Arsenal 0 - 0 Chelsea: Snorey Bore Draw - thoughts on the game and on Mourinho

Well that didn't live up to expectations.  José 'Grinch' Mourinho ruined Christmas for millions of football purists who tuned in to watch what they hoped would be a great game. Had Mike 'Scrooge' Dean had given a penalty for a clear foul on Walcott or red cards for reckless challenges from Mikel or Ramires then it may have been different but as it was viewers were treated to a dour scoreless draw - the equivalent of expecting a Super Car for Christmas but receiving a pink bicycle with no handlebars... or wheels... Thanks José and Mike Dean, thanks a lot.

There is not a lot to discuss given the dullness of the game but I will touch on some comments from the "Special C**t One":

“You know, they like to cry. That’s tradition. 

“Today it was important not to lose. But it wouldn’t have been a big surprise if we had won. Arsenal showed a lot of frustration. But we weren’t aggressive, sharp enough to score a goal.” 

In reference to Boring Boring José chants - “I agree. I played against them 10 times and I never lost. Funny, funny Jose? 10 times they don’t win once.”

Classless and smug words from a classless and smug man.  It would be terrific to have got one over on him but sadly it wasn't to be. There would be no better way to shut him up than for us to win the league.  In order to do so though, I think Olivier Giroud is going to need to find his shooting boots. He's missed some good chances in some key games and they could have been decisive.

Christmas isn't looking quite as merry as perhaps it could have been we are sitting 2nd in the table behind a Suarez-inspired Liverpool on goal difference alone and if you had offered me that at the beginning of the season I would have bitten your arm off (Suarez-inspired pun). Anyway, have a fantastic Christmas one and all.

Man of the Match: Per Mertesacker

Some thoughts on the Everton, Napoli & City games

Apologies for the recent radio silence, but any of you unfortunate enough to work in sales at Christmas time will understand.

So the last 3 games haven't quite gone to plan then. The question is whether it is just a blip during a seven day period into which three tricky games were mushed or whether we should be more concerned - some would have you believe it's a four horseman type scenario; that our inevitable implosion has begun and that our title challenge is over, if we ever really were challengers that is. Personally, I'm a glass half-full kinda guy and I think we'll be just fine.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Everton

An ultimately fair but disappointing result against an excellent Everton side.  Almost won at the death by a sensational Giroud volley.

Positives:

• Despite being dominated for large periods of the game we did not often look like conceding and it took something a bit special to eventually break us down.
• Walcott came off the bench and provided an assist (with his head, unusually)
• Koscielny's defensive performance was truly outstanding and he negated the threat of the in-form Lukaku comfortably.

Negatives:

• Everton dominated possession, particularly in the first half and managed more shots.
• Having taken the lead late on, it was bitterly disappointing not to hang on for the three points. Perhaps Gibbs could have done more to close down Deulofeu but it was a wonderful strike.

Napoli 2 - 0 Arsenal

Positives:

• We've qualified from a very tough group; qualification from which was far from a certainty.
• Progression was more comfortable than the scoreline suggested - we never looked like losing by three goals.

Negatives:

• One more point would have secured us top spot in the group. Second spot got us drawn against the side that knocked us out last year; the all conquering European Champions, Bayern Munich. Were we a little more clinical we could have got that point in Napoli and we certainly should have taken a point at home against Dortmund but we went a bit unnecessarily gung-ho!
• We conceded two goals, albeit very good goals, for the first time since October.
• The extremely poor decision to send of Mikel Arteta means we will be missing his influence and protection in the first leg against Bayern Munich.

Manchester City 6 - 3 Arsenal

Ugh, that left a terrible taste in the mouth. Neutrals will point to the fact is was extremely entertaining. For us Gooners though it was a bit of a nightmare.

Positives:

• Almost everyone will lose here. Points would have been a bonus.
• Theo scored twice on his first start in 3 months, the second goal was a fine finish. He celebrated the first with a cradle celebration following the lovely news that his wife is expecting their first child. Let's hope baby Walcott is born into a world where Arsenal are champions and not this cretinous City team.
• Samir Nasri didn't score.

