Arsenal take the positives, Chelsea take the Carling Cup, Pretentious Alan Green

Arsenal fielded perhaps the youngest ever team to play in a major cup final packed with as much fledgling talent as the dominant Farnham Town Under 9's back in the mid 90's.

I think I was the Phillipe Senderos of the team, had no pace and although I did well on the whole the odd mistake which would always lead to a goal!

Arsenal felt no pressure and the set the tempo of a very entertaining game. Chelsea were restricted early on as they were under far more pressure. Their experience told and they went home with the cup.

A few of points to clear up at this stage;

1. Drogba was just offside when the ball was played, however when the linesman heard or saw the ball being played, by the time he had turned to see Drogba (maybe 1/3 of a second)he would have been offside. Therefore you have to question that decision. If it was me, in a final between 2 teams who I had no bias towards, I would have given it offside as it was so tight, no-one would have complained if that was the case.

2. Alan Green is a pretentious idiot. He had made his mind up that Chelsea were going to win before the game and the fact that he was praising the officials for their performances sums it up. After replays Drogba is marginally offside, yet he maintains he was on. Adebayor is wrongly sent off and he maintains he should have been sent off. No justification given, Green is a show pony who has never played the game at the highest level. Fuck off Alan.

3. The scenes at the end of the game were not a brawl. The Man Utd 0 - 1 Arsenal game of the 1990/91 season was a proper brawl. That was like fighting with your mate after a night on the lash. Seems like a big deal at the time but should be instantly forgotten.

For a comprehensive match report see here

Overall Arsenal played the better football and their young side acquitted themselves very well against the multi million pound Chelsea side. However Chelsea had a bit of luck (which you must always have to win something)and used their experience well by scoring a good winner.

Arsenal will take all the positives in what was in truth a no lose game and Chelsea will continue under the upmost pressure to win every game or be called failures. Arsenal are slowly closing the gap and come next season it will be even closer.

No massive expenditure, just have the time available to nurture the world's best youth into a formidable unit indoctrinated in the Arsenal culture.

We still need a world class goalscorer like Drogba and Keeper like Cech as they proved the difference in the end. If we can supplement our promise with a fully fit Henry, Eto'o or Torres and a keeper of Buffon's standing then we can be unstoppable.

Congratulation to Chelsea I am not bitter towards them for winning as although this time they take home the cup, there will be a time not long from now that it will be us, and it will have been done in the right way and with a bright future ahead of us.

All is not lost, Rosicky coming good

We played very well for a half against PSV and dominated them created a few decent chances and then failed to turn up for the second half in what was a poor second half display. Nothing more nothing less.

The match is now a 50-50 one off game opposed to being in our favour which it would have been had we not lost.

As I said before PSV would have settled for 0-0 before the game. They were visibly scared in the first half and lacked any belief.

The game changed when they scored a good goal with one of their only real chances on the break. It gave them something to hold onto and they defending bravely and well and we looked jaded and lacking in ideas.

Conceding first against the run of play is becoming an all too familiar occurence over the season. However it cannot keep happening.

Danny Landzaat, Kieron Dyer, Matthew Taylor and Mendes, who worked very hard throughout, cannot score wonder goals every week. Gomes will not put in a display like that every week.

We are heading in the right direction and although I am disappointed I would not make too much of this result. The second leg is still to come and we still have a good chance to qualify against a team who couldn't believe their luck.

One real positive to take out of the game was the performance of Tomas Rosicky who went very very close to opening the scoring on 2 occassions. He really is improving all the time and showing the form which made him an £18m player a few seasons ago.

He is tenacious like Fabregas and Hleb and has a good understanding with Henry (who is carrying a knock which may explain his poor display). Rosicky can be a combination of Pires and Ljungberg and make the difference from the wide areas and help us get back to that fluid 4-4-2 we based our success on.

I really like his attitude and direct nature of play and I think he can become a big player for us now that the season is reaching the business end.

Against Bolton you could see the movement off the ball of the whole team and could sense that we were on the brink of coming back to our best.

I am convinced Rosicky will play on Sunday and he will shine.

Blackburn miss good opportunity. Is 0-0 a better result for PSV than Arsenal?

Arsenal drew 0-0 with Blackburn at the Emirates as we all know. Match reports here and here for what was a truly forgettable match.

How as a Blackburn fan you can take that as a good performance I don't know and to be fair Cesc had a point. Would you pay to watch that every week? They came for a 0-0 bore draw and by no means am I suggesting they come out and try and outplay us as we know what happens. However they offered nothing going forwards.

However, in my opinion we were always likely to be a bit flat and the game on Tuesday was clearly on our minds meaning the likes of Henry, Cesc, Gallas hardly got above second gear for the first 80 minutes and attempted to do the minimum possible to win.

Therefore were Blackburn better off trying to be a little more positive? They gave us a closer game in the 6-2 game at the Emirates. Are they going to have a better chance to beat us than Saturday?

Are they more likely to beat us at home where we have aleady beaten them with 10 men and can play on the counter attack? Are we likely to have more energy than Saturday? Will we have such an important game to follow?

Blackburn may have just lost the best chance they have had to win the FA Cup and they are still under the false impression that that was a result gained rather than a chance lost.

Tomorrow is looking like we will have the first choice team barring Eboue and Van Persie. It will be interesting to see what formation we play, as a midfield 5 of Rosicky, Hleb, Gilberto, Cesc and Denilson or Ljungberg is a good philosophy if 0-0 is a good result.

