Been watching Gangs of New York have we?

That and Notting Hill. But to tell you the truth this has been one of my favored expressions since childhood. Still use it occasionally, very occasionally.

Harry Redknapp, the prick.

Anyways, Locke, are Arsenal final going to decide to get their first win over us at the Emirites this weekend?

Just dawned upon me: What has Chelsea been smoking lately? 29 goals in 12 matches. That's exactly the amount goals they have for each point they've earned. And only let in 4, with a goal difference of +25. How on earth did Roma defeat them in the CL?

Looks like Big Phil finally adjusted there somewhat. Oh well, as long as either Arsenal or Chelsea win the league this season, I'm fine with it. Or at least, Manchester and Liverpool not winning it.

Yeah, it's one of those english expressions you can't help but like..."sod off" is another one.

Why not? The Man U win was nothing if not a titanic injection of some much needed belief and spirit, and I can definately see us winning this one.

3rd time lucky, eh? Nah, but seriously, I think you'll win it fairly comfortabley. 2-0 or 3-1 I'm going to go for, I believe Carew is still injured for this one, so can't see us doing much, just be a defend and hope job for us..

That is the difference between class and everything else

That's what you said last season, when we had to scrape a 1-1 with a goal from Bendtner deep into injury time...I'm actually very surprised we struggle so much against you at The Emirates when we had such a good record over you at Highbury.

We were truly terrible at Highbury, it was embarassing.

The only time I went there was really crappy, I remember we were beating you 2-0, then Wiltord pulled one back before Henry scored 2 in the last minute. Sickening.

Everyone had a good record over them until MON

That's true to be honest, even those things down the road were beating us on a regular basis.

I hope Fergie stays at United forever and that Forest never get into the Premier League, those're two ways I can see the messiah leaving.

It was from a third source that the clip appeared; probably Sky Sports.

acid: You mean Chelsea have conceded only four goals all season?

For me, the one that really stood out was the 5-0 victory in April 2006.

Four in Premier League out of 11 games. Three more if you count Roma's treble against them in that lone CL game. Boy, they're strong! And the best thing is they've scored 29 already, giving them an unholy goal difference of +25. I've got a feeling they'll do well this year, one way or another.

They're strong... for Premier League teams. I don't think they can go on like this in Europe.

You're right, but we never can discount Big Phil in tournaments. He's a master at this. But it will all come down to Chelsea and whether they have enough left in them to open more battlefronts in the CL. Still, it wouldn't be wise of me to discount them reaching the quarters. You win that, and from then on, it's anybody's game.

Almunia saves a penalty.

They're certainly one of the favorites to win the CL this season. that is not my point. I just think playing 11 games and conceding only 3-4 goals is something that can only happen to them in the league. Europe will most probably be a whole different story.

Villa playing well, Arsenal not so well... Almunia saves an Ashley Young penalty. Villa should be up at least 2-0 at HT, poor finishing. Arsenal needs someone other than Bendtner up front alone =/

Hopefully Wenger will give Vela a chance after the break.

f*ck.

gud result for villa i think they deserved it

Great stuff. Didn't predict a win after our recent performances, but I'd say we probably deserved it on the whole. Having Big Bad Brad in goal definitly made a difference today, superb keeper! And we remain unbeaten at the Eimirites stadium!

Bring on Kurt vs Locke

Great game and result for Villa. and Arsenal on the other hand played weakly. fair result.

i think it is quite a big blow to arsenal title chances but they are not fully out yet

Agbonlahor's goal was great,I want him for Milan

Don't like their chances. Already 9 pts behind liverpool, 6 behind Chelsea (game in hand). Away games at City/Chelsea next. I think they'll get 4th place over Villa, but the other top 3 teams have stronger and more complete squads.

Yup, we're definately out of it. Only the Champions League and FA Cup left worth winning, and I'd definately prefer the Champions League.

Congratulations Kurt, you guys deserved it.

Can't really say. Arsenal were tops last season before the winter break, and look where they ended. It isn't exactly as lethal as to say no chance, if they keep on winning they could turn out to be decent contenders for the top spot. Villa isn't exactly a mid-table team right now - wait and see how they handle other big guns this season.

Come on, we've lost a total of NINE points to Hull, Stoke and Fulham and another FOUR to Tottenham and Sunderland.
That's 13 wasted points, nothing even close to top quality.

Thankyou.


Our record vs the big 4 hasn't been too bad, in our last 10 away games vs the big 4, we've lost only 4. So far this season we drew 0-0 with Liverpool, lost 2-0 at Chelsea, then won 2-0 at Arsenal with United at home next week. Maybe Fergie was being serious when he said we could win the legaue?


Yeah, I think the EPL title is out of reach now. Just curious as to what you think, and I'm not saying this because I dislike Wenger: Do you think it's time he left? It's been 3 or 4 seasons now without a trophy and your squad doesn't seem as strong as the other teams in the big 4, Wenger does have a habit of letting your best players go, I'm amazed personally that the Arsenal fans get so behind him.

Congrats Kurt! And my condolences to Locke.

Cheers.

Fair play to the Arsenal fans on the radio, they all giving us alot of respect.

anybody who can watch the chelsea-w. brom game, you can get a look at Ivanovic. He's partnering Terry today.

