Arsenal are looking more and more for real each week. The next 2 weeks are definitely gonna tell us if they are going to contend this year in the Premier League. But I have no doubt in my mind that they can and should win a trophy this year.

Good showing by QPR against Chelsea. Cesar is clearly an upgrade over Green. Now they just have to find a striker who knows how to find the net.

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You are absolutely entitled to state your opinion whenever you wish, and I am absolutely entitled to point out the stupidity of that opinion with the same frequency.

Come On You Spurs!

1-0 up at half time but this game should be out of sight. We've missed 3 or 4 great chances (The Sun et al will no doubt be claiming that these were all the fault of AVB tomorrow) and been moving the ball around nicely. Just need to be ruthless. Obviously, I really hope that these missed chances won't come back to bite us in the arse.

Fantastic performance from us to kick start our season. Vertonghen and Dembele were absolutely superb and Dembele's partnership with Sandro had a great start. Defoe took his goals well although still don't like him up front on his own.

Hopefully we can kick on now anyway, COYS.

Manchester United looked better as a team this week, Chicharito was clearly trying to prove himself and Scholes scored in his landmark game. Chelsea and Swansea slipped up this week. City again failed to win at Stoke in a somewhat decent match. Spurs finally decided to finish a match the right way. Liverpool just isn't looking like anything major will happen this season.

As for the Gunners, I'm feeling really confident in Arsenal's next few games. Like I said before the team has been playing better and better, the defense is making very very few mistakes(the only real one was Szczesny's blunder) and last Saturday the offense caught up and in a big way. I think Wenger should keep Gervinho as a center forward as that performance against the Saints was the best I've seen from him. Podolski has scored in back to back matches, and Cazorla is playing like the ball is glued to his foot. Gibbs was impressive against Southampton, supplying the crosses that turned into own goals, Jenkinson has been holding his own in place for Sagna. Arsenal supposedly will be getting a massive boost this week as rumors are swirling that Wilshere will be returning to full training, which could mean he'll at least be on the bench for the Chelsea match at the earliest.

of course... I mean four games into the season is a fair reflection of the how good and bad teams are.

christ on a bike. the PL season (took the "E" out just for you English) doesnt start until October. The next two weeks arent going to tell us anything except who is off to a strong start and who needs tweaking. We have 34 games left, two domestic cups, some Euro thingys, 6 months of International play and another 30 day transfer window.

While I applaud your enthusiasm and it is well founded, its a but early in the date to start buying rubbers

I did say the next 2 weeks will be even more telling than the first 4 matches. The first 4 matches are showing how good the Gunners can be, the real thing is weather or not they can keep up this intensity for the remainder of the season.

Good to see another Spurs & Seahawks fan! What a great Sunday.

I agree with everything you mentioned. I really like what I'm seeing from Vertonghen and, as you say, Dembele and Sandro looked great together. I think Adebayor would bring the midfielders into play more than Defoe. Defoe played pretty well though. He still shoots too readily for my liking - there were a couple of occasions on Sunday when he took difficult shots instead of laying the ball off to Bale or Sigurdsson who were in better positions but he scored a couple so it'd be wrong to complain.

I'm pleased with AVB. We've played well in 3 out of 4 games now and the players seem to be buying into what he's selling, despite Old Wobbly waffling on on TV about how they wouldn't be able to cope with tactics and almost every TV and newspaper pundit wishing him to fail. I think he did well in the transfer window, identifying and buying good young players who fit into the way he wants to play, rather than the cheap and ageing veterans or expensive superstars that seemed to occupy Redknapp's wishlist.

It will be interesting to see who plays against Lazio on Thursday. I'm hoping to see Adebayor, Lloris, Dempsey and Caulker start.


Did you see the NextGen game against Barcelona last Thursday? We have some good young players coming through the ranks. Pritchard, Coulthirst, Mc Evoy and Vigouroux all looked very good, and Coulibaly also showed promise. It sounded like an amaziing atmosphere at the Lane as well, about 10000 fans making a hell of a lot of noise.

Actually you said that the next two weeks will determine whether your team can challenge for the title....

The first four matches are littered with transfer deadlines, player movements, continuity issues, CL breaks and ridiculous international breaks. take what you want from it, but I wouldnt put too much into it except a teams ability to deal with massive scheduling inconsistencies. Spurs and Liverpool are trying to find their feet under new managers. Most the premier league has introduced or lost a significant player to their lineup. Almost all of the top teams lost players to international duty.

So tell me amidst all that how anyone can take more than a passive understanding of their team's fortunes?

For Arsenal, its a brilliant start. But just as last year when they sputtered early, they came back just fine. The opposite can just as easily happen.

For Liverpool.... the tensions and anxieties are already settling in. Its not just 4 games, but 2+ years

Not taking anything away from any of the teams sitting above two points. I wish Liverpool was them.

By the way, Liverpool fan or hated rival, if you didnt watch the first episode of Being Liverpool you truly missed some wonderful TV

It's no doubt that Arsenal will be just fine in terms of the fight for CL qualification, challenging for the title is a whole other story. Sure a lot of shit can happen between now and May, which is where Arsenal needs to keep up the momentum and intensity as well as staying healthy.

As for the first 4 games, Arsenal was dealing with the non-stop RvP conversation, especially in the first 2 games when they didn't score, they handled it great and now it looks like they're clicking on all gears. We could put a lot of credit to how well Bould has improved this defense. The only thing I have to ask is, what do you think of Podolski now? Do you still think he's not as good as I think he is?

I watched bits and pieces of it, namely due to my mom complaining every time I tried to put it on.

What did you think? I'm obviously a bit biased, but i really enjoyed the inside view of a major football club. Just seemed more enigmatic and illusive than Hard Knocks

But ofcourse I nearly cried during the intro, so I may not be the best judge

honestly I didn't see enough to have a definitive opinion.

Fantastic sunday wasn't it, made a massive change from the week before!

Exactly yeah, looks very bright there and although Modric is a very hard player to replace I think the Dembele/Sandro partnership could be a perfect mix. Defoe is fantastic coming off the bench but I still think Adebayor is the one to be starting. Works excellently in our system and I think his link up would help Gylfi find his feet properly.

I really like AVB too and I think the players do as well. Unfortunately the media are out to get him and will use every opportunity to slag him off and praise Redknapp but I feel that we will rise above it and come out of this stronger. I respect what Harry did but I wanted him gone this summer and I am pleased to see Andre come in. Definitely played well in three out of the four games too, Norwich was terrible, but our Newcastle/West Brom performances deserved more.

I'm hoping they all get a run out too. Caulker needs games badly for his development, Ade needs match fitness and Lloris just has to play. Hopefully Dawson and Huddlestone get a game too.

Yeah I actually went to the Lane that day, had nothing else to do so popped along and it was a fantastic experience, even with the defeat. Great atmosphere. Really impressed by Pritchard!

Well done! You guys made some noise alright! Hopefully it'll provide a bit of inspiration to the regular 1st team crowd which seems to have been getting gradually quieter and more negative, despite the team getting better. I'm going to the Villa and Chelsea games in October which will be my first trips to the Lane this season.

Lets hope so eh!

Definitely mate, it's very worrying but with a more successful has brought a more negative quiet crowd and we are starting to just expect to win. The big games still have great atmospheres but the smaller games are terrible at times.

I see Ade is out of tomorrow's game. Not good news.

Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong have returned to full first team training for the Gunners. I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them are on the bench for the Chelsea match, if not then than either for the Olympiacos or West Ham matches. And it appears Arsene got the goalkeeper battle he was hoping for, as it seems Mannone is ready to fight Szczesny for the starting GK role.

Well, I hope United is proud of themselves for a stunning display of being fuckfaces in all facets.