Morning all,

Firstly, according to The Metro, Wenger has confirmed he won’t be spending big despite the money coming in from the new Emirates deal!!

If we get that amount of money from sponsors it is not charity, it is because the sponsors feel that we act in the right way and with the right values.  It is down to us to spend the money in the right way.

Wonder what he thinks the right way is? Wonder what the sponsors think about GIVING money to players who do nothing but run around in training? Is that considered to be the ‘right way’ to let money leave the club?

I don’t think so either!

Just in case anyone has missed the calendar story, Theo Walcott and Bacary Sagna have apparently been left off next years and of course that means they are both leaving in the near future doesn’t it? How can there be any other reason for missing them off, after all, we only have twelve players in the squad don’t we?

Lauren Koscielny is also missing, as is Carl Jenkinson, Gervinho, Arshavin, Diaby, Rosicky, does that mean they are all leaving too??

Crikey, even Squillaci hasn’t got his smiling face all over February!!

There are only twelve months in the year, not every player can have his face photographed and used can they?

Talk about adding up 2+2 and making it 12……

I’m sure I read somewhere that Walcott’s agent thought his player deserved extra in his pay packet because he was the ‘poster boy’ for the club, well maybe he doesn’t want to be the face of the club any more and that’s in the process of being removed, who knows..

As for Bacary Sagna, well his contract runs out at the end of next season so the club have a while to get that sorted, obviously  the sooner the better.

Quick mention for the Ladies, they will face Italian side ASD Torres in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League and once they have beaten them, either Geman side VfL Wolfsburg or Russian team WFC Rossiyanka await them in the final four! The first leg will be played on either 20 or 21 March, with the return game in Sassari on 27 or 28 March.

Good luck to the ladies, hope they can go on and make it to the final which is at Stamford Bridge on 23 May, 2013.

Meanwhile, the men face a tough opposition tonight at Goodison Park. Everton sit just above us in the league but a win for us would soon change all that. Regardless of the result, we really need to see the team start playing better, much much better than we have been of late.

Saturday was awful and no-one wants to hear a repeat of the two ‘chants’ the away fans were singing do they, more importantly, none of us want to see the kind of performance that would encourage the fans to want to make their feelings heard. And we certainly don’t want to see Francis Coquelin replacing a striker towards the end if we are needing a goal!!

I read this comment yesterday about our manager, it was written by Steve Wilson, a  BBC Match of the Day commentator:

Okay, Arsenal have not won a bean since 2005, but Wenger was a moderniser and a visionary when he first came to Arsenal and there is no doubt that the Premier League is more cosmopolitan and professional for him having been here. I also think he is a reminder that men who build a team are generally preferable to men who buy a club.

Everton are another club steeped in tradition, although they haven’t had great success over the years but then they haven’t had a lot of money to spend but manager David Moyes has spent wisely during his ten years in charge and many would say that all things considered, he has done very well.

But not against us…..

    Head-to-head

  • Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games against Everton (W8, D2) since a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park in March 2007 when Andrew Johnson scored a stoppage-time winner.
  • This is the 183rd league meeting between the two clubs, all of them in the top division of English football. Arsenal have 90 victories compared to Everton’s 54.
  • Arsenal’s 6-1 win at Goodison Park in August 2009 was the Toffees’ worst home league defeat since 1958.
  • The Gunners have recorded their highest number of Premier League wins (26) and goals (81) against Everton.

Everton

  • Everton have drawn five of their last seven league games (W1, D5, L1).
  • They have not lost at Goodison Park in 10 Premier League matches since a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal in March (W7, D3).
  • The Toffees have conceded 12 goals in their last eight games, failing to keep a clean sheet in that spell.
  • David Moyes’s side have scored 15 first-half goals in the league this season, more than any other team. They have also been ahead at half-time on an unrivalled six occasions.

Team News:

Thankfully, all the players came through the trip to Aston Villa unscathed, no surprise there really and Tomas Rosicky is finally back in training. He is fit and raring to go but tonight’s game is too early for him. He’s off to play a few games for the reserves to get match fit, Walcott however will return, as will Wilshere and Vermaelen.

So there you have it, now it’s all down to Wenger and his players.

If they ‘want it’ they will win, if they don’t they will get beaten, it really is that simple.

Maybe it’s time to look at the cannon on their chest and realise what it represents, look around at those travelling fans tonight, see the passion in their eyes, passion for a club which they have the privilege to represent!

Maybe it’s time they all, including the manager took a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and ask one question:

‘Can I do better’?

Of course they can, the real question is whether or not they have the guts and determination to do so….

And that is something I doubt……

Clearly the answer is yes and it’s about time they all started to do so!

We were the last side to beat Everton at Goodison Park, we must be the first to beat them there this season too…..

That’s your lot for another day….