Striker set to depart this week! Paulo Dybala will make Arsenal move. Jose can help us to 3rd….

Morning all.

Funny old Sunday wasn’t it. Chelsea burst into. 2-0 lead, Hull City drew level and then the away team grabbed a late winner. Shame..

Before that game, Gerrard waved goodbye to his last battle against Utd with a red card and then suffered as his side lost at home to one of their most bitter of rivals. Ouch, a big three points dropped at Anfield. Gerrard will now miss the trip to The Emirates. Skrtel might too if the FA review his stamp on De Gea.

That result leaves the Dippers six points behind us, Utd remain just the one point adrift, City, just one point ahead…

It’s tight, very tight at the top of the league and us finishing third or fourth is far from being a forgone conclusion.

I detest all that Chelsea stands for, their manager is one of the most arrogant and smug dwarfs the game has ever seen but we need them to give us a bit of assistance….

They still have to play both Utd and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge and one has to hope that they get maximum points in both games.

Same with Man City, they have a tricky Manchester derby to come and for the sake of our third place challenge, we need City to win that one…

But of course, if we keep on winning, all other results will be insignificant as we’d have secured third spot, second if City mess up, top spot if the Chavs crumble and after watching them yesterday, that’s possible although unlikely….

I know we’d all love them to bottle this PL campaign and I hope they do, but I sure hope that do us a favour in between times and beat the two closest rivals who sit below us….

Now of course it’s two weeks away from Arsenal for most of our players as the international game takes over. Fingers crossed they all return unscathed and are ready for the run in..

Looks like Chuba Akpom will leave the club on loan for the rest of the season. Nottingham Forest are one of four clubs who are interested in snapping up the Arsenal striker before the emergency loan window opens on Thursday. That would be a good move for the youngster and he’d be there with his old chum, Henri Lansbury. Apparently Norwich held talks with Arsenal about signing Chuba on Saturday.

Bit of transfer bollox gossip:

The Metro report, sorry, make up, that we are in pole position to sign Paulo Dybala and once we make our move, the player will say yes to a transfer and become an Arsenal player in the summer.

The Sunday Times claimed yesterday that Man City are really keen to bolster their numbers of English players and Jack Wilshere is high on their list.. (Yawn)

Finally, well done to the Arsenal Ladies. They kicked off their defence of the FA Cup with a fine 7-0 victory over Millwall Lionesses. Another FA Cup double for the ladies and men would be nice eh….

That’s it for Monday, have a good day all….

112 thoughts on “Striker set to depart this week! Paulo Dybala will make Arsenal move. Jose can help us to 3rd….

  1. scottfromoz says:

    Morning all.
    What we can control is our performances, and if we keep winning, anything is possible.
    If we don’t, anything is possible 🙂
    Rico, good luck for the next two weeks though you’ll manage as you always do.

  2. rico says:

    Agree Scott, anything is possible.. 🙂

    Just hope the two weeks isn’t all about injuries…. 🙁

    When are you jetting off?

  3. allezkev says:

    I’ve yet to read or hear about Skrtel getting charged by the FA retrospectively….

    The Press, unsurprisingly, have ignored it as it is their darlings Liverpool.

    If it had been Mertesaker or Koscielny stamping on a goalkeeper it would have been front page headlines…

    The FA, I suspect, are going to shy away from charging Skrtel, post Stevie G getting a red card. After all, it wouldn’t be fair punishing those loveable Scousers for two offences would it. Poor dears!!!

    FA cowards…

  4. allezkev says:

    That is great news Rico… 🙂

    Puts the FA in the frame… 😀

    I personally don’t believe a word of the Dybala rumour. All agent inspired IMHO…

    What a beautiful day in London Town.
    And a great post to start the week off with Rico. Good Morning.

    And Morning All…

  5. tsgh says:

    Rico, I see you have been speaking to your Metro buddies for more rumours. 😉 I can’t blame you though…

    Morning again. All

  6. Wavy says:

    The two twerps on MOTD flagged it up, Skertl’s stamp, and thought the FA would have to look at it. It reminded them of Costa’s indiscreetion earlier this season. That’s not to say they will do anything about the ‘crime’ but they do have a precedent. It would be criminal if they didn’t give him a three gamer. After all he and Gerard and hr could go off to Blackpool for a bit of fresh ar and fun!
    Morning. Nice one Rico especially on a no news day minus 13!

