ARSENALISM©

 AFC Goal Of The Year   So, what to make of 2013 for the Arsenal? A trophy-less year again (right that’s that out of the way) but a year that ends with the Gunners on top of the league on 42 points. At the start of the year we lay in 6 th on 38 points so that undoubtedly indicates progress. Does this show a decline in standards in the Premier League, as Manchester United began 2013 on top with a massive 59 points followed by Manchester City with 52? Or does it indicate that we have caught up? Maybe it’s a bit of both. Hard to say, but we find ourselves in a healthy position and on balance 2013 shows that statistically we are the years most successful team at accruing league points. The key to this success may very well be in the new model Arsenal’s capacity to bounce back and string together positive results, this in itself only tells half the story. I think that the chemistry is right within this set of players and with the summer being a stable one for a change ...

 the sum of its parts   Arsenal v Chelsea: a game that neither team wanted to lose and a game that offered little to cement anyone’s view on the destination of the Premier League Trophy. Not starting with Flamini seemed to be a mistake given that the Chelsea midfield were quite combative, as the bruising on Arteta’s legs showed. Team selection for both team’s highlighted the lack of a world class striker in either camp but on boxing day Arsenal turned dominance into three points and this game showed Walcott’s value and the return of Podolski to strengthen the goal scoring ranks. Manchester City have many options, as do Chelsea but you feel that when the chips are down City can rely on a deadly finish to settle things. Is it possible that in the absence of an Aguero, Suarez or Negredo that a team that contributes with goals from all over the team will come out triumphant in May? Domestically maybe so, however in Europe the high level finisher is key to achieve...

 We lost to a rampant Manchester City side that have an exemplary home record in a game in which we may well have scored goals goals given some decisions but in all honesty were second best in. Dissapointment rained down as did media exlamations of "I told you so" but many overlooked that we retained top spot. Then the Champions League draw where we were paired up with the current holders (again) and negativity prevailed, yet the Champions League is all about facing the best teams in Europe and my view is simply 'that's the way the cookie crumbles'. En route to Paris we may have preffered not to draw Real Madrid or Juventus but we did and prevailed, we may have in the past been happy to draw a so called lesser team and ended up being elimintaed: it's the Champions League folks. We have a six pointer against the Stamford Bridge rich kids: win that game and we take e a significant step forward from the 6-3 step back. Resilience is what is needed on Mo...