2006/07: The season so far...

Well, firstly welcome to my blog on the mighty Arsenal. Hopefully you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.

The Season
Well, what an eventful campaign it has been so far. So many ups and downs throughout these past months that have left all gooners on the edge of their seats. So I suppose we should start at the beginning.

Arsene Wenger opened his cheque book early on in the summer to snap up Czech international playmaker, Tomas Rosicky. He joined the gunners from German side Borussia Dortmund for a fee of around £7m. Rosicky was a hit at the World Cup, scoring 2 wonderful goals for his country in a 3-0 win over USA. So Mr Wenger had done it again. How does he do it?

August 19th 2006 was a big day in Arsenal's history, the first competitive fixture to be played at the brand new Emirates Stadium. Aston Villa were the opponents on the day and it was almost a disastrous start for the Gunners at their new home. Olof Mellberg put the visitors ahead and a poor Arsenal performance made it look like they were heading for defeat. But it was all about to change when 17 year old Theo Walcott came off the bench to make a huge impact. He scared the hell out of the Villa defence with his electric pace and sublime dribbling ability. But his finest moment came 5 minutes from the end when his cross was flicked on for Gilberto to fire past the helpless Sorensen. The rest of August wasn't good either after a defeat to Manchester City and another home draw, this time to Middlesbrough, left the giants from North London in a ridiculous 17th place in the Premiership table. But there was an upside to the month: A Deadline Day Transfer Bonanza. Public enemy Ashley Cole joined Chelsea while French defender, William Gallas went the other way, joining the mighty Gunners. Then Arsenal and Real Madrid were involved in a loan swap: Jose Reyes going to The Bernebeau with Julio 'The Beast' Baptista coming to North London. Pascal Cygan (to the delight of gooners worldwide) joined Villarreal for £2m before Arsenal clinched the signing of Brazilian midfielder, Denilson.

September brought a smile to all Gooners' faces. It all looked over. 2 points from a possible 9, before a game at Old Trafford against in-form Manchester United, surely they were doomed. But no. Step forward Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. The Gunners controlled the game leaving the home side lost and constantly on the backfoot. Gilberto had a penalty saved early on but still Arsenal kept trying, with United keeper Tomasz Kuszczak making numerous saves. But the moment came. 19 year old Fabregas tackled Cristiano Ronaldo before playing a sublime pass into Adebayor, who cooly placed his shot under Kuszczak's body to win it for Arsenal. The irony of course was that Adebayor had been in awful form and was getting huge stick from Arsenal fans. But now, the hitman from Togo has won us over with a string of tireless performances, sometimes ending in goals. In September the Gunners also notched up wins against Charlton and Sheffield United to send them shooting up the table.

Then the wins were rolling in. Watford, Hamburg, Porto and West Brom all suffered defeats against Arsenal but the best performance was the 4-0 at Reading's Madejski Stadium. The Gunners looked like champions, confidently passing the ball around as well as scoring 4 goals at the place where Chelsea just scraped a win and Manchester United only managed a draw. The goals came from Alex Hleb, Robin Van Persie and two from Henry. After an impressive win over Liverpool at home, Arsenal struggled. Defeats at Bolton and Fulham and a draw at home to Newcastle saw them slip back down the table. But they bounced back with a 3-0 win over Tottenham.

Arsenal's youngsters were looking strong in the Carling Cup and proved themselves in a classic game at Anfield, with the score finishing Liverpool 3-6 Arsenal. Brazilian striker Julio Baptista netted 4 goals, putting an end to the recent criticism he had been recieving. Jeremie Aliadiere and Alex Song grabbed the others in a delightful win. Then the Young Guns travelled to White Hart Lane where they came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2, both of the goals coming from Baptista. The return leg at the Emirates was another classic encounter. Emmanuel Adebayor put the Gunners ahead before Mido equalised late on for Spurs. So it went to injury time. But Arsenal were too strong for their neighbours, goals from Aliadiere and Tomas Rosicky giving them a 3-1 win on the night.

Well, as you can see it has been a rollercoaster ride so far and lets hope it ends in success, come May...