Positives from the Weekend

[The Bonstar Wandit]

** A great victory - not just a win, but a smashing. When it went 1-1, I think everyone got nervous, but it was a great performance
** Great goals being spread around. Yes RvP got 3, but 2 for Oxo, one for Arteta & one for Henry is positive
** 3 Assists for Theo. He looked much sharper, and players were finding his runs
** Rosicky is on form. He's been playing well even when the team hasn't. With a full week of rest, he should be fine to face Sunderland and continue his good streak
** Chelsea's confidence will be shot. They lost a 3-0 lead
** Liverpool & Spurs drawing - Arsenal pick up 2 points over both
** Only 3 points off 4th place now

The Sunderland game is massive - momentum needs to be built and win can go some way to doing that.
The Derby is going to be HUGE. A win against Spurs & 3 points are picked up. Nothing less than a victory will do. A loss, and they will be almost out of sight.

[The Magic Man]

Very well said.

The fact that it went to 1 all and then we fought to go 3 - 1 up before the sending off was also very good. Nothing any keeper could have done about their goal.

Negative - Frimpong injured.

[John Jensen's Shooting Boots]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Givet's reaction to his red card stood out to me. Minimal complaints and he even appeared to apologise to both managers when he left the pitch. Crazy times if a footballer is actually showing common sense. I may be giving him more credit than he deserves but it's how I saw it anyway.

[EmirAleks]

Coquelin.

[PNEawf]

Its difficult because of the quality of the opposition. It should raise the confidence of a few players, if not the entire team, at the very least!

[Bergkamp a Dutch master]

rather difficult not to be happy.

[Robin van Bergkamp]

Me too.

I just hope they keep the momentum up and get ahead of Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool in May. If only we could have shifted some of those goals to the three of the four early matches. Would have made a huge difference to the points.

[QWOP]

Seeing as yourselves and us are not really competition, I hope you guys get 4th place. I love watching you play and Wenger has done a hell of a lot for your club and deserves a lot of credit. Good luck against the mucky lot! We will do you a favour and beat Spurs (hopefully!?!?!)

[lazarus20000]

I think this will give us more confidence ahead of our forthcoming Champions league and FA cup games. This should in particular boost the confidence of Walcott who i think will be a key player against AC Milan. We should focus ALL OUR EFFORTS to these two cups.

As for the league, i couldn't careless.

[PISKIE]

Its a big test is away to Sunderland. Sunderland are the form team in the league right now, so we have to approach the game in the right way. My one big fear is that the players think the the pressure is off because they won 7-1.

Wenger said every game needs to be played like a cup final for the rest of the season. He was right.

Sunderland will be a big test. They are pretty good defensively too and will try and soak up our pressure and hit us on the break, so we need to be patient and stick to our game plan. I don't think the players ever think the pressure is off, that's a bit naive to suggest really, but they do need to concentrate for the full 90 mins.

[shaxi]

to keep calm , i think the team can win the game isimportant !

[theHotHead]

Confidence ??? Have you lot not learned anything yet ? When everyone was raving about our 10 game not losing streak ... then look what happened.

Beating 10 man Blackburn 7-1 will have very little bearing on the team's confidence. The players already know how good they are, beating a bottom of the league team down to 10 men 7-1 won't do much. I don't think confidence is the issue anyway, I think it is ability - it seems that losing Arteta was a bigger issue than we imagined. Having Arteta and Rosicky in the middle is vitally important.

[Bergkamp a Dutch master]

ah! common sense returns.

[The Bonstar Wandit]

Beating 10 man Blackburn 7-1 will have very little bearing on the team's confidence. The players already know how good they are, beating a bottom of the league team down to 10 men 7-1 won't do much. I don't think confidence is the issue anyway, I think it is ability

I think confidence is an issue in sport definitely. If you go in feeling good about yourself you will play much better. If you feel you're not doing so well and probably won't win, then you don't. In just the same way as there was less negativity from the fans in the immediate aftermath of the Blackburn game, so the players will feel a bit of a lift after getting a win under their belts. Sport is hugely psychological.

it seems that losing Arteta was a bigger issue than we imagined. Having Arteta and Rosicky in the middle is vitally important.

Arteta has been the lynchpin of the team this season, and it's very important he stays fit. I'm worried he's starting to wear out already from the amount of use he's had. Rosicky has been awesome and must definitely continue in the "Ramsey role" for the next few games if possible.

[lazarus20000]

Confidence ??? Have you lot not learned anything yet ? When everyone was raving about our 10 game not losing streak ... then look what happened.

Beating 10 man Blackburn 7-1 will have very little bearing on the team's confidence. The players already know how good they are, beating a bottom of the league team down to 10 men 7-1 won't do much. I don't think confidence is the issue anyway, I think it is ability - it seems that losing Arteta was a bigger issue than we imagined. Having Arteta and Rosicky in the middle is vitally important.

It will give certain players confidence. I think Walcott in particular will take a lot from this game and his 3 assists will boost his confidence. We need him in particular to fire against AC Milan....

[cjuliennech1]

We do really need a convincing win on saturday to build momentum again, i know that sunderland are playing well at the moment but we need to put on a performance and get the result to try and get a run going. We have a crucial next few weeks with ac milan in mid-week, then the fa cup then spurs then liverpool then the return leg against ac milan and then newcastle come to the emirates, it is again another important period in our season, hopefully we can win this weekend and other results go our way.

[lazarus20000]

We do really need a convincing win on saturday to build momentum again, i know that sunderland are playing well at the moment but we need to put on a performance and get the result to try and get a run going. We have a crucial next few weeks with ac milan in mid-week, then the fa cup then spurs then liverpool then the return leg against ac milan and then newcastle come to the emirates, it is again another important period in our season, hopefully we can win this weekend and other results go our way.

I fear this cold front from Siberia may cause a lot of problems this weekend. Sunderland being quite northern, will be one of the worse affected......But i hope not!

[Bergkamp a Dutch master]

let 'em play wearing parkas, gloves and wooly hats.