BigWalrus

Little bit less than that, but it's not far off. He's one of our higher earners, but isn't as well paid as Marveaux.

I'd quite like Chelsea to win, purely because I hate the bindippers more.

Don't really rate Gomis. And after the way he pissed about in the summer, I'd rather we held firm and told him to fuck off.

True. The arguing over nothing incidents like the ball going out or a potential handball infringement is silly. They were down to 9 men so were always going to concede goals

Aye, we've beaten Man Utd, Spurs and Chelsea. We've drawn with Liverpool and we've been beaten well by Man City and narrowly by Arsenal. I'd have snapped your hands off for 10 points from those 6 games.

All HBA needed to do was shoot across the keeper - even a miss hit could take a deflection or rebound off the keeper. If he goes near post it has to be pin point accurate as well as powerful to beat the keeper. In a box full of defenders with tired, flailing legs, firing it across the keeper was the sensible option. Never mind.

I think our approach was fine overall. Had we started with the side that finished, we'd have been carved open. We've set up shop to attack teams before and it has backfired badly. Our side was set up solidly from the back and it was only an iffy free kick (admittedly badly defended) that let them in. The push in the last 10 minutes could have opened them up on another day but it wasn't to be.

HBA is to you what Shane is to CT.

Shola's purpose is to be a static target to keep them pegged in their own box. It's worked to be fair.

The best and worst of HBA in one go. He's infuriating at times.

10 minutes to go for it.

No chance of a penalty like that with Probert as ref. He gives nowt to anyone.

It was never a free kick in the first place man, he barely leaned on Carzola.

We now have no choice but to go for it. I see either a draw or a heavy defeat on the cards now.

Pardew lets his poker face slip first. Mr Wenger to move...

Continue as we're doing. Conserve energy levels as much as possible, ready for a push in the last 20 minutes if it's still 0-0.

We're right to be cautious, at least to begin with. Arsenal can be devastating going forward, so we need to be careful.

The Williamson handball was far from clear cut. The rules of the game state specifically that it must be deliberate. Considering that Williamson was in the process of trying to move his hand out the way, when it caught him from point blank range, it's positively accidental. The fact that referees quite often give them is neither here nor there - it wasn't deliberate therefore shouldn't have been a free kick.

A lot can change at the bottom, given how tight it is. Tricky to pick a definite three as there are so many poor sides down there.

Also giving Santon a rest ready for Arsenal. No chance he'll be dropped.

It's hardly a clear cut decision. I imagine leaving him on the bench as a potential impact sub is the most sensible option. Starting with him and going 1-0 down early in could leave us firmly up shit creek.

I would happily take a draw. We're probably going to sit quite deep, to avoid being done by their pace, which will limit the number of bodies we can get forward. If HBA is up for it, he could give us a chance.

First Whelan yellow was for squaring up to Cabaye rather than the actual challenge, wasn't it? The second was nailed on as it was a deliberate hack. After that, as much as you don't always get them, you can't really argue with any of the decisions. The handball was never intentional - Williamson was at point blank range and trying to move his arm out the way. It would have been impossible to avoid it, short of running around with his hands behind his back. The whole of the ball did not go out of play for Ben Arfa's cross. It doesn't even have to touch the line, it only needs to partially obstruct the sight of the line when viewed from above. I hate Stoke - they're a dirty team with some horrible players. In truth they could easily end up with a sending off in most games they play. Fuck them

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/224174/rate-hughes-martin-atkinson This is funny, like. To think that someone, somewhere has sat down and made a thread for this.

Happy. Tiote back for Arsenal, after a rest, and the second half didn't involve any real physical exertion. Hopefully we're fresher than Arsenal, who had to work to come back from a goal down.