Top Gun!

Robin van Persie damaged his ankle ligament while playing for Holland in a ‘friendly’ against Italy in November last year. Before the injury, he played 11 games for Arsenal, scoring 7 goals and assisting with further 7. The season before, Robin Van Persie scored 20 goals no less. His mere presence was enough for the men in ‘Red and White’ to perform above par time after the other. Things have been a ‘lil different this term though.

Sahil, an ardent Gooner from India, takes time out & dwells on the same for 11G right now. You can follow him on Twitter as well!

Van Persie scored a winner in the game against Fulham earlier in the season. That might not have been the most crucial of games back then, but winning a title requires such battles to be won more often than drawn or lost.

We have definitely missed him. If we compare his returns to the season before, mathematically it comes to 13 goals. More than the number, it’s his link-up play, which draws the likes of Cesc, Nasri, Arshavin et al into action, apart from the huge assist he provides for the aforementioned, which adds to his immense value.

Bendtner hasn’t done enough to make up for it and Walcott remains an unfinished product. An ‘impact player’ is the new term coined by media moguls in England, who have a habit of over-pricing home-grown talents. That’s the only growth Theo has shown over the years, after eons of ‘the-next-big-thing’ crap we got to hear.

What I am trying to get to is that Van Persie is to Arsenal what Wayne Rooney is to Manchester United. In his absence, we have managed to do rather well this season, winning most games en route, but could have done so much more esp. in the big games, had he been out on the pitch. United meanwhile, s*ck without Shrek in the side.

At the moment, it doesn’t look like we can shade Chelsea in terms of goal difference, i.e. if it comes to that in the first place. Arsenal’s is currently +41 and Chelsea has a healthy lead of 13 with a + 54 with 5 games to go. Van Persie may return, he may even score goals, but that just might not be enough.

What Robin Van Persie will guarantee though, is not having any more nervous finishes. As I watched the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers a week back, my heart was racing & pounding at the rate of knots given the numerous chances Bendtner and Co. missed! What held me together was the belief that we had previously scored late goals all season long.

Robin is a player who scores a goal for every two chances he gets/creates, that’s as good as any in the business. With Bendtner, even 12 outright chances might not be enough you know! Go watch the Burnley game all over again if you don’t get my drift.

The question here being will Van Persie’s return propel Arsenal’s chances for league glory this term or not!? Given the number of chances we create, scoring goals has never been a problem. But expecting him to eradicate the +13 GD in such a small time would be foolish by all means.

Reports suggest Wenger might risk Van Persie in the game against Tottenham on Wednesday. I don’t think Arsene needs to do that just yet as he is not even 100%. He started training with Amsterdam AFC only few days back. With Portsmouth managing to kick Tottenham’s butt in the FA Cup semi-final yesterday, I think Arsenal can pull it off without Robin in the side. Tottenham might be a little fatigued while Arsenal will be rejuvenated after a week’s break, especially after the added incentive of Man Utd dropping points against Blackburn.

The next match is against Wigan & the Gunners can make do without his services even there. If our team can beat Wolves (albeit a late late goal courtesy NB52) I think we’ll be fine against Wigan. It’s the last three matches where we need Robin the most.

The third last game of the season is at home to Manchester City. This will be a very tough proposition for us, even though it is at the Emirates. City’s defence has been quiet good off late and looking at their record, they are the in-form team scoring goals for fun, with Tevez in the form of his life. Breaking their defence down will be hard for the likes of Bendtner and I believe only someone like Van Persie has the class to get in between their defence and score.

Then we have a game against Blackburn. After both Chelsea & United only managed a draw from their respective trips to the Edwood, getting points won’t be easy. Robin’s presence will be a massive boost for us if we are to defeat Blackburn for only for the 3^rd time this season. By this point, we may even be level on points with Chelsea. We must hope for the best and keep scoring as many as possible. Our last match is against Fulham, away. Who knows, Robin might just win us the title in that one! #Hope

RvP might just be the antidote to this injury-plagued team of ours. He might just push Arsenal over the line and win us our very first trophy since 2005. Here’s to Robin Van Persie coming back and immediately scoring goals! Cheers

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Note: If any of you want to share your views/opinions on the club from N5 (read: Arsenal!), leave Us a comment at the bottom. We’ll get back right away & be glad to give you a chance. Keep Gunning..

