Arsenal rue missed chances: The Player Ratings.

Szczesny (6): Not a convincing performance. Looked under pressure with the ball at his feet. Did well to stop Ngog early on, and Davies late on.

Sagna (7): Good comeback, won his fair share of tackles, and almost grabbed an assist. Showed what we were missing at RB.

Mert (6.5): Good game, stood up to pretty much everything thrown at him.

Kos (6): Difficult first half. Struggled to cope with the strength of Ngog. Slightly better 2nd half

Verm (6): Decent shift.

Song (5): Poor game by his standards. Kept losing the ball due to a lack of concentration.

Ramsey (4.5): Clearly overplayed and out of form. Kept trying but it just wasn’t happening for him. He needs to rest.

Arteta (7): Very impressive game. Kept things ticking in the middle.

Walcott (5): Missed a great chance in the first half. Squandered another good chance late on. He should be scoring those. Did not do enough to impress me. I wonder why Arsene keeps him on for 90mins.

Oxo (6): Good performance, looked to do something special each time he had the ball. Lasted 66 minutes.

RVP (7.5): He looked fired up for this one from the start. Hit the post twice with amazing efforts. He deserved more.

SUBS:

Henry (5): Came on, didn’t do much.

Rosicky (5): Not enough action.

Another chance to close up on the top 4 squandered. More points dropped. Sad, really.

Arsenal sign someone|Some good news|Bolton Preview.

Top of the morning wherever this post meets you!

The winter transfer window slammed shut last night and calls for strengthening the team in January fell on deaf ears. Not one player was added to the first team, not even the striker we all hoped Arsene would sign.

This however excludes the capture of German sensation Thomas Eisfeld. The 19 year old attacking midfielder joins from Dortmund B side and will be looking to make the huge step up.

In case you didn’t know, Ryo Miyiachi has joined Bolton until the end of the season. It’s good to have him staying in the EPL as it helps him to qualify as being homegrown.

We will also get to see him week in week out, so this has positivity written all over it. Let’s hope he can do a Wilshere and return guns blazing.

Talking Bolton, we play them later today in the EPL. Ryo won’t feature so you can rest your heads. They don’t have Cahill anymore so their defence is not as good.

It has to be noted however that they are in their best form this season, having won 2 of their last 3 in the league.

We have Sagna, Djourou, Arteta, and Henry back for this one. But I still would start Coquelin at RB and ease Sagna into the next home game.

Preferred XI: Sz13; Coq, Mert, Kos, TV5; Song, Arteta, Rosicky; RVP, Theo, Arshavin.

Rosicky deserves to start this one, he’s been nothing short of outstanding recently, so Ramsey makes way. I’ll also start Arshavin because of his experience and quality. Yes! You read that right, moreover I’ll be more confident if it was Oxo-Chamb replacing Andrei than vice versa.

I’m predicting 2-0 to the good guys!

Some good news comes in the form of Gibbs training again. We have had to shift TV5 to LB in the main time and it has not been entirely successful.

As such it will be great to have a mobile (and natural) LB who can support the winger. TV5 can then move back into his position at the heart of our defence.

Even though we dropped a lot of points January, one can see the reasoning behind Arsene’s refusal to sign a defender. We have most of our players returning; Diaby returned to London yesterday, Andre Santos last week and both are recovering well. Also Wilshere’s set back is not as serious as feared.

The victory over Aston Villa last weekend was a big boost and will help players’ belief; add that to recent injury news and we have a lot of reasons to stay positive. It’s not over…yet!

Before I go, I’d like to get your opinion on a very interesting issue. I was caught up in a debate on twitter this morning and it centered around our aspirations this season and the next.

So in short, if you had to choose between Arsenal winning the FA Cup this season (and finish 5th or 6th) OR Arsenal qualifying for the Champions League (and stay trophyless), which would you choose, and why?

Share your thoughts with me in the comments!

Cheers!