Lets put it this way; he'll have to pull of something pretty damn impressive before June in order to make peace with the fans.
He's a shadow of his former self and he keeps spoon-feeding us that tedious talk of how consistently finishing in the top 4 is more important than winning the odd trophy and how good our youngsters are and all that.
Our main problems at the moment are:

1. Playing Fabregas when it would have been more effective to wheel out whatever's left of Alan Ball and dumping it in the middle of the pitch.

2. Using Bendtner as a lone striker. The guy isn't as hopeless as some people think, but he never works as a lone striker. NEVER.

3. Confining the obvious talent of Carlos Vela to the Carling Cup and 20-minute league appearances.

4. The lack of a midfield other than Nasri.

5. A lack of players who can score from 1-on-1s.

6. A lack of a real star player. Adebayor has returned to being medicore, Fabregas has started to decline at the age of 20 and even if Walcott will be England's best player in a 4-5 years time that doesn't mean sh*t at the moment.

7. When the team are playing great, Almunia is sure to concede 4 goals (Tottnham, Liverpool last year), and when Almunia has a great day the defence is sure to provide as much defensive protection and mobility as a badger that has just been run through a combine harvester (Gallas trying to catch up with Agbonlahor for the second goal).

Pretty much agree with them all. Arsenal need a manager who wants to win, Wenger only seems to want to win.. if it doesn't cost too much. Look on the brightside, Locke, at least you don't have Gomes in goal. Has there ever been a worse keeper in the Premier League?

Anyways, Albion 0-1 Chelsea. Bosingwa with an AWESOME goal.

EDIT: 0-2, Anelka. Well, he's certainly proving me wrong this season, he can't stop scoring! Who needs Drogba?

EDIT 2: 0-3, Anelka again. His 12th league goal of the season in his 13th appearance.

Fishdoll awards two cookies today. One to Kurt for a very fine win by Villa and one to Locke because of said very fine win.

Sagna will be out for a few weeks after injuring his ankle. Just what we needed.

did anyone see gomes latest howler this guys can save long shots but when it comes to easy catches then dont know what he does

He really is quite crap. I think the top 5 flops of the season are all Spurs players so far. Gomes, Bentley, Corluka, Modric, Pavlyuchenko..

That's true, but always remember it's never as black and white as it seems. You have a whole 57 points to play for after the break, anything can happen. I'm not saying it will, football is a weird game, after all. Who knows you'll only end up third or - gulp - fourth. But you can also finish first, as impossible as it may seem. That is only if the team picks up. Like you said, it's not even close to top quality. I'll agree with that. Lots of improvements needed.

And darn them, you've done it again, Locke. Tottenham. I've started to hate them.


Didn't get to watch the game. So how was he? Ivanovic, I mean.

Harry Redknapp pledged to stick with calamity goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes after suffering his first defeat as Tottenham manager.

Spurs slipped back into the bottom three in the Barclays Premier League while Fulham's 2-1 win lifted them to ninth.

Gomes, who has blundered a number of times already this season, gifted Fulham their first-half opener when he allowed a cross from Simon Davies to slip through his fingers.

A clinical finish from Andrew Johnson in the 69th minute put the home side in command before substitute Fraizer Campbell scored a late consolation for Spurs.

The defeat was Tottenham's first in seven games since Redknapp took charge, but the former Portsmouth manager was adamant he would be sticking with Gomes.

"It was a disappointing day," Redknapp said. "We started in second gear and suddenly looked like we were getting into the game until we gifted them a goal.

"It was a farcical goal, but he's my goalkeeper. He's got to do the job. This is the situation I have.

"I have Gomes and another goalkeeper, a Spanish lad who is 37, and then you have kids.

"Gomes is the first-team goalkeeper. His record at PSV Eindhoven tells you he was a world-class goalkeeper. He made some great saves after the goal, so I have got to keep believing in him and stay with him.

"The goalkeeping coach has got to work with him. I always think goalkeepers and their coaches have a special relationship and he's got to get into his head this week.

"Fulham started sharper than we did and deserved the win. Their front two of Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson were excellent. They gave us problems."

(sportinglife.com)

It's weird that Gomes would start sucking only after moving to the EPL. Then again, I guess it's true what I once heard about most Brazilian players being unable to adapt to the English game.

He's always been a bit weak with crosses, teams are now just blatently putting a cross in from anywhere now though, and with his confidence completely shot, he's having a nightmare.

"I have Gomes and another goalkeeper, a Spanish lad who is 37, and then you have kids.

So you haven't learned this 'other keepers' name yet, Harry?

Heh. That would be César Sánchez.

Your disdain for Redknapp cracks me up. Keep it coming.

Harry Redknapp is at it again. Apparently Gomes' recently failings aren't his fault, they're the goalkeeping coaches, so he's sacked him. I wonder what could possibly be his excuse when Gomes Fs it up next weekend.

Well as manager he knows best. And to be true, Gomes has been very good for PSV, and this is very uncharacteristic.

His problem in the EPL has been that he's scared to death of crosses, he had that all the time, even at PSV. Flop of the season so far, though plenty of his team-mates are in the running.

New Nike advert

I quite like this one.

Ridiculous. That's an act of desperation on his part if I ever saw one. He can only hide the fact that Gomes has been a flop for so long.

That would be like us firing Vecchi after Dida's lousy season last year, which would've been a stupid thing to do.