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11Gunners Exclusive: ‘The North London Derby’(EXPLAINED)

Its more than just a game!!

So we have had our share of fun with this one, its time we get down to serious business as less than 24 hours remain between the Gunners taking the field against their oldest and staunchest rivals, Tottenham. Some games in the Premier League are not just about the points and this one ranks high in the charts. This one is primarily about the pride though Tottenham hardly have any. One has to scout the History books to find the last time they beat us in the League and no matter how hard they have tried, we have always and I mean always got the better of them.

With the 2 teams locked on equal points one can expect nothing but a cracker tomorrow evening, 11Gunners previews the Big One..

The 162nd League Edition of this rivalry is defintiely more spiced up because of the rich vein of form shown by both these clubs so far. But that would be taking the truth to its breaking point. Saying that Tottenham’s quality is at par with us is a hilarious exaggeration.  We enjoy a ten year unbeaten streak against the Lilywhites in the league and the 11th one seems to be on its way. Previous week was a disappointment for us at West Ham but nothing compared to the shock of Tottenham being undone at home by Stoke.

Fabianski has picked up a knock ahead of this one so we might be seeing Manuel Almunia back in action. Theo and Tomas continue to be absentees but we haven’t missed them a lot thus far, not atleast at home where we have played some exhibition stuff to humble our opponents.

Spurs have shown quality this season but Aaron Lennon’s absence is bound to hurt their attacking potency that they have so much faith in. Jermaine Defoe remains suspended and Luka Modric is nursing a broken leg adding to the woes of the Lilywhites.

They say that form goes out of the window when it comes to games like these, but form or no form we seem to have too much quality for them to handle.

MATCH PREDICTION

Arsenal 3 -1 Tottenham

I expect the usual suspects Van Persie, Fabregas and Arshavin to write their names on the scoresheet. Last year’s contest was a thrilling one for neutrals but a disappointing one for us. But this year, get ready to face the music when you make that short trip to the Emirates,  remember who’s your DADDY!!

For all you Gooners, we will be following the game live for you!! So be there to enjoy all the action as we gear up to hunt down our enemies!!

We 'll settle this on pitch, Watsay mate???

They had a strange sort of season in 2008-09 which came to a subdued end at Liverpool. After the first eight games of the campaign, they were headed only one way i.e. to Coca Cola Championship. The arrival of Harry Redknapp, his reinvigoration of the team, and his signings in the January transfer window ensured that that scenario did not come to pass. Yes, it’s Tottenham, our bitter North London rival we are talking about..

They finished 8th last season and missed Europa by a whisker but their season was not all that rosy. Juande Ramos had taken care of that. In spite of all this they had their most memorable game against Arsenal when they came back to score 2 goals in last four minutes to salvage  a 4-4 draw. It was a game Arsenal should have easily won and it is games like these which left us at fourth position by the end of the season. The away game was a goal less draw and we eventually dropped four points against them.

But Tottenham is still a very good team and Harry Redknapp is one of the wiliest, specializing in resuscitating fallen giants. His contacts are virtually unparalleled. Players like Luka Modric can give them the X factor they need. Players like Aaron Lennon, Robby Keane, Roman Pavluchenko & Jermain Jenas need no introduction to Premiership. Their exploits are well documented. This team is good enough to gatecrash the “BIG 4″, as is evident from their fairytale comeback from brink of relegation to brink of Europa league last season.

Tottenham Hotspur have bolstered their defence with the signing of centre-back Sebastien Bao song from Newcastle United for a fee believed to be upwards of £8m.He becomes the fourth summer signing for Redknapp following the acquisitions of Peter Crouch from Portsmouth and Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker from Sheffield United. They offloaded Darrent Bent to Sunderland for £10 million. With a team like this they can’t go anywhere but upwards.

If we manage to get 6 points from them, we may actually win the title. In my opinion games against opponents like Spurs, Everton, Blackburn, etc. is the difference between the title and a fourth finish; rather than games against heavyweights like Man Utd., Liverpool, Chelsea, etc. These grandslams are over hyped as every win in Premiership gets you three points, be it against Sunderland or Chelsea.

So, we must win games against teams like Tottenham, Everton, etc. Fingers crossed. X