Arsene Wenger says his side can’t afford to lose focus if they are to consolidate their title credentials ahead of a busy schedule which takes in seven games across three competitions in the next four weeks.
The Gunners sit top of the table on goal difference after seven games ahead of Norwich’s visit tomorrow, but despite being favourites to beat the Canaries the boss has made clear everyone must be on the top of their game after a two week hiatus.
“At the top level, one of the keys is to switch on and off when it is right,” Wenger told assembled press at London Colney.
“The quality which is needed after a long break is to switch on again in a very quick, fast and efficient way. That is what is at stake and I am confident we will do that.
“We have learned something in the last 18 months, that the Premier League has changed, that every single game is a potential danger for any team in the league and the recent results in the Premier League have confirmed that.
“Every team who are favourites today are on their toes because they know every game is a potential danger.”
Last year Norwich caused the Gunners all manner of problems in the Premier League, beating Arsene Wenger’s side one-nil at Carrow Road, before putting in a stubborn, albeit eventually fruitless, showing at the Emirates…yeah fuck off Mark Bunn you timewasting Spurs supporting prick.
Casting his eye over the attacking threat set to be faced on Saturday, the boss continued: “Norwich are much more dangerous (than last season) because they have (Johan) Elmander, (Ricky) van Wolfswinkel and technically they are very good in midfield.
“They’ve also sold that gristle-head Holt, who tried to little bit eat some of our ball boys last year.
“It is always a potentially dangerous game to play Norwich because they are a team with a good dynamic and are not scared to play. They showed that against Chelsea in the last game.”
Echoing Wenger’s cautious mindset, captain Thomas Vermaelen stressed that Dutch international Van Wolfswinkel, against whom he played in Holland, requires need special attention from the back four.
“I played against him when he first came through into the first team at Vitesse,” the centre-back told the Arsenal programme.
“He then went to Utrecht and abroad to Portugal and [always] scored a lot of goals. He is a clinical goalscorer, he makes good runs and is someone that we will definitely need to watch closely.”
Arseblog News suspects there isn’t a Gooner in the world who isn’t licking their lips at the prospect of proper football returning, fingers crossed we can pick up where we left off before the break. The games come thick and fast after this…
Oh its like Christmas eve
Santi and Ozil that is all
pretty sure top on goals for lol, but good times none the less, i’d settle for the same table in may!
The possibility of Carzola and Özil in the same midfield. Can’t wait
Ricky van Wolfswinkel. Goodness, what a name.
Hmm, so there was this Rip van Winkle and his dog named Wolf. Someone got inspired bigtime.
I think we should all agree not to even mention titles & trophies till at least December. It’s great we’re playing well and that, but we haven’t even played a top side yet.
Uh, Napoli? …But I do agree with you that we shouldn’t get carried away.
To be fair we didn’t play napoli so much as we beat the ever loving fuck out of them.
I think it’s disingenuous not to consider Spurs a top team at the moment. I can see them finishing top 4. Luckily , we always finish above them. I don’t see it being any different this season. Which means I am pretty optimistic about our final position!
I am not sure, but I think one of the quotes used in this article is made up!
Is it this one “It is always a potentially dangerous game to play Norwich because they are a team with a good dynamic and are not scared to play. They showed that against Chelsea in the last game.”?
Being Swedish, I would say that it was the quote about Norwich being more dangerous because they’ve signed our #1 striker (since Ibra is playing as number 10 when playing for Sweden) Johan Elmander. It has tyo be made up, all the guy does is run like moose and then trip on his own legs. He’s horrible.
Wasn’t made up.arseblog news hound only speaking wenger’s mind.hehehehe!!!!!
As Wenger said, you just can’t tell what will happen, however I think should be a much easier test than previous West Brom game (and that was away too). Would love a few goals tomorrow too and help boost the old GD too.
The last time we rushed Cazorla back before he was match fit, cost us 3 points against Villa. He shouldn’t start.
He shouldn’t have to with the options we’ve got. Not that I’m underestimating Norwich but I’d like to think we’ve got enough about us to deal with them without risking cazorla’s fitness, given the calibre of games we’ve got coming up it would be madness to risk him if he isn’t fully fit then miss him for another stretch of games.
I think the team is very familiar with Santi’s style now and there should not be such problems. he has had some weeks to prepare with the break but yeah if he is still a bit tender, then maybe better for Ozil to start and Santi to come in later.
OTOH with the ‘knock’ sustained by Ozil and the number of games he has played, wouldn’t mind given him half a breather on this one considering Dortmund not far off.
Becoming “match-fit” requires playing matches so if you want him to be match-fit before he starts playing again we’ll never see him in an Arsenal shirt ever again.
We’ve got Rambo, CArzola, OZil, little Mozart, wilshere, Arteta, Flamini in our tank with Giroud mounting the missile….ready to launch waiting for the professors instructions #evil smile#
It’ll be close tomorrow I think, Norwich are a good team. Ruddy will probably be their man of the match. Made easier by his possession of 12 fingers.
on each hand
Personally hoping for us to dish out a rout.
We haven’t done that in a bit and may be time. but a slender win of course better than a draw or loss, goes without saying but there I said it.:D
Think we have to be eying mid-week against Dortmund. Likely ; —————————-Giroud—————————— Rosicky——————Santi———————-Ramsey —————–Jack—————-Flamini——————- Gibbs———–TV————Per——————-Sagna —————————-Szsc——————————– Will be interesting to see if Wenger reverts to tried and tested CB pairing. Personally, I think there may be room for Vermaelen on this one either as a starter or as a sub. Rosicky will likely start. May start Ozil and then introduce Santi either in place or for either Jack or Ramsey. Personally think we should try and play Jack next to Arteta or Flamini supporting and driving from deep. Ramsey and Rosicky flanking either Santi or Ozil will be great as… Read more »
I’m going for 4-0 win tomorrow with giroud 2 , rosicky 1, and cazorla 1 coming of the bench for ozil .
We’re so close to silverware that I can taste it. I know it’s a huge call after a handful of games. Also we’ve only faced spurs of the ‘quality’ sides. There’s something there though. Call it camaraderie or just plain balls. You get the impression that these guys would virtually die for each other. The Invincibles were the only other side that affected me like that. You could feel the hair on your arms stand up when they ran onto the pitch. Shame we didn’t sign another striker. I’m sure that Arsene will redress that in January but we need… Read more »
really sad that the game isn’t shown live there in the UK but I’ve been up since 2:30 am (it’s 3:45 now) and arsenal comes on at 9am my time here in the states but I can’t sleep I’m so anxious.