Football

A good evening for stakeholders in the Zlatron project!

Turning to friends in high places to improve our league position. Questionable if even his gaffer can save us now.

Stick him in, can't be any worse than Phil Bardsley.

Stick him in, can't be any worse than Phil Bardsley.

I'd be on board, as long as he doesn't have an Instagram account!

Chris Kirkland has been trying to pull off the baseball cap look for years now, but he still hasn't managed it. He's been trying to be a goalkeeper for years as well, never really nailed that either.

Fucking Manure and their bloody late come-backs.

Another great day at Fortress Villa Park for the travelling faithful. Thanks for tickling our bellies, like the imbecilic dogs we are, Everton.

Speaking of soft touches at home, what a humiliating week for Schalke. Men against boys today, Draxler who? 

Another great day at Fortress Villa Park for the travelling faithful. Thanks for tickling our bellies, like the imbecilic dogs we are, Everton.

Benteke looked off the pace after his injury.

Rock bottom in the Premier League, minus fifteen goal difference, worst start to the season in history, but still better than Newcastle!

Benteke looked off the pace after his injury.

Yep, unfortunately he's our Plan A, B, C and D!

Hard to state just how happy this news makes me.

Thuggery thy name is Sunderland. 

Thuggery thy name is Sunderland. 

I can think of a few other names as well. Talk about the Hugo Lloris concussion, there was a whole team out there on Saturday that appeared dazed, confused and only vaguely aware of its surroundings.

Seven red cards and counting for Cattermole, and still no evidence that he has the brains or the ability to learn from his mistakes. I hope he still enjoys his reputation as a hardman in a couple of years' time when he's playing for Darlington or Hartlepool. Probably goes without saying too that the Dossena challenge was absolutely revolting.

I've noticed my very own Ashley Westwood has replaced mundane functional midfield play with an alarming tendency to slide into reckless tackles while Joe Bennett showed a few Cattermole-esque moves last year, presumably one of many reasons why he hasn't appeared much this season. Fabian Delph, improbably one of our better players in 2013, usually picks up a yellow in the eighth minute of every game but its usually a mis-timed fair dinkum caution, clumsy but with no malice. Alan Hutton (the Scottish Cafu, if you prefer) was, nay, is a genuine, straight-up thug and simply had no place in the sacred colours, as Lambert recognised.

An evening to forget.

A massive Arsenal victory achieved through sheer resilience. Perhaps the 2012 doomsday prophecies were a year early?

If Arsenal win this weekend, are they a real title candidate?

11 games is 29% of the season. It cannot be dismissed as too small a sample size.

In my opinion, a win on Sunday should immediately see them installed as firm favourites. I saw a stat somewhere that they've taken 60-something points from 26 matches since losing back-to-back games in January. Spread that across a full season and you'd end up with a total in the mid 90s - close to a Premier League record.