Sharing / The Cannon Wallpaper

Click on the cannon to download this in full-size and plaster it on your desktop. [It is sized to 1400x1050 pixels and can scale down to fit your screen.]

Harrowed / Eduardo's Foot Injury

Eduardo suffered a horrific injury at the feet of Birmingham's captain Martin Taylor. Our players looked shaken, the game was stalled for over 8 minutes. Fabregas walked around covering his mouth with his hand — that betrayed the extent of the injury. ESPN refused to show replays, and maintained they had the pictures but were not showing them as it was not in good taste. We can now see why.

“All I remember is that when I fell, I looked down at my foot and it had turned the other way. The rest is just a blank.”
images: The Sun

The Croatian, who is one of the chief architects of his country's entry into the Euro 2008 finals later this year will now sadly have to sit out the tournament.


Walcott meanwhile burst into life scoring his first Premiership goals, his brace put us 1–2 ahead till a last minute dubious penalty allowed Birmingham to equalise.

Manchester United ended the week only 3 points behind us after they demolished Newcastle yet again. Spurs faught back to beat Chelsea 1–2 in the League Cup Final the next day, to finish off an ugly weekend of football action.

Amused / If you played for Brazil, what would your name be?

This cool little webpage — BrazilName — lets you know just that. All you have to do is key in your name. It's a bag full of laughs, but clever too: if you key in Edson Arantes do Nascimento, it calmly names your shirt Pele.

Thanks Xerxes, I love it.

Harrowed / The ignominy of 4–0 to United

FA CUP, ROUND 4 / MANCHESTER UNITED 4 – 0 ARSENAL

It was a clash everyone had been waiting for, two teams that have been in irresistible form, and setting the pace in the Premiership were meeting way too early in the FA Cup.

Both rested players for upcoming Champions League ties mid-week. United left Ronaldo out and we kept Adebayor on the bench. But as the teams lined-up Arsenal seemed to edge toward a more attacking formation. 90 minutes later, we stood dishonored, and you can read the match reports to know how that happened.

There were two instances which really stung — one when the United faithful chanted 'ole' as their boys passed the ball around while they were three ahead. And two, when Nani, whom I wholly detest, ran yards while bouncing the ball on his head and then further flicking it in the air with his foot, with an embarrassed Arsenal skipper biting at his heels.

I''ll stick with drawing some positives in the face of this humiliation:
1. We can concentrate on the two real prizes this year. Winning the Premier League is paramount and if it means exiting the FA Cup early, I am for it. Our squad depth is way lower than other top sides, and its nice to know we have "no more injuries" as AW said post match. He also said we were "beaten everywhere" but let's not go there.
2. The pecking order is settled, Lehman knows now why he is number 2, and if he still doesn't, someone please tell him. I thought his kicking and decision-making were woeful and he could have stopped Nani's 38th minute strike — that was the one that really killed us off.
3. It is clear, if it was not already, Adebayor is the spearhead. Even when he is not scoring, we need him to hassle the shit out of the opposing defense. Wenger took a chance with Bendtner and Eduardo up front, and that will not happen in another important tie. Not this year.

Positives aside, we take on the immovable object — AC Milan at the Emirates — in the first knock-out round of the Champions League on Wednesday night. Another hugely anticipated tie. But right now, I am just a little worried about the mental make-up of our irresistible force.

Quoting / Carl Sagan

Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature.

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe.

Delighted / Arsenal Five Points Clear

A weekend that saw Manchester City complete the double over United on a day when the teams observed a minutes silence to mark 50 years of the Munich air disaster. Then Liverpool held Chelsea to a goalless draw in a game that just never looked like moving into second gear.

All good, because Senderos and Adebayor scored against Blackburn to stretch our lead at the top of the table.

Shocked / Brrrrr Bombay

Finally, a winter we can feel. It has been a wonderfully long cold spell, too long for some but I tell you – I love it.

BBC says we will get under 10 again tomorrow night — bring it on.

It's the coldest since we touched 7.4 degrees way back in 1962, and it feels just unbelievable.

Delighted / Arsenal On Top Again

PREMERE LEAGUE / MANCHESTER CITY 1—3 ARSENAL
Beautiful Saturday night. We chewed-and-spat-out City's unbeaten home record.

Eduardo got our second off this fantastic volley. [Image: mirror.co.uk]

Meanwhile Spurs held United at home, and even had them fined for picking up seven yellow cards. So we go two points clear and close the goal difference down to three. Minor detail missed out is United clawed back in the last minute of time added on through a Tavez header off a corner. Besides that, beautiful night. And yes, Portsmouth held Chelsea 1-1.