Team News: Arsenal vs Newcastle

NuFc is in for a hiding today, is all I can say.

We are living dangerously.. Very afraid.

Bugger me that Obertans been giving a right leathering with the ugly stick, looks like Grendel from Ray Winstaans Beowulf. Lets put another past Krull the ponderer boys, time wasting in the 1st half, what a ******.

Well, it was a hiding of sorts.

3rd place is within our sights now.

love it niko....

Another brilliant result!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE late winners. Just won £100 on that 2-1 score as well! Cheers Verm :-D

******** get in! What a game, still buzzing.

Rocky, I owe you an apology. I scoffed at your article which suggested Arsenal had turned the corner, happy to be proven wrong.

motm - walcott or ver? great game for walcott today, got involved in both goals. he played the whole game and he outshone both ox & gervinho on the other flank. he was in total control of his pace, not just barging in like usual. as for verm, he just showed how much he wanted it. great character. well done to everyone!

Thought Arteta was top drawer tonight and Gibbs looked pretty feisty too

Cheers Philto, great result for you boys too at the weekend.

Twitchy must be have a fit now.

***** YEAH! Team was top notch today, especially Arteta and Rosicky. Krul is a little girl. Time wasted all game then couldn't take the loss like a man.

Thought Walcott was MOTM to be honest. Rosicky was very good again and Ramsey was a great sub! Made a tidy sum at 80 mins for TV5 to score the winner too!

sky spod: Was there ever a time when you thought you wouldn't win the game? Wenger: NEVER! *smiles*

Is this premature? Citeh have got three difficult games (as well as their Europa exit) before we play them ;)

Lol, Wyn. Football, sure is a funny old game. Lesson for the spuddies: don't count your chicks before the eggs are hatched. To think you have to teach that to fans of a club with a cockerel as emblem. Hahaha.

Wonder what you'll come up with when we go beyond them. I am sure to find out soon, eh.

Rosicky was great. From the TV all you could see in the replays was Krul running up to RVP after the goal celebrations, i didn't see anything happen before this, anyone at the game see what happened? Theo was great. The V mans sprint all the way from defence to the opposing penalty box to score that goal showed what he is made of, the guy has so much determination. We deserved that win.

Someone call emergency services. Reports of choking noises coming from the other end of Seven Sisters Road.

Losing in extra time for time wasting to keep the scores level? I LOVE THE IRONY

Even is they finish 4th, they still to play a qualifier which they most certainly lose. So it's not of any real significance but just some fun to see what Roman's reaction is.

There's a new belief and fight in the team, not exactly something we've seen too often recently. By the way Sajit when you said "Shows why you're Gunnerfan1987", let me tell you I've been a Gunner since I was 9! Don't question my loyalty.

I seem to remember a few years ago playing Wigan (I think) at home and Chris Kirkland was time wasting from the get go, and when they went 1-0 it got even worse. Then near the end of the match Thierry Henry put us 2-1 to the good and had pretty much the same reaction as RvP last night. I was worried Rob was going to take a bit too far, but damn it was good to see that fire in his belly.

Watching the game I kept yelling for Vermaelen to stop bombing up front and leaving us exposed at the back .... but I didn't mind that last time though ;)

The Spuddies over at VS are positively suicidal!

There's only ONE reason why you've closed the gap so quickly.

Part Rice nipped into the Spurs dressing room at 0-2 & nicked our lucky white heather!!

Good grief! 2 late, late winners to gain an extra 4 points, what other explanation is there? ;-)

...which is US and always has been ;-)

Lucky white heather lol, an admission that you're a bunch of gyppos if ever I've heard one!

I don't know Niko, I think Bale must be playing without his lucky hair clips these past few weeks ;-)

niko, thats uncalled for mate, I came on here in good faith with a light hearted joke at our expense & you resort to taking the gypsies! ;-)

julie, Bale hasn't been the same since he dumped his suspenders! Oh, sorry, they'e supposed to be muscle supporting straps. Also, yes, the run in is going to be fascinating & frightening at the same time. Its going to be a hell of a ride!

Spuds, Harry may have modelled himself on Arthur Daley but you have to give him credit for being able to spot the odd decent old banger.;)

Back on topic (ish) Mad Jens! coming back to coach Mad Ches! Is this gonna be mentalfest or what! Sorry thought I was on vital chelsea for a minute! where every header ends in an exclamation mark! honest! they're easily surprised obviously!

No niko, apologies not necessary, when I said gypsies, I meant gypsie's kiss as in p1$$, bit of a take off from your gypsie reference.

Or looking up into a Hugh Jarse! ;-)

My take on you for what it's worth is that yes, the England speculation also combined with the rather sizable distraction of Redknapps' court case which preceded this mini slump haven't helped you for sure, but also like Arsenal you can really only play one way and when that way doesn't work you struggle. Any team on their day can lose to utd and us and Everton at home are a pretty stern test as they'll no doubt show us. You were all over Everton but couldn't come away with anything. One final point is the players. You are going to go into a crucial run in and the player who has been very effective for you all season in Adebayor is reverting to type. You see he only cares about No1, we've seen it, citeh have seen it, he is not the type of bloke you want in your corner when you need to rally and dig deep, he'll be laughing and clowning before the whistle at HT and after the final whistle win lose or draw. He just has no desire to see the team do well only himself. I would argue that could well see more disruption in the dressing room than anything Redknapp has unwittingly brought. One thing I feel about Arsenal is that we have finally rid our squad of these characters in Nasri, Bendtner (albeit on loan) and even cesc brilliant player though he was and as much as he did care for us it didn't set a good example to any other player that knew his heart lay elsewhere. For the first time in a while I think all the players have a real unified team ethos, borne out of heartbreak and a painful season no doubt but the acorn from which success could grow is becoming apparant. We still have a few too many passengers in the likes of Chamakh which we need (and hopefully have already somewhat resolved in Koln!) but a couple of players of experience and we're good to go for next year should we start next season with the same desire and application we've witnessed in the last month.

Either way one thing we've all seen regarding football and that is a hell of a lot can change in a very very short space of time. Noone here if they were being really honest saw us putting in the shifts we've seen put in. I for one just wasn't sure these players had it in them after Milan and Sunderland effectively put paid to any hope of winning anything I feared the worst for the remainder of our season, thankfully for Arsenal the repeat of Birmingham in the cc final and the slump that proceded - a mental hangover which the club failed to curb, a hangover so strong it saw us go into the new season still punch drunk looks to have finally been put to bed. But then I felt the same before we entered a pointless January, which is why I'm still a bit wary of the whole 'turning corners' celebrations as a couple of poor results can still see us back in fifth.

Yeah big time, no argument there, he's the heart and soul and instrumental in us driving back upwards, 60% of all goals have his stamp - either been scored or assisted by him, that says it all.

See I do think as a group of players we should still have enough on paper without our captain to see us finish in hopefully the top 4, we know that goals can come from other areas but again when the players know RVP is on the pitch he becomes their comfort blanket in the same way cesc was previously having to come on & save the day when needed. It's precisely crap like this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/9141001/Robin-van-Persie-will-give-Arsenal-the-edge-in-the-Premier-League-battle-with-Tottenham-says-Theo-Walcott.html .....that we need to avoid because it puts us at a distinct psychologigal disadvantage should anything **shudders** happen to RVP. All the players need it drilled into them that they are all equal parts in the machine and all potential match winners.

Just bought my xmas cards in for next year....

Loving the Xmas card. That's what the away end at the Grove looked like after about 75 minutes of the NLD.

Wenger should do everything to keep RVP, if it means 200K/week so be it, he's worth it. I think next season we may be able to really challenge for the league. All of this season's signings have had a whole season under their belt with Arsenal. If we can add Podolski and Vertonghen we can have a real shot at it. By the way, do any of you think we should make a move for Fellaini?

Why do we need Vertongehn? We have 3 quality CB in Vermanlen-Kos-Mert, and Song in DM. Where is Vertoghen gonna play if he is the talent that everyone's keep saying? He is a CB and I belive would not be a perfect fit for the Song role as well which requires huge stamina, and Le boss has an eye for Villa for that role.

No naija, I'm not having that mate! Being liked by a Gooner!? Yeeeuuuugghhhh! "Gooner" be a squeaky-bum run in for both of us & the Chavs, it'll be that classic white knuckle ride of delerium/despair/delerium/despair we all love so much!

Tell you what niko, your card doesn't exactly show a "hive" of activity there does it?

Hey there LondonGooner, hows my little picnic snack then? See you've been doing sterling work on a certain paper's article comments! Loving it mate.

Damn right there my tasty ovum, well said.

my little picnic snack? my tasty ovum?? forget our lunch today did we spuds?!

LG & S-U-L, for a moment, you had me going there. I was like what the.....? Nice to see chummy posts between Gooners & Spuddies, sometimes.

Nah, gunnerman, they already think I'm looby loo anyway, so I'll get away with it no probs.

Seriously though, I quite like having a proper bit of discussion & banter with ANY team's fans if there's no personal insults involved. FFS, we can hate each other's teams without hating each other on a personal level - can't we?