Arsenal news/links, April 9

I had an odd amount of real work during the day for the last several days of last week, which is why there wasn't a whole lot of posting going on compared to what I usually get done. So...sorry about that. Hopefully this week will be a little better in terms of "me having time to do things in-between doing other things."

Though it's starting not to look like it, considering the fact that I finished that paragraph at 10:30, and now it's almost 2:30 as I write this. HAVING A JOB IS HARD. Especially when things are happening in football as we speak. Like how Tottenham Hotspur lost an entire game while I was writing about a hundred words, and Newcastle was winning one. So yeah, let's get to the Arsenal part, shall we?

So remember when we beat Manchester City? That was pretty fun. Arsene Wenger enjoyed it so much he doesn't want the season to end. Actually I think what he's saying is that the team is playing so well at this point (QPR aside) that if it were, say, November rather than April, Arsenal would have a shot at catching the league leaders. I don't know that I quite think that - it's not like Manchester United are playing badly - but then I don't have an asteroid named after me, so what do I know?

Arsenal Ladies won their first league match of the season 3-2 against Everton. Katie Chapman had the game-winner with 25 minutes left, and Arsenal was able to hold on from there. The only game they've lost this season was the second leg of the Gothenburg tie in the Champions League, which they won on aggregate. So things are going well there.

Here's a cool piece in the Telegraph about how Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain almost was pushed out of football several times on his way up to Southampton's first team. Thank goodness he wasn't.

Allegedly (according to a Metro reporter who isn't Jamie Sanderson, at least) the proposed Jan Vertonghen deal would spell the end of Per Mertesacker at Arsenal. This makes little sense to me - we've been chasing Mertesacker for a while, and he was decent for us (particularly as he got used to the Premier League). And beside that, the Vertonghen thing is a long way from being sealed. File this in the "I'll think about that later" bin.

Speaking of bins, toss the furor over Alan Davies' comments on Liverpool in one. I don't know that I agree or disagree with him, necessarily - other clubs have suffered tragedy and I've never heard of anyone else ask for a fixture to be moved; on the other hand there isn't a similar tragedy that's still as fresh as Hillsborough, and fans are still fighting for justice. But the backlash is too much, and this column from David Mitchell seems appropriate. If this were the overriding sentiment, that would be one thing, but it's not (as far as I can tell).

Apropos of nothing: Matt Le Tissier was awesome.