Gunnerrific

Well that didn’t go too well. The stars and planets have aligned and Tottenham’s “once every 11 year win-at-home against Arsenal” was apparently due. The game was pretty one sided except for the 2 goals Tottenham managed to produce. Arsenal maintained 66% of ball possession and pulled off 8 more shots on goal, although only 1 of those was actually, you know, on goal.

Words really can not describe how tingly I felt inside to see Robin Van Persie on the pitch. When he cam on, the game instantly changed. Given that he only played for a bit, he produced some wonderful changes, played well, and seems to be his old self. As usual I will keep my fingers crossed that he comes back with a vengeance.

What Arsene Wenger had to say after the match.

Arsene Wenger said before the match that if we didn’t win the chance to win the title was over, and I have to agree. Given the amount of injuries we have sustained it would be unrealistic to assume that we can win every game for the rest of the season. In addition, both Manchester and Chelsea need to drop points, which is just as unlikely.

To top it all off, Vermaelen was injured early on and is expected to be out for 3 weeks. Great. Someone really does need to do some investigation into what our players are eating and/or drinking. Just as someone comes back from injury, someone else goes out. This has happened regularly every season and I think it is probably our most significant issue. We are just too susceptible to injuries that cause multiple week-long absences.

Our season has just deflated with the same sound a large, uninspiring, two-day old birthday balloon produces. Pfffffffffffffffffffft.

*Photo courtesy user Gordonflood.com on Flickr via CC w/attribution license.

How dare he! Yesterday I wrote a short blurb about Van Persie and how much I would be SHOCKED if he actually played at all against Tottenham. I presumed all the rumors were just made up stories to attract attention. Well, I appear to have successfully reverse jinxed us because more and more reports of him being completely match fit are pouring in. Hooray!

And from the mist a figure appears... ROBIN VAN PERSIE.

The original image is Creative Commons licensed with attribution courtesy of Flickr user wonker, who appears to be a season ticket holder with some pretty good seats.

How much of an impact would RvP have made on our season? It is impossible to know, but surely our scoring capacity wouldn’t be so lacking. Perhaps it is not too late for him to have a say in the 2009-10 season. The race is still tight, and if we didn’t have so many injuries our odds wouldn’t look so dismal.

It sounds as though Arsenal’s on-again-off-again man Sol Campbell will get a start as a result of all our injuries. Our injuries are pretty much terrible. Does anyone know of any sort of ‘injury study’ in which all the different teams are compared in terms of their injury histories? Clearly we would have to be challenging for the top spot. It’s a shock that Arsene Wenger hasn’t sustained an injury yet.  I wonder how long he would need to take before he considers himself match fit.

I was going to make a picture of Robin Van Persie as The Terminator saying the infamous words “I’ll be back” but you’re very lucky because I thought better of it. Very lucky.

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Lady Bracewell-Smith is looking into the option of selling her shares of Arsenal stock.

Phew. That was a lot of links. It’s like Google news or something. I hope you didn’t click any of them.

Anyways, this rumored sell-off of 15.9% of the sum of Arsenal shares could create some boardroom turmoil resulting in a potential take-over. Like most things, there’s little use in worrying over it. And attempting to project some sort of possible outcome is likely to be fruitless too, given the number of individuals involved. In either case, it might result in Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov having another throw-down. I expect it to be just like Mad Max… Two billionaire enter, one Arsenal owner leave!

Can anyone spare a kit?

The only question I have is… how much of an Arsenal fan is Lady Bracewell-Smith? I can’t find a picture of her at a game or in a kit. What gives?! And selling off all her shares? Well… I can’t really speculate to that. Maybe she just needs the cash.

In other news, Robin Van Persie may see some action against Tottenham on Wednesday. I’ll be shocked, SHOCKED, if he plays at all. We all know how long Mr. Wenger likes to rest his players before they are truly ‘match fit’ so why would it be any different for someone that has been out so long? Especially after gambling with Fabregas and losing horribly? I think we can still handle Tottenham without RvP, so I’d just as well like to see him behind the bench.

The Bleacher Report has a great write up of the derby and why it is a must watch game. Given the desperate need of points on both sides it has the potential to be a classic.