Well, hi-de-diddley-do there. Phil’s doing exams, so I’m doing the predictions and stuff. Right, of we go…
High-flying Everton travel to the Emirates aiming to continue their fantastic run in the league. (How am I doing so far?)
The Gunners dropped out of the title race when they slumped to a 3-0 home defeat to leaders Chelsea on 29th November.
David Moyes’ boys are now unbeaten in their last five league games – and are zooming up the table, as well as powering their way into the 4th round of the FA Cup.
Sound like dribble to you? Of course it is, but it is more or less what a lot of papers have said, although they have now changed their “Arsenal failure” story to one of “While some pundits have written off Arsenal, the club have been quietly making progress up the league.”
No journalist, drunk or sober, will ever admit to being wrong. Which is why blogs like Untold Arsenal are so important. If we ever were wrong then we’d be in there admitting it. But it has never happened. (Warning this paragraph contains mild irony).
So what of this Everton success machine? Unbeaten in five? Well, up to a point. Five league games, means a possible 15 points. Everton got seven points. Under 50% unless I miss my calculator.
And yes they have gone charging up the table… to 12th. A whacking four points above relegation trouble.
And yes they charged into round four of the Cloggies Cup beating that top level premier team Carlisle Untidy 3-1. Indeed if Carlisle can score against them so can I.
But what’s it really like at Everton?
This is the club that is losing money each and every year (except the year of selling the Rooney), largely because they don’t make much money, but spend a lot on wages and transfers. They were hoping to clear some debts by building houses on their old training ground – but they built the new training ground and spent the money without getting planning permission for the old ground.
So then they shouted and ranted about how wrong it was that this little group of politically motivated men (the elected councillors) should stop the development. Then they asked a group of politically motivated men (same guys) to give them planning permission for a new stadium. And guess what, they got turned down.
Well, what a turnip.
According to the press Everton will want to avenge the 6-1 we beat them by on Day One. It is the press’ way of ignoring the fact that all of them tipped Everton to win that game. Untold Arsenal went for Everton 1 Arsenal 7 and if that silly Rambo had passed the ball rather than shooting in the 92nd minute, we’d have been right.
Everton have not won at Arsenal since 1996.
We’ve gone a six-match unbeaten league run, but in our case that means 16 points out of 18. I could also make jokes about games in the hand, but I did that last week.
We are without Cesc, Jack, Song, Eboue, Bendtner, Walcott, Clichy, Giggs, VP, and Djourou. So its life pretty much as usual. Rosicky may be, maybe not.
For the other lot, Jo is suspended, Saha is injured and Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Joseph Yobo are in Africa doing things. Mikel Arteta and Phil Jagielka are injured.
Those team type things
Us…
Almunia
Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Traore, (Silvestre)
Denilson, Ramsey, Diaby (Roskicy)
Arshavin, Eduardo, Nasri (Vela)
Them
Howard,
Neill, Baines, Heitinga, Hibbert,
Pienaar, Neville, Fellaini, Bilyaletdinov,
Cahill, Vaughan.
The score…
Five nil to the Arsenal. Two by the Snowman, one by the ref, and two more for Almunia. Match abandoned after 13 seconds.
Read Making the Arsenal. Details here – where you can also buy it for distribution to anywhere in the galaxy.
Catch up on Arsenal 100 years ago here
It’s a bit chilly in the midlands, but we’re still hoping to make it to the deep south for the game.
(c) Tony Attwood 2010.
“High-flying Everton travel to the Emirates aiming to continue their fantastic run in the league. (How am I doing so far?)”
Haha! Can’t beat the tried and tested opening sentence Tony! Here’s to hoping our game doesn’t get cancelled, I’ve heard already that 3 or 4 have been.
Well, well, well. Our first transfer has been told on the untold. And for the D&G brigade it should be good news. He is British, has a lot of expierence, he is versatile and he played at the top for many years, but it looks like he’s got some injury…. Maybe we should make it a prize winning quiz with the winner getting one snowball ? LOL. Look for our new signing.
Like you said Tony, unlike any other. 😉
You sure can put things in some perspective Tony. Like the 5 games unbeaten from Everton. I had the impression they were doing a lot better.
Hope the game goes ahaid and we can come on 1 point behind Chelsea with both 20 games played. Hope the boys are up to it and to give us a great day.
(Roskicy) 🙂 was that intentional.
It’s a real shame for Everton. Hibbert, Saha, Distin, Jagielka and Arteta would all be almost guaranteed starters for them. Solid 2-0 home win, and why aren’t I revising?!
“We are without Cesc, Jack, Song, Eboue, Bendtner, Walcott, Clichy, Giggs, VP, and Djourou. So its life pretty much as usual. Rosicky may be, maybe not.”
I didnt know we signed Giggs! lol
Dutchgunner won the snowball. It will be presented to him before saturday kick off by Tony if both of them get there. He will receive no tickets for the game.
Its just a little game I am playing. In the preview for the last match I gave us Toure, but you may not have noticed. About a year ago I put into the team someone who I was at school with. So it goes
I think I once knew a girl called Ros Kicy. (I think that name came out of all the Notlob stuff for the last game.
Actually best girl’s name I ever came across was Roxy Beaujolais. Where have they gone all these girls of my youth.
I know where they are! The girls are receiving pensions now for changing grand-toddlers’ nappies.
