avoid relegation. Brighton are just getting into their stride and are tipped to see off Tranmere.

Treble chance (home teams): Wolves, Barnsley, Derby, Reading, Huddersfield, Bradford City, Notts County, Dundee United, Airdrie, Queen of South.

Best draws: Wolves, Barnsley, Reading, Bradford City, Notts County.

Aways: Arsenal, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Aldershot, Northampton.

Homes: Hull, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Plymouth, Brentford, Brighton, Colchester, Chesterfield.

Pools Tips for this weekend, 20-21 March.

Draws: In-form Tottenham can share the spoils at Stoke, who are becalmed in mid-table, while Reading can continue their improvement by holding Middlesbrough to a draw. In League One, Millwall can get something at Leeds, who have gone off the boil. There is little to separate Oldham and Brighton, while in League Two, Cheltenham, who gained an astounding 6-5 victory at Burton last Saturday, will be more confident of earning a point against Port Vale.

Aways: It may be worth having a punt on relegation-threatened Burnley to win at erratic Wigan. Burnley's away record - just one point from 15 matches - is astonishingly bad, but it can be argued that they are overdue a change of luck. Newcastle will probably be too strong for Bristol City and Carlisle can increase Southend's misery.

Homes: Ipswich can move further away from the relegation zone by accounting for Barnsley. Sheffield Wednesday are tipped to edge nearer safety with a win over Derby and Wycombe are fancied to come out on top in their relegation battle with Exeter.

Treble Chance (home teams): Stoke, Middlesbrough, Leeds, MK Dons, Oldham, Walsall, Cheltenham, Ayr, Raith, Ross.

Best draws: Stoke, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Oldham, Cheltenham.

Five aways: Burnley, Newcastle, Carlisle, Brentford, Bristol Rovers.

Nine homes:  Arsenal, Manchester United, Blackpool, Ipswich, Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, Wycombe, Dagenham & Redbridge.  

Arsenal peaking at the right time.

Arsenal's resounding 5-0 win over Porto in the Champions League second leg
round of 16 last night was one of their finest performances in Europe and suggests they are peaking at just the right time. Despite being without Cesc Fabregas and finding themselves 2-1 behind from the first leg, there was no fluke about the margin of victory. Arsene Wenger could easily have left Nicklas Bendtner out of his starting line-up at the Emirates after his nightmare match against Burnley last Saturday when he missed about half a dozen chances in Arsenal's 3-1 victory, but his faith was fully justified by the young Dane's hat-trick.


Samir Nasri's breathtaking dribble and shot for Arsenal's third goal on 63 minutes, was the point at which the tie slipped beyond Porto's reach. Three minutes later a devastating counter-attack ended with Andrey Arshavin playing in substitute Emmanuel Eboue, who went round Helton to score Arsenal's fourth. Porto had already suffered enough, but there was more misery to come in stoppage time. Eboue was tripped in the penalty area and Bendtner slotted home the spot-kick for his treble. His opening two goals, both in the first half, were from close range after typically slick Arsenal approach play.

Sol Returns - Gunflash 537

The following article was published in the February 2010 issue of Gunflash - The Official Arsenal Supporters' Club Fanzine.


So, Sol Campbell returns to Arsenal as a player. I never thought I would write those words when he left the club four years ago. Only time will tell whether Arsene Wenger’s decision to re-sign the 35-year-old centre-back has been a shrewd move or a miscalculation.
       
Campbell’s first match in the firing line - last month’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Stoke - ended in disappointment when Arsenal lost 3-1, but Campbell won most of his individual duels and coped well with the home team’s aerial bombardment. His signing is one of the most intriguing of the season and appears to contradict the Arsenal manager’s beliefs. Since our famous back five of Lee Dixon, Steve Bould, Tony Adams, Nigel Winterburn and Martin Keown all retired, Wenger has been reluctant either to buy players over 30 or retain them. Remember Robert Pires? And Gilberto? There are many Gunners supporters who believe that Wenger could have got even more mileage out of them, but both were allowed to move on. Yet the Arsenal manager has made an exception with Campbell, who for the second time has joined the club on a free Bosman transfer and whose contract runs until the end of the season.
        
At his peak, Campbell was a formidable central defender for country as well as club, as his 73 England caps will testify. His best years were with Tottenham, where he captained them to League Cup success in 1999, and then Arsenal, who tempted him away from White Hart Lane in the summer of 2001. Most Spurs fans have never forgiven Campbell for the defection and it must have hurt when success with his new club was instant. Campbell was a member of the Arsenal team who won the Double in 2001-2002 and remained unbeaten away from home in the league. More honours followed and his centre-back partnership with Kolo Toure when Arsenal won the title while going through the 2003-2004 league campaign unbeaten was especially noteworthy.
      
