Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Nick Simmonett 
Date:Tuesday December 4 2007
Time: 6:58PM
UK time is: 16:05:25
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Newcastle vs. Arsenal
St James' Park
05/12/07
19:45GMT
On Sky
N'castle V Arsenal Preview
Arsenal travel to the North East on Wednesday to face the club in a mini crisis - Newcastle.
Rumours of unrest amongst the players and staff have added to Fat Sam's trouble's after fans started to let the manager know they are not best pleased with the way things are going.
However, as much as I can't stand Sam Alladyce, he's the sort of manager that can take this sort of situation and use it to his advantage.
They are in desperate need of a win after taking just one point from a possible 15. Their last win came in October when they beat (you guessed it), Spurs.
Arsenal, on the other hand, have won 11 out of a possible 14 games, dropping points only to Blackburn, Liverpool and Manchester United.
Both teams have injury worries, but more on that in a minute.
Despite their poor recent form, Newcastle still sit 7 points outside the relegation zone, having played a game less than all the teams below them. That said, they are 18 points behind Arsenal, and 9 points away from a European place.
Vital Quotes:
How ironic that it should be Joey Barton that slams someone as 'vicious' but that's just what happened earlier this week when the Newcastle midfielder spoke of his employers fans: 'I've not yet seen the famous crowd I was expecting to hear get behind us.
'Instead it has been vicious; I don't think I've heard a crowd that vicious.'
'Last Saturday I was sitting on the bench - and after 20 minutes I had picked up on it. It shocked me.
'The fans want success and they want it straight away, but unless they change that mentality and start supporting the side through poor results then things won't change.
'Unless there's a massive change, it's going to be the same for this manager, the next manager and whoever comes in after that.
'If it continues, when the manager goes for players, they will go somewhere else rather than jump in the frying pan.
'Sam's a good manager. He's getting the brunt of the criticism but doesn't deserve it. Not many managers can turn a club round in five minutes.'
Arsenal defender Gael Clichy spoke to Arsenal.com about the game at Newcastle and Arsenal's title aspirations: 'Everyone showed at Aston Villa that we have the desire to do something good this year.
'Like the boss has said we have quality and big strength in the squad, now we must carry on like this.
'All of us think we can do something at Newcastle, as for being champions it is a bit early. We still have plenty of games. This is a big week for us we know but we have Chelsea and Tottenham coming up too.
'I think we can do something this season but let’s just look at this game at Newcastle at the moment.
'Being top of the League is a great pleasure but since the start of the season I said we had great quality in the team and the spirit was there. Now we are in December and we have shown people that we are ready.
'We know we can do it [beat Newcastle] and we’ll go there to make it happen. If we go with desire and spirit we know we can get three points.'
Newcastle Team News:
Newcastle will be short in defence when Arsenal visit on Wednesday. Faye, Carr and Cacapa are all out, while Steven Taylor faces a fitness test.
England striker Michaael Owen is also still missing for the Toon, along with Duff.
Player to watch: Martins
Despite not having the best season to date, Martins can trouble any defence on his day. Indeed, he gave Arsenal something of a rough time when he faced us in the Champions League for Inter Milan.
Arsenal Team News:
Arsenal's own injury list has grown further. Flamini and Alex Hleb have joined Diaby, Van Persie and Fabregas.
Denilson returns for Arsenal and could step in to midfield.
Player to watch: Adebayor
Both Rio Ferdinand and John Terry said he was their toughest opponent last season. Having made massive improvments since then, and sitting top of the Premierleague scoring charts, he has to be considered one of the best strikers in the league.
With a 5-4-1 formation likely he'll have to hold up the ball well.
Ref Watch:
Mike Dean will oversee the match. If I'm not mistaken, he and Barton have something of a history?
Match Prediction:
It'll be a tough game, and both teams fortune couldn't be more different so far this season, but I think Newcastle will edge it. 2-1 Newcastle.
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Your Comments
oh i like it, double bluff and all that,call it a lost game,and take home 3 points
fran merida
it worked against the villa.
