I'm guessing we may well need to win 4/5, and even if we don't, we should play that way. While it's true fans of clubs in a race tend to overestimate how successful both they and their rivals will be, the fact is Arsenal have won 8/10, minus only a draw to Everton and a loss to us, and have games which look very winnable left except for Man U, who may or may not have finished partying by game time. Thinking they'll win 3/4 is not at all farfetched. I don't know about the Chelsea game, except that it looks likely to decide whether we finish ahead of them or vice versa. Chelsea have also been on a good run, though it's hard to know what to expect from them, given up and down form, fixture congestion, and a history of winning big games and beating Spurs. I expect the worst. I always expect the worst.
They are due a bad result or two. We're due a penalty. I'm not holding my breath. OK, my take on Fulham Arsenal. Berbatov in clean with a clear shot on goal. What are the chances he misses against us? Less than zero. Naturally he pulls it wide. Later on: Fulham commit a routine foul at the edge of the box. The ref stops play to have a long chat with the Fulham player. "Look here," he says, "you're playing too hard against my poor Arsenal boys. If you don't ease up I'm sending you off." Either complying with the ref's wishes, or out of shock at the long conversation, Fulham let Arsenal score off the free kick. And to top off a perfect day, the officials do Arsenal one more favor, red carding Giroud, a streaky striker who's currently terribly off-form, and never contributes anything but goals. I respect those who want Parker to play, and know they may well prove to be right, but still believe in not changing a winning game. We need to score, and we need to score quickly. No doubt being more open is a risk, but keeping our best weapons on ice strikes me as a bigger one.
Na na na! I actually got it from Surf and Spoof Not being 8 years old I didn't know about Smurfs until I was called one. So there! ya boo sucks! Roo or Boo or Hoo, please log in to view this image
Ok now I'm going to stand by my previous instinct and say a two or three goal win to us on Saturday. Because we broke the one goal win sequence with a two goal win against City that's the catalyst for more of the same. I'm putting my credibility on the line here(or don't I have any?)
Some good news, Lennon trained today, so he may be in contention for the weekend, most likely as a sub.
Great news about Azza, with him returning and Bale and JD all ready back, we're only a DM and CB short of a full strength, fully fit side. Fairly ideal as we're in the business end of the season now.
Wigan will play at home for the first time this month and with their FA Cup final to come, the home crowd can be expected to give Martinez and his boys a uplift for this game. This is not going to be a gimme for Spurs. Wigan need to win and its going to be a tough, tough game. You can bet your bottom dollar (or Pound) that this is the game Wigan will go all-out to win,. scrappily. They will not now want open play with us IMO. They had a fair portion of possession in the earlier fixture, at The Lane, particularly after Sandro got injured and was replaced after 23 mins. The warning signs were posted for this fixture as early as 3rd November last year, Martinez is not a fool and AVB most surely not take unnecessary risks with formation and personnel. The going underfoot should be near perfect for Defoe who now looks completely motivated to the curse. His tendency to play better on firmer suffaces has not gone un-noticed and Wigan must be cursing their luck now that Defoe, Bale and Lennon are fit enough to play in their game after, all three, were waylaid for the best part of this Month. Spurs to win by a single goal.
not bad in only 7 years of football against Wigan! (bearing in mind that they obviously won't have played in all those games)
