it's been a tough week for arsene wenger but things aren't as bad as they look

Spare a thought for Arsene Wenger as he peruses the fate of his mice, not men, after their drubbing at home to Chelsea – the second time in two seasons that the Blues have duffed them up and taken their dinner money at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger must be feeling a little bruised and alienated after reading the papers this morning. In them he is lambasted in his comments about Didier Drogba, which had The Sun newspaper suggesting that he needs his head examined.

While no one in their right mind should take heed of anything The Sun says (they have the worst tipster in Christendom on their roster, for a start) there is a little mystery to what the great Frenchman said about the Ivory Coast striker. The papers claim that what he said was: “Didier Drogba doesn’t do a lot.”

What he actually said was: “He’s a good player. It’s funny because he doesn’t do a lot, but he’s efficient in what he does. You would be surprised by the number of balls he touched today.”

Very different. I can understand what Wenger is saying. He had just watched his players boss the beginning and middle of two halves of football, only to lack the killer “Thierry Henry” touch in front of goal. While the Gunners tried to walk the ball into the back of the net, Chelsea just needed to get close enough to allow Drogba to apply the killer touch, which he did twice. A third wicked cross from Ashley Cole sealed the deal.

It is clear that what Arsenal miss is thierry Henry – or his ilk. A striker that can put away 30 goals in a season and would thrive on playing with the creative players Arsenal have from the middle of the park upwards.

Eduardo is clearly still struggling from a! confidence issue: no goals in nine games now, he turns into a! skittis h salmon whenever he gets within viewing distance of a net. His replacement in the second half, the Mexican striker Carlos Vella is a poor second and woefully out of his league in the Premiership.

That said, all is not completely lost for the Gunners who are not alone in their troubles at the top. The top four – by that I mean Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – have lost a whopping 14 games between them this season and still only one team (Tottenham) has infiltrated their total hold on the top of the league.

That, at the very least, gives them hope for a continuation of Champions League action next season. And with passage through to the last 16 of that competition already assured, things will be looking up for Arsenal after Christmas.

There is a good reason why the bookies have Arsene Wenger at 80/1 to be the next Premier League manager to get the sack – it’s not going to happen any time soon.

Merseyside derby

Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will welcome the unwanted attention that Wenger is receiving – it nicely takes the pressure off him for a change.

As does an unconvincing 2-0 win over Everton, who are a shadow of the team that did so well last season.

Everton were tactically enterprising against a cagey Liverpool side, and squandered a number of chances, but were hit by two sucker punches. Perhaps that win was some well overdue luck for Benitez who has been pretty friendless this season.

He will be hoping that winning the Merseyside derby will kick-start their season.

This week in Europe

This week sees the end of the group stages of the Champions League – and the end of inter-country European action for the year. But beware investing too much this week, as most games are dead rubbers.

The bookies are being very cagey about putting prices up for Europe this season: the shock of a huge number of betting anomalies across Europe has left them feeling very nervous about ties that they do not understand fully.

So, it is worth being extra specially careful this week, as the prices may be all over the place. Keep an eye out for what coaches are saying about the importance of each game – especially those that have already qualified.

What’s new on footbet

The last week or so has been about tidying up the website. All of last year’s tips have been updated. As have this year’s tips.

Also, the stats page is up to date and the general design of the website has been improved. I hope you enjoy.

Final testing of the new password protected area has been completed – it is all ready for its rollout on the 1st January 2010.

Watch this space!

Sean Smith
Editor
Footbet