Gael-Force
you know if all his predictions were right this season we would be Midtable :D
ExRox
5-4-1? That would be silly :D
Goofle
it is always hard to play a club that is down in the dumps and they always come up with the goods when playing against a top team. so i'm not too sure about this one, especially with Hleb, Fabregas and Flamini all out. Rosicky will have to provide all the crreativity in the middle of the park, and i have a feeling this will be Tommy Gunn's best game for Arsenal. 3-1 with a Rosicky hatrick..
luckys_10
and just don't want us to suffer anymore injuries, and i'm praying we'll have Hleb and Cesc available for Chelsea..
luckys_10
What better motivation than to slam Fat Sam's coffin shut. I'll take that *****er's head back to London on a pike. Though Baryon was spot on with his comments about the Barcodes, can this media myth about their great fans please sod off now? They are the most brainless bunch of morons this side of Texas, hell, they're the Spurs of the North. If you've won bugger all for half a century, you ain't a big club, if a *****wit like Shearer is your hero, you've got problems.
Little Dutch
I ONLY WANT THREE BIG POINTS..
luckys_10
There should be one more option in the poll, because i want us to win em all..
luckys_10
No way is it gonna be 2-1 to Newcastle! Or did you not want to jinx it?! They're leaking goals for fun and we're scoring them for real! A win and a clean sheet. :) BTW did you guys see arsenal.com? They've announced Gallas as the player of the month of Nov, with a landslide victory of getting like 52% of the votes, followed by Cesc and Hleb. And a lucky fan will present the award to him at - you guessed it - the Chelsea home game.
Louisa
I hope we beat Newcastle, not because I have anything against the club, it's because Fat Sam is the manager. He loves nothing more to take shots at Wenger and he said how "he loves to hear him (Arsene) moan". Then before the Carling Cup match between Arsenal and Newcastle, he moaned how Wenger does not give him enough respect. Well, you fat ass, respect has to be earned not demanded. Also, he would like less foreign managers in the EPL. Yeah, I bet he would like that since less foreign managers, means fat ass will actually achieve something. I hope we beat Newcastle, just to hear him moan. Sorry for the rant, I just want to get that off my chest.
BMF
What the... 2-1 to Newcastle? Sorry buddy, I know it's your opinion but have you seen Newcastle played lately? We may have problems creating goals because most of our creative players are out but I think we can keep them quite. Most likely, Newcastle are going to hoof the ball to Viduka, so prepare Gilberto in the squad.
BMF
I agree it will be a tough game, we have so many players out, we just need the win.
AB_Arsenal
God I hope Barton doesn't play, that will just be another player injured and a man slaughter charge waiting to happen.
Ozi Gooner
our b-team beat the best side they could put out in the carling cup earlier this season. Denilson scored a wonderful goal, so that should give him confidence. I don't think any side that's in a position newcastle find themselves in get a warm fuzzy feeling when the gunners come to town. I reckon they are there for the taking!
afri-gooner
Lets hope your prediction has the same success as the Villa one ;). This will be a tough game but our squad has stepped up every time to fill in, and this game should be no different. We still have Gilberto, Diarra and Denilson to pick from in CM, and thats not shabby at all. The creativity should come from Rosicky or Denilson.
prits
Walcott or Eboue can also give defenses a hard time. We enough players who have the ability, let's just hope they gel.
afri-gooner
3-1 to Arsenal tonight. Eduardo, Ade and Theo to grab his first Prem goal.
flv
i cant believe big sam is reported and leaking out that the magpies are actually scared of FRANCENAL, now whether they are or not is neither here nor there, but christ what sort of manager says that about opponents before your due to play them! err newcastle to lose this game, and big sam to lose his job shortly afterwards
SMOKIEJACK
adebayoooorrrr!!!!!
MYgood-ners
Damn dropped points but at least we didn't lose.
AB_Arsenal
Yeah a draw was the minimum achieved. 3 points at Boro then. I couldn't watch the second half, how was it?
Louisa
But what I hate about it is that we gave a lifeline to Fat Sam! >_<
Louisa
Mike Dean bottled it. He wouldn't give Adebayor anything & his clear favouring of Taylor should be looked at (of course like always it won't be)!! Why is it the two foreigners Diarra & Beye got booked for pulling back opponents but Taylor didn't, when the offence was probably even worse as Bendtner was near the penalty box. Then just to rub salt into the wounds he again gave Taylor the decision when he clearly blocked off Adebayor with no intention of trying to win the ball. As for the rest of the match I won't comment at the moment because I'm too pi**ed off, that Newcastle can put that effort in against us but the rest of the time they play like a bunch of clowns!! Hopefully they will get relegated, as their fans are the most arrogant bunch of no nothings I think anyone could ever come across!!
