Arsenals 3rd FA Cup trophy is still a target

Arsenal progress to the last sixteen after narrowly beating a good Burnley side. Goals from Chambers and Sanchez booked our place in the next round but despite dominating the game, it was a nervy last 20 minutes as the Clarets pushed for an equalizer.

A typical Cup tie, the game was contested at a frantic pace. Our second goal was one of beauty as we broke out of defence and with a quick passing (seven passes) counter attack the ball eventually arrived at the feet of Sanchez who calmly scored. It could have finished 3-1 when Burnley were in full attack mode near the end of the game and a break sent Walcott bombing forward with just the Burnley keeper to beat, but he fluffed his lines.

Wenger had made several changes to the side which lost to the Chavs, and Ozil and Ramsey were conspicuous by their absence. However, Coquelin, Chambers, Gibbs, Iwobi and the new boy, Elneny, all had good games, with special mention to Iwobi and the Egyptian. Iwobi was assured in midfield and his passing was accurate and precise. He really would be a better option than Walcott at the moment.

The Egyptian covered a lot of turf during the game, he seemed to be everywhere and showed that his fitness is similar to Sanchez. He tried a bit too hard at times but that’s understandable, he obviously wanted to make an impression on his debut and nearly did on a couple of occasions with shots from outside the box.

Elneny looks as if he will be a good addition to the team, in fact he looked as if he was made to wear the red and white, he definitely looked the part. The stats say he had the most touches of the ball than any other player (100), and had a 96% completion rate, which shows how he got involved in the game.

It was good to see Le Coq back in the side, in the first half he was clearly getting acclimatised to his first full match after a period injured, but in the second half his confidence became more assured and he had a good game.

So we go into the pot this evening for the last sixteen draw. There are still a few premiership sides which it would be good to avoid, the two Manchester clubs, Crystal Palace, Liverpool or West Ham, Watford, WBA, Everton and Chelsea if they both win today and of course, the wankers from N17.

We are number 3 in the draw…… and games to be played the weekend 19-22 February. Here is the full list for the last sixteen:

1 West Bromwich Albion or Peterborough United
2 Leeds United
3 Arsenal
4 Manchester United
5 Reading
6 Liverpool or West Ham United
7 Manchester City
8 Shrewsbury Town
9 Watford
10 Carlisle United or Everton
11 Crystal Palace
12 Blackburn Rovers
13 AFC Bournemouth
14 Tottenham Hotspur
15 Hull City
16 MK Dons or Chelsea

Just before I conclude todays report, another Arsenal player on loan, Akpom scored a hat-trick for Hull yesterday. Well done Chuba.

 

 

The Burnley witch hunt… let’s hang the bastards.

 

FA Cup day…. and we’ve got something to defend and a chance to make history. Just as they made history in Pendle, near Burnley, in 1612. One of the most famous witch trials in English History. Twelve were accused of murdering ten people by witchcraft, of the eleven who went to trial, nine women and two men (one had already died in prison), ten were found guilty and executed by hanging, one was found not guilty. Can’t explain why one was found not guilty, not in those days, everyone was found fucking guilty.

What else is interesting about Burnley, well it’s in Lancashire, so Lancashire hotpot is famous…..

and rightly so, it’s bloody yummy

Lancashire women are hearty and welcoming, they like to cuddle you and surround you with their large ample breasts and warm bodies and feed you their Lancashire Hot Pot…… bloody yummy.

 

Bury Black Pudding, created when you had to use up every single part of a pig, so the blood was cooked as well….. Bloody yummy.

And then there are Eccles cakes, full of currents and baked with puff pastry…… bloody yummy.

So what about our opponents, Burnley FC, nicknamed the ‘Clarets’, perhaps after the Black Pudding. Founded in 1882 and one of the founder members of the Football league in 1888, their home ground has been Turf Moor since 1883. They’ve been League Champions twice, way back in the dark ages and won the FA Cup in 1914 when every other player was off at the Front fighting for King and Country.

They did however, reach the quarter finals of the European Cup in 1961. They were quite famous in the 50’s and 60’s for being dead ball specialists and developing the unknown concept of ‘Total Football, which made them one of the more attacking sides during that period.

And don’t forget all the inbreeding that went on up there in Lancashire, here’s an example from 1905, a photo of two Burnley supporting brothers….. their father was their uncle and their mother was their sister and it’s recorded that she was their aunt too.

Furthermore, it still goes on, as this headline from the Burnley Daily Herald proves:

CCTV APPEAL: Man seen touching himself and making kissing noises at young girls in Burnley town centre.

But where are Burnley FC now? They’re in the Championship, somewhere near the top and doing well, in fact, they could even be promotion candidates. Last week they thrashed Derby 4-1 and are on a good run of form.

Do we have to be careful today? They are quite capable of causing a Cup upset, Wenger needs to field a strong side if we are to continue our march towards a third FA Cup trophy in a row and make history.

Who do we have available? Sanchez and Özil are fit, it looks as if Le Big Coq will be fit, I hope Cech plays but there are rumours that Ospina will be in the team and I’m sure our new chap from Morocco will get a try out today as well. The BFG won’t play because of his red card so Paul Easter will be included next to Kosser, Gibbs may come in for Monreal but Bellerin has to play because we don’t have anyone at the moment to deputize for him.

Up front, your guess is as good as mine, take Giroud, Walcott, the Ox, Campbell and Iwobi, put their names in a hat and pull out two.

So what are our chances? I don’t fucking know, I’m not a football bollocks expert! I prefer to post black and white photos of naked women, get drunk and have a fucking laugh.

I’m 100% sure that there will be a result though.

It could end up two ways, we thrash them and go through easy peesy, or they cause a cup upset and my dream of us making history goes down the drain just like the blood of the witches in Pendle in 1612. Let’s just hope they haven’t put a spell on the referee or offered him a free lifetime supply of Black pudding and ample bodied Lancashire women.

Come on you fucking Gunners.