Van Persie is EA SPORTS Player of the Month

[size=6]Robin van Persie is the EA SPORTS Player of the Month for January[/size]

The Dutch forward finally ended Samir Nasri's long run of victories after finding his best form last month and scoring seven times in six appearances.

Van Persie netted his first hat-trick for the Club in the 3-0 win over Wigan after opening the scoring at Birmingham on New Year's Day and adding two more at West Ham. The Dutchman was also on target with a rare headed goal against Leeds United in the FA Cup Third-Round replay.

Van Persie was rewarded with just over half of the votes cast in the official Club poll for January. Cesc Fabregas finished second with 17 per cent while Nasri had to settle for third with 14.7 per cent.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/van-persie-is-ea-sports-player-of-the-month

[size=6]Preview: Newcastle - Arsenal[/size]

By Richard Clarke

Arsène Wenger has been a consistent critic of the January transfer window – but it has undoubtedly worked in his favour this season.

The week began with the biggest deadline day splurge in the history of English football. Chelsea lavished £71 million on two major additions – Fernando Torres and David Luiz. Then Andy Carroll filled the gap left at Liverpool by the Spanish striker for a cool £35 million.

The last of those deals was done so late that Newcastle had no time to buy a replacement. You can easily argue that the loss of their striker and talisman will affect the mentality of Alan Pardew’s side when Arsenal visit at St James Park on Saturday – but it will have no physical impact. The England striker is injured and would not have played anyway.

However while the immediate advantage is minimal, the benefit for Arsenal is more obvious in the longer-term.

Carroll should be back when leaders Manchester United go to Anfield on March 6. Meanwhile Carlo Ancelotti’s acquisitions will have bedded-in by the time Sir Alex Ferguson’s side visit Stamford Bridge five days before that. And they will certainly be contributing for the return fixture at Old Trafford on May 7.

That game comes days after Arsenal entertain Manchester United, the only remaining game for Wenger’s men against the current top four.

The Emirates Stadium side have already fulfilled their fixtures with Chelsea and even managed to get their return game with Manchester City out of the way at the start of January before Roberto Mancini signed Edin Dzeko.

Despite the ‘telephone number’ transfer fees you cannot be sure this will make one jot of difference on the pitch of course. But it has certainly done Arsenal no harm.

And, after this week spending as much money as it cost to bring the nurtured Arsenal team together, then pulling off a confident 4-2 win at highly-rated Sunderland, Wenger argues Chelsea are back as fully-fledged title contenders.

However the Stamford Bridge side are ten points off Manchester United, double the distance of Wenger’s men. So if, as the manager asserts, the west Londoners are “serious contenders” then their counterparts in the north of the capital must be of grave concern at Old Trafford.

“I believe it is quite open right now,” he said. “Chelsea are still in there. They have found their form back. They have had a consistent run and I look at them being serious contenders for the title.

“But for me it is down to our performances and our consistency. I am confident that we have a good chance because we have quality and talent that nobody denies. But also we have spirit, attitude and a great togetherness. You can see that when we play. There is something special in our team that is coming out from game to game. That’s why I firmly believe in our chance.”

After picking up knocks against Everton in midweek, Song is “70:30 against” for Newcastle while Theo Walcott should be OK. Wenger confirmed that Lukasz Fabianski’s season is over after undergoing surgery on the shoulder he damaged against Manchester City. Samir Nasri (hamstring) is still at least two weeks away.

Newcastle not only lost Carroll this week, Shola Ameobi fractured his cheekbone in the 1-0 defeat at Fulham and will be sidelined for six weeks. Outside the top four, the Tyneside club are the biggest scorers in the Premier League but these two have accounted for 14 of their 36 strikes.

Carroll scored the only goal in November at Emirates Stadium and celebrated his header by running straight to manager Chris Hughton, the manager who preceded him out of the St James’ Park exit in December. Pardew has kept the ship steady but the events of this week leave you with an increasingly precarious perception of Newcastle. They are both above halfway and six points off the drop zone. Like more than half of the top-flight, they are a few defeats away from the dogfight.

It is a far cry from late last year when they beat Sunderland 5-1 and, the following weekend, pulled off a wonderful 1-0 win in North London.

“They had a fantastic game against us at the Emirates, where they did very well collectively,” recalled Wenger.