Ashburton Gooner
Well in lads, shame that Diarra didn;t get the man of the match but Sky wouldn't dare do that ;-) Fully commited and we should have had two clear free kicks at the end. All in all, a good point. We would have lost that last season. Lets keep real and not expect to win every game.
Goofle
Well Bolton 2006 are back, at least for this one game. Sam looked so pleased at the end as he was on his way to Lancashire to let ferguson give him an all-night rimming in gratitude. Why Sagna was booked and not the smith thug I'll never understand.
bseymour
I thought the ref had a decent game overall. Newcastle really showed some fight today, and we were slightly fortunate to come away with a point. The mid field couldnt really get things going - a scrappy game ! What a strike from Ade !
prits
I thought Diarra had an outstanding match as did Sagna. I have a couple of issues. We need to stop complaining to the ref everytime something goes wrong. Kolo did that a lot tonight, thankfully at the end he smiled in resignation that the ref was giving us sweet FA. Lets just play the game. Taylor should have been booked. Bert is really off the pace as is Dudu. I would play Nic, once he came on, Newcastle had to change tactics. Fat Sam has created a new Bolton and lastly we really miss Hleb and the Little General, Cesc
themadafrican
We were worse than *****e to night. Scored a goal and did ***** all afterwards, that siad the ref wasnt helpful and although we may not have scored either of the free kicks just outside the area that should have been right at the death it would've been nice to have the try that we deserved. Adebayor may have brought that on himself by tripping on the ball and going down easily in the box earlier but still every decision should be judged individually. Still, 4 points on top of the table isn't a bad place to be but if we slip up against Boro then I will get worried with the Chavs up shortly. We badly need Hleb, Flamin and Cesc back, anyone of them would;ve helped tonight.
Ozi Gooner
We didn't play that well so a draw is good enough. Not much creativity with two defensive midfields on the pitch. Flamini is more a goal scoring threat than Diarra and Gilberto. How come Wenger didn't play Walcott? He might give the Newcastle defenders more trouble than Eboue in this match.
BMF
no creativity tonite, too many missed passes as well, the telepathic understanding between rosicky, hleb and fabregas were sorely missed.. bert has not been the same player, he's been a good servant but it's time to move on without him.. if juve come asking i hope wenger wont think twice and it'll keep both diarra and diaby happy. All i want now for christmas is fabregas, hleb, flamster and van persie back.
McGooner
Awful awful performance! Worst of the season. After Ade's beautiful strike I thought we would kill them, but we just didn't click. The only player who can come out of this with his head held high is Diarra - Cracking player. Almunia is definately not for Arsenal, the one thing I miss most about Mad Jens was his distribution, you could count the times he kicked the ball clear on one hand, as soon as he picked up the ball he was looking to throw it out. Almunia takes far too much time and his goalkeeping skills are distinctly average. Bert seems to have finished his career at Arsenal, even when he's on the pitch, Adebayors passing is shocking and even the Great Clichy had an off night.......and did anyone see where Eduardo went?? Over all, horrible display, but we came out of it with our unbeatne run intact, the mark of champions!! If I'd have been offered 7 points out of the next three away games I'd have taken it.....so lets make sure we get those 3 points at Boro on Sunday!!
Rocky7
Exactly my thoughts Rock, the poditive to come out of the bad games we have just played (wih the exception of the first half v Villa) is that regardless of the fact we have hit our first rough patch of the season wer have not lost anything to vital. The one less we sufferd was the most acceptable and 7 points out of 9 when the team hasn't covered themselves in glory in any of the last 3 league games is a *****in' good effort. Hopefully with the return of a few players at Boro, maybe 2 of Cesc, Hleb and Flamini, we can claim another 3 points and some form before we face the Chavs. All in all things aren't as bad as they looked on the pitch.
Ozi Gooner
Rocky, agreed about Almunia. This was a game where we needed to keep possession, and his kicks needlessly gave away the ball, when a throw to the nearest player would see us building a move like we normally do. Another aspect is his decision making when coming out to clear / collect the ball. There were atleast 3-4 times when the defence expected him to do that, but he held his line and expected the defence to deal with the ball. He did make one crucial save though, finger tip off a corner, hitting the post. We were lucky not to be punished last night for his indecision.
prits
Very surprised at that result, didnt think you'd drop points til our game!! looks like ol fat Sam will be manager a while longer!
SMOKIEJACK
newcastle have a good starting team and a very good bench lol so arsenal should ov played a little bit bettaa !
Dann-leeds
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