So its Friday morning and I should be working on important things in the church office, but instead I find myself scanning the internet for news ahead of tomorrow’s North London Derby.  Whilist doing so I can across an article of famous fans from both teams and thought it only appropiate to have a face off.  Who has the best celebrity fans?  Arsenal or Tottenham, Tottenham or Arsenal?

Round 1:

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First up its overly smug Simon Cowell wannabe Piers Morgan for Arsenal against everybody’s favourite straight talking businessman Sir Alan Sugar for Spurs.

This one is an obvious win for Tottenham.  No questions.  Aint no one gonna mess wit the Sugar, specially when its the hard to like Piers Morgan.

Arsenal 0-1 Tottenham

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Round 2:

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Next up, its former S-Club 7 hottie Rachel Stevens for Arsenal against the former Mrs Liam Gallagher Pansy Kensit for Spurs.

For me, the average man on the street would opt for Stevens everyday.  Even though Kensit seems like a lovely person and Stevens appears to lack a big dollop of charisma, I’m gonna be shallow and go for looks alone.  To which Rachel gets my vote.

Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham

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Round 3:

For Arsenal: former Mr Darcy and all round British acting treasure Colin Firth versus ladies favourite Hollywood actor Jude Law for the Spurs.

A tricky one this.  Firth is favourite amongst housewives across the country, whilst most people have a liking for Law.  Purely on the basis that Jude has been a lifelong Spurs fan where as Colin only become a gooner after portraying one in the fil ‘Fever Pitch’, its got to be Law.

Arsenal 1-2 Tottenham

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Round 4:

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For Arsenal: The very loveable, and frankly wasted on the X-Factor, Dermot O’Leary.  For Spurs: Twinkley eyed coffin dodger Bruce ‘Nice to see you to see you nice’ Forsyth.

Although Brucie is a bit of a legend, he is also annoying and a bit too old school.  Where as everyone loves O’Leary.  The man was a legend on Big Brother’s Little Brother and is a fine ambassador for Arsenal football club.

Arsenal 2-2 Tottenham

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Round 5:

For Arsenal: Cheeky chappie, former Jonathan Creek and Stephen Fry wind up merchant Alan Davies.  For Tottenham: Everyone’s favourite, floppy haired posh comedian Michael McIntyre.

A real tough one this.  I’m a big fan of Davies, because of Jonathan Creek and his general brilliantness on QI.  However, you gotta love McIntyre.  The man is a comedy legend.  So its a draw, or as X-Factor would say ‘DEADLOCK’.  I am tempted to go for Davies as he’s more outspoken about supporting Arsenal, but I feel a draw is a fair result.

Arsenal 3-3 Tottenham

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Round 6:

For Arsenal: irritating anarchist and former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon.  For Tottenham: Actor who famously played West Ham supporter Alf Garnett.

Appararently, when he’s not advertising butter or ‘fighting against the system’ Lydon is following the Arsenal.  But he’s still a plum.  So it has to go to Mitchell.

Arsenal 3-4 Tottenham

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Round 7:

For Arsenal: New romantic ‘rocker’s Spandau Ballet.  For Tottenham: Soulful crooner Lemar.

Lemar has the aura of cool about him, where as the Ballet have numbers in their favour.  Purely because of Martin Kemp and Tony Hadley, its got to be Spandau Ballet.

Arsenal 4-4 Tottenham

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Round 8:

So the decider goes down to these two.  For Arsenal: world’s most wanted man and all round Western hating cave dweller Osama bin Laden.  For Tottenham: drummer, musician, slapheaded gentleman.  Its Phil Collins.

When he wasn’t hating the West, bin Laden was enjoying its entertainments and famously went to see Arsenal play twice.  Collins is apparently a lifetime Spurs fan, although i’m pretty sure he also supports about 9 other teams including Man Utd so I’m tempted to go for another draw.  But then I remembered that bin Laden wants me dead where as Collins just wants me to buy his record.  So its has to go to Collins and Spurs.

Arsenal 4-5 Tottenham

So there we have it.  Apparently Spurs have the better celebrity fans.

Ok, so it has not been the best start to the season by a long way, but I am sick and tired of reading on a daily basis people continually ripping into Liverpool and Rafa Benitez.  Yeh we had a good season last year (from a premier league perspective) and yeh we have not had the best of starts to this years campaign, but to continually keep saying they are out of it and then the next week they are back in it is starting to do my head in.  After such a poor start they find themselves only 6 points off the top spot and only 4 point behind Utd, and I know that if they have lost last week they would have been 10 points behind Utd, but they didn’t.   Rafa love him or hate him is doing something right at Anfield, last weekend proved that.  Liverpool were a different level agaisnt Utd and even in the Carling Cup a second string Liverpool looked decent against the Youngsters of Arsenal, which many Premier League first team squads have struggled to do over the last few years.  Yes the Champions League situation does not look good at present but the last time it looked this bleak Old Big Ears was handed over to a Mr Gerrard in Istanbul.  We are not even in November yet, and already the league has been written off 3 or 4 times for Liverpool.  People need to get a grip,  come May when the trophies are handed out I am not saying that it will be passed over to Steven Gerrard to hold above his head, but I am saying that who ever does hold it up will have had to fight off a challenge from the red men of Liverpool.