“We lost the game that we will never forget to a header from Carroll. But we were a bit unlucky as well on the day because they had only one shot on target and that was their goal.

“Carroll has been injured for a long time, so it is difficult to predict whether it will be easier [without him]. Sometimes a team finds a different balance when a player goes out, so it is very hard to know.

“But certainly it is difficult to sell a striker of that calibre at 10.15pm and bring somebody in at 10.45pm. They have taken an opportunity to sell the player at a high price with the gamble of course that they might not replace him. But they have Ameobi, Best, Ranger – they have strikers still, don’t worry, and they will certainly want to invest that money later on.

“But they are still a good side, Newcastle. When they played at Fulham this week, the pitch was not the best and I think it handicapped the two teams. We expect Newcastle to be up for it against us and so we prepare ourselves to meet a good team.”

Saturday is Arsenal’s last trip outside London until they go to the Nou Camp on March 8. Much may have changed by then. The Carling Cup Final will either help or hinder their psyche while Manchester United will have gone through arguably the most treacherous run of the remaining campaign.

The last three games – Ipswich, Huddersfield and Everton – have fuelled the suspicion that this Arsenal side can constantly find a way to win.

If they map a successful path to March then this season could start to get very interesting.
http://www.arsenal.com/match-menu/3284307/first-team/newcastle-united-v-arsenal?tab=preview

Was that the one where we scored 2 in the last 10 mins with an Henry header to win it in the 93rd min?

A big congratulations are in order for Johan Djourou who has scored his first goal in all competitions for the club.

What a game;)

I went to bed at half time of this match. I figured Arsenal should not fuck it up :lol:

[size=6]Review: Newcastle Utd 4-4 Arsenal[/size]

By Chris Harris at St. James’ Park

It was the best of games; it was the worst of games.

For 45 minutes on Saturday, Arsenal were unplayable. They led within seconds and looked out of sight after ten minutes thanks to a three-goal salvo from Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou and Robin van Persie. When the Dutchman added a fourth before the break, all bets were off.

Then it all went wrong.

Djourou hobbled off, Abou Diaby was sent off for shoving Joey Barton and Arsenal unravelled. Barton rolled in one penalty and converted a contentious second after Leon Best had struck from close range. Cheik Tiote completed the great escape and Newcastle, having chased shadows for so long, had chased down a point.

It was the ultimate ‘game of two halves’ and, at the end of it all, Arsenal had squandered a gilt-edged chance to pile the pressure on Manchester United at the top of the Premier League.

The leaders’ own slip-up at Wolves means this setback is anything but terminal but Arsène Wenger has a job on his hands to lift his players ahead of the next test – against United’s conquerors.


The major injury doubt ahead of this trip north was Alex Song. He was given a 30 per cent chance of recovering from the leg injury he sustained against Everton in midweek but failed to beat those odds. Diaby stepped up from the bench and so did Andrey Arshavin – the Russian replaced Tomas Rosicky.


There was a familiar face on the Newcastle bench – Sol Campbell – and by common consensus this was a good time to face the former Gunner’s latest club. Andy Carroll would not have been fit to face Arsenal but his £35million deadline-day departure to Liverpool had left St. James’ Park under a cloud.


Lest we forget, Carroll’s towering header won the reverse fixture at Emirates Stadium this season and, in his absence, the likes of Djourou and Laurent Koscielny were probably expecting a more comfortable afternoon.


But perhaps not as comfortable as the first half turned out.


A roar greeted the home side as Phil Dowd blew the first whistle but the black-and-white hoards were silenced within 43 seconds. That’s how long it took for Walcott to slip a low shot past Steve Harper after Arshavin’s flick had found him in his favourite position, just right of centre on the shoulder of the last defender.


Newcastle’s fans must be sick of the sight of Walcott – he scored twice here in the Carling Cup in October – but they had other players to worry about soon enough.


The first of those was Djourou. Less than three minutes had elapsed when the Swiss centre back met Arshavin’s pacy left-wing free-kick to direct a header in off the underside of the bar. It was his first goal for the Club and rich reward for his recent form.


Dazed and confused, Newcastle were there for the taking. And Arsenal twisted the knife after 10 minutes with a carbon copy of their opener at West Ham last month. Walcott picked out Van Persie from the right of the penalty area and the Dutchman fired first-time past Harper.


