people said to me that he was injured which is why he came off...i dont know

I heard that at around 40 mins, he came to the sidelines to complain about pain in his thigh. So he was taken off as a precautionary measure. There might not be any problems. On the contrary, there might be some problems and he might not play the next 2 matches against Liverpool. We have to wait for some more news sadly...

Hopefully, there'll not be more problems and he can play the next match itself...

Wenger confirmed it last night.



Probably won't get a further update till Friday.

Not wanting to go overoboard because I thought last nights Ref may have slightly favoured Liverpool on a few decisions here and there, on the whole I thