Oh gawd. That Liverpool result last night, eh? Cue the media hyperbole and fallacy of ‘special night at Anfield’ rubbish. Cue the banners like that uber-cringe one that says Anfield is not in England, it is its own country. Cue talk of a historic team who defy the odds and are more special than any other club. The reality is that Liverpool are the same as every team. Every team has loud supporters, quiet supporters, stupid supporters, intelligent supporters, rascist supporters, etc. 

Except Spurs. They’re all stupid and annoying.

I wouldn’t have any problems with Liverpool if it weren’t for those types of fans. There are quite a lot of sensible and sometimes quite intelligent Liverpool fans who want to talk football. But perhaps due to the prolific nature of social media, they seem to be drowned out by the morons. Plus the official Twitter feed. I give you the announcement of the death of Cruyff as a case in point. No Liverpool, everything that happens in the world isn’t about you. 

Anyway, on to more important, Arsenal pressing matters. 

Actually, before I do that, somebody on my train this morning has either an onion bhaji or a samosa of some kind. At this time of the morning that shouldn’t be right. But for some reason it smells amazing and makes me want one. I blame sleep depravation. And non-alcoholic beer. My body must be rejecting it, causing me to like things at times I really shouldn’t. 

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Arsenal. Jacky boy has had another run out in the under-21s, which is grand, but expectation levels for him to make a first team appearance for this weekend must be tempered I fear, because I don’t reckon we’ll see him for at least another week. We need to make sure that he’s fully recovered from his midweek excursion, but given he has played the full 90, I suspect that either next Thursday or next Sunday, we’ll see Wilshere on the squad list.

And it’ll be about time too. There is a lot of revisionism about him and what he’ll do when he comes in to the team, but his arrival will be great to see and I’m looking forward to it, providing he can stay away from those last-ditch crunching tackles. Both for an against. 

Rosicky too got himself 71 minutes and Arsène confirmed yesterday that they’ll both be back in contention soon, whilst also denying that either of Ox or Santi are available, albeit that they are back running. For all of these players now this is more about prepping for the Euro’s. There’s no title fight for Arsenal to sneak up on from the rear and for those players to have an impact, so we’re just counting down to the end of the season, whilst watching midweek games that involve other teams. Man, how I’d love a Reus and Aubemeyang, striding out on north London turf in red and white next season. Wouldn’t that just be ace? Yes, I hear you, so would cow that could excrete golden nuggets, but I can still dream can’t I. About the Dortmund players, I mean, not the golden cow dungs.

There’ll be Arsène’s presser today and he’ll no doubt give us infuriating comments about still be mathematically in it, about tightening the defensive side of our game and probably denying that we were anything but unlucky against West Ham. Sadly, we all know the reality, so whether or not many of us will choose to listen in as it happens remains to be seen. I’ll probably catch up with it on the journey home to the folks tonight. I’m bringing the old man to the game on Sunday and whilst I’m always happy when I’m at The Arsenal, I’m looking forward to a nice meal and a good bit of chat with a few of the gents beforehand, more than the game at this point. Because you always look back more fondly on memories that have already happened, than of what you are experiencing in the present, or even the future. That’s the revisionism I was mentioning coming back in to play you see. 

Like the revisionism that sees many people asking for Per back in the side. Be honest – did you want him out and now do you want him back in? Me? I’ve got documented evidence in the form of this blog to say I’ve never truly thought Big Per was done, but you do wonder if he’ll be handed a lifeline by the fall-overness-ness of Gabs, who looked shaky last weekend. He’s always been a positional defender and whilst I appreciate that he clearly has his flaws, he’s not as terrible as some make out. 

So there we have it. Another Friday closer to the end of the season and another blog from me done for now, I think. Unless you want to hear my views about immigration and what a Brexit from Europe will actually mean for the UK?

Nah, thought not. Catch you tomorrow.