Write off

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
05 Dec	3:00 PM	P	Stoke City (H)	2	0	Win

Well, the weekend brought us a clash of the titans, opponents slugging it out until finally one of them was left standing and the other was left to lick their wounds before slinking off home. But enough about Hendry and Steve Davis, what about the football?

Just a week after we were all but written off by, um, everyone; Manchester City's win at home to Chelsea and our win at home to Stoke has seen the distance to the summit of the mountain again reduced to 8 points. With a game in hand. A good weekend got even better yesterday evening when Tottenham, 2-0 up at Everton with 12 minutes left contrived to, well let's be honest about it, do an Arsenal and throw the lead away, with Jermain Defoe's last minute penalty saved by Tim Howard. I can only imagine the stick Luke handed out to his mate Julian (a Spurs fan) yesterday evening. And smile when I do imagine it.

But what about us eh?

Andrey Arshavin, by all accounts, followed up his "Arsenal are small and not very good" blast with a comprehensive demonstration that small and good are not mutually exclusive concepts. The Russian, who has cut a somewhat peripheral figure of late, seems to have been involved in it all, winning the penalty from which Fabregas' kick was saved by Thomas Sorensen, before scoring the first goal with a very smart finish and providing the pass from which substitute Aaron Ramsey made the game safe with just over ten minutes to play. And, it appears, just about everything else. Stoke couldn't live with the diddyman in their midst, so we are lifted from the funk which was threatening to overshadow a very promising season. The victory, though, hasn't come without cost; Gallas, Traore, Eboue and... yes, him again, Tomas Rosicky are all injured and Mr Wenger says Rosicky's latest injury is devastating. But that's more about the emotional and mental impact of the groin injury than the length of time Rosicky will be out for.

It seems that, with Abou Diaby expected back for Sunday's trip to Liverpool, Theo and Eduardo also expected back sooner rather than later and a week between now and the game in Liverpool, the situation may begin to ease soon. In the meantime, when I went to investigate the Arsenal injury news, the list is so long, the page nearly crashed my computer. On Theo, it seems that Arsène might be unable to fathom the reason for the continuous injury problems that have plagued each campaign for the last three years, but he has at least got an explanation for Theo. Are you ready for it?

Okay, here goes, "he was tackled".

Oh dear.

So, whilst the squad options dwindle by the day, rumours that Arsène Wenger is planning on asking the Ladies' coach, Tony Gervaise, if he can take the girls to Greece for Wednesday's dead rubber are probably wide of the mark. I'm sure they would do us proud, but we'll have to make do with a Carling Cup selection instead. That might prove to be quite exciting, it certainly represents a decent opportunity for the likes of Jack Wilshere to strut his stuff. For someone like Aaron Ramsey, this is probably the kind of game he needs to try and stamp his authority on. I'm sure there'll be more to follow on the game in the days ahead.

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