Rafa wore a red tie. Fantastic stuff. And if he doesn't want to play Mata, can we have him?

Entertaining game at the Lane. Both sides had good and bad periods. All I can say is: it's great having Dembele back.

FAO Liverpool fans on here - you have a young lad called Jordan Rossiter in your youth set up. Watched him playing for England U16 tonight. He'll be a good player one day.

Hopefully. I don't think he he the answer to our Liverpool footballing prayers, but shouldn't Fabio Borini be a good deal down recovery road by now? I haven't heard anything from him since he broke his foot in late Sept early Oct.

You shouldn't expect him to be the answer. He's playing for the England under-16 team. He's a long way off the first team.

Good stuff English. I do like what liverpools doing on the academy level. Dalglish put emphasis on it and its paying off. Any other names?

Decent stuff by the reds today.. just enough. Bone headed hand ball by suarez and he's out for west ham.

Arsenal again struggle to put pieces together. Chelsea is a listless ship, soon to be scuttled.

I'm absolutely loving what's happening at Chelsea. All other teams in the hunt for 3rd/4th had better get some points in the bank, though, because I can see the likes of Cavani and Falcao up front for them from January.

After a bleak spell Spurs are winning without being great. The main difference from last year is that our new look midfield is much tougher than it has been with Modric. Not necessarily better, but tougher, which suitable Villas-Boas' willingness to sit back and absorb pressure to hold a lead. Midfield cover is desperately needed, specifically for Dembele. Parker can cover Sandro once he's back but it killed us losing Dembele.

I actually feared Swansea would steal this one, though I didn't expect it to happen the way it did with how the match unfolded. The Swans were a stubborn side last season and they did improve in the summer. The only good thing for me is that I have Michu on my EPL fantasy team but that doesn't make me really feel any better about the result of the match.

On a slightly related note, it seems Wenger is starting to consider stepping down after the season ends.

For you Gate... pretty good assessment of Wenger, and moreso a very fine critique of his current squad. I fear for an EPL without Wenger, to be honest, as much as I despise Arsenal

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8712871/arsenal-arsene-wenger-decline

Finally decided to brave this section again after three wins in a week.

The league really is so poor this year though, we're not particularly good yet joint third.

Also lets all laugh at Arsenal

It's not Arsenal's fault: they're tired.

Also, good to see 'Arry ban the Xmas party again. Worked well last time.

not Arsenal's fault? I'd like to blame global warming, testicular cancer, the Egyptian political unrest and everytime the tooth fairy "forgets" to put money under my kids pillow on Arsenal

btw Spur... because I know you're there. Friend of mine is in London and trying to get tickets to Arsenal's Saturday game at the Emirates. Any ideas? he's been scammed once already (or nearly)

Well, according to Wenger the Arsenal players are tired, hence the dip in form. Pretty embarrassing and pods poor excuse if you ask me.

As for Arsenal tickets - I'm not sure. I've only ever got tickets through the clubs. I have 2 friends with season tickets, but both are going and one has a wheelchair section ticket anyway. Spurs' ticket office has a ticket exchange where season ticket holders can sell their seats. Arsenal might have one on their website and after the last couple of games it might be a good time to have a look at that option. Otherwise stubhub would be worth a look. There are always loads of scalpers but I have no experience of dealing with them so don't know whether to recommend that option or not.

And I should hope you've never had the misfortune of buying tickets for 'them'

Arsenal got a somewhat deserved win today, though not quite the way they got it. I feel the Cazorla penalty is a big talking point, and while I do feel there was contact, after watching the replay like 50 times, I'm not quite sure if there was enough to take Santi down. The second penalty was clearer and a better called one. Podolski should have scored at the end, but I think his affinity for his left foot cost him as he had the entire right side of the goal wide open.

On a side note, who else is dumbfounded as to what's in Norwich's drinking water? Cause it's working.

Bad penalty set up the rest of the match... not the wba looked like doing anything prior to it. Maybe norwich is piping wbas water....

West Brom only had 1 shot on goal in the entire game and that came in the 86th minute, so that kinda shows who was playing better without having to look at the other stats.

http://ballsdot.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/cazorladive.gif

But here's what your arsenal team resorted to take the game...

Disgraceful really. But arsenal players never dive. That's just Suarez.

Really, it could be argued the 2nd pen shouldn't have been awarded because of the foul that proceeded Oxs trip (which was a foul). And why not a pen on Mertesacker? Where exactly was the first foul?

WBA look like they're sinking fast... but not sure the Gunners were convincing at all. Still, three points right?

