Arsenal get lucky break against Villarreal.

So although the headline may sound a little cruel, Villarreal’s most influential player, Santi Cazorla broke his leg this weekend in their 3 nil defeat, it puts them 24 points behind Barcelona but psychologically a loss before a big European game can be very damaging, so it could be very good news for us, a good time to play them.

It also means Robert Pires should start the game and we know he’ll be fired up for this one. It’s going to be a tough game all the same but I really think we are begining to see the Arsenal play great football again, the spirit is back, the belief is back and the goals are back.

Unfortunately one of the reasons for that is Andre Arshavin, but I also believe much of that is his presence, and if he travels with the team he will be there in spirit, Nasri should be back to take his place and so should Diaby to take over from Song.

To be honest I expect the only changes to the team will be those two, he will play a 4-5-1 and will have 2 of Eduardo, Bendtner or Robin as subs plus the other usual suspects.

I fancied a draw, but if we get the breaks, I can see us nicking a goal or two and that would be perfect, away goals are the real deal in this competition.

The boss has come out and said that he is suspending player contracts until the summer break, that’s when our well paid players get their 2-3 month holiday!

What I don’t understand is why? Robin has two years, so he’s okay until at least next January, Theo maybe needs sorting, Cesc already have a contract until 2025 and the rest it doesn’t matter.

It seems to me that contract talks and extensions are another way of giving the players loyalty pay rises, there money goes up regardless of what goes on around us, they are fiddling while Rome burns. Still that’s part and parcel of the game so I guess we all have to accept it, like MP’s they are different.

As far as Adebayor is concerned, he can go whistle Dixie, he has 3 years of his contract left, but if starts bleating again I would sell him to the highest bidder, he may have scored two vital goals for us at the weekend, but he still hasn’t learned the offside rule.

Shame about the Villa game yesterday, but I have to say I was more worried about them winning than the Mancs, the Mancs were woeful, their new 17 year old Eye-tie that scored two goals looked useful though, how comes we missed out on him then???

On a final note, if we can get past Liverpool, Chelsea and ManU we could start to think about the invincibles run again, it’s possible with the right breaks and the right summer signings!

Have a great day Grovers, tomorrow we’ll see if we’ve got what it takes to drink with the big boys.