Preview Everton - Arsenal

By Richard Clarke

Andrew Johnson has been a big noise in Premiership football ever since his Crystal Palace days and Arsène Wenger believes the key to victory at Goodison Park on Sunday will be keeping him quiet.

The Arsenal manager is a fan of the diminutive striker. Wenger had Johnson closely monitored while he was plying his trade in South London and, although he decided against a move, the Frenchman does believe Johnson can make a mark for his country in the years to come.

“I think Andy is a player who can help England,” said Wenger. “He is a good striker because of the timing and quality of his runs, his fantastic team ethic and the fact he never gives up.

"He can be one of the players who can compliment Wayne Rooney because Rooney is more of a second striker who can make the runs and you need another striker who can stretch the defence. Andy Johnson is one of those along with Michael Owen.

"I did consider [taking] him at one stage when he was at Crystal Palace but the price stopped it happening. There was a big fight for Johnson and you know if that happens then the price is never below £12 million or £13 million.

"But he has done very well in the Premier League as well and has given us problems.

Wenger added: “Johnson is a handful for any defence and the result on Sunday will be decided by the way we keep him quiet.”

Ironically enough, the Arsenal manager is in need of strikers at the moment. Thierry Henry’s season is over because of groin/stomach injuries while Robin van Persie (foot) will not be seen before late April if at all.

Emmanuel Adebayor sees out the last game of his suspension on Sunday and Theo Walcott is unlikely to be risked as he will have a shoulder operation on Tuesday.

It leaves Julio Baptista and Jeremie Aliadiere as the only options. Wenger admits that both players are fighting for their Arsenal future. Baptista’s loan spell is up in the summer and Aliadiere would have been sold in January, albeit reluctantly, had Van Persie not picked up his injury.

“It is an important time for both of them because they know they will get a chance to play in these games,” said the manager.

Elsewhere Emmanuel Eboue is still suspended but his countryman Kolo Toure is back from a ban. Alex Hleb returns from a knee problem and Tomas Rosicky is pushing for a start.

After a nightmare fortnight, the game at Villa Park was just the fillip Arsenal needed. Three points helped move them up to third for the first time in 2007 but the manner of victory — a backs-to-the-wall, sleeves-rolled-up 1-0 — was just as gratifying given Wenger’s side had seen their character come under scrutiny in recent weeks.

The Arsenal manager believes Chelsea are catchable in second place but, at the same time is still not secure in the fourth and final Champions League spot. Everton will present a stern examination given that they have European hopes themselves.

“They have 43 points with 10 games to go,” said Wenger. “That normally gives you a Uefa Cup ambition. They will be a good test for us.

“We need to secure a position in the top four because it is not completely done but we still hope to get in the top two as well.

Arsenal.com

Late Article :My Summary Carling Cup Final

Today Young Gunners, Arsenal team, ambitiously attend to get win of this football match as the triumphant hunger. When the game started, they played better than the opponent, Chelsea by mostly controlling the ball of the match, because they helped each other and excellently played in team. In the pre- time, Young Gunners strongly waded without fear to Chelsea’s team which is a great and powerful team in football league. While I was watching on TV screen, Young Gunners could shoot the first ball into the goal in minute 13th by Theo Wallcot who controlled this ball bypass Terry and curvedly shot it bypass the goal keeper’s hand into the Chelsea’s goal. For Theo Wallcot, this was his first time in Arsenal since he had moved from another team. In the match, Arsenal were still powerful to control the game until in minute 23th บัลลัค threw the ball from the field’s side, then Drogba came over and easily shot the ball by passอัลมูเนีย into the Arsenal’s goal. When Arsenal lost their one goal, Young Gunners apparently got pressure until Chelsea could notice and started to control the game but they both couldn’t do anything, until last 10 minutes of the first half game Arsenal team start to move forward again but they couldn’t do the new mark and the total score of the first game was
For the second game, Murinho could realise the weakness of Arsenal, then Chelsea sent Rebben to play games and he nearly got the goal, but Arsenal still played and well controlled it as the first game. For example, they still excellently played in team as well as could do pressure to the opponent. However, they couldn’t shoot the ball to the mark as Chelsea, too. Then in minutes 56th Chelsea got the corner kick, while เทอรรี่ was hitting the ball with his head to get the goal, Diaby raised his foot up to kick the ball out, and it also strongly hit to terry’s chin, so, the game had to be stopped about 7 minutes and it affected to Terry to be changed and carried to hospital by oxygen , too. This game still slowly continued, they both swapped to be controller of the game until the minutes 84th ดร๊อกบา got a chance to hit the ball by his head by pass ฟิลิป เซนเดอรอส and perfectly came into the goal. The games started to be exciting again in the minutes 90th when โคโล่ตูเร่ controlled the ball and closed to Chelsea’s goal. มิเกล tried to apparently pull โคโล่ตูเร่’s shirt, then Toure was satisfied and it became a small chaos, and after that the judge gave them both red cards and order to leave from the game and one person who got red card also was Adebayor, he just played the game in few minutes. Finally, Chelsea won by 2-1 and got the first prize of this season.

For my opinion, this match Young Gunners could well played done, even though they were not the winner. But it showed that this team didn’t scare with the big Chelsea’s team, and it was a good teamwork in the match as well. Besides, I thought it will be important power which can play in the big Arsenal’s team and absolutely bring the team to be achievement in future (Hopefully, Chelsea won’t buy them all to collect ). For this match, Young Gunners lose by only lacking of experience and quick decision. In addition to, I felt disappointed with Chelsea’s cheering team which definitely hadn’t got good manner by throwing miscellaneous to the field while Young gunner got the corner kick. It was very different from Arsenal’s cheering team who were polite and didn’t do same as them when Chelsea team got the corner kick also. And one thing I was appreciated in this match, it was เชส, an Arsenal soccer who are better in controlling his mood, even though he still showed a little bit angry, it was definitely different from a Chelsea soccer, Lampard who is older and temporally being captain of team instead of จอน เทอรรี่. He couldn’t control his mood and started to flight when the chaos happened, and he would argue with เชส, too. It really seems to bully younger, Mr Lampard
This article is only my opinion, Thanks for your interesting

Injuries stack up for FA Cup replay at Blackburn

By Richard Clarke

Arsène Wenger has been forced to make numerous changes in his squad for the FA Cup Fifth Round replay at Blackburn on Wednesday night.

The Arsenal manager could be without as many as 10 first-team players and, as a result, may take some of his ‘Carling Cup youngsters’ to Ewood Park.

“There are plenty of changes but it will still be a strong team,” the Frenchman told Arsenal.com on Tuesday.

“We have lots of injuries. We don’t have Adebayor (suspended), Thierry Henry (foot) and Tomas Rosicky (groin). At Cardiff on Sunday we also lost Abou Diaby through an ankle injury and Kolo Toure who was sent off. Fabregas will be rested as well.”

The injuries don’t end there. Justin Hoyte is troubled by a hamstring strain picked up at the Millennium Stadium, Johan Djourou is struggling with an ankle complaint while Mathieu Flamini is doubtful with a foot problem.

Robin van Persie will definitely miss the game of course. His prognosis is still anything between four and eight weeks because of the broken metatarsal he suffered against Manchester United on January 21.

Fortunately Wenger has some experienced players in need of games.

“William Gallas is coming back,” he said, “so are Hleb and Ljungberg. They will be involved. Denilson will be there aswell. Clichy (foot) is in the squad but I am not sure he will play.”

Arsenal TV Online subscribers will be able to see a video interview with Arsène Wenger on Wednesday morning. In it the Frenchman talks about: his reflections on the Carling Cup Final on Sunday, the disciplinary issues that have arisen from the game, his faith in his youngsters, the danger of David Bentley, the emergence of Shabani Nonda and much more.

Baptista - Cup run shows I can do the business

By Richard Clarke

Julio Baptista believes that the Carling Cup could be the making of his Arsenal career.