However, the following two seasons ended in anti-climax. An injury to Campbell gave Philippe Senderos his chance at centre-half and the form of the Swiss international was so good that he was preferred to Campbell in Arsenal’s 2005 FA Cup final side to play - and beat - Manchester United. During the next season Campbell lost some of his assurance and swagger. His problems came to a head one February night in the home match against West Ham at Highbury which ended in a 3-2 defeat. At fault for both West Ham’s goals in the first half, Campbell failed to reappear after the interval. He had left the ground at half-time, apparently beset by personal problems, and decided to take a complete break from football. He returned, refreshed, to play an influential part in Arsenal’s Champions League final against Barcelona. Campbell opened the scoring with a typically forceful header from Thierry Henry’s free kick, but the Gunners, down to 10 men because of Jens Lehmann’s early dismissal, were always fighting a losing battle, and Barcelona prevailed 2-1.
       
Campbell played against Wigan in Arsenal’s final match at Highbury on Sunday May 7 2006, but by the time the club had moved into their new stadium at Ashburton Grove the following August, he had departed, saying that he wanted a new challenge. Harry Redknapp gave him that at Portsmouth, where he captained them to FA Cup final victory against Championship team Cardiff two years ago during his second season at Fratton Park. Pompey’s previous FA Cup success had been back in 1939 and this was their first major trophy since they won the League Championship in 1950.
      
Campbell’s performances in his three years at Portsmouth were mixed. There were times when he looked top-notch and as influential as he was at Highbury, but there were others when he appeared sluggish, vulnerable and overweight. Earlier this season Campbell had a brief flirtation (one match at Morecambe to be exact) with League Two team Notts County before quickly realising that lower division football was not his cup of tea. Since then he has been training with Arsenal and Wenger has been impressed by his fitness and attitude. Despite his benign demeanour, the Arsenal manager is no soft touch and it is to Campbell’s credit that Wenger still believes he can be an asset to the squad. 


Mind you, at the astonishing rate Arsenal’s injuries are mounting, Campbell will probably be given an extended run in the team. It will be fascinating to see how he copes with the increasing speed of the Premier League and its most accomplished forwards.
       
Meanwhile, the FA Cup was saved by the third-round upsets at Old Trafford and Anfield, inflicted respectively by Leeds and Reading, who also made their mark in the fourth round. Third-round Saturday, traditionally the most romantic day in the football calendar, had contained no surprises. Sadly, wretched attendances for the third and fourth-round ties have shown that the Cup is not the attraction it once was. Two developments which have not helped are the draw being moved from Monday to Sunday and the FA’s expedient decision to hold both semi-finals at Wembley. And, as more and more managers give less and less priority to the competition by choosing to field weakened teams (Wenger among them) who can blame the supporters for taking the FA Cup less seriously? The suggestion that the FA Cup winners should be rewarded with a place in the Champions League is a good one and would give the competition the shot in the arm it deserves. They are surely more worthy of a place at the top table than a side finishing fourth in the Premier League. Where is the glory in finishing fourth?  It has the status of an also-ran. Punters who back a horse which comes fourth get paid nothing unless the race is a handicap with 16 or more runners. Competitors who finish fourth in the Olympic Games receive no medal.
     
As Wenger pointed out recently, resting players in cup competitions is different from doing it in the league. “The difference is if that kind of thing happens in the FA Cup or League Cup, it doesn’t damage the chances of any other team,” he said. “It can only harm ourselves.”
    
One fervently hopes that manager Mick McCarthy’s cowardly decision to play a virtual Wolves reserve side in their 3-0 league defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford in December - three days after gaining an admirable 1-0 win at Tottenham with their strongest possible side - does not have a crucial bearing on the title race. This waving of the white flag demeans the Premier League and the danger is that more top-flight managers will concentrate solely on collecting points from teams outside “the big four”. Three points should never come as cheaply as this.

Injury Epidemic - Gunflash 536

The following article was published in the December 2009 issue of Gunflash - The Official Arsenal Supporters' Club Fanzine.


It is said that injuries even themselves out, but you could forgive Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for not believing a word of it. The ankle injury to Robin van Persie in Holland’s friendly international against Italy last month was just one of a long series of misfortunes suffered by the Gunners. 
           
Already this season Arsenal have lost Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Lukasz Fabianski, Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou, Denilson and Kieran Gibbs to injury for significant periods. Now Van Persie, the club’s best player last season and outstanding in this campaign, is another long-term casualty. The injury to the Dutch striker is more serious than first thought. Ruptured ligaments have ruled Van Persie out for four or five months and forced him to undergo surgery in Amsterdam. 
         
