Following our fine win at the weekend it’s good to listen to a real ‘Mr Arsenal’ talk about his old club and speak from his heart. Ray Parlour isn’t one of those ex-players who have an axe to grind, nor does he feel the need to ever praise us up when we all know things are not good. He reckons that we are the worst team to play against when a side is down to ten men.

ForΒ anyone who doesn’t know our very own ‘Romford Pele’, take a peep at the ‘ It’s only Ray Parlour’ day.

Oh to have him back twenty years younger…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2YnsLrLPsU&feature=related

But following our win, he tells it as he see’s it and he’s pretty much spot on in my opinion.

It was a brilliant performance, they passed the ball very well and I know City had a man sent off early in the game, but Arsenal were excellent and Arsene Wenger must have been delighted. I think Arsenal are the worst team to go down to 10 men against because they move so well. You really need 10 outfield players on the pitch to be able to compete with them.

It was always going to be very difficult for Man City after that but you’ve still got to go and score the goals and Arsenal scored three great ones through Nasri, Song and Bendtner, who came back and looked very sharp. It was a really pleasing performance for all Arsenal supporters.

On Fabianski –

He’s playing with a lot more confidence since he saved that penalty against Partizan Belgrade in the Champions League. The save from Adebayor was brilliant and I think he’s learning the game. I know he’s had his mistakes but he’s playing a lot better than Almunia at the moment and I think when Almunia gets fit Fabianski deserves to keep his position.

But he knows as we all do that for all Arsene Wenger and the club are doing behind the scenes to ensure we are a well run club, it’s also important to start winning something.He believes with a fully fit squad we could be in a great position to do that this season.

They’ve got a very good squad this year that can challenge Chelsea and with Walcott back and Vermaelen hopefully fit in a few weeks, I’m very optimistic. It’s vital that they try to win something this season. I was really pleased that Wenger put out a strong team against Tottenham in the Carling Cup and they’ve got every opportunity to win that. Wenger’s done a wonderful job with the training ground, and he runs the club the right way, but what the fans really want is trophies.

He’ right about the Carling Cup, we all hoped for a strong side to face the Tiny Totts and we got what we hoped for, tonight we all want the same, I’m sure. With the Chavs, Northern Chavs, Liverpool all out of the competition, this really is one of our best chances yet to win the Carling Cup.

This is what it means, just look at Lansbury and Gibbs….

Tonight though will be no walk over, can’t see it being a high scoring romp to victory for us but if we show the spirit and determination we showed on Sunday we can win. St James Park isn’t a friendly place to go, the home fans will be right behind their team.

Since Newcastle knocked out the Chavs, they have had a dip in form, I suspect a lot of that is to do with losing Ben Arfa through injury andΒ the Andy Carroll antics off field. Β They have lost in the league to Stoke and Manchester City and were held at home 2-2 with Wigan. On Saturday though they beat West Ham away so a bit of confidence could be creeping back into the side.

Confidence should be with us though too, we won well in the Champions League, picked up a great result at the weekend and should be up for this game tonight.

Tonight is another big test for Arsene Wenger and his team selection should tell us all just how seriously he is taking this competition.Β He has confirmed that Chesney, Kos and Walcott will all start and no doubt Gibbs will come in for Clichy. Wenger has been ‘bigging up’Β Β JET on the Arsenal website so no doubt he will start too.Β Chamakh needs a restΒ so I fully expect Nikki BΒ toΒ step in for him and I thinkΒ Β LansburyΒ  deserves another start.Β  It’s anyones guess who starts really, I just hope it’s a side that can win! I also hope that we see a very strong bench, we did at the Tiny Totts, we need one tonight too.

So come on Arsene, do it again, play a strong side tonight, get us into the next round and then we will start to believe that you really wantΒ a trophy this season as much as we fans do.

You say you do, now prove you do!