Internationals done, now for Spurs

I try not to indulge in schadenfreude too much. Honestly, I do. However, I begin this afternoon's blog only just recovering from blowing gales of laughter at the decision to disallow Cristiano Ronaldo's wonderful goal for Portugal against Spain last night. If you haven't seen, Ronaldo produced some amazing trickery before chipping the keeper, the ball was just over the line when Nani raced in from an offside position to unnecessarily head the ball further into the net. Cue the decision to disallow the goal. Ridiculous. Even worse than the Bendtner intervention against Liverpool in 2008, I suspect Nani was not the most popular man in Portugal last night.

You can watch the incident here, it really does defy belief: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhhLod-J5E

Short of giggling at other's misfortune, it seems to have been a relatively incident free midweek for our 15 international Gunners. Andrey Arshavin played a full 90 minutes for Russia at home to Belgium, Johan Djourou the same for Switzerland against the Ukraine and Marouane Chamakh scored against Northern Ireland- a bit freakishly, apparently. Robin van Persie played the second half of Holland's friendly against Turkey and set up the winning goal. Understandably, Robin is pleased to be getting back into the swing of things. He said,

"It's very nice to be back,"
"I see it as a win-win situation. I am pleased that the Dutch coach is happy and that the coach of Arsenal is also happy.
"It all went well. I was not troubled by the match, everything went according to plan."

I guess, in the end, it was a good way to get some game time in for the Dutchman. It's really good that Arsenal and the Dutch FA are not at each other's throats at the the conclusion of this latest international friendly and Robin has moved ever closer to match fitness. I don't think any of us seriously expect him to start on Saturday, but he should be more use to us than he was a week and a half ago, if he is needed.

At Wembley, Gaël Clichy got ideal preparation for the North London Derby, by putting his feet up for the entire 90 minutes and watching as a Samir Nasri inspired France apparently ran rings around a totally uninspired England. Bac Sagna played most of the match as well, setting up France's second goal. Theo Walcott, by all accounts, might as well have had his feet up, but Sagna was very impressed with Kieran Gibbs on his first full start for England. He said,

"For me he will be the next English left back. He's only 21 and he can improve a lot. He is already a top-class player and has great potential.
 
"I'm quite proud to see him playing the way he did. I know he is great player and he is a great left back."
He sounds almost like an older brother than a clubmate, don't you think? My uncle said to me a long time ago, and I know I've repeated it here, but he believes Arsène's real legacy will be the number of highly skilled, technical players that have been brought up through our ranks to play for England. Are Gibbs and Wilshere one offs (or two offs) or are they the harbingers of a brighter, more technical future for England?

I'm not sure I care too much either way, if I'm honest. What I do care about is Saturday 12:45 and the latest North London Derby. It's difficult to preview without being certain about who's going to be involved. But, bearing in mind who has flown where and played what in midweek and the apparent clean bill of health, I'm going to make a prediction on a team now. That is; Fabianski; Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy; Song, Denilson, Cesc; Nasri, Walcott, Chamakh.

And that is more or less the team I'd play, although I'd go with Djourou rather than Koscielny (I think I said that yesterday?) It also leaves us with the likes of Rosicky, Arshavin, RvP and, presumably, Bendtner on the bench if necessary.

Which should quiet any Tottenham claims on a stronger bench than our own- particularly as they won't need the reinforced bench for the aptly named Thudd who will be missing as his ankles can take his weight no longer. I do expect us to win this one and I expect it to be, if not a thrashing, then emphatic. Harry Redknapp talked about us being there for the taking last year and then promptly got ten men behind the ball and lumped it to Crouch- inferiority complex. I know they beat us in the league last time out, but let's be fair, they played well against an Arsenal side missing the spine of our side and still had to rely on absolute heroics from Gomes to see them through. This Arsenal side I expect to be a very different proposition to that one. I also wonder if the fact that they did beat us last year and now have the best player in the world, ever (is he even the best player in north London?) playing for them will see them caught between two stools, thinking they can attack us but not being sure about it. We have no such concerns and a fully motivated Arsenal, which should be a given on any matchday but especially this one, should be enough to see off the neighbours for another year. Particularly with Sammy Nas in the form he's in.

Enjoy it, wherever you are and I'll talk to you on Sunday (or Saturday, for those of you on Twitter http://twitter.com/rockthecasbah77) when, hopefully, we will be top of the league!

 

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