When this place is noisy you can’t hear the pocket of away fans high in the upper reaches of the upper tier. Now they were all you could hear. It was almost eerie.


As Newcastle tried desperately to gain a foothold in the match, Arsenal continued to carve out chances. Walcott sent a ‘pitching wedge’ over the bar from Fabregas’ pass, Arshavin just failed to pick out Wilshere’s charge into the box, Diaby volleyed wide and Harper saved well from Fabregas following a cute flick from Wilshere.


For their part, the hosts looked most dangerous when they fizzed crosses into the Arsenal box. Mike Williamson got up well to meet one but Kevin Nolan inadvertently nodded his header away from danger.


A rather more emphatic header brought the visitors their fourth goal in the 26th minute. A flurry of one-touch passes ended with Sagna in acres of space to measure a cross from the right. Van Persie arrived unmarked to flash a header past Harper.


The Dutchman admitted after his recent Wigan treble that he had come to terms with the prospect of never scoring a hat-trick. Yet he was on the cusp of another treble. Only a wayward finish and a solid Harper save denied him that pleasure before the break.


Arsenal could not have asked for a better start to the first half. They could not have had worse start to the second period.


Within three minutes of the restart Djourou hobbled down the tunnel with a knee injury. A few minutes later Diaby followed him after being shown a straight red card for shoving Barton to the ground – a reaction to a challenge from his fellow midfielder.


Suddenly, Newcastle’s tails were up. 


Szczesny saved well from Danny Simpson after the right back bundled his way into the box but the Pole had no chance with Barton’s penalty, hit low to the keeper’s right after Koscielny was adjudged to have fouled Best.


Interestingly, Nolan wrestled Szczesny to the ground as he tried to retrieve the ball after the spot-kick – much like Diaby had treated Barton. The result? A yellow card… for the Arsenal keeper.


Szczesny made another decent stop from Williamson’s header but, with 16 minutes left, he was beaten again. This time Best did well to bring down a left-wing cross and slide the ball under the keeper.


The atmosphere was much different now and Newcastle flew at Arsenal. Szczesny came into his own, saving brilliantly from substitute Nile Ranger and handling a barrage of crosses with great assurance.


But Newcastle sensed a miraculous comeback and Barton gave them added hope when he converted another penalty after Koscielny was again penalised – this time extremely harshly.


The great escape was complete when Tiote slammed in a shot from the edge of the area and Nolan could even have won it for Newcastle when his effort skimmed just wide in stoppage time.


It was Arsenal’s turn to be stunned. But when the dust settles on this crazy weekend, only one thing will matter.

They are closer to the summit.
http://www.arsenal.com/match-menu/3284307/first-team/newcastle-united-v-arsenal?tab=report

As far as I know all he's said that's close to a whinge is that Barton should have been sent off. He's right though so not really a whinge. There may be more stuff he said that I haven't heard yet though.

If there was ever any proof that football is a game of 2 halves you won't find a better example than this. Superb first half abject and pathetic 2nd half. The refereeing didn't help but that's no excuse for that performance.

How it all just went so wrong I just don't get. From playing so well in the first half to having Djourou go off injured and then Diaby stupidly get himself sent off in the 2nd. Anyway trying to focus on some positives. We gained a point on United, Van Persie can't stop scoring, Koscielny played very well again, as did Arshavin and Walcott in the first half.

No point dwelling on this just have to move on to Wolves this weekend. Forgetting this we should be aiming to win all our league games this month.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 6/2/2011 11:34:43 AM

Yeah that Best offside goal was a pathetic call. Nolan should have been sent when he knocked over Szczesny.

As for Barton people will say it wasn't a sending off because he didn't go in studs up, but that doesn't matter when you go knees first full ball into someones leg, a potential leg breaker.

Like I said in the Match Day thread sure the pathetic performance from Dowd didn't help but should never have let you blokes back into it to start with.

Yeah that Best offside goal was a pathetic call. Nolan should have been sent when he knocked over Szczesny.

As for Barton people will say it wasn't a sending off because he didn't go in studs up, but that doesn't matter when you go knees first full ball into someones leg, a potential leg breaker.

Like I said in the Match Day thread sure the pathetic performance from Dowd didn't help but should never have let you blokes back into it to start with.