  7. potter says:

    Watched a lot of football from my hospital bed yesterday , saw Gerrards cameo, Skrtel’s stamp, Chelsea’s defence collapse under a bit of pace and lastly Ronaldo scoring but ultimately losing in el clasico as Real fell short on ideas once they went behind for the second time. The only conclusion is that Arsenal’s football is no worse than any of them . We tend to be critical of our own but when you compare the others they make just as many mistakes. Perhaps I should have watched the machine that is Bayern and then I would have had a box set. We are tracking down those in front of us but unfortunately gave them too big a head start at the beginning of the season . Do we cast around to blame or do we blindly hope that the lessons of the last few years will not be repeated again. I hope that Akpom chooses to come to Norwich then I can keep a close eye on him as he gets the playing time he needs . They play an attractive style usually and should help his development and their football is well covered in East Anglia and their ground is only 20 minutes away so I might get to see some live stuff but only if he is playing.
    Where are you off to Rico , hope it’s somewhere nice I have been out of things so if you said- I missed it. However the football watching will reduce now as I am due to go home today , release papers being signed now < and I am sure the wife will want her soapy fix when I get there.

  8. tsgh says:

    You make an interesting point re. giving our rivals a big head start…
    Since the lose to the scums we have truly transformed our style of play in all key areas…
    Even for those not keen on stats our goals conceded, distance run, tackles is now ranking amongst top 2…

  9. allezkev says:

    Glad to hear that you are in good form Potter…

    Maybe you could have an evening out now, with Mesut, down the disco… 😉

  10. Wavy says:

    The ladies have drawn the chavs in the FA Cup. The chav ladies have bought another team of good to excellent women footballers, so it could be quite close. However, we are the holders in both competitions, a Double, in fact. When will the silverware stop coming in???

  11. rico says:

    Good comment Potter. I think we gave away too much in the first half of the season. Players tired for WC and not having another Cb signed damaged us imo. As did injuries and the likes of Chambers being overplayed.

    Now we seem to be a lot more compact and competitive, just a shame we had to wait for 2015 to see it.

    It’s Scott jetting off on a golfing holiday Potter, sadly I’m staying put… lol

  12. potter says:

    Bloody Aussies , one week it’s surfing with Sharks , next it’s wrestling with Crocodiles , what can he get up to with Birdies and Eagles.

  13. rico says:

    No idea Ts, only saw the headline and didn’t bother….

    Butthead, it’s Paulo, not Pablo!

    And it’s dumb-ass, not dumbass!

  14. tsgh says:

    Butthead.. Jeez. You must have been released specially for the international break.

    Rico- your boy Clyne is leading the tackling stats this year.

    Scott- Jedinak is ranking top 5 even though he has been in and out due to injury. Very underrated imo..
    His team mate Martin Kelly is the new entry on best DM this season…

  15. tsgh says:

    It looks like it Rico.
    I think we missed a trick there; First England call up as well.. that will mean another £5m+ on top of his asking price…
    But I guess Cj25 and Bellerin deserve a chance going forward.

  16. tsgh says:

    Lol Cesc ran 214.8km between August and December; since then he has run less than 150km and created 6 assists only as compared to 13…

  17. allezkev says:

    Dumbass, is that a type of guitar???

    Where’s our resident ‘axe man’ when you need him?

    Spot welded perhaps?!

  18. Canadian Gooner says:

    Good Afternoon to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.

    Great article Rico. I too was thinking much the same as you about many of the same points, but most particularly about the Petulant Portuguese Pygmy. Detestable, although apt, doesn’t seem to be nearly enough to describe the depths of the Malignant Maureen’s modus operandi.

    As for the Dippers, they were a shambles. One player sent off (Gerrard), one who should have been red carded and still might be (Skrtel) and another who probably would have if he had not been restrained by a group of the Liverpool fans in the front row (Balotelli). Looking on the bright side, although rumoured to be interested, we didn’t sign the enfant terrible Mario.

  19. Canadian Gooner says:

    Just after saying the other day that the House was a very civil and generally polite establishment, up pops an uncouth lout to contradict me. I can only speculate as to why his butt hurts? Maybe it is from getting his ass kicked for his unnecessarily rude or should that be unnecessary and rude outburst. Pity!

  20. allezkev says:

    I wonder where Adam has got too…

    Just wanted to ask him how his Tango lessons were progressing?

  21. Canadian Gooner says:

    Kev – You must be feeling things are going well for the Arsenal as we haven’t seen any of your alternate personae for quite some time.

  22. Micko says:

    rico, nice rebuttal on the Butt !

    tsgh, how anyone can judge a player these days without looking at their heat-maps first is beyond me.

