>Rose’s screamer ends Gunner’s title dream!

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             Rose the next teenage wonder kid?    Source: ESPN soccernet

The 2010 London derby is one of the few important derbies as both teams need a win to push towards a goal they been fighting for since the start of the season. Arsenal needed a win to give them a slight chance to be back in the title race, whilst spurs need a win to propel themselves back into the contention for the last Champions League spot. Both teams needed to win, so there was plenty of attacking football from both sides. This match marks the return for two important players in their respective team, Ledley King (Tottenham) and Robin Van Persie (Arsenal).

Both teams really need this win as their season ambitions rely on itl. There was a surprise name in the line up as 19 years old Danny Rose made his debut for the Premier League. A huge risk on Harry Redknapp part to put a youngster in a London Derby. However, that decision payed off, 10 minutes into the game. Danny Rose fired venomous volley into the Arsenal goal, Almunia couldn’t react fast enough as the ball flew into the back of the net and White Hart Lane was estatic! It was an incredible shot from the 19 year old and he will never ever score a goal like this. It was a dream goal on his dream debut. One other youngster started off his Premier League career with a dream goal against Arsenal as well,  It was none other than Wayne Rooney and his goal against Arsenal to give them a win. Danny Rose might just have kick started his career in amongst the elite with a contention for goal of the season. Arsenal were winded after that goal as they fail to truly test Gomez during the first half. Without their key players, Arsenal were just unable to break down Tottenham.

Tottenham started the second half in fantastic fashion as Bale ran all the way up, broke through Arsenal’s offside trap to slot home a second goal for spurs. Bale the scorer and Defoe the architect Arsenal was just horrible, that goal could have been avoided if Eboue was paying attention at his defensive line. He stayed a yard back to keep Bale in and that resulted in a goal. With 2-0 down,  and no sign of any comeback, it looked like Arsenal were going to lose more. However, after 67  minutes, Robin Van Persie finally comes on, in hopes to     save Arsenal. It took Arsenal 80 minutes to get the ball rolling, with the help of Van Persie. Arsenal have really missed him and his presence on the field was really inspiring. Arsenal pushed hard for a goal and Gomez was fantastic to keep out a hattrick of saves to prevent Arsenal from coming back into this game. Arsenal did manage to pull one goal back but it wasn’t enough as White Hart Lane celebrated and partied when the final whistle came. It was the first win for spurs against their London rivals in the league since
1999, thats an incredible 11 years without a win and now they finally have a taste of a well deserved victory.

                                            

“Chelsea play Tottenham on Saturday,” he said. “If Tottenham want to fight for the Champions League, they can show they have the quality to do it.” -Arsene Wenger

Wenger refuse to admit defeat.
Source: ESPN Soccernet


Tottenham has been pushing for a Champions League spot, if they can overcome Chelsea in the next match then they might just prove themselves to deserve to be part of the top four. Arsenal will have to rely on spurs to beat Chelsea to have any slim chance to be part of the title race again. Can spurs beat Chelsea to put the race wide open again with United and Arsenal lurking? 

http://www.footytube.com/v/Mzk3MTU=
Just sit back and enjoy!

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>Magical Messi

>I knew when i saw the draw up for the Champions League quarter-finals that this game would be special. Both very technical side that plays very fluid and beautiful football. The first leg was very entertaining as Barcelona completely dominated Arsenal from start to finish. Arsenal were definitely lucky to end the game with a 2-2 draw. And the second leg didn’t fail to produce the same type of magic that the first leg had…..

There was one and only player that can be counted on to bring down a resilient Arsenal side, and it was none other than “World Best Player” Lionel Messi. He completely ran the show and didn’t let up the whole night, the Arsenal players could only chase his shadows as Messi haunted the the defenses. Arsenal may have taken the lead through Nicklas Bendtner, but that didn’t stop Messi from producing one of his best performances on the big stage. Scoring four goals during the night to send the cup holders to the semi inals of the Champions League. This consolidated the running of him becoming world best player. He may be smaller compared to the likes of Ronaldo, Torres or Rooney, but he has shown that his trickery and sharp body turns were too much for the Arsenal defenders to bear.  If he does ever leave the Camp Nou, it will definitely be exciting to see him play in the English Premier League where his skills will be tested week in, week out, in one of the top league’s in the world.

Arsenal just didn’t showed up for this game as they were completely mauled by the magician Messi. Even Wenger admitted that his side were completely outplayed by the “world best player”. Which was evident as Arsenal gave little resistant to a very strong Barcelona side. I think Arsenal just laid low and just watch Messi preform his magic, Arsenal didn’t have the player that could mark a player like Messi, so that was the reason for their failure. This years World Cup will definitely be a good one with world class players on top of their form. I will be looking forward to seeing how Messi will do at the world cup in South Africa.

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>Lucky Arsenal escapes with a draw!

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Arsenal has always been known for their beautiful short passing, fluid football. It was going to be an exciting encounter when Barcelona visited Arsenal at the Emirates. But i have never in my lifetime seen Arsenal cornered like this at their own home turf. Barcelona played magnificent football, it wasn’t Messi that was destroying Arsenal,  it was the whole Barcelona team and how they outplayed Arsenal during the first half, with the amount of chances, they could have put the tie to bed even before the half hour mark. If people wanted to see how beautiful football should be played, watch this highlight.
It was definitely a shock how the scoreline stayed goalless after Barcelona pretty much bombarded the Arsenal goal, lucky Almunia recovered from that Birmingham blunder to put up a inspiring performance to keep the home side in the match. But Barcelona didn’t even give Arsenal a chance to breathe in the second half as they scored right after the kickoff. Arsenal’s defense was split right open and Almunia rushed out but could only watch as Ibrahimovic looped it over his head and into the net. Ibrahimovic then scored another goal 13 minutes later from the same position to put Barcelona 2-0 up.

From the on, i thought Arsenal’s game is over as Barcelona was in total control, but i was wrong and i admire how the character of the young Arsenal side is starting to mature. It was good to see that they managed to pull themselves together and never gave up. It was definitely encouraging to see! Theo Walcott managed to pull back one goal which i felt was fortunate, even so, Arsenal did deserve a goal for the persistence. As the game started to come to an end, Farbregas shouldered the hopes and dreams of the Arsenal fans to put give Arsenal the equalizer from the penalty awarded. It was a shock to how Arsenal manage to come back after being pushed around the first half. It may not be as close to the Liverpool vs Ac Milan Champions League final comeback, but it was definitely a great comeback from the young gunners against a quality side. Injuries and suspensions to both sides is going to make the 2nd leg at the Nou Camp a very entertaining match to look forward to. I hope the match will just as entertaining as this one!

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Prosoc8

>Who will win the English Premier League 09/10?

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 The end of the season is near but the title race is still wide open with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal battling hard for it. It will be hard to predict what would be the outcome this year’s race……. 

Over the weekend, Chelsea thrashed and humiliated Aston Villa 7-1 with F.Lampard scoring 4 of the goals. Aston Villa is never an easy opponent to play as they have shown their European credentials. However, Chelsea showed no mercy and Aston Villa was powerless to stop a Chelsea side playing on high  gear. It was a perfect reaction from the previous week’s draw with Blackburn. They thumped Portsmouth 5-0 and now 7-1 to Aston Villa, and if they can keep up their form for the remaining games, the title is definitely up for grabs.

Manchester on the other hand, won 4-0 over Bolton even without their ace striker Rooney. Rooney has been the driving force for Manchester United, scoring 25 goals during the 09/10 campaign, but he was forced to miss this game with an injury. Manchester showed no signs of missing Rooney as they still managed a comfortable 4-0 win over Bolton, with Berbatov scoring a brace. The scoreline in my opinion flattered Manchester as at times Bolton did cause problems for the Devil’s back four, if it weren’t for Van derSar, the scoreline would have been different.


Just when Arsenal are starting to pick up the pace for the title, they were halted as Kevin Phillips of Birmingham scored his 250th goal of his professional career to prevent Arsenal from taking all 3 points. Arsene Wenger wasn’t happy about the tackle on Fabregas and his made his feelings known during the press conference.


 “He got tackled at the knee, kicked just under the knee. We tried to take him off but he said he was all right. Am I suggesting there were a lot of bad tackles? Leave me alone with that, for f***’s sake.

“You are always looking for controversy, you do not need me to tell you what happened on the pitch. I can give you my opinion about our game but you always create this controversy.”  -Arsene Wenger

This result has dented Arsenal’s push for a title but there are still chances for Arsenal to keep up if they keep up their form. Arsenal need to stop relying on Fabregas, once Fabregas was kicked, he wasn’t the same player anymore with poor touches and poor passing throughout the game. 

Arsenal still have a big game this week against Barcelona and they will have to be at their best if they want to compete against a very strong Barcelona side. 


SO who will win this year’s English Premier League… you will just have to wait and see… 
Arsenal will be given a chance to catch up when the Devils meet the blues next week in a match that could decide which side is favored to win this year’s Premier League. Can Manchester United stop rampant Chelsea? Or will the blues continue their goal scoring form? 


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Prosoc8 

>"Red Devils silenced as Gunners take top spot! "

> This year’s Carling cup semi-final pitted the two Manchester clubs against each other in a fierce derby battle. Man city conceded an early lead to the Red Devils but rallied to score a penalty through Tevez before half time.

A second goal from Tevez sealed the win for Man City in the Semi final first leg (Second leg to be played in Old Trafford). Gary Neville’s comment about Tevez being not worth 25mil sparked the Argentinian to do his talking on the pitch with a brace of goals! Fergie must be kicking himself for not signing the striker. The other semifinal match(2nd leg) Aston Villa (Aston Villa lead 1-0 away in the first leg) has beat Blackburn Rovers with a classic scoreline of 6-4 to proceed to the final of the Carling Cup.

At Anfield, Liverpool put on a determined performance to outdo Spurs 2-0. Kuyt scored a brace for Liverpool as they are now one point from the 4th spot. Is this a sign of Liverpool’s comeback which they are so famous for? The score could have been more if the Liverpool players had their shooting boots on, the scoreline could have read 3-0 even before Kuyt scored the crucial second goal to seal the win. Spurs were just not good enough as they couldn’t conjure up any clear cut chances. Had that controversial disallowed goal been allowed, it would have been a different game. But credit to Liverpool for pulling a win when no one thought they could.

Arsenal foughtback from a two goal deficit to beat Bolton 4-2 to surge to the top of the league. Bolton played well but couldn’t stop an in form Arsenal side from scoring four goals. Arsenal are finally coping with the loss of Van Persie to injury, they are now on the verge of leading the pack and possibly winning this year’s Premiership but that awaits to be seen if they can keep up their good form and prevent any injuries.

So any thoughts on Arsenal’s form? Liverpool’s season revival? and Manchester United’s troubles building up with their club’s debt rising to 700m and their inconsistent form.

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