Big hitters to "book-a-rest" against Steaua

There is a more important agenda to the game against Steaua tonight than winning the game. As far as I’m concerned, Arsenal are going to finish second, due to a gamble from Mr Wenger when he played a reserve side in Prague, which didn’t pay off. He will play a similar side against Steaua tonight, with the Chelsea game in mind – in this instance, I can understand resting some of the first-teamers.

Much more significant are the returns of Jens Lehman and Robin Van Persie. Unlike a lot of Arsenal fans, I have backed Almunia time and time again, when he has often come in for some unnecessary criticism. However, I have come to realise that Almunia will never be a match-winner for Arsenal, as Lehman was so often in the Champions League run of 2005/06 and for the great Invincibles. To win the English Premiership, you have to have a match-winning goalkeeper, and Manuel, unfortunately, isn’t it. The return of Jens will sit uneasily with many fans due to his moaning and jibes at Wenger, but a good ‘keeper needs to be arrogant, needs to believe he is the best, otherwise there is no point in being a no.1, so his moaning isn’t such a bad thing, he just thinks he is still the best.

For most Arsenal fans however, it is the return of RVP that will get the pulses racing. He isn’t certain to start tonight, but just having the Dutch prodigy on the bench is very encouraging considering the lack of natural attacking flair in recent weeks. Rosicky, a very technically gifted footballer, simply hasn’t been good enough in the absence of Hleb and Fabregas. This was a chance for him to make his presence felt as an Arsenal player, and impose his fantastic ability on the premiership, but he hasn’t delivered. He will always produce brilliant moments, but my worry is that he will never produce on a regular basis, and to win a premiership, consistency is a must. Adebayor can either be brilliant and unplayable, or dire and useless, not often does he play somewhere in between. Of late, his performances have resembled more of the latter description – again the lack of consistency is a worry. The return of RVP is massive to Arsenal’s season. He is world-class. He can dribble, create, and importantly, loves to shoot – and he is very good at it! With RVP in the side, I think we will beat Chelsea, simple as that. I can’t describe how happy I am that RVP is back in the squad.

Briefly on Capello – great manager, fantastic record, will not give two hoots about egos and wags, but one problem I have is the language barrier – his English is poor at best (could be a good thing, won’t understand the players’ moaning or the press!)

Last game of the season for Sparta Praguematic tonight, we have a great chance of finishing in our highest ever position of third, then onto the awards evening, I will give a run-down of the awards in the next post.

By Martin Webb