The burly midfielder-cum-striker is on loan from Real Madrid this season and hoping to impress Arsene Wenger enough to gain a permanent deal at the end of the season.

With six goals in two games, the Carling Cup appears to be the tournament he has chosen to stake his claim.

“This is the competition I'm having most opportunity,” said the 25-year-old Brazilian. “It's the one in which Arsene Wenger is really giving me a chance, the only one where I've been able to show how I am able to play.

“It has been very important to me, as much as anything for my own self-confidence. It shows that when I'm needed I can do the business.

“I think I've definitely shown what I'm capable of and now it's the decision of the Club [over whether to keep me or not].”

Baptista goes by the nickname of “The Beast” but he was also called “Batigoal” during his free-scoring spell at Sevilla. However, although the match ball from the 6-3 win at Anfield is sitting on his mantelpiece, his four-goal performance that night was one of the few in which he has started up front. He has flitted between roles as an attacking midfielder and supporting forward.

“My favourite position is as second striker,” he said, “but a free-roaming one, ideally about five metres behind the striker.

“Arsene knows that's my best position but sometimes the situation arises that I am needed in other positions and I'll play there. But really the one I want to play in, and know I'm best at, is the second striker role.

“Of course it has been frustrating not to play more but you're competing with international players in every other position.

“When I arrived the team was pretty much formed already, everyone had their positions. But of course I want to be playing in the main team.”

Sunday is Baptista’s chance to bridge that divide.

Walcott - My days as a Chelsea ballboy

By Richard Clarke

Theo Walcott has gone from Chelsea ballboy to Arsenal poster boy in the space of six short years.

The 17-year-old winger is set to play the biggest match of his burgeoning career on Sunday when the two teams contest the Carling Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. And Jose Mourinho’s side are intent on biting the hands that used to feed them - footballs that is.

Walcott might have been playing for Chelsea on Sunday. Even before he had reached his teenage years they had spotted his talent and invited him to Stamford Bridge to help out.

“Yeah I was 10 going on 11 when I was a ballboy there,” he said. “There was always a chance I could have gone to Chelsea.

“I was playing in Jersey and their scouts were there. They invited me to come down for the Liverpool match because I was a Liverpool fan.

“I remember Liverpool lost 2-0 and I didn’t get a touch of the ball but at least I got to watch it. And I met some of the players - Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen - afterwards in the dressing room. It’s funny because when I went to the World Cup I showed Michael a picture of it.

“But I was more interested in the Academy then to be honest. At a young age you just want to play football. It was always going to be Southampton.”

Walcott’s selection in Germany only added to the hype that has surrounded him ever since he signed for Arsenal last January. The player himself accepts the past year has not been a smooth ride but opportunity has knocked loudest in the Carling Cup.

“I just think we’ve got better every round,” he said. “To go away to Tottenham and get that result was brilliant, I thought. It’s not an easy place to go to I’ll tell you that now. I thought Portsmouth was bad but we showed character at 2-0 down with all the fans against us. I thought our supporters were brilliant, Julio’s two goals were brilliant and the whole squad were brilliant.

“But overall it has been hard because you just want to play. I’m only 17 and playing in the first team at Arsenal, probably the best club in the world I’d say. So I’ve got a long way to go yet.

“Still to be here in my first year and be in a cup final so early, I didn’t expect that. It is a dream come true.”

Denilson - Carling Cup is like a kickabout

By Richard Clarke

Denilson has vowed to treat the Carling Cup Final like a kick-about on the backstreets of Brazil.

The 19-year-old midfielder, signed from Sao Paulo on transfer deadline in August, has been a revelation in this season’s competition. The West Brom and Everton games served as his apprenticeship, he then went on to put in professional performances against Liverpool and Tottenham in the latter rounds.

It should be no surprise, Denilson is a mature individual. He played for Sao Paulo in the Inter-Continental Cup at the age of 16 and has been the Brazil Under-19s captain for the past year. That experience is helping him take Sunday’s game in his confident stride.