The bad news on the injury front seems relentless. Clichy's deputy at left-back, Gibbs, limped out of England's Under-21 match against Lithuania last month. Thankfully, the damage to Gibbs's right foot was no worse than severe bruising - a verdict that must have had Wenger sighing with relief. Unfortunately, Wenger's relief was short-lived, for on Gibbs's return to Arsenal's first team against Standard Liege, he broke the first metatarsal in his left foot and is expected to be absent for about three months. One has to feel sorry for the Arsenal manager, whose satisfaction with the team progressing to the knockout stage of the Champions League and topping their group, was tempered by Gibbs's rotten luck. And how Wenger must dread those irritating mini breaks for international football more than anybody because Gunners players always seem to return the worse for wear.
         
Is it sheer bad luck or are there other factors involved? Is there something in the way they train that makes Arsenal players more vulnerable to injury? Does their footwear offer sufficient protection to withstand the fiercest of challenges?  Or is it simply that Arsenal are one of the most fouled teams in the Premier League and therefore more likely to incur injuries?
       
Whatever the reason, since the club left Highbury for the Emirates stadium three years ago, the fates seem to have conspired against Wenger. Last season Arsenal were deprived of the services of Cesc Fabregas and William Gallas for significant spells. The season before that, Eduardo sustained his horrific leg injury against Birmingham which kept him out for the best part of the year, and then there was Tomas Rosicky, who spent 18 months on the treatment table and must have wondered if he was going to play competitive football again. Had these two stayed fit there is good reason to believe that Arsenal’s title challenge would not have faltered in 2008 and that they would have gone further in the Champions League than the unlucky quarter-final defeat by Liverpool. 
        
This season’s tale of woe includes the Poland goalkeeper, Fabianski, and Walcott, who were injured almost immediately after returning from long absences. Walcott aggravated a long-standing shoulder injury playing for England Under-21s in the summer, which was a blow to his chances of going to the World Cup in South Africa with the senior side next year, and then, on his return to Arsenal’s first team in October, damaged medial knee ligaments in the home game against Birmingham after a shuddering challenge by Liam Ridgewell, which surprisingly went unpunished by Lee Probert, the referee. 
         
Much to my dismay, the former Ipswich, Tottenham, Manchester United and Scotland forward Alan Brazil, talking on his early-morning radio show, saw nothing wrong with Ridgewell’s tackle. “He got the ball, it’s as simple as that,” he said. Actually, Alan, it’s not as simple or as straightforward as that. The fact that Ridgewell got the ball was more by luck than judgment before he clattered into Walcott, leaving him writhing on the turf. It was a reckless tackle and Brazil was talking tosh. Following his logic, Brazil would presumably see nothing wrong with a two-footed tackle as long as the player touched the ball. By contrast, Graham Poll, the former high-profile referee and a frequent guest on Brazil’s show, thought Ridgewell’s tackle was worthy of a red card. I wouldn’t go quite that far - yellow would have been more appropriate - but it was the kind of challenge that made you wince and that football can do without.  
     
One of my wishes for 2010 is that Arsenal can go through a whole month without a serious injury. If they can, they will probably end a trophy drought which has lasted since their FA Cup final victory over Manchester United in 2005. But the way their luck is going, Wenger would be advised to assume that won’t happen and to make a signing - or two - in the January transfer window. With Emmanuel Adebayor being sold to Manchester City during the summer and Van Persie and Bendtner confined to the sidelines, Arsenal are left with only one out-and-out forward, Eduardo, as they enter the time of the season that often sorts out the men from the boys. One wonders whether the promising young Mexican, Carlos Vela, can step up to the plate or whether Wenger is tempted to recall Jay Simpson and Henri Lansbury from their loans to Queens Park Rangers and Watford respectively. Both players have shone for their Championship clubs.
          
Perhaps Arsenal can prosper without outside help. Wenger has unwavering faith in his squad as well as his first choice XI and one of the encouraging aspects of the season is that the club’s goals have been shared around. This is a tribute to the fluidity and variety of Arsenal’s football and if they continue to score at a similar rate they will top the century mark at the end of the season. Fabregas’s finishing has been fabulous, fellow midfielder Abou Diaby has weighed in with some valuable goals, as has Andrey Arshavin, and there have been important contributions from the centre-backs, Thomas Vermaelen and Gallas, who are such a threat from set-pieces and have scored for their respective countries, Belgium and France, as well as their clubs. Van Persie, of course, was a persistent marksman until his untimely injury.
      
January will be a fascinating month, with the reopening of the transfer window and the effect on the leading Premier League clubs of the African Cup of Nations. Arsenal will be without Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue, although Chelsea, who are formidably strong, will lose the most players. On the other hand, Manchester United won’t be adversely affected and the fact that they are well placed to pounce if Chelsea falter, despite missing Cristiano Ronaldo and seldom looking convincing, will set the alarm bells ringing among the other contenders for the Premier League title, especially as United nearly always finish the season like an express train. I suspect Arsenal must do the same if they want to finish above either of these heavyweights.

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