Next league game is in 2 weeks so you'd imagine Cesc and Song will be back for that. The game after that is in another 2 weeks which Robin and Theo could be back for, though even if they're not, we should be able to beat Blackburn without them.

i think cesc will be ready for barca on tuesday.

Kel Varnsen wrote:

i think cesc will be ready for barca on tuesday.

Thats no brainer. Ofcourse he'll play.

Cesc would have whole body cortizone and anaesthetic treatments to play in this particular fixture. I half suspect him of bringing up the hamstring problem with this match in mind.

Personally, I'd rather not risk Cesc unless he's 100%. League should still be our priority and we shouldn't seek short-term victories to the detriment of a longer-term dream.

Plus, Nasri will fill in fine for him.

Cesc will play. He is already half fit, he will insist he is 100% fit and Wenger will go along with it.

If you recall in the first leg his effectiveness seemed to be slightly impaired by the importance of the occasion in his own life. Bit of a worry but on the other hand, it could also lead to great things.

We need Cesc to step up like he did for 2/3rds of last season. RvP and Nasri have done their bit to be match winners this season while Cesc has been off the boil because of his injuries, now he's really got to play himself into some world class form.

Fair point. We could also do with a resurgence of scoring form from Nasri. He came very close from long range a couple of times against Brum the other day.

Nasri looks really hungry for a goal. His best form came when he was playing from the right so maybe that will help him as well.

Nasri looks much more of a goal threat while playing on the right. Which is a little strange for a right footed player.

Yeah, I wonder why that is.

I'd suggest it's a coincidence partly caused by the fact that Nasri was scoring heavily when van Persie was out injured, and his move to the left when Arshavin was benched happened simultaneous with van Persie's return and resumption of goal-scoring responsibility.

Nasri has a good sense of when he needs to back himself to score and when he has quality partners up front.

I hope he scores a freekick soon. He's been very close a number of times now. He's good at getting it on target, but there's not quite enough pace on it to make it unsavable.

His effort against Sunderland was a beauty, just needed to be a foot further to the left. He has all the technique he needs.

asajoseph wrote:

y va marquer wrote:

They're hitting an even worse run of form away from home now Asa.
All those jammy draws are turning into losses.
We've been far more consistent since Christmas.
Their superb home record has kept them in this.

Our form since Christmas has been built about 80% around the brilliance of Van Persie. Now he's injured.

The thing is Y va, winning all or at least nearly all of your home games is a minimum prerequisite for winning the title, and they are actually won on the road.
Nobody wins it losing at home to the likes of Newcastle & WBA, the lowly status of the opposition the nature of the surrender and lack of professionalism suggest deeper rooted problems.

Biggus wrote:

The thing is Y va, winning all or at least nearly all of your home games is a minimum prerequisite for winning the title, and they are actually won on the road.
Nobody wins it losing at home to the likes of Newcastle & WBA, the lowly status of the opposition the nature of the surrender and lack of professionalism suggest deeper rooted problems.

The thing is Biggsy, having at least as many points as all the other clubs is a minimum prerequisite for winning the title, and they are actually won either by having more points or by having a better goal difference as well.
Any club could rule itself out of the title race by losing at home to the likes of Newcastle and West Brom, but by itself losing to opposition of a lowly status only does rule them out if the club in question is far worse off than three points behind on aggregate with a game in hand and nine more to play, regardless of the deeper seated problems and lack of professionalism that may afflict it.

Who did we lose to in 2001/2? I distinctly remember us getting spanked at home to Charlton 4-1 or 4-2. We also lost 3-1 at home to Newcastle that year, although Graham Poll had an absolute mare. I think we might have lost 3-2 to Blackburn at home too.

Leeds at Highbury, 2nd game of the season. That's all. 3 games iirc.

Gazza's right. Harte and Viduka if I recall. Did Adams like a kipper.