Tottenham Eat Veggies To Plug Leaky Defense

Anyone who read the papers over the summer knew the outcome of this Premier League season.

Derby were to be relegated along with two of your choices out of Fulham, Middlesbrough, Wigan, Sunderland or Birmingham. Manchester United were to pip the title with Liverpool and Chelsea fighting for second.

Dishearteningly to Arsenal fans, Tottenham were to take fourth, claiming England's final Champions League spot and relegating the Gunners to the UEFA Cup if they could beat off teams like Newcastle, Aston Villa, and Manchester City.

That tells you how much the pundits know.

After beating Wigan last weekend Arsenal are now three points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a game in hand against their nearest rivals, Manchester United. Chelsea and Liverpool are in fourth and fifth respectively, both behind Manchester City.

And Tottenham?

They've peaked at fourteenth. After spending much of the early season in the relegation zone, new boss Juande Ramos has brought them within one point of Fulham and Reading. It's not quite the season Spurs fans had envisioned.

The poor Tottenham defense has conceded 25 goals in 14 games, more than any other team in the Premiership other than Reading, Wigan, Middlesbrough, and Derby.

In fact, Tottenham have kept only five clean sheets in 20 games this season, holding ground only against the impressive opposition of Derby, Middlesbrough, Wigan, Blackpool, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Perhaps best of all for Arsenal fans, Spurs kept up their losing streak against our brilliant young Gunners with a 1-3 loss to Arsenal at White Heart Lane.

You would think that the solution to Tottenhams problems would be to sell £16.5 million signing Darren Bent and go buy some defenders, a decent midfielder, and spend the rest on anybody they could pick up off the streets to replace Paul Robinson.

Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy didn't hire Juande Ramos to come up with conventional solutions though, and it seems that the board's trust is about to be repaid.

The former Sevilla manager (who has already had the experience of losing to Arsene Wenger's side at his old club) has come up with a brilliant solution to Tottenham's problems: vegetables.

That's right. Spurs will be implementing the newest form of team bonding, the diet.

Antonio Escribano has been hired by Tottenham to help enforce the diet, which is meant to improve the player's fitness levels.

I guess the diet isn't too bad of an idea either. I wouldn't mind seeing Tom Huddlestone take up a little less room on the pitch.

So what do you think, is Tottenham a football club or a cheerleading outfit?

Wenger: Arsenal kept reading in the Premiership

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has suggested that it was the Arsenal youth academy which kept Reading in the Premiership last season.

Reading currently have three former Arsenal youth academy players in their squad, one who is eligible to play against Arsenal tomorrow (James Harper) and two out on loan (Graham Stack and John Halls).

Last season, the Royals were reliant upon Harper and another former Gunner, Steve Sidwell, in the heart of their midfield.

Wenger, who has recently come under fire due to the lack of English players in his squad, has struck back at his detractors, claiming that while Theo Walcott may be the only English player at Arsenal, the club has strengthened the English national team by helping smaller teams along.

"The rule for success," he said, "is just live around Arsenal and pick off the players who do not make it completely and I promise you will have a very good team.

"There are very good players who will not all make it here but when they drop out they will still make a good team.

"Harper and Sidwell did not get in here because they had Petit and Viera and Edu in front of them. I think to force the clubs in England to have only English players in the side would be detrimental to the smaller clubs."He went on to discuss Sidwell personally: "I am happy if they have a good life. Sidwell was an important player for them because he had a good partnership with Harper.

"Sidwell's aim was to become a professional football player at a top team. He is. "If we have just contributed a little bit we are happy with that. We take the criticism, no problem.

"As a manager you want to have a positive influence on the life of your football players."

Personally, I feel like Arsene Wenger's job is to make Arsenal the best team it can be, not to strengthen the English national team. However, it must be noted that Arsenal's academy has brought through some bright young English talents.

Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant, Blackburn midfielder David Bentley, West Ham defender Matthew Upson and Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes all graduated from the Arsenal youth academy.

Let's All Laugh At Tottenham

Martin Jol, the manager who brought Arsenal's cross-town rivals Tottenham Hotspur to two consecutive fifth place finishes in the Premier League quit today, following a home defeat to Getafe in the UEFA Cup.

Straight from the start, the Dutchman's future was in danger, with Spurs allegedly contacting Sevilla boss Juande Ramos to replace Jol. Tottenham's poor performances did little to alleviate the tension between him and Chairman Daniel Levy.

The club now finds itself in eighteenth place, in the relegation zone along with newly promoted Derby and Bolton Wanderers, another team to have recently sacked a boss. The boys from White Heart Lane have collected a rather pathetic seven points from ten games, continuing a poor run of form following their opening day loss to newly promoted Sunderland.

Tottenham also started off its UEFA Cup campaign on the wrong foot after losing 2-1 to Getafe at White Heart Lane.

However, of all of Tottenham's losses this season (and there have been a fair many) the one which would be most appreciated by Arsenal fans is the 3-1 loss suffered at the hands of our very own London-based team.

For those of you who don't remember the game, I'll give you a quick recap: Gareth Bale scored an early free kick goal after a nasty foul from Gilberto on the edge of the box, bringing the White Heart Lane faithful to their feet. Arsene Wenger's Arsenal side refused to give up of course, and after half time, a Fabregas double and a goal from Emmanuel Adebayor sealed an Arsenal victory.

And here's how the two teams stand now:

Arsenal: 1st in the league, 25 points from 9 games, 12 straight wins
Tottenham: 18th in the league, 7 points from 10 games, winless for 7 games

I'd have to say that the irony in the situation is bordering on hysterical. So-called football pundits proclaimed the downfall of the big four in British football, claiming that Tottenham would take the final Champions League spot out from the noses of last season's underachieving Gunners. Arsene Wenger was supposed to be the first coach to leave a club in the Premier League.

Nope. Arsene Wenger is firmly at the helm of an Arsenal team that is first in both the Premier League and the Champions League group. Spurs on the other hand are manager-less and in the relegation zone.

So, if you're having a bad day, have a little laugh at the expense of Tottenham.

Almunia vs. Lehmann: Round Two

In a previous article I argued that Jens Lehmann should be Arsenal's first choice goalkeeper. Other than his early blunders this season Lehmann has always been a sound 'keeper for Arsenal, and two errors are not enough to forget about a man who has spent four years with our club. When I polled the readers of this blog, however, the results differed from my beliefs - 58% of readers claimed that Manuel Almunia was the better keeper.

Nonetheless, with Lehmann on the verge of a return from injury, I maintain that the German hothead should be Arsene Wenger's number one. Almunia is a great backup, and he has produced some good performances in Lehmanns absence, even holding clean sheets for 5 consecutive games prior to last Sunday's clash with newly promoted Sunderland.

However, a clean sheet does not verify the skills of a goalkeeper. Our defending has been very solid this season, and many of the teams we played against were admittedly wasteful with their chances. The truth of the matter is, Almunia has not been forced to make many saves - and he has not made any saves of the caliber of a world-class keeper like Crazy Jens.

In fact, Sunderland's second goal was very stoppable, and in my match review I even mentioned that I thought Lehmann would have made the save. Our defense was partially at fault for letting up the pressure on Kenwyne Jones, but I still feel that Almunia should have at least gotten fingers to Jones' header.

Not only does Jens have the better reactions, but the German is also more experienced and is better at dealing with crosses and long balls. While he may be a bit volatile, Lehmann is by far the oldest and most experienced player on a young Arsenal team which needs a backbone. Also, whereas Almunia is often seen completely missing punches, Arsenal fans could always feel assured when Lehmann went up for a ball in the box.

As the best of Arsenal's keepers, Jens Lehmann deserves the starting berth against Bolton after the international break. At the very least, doubters should watch to see how he plays for Germany over the weekend before shastily tossing him out in favor of Almunia.

Whomever is chosen to play against Bolton, they better play well, as rumors state that Arsene Wenger is looking into buying Robert Green or Almenning Jarsteina in January.

Arsenal vs. Sunderland: Match Preview

Match Review

Arsenal will look to extend their 9 game winning streak even further this Sunday as they take on newly-promoted Sunderland at the Emirates. Roy Keane's fifteenth place team will be lucky to get any points out of this game, and will likely play with many men behind the ball.

Arsenal's physio room had a nice day on Wednesday as nobody was injured in the 1-0 win over Steau Bucharest, and only the long term injury sufferers are still out. Alex Hleb and Emmanuel Eboue returned in the midweek, and Jens Lehmann, William Gallas, Tomas Rosicky, and Alex Song have all returned to training, although none of them are match-fit yet, and they are therefore unlikely to feature on Sunday. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has only one injured player this match. Eduardo, who is out with an ankle injury, would have been unlikely to feature anyways thanks to the fine form of Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie.

The back line will probably be the same that we have seen in the past few games, with Manuel Almunia in goal behind Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, Philippe Senderos, and Gael Clichy. I can't see our defenders having any real problems against Kenwyne Jones and Michael Chopra, although they will have to watch out for Sunderland's promising young attacking midfielder, Grant Leadbitter.

In the center of the field, Wenger will likely opt to play Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini in the central midfield positions, despite Gilberto fighting for a place. The in-form midfielders will probably be assisted by Alex Hleb, although the last spot is more contested. Wenger may choose Emmanuel Eboue as he did against Steaua Bucharest, but he might also opt to play Abou Diaby or Theo Walcott. Even against the likes of Leadbitter, I expect our midfield to boss around the Black Cats, and we are likely to see most of the possession.

Up front, Wenger will not want to tamper with his fine striking pair of Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie. The Togo and Netherlands internationals will be expected to find the back of the net in what may end up being a high scoring game for Arsenal.

I have been predicting high scorelines recently (and I was wrong about West Ham and Steaua) but I'm going to have to go high again and say that we will win this game 3-0. Down with Roy Keane, up with Arsenal!