Negatives:

• The defensive performance was truly woeful. It was frightening how open we were and given City's outrageous home form it showed naivety. Perhaps if Flamini and Arteta were both in the side we would have been a bit more sensible but we weren't helped by countless individual errors and we were out-muscled and outmanoeuvred at every turn. We also completely failed to defend set-pieces. Given that we only conceded one goal in November, it was disappointing and surprising that our defending was such a fucking omnishambles.
• Koscielny went off injured - permacrock/dullard Michael Owen feared the worst but apparently the injury wasn't as bad as he feared.
• It was an absolutely outrageous performance from all three officials - I know it sounds like straw-clutching given the scoreline but Jaysus they were so very bad.  Four poor offside decisions, two poor penalty decisions and a terrible free-kick decision (in the build up to City's 4th). Of course our defensive performance was dire but the officials made the outcome inevitable when perhaps it wouldn't have been.
• Jack Wilshere. He has bags of ability but it was a terrible game for him, capped off by flipping off the City fan's for which today he has been charged by the FA. Yes they're insufferable ball-sacks but don't get yourself banned for making that point.  Leave it to us fans; we're more than capable.
• Our Big F***ing German had a big F***ing go at Mesut Özil for not thanking the travelling supporters. Mesut has since apologised on Facebook (possibly with Per looming over his keyboard).

So what now? Well it's time to bounce back - a rest and then a home game against a stuttering, beatable Chelsea. There is no better way to show it was just a blip and that we are bang in that title race than giving Mourinho's team a good seeing to.

And on another positive note, thank god for spurs! They've always been there to cheer us up in our times of need.  Here's spurs "players" Assou-Ekotto and Emmanuel Adebayor (remember him?) showing their bitter disappointment after their employers lost 5-0 at home to Liverpool yesterday.

Aaand now AVB has been sacked.  Total meltdown on the Death Star!

Arsenal 1 - 1 Everton Player Ratings

Man of the Match Laurent Koscielny

Arsenal 2 - 0 Hull City Match Report: Kittens swept aside

Another comfortable victory and another clean-sheet with a number of players rested - a good day at the office all round.

Arsène rotated more than a rotisserie chicken, making five changes to the side that beat Cardiff with Jenkinson, Monreal, Flamini, Rosicky and Bendtner all starting. Any concerns that the changes made would cause us to lose fluency lasted less than two minutes as once again Arsenal came flying out of the blocks.

A superb ball from Aaron Ramsey found Carl Jenkinson near the touch line; his whipped cross was excellent and Bendtner headed powerfully down into the bottom corner. The goal obviously meant a lot to him and it immediately vindicated Arsène's selection choices. It also gave the crowd no time to get on Bendtner's back; a large section of Arsenal fans feel the need to sigh, tut, tell the person next to them "I told you he was shit" or just yell abuse every single time he has a bad touch, misplaces a pass or misses a shot. Some of the people near me were talking as if it was a miracle that he had scored, as if he was a blind one-legged 98 year-old footballer. Tedious.

We thoroughly dominated the first 25 minutes, playing some great football with Cazorla, Ramsey and Özil in particular enjoying lots of possession in the final third. Hull seemed focused on damage limitation and managed to withhold the onslaught until half time. As the half time whistle blew, there was a sense that, given our domination, we had let the Tigers off a little easily.

I'd imagine Hull's gameplan for the second half was something like "let's just stay in this, keep it tight and maybe we can sneak an equaliser but for the sake of fuck lads lets not concede a goal at the beginning if the half again..."  Then they conceded again at the beginning of the half. A quite beautiful Ronaldinhoesque no-look pass by Ramsey slipped in a grateful Mesut Özil who finished neatly and confidently at the near post.

The rest of the match made comfortable viewing. The greedy side of me would have loved another goal or two but our performance was once again extremely impressive and we've built up a level of consistency which will no doubt delight the manager.  He can also be pleased with yet another clean sheet and the players that came into the side, particularly Monreal who I thought was excellent.  We have a difficult run of fixtures coming up and rotating effectively is a tricky but essential challenge for Arsène. So far though, he's got it just right.

As the fans filtered out of the stadium, the news of Everton's late winner against United was greeted with a large cheer. Since we lost the battle between good and evil a few weeks ago, we have bounced back with three straight league wins and United have slipped up 3 times leaving them 12 points behind us. I'd be amazed if they came back to mount a title challenge, if I were a United fan (shudder) I would be worried about finishing outside the top 4. But happily I'm not, I'm a Gooner and I'm loving the football my team are playing and I think we are serious challengers this year.

Man of the Match: Aaron Ramsey

Monthly Awards: November

Player of the month: Aaron Ramsey - he just won't give anyone else a look in at the moment.

Runner-up: Wojciech Szczesny -his new contract looks like a good decision on the back of 5 clean-sheets in 6 games in which me made some truely excellent saves.

Goal of the month: Aaron Ramsey vs LIverpool - A terrific dipping half volley from just outside the box. Scorcher.

Runner-up: Jack Wilshere (1st) vs Marseille - Didn't waste any time by cutting in from the right flank and curling a beauty into the top, far-corner.

Top Goalscorer: Aaron Ramsey (4 goals)

Most Assists: Mesut Özil (4 assists)

Best Moment: The Cardiff fans response to Aaron Ramsey's brace was extremely admirable and impressive.

Best result: Borussia Dortmund 0 - 1 Arsenal - A Ramsey goal gave us a vital and extremely impressive win. A superb defensive performance, with Mertesacker in particular excelling; only the second team to get a clean sheet there in 60 games.

Worst result: Man U 1 - 0 Arsenal - A painful defeat in which we conceded the only goal of the month to the one player we wanted to see score against us the least.

Traitorous D-bag of the month: Robin van F*ckyouIneverloveryouanyway

Controversy of the month: Flamini's sleeves. Those shirts are well expensive, Matthieu!

Quote of the month: "Sometimes it was like they were defending with four legs."- Jurgen Klopp

Cardiff City 0 - 3 Arsenal Match Report

Aaron Ramsey ensured he remained talk of the town on his return to Cardiff with another exceptional performance and two more excellent goals.  Both goals were greeted with applause from the home fans and the second even with chants of "there's only one Aarom Ramsey."  Following Aaron's non-celebration it was a lovely display of class and respect from the home fans who were clearly proud of the player they helped develop. And what a player! 

The game nearly got off to the perfect start as Wilshere almost followed up his superb mid-week curler with another - this time his effort hit the woodwork but it was another encouraging moment from an in-form player, growing in confidence.

Arsenal could have gone behind after a clash of heads between Bacary Sagna and Per Mertesacker left the big German needing treatment on the sidelines. While he was off the pitch, Cardiff sensibly played the ball out wide and whipped in a cross which Frazier Campbell headed narrowly wide.

Olivier Giroud could have given Arsenal the lead early on but spurned the opportunity, thinking he was offside. A long ball was flicked on by Özil with Giroud well offside however the linesman did not spot the flick so play continued with Giroud through on goal. Giroud stopped and by the time he realised play had continued, a defender was back to block his shot.  The morale of the story there is play to the whistle, kids! Olivier claimed that the linesman raised his flag quickly before changing his mind, in which case I have some sympathy for the striker but it was an extremely embarrassing moment for him. All that said, he should have been offside so a goal would not have been a fair one and it didn't affect the outcome of the game.

Arsenal did manage to take the lead through Aaron Ramsey.  His first goal was a well-guided powerful header from an excellent Özil cross.  Aaron's celebration contrasted quite notably to his shushing of Stoke and Swansea fans.  I've been impressed with the way he has carried himself in the last few seasons; the way he didn't publicly criticise Shawcross or react angrily to the Stoke fans' incomprehensible booing and now for the respect he shows towards Cardiff.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if he finished his career there à la Craig Bellamy.

We were for the most part in control of the game but were reliant on another excellent save from the on-form Szczesny who dived low to his right to keep out another Frazier Campbell header and earn another clean sheet - his fifth in the last six games.  It was another disciplined defensive performance and I was impressed by the team's energy levels and pressing given their midweek exploits against Marseille.

We had some good options on the bench on Saturday and two of the substitutes made a real difference. First Flamini broke forward and latched onto an excellent through ball from Mesut Özil; his second superb assist of the game. Flamini did his best to break the back of the net and made the points safe.

Ramsey's second came on the break in injury-time to add further gloss to the scoreline. With Cardiff pushing forward they left themselves open at the back and vulnerable to the pace of another substitute, Theo Walcott, who I'm guessing is not someone it would be fun to defend against after running around for 90 minutes.  He broke clear before cutting back to the man of the moment who took a touch before hammering home into the top corner.

Cardiff are not an easy team to beat so convincingly. Just ask either of the two Manchester teams who both dropped points against them.  Fortunately the standards are a little higher at Arsenal...

Sunday brought further joy as Spurs drew with United, leaving them 9 and 10 points behind us respectively and Liverpool lost to Hull (our opponents on Wednesday.)

At the moment Chelsea and City look like our most likely challengers for the league, both of whom we face in December.  But a third of the way through the season we can be delighted with how things are going.  Next up is a very winnable game at Hull on Wednesday.  Keep it up lads!

Man of the Match: Aaron Ramsey