I wanted to review the spanking we dished out to the less successful team down Seven Sisters Road, but there seems to be other issues that have recently come to light that are worth a few lines.
I can't help but feel absolutely gutted for poor Theo Walcott. Not because he hilariously made Sp*rs fans aware that they were being knocked out of the FA Cup, and not because he had the entire Sp*rs transfer budget thrown at him in coin form. He had only just returned from a lengthy injury and had immediately become one of our most valuable players over the last few games before damaged knee ligaments put him out of action for at least 6 months.
This will obviously see him miss out on the rest of the season with Arsenal, but to add insult to injury he will also miss out of the World Cup where he would have most certainly been an important part of England's set up. The poor, poor bastard has been thrown one curve ball after another and you'd be heartless not to feel for the lad.
To look at things from a 'glass half full' point of view, I'd still rather have an injured Theo Walcott than John "Sloth From Goonies" Terry and Fat Frank Lampard. I'd also rather be paying to have Walcott sit on our bench, unable to play than be Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. So, even though we're missing our lightening fast, creative Winger, I feel like we're OK.
Another positive would be Serge Gnabry's encouraging performance in the FA Cup. If there was ever a time for him to step up it would be now, and I think he's going to see a lot more playing time over the remainder of the season. Hopefully he'll put just as much effort in knowing there's less competition, but he seems like a lad who's got his head screwed on straight, and by the sounds of it so does the manager. I'd love to see him excel over the second half of the season, so let's hope he turns this Walcott setback into somewhat of a positive.
Monday we travel to Villa Park where we can perhaps avenge our loss on the first weekend of the season. I can't see us losing twice to this Aston Villa team, and with the next couple of games winnable I think the team will be going out there to ensure we get maximum points to protect our spot at the top of the table.
As far as transfer news, I think the Walcott injury will get the fax machines (does anyone still use those?) in the office at The Emirates warming up for any potential business that might be done. I think Wenger will have to look for a striker now. His reasoning was sound when he said that he didn't need another striker when he had Bendtner, Walcott and Podolski to come in for Giroud. Now, however, two of those are out for a while, so another attacking winger or striker is pretty much a necessity at this point. Chances are we're going to have to over pay for an above average player, but we'll see what Wenger and Gazidis can come up with. As long as we don't sign Darren Bent or Adebayor I'll be ecstatic.
Still top of the League, still in the Champions League and still in the FA Cup. Don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the second half of this season! Come On You Gunners!
