Time for Some Positive Energy

It's been a painful enough week and a bit, so methinks it's about time we took full use of the victory over Pool to inject some positive energy into our arse dealings.

So, it's mid-February. We've already played Pool twice (6 points), Villa twice (4 points), Man U twice (0 points) and of course, Chelski twice (0 points). I would add to that run the two games with Everton (4 points). Given that Everton have already taken 4 points of Chelski, I think this is something we can be relatively proud of. All in all, most of the tougher games are already amazingly out of the way. Sure, we've still got Spurs away, and Manciti at home, but that really is about that. Even better, we've also got that always tricky tie of Burnley at Turf Moor out of the way too, and we know they're a much weaker proposition away.

Put it another way, apart from Spurs and Manciti (and maybe Birmingham), all our remaining games are against teams currently in the bottom half. And this, is some cause for guarded optimism too...

Take away the defeats to the top two, and the only other times we've lost so far are to Sunderland away, and Manciti away. Both are games we should be realistically aiming to reverse in the home fixtures, and gives some clue as to how much tighter we are this season (in the league) in games against the "lesser teams".

So we've got to win all our remaining games. Certainly seems do-able, if we put our foot to the pedal. Stick in a couple of draws (max. 2), and I think it should still be a mightily scary. Of the 12 remaining games, 10 wins and 2 draws = 32 points, and a total of 84 points. And Wenger has said that 83 might just be enough. Go figure.

Since we're really trying to drum up the positive vibes here, let's talk about the Champions League too. Here's how we can win it. First, here're the fixtures:

Milan - Man U
Madrid - Lyon
Bayern - Fiorentina
Arse - Porto
Bordeaux - Olympiakos
Barca - Stuttgart
Sevilla - CSKA
Chelski - Inter

Now, we seem to be getting into a little bit of luck in our run, so let's say Inter nicks the tie with Chelski, and the rest of the ties go to so-called "form". Which means the final 8 will have: Man U,
Madrid, Bayern, Arse, Bordeaux, Barca, Sevilla, Inter. Now, in another stroke of luck, let's have Man U drawn to play Barca (and lose of course!). Arse can get any of Madrid, Bayern, Bordeaux, Sevilla or Inter. No problems, though Bayern/Bordeaux/Sevilla preferred. From there, my good friends, we get a do-able run-in without our English friends and scourges on our existence. I can just see it happening. It will be much fun watching next mid-week.

Back in the real world, the word is that the Arsh will miss the Porto game. I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing at all. It's clear he more than anybody else needs a rest, and why not an enforced rest? If we have both Nasri and Rosicky fit, I think we have (currently) more likely goalscorers in both. He seems okay to be back for Sunderland, so that suits me just fine.

Unlike us, Porto will also have a game this weekend, so we'll hopefully get to Portugal with slightly fresher legs. Maybe Sol should start in Porto as well. God knows Billy deserves a rest. Or Vermaelen, he would played with a right shiner on Wednesday.

That's about it then. It's nice that we've got a break this weekend, while the likes of Chelski, Manciti and Villa see to their cup commitments. Would've been nice if Man U and Pool still had games to play though. But never mind, this is exactly why going out of the damn FA Cup was a blessing in disguise.