Breaking news! Winter misery for the Champions as Birmingham cracked points out of ManU tomorrow. Score 1-1.
dam tony! i used to hate the media then u came along. thank you for complementing a team head and shoulders above the rest. as supporters we deserve the best. cept those fake fans blinded by rupert murdocks brown nosers.nobodys perfect, but havin a phd in economics in a footballing climate is on the right path. id love nothing more than arsenal winning summit this yr but to be honest jus supporting them is enuf. the futures bright. its red and white!
i think ramsey will play
Tony, that was fascinating! Beaujolais? Does she come in a bottle? You certainly come across a lot of interesting people.
There better be a game for the Arsenal this weekend otherwise I will go into withdrawals. I can’t wait to see how our new look center midfield adjust to Song’s absence.
I have a mate (just the one) who is an Everton supporter who`s pre occupation is hating Liverpool ,it`s a long story and even though I`ve heard it a thousand times I still can`t remember the reason. Why do I have a mate who`s an Everton supporter and lives in Anfield, well it just happens he went to school with my missus who is also a `Scouser`and a Liverpool supporter. Me, I`m from Seven Sisters Road. Gee it`s a good feeling! We`ve got a beer on the game but, being as I don`t drink, and he`s twelve thousand miles away I think we`ll remain friends even if it is 7-0 to Arsenal.
Always enjoy what you write Tony……
Without the injured Van Persie and Fabregas whose are the life of the team while Alex Song and Eboue were called for African Cup duty, can Gunners still proceed?
Before this, Wenger’s side has been in a rich vein of form since their only home defeat against Chelsea at the end of November. In achieve of it, it is not fully depends on the effort of key players. Others in the team, Wenger and even the youngster sharing to contribute on these. As a result, Arsenal should able to maintain the hot form even if without some key players today. The exploded team morale will bring Gunners a victory against low form Everton who has falling off in this season.
OK – it is approaching 11am UK time, and it is snowing here, and we are about to set off. As matters stand the trickiest bit is the first mile – out of the village. If we do that we should be ok.
But if you pick up the news that the game is called off, do me a great favour and text that message to 07714 76 2250
hope tony and all the rest make it back ok. the weather looked awful.
great game by everton, but i gotta think arsenal’s play was adversely affected the weather (it certainly seemed like it had an effect on denilson’s injury…). wonder what the wisdom was in even holding the game considering nearly every other fixture has been postponed…
the high line that the defense plays concerns me…hope wenger finds a way to clear it up.
c’mon gunners!
and if inclement weather can cancel almost a full week’s worth of premiership fixtures, shouldn’t a terrorist attack that has lead to 4 deaths lead to the cancellation of a superfluous international tournament?
they talk about players’ safety, but what about the fans who attend the game? ridiculous…
poor togo…
Tim, that is quite a disrespectful thing to say about the ACN. It’s not superfluous to the African people, but shows typical European arrogance that means you assume the world revolves around you and your concerns. I’m sorry for what happened to the Togo squad, but they were told they should travel by air because of this risk. They have to take responsibility for a poor decision, which put people in danger unnecessarily and led to the loss of a life. Terrorism happens everywhere are you suggesting we cancel the 2012 London Olympics too?
Well Football seer that was a fine prediction of the mU score and gave me a bit of consolation.
This wasn’t our best match and we need some players back real soon. Lets hope Cesc is back next week to set out the game.
Credit to Everton they played with great spirit and made life hard.
Are there any terrorist to treathen the Kameroon squad so they can get out of the tournament also ? Just treathening with words I mean.
I really had the feeling that the absence of Song was immense to the team. I felt that they knew the DM master was not there and it felt as if all midfield players wanted to give extra protection and didn’t go for it offensivly like they normally do. I think this is wat Wenger was talking about finding a new balance. With Song the whole team knows he will be there to stop the others and now they just were trying to think to much about defense. And so our attacking game never came to full fluency untill the 91th minute and then we passed and moved and we scored.
Walter, I too felt that the midfield were putting extra efforts!! Maybe thats why Arsene made Ramsey and Nasri exchange positions during the 2nd half…We really did miss Song but we all expected this. I’m sure the team will find a balance just like when RvP was injured..
Yes indian gooner this is for Xth-time this season we have to adjust and find new balance because of injuries or now the ANC. Really frustrating…
@don’t believe the hype — i find it rather funny (and sad, in a way) that I got a personal attack for having “typical European arrogance.” I am no Phil Brown or Harry Redknapp. in retrospect i should have chosen a different word (or should have explained myself better). i was making a direct comparison between the postponement of fixtures due to winter weather and the non-postponement of fixtures due to a terrorist attack. it’s all rather absurd because the prime reason for postponing fixtures in England was the safety of the fans, but what about the fans in Angola?
actually, i think all international tournaments are “superfluous,” especially if players are killed like pawns in chess. in this sense, going on with the tournament is disrespecting the lives of those lost.
the problem with international tournaments is that countries use them as a stage to bolster their world standing. this just invites terrorists who see these tournaments in similar terms.
what is football or sport in general compared to the loss of life? yes, the togo team probably should have traveled by air, but they had an armed motorcade…what about fans, then, who obviously don’t travel by police escort?
terrorism will always be a problem, and this problem is magnified in a place that had been gripped in a civil war like angola. sure you can say criticizing angola as a viable site (and by extension, the ANC) is being “european-biased” but it is a fact that angola is still recovering from a civil war.
am i saying cancel all international tournaments? no, but i am saying that after a terrorist attack, people need to think long and hard about the reasons for “playing on” to “not letting the terrorists win.” will it be because of the best interests of the corporate dollars or the players or the fans?
as the togo team as shown, it obviously wasn’t in the best interests of the players. whether or not fans will show up to the ANC remains to be seen.
“not let…”
John Terry what a nob