Not much going on today: we’ve had a couple of stories that Cesc is questionable for Wednesday’s match, I still can’t confirm anything about Rosicky, and all the long term injuries to Nasri, Djourou, and Walcott are the same as they ever were.
Erm… long term.
As for Cesc on Wednesday, a lot of folks are saying that we shouldn’t risk him and I agree. Diaby is fit and had a good game against Pompey and with Song and Denilson available, Wenger can slot Diaby into Cesc’s role. Or, hell, he could play Arshavin there and put Diaby in for Denilson alongside Song. Or even Ramsey could slot in somewhere. The point is that there are options, and since Celtic need a three goal margin of victory to move on I think we shouldn’t risk Cesc in this game. Celtic did win 5-2 on Saturday, which is the type of margin that they would need to move on, but I’m confident that Arsenal, even without Cesc, is better than St. Johnstone.
If Rosicky is actually practicing as reported here it’s a huge boost and of course gives Wenger even more options in Cesc’s creative midfield spot. Fingers crossed and all that.
That’s it as far as Arsenal news is concerned. Wenger hasn’t bought anyone or sold anyone and all the rumors out there about Wenger bringing in more creative midfielders are just that, rumors. One week left in the market and Wenger may still have a trick up his sleeve or maybe he’s hiding some 6 foot tall, wild-eyed, midfield killing machine in those sleeves. Big sleeves and all.
There is a bit of strange news this morning; I read that somehow the FA failed to fix the Carling Cup draw and West Ham was drawn with Millwall. I don’t know how much of the facts that you all know of this rivalry (apart from the fiction of the movie Green Street) but it’s pretty serious with real life fans actually killing other fans, in real life. Did I mention that there were killings? In real life?
There isn’t any television coverage that I can find so other than maybe some online feed, or actually going to the match (HA!) you’re not going to get to see this thing live.
As a general rule, I stay out of these rivalries. I don’t think it’s funny or cute when people in general sing songs about the Heysel disaster or the Busby Babes and I find it extremely distasteful when American fans parrot their English counterparts. These rivalries tend to be romanticized for a lot of people who don’t actually live in the area and it’s easy for Americans, I think, to “take sides” when we’re 3,000 miles away from being actually smacked around.
Maybe a good smacking around would set some of these folks straight. I don’t know.
What I do know is that this is widely considered THE rivalry in English football and could be a great match to watch. Me, I’m just hoping that the two fans put aside their old hatreds and let the players do the talking on the pitch.
Isn’t sport supposed to be the outlet for this stuff, rather than the cause?
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