  23. tsgh says:

    2 seasons… 7 goals… 1 new Aventador’: Disgusted fans vent fury as Premier League flop striker (Stephen Fletcher) is pictured posing with his brand new £260,000 Lamborghini – as his club faces relegation. DailyFail…

  24. Canadian Gooner says:

    Fletcher’s timing and thoughtlessness seem to be on par with his prodigious scoring record. His work output per £ of salary seems to nearing the the depths of investment bankers and politicians. Oh well, at least he isn’t one of ours.

  25. allezkev says:

    CG have a read of Andrew Mangan’s piece in the Daily Telegraph…

    Arsenal are certainly ‘not’ the finished article yet…
    Things are progressing, but there’s still plenty of scope for some typical Wenger’esque cock-ups in the pipeline…

    Let’s see where we are in the middle of May before we get the flags out!

  26. Canadian Gooner says:

    Ginge – I had a great weekend.

    My older son was in town for his final game of the season. He and his family stayed with me overnight and my younger son and his family were also at the game. So, I had a rare chance to play and visit with all my grandchildren. Add to that some good results in the other BPL games and some great Spring weather. I couldn’t ask for much more, short of winning the lottery that is.

  27. tsgh says:

    We have escaped the mid March slums though this year…
    There is no Cesc to faint an injury…
    Heat pads Rico? What happened to wearing 4 jumpers. 😉

  28. Lee says:

    Well I got the hump when I saw Adam’s Veyron let alone his Ferrari 250 GTO (1962 if my memory serves me well) Although he did say the Ferrari was a run around for Mrs A……

  29. Canadian Gooner says:

    Kev – Yes, I know where you’re coming from. I’m just looking on the bright side, at until such time as someone or some team rains on my parade.

    I’ll have a look for that article you mentioned.

  30. tsgh says:

    You have it good Cg… lol

    The results over the weekend could have been better if Steve Bruce had managed to get his team to draw against the chavs…

  31. Canadian Gooner says:

    Rico – You should switch the chooks for Eider ducks. That way you could make yourself a good down vest or comforter.

  32. Canadian Gooner says:

    All too right Ginge, but who would have expected Hull to come back from two goals down. I’m sure that scoreline would have had some long odds.

  33. Canadian Gooner says:

    Sorry Rico, I couldn’t resist the temptation. At least I didn’t offer to clean them up like one of your other posters.

    We all know how attached you are to your feathered ladies.

  34. Lee says:

    In these austere times I do tend agree however Mrs A looks rather fetching loading the boxes of Stowells of Chelsea Cabernet Sauvignon into the GTO!

  35. rico says:

    And you’d be quite surprised to see what their shoppers wear, and the cars they drive… Oh, and the face mask just to make sure they are not spotted by their neighbours… 😉

  36. rico says:

    It’s good Adam, I always need two pieces though because I’m a greedy tinker when it comes to smoked cod.. Or haddock… Lol

  37. fat-gun Ug says:

    Good night all Gooners in residence. I have been a dormant member of the house for quite a while but its always nice to just read from all you good folks. thank you for keeping the house warm and to the Lady of the house, thanks for all the hard work. Happy gooner family as always

  38. Lee says:

    Morning all…
    I wonder if all these Loserpool players will make recoveries in time for our game against them? Slags!

  39. rico says:

    Morning Joe – I’d need time to think about that… lol

    Adam – go on, you know you want to, just a few words for one morning……. 😉

  40. allezkev says:

    Morning All

    Morning Rico…

    Adrian Durham is a waste on internal organs, as somebody memorably put on here awhile ago…
    Don’t know what he’s written, no interested frankly, he is, like his shitty radio station, inconsequential …

  41. rico says:

    Morning Kev..

    What made me laugh, he rambled on about how we couldn’t top Dortmund in our group as they were rubbish and then suggests we replace Wenger with Klopp…. 😉

  42. Adam says:

    Morning Kev. That would involve me in having to read his drivel and you know what a sensitive chap I am. Where can his moronic rantings be found?

  43. Joe says:

    I have never seen a gooner on any site think anything Durham writes or says is worth a pot of pi** so besides le grove who is he aiming his opionions to spoilt 10 year olds maybe.

  44. allezkev says:

    Well if Wenger failed in the CL, what did Mourinho, Pelligrini and Rodgers do?
    Were they all a rip roaring success?

    The headlines of that piece is enough, you really have no need to read it…

    Go on Adam, you know you want to… 🙂

  45. allezkev says:

    The Daily Mail are the only people to ask about the benefit of having that ginger turd write anything for them…

    If their web site has millions of hits, then Durham has been a success…

  46. rico says:

    Agree Joe, there’s always a few who will think what AD writes is gospel, but they are the extreme anti AW folk…

    Kev, had a feeling you’d enjoy it…

Leave your comment.

Discover more from Highbury House

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading