Date: April 2008

PFA Team of the Year/Young Player of the Year Awards

Apr 30, 2008 by

Arsenal have bagged a double brace in individual awards this year with 4 Arsenal players named to the PFA Team of the Year(p). Fabregas(p), Clichy(p), Sagna(p), and the much maligned Adebayor(p) were all chosen by their peers to be included in the team of the year’s starting XI.

This is a tremendous honor for Arsenal and for the players. Look closely at the team makeup; no other team has as many players in the starting XI as Arsenal, with Man U second at 3 players. Clearly, from a players perspective, Arsenal were one of the strongest teams this season.

From an individual perspective each of those players has had a fantastic year. But none more so than Cesc Fabregas who was singled out by his peers as “Young Player of the Year”. I think there isn’t a single Arsenal fan who could complain about his season so far this year. Statistically, he has 13 goals and 21 assists in all competitions and in the link above I compare that to Ronaldo, who, when he was just 20 years old, had a mere 7 goals and 6 assists in all competitions. But more than just stats, Fabregas, at 20 years old, is the heart of this Arsenal team — which he proved at the San Siro when he added Kaka’s scalp to his growing collection of midfield legends he has bested one-on-one. So, congrats, young man, you deserve it.

At this point in the season, all Arsenal fans should sit back and raise a hand to the team and the hard work they have put in this season. Just, if you don’t mind, clap a little louder for these special 4 players.

Mid-week Talk

Apr 29, 2008 by

Just wanted to post something to capture any talk regarding the European games, some goal scoring stats or other Arsenal related topics:

Champs League:

Game 1: Man Utd vs Barca

It will be interesting to see if Barca can salvage their season at Old Trafford. Although a goal scoring draw will do for Barca and draws has been something they have had plenty of in La Liga. Barca’s 10 ties is the most of any of the top 5 teams.

Game 2: Guess the Score?

The last 7 Champs League ties between Liverpool & Chelsea have ended with the following scores: 0-0 (3 times), 1-0 (3 times, 2 for Liverpool & 1 for Chelsea, all home results) and last week’s 1-1. Prior to last week, no team had scored a goal away from home. Although, in theory no away player has managed that feat yet.

The tie is interestingly set up as Liverpool will have to score, meaning they have to be enter Chelsea’s half. Anyone care to venture a score? Will either team finally score more than one goal in this game? Or are we set for another game of chess?

UEFA Cup:

Both UEFA Cup ties are balanced nicely, although Zenit have an away goal. It is unclear how many of the 4 teams will be in the Champs League next year. Bayern are certain to be there, Rangers should join them as they have 3 games in hand over Celtic despite trailing by 5 points. Whereas Fiorentina only hold a 2 point lead over Milan for that final spot with 3 games to go; Sampdoria are 4 points back of Fiorentina. The Russian season is a bit too early in and Zenit have not gotten off to the best start. Key for Zenit will be holding onto their main players.

European Goal-scorers:

I was curious to see where Adebayor ranked with the other European goal-scorers in terms of goals only (no stats on assists).

League: Player, Team, Goals

England:

  • Cristiano Ronaldo Man Utd 28
  • Emmanuel Adebayor Arsenal 24
  • Fernando Torres Liverpool 22

    • Italy:

  • David Trezeguet Juventus 19
  • Marco Borriello Genoa 19
  • Alessandro Del Piero Juventus 18
  • Adrian Mutu Fiorentina 17
  • Antonio Di Natale Udinese 17

    • Spain:

  • Luis Fabiano Sevilla FC 23
  • Daniel Güiza Mallorca 22
  • Raúl Real Madrid 17
  • Sergio Leonel Aguero Atlético Madrid 16
  • Kahveci Nihat Villarreal 15
  • Alberto Diego Milito Real Zaragoza 15

    • Germany:

  • Luca Toni Bayern Munich 21
  • Kevin Kuranyi Schalke 04 15
  • Mario Gomez VfB Stuttgart 15

    • France:

  • Karim Benzema Lyon 20
  • Mamadou Niang Marseille 16
  • Djibril Cisse Marseille 14
  • Bafetimbi Gomis St Etienne 14
  • Fernando Cavenaghi Bordeaux 14

    • Portugal:

  • Lisandro Lopez FC Porto 25
  • Oscar Cardozo Benfica 12

    • Holland:

  • Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Ajax Amsterdam 34
  • Blaise N’Kufo Twente Enschede 21
  • Robin Nelisse FC Utrecht 17
  • Luis Suarez Ajax Amsterdam 17
  • Michael Bradley Heerenveen 16

    • Derby 2-6 Arsenal

    Apr 28, 2008 by

    Adebayor’s hat-trick plus goals from Van Persie, Bendtner & Walcott earned Arsenal a 6-2 away win and moved the Gunners to within 4 points of Man Utd and Chelsea at the top of the table.

    In the opening 20 minutes or so, Derby had a decent spell putting Arsenal under pressure. Things changed in the 25th minute when Moore gave the ball straight to Bendtner who put Arsenal ahead in the 25th minute after exchanging passes with Van Persie. Unfortunately, the lead didn’t last too long as a set-piece led to Derby’s McEveley tying things up (31st min). But Van Persie restored Arsenal’s lead with a right footed shot just before the 40 minute mark. Meanwhile, Robbie Savage did what he does best in the first half — play his version of Macho Macho man. Maybe his agent should ring up Guy Ritchie and see if there is an opening for Savage to play a kicking gangster sidekick to match the punching characters played by Vinnie Jones. Just a thought.

    Adebayor came on for Van Persie at the start of the second half and scored his 22nd league goal of the season in the 59th minute. Prior to Ade’s goal, Arsenal served up some sweet football again. It wasn’t until the final 13 minutes that the goal fest truly started. After Derby pulled another goal back in the 77th minute, Walcott restored Arsenal’s lead 2 minutes later with a well taken effort. Shortly after, Adebayor scored his second of the night via a Clichy delivery. And in injury time, Ade wrapped up his hat-trick and improved his league goal tally to 24 goals, only 4 behind Ronaldo’s 28. Ade is also now 2nd in the goal scoring charts, two ahead of Torres.

    Despite heading towards becoming the worst team in Premier League history, Derby fans turned out in full force to cheer their team on. Great to see their fans can still find a voice. And Derby did give them something to smile about when McEveley & Earnshaw scored only Derby’s 18th & 19th goals of the season. Interestingly Adebayor has more goals on his own than the entire Derby team.

    Line-ups:
    Derby: Carroll, Mears, Moore, Todd, Stubbs, McEveley, Savage, Sterjovski, Lewis, Ghaly, Emanuel Villa
    Arsenal: Fabianski, Gallas, Toure, Eboue, Clichy, Cesc, Song, Denilson, Walcott, Van Persie, Bendtner

    And then there was two..oh wait a minute, who is that 4 paces behind?

    The media has written Arsenal’s title chances off for a few weeks now. Yet, heading into round 37 Arsenal are only 4 points behind the top two. If United win the early game on Sat against West Ham, then Arsenal’s title challenge will officially be over. But if United draw or lose, then Arsenal can move to within 2 points or 1 point of Manchester with a win against Everton on Sunday. Agreed there are a lot of ‘ifs’ regarding Arsenal’s title hopes but here in Canada, the Man Utd biased media had even written Chelsea off a day after Chelsea’s 1-0 away win to Everton moved them to within 2 points of Manchester. A day after the Everton game, The Globe and Mail said that Chelsea were “quickly running out of games”[Note: correction to quote added] to catch Manchester. And this was before Man Utd’s game against Blackburn. I can’t comment for the English or American media but for years here in Canada the media has had words only for Manchester.

    Mid-week Champs League games:

    Before Manchester can get back to the league, they have the small matter of facing Barcelona in the 2nd leg of the Champs League. Barcelona might not offer much but Henry may still want to prove something against Manchester, a team that felt his love on more than a few occasions. Henry’s second last goal for Arsenal was that beautiful last minute header that secured a 2-1 win for Arsenal and a league double over Manchester in the 2006/07 season.