The alternative being a 4-4-2 with no Ljungberg / Denilson and Adebayor and Henry up front which would give us a good chance to score which is vital in this instance.

I would be tempted to say we will go for 4-4-2 as unlike Myles Palmer says the actual rule about the Champions League is not about how good your Brazilians are..

It's about whether 0-0 away is a better result for us than them?

In the matches against Real Madrid away, Juventus away, Villarreal away 0-0 was a better result for us than them given the circumstances and so 4-5-1 played on the counter aka to our obvious strengths.

I would suggest 0-0 is better for PSV than us and so I would expect us to play a 4-4-2 consisting of Lehmann, Djourou, Senderos, Clichy, Toure, Rosicky, Hleb, Cesc, Gilberto, Adebayor, Henry.

Clichy, Adebayor, Hleb and Denilson excel. Who will play against Blackburn?

What a quality game of football! Probably slightly easier to say after your team played somewhere near our best with a few key players out and just won a tight cup tie.

However contrary to some reports I would say Bolton played a full part in an entertaining game and played the game in the right spirit.

The whole team was excellent and worked very hard. I thought the return of Hleb was instrumental and Rosicky continued his improvement to goo effect in an impressive midfield display.

Diaby was still going strong at the end of another tough tackling display that helped set the tone of the performance.

Hleb and Denilson combined deliciously at times and Hleb was full of touch, vision and his usual desire and strength. He was outstanding for his 80 minutes or so.

Denilson looks a special talent and combined with some neat touches and tackling ability he drives on from midfield and sets the tempo for the rest of the team. A superb display.

The whole defence was resilient and in particular Gael Clichy epitmomised our hard working display. He really is coming back to somewhere near his best, his ability to turn defence into attack is something which is integral to our style of play.

Up front Adebayor led the line very well and never let his head drop even after missed a gilt edged chance. He really is a top player and works so hard that you have got to love him.

It was so satisfying the way we overcame Bolton our 'bogey' team that even the fact Meatloaf aka Fat Sam's whinging about the ref can take nothing away from a truly deserved victory.

Roll on Blackburn. But who will play??

I would expect Cesc and Henry to be restored to the bench perhaps but not to start given the importnace of Tuesday night.

I would think the line up will include Almunia, Senderos, Hoyte, Toure, Clichy, Walcott, Ljungberg and Aliadiere but as for the rest I am not sure at all!

Suggestions please!

Wigan preview, Baptista to return

Wigan are struggling having lost their previous 9 before last weeks game to Portsmouth. The Latics are struggling, hovering just above the relegation places. They are missing a few key players such as De Zeuw, Scharner and Camara.

New signing, championship manager hero Julius Aghahowa will be a handful as he is very quick and has an eye for goal.

It won't be easy but I would expect us to beat a side who we pipped away from home thanks to a late goal but more importnalty are low on confidence and with a modest number of away supporters coming to the Emirates.

Luckily we don't have any injuries to report after international duty and so I would expect us to be somewhere like our fluent best.

After all it's a good game to have after an international break and should help us keep up the pressure on Liverpool who have a trickier tie away to Newcastle.

Baptista should return to the squad possibly along with Eboue and we should have a pretty strong line up to choose from. Cesc had a much needed breather and after the match at Boro he looked like he needed it.

I really hope Eboue or Walcott plays on the right of midfield ahead of Flamini as we really lack any threat and balance down the right if he plays.

I would think a quick goal should set the tone and I would like to think we will be somewhere near our fluent best against a side who are really up against it but try and play football.

Boni's Prediction:

Arsenal 3 - 1 Wigan (Adebayor to score first)

Joke:

First the prostitutes, now the turkeys. The chances of getting a gobble in Suffolk are getting quite remote...

10 man Arsenal draw against 12 man Boro

Let's put it into context. Mike Riley is the biggest homer in the Premiership. It was he who gave Wayne Rooney a penalty after he took a blatant dive against us in our quest to go 50 games unbeaten.

He gave Man Utd 7 penalties in 8 games at Old Trafford before he was taken out of the limelight by the FA.

I expressed my dismay before them game saying if there was a chance in the game to bottle it he would take it. Mike Riley may well be a decent bloke but he is one of lifes bottlers. A spineless yes man.

Yakubu, a 15 stone hulk swan dived to the floor after Senderos went shoulder to shoulder with him outside the box and Riley had the red card out before you could say 'Riley's a homer'.

The lino saw it but big Mike had already made himself a 'hero' for the day by pointing to the spot. Absolute Buffoon.

So Arsenal outplayed 12 men with 10 and looked the more likely to win the game. Boro had 2 shots throughout the entire game, a 'penalty' and a sharp Mark Viduka turn and shot which Lehmann saved.

Arsenal dominated for long periods and although they looked tired they were the better side with Rosicky, Henry and Gilberto all doing well.

Overall a young and tired Arsenal were robbed of 2 points by a weak referee against a Boro side bereft of ideas who were delighted to get a point despite what they have said after the game.

There was only one team trying to win the game in the last 10 minutes and that was the side with 10 men.

All in all a decent point in the circumstances and another result to galvanise the squad and another display of resilience. Arsenal are starting to show some consistency and it's all experience to put into the bag which is getting heavier, as Senderos would say.