Arsenal Top the Table

WHAT IS THIS?! DO MY EYES DECEIVE ME?

That is right ladies and gentlemen, Arsenal top the table. While topping the table shouldn’t be that big of a deal for such an amazing and massive club like Arsenal, take the following factors into consideration.

1) Arsenal have not topped the table this late in the year for some years.

2) Arsenal were 11 points behind Chelsea 6 weeks ago after getting destroyed at home by the aforementioned Blues.

3) Arsenal have not won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup (which was won in penalties during my brothers law school graduation while I huddled over my cell phone with my dad constantly refreshing the browser to check the score).

4) I AM JUST FREAKING OUT WITH EXCITEMENT!!!!!!

Champions League Group Review

Once again the Champions League is upon us. While the EPL heats up, with Arsenal wrestling top spot away from Chelsea, I want to take a moment to preview the upcoming Champions League Round of 16. The Draw was held in December and provided football fans with a few mouthwatering ties while gifting Arsenal with a reasonably favorable opponent. Before I preview the 8 knockout ties to come I want to take a moment and revisit my Group Stage Predictions. 

Long Time No Fodder

The past few months have been pretty crazy and I have no doubt that the lack of fodder did nothing to help everyone during these hectic times. Fear not, I have dusted off the ol keyboard and am back, better than ever.

The EPL is heating up and as the Professor himself (my beloved Arsene Wenger) predicted, the top teams are dropping points left and right. Liverpool are almost as close to the bottom of the table as they are to the top and poor Sparky Mark Hughes was fired from Manchester City despite putting them on the cusp of a top 4 spot. As the Premier League enters the dreaded Christmas Crunch, Arsenal are in great shape with the title race wide open.

Nightmare in Manchester Part Deux

After the heartbreaking loss to United at Old Trafford Arsenal had the pleasure of making a return trip to Manchester to take on City.  City is a funny team.  A few years ago they were nothing, caught up in a Thai owner scandal (literally their prior owner was the former PM of Thailand and was arrested upon returning home), City managed to entertain some people (myself included) and brought somewhat disgraced manager Sven Goran Erickson (ex England coach) to the team.  Despite marked improvement, Erickson was fired and City was put up for sale.  And then City struck gold, or should I say oil?  Purchased by obscenely wealthy Arab Sheikhs (more money than they know what to do with) City found themselves overnight the wealthiest club in the world.  In two seasons the owners have spent over 250 million pounds on new players.  Think of that number, 250 million pounds! THAT IS ABSURD!  Not 250 on contracts, rather 250 million pounds to have the right to a players contract.  Most city players are making well over 100,000 pounds a week!  They have a star studded dream team because they throw money around like it is nothing making the Yankees look cheap. 

Nightmare in Manchester

The past few weeks were absolute torture for me.  Arsenal, after starting the season in imperious form, looked to continue their dominance with successive trips to Manchester to take on the Champions and the team I now hate Manchester City.  The Citizens heavily recruited and purchased Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal this past summer for over 41 million pounds.  Personally I was extremely pleased with Arsene Wenger’s shrewd business and welcomed the departure of Adebayor.  After his proposed move to AC Milan last summer fell through, Adebayor was never the same and had a horrendous campaign for the Gunners.  The nearly 25 million we recouped for the gangly African was stroke of genius from Wenger and despite Adebayor’s impressive form this season, I am not sad to see the backside of the Togolese hit man.   Losing Kolo was sad but he was a shade of his former self.  The last member of the fabled Invincibles squad of 2004, Toure was a rock in the Arsenal back line for years and will truly be remembered by the supporters for his class and commitment.  Nevertheless, football has a business side and I had no problem with these transfers over the summer.

Champions League Group Draw - G & H

This is last installment of my Champions League Group Draw Review.  With matches set to begin tomorrow, we take a closer look at the final two groups. 

Group G
FC Unirea Urziceni
VfB Stuttgart
Rangers FC
Sevilla FC

While Sevilla will like their chances of advancing from a relatively weak group, I think this group will be a lot tighter than most people think.  Sevilla is the team to beat and have every reason to feel confident going into the group matches.  Led in attack by Brazilian ace Luis Fabiano (heavily linked with both AC Milan and Manchester United this summer), Sevilla has fire power in front of goal and has already began the Spanish season with style.

Champions League Group Draw - E & F

Group E

Liverpool
Olympique Lyonnais
Fiorentina
Debreceni VSC

Group E must be considered the group of death.  Liverpool, Fiorentina and Lyon all have a legitimate chance of advancing to the knockout stages while the Russian Champions Debreceni will do everything they can to cause problems for the other teams and advance themselves.

Liverpool has a spectacular record in the Champions League under Rafa Benetiz including two semifinal defeats, one final defeat, and one unforgettable night in Istanbul which I still consider one of the best matches I have ever seen (Liverpool down 3 goals at the half against AC Milan in the final storm back and win in penalties).  Pool have suffered a rough start to the premier league as they adjust to life after Xavi Alonso but as long as Gerrard and Torres stay fit and new boy Glenn Johnson continues his sparkling start to the season, Pool should win the group.