Sore Losers, Fabregas Worries?, and Leyton Orient Injury Update

     I don't know about any of you, but I'm still feeling the high of the Barcelona match. I still can't get over it. The amount of confidence that is currently flowing through my veins is astounding. It outnumbers my blood cells 3 to 1. A real health scare, but a good slap across the face should be the perfect tonic.

     I did a fairly thorough analysis of the match yesterday so i'll leave that to bed. But some humorous things regarding  the match, such as Pep Guardiola. He seemed like quite the sore loser in a post match interview. In the interview, he came off as if he did not want to admit that Arsenal played well. It more or less sounded like he was trying to say that Barcelona simply slipped up. Pitiful. Quite the contrary to Mick McCarthy.

     It almost seems as if he's disregarding the stat sheet. The one that says that 31% of Arsenal's passes were in or into their final third, while only 21% of Barca's passes were in or into our final third. the one that showed that we had more shots on goal, and more corners. The only stats that they had more of were offsides (congrats) and possesion. 47% to 53%. It is not often that you see a team share so much of the ball with Barca. When Real Madrid played Barcelona, they only managed to have 34% of the ball. So we were pretty good, wouldn't you say Pep?

     On the Arsenal side of the match Jack Wilshere said it was the best (football) night of his life. Not only that, he got Xavi AND Messi's jerseys after the match.

Selfishness. Does he really need two?

      However, he couldn't do it on his own.  Apparently he had to ask Cesc to get Messi's jersey for him, because this is what Cesc said to him on Twitter:

"@jack_wilshere can't believe i had to go to get Messi's shirt for u. U were so scared. You were MOTM so next time please ask urself!"

     And while on the subject of Fabregas, he said that the match was the best he's ever played in, because the quality was so high. He also said that the Barcelona side is the best in footbll history. I don't really like that, even if it is true. His post-match comments were a little bit too nice to Barca for my liking. You can comment on the bottom and tell me your thoughts - Were Fabregas's comments too kind? Is this something to worry about?
     The link to the interview is here - credit to Arsenalist for the video.  And tell me if you can spot Fabregas's mistake - did he graduate grammer school?

     Anyway, on to the Leyton Orient news.
     Djourou picked up a back injury in the Barcelona match, and as many of you may have heard, he was supposed to be unavailable for Sunday. Luckily, he's made a speedy recovery and will make it. However, I hope Wenger sits him. The Djourou - Koscielny partnership is too valuable right now and we can't take any risks. My hope is that Squillaci starts (Gah!).
     Walcott also picked up a mild hamstring injury, but he should be fit for Sunday. Also, Sagna is back but Diaby is still suspended. I predict Denilson will step in for Song too give him a rest.
     For those of you that were wondering where Chamack was on Wednesday night, he fell ill but will be back for Sunday as well.

     There are some rumors going around that Vermaelen is recovering very well from his surgery. However, his return date and recovery are speculated to be elongated. Some thought that Vermaelen would be back for the second leg of the Barcelona tie, but dear oh dear are you wrong. Supposedly he should be back around early April. Pray for no injuries.

     And by the way - Here's an interesting stat for you - of Arsenal's last three FA Cup meetings with Leyton Orient, we've lost all of them by one goal to nil. But then aother statistic - Arsenal has never lost an FA Cup match to a lower league side while under the reigns of Arsene Wenger. So what will happen?......

     I'll have a full preview of the Leyton Orient tie tomorrow.
     Until then.