This Saturday will once again see another North London derby. A fixture which is one of my favourite throughout the year and yet at the same time one that I dread the most.  For the last 10 years, Arsenal have been the favourite to win the derby which means that anything less than this feels like a victory for Spurs.

This Saturday’s derby promises to be one of the most interesting in a long time.  Both teams have strong squads and have kicked off their seasons with a set of impressive results and performances.  Every Arsenal or Spurs fan I speak to at the moment has been looking forward to this game for weeks.

So what will happen at the Emirates?  My prediction is a 2-2 draw.

Why have I gone for a 2-2 draw?  We’ll I’m glad you asked.  There are two main reasons.  First despite having a weakened squad due to the loss of key players such as Defoe, Modric and Lennon and losing to Stoke, Spurs always play out of their ksin in the derby.  I believe this will pull them through to perform well at the Emirates.

Second, although I believe Arsenal should win, particulary as they are in great form and some players have hit good form (such as van Persie, Fabregas and Arshavin), they still have an uncanny ability to make stupid mistakes and throw away wins.

Therefore with these two factors in mind, I’ve opted for a 2-2 draw.  With a controversial penalty decision not given.  Just for fun.

Obviously though, I’m praying for an Arsenal win.  Cos that would be superb.  Adm defintley not a loss as that would result in at least a year of over the top smugness from certain Spurs fans.

James

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Response and Prediction by Simon

I have to say, I find James’ prediction above to be a smidgin generous. I have the sneaking suspicion he is playing it safe going for a draw, but there we go. If I’m honest, I’m not particularly optimistic this year, which is odd given Spurs have done so well so far. Here are some reasons for my lack of optimism:

1. Defoe is missing: while on paper Tottenham have three other international quality strikers, I still think Defoe will be a big loss. Keane’s form has been largely abysmal this year, other than that game where he scored four (obviously). In most games he has simply disappeared, which is worrying. Crouch is great, but he needs a lively strike partner, and Keane is not especially lively right now. As for Pavlyuchenko, he looks about as confident as, well, <this little creature> . With Defoe playing, we would have beaten Stoke; as it was, we didn’t even score.

2. Other Injuries: With Modric and now Lennon missing, as well as Defoe, I wonder where that little spark of magic you need in these games will come from. Bentley? Perhaps, but unlikely. Kranjcar? Well, I’m sceptical. Those three (Modric, Lennon, Defoe) are really the three quickest, most inventive players we have. Without any of them playing the role of catalyst, I’m not sure from where we will get any flashes of genius.

3. Last two performances against top clubs: Excusing the win against Liverpool on the first day of the season, we haven’t looked great against the other top clubs this year. OK, so we’ve only played two others, but in both the Man. Utd and Chelsea games we gave quite disappointing performances. We will need to play very well to get a win, or even a draw, on Saturday.

4. A hunch: I just have a hunch we’ll have a tough day on Saturday. I think the Stoke game may have shaken our confidence, even though we beat Everton midweek. That Stoke game was the first time this year when we’ve been beaten when we should have won. That may mean a tiny bit of insecurity may start to slip in for us, which could be fatal against the Gunners.

All that said, then, my prediction for Saturday is 2-1 to Arsenal.

But I will be delighted if I am proven wrong.

Simon

I’ve been quietly impressed with Carlo Ancelotti since he began managing Chelsea. He has a quiet, unassuming way about him which suggests he takes his football seriously, while avoiding the pretentious nonsense of many other top managers (‘mind-games’ etc.).

This presentiment was confirmed a little today, after Chelsea’s first loss of the season away at Wigan, 3-1. The course of the match turned on the dubious decision by referee Phil Dowd, when the scored was 1-1, to: (1) award a questionable penalty to Wigan after a ‘foul’ by Petr Cech on Hugo Rodallega, when actual contact seemed minimal; and (2) to then send Cech off for being the ‘last man’, even though Ashley Cole was also in the near vicinity. While most of the top managers, from Fergie to Benitez to Wenger to (yes, I admit) possibly also Redknapp, and most definitely Mark “I’m too big for my boots” Hughes, would have moaned in post-match interviews about the unjustness of the penalty and sending off, and the way the referee “ruined the match”, Ancelotti, in stark contrast, responded as follows:

“Wigan played better than us. They were well organised and played well. This was the right result. … It was a bad display. I don’t know why we didn’t play well but these things can happen after many wins.”

In spite of what many would deem poor refereeing, Ancelotti admitted that his side did not deserve to win, because of the weakness of their OVERALL PERFORMANCE.

