Theo's found his form

Is it just me or has Theo Walcott being playing increasingly well at Arsenal recently and now should really be pushing for a stating place as a striker or on the wing.

In the match against Blackburn he came on with Adebayor and really made the difference and really was one of the main reasons Arsenal came back.
And on Wednesday came on for RVP at half time and played really well, by creating space for himself and others, terrorising the fullbacks and even coming in now and again to have a pop at goal.

He really does deserve to be starting now with his new found form, and the thing with him is when he does get some confidence he suddenly steps up a gear.

C'mon Wenger nows the time to pick him

Wenger focused on critical period

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes the next 10 days will be crucial in defining the Gunners' season.

His side play two legs of the Champions League quarter-final with Liverpool either side of a home Premier League game against the Reds on Saturday.

And with a visit to league leaders Manchester United to follow a week later, Wenger says the pressure is on.

"The next 10 days will be vital for our season. It will be the highest challenge for me," said the Frenchman.

News conference: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger

"I strongly believe we're in the race for the Championship and in Europe."

And Wenger is confident that Arsenal are approaching the key series of matches in the right frame of mind, following their remarkable victory at Bolton last week, when they hit back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 with 10 men.

"When you are two down, with 10 men, and you haven't won for five games and you ask the team to win the game, they must have some special belief and mental strength to go and do it," he said.

"What I have learned is that when our backs are to the wall, they have extraordinary resources."

However, the Frenchman insists he is expecting a different style of match when his side face Liverpool in Europe, saying: "Liverpool will make it tight and play on the break more than they do in the championship. Europe is all about being in a good shape on the day.

"There are always tactics involved, but the key is the form and spirit of the team."

We have shown we have the quality to stop them but it not about them it's about us Kolo Toure

Meanwhile, defender Kolo Toure has warned his team-mates that Steven Gerrard - and not in-form striker Fernando Torres - is the key to Liverpool this campaign.

"Fernando's a good player, he's done well in Spain and is doing really well in England," he said.

"But they also have Gerrard who is really good. If you can stop him you can stop the team. If they don't have a really good Gerrard the game will be a lot easier for us.

"We have shown we have the quality to stop them but it not about them, it's about us. The team who wants it more will win.

"We know we can beat any team if we are on top of our game."

Arsenal Exceed Expectations, But Not There Yet

Despite the best comeback since Lazarus this weekend, I reckon Arsenal will finish 2nd or more likely, 3rd this season. There are three reasons for this in my opinion.

1) Lack of quality depth in the squad (particularly defence)

As has been highlighted in recent weeks, when the likes of Toure are out, there is a lack of quality cover in the team. Senderos is error-prone and Djourou is out injured. Hoyte is not a centre back, and Song is erratic. Once Eduardo got knacked, only Adebayor was the only consistent goalscorer, with Van Persie only just coming back from injury. Rosicky is made of glass and Diaby is no goal-getting midfielder. Some players are excellent, such as Sagna, Fabregas and Clichy but you don’t see the continuity that Man United or Chelsea (or Liverpool to an extent) have.

2) Hleb

Despite a good early season and a good performance against AC Milan (fuelled by ice cream apparently), he has reverted to form; “All show, no go” said my Gooner mate. “Why won’t he f*c*i*g shoot” he added.

3) Eboue

Can someone explain to me what this bloke adds to the team? He can’t cross, he can’t tackle, he doesn’t score, can’t defend and generally appears irrelevant. During the Chelsea game the other week he was being booed – was this by the Arsenal fans? His histrionics must be embarrassing to Arsenal fans, and his behaviour in general is pretty disgraceful. Walcott is a much better option, he can take players on a bit more and scores goals from time to time.

What Arsenal appear to lack is a big player – someone like Torres, Ronaldo or Henry. The sort of player that other teams would look at and think “I hope he’s not in the team today”. Arsenal will probably spend about 12 quid in the summer, buying some unknown players and turn them into multi-million pound assets and watch them be linked with Barcelona and Real Madrid every day for the rest of their careers but I reckon they could do worse than blow some decent money on two or three experienced individuals; Gallas and Rosicky are the only proven players bought recently, others such as Eduardo, Sagna and Walcott haven’t done it yet.

The season for Arsenal is not over yet, but the three games against Liverpool are extremely significant – aside from the fact that they have to go to Old Trafford in the League. They’ll still finish above Tottenham though, despite what was written in the meeja back in the Summer….