Match Reactions [Wenger v Mancini]

The Gunners played out a somewhat uninspiring 0-0 draw with their Barclays Premier League counterparts Manchester City yesterday at the Emirates stadium.

Arsenal failed to make their dominance count, and City's decision to sit back and contain the wounded Gunners drastically reduced the tempo of the match.
Right from the onset it was clear all City wanted was to frustrate the Gunners by curtailing their activities within Shay Given/Nielsen's penalty area whenever they could. Although, there were a few decent chances - the mere fact that we didn't convert any means our hopes of playing in the Champions League for the umpteenth time might still be hanging in the balance. Even though, the Gunners have the edge over Spurs and City, they can't afford not to win at least one of their remaining two matches.

Arsene Wenger believes City came to North London to draw. The Arsenal manager told Arsenal.com: "It was an afternoon I am not used to because we created very few chances and Man City didn't create anything. They were highly focussed on defending well.
"They didn't give us any space and we could not find the opener. For as long as we couldn't do that it was a locked game basically. There were very few chances. It was two teams who played well defensively, had very good discipline but created very few chances," the Frenchman said.

Meanwhile, Roberto Mancini [Manchester City's coach] has denied that his/City's gameplan was to draw at the Emirates: "We do not play to draw, never, but in the first half Arsenal were better than us and had more possession," he said.

"We defended very well and were better in the second half, so the draw was a fair result.
"We have three more games, and they will be crucial games, to decide the season," The Italian concluded.

Kolo Toure: Gallas made me quit Arsenal

Kolo Toure has revealed that his rift with William Gallas made him leave the Arsenal. He spent seven years at the North London outfit and will be returning to the Emirates stadium today for the first time in almost a year.

The ex Arsenal defender spoke his mind on the topic - and to a large extent I believe he has succeeded in dispelling the numerous rumours trailing his £16m summer switch to City.

Kolo said: "I was at Arsenal for seven years and everything was fantastic. But the last two years were difficult.

"I had a few problems with a few people there and wasn't feeling happy, I was looking for somewhere else and a new challenge.

The Ivory Coast international cleverly refused to expantiate on the nature of his feud with the ex Arsenal captain, but judging from his utterances - it is crystal clear that Gallas took his respect for granted: "Gallas and me misunderstood each other at certain times and one of us had to leave. As a player I had great respect for him as he was older than me," The Ivorian said.

"In Africa when someone is older you have respect for them, but I think sometimes he took advantage of that in someways.

"That was it," he continued. "I think Arsene understood that. I didn't want to make any trouble for Arsenal because I'd had a really good time there and they gave me my chance.

Toure said of his relationship with Arsene Wenger and why he refused to communicate with William Gallas: "There was no problem with Arsene and me. I have huge respect for him. But me and Gallas? We didn't talk to each other at all.

"It really came down to me, because I didn't want to leave the team in a difficult position and I was the one who said I wanted to go."

Toure stated in unequivocal terms that he left Arsenal because he was bullied, and for the simple reason that he thought Arsenal has lost the winning mentality associated with them. Toure, added that he joined Manchester City to further his blossoming career: "At the end of the last few seasons we were without any trophies," he said.

"That was difficult for me because I was getting used to winning trophies with players like Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp, so after four years without that it became difficult.

"Everytime we got to the end of the season and had key games, we always seemed to have injuries or were unlucky."

Although Gallas and Toure, might not have buried their hatchet yet, the latter still believes in the Arsenal and expects Wenger to turn things around next season: "It's been like that for a few seasons now at Arsenal but Arsene is a really intelligent man and for next season he will change a few things," he concluded.

Injury Update: Arsenal/City, and match referee

The North London outfit is losing momentum. Arsenal have lost their last three games, two in the Barclays Premier League [Tottenham 2-1, Wigan 3-2] and one in the UEFA Champions League [Barcelona 4-1].

The Gunners will be looking to secure their Champions League spot by beating fellow contenders Manchester City at the Emirates stadium tomorrow.

City will miss the services of Martin Johnson, Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott. But they are set to unleash former Arsenal stars Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure and maybe Sylvinho on their almost defenseless host.

Arsenal's injury situation this season has cost us dearly [virtually everything]. The Gunners have been without a lot of their key players [A. Song, William Gallas, Manuel Almunia, Andrey Arshavin] in recent weeks.
However, Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger told Arsenal Tv Online that only Alexandre Song could be eligible to face the wasteful spenders: "Maybe Song. He has a test on Friday (today) and we will see," Wenger maintained.

"Apart from that nobody is back.
Andrey Arshavin is out.
Everyone else - Gallas, Almunia, Denilson - is still out too," he added.

¤Match Officiator

Mike Dean will officiate tomorrow's Barclays Premier League encounter between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates.

The 42-year-old referee has overseen 40 games this season - giving out 139 yellow cards and 7 red cards in the process.
He will be assisted by Peter Kirkup and Rob Lewis.

Arshavin: I've fully recovered and I'm ready to face City

Arsenal's controversial midfielder Andrey Arshavin says he is ready to duel with City on Saturday.

The Russian International was substituted against Barcelona last month in the Champions League after picking up an injury [calf], although the team persevered without him at the Emirates - we failed to capitalise on our early lead at the Camp Nou and Messi punished us severely for our meekness in front of goal.

The Gunner told Arsenal.com that his rehabilitation is going to plan: "I am recovering and I hope to be back for Manchester City," he enthused.

Just like his team mate [Nasri], Arshavin also, blamed our title barreness on injuries and implored his team mates to secure their Champions League spot by winning their last three games: "This season has been tough and tight. Sometimes it was even difficult for myself and the team but in general it was not bad. Hopefully we will win the last three games," he asserted.

Arshavin refused to concede to the generality that the Arsenal has failed in totality, instead he concentrated on the positives of the season: "We have scored a lot of goals at the end of the games and we managed to stage comebacks. We have to use that spirit next season. We can fight again next season.

"It would be easier for us [if we had not had the injuries]. I can't say we would be Champions but it would have been easier for us," he concluded.

Ex-Gunner advises Adebayor

Arsenal's former defensive enforcer Kolo Toure has warned his City team mate Emmanuel Adebayor to refrain from his antics ahead of Manchester City's make/mar encounter with Arsenal.

Ade left the North London outfit for a mouth-watering fee of £25m last summer, although he denied vehemently that he left the London giants because of monetary issues, his actions against his former club speak otherwise.
The Togolese ex-International incurred the wrath of both the FA, and Arsenal faithfuls for racing down the length of the pitch to celebrate his goal in front of his former fans and well wishers. He was also handed a three match suspension by the FA for maliciously stamping on former team mate Robin Van Persie in the same match.

Toure, who deliberately turned his back on Wenger and the club that shot him to limelight at a time they needed his services most, sensationally told Sky Sports News that he has advised his team mate [Adebayor] to respect himself at the Emirates: "I had a word with him, Patrick had a word with him as well," he said.

"The most important thing for him is to play and to give everything for our club Man City.

"I told him just to calm down and focus on the game because that's the most important. If we start to be emotional that's when we can drop some points.
For us the most important thing is to win the game."

Toure, believes he will escape the attention of the Arsenal boo-boys at the Emirates because he had an outstanding relationship with them before leaving alongside Ade: "I have always had a great relationship with the [Arsenal] fans. Now I am in a new family and I think they are all fantastic," he enthused.

"I think it is going to be a great, great day for all of us because we are all looking forward to going back and playing against our old team."

Toure charged his team mates to take advantage of the Gunners precarious injury situation: "I think it's a great time to play against them, because they have a few injured players and maybe we can come back with some points," he concluded.