Whats' next for Arsenal after Thrashing Tottenham 5 - 2?

It was yet a great weekend of football in the English Premier League. Manchester City was at home to Blackburn, Manchester United away at Norwich City, Chelsea at home to Bolton and the biggest clash of all was on Sunday the 26^th February. It was the north London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs. Liverpool was not in action in the premier league but were playing in the Carling Cup final at Wembley where they beat Cardiff City 3 – 2 on post match penalties to lift the cup.

Tomas Rocisky celebrates after scoring Arsenal's third goal

The Gunners were at home – Emirates Stadium and they desperately needed a win after a disastrous week where they lost by four goals to nil in Milan, AC Milan all but knocking them out of The Champions League ahead of their return leg at the Emirates, Sunderland knocked them out of the FA cup where they won by two goals to nil. It was the second visit for the Gunners in seven days after beating the Black Cats 2 – 1 in the premier league.

Spurs - in the ascendancy over Arsenal for so much of the season - looked to be on course for the first back-to-back league wins at the home of their arch-rivals for 86 years as an early goal from Louis Saha and Emmanuel Adebayor's penalty put them in a commanding position within 34 minutes.

Arsenal recovered from two goals down to thrash Tottenham 5 – 2, thanks to goals from Sagna, Robin Van Persie and Tomas Rocisky, who was the man of the match as he caused the Spur’s defence a lot of problems. Theo Walcott added a brace to finish the rout in the second half after having a less impressive first half.

This result just gave them not only three points that they really needed but reasserted their superiority in London and restored their pride. The Gunners face Liverpool at Arnfield at 12:45 GMT. This will be an interesting game because both teams are buoyed from their wins the previous weekend and I know many fans can’t wait to watch. Both teams are fighting for the fourth spot together with Chelsea who saw off Bolton Wanderers 3 – 0 at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester United needed a late strike from veteran Ryan Giggs who was playing his 900^th game for United to secure all the three points. He converted an Ashley Young's cross at the far post in the 90^th minute and this moved them two points behind league leaders Manchester City. Manchester United will face Tottenham at white hart lane on Sunday.

EPL RESULTS FOR 25^TH/26^TH FEBRUARY 2012

Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham	Sun 26 Feb
Norwich 1-2 Man Utd	Sun 26 Feb
Stoke 2-0 Swansea	Sun 26 Feb
Chelsea 3-0 Bolton	Sat 25 Feb
Newcastle 2-2 Wolves	Sat 25 Feb
QPR 0-1 Fulham	Sat 25 Feb
West Brom 4-0 Sunderland	Sat 25 Feb
Wigan 0-0 Aston Villa	Sat 25 Feb
Man City 3-0 Blackburn	Sat 25 Feb

EPL FIXTURES 3TH MARCH 2012

Liverpool  v  Arsenal	12:45
Blackburn  v  Aston Villa	15:00
Man City v  Bolton	15:00
QPR  v  Everton	15:00
Stoke  v  Norwich	15:00
West Brom v  Chelsea	15:00
Wigan  v  Swansea	15:00

EPL FIXTURES 4TH MARCH 2012

Newcastle  v  Sunderland	12:00
Fulham v  Wolves	14:05
Tottenham v  Man Utd	16:10

What’s your predictions for today’s games?

View Mark Lawrenson's Premier League predictions by clicking here.

Enjoy watching!

Man City restore their 3 point lead at the top while Arsenal fall off the pace thanks to the brilliant Swans

It was yet another very busy weekend in the English Premier League.

On Saturday, the 14^th January, 2012, Aston Villa were away to Everton, Blackburn visited Fulham while Chelsea welcomed Sunderland at The Bridge. Liverpool were at home to Stoke while Manchester United entertained Bolton at Old Trafford. Tottenham welcomed Wolves at White Hart lane while West Brom were at home to Norwich City.

The results were as varied and unpredictable as always in the Barclays Premier League.

Manchester United moved level on points with their city rivals Manchester City on 48 points after beating Bolton 3 – 0. There was nothing un expected with this result as Bolton has been in the relegation zone since the season begun. Paul Scholes scored the opener on his return from retirement.

Aston Villa were held to a one all draw by Everton while Blackburn beat Fulham by three goals to one. Chelsea beat Sunderland by a solitary goal to move to forty points. Frank Lampard scored his eleventh goal of the season to guarantee Chelsea all the three points and enable them a firm grip on the fourth place. Tottenham missed the chance to move level on points with Man U and Man City after they were held to a one all draw by Wolves

EPL Results @14 Jan 2012

·  Aston Villa   1-1 Everton

·  Blackburn     3-1 Fulham

·  Chelsea        1-0 Sunderland

·  Liverpool      0-0 Stoke

·  Man Utd      3-0 Bolton

·  Tottenham    1-1 Wolves

·  West Brom   1-2 Norwich

Arsenal were away on Sunday the 15^th to Swansea City while Newcastle were at home to

QPR.