“I am hoping to finish off this wonderful season on a gold standard in the Carling Cup and also the FA Cup and the Champions League,” he said. “Why not?

“I don't feel any pressure at all. I am playing as though it is a kick-about in the street.

“I have already played before 80,000 a few times including against Liverpool when I came on as a substitute in the Inter-Continental Cup.”

Denilson is no relation to the player of the same name who moved from Sao Paulo to Real Betis for a then world record fee of £22 million in 1998. This Denilson is the son of a jobbing Brazilian professional and grew up with Zinedine Zidane as his hero. Like any overseas player he has needed an adaptation period. On the pitch it has been surprisingly short, off the pitch it is still ongoing.

“One thing that is very different here in England is that football is a lot faster than Brazil,” he said. “But I like that. You can get a battering but you have to have the body to withstand that and although I am small I am very fit.

“The biggest issue for me has been to learn English, but I am getting there. I live here on my own, not with a family. But that is OK for me. I can follow English television and listen to American music. I can't cook but I don't drink. I respect what other individual people want to do but it is not for me.

“Gilberto has been very helpful to me while I have been here. He does not tell me what to do but he suggests good things and when we have a day off we go to places of interest like Madame Tussauds.

“I like it there. I have never met Pele but he is there in wax. It is one of the places I will go if we win on Sunday.

Then he corrected himself: “After we win on Sunday.”

Carling Cup Final :Chelsea - Arsenal

By Richard Clarke

The Carling Cup Final on Sunday will be Arsène Wenger’s most prestigious talent show ever.

For many years, the Arsenal manager has used this particular competition as his fame academy; a chance to blood unknown and untested players in a first-team environment.

In the build-up to this game the Frenchman suggested this season’s run to Cardiff was a footballing version of the X-Factor talent show. But can his fledglings really out-perform a Chelsea side with an unrivalled £-factor of their own? Jose Mourinho certainly has no intention of sending out a weakened side after all.

Sunday will see the two managers, the two teams even the two clubs singing from entirely different songsheets. But Wenger has always been happy to whistle his own tune in this tournament.

"You have singers in England going on the X-Factor show for their talents to be discovered,” said Wenger. “If they don't organise it, you don't find them.

"I like it because people are brave enough to come out and say they want to achieve something in their life. They are ready to be committed to do it. They have a target.

"I like people who turn up and are ready to fight for something, like our young players are. And this competition is the X-Factor Academy for us.

“People say never judge a team on a cup run because it depends who you play. But in this competition we have played Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham so it would be a great reward for us to win it.

“Liverpool was a tough test, Everton was a tough test and no-one can ever predict how difficult it will be against Chelsea.

"Their game is based on experience and power, ours will be based on mobility and movement. It will be very important for us to try and stop them in decisive moments in the game by taking over that physical power."

Wenger will keep faith with the side that has taken him to Cardiff. William Gallas, Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg are omitted. Jens Lehmann (suspended) and Robin van Persie (foot) would not have played either as they had not featured in the earlier rounds of the competition.

Emmanuel Eboue (foot) is likely to be out while Justin Hoyte (hamstring) and Gael Clichy (foot) were due for tests on Friday. Armand Traore will step in at left back should his fellow Frenchman not make it.

Along with Denilson, the 17-year-old defender is the discovery of this year’s run. Cesc Fabregas, Van Persie and Clichy — now first-team regulars - are among the previous recipients of this imaginary award. Top-flight starts are the point of this competition for Wenger but that does not mean Sunday’s trophy will be simply handed over to the more experienced side.

“I'm very proud of what these players have achieved this season,” he said. “We have not just won we've won with style which is our philosophy.

"But for me the biggest achievement is always the next one. What you have done in your life is not important. If you think what you have won is not as important as the next one then you are finished.

"I want to achieve what is front of me as well as I can and I really want to win this trophy on Sunday.

"It will be an unusual achievement if we do it.”

And an highly uplifting one too.