Arsenal were more convincing than West Brom, lets just agree on that. As for the penalties, I'm lost as to where this Mertesacker penalty is that your claiming? Ox's penalty, the only thing I can think of is that Ox had the ball and the West Brom player never took control of it before Alex pushed him over, not sure if that's a legit reason. As for Santi's penalty, we can't really say that was the main difference maker of the game as West Brom was never looking like they were gonna make a difference and there was that second pk goal that put the game to bed. Cazorla supposedly went up to Wenger after the match and explained that he did feel contact and it threw him off balance. And like I said that there may have been contact but I'm not quite sure it was enough to warrant a penalty. We can't totally blame Cazorla, as the ref is just as much at fault, he did see it happen but cause of where how the players were, with Cazorla closer to the ref, it may have made the ref feel there was a clip. In the end it was a judgement call and the ref made it in Arsenal's favor. Having it happen one time doesn't make anyone a diver.

Also Suarez has brought that reputation on himself with bonehead maneuvers like these:

And let's not forget this memorable one from this season:

Mertesacker handled the ball in the box...

And so Carzola dived but its the refs fault?

Jesus christ Gate... you truly are something
Muppet (as peaches would say)

DIRTY JAMMIE DISGUSTING UNITED BASTARDS!!!!!

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What a nightmare. 1-0 up at 90 minutes - lose 2-1. Our depth is non-existent. Everton were better all game to be fair. Spurs decent in the build up but very conservative once we got the ball near their area. Must be more aggressive.

Rubbish.

What a win for the Reds.. so needed. Great Sunday for the EPL in honesty.

Hawkspur... i know its a hard one, but is AVB the man for that job?

Fantastic match, the Liverpool one. They were dead in the water, then that Joe cCole strike brought them to life. Could have had 4 or 5, to be honest. Clear-cut penalty not called against Shelvey. How many is that for us this season? Unreal. Anyway, massive win for the Reds, and could be a turning point in the season for them. The race for 4th is as clear as mud, look at what Arsenal were able to do last season.

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Jury's still out for me but I'm not a fan of sitting deep to protect a lead and the cautiousness around the Everton box today was infuriating. We get in positions to get shots at goal but seem to be doing an Arsenal and trying to pass the ball into the net.

I wasn't a fan of the appointment initially but have given him the benefit of the doubt until now. If we remain this cautious then no, he is not the right man for the job. I still like the bloke who was managing the winning side today, although I suspect his wage packet might be too much for Levy's sensibilities.

Only 4 points from 4th... and what do we have to do to win a pen? its astonishing.. and I hated the pen call on Joe Allen. I understood it, just hate that type of call.

Anyways, great performance from the boys this evening. and the build up play and Joe Cole's run and finish was sublime.

Huntelaar, Walcott, Diame and an wing back in January

No to Walcott. I'd sooner have Demba Ba, apparently we're linked with him, and there's a 7.5 mil buyout clause for him.

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Diame's apparently out for 3 months and Arsenal apparently will block every move for Walcott in January and risk losing him in the summer for nothing. As for Huntelaar, Arsenal are the big favorites to sign him, with French newspaper L'Equipe reporting that a deal has already been completed, and even if that's true, I doubt Huntelaar would ditch a club in the Champions League, and essentially demote himself, for a Europa League side. If Liverpool were to get any of those guys it'd be big for them but each have massive hurdles to leap over.

No thanks to Spurs, Arsenal fall back behind Everton while Liverpool keeps West Ham from doing the same. I think we all need to agree that this has gotta be the most competitive the EPL has ever been, seeing as we're in December and the difference between 4th place and 12th place being only 4 points.

Real bummer about Diame as well. He was controlling the Liverpool game and having a real nice year.

You continually overestimate the allure of Champions League over tradition... or let's just say global popularity. And Im not worried about any speculation surrounding players at this time. You call it a "demotion" to play for the most storied club in the EPL, maybe in Europe. Sad you havent figured it out yet. Ofcourse this is versus choosing a club like Arsenal who you have said yourself may be moving on from Arsene, so why would he go there? for maybe 3-4 more games? Sure.

As for the rest, 4 points separate 4th from 12th...

Great match today. Most fun i've have down at the pub in quite some time. Made it even better when the loudmouth Tottenham fan got really excited and kept asking the Liverpool contingent what place on the table we were.

I've never said anything about this being a Champions League over Europa League be all end all decider. What I said was Schalke is in the Champions League Last 16, Liverpool is in the Europa League Last 32. He's probably more likely to stay at Schalke till the end of the season than transfer to Liverpool in January. The real thing I'm thinking is, all the reports are linking Huntelaar to Arsenal, I don't even recall ever seeing anything linking him to Liverpool so I find it hard to believe he could be going there.

I heard Spurs fans at the game were chanting "Are you watching Arsenal." Don't they feel stupid now

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/klaas-jan-huntelaar-to-liverpool-schalke-working-1438293

Here's one, first one on google. Tons more.

You said a move to liverpool would be a demotion. Liverpool is a major major club, regardless of what position they are in. Schalke isn't. That's why huntelaar would go. That's why he won't sign an extension. He wants bigger , regardless of it at Merseyside, London or Madrid.

To easy to take a run at Arsenal (who were poor but somewhat unlucky) so all plaudits to Bradford City. Gutsy effort

Bradford? Bwahahahahaha......Oh Arsenal, you never fail to entertain.