If only Mark Hughes had had this honesty and humility last week after Manchester United pummelled his side for 90 minutes, rather than moaning about an extra 90 seconds at the end of the game. OK, so that 90 seconds shouldn’t have been played, and United scored an important goal in that time, but come on… City were VERY lucky to be drawing at all before the goal was scored, and ultimately United deserved the win, and City’s defending was awful throughout. Why didn’t Hughes mention that??

He should take a leaf out of Ancelotti’s book.

I think my favourite part was at the end, when he says, “I’ll be truthful, I don’t understand it. If I go to watch football I watch football, I watch the game, why you’ve got be shouting abuse and giving people abuse for I don’t know, there’s got to be something wrong with you”.

Two weeks ago I went to watch Arsenal take on Manchester United at the pub.  After two hours of viewing I emerged in one of the most annoyed states I’ve ever been in after a football game.  Somehow, after outplaying them throughout the majority of the game, Arsenal lost 2-1 to Manchester United.

I was very annoyed because:

a) Arsenal in no way deserved to lose.  They probably didn’t even deserve a draw, but all three points.

b) It was Man United.  Any other team, and I wouldn’t of been too bothered, but it had to be Man Yoo.  How do they always get results when they don’t deserve it??

c) In my probably biased opinion, apart from the end of the game where Arsenal were pushing everything up front for an equaliser, United didn’t really make any chances.  The first goal was an annoying penalty to give away as Almunia shouldn’t have come out that far and Rooney was looking for it.  The second goal was just plain bizarre.  Abou Diaby, who otherwise played very well, strangely headed the ball into his own net despite not being under any pressure.

d) The Van Persie goal right at the end was offside, but it was typical that that would happen against Man United.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team get a last minute goal at Old Trafford accept United (who do it very often).

e) A penalty wasn’t given after Arshavin was clearly fouled by Fletcher in the area.  It was the most obvious foul of the whole game and then he hand-balled it on the way out.

But now that I’ve ranted about all that, on reflection I was encouraged by the game as a whole.  Arsenal played very well and showed very good signs for the rest of the season.  The two centre-backs in particular looked strong: an area last season that was at times shaky.

If there was one moment that cheered me up in particular, it had to be Wenger’s absurd sending off for kicking a bottle in frustration after the goal at the end was ruled offside.  The whole thing was superb and Gordon Strachan’s comments afterwards were amusing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11ExsKSezsU

Richard Dunne went on record today having a bit of a go at Manchester City for how they handled his transfer to Aston Villa. He says they lied to him. What was it they lied about?

Well, apparently they told him that they needed to sell him to ‘balance the books’: “They told me they have a certain amount of money they have to recoup each season to make things look better on the books“.

City spent £118m this summer on transfers… they sold Dunne for £6m.

That has to be the worst lie ever.

Just found a very interesting article on The Guardian website discussing this very issue. The author opts for the strict definition of a ‘volley’, which is not simply when a player “strikes the ball in the air”, but when they “strike the ball in the air before it has bounced” – put strictly: “a volley occurs when the ball is struck having not bounced since being touched by the previous player“.

This strict definition would obviously discount Steven Gerrard’s goal against Bolton this last weekend, which, though widely touted as a ‘volley’, should really come under the definition ‘bouncing ball’, as it had already bounced before he struck it. The article also allows for a ‘self-made volley’, where the player chips the ball up for themselves before striking it.

You can find the article if you <CLICK HERE>

It really is a must read, especially as it has links to YouTube clips of some of the best volleys, half-volleys, bouncing balls, and self-made volleys ever scored.

As an Arsenal fan, I was very pleased with the teams 3-1 victory over Celtic and the Emirates on Wednesday night.  I was not however pleased with Eduardo’s blatant dive which resulted in a penalty and the first goal of the game.

FIFA have now repsonded to this by declaring that they will punish Mr da Silva with either a fine or a match ban.   Wenger’s reaction to this has been predictably grump, stating that Eduardo is a victim of a FIFA witch hunt and that it can’t be prvoed that Eduardo meant to decieve the referre and win a penalty.

My take on all this is that Eduardo should be punished.  He went down looking for a penalty depsite the fact that the keeper didn’t even touch him.  This isn’t acceptable and shows one of the ugly sides of football: the fact that many players simulate fouls and overact or feign injury when hacked to gain a set piece and possibly the booking of the offender.

However I can understand where Wenger is coming from.  Why FIFA have decided to punish Eduardo in the incident on Wednesday when for years they have silently sat by is a mystery.   The punishment of Eduardo will only be just if similar punishments are now implemented for other offenders in football under FIFA’s jursidicition.  Whether this happens or not is hard to say.  It would be espically unlikely in leagues such as the Italian or Spanish ones where simulation and over dramatic reactions are almost an expected part of their football.  Or what about the upcoming World Cup?  Should this be implemented?  If so some of the South American teams will struggle to adjust and probably get half their team sent off.

So in summary, I applaud FIFA’s action, but only if it is backed up by a widescale implementation for other teams and Eduardo is not used as some kind of ‘example’ to other teams.

James