Arsenal drifted further away from the top four when they were beaten by three goals to two by Swansea City. It was the first time since 1982 for the Gunner to be beaten by the Swans. Arsenal really missed the services of midfiel maestro Mikel Arteta and Swansea ruled the midfield with possession for long periods. The Gunners took an early lead with a well-taken Robin van Persie goal but Swansea equalized from the spot. Scott Sinclair converted a penalty after Aaron Ramsey's foul before Nathan Dyer clipped the Swans in front.

The Welsh captain was very poor with the ball and lost possession several times and in one of those incidences, Swansea went ahead in the second half when he lost the ball and Dyer slammed home to make it 2 – 1. Theo Walcott dinked over Michel Vorm to level but, less than a minute later, Danny Graham slotted home the winner.

Wenger cried wolf over the penalty decision but blamed the poor defending for Arsenal’s loss. Swansea played great passing football and deserved all the three points.

Newcastle United beat QPR – Queens Park Ranger to move to sixth position and level with on points with fifth placed Arsenal.

EPL Results @ 15 Jan 2012

·  Newcastle    1-0  QPR

·  Swansea       3-2  Arsenal

Man City were away on Monday night to Wigan.

Edin Dzeko heads home for Man City

Wigan played a great game to try and move from the bottom of the table but conceded a solitary goal and remained at the bottom of the league with just fifteen points from twenty one games.

Edin Dzeko's header saw Manchester City beat Wigan to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to three points over Manchester United. The Bosnian leapt to deftly flick home David Silva's free-kick from the left midway through the first half.

Joe Hart denied James McArthur and James McCarthy who had good chances.

Man City now has fifty one points from twenty one games and anyone who had doubts of them being serious contenders for the premier league title should ....well ...... think again!

UEFA Champions League last 16 Draw pairs Arsenal against AC Milan and Chelsea against Napoli ....Tough!

Tough draw for English teams in the final 16.

The much awaited Champions League last 16 draw is out. It’s a tough draw for English teams (read London) Arsenal & Chelsea. Arsenal will be facing Italian giants AC Milan while Chelsea will face the less fancied but tough opponents Napoli. It will be worth noting that Napoli beat Manchester City to finish as runners up behind Bayern Munich.

Below is how the teams were drawn in the cream of the crop Europe clubs competition:

• Lyon v Apoel
• Napoli v Chelsea
• AC Milan v Arsenal
• Basel v Bayern Munich
• Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
• CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
• Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica
• Marseille v Inter Milan

All the group winners will be away in the first legs between 14-15 and 21-22 February and at home in the return matches between 6-7 and 13-14 March, 2012.

Below are some collective thoughts from some players, managers and club officials just after the draw courtesy of twitter and bbc sports. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/9663176.stm

 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "You cannot avoid anybody. You would say Basel but they were a very difficult opponent for Manchester United. So you take the draw as it comes, analyse it and plan for the game. The Italian teams have a history but you don't know how it will go."

Arsenal Club Secretary David Miles: "It's probably the pick of the round. They'll be two fantastic games. If I'm being honest, there are some other teams I would have preferred. Last time we played them in season 07-08, we actually went through after winning 2-0 in the San Siro so our recent history against them is good."

Ac Milan Director Umberto Gandini: "Tie of the round. For the quality and the appeal of the two clubs it is a fantastic tie. Last time we lost 2-0 to Arsenal at the San Siro and we were knocked out by Tottenham last year. We are determined to go through. Last year we had lots of injuries but right now we are in a better status than Arsenal. But lots can change in two months. They have a great player in Robin van Persie and Arsene Wenger is a great coach."

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere on Twitter: "Hard draw but you have to beat the best to win it! Looking forward to it! #Gooners"

Cesc Fabregas on Twitter: "Woooow Arsenal vs Milan!!!! What a draw!!!!"

FAST FACT
In a knockout situation, no Italian side has ever beaten Arsenal. The English side have got through seven two-leg ties and one final.

Chelsea Club Secretary David Barnard: "It will be difficult. Napoli were in the same group as Man City and Man City are unfortunately no longer with us so that has some bearing on quality of Napoli. We all know that [Chelsea boss] Andre [Villas-Boas] has experience with Inter [Milan] so he will know the ins and outs of Napoli I'm sure. It will be an occasion. It will be a lot warmer, too as we could have got a Russian team where it would have been colder."

It will be the hope of the English teams managers that they get a good result in Italy in the away legs and also good results in London in the return legs to qualify for the quarter finals.

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In other news Manchester United draw Ajax, Manchester City will face Porto and Stoke City are paired with Valencia in the Europa League last 32.