I've never felt ashamed to call myself a Gooner, but this is the most embarrassed I've ever been. I've also never wanted to admit Wenger should go, but he should resign just to save his dignity as well as the club's because his tactics just aren't working anymore and he's only making things worse by refusing to change. It's not even about buying players anymore. I don't even understand how Wenger could take off Podolski, he admitted he didn't want to go to penalties, if he was so afraid to do it, why not keep Podolski on in case it did happen, simply cause we needed someone who's great at penalties and it's next to impossible to argue against a German being good at them. I'm also becoming more and more convinced Gervinho needs to either play like he did for Lille or he needs to leave, he's someone who shouldn't have been on the field at the end of the match not Podolski. Lastly, I can't blame Vermaelen for losing the game with the missed PK, mainly because he saved Arsenal from what would have been an even more embarrassing regulation time loss. I can blame the Bradford City keeper because he played like he had 20 arms instead of 2 arms, even when we did manage to bombard the Bradford goal with shot after shot, he stopped nearly every one and the one's he didn't the woodwork helped him.

And shut the eff up ISWT.

Oh gate, you know I like you. You know if you didn't get some usually deserved crap on here it would probably be directed st myself.

I didn't watch the game but your summary of the game seems to match the stats afterward. I also expect the same reply if Liverpool were to lose to cellar dwellers.

Classic. I'll have to see if Bradford City's club shop have the DVD on sale yet.

Bradford City? ffs wise up....

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Thanks Gate... that made it even better

Go ahead and hurl your god damn abuse, I'm too effing upset to give a shit right now.

It could be a lot worse. You know that somewhere someone is not only a die hard Arsenal fan but a fan of the Cardinals as well.

Alright, I will. For all the shit you talk and the endless stream of crap about how good Arsenal are and how they don't ever deserve to lose and how their players are actually decent and their transfers are better than anyone else's, you're sitting at 8th in the league, only two points above 12th, with a team that struggles to score at times and has a suspect back 4, and they couldn't put away League 2 Bradford, even when Wenger put out a strong side in hopes of winning. Time to accept mediocrity, sunshine. No trophies for 8 years, looks like it's gonna be 9 years.

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Touche, Peaches.

Gate - I know Woolwich have their wage structure, but, as their wages compare to what RVP wanted and deserves, would you prefer Gervinho and Chamakh or van Persie? (rhetorical question)

Its honestly a s*** show for Arsenal. Already fading in league play, desperate for a trophy and appeasing a fragile fan base, they suffer what may be the most emabarrassing loss of a top EPL team in some years (i struggle to think of another).

Gate, its so much like you to harass Wenger on this, but come on. If he's to blame, its for the players that are on the pitch, not the tactics or style. Blame him for selling Fabregas, Van Persie, Song. Blame him for creating a culture in which those three felt the want to leave.

Blame him for putting Carzola, Gervinho, Ox, Podolski, and Chamalk on the pitch. Good lord. Maybe they were unlucky. Its quite clear that they were out of position. But this is a 4th tier team. This is nearly a men's league team ffs. Not florists, teachers and grocers, but you'd think players of the quality you have given to this Arsenal squad they could manage and overcome hitting the bar. A decent team wins this game 6-1.

This is on the players. Carzola couldnt take over. Ox and Gervinho gave the ball up impatiently and impetuously. Chamakh is a disaster. Podolski... i mean you'd think a German international star could take over a game against a 4th tier English club team.

THis isnt Wnger's fault, as a coach (if he ran this lineup on the weekend and lost then yes). Its his fault in trusting these players to manage a simple task

I refuse to say Arsenal have become mediocre, because they aren't. They have however put in mediocre performances out there on a constant basis since October. I'm actually one of those people who have been defending Wenger left and right, and outright abusing Piers Morgan, among others, on twitter with every Anti-Wenger comment. Now, I said it was Wenger's fault because he keeps putting faith in players that let him and the club down. Gervinho started the season on fire, then he stomped himself out and has been killing almost any momentum Arsenal seem to get. And I've almost run out of patience with Ramsey as he has 1 good game and then 5 horrific piece of crap games. This Arsenal squad is capable of so much more but they are letting the fans down, they are letting the club down, and they are letting themselves down. And his strategy and tatics aren't working as well as they used to, he's either gotta fix it, evolve it, or just call it quits and leave. I've been convinced since mid-November that buying players won't solve this, it'll be the equivalent of using a trash bag on a broken window.

DERP?

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Man up, stand in line.

Wow, you guys really don't understand that there's a difference between being mediocre and performing mediocre? That's sad.

It
It has to be us.... and everyone else in the media and football world taking note and smiles over Arsenals plight.

Your club is mediocre right now. You sold stars and bout above average potential. Its not working

You heard it here first, guys. They're not mediocre, they're just PERFORMING mediocre. There's a difference.

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