Apologies for the lack of blogging recently. It was difficult to get hold of a laptop and when there was one available, it was quite early in the morning and lets just say I like to get as much sleep as I possibly can. Anyway, plenty to get through.
We'll start with Tuesday night's victory over Shakhtar. As I mentioned in my previous blog I was fairly confident going into the game. We were on the back of a decent win against Birmingham so confidence levels were pretty good plus we have a fantastic record at home in the Champions League. I was rather cautious about our ability to keep their attackers abay but how wrong was I to worry eh?
The game started off not so much as we would have liked. Shakhtar allowed us no space to pass and move, the manager's plan was obviously to crowd out the midfield to prevent us from opening them up through the middle. They were looking pretty solid defensively and I thought it was going to be one of those games where we would have to dig deep to grind out a result. However, in the 19th minute a routine catch for the keeper turned into a moment of panic in the Shakhtar defence after he spilled it, Djourou slid in and Alex Song's cheeky flick somehow found it's way past the dumbfounded keeper to give us a welcomed lead. After that Shakhtar realised there was no point sitting back anymore as they were already a goal down and of course we are masters at catching teams on the counter.
The second goal wasn't exactly a result of the opposition committing too many forward. Alex Song exchanged passes with Eboue down the right wing before crossing for Samir Nasri who brought it down and finished well, 2-0 and we were cruisiing going into the break. Shakhtar had offered nothing going forward.
The Ukrainans began the second half brightly as Luiz Adriano was set through one on one with Fabianski but the Pole saved well. It was a bit worrying how easily the defence was cut open, cannot afford to lose concentration on Sunday. The miss would prove costly as the same man dragged Djourou to the ground ten minutes later giving us the opportunity to kill the game. Up stepped Cesc and he steered it beautifully high into the net. This allowed Wenger to take off the captain to rest him for Sunday's game, on came Denilson. Moments later was one of the cheers of the night as Eduardo was introduced to the game, his first time setting foot in the Emirates since his sad departure. It was a heart warming reception which I'm sure touched the Croatian.
His introduction failed to lift his own team-mates though as Jack Wilshere played a lovely one-two with Rosicky before beautifully dinking the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net. The goal literally took my breath away, to be pulling these things off at the highest level as an 18-year old is truly incredible. What a talent he is and what a future he has ahead of him, it sends chills down my spine just thinking about it.
Shakhtar were well and truly being taken apart and it wasn't finished there. Twenty minutes from time, Sammy Nasri played the ball into Chamakh, whom the whole stadium and himself thought was offside, he even had time to look at the linesman before finishing and replays showed he was indeed onside, credit to Nasri for the super pass. What were supposed to be our most our toughest opponents in the group were being made to look like amateurs. Theo Walcott was then given a run out to regain some match fitness before Sunday's huge game.
Then the inevitable happened. Shakhtar attacked down the right wing, Jadson played a high cross into the box for who else to finish only Dudu. It was probably the first ever time I've clapped a goal that we've conceded. As promised he didn't celebrate but that didn't stop the fans from doing so. He left without getting the chance to say goodbye so this was most definately a better send off.
That was that as far as the game was concerned. It leaves us heading into our next game away to Shakhtar needing a point to secure the inevitable qualification. There is still the job of finishing top but you suspect Wenger will use the remaining games to rest a few key players. Heres how the group looks after the game:
| Clubs | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Arsenal FC | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 9 |
| 2 |  FC Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 |  SC Braga | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | -7 | 3 |
| 4 |  FK Partizan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0 |
Again sorry about the messy digits but you get the idea.
Now moving on and to the promised injury update. As usual the news is...well...it's pretty damn crap! Laurent Koscielny will more than likely miss the City game meaning Djourou and Squillaci will probably partner each other at Eastlands, interesting to see how they get on. Manuel Almunia is still out but is nearing a return, that's not to say he's guaranteed he will win his spot back, Fabianski's form lately has been exceptional. Now for the sickening news, not only will Vermaelen and RVP miss the game but Wenger has confirmed they will both miss another couple of weeks, too typical for my liking. The boss expects Vermaelen to be back in three weeks while RVP maybe ready for mid-November, I'll echo the word maybe! Obviously Aaron Ramsey won't be back till next month but there is some welcoming news, Bacary Sagna has made a speedy recovery and might well start Sunday.
Of course this injury news isn't ideal going into one of the biggest games of the season but that's all part of supporting Arsenal to be honest, we have to get used to it and fight with what we have. We still have more than enough quality to beat them and I know we can. It's going to be very very difficult, chances will be limited, Mancini hates conceding and against a top side like us it wouldn't surprise me if he played three holding midfielders. Chelsea have already lost there which says enough about how hard it is to go there and win but the players will go there full of confidence on the back of two good results.
Plenty of other news, most interesting is Wenger's press conference yesterday. I know a lot of fans think we've done very well to hang onto Cesc this season and reckon he's as good as gone next year. Well the boss thinks quite the opposite, in his opinion Cesc loves the club and may stay for years yet. One things for sure, next summer is going to be very interesting. Arsene also reveals he has funds to spend in January, the big question is will the cheque book leave the pocket? To be honest I don't think even he knows that, it depends on a lot of factors for example who's available? What price? Who is injured? etc so again we will have to wait and see.
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Thats it for today, I'll be back tomorrow with a more detailed preview of the City game.
Till then, thanks for reading.
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