'O Sol Mio!

There've been a few things going round in the last couple of weeks re Sol and whether he should be given a new deal for the next season. Good 'ole Martin Keown has now weighed in as well, and he's firmly of the view that Sol should stay.

This is where the Arsewiper weighs in then. First, damn right he should stay. In his couple of weeks with us, he's done more, performed far better and shown a far greater degree of drive than many of the so-called younger ones in the team. Second, we're going to be getting rid of Silvestre anyways (right????), so we can just give Sol his wages on a one-year deal. Sol on current form would be a dream as cover. Sol could even sign on a "pay as you play" basis. Silvestre was and is, unfortunately, a nightmare.

Since we're talking about defence then - with Silvestre and Billy (????) gone, there is no doubt in my mind that if we're going to be a serious Premier League team, we're going to have to do something equally serious in goal and in front of the goalkeeper.

Yes, we're going to have to contend with Fabianski again tomorrow. But I'm past caring. The only way I'm going to get vaguely concerned for Arsenal is if all 5'5" of me is called up in goal. (Which, I must add, should not be laughed away, given what we've seen recently...). If Wenger can live with it, fine. Ain't nothing on earth right now that's going to change things.

I was just looking at the odds for the game, and it's truly incredible:

Arsenal 1/1; Draw 5/2; Manciti 11/4

Any neutral out there with a half a brain should be running out to put a quid or a hundred on Manciti. Everything seems to be in our favour, really. For example: Man U play Spurs in the early kick-off. Anything that bloody happens should be a good kick up the arse for us in our own late kick-of. Man U win, then we know a win for us would just about be good enough. A draw too. Spurs win, and we'll know what we have to do, and we might just have 2nd still to fight for. The question, dear Watsons, is whether or not we have it in us to do it. For those who still aren't quite sure, let's just say I'm feeling as low on our prospects as I've done in a long long long long time.

So low, in fact, that I think I'm going to scrape the bottom of the barrel and insist that Wigan offer to replay their game with us. I mean, look. Who scored the winning goal? Who? Charles N'Zogbia, that's who. The idiot who would cheat at a driving test. Who should've been thrown in jail for 28 years. Who shouldn't have been allowed to start, let alone score that winner against us. Goddamnit, where is the justice in us losing to a goal from a driving-test cheat???? I'd even offer to throw Fabianski in jail too if that helps...

The Arsewiper's going to be in Lyon tomorrow. Just to get a sniff of a city that has a Champions League semi-final to host. How nice...

UPDATE: Funny. I don't think I've ever so not looked forward to an Arsenal game. Really. I've even relished 3rd Round games in the Carling Cup/Littlewoods Cup/League Cup more. Or even meaningless pre-season friendlies in Transylvania. (OK, Hungary). I've so switched off on this that I've just about forgotten (till now) that we're going to welcome back Kolo, Paddy and some guy with a propensity for wearing the shirt of the team he hates. Oh well. It'll be nice to have Paddy back. Would be nice to see Sol and Paddy have a go at each other. It'll be just like watching granddads fight. Nice! It'll be nice to see Kolo too. If only to see him sneak in one of his little awkward tackles to give us a penalty. In any case, the Arsewiper being in Lyon, I'm gonna miss the game. As I'd said, no big sense of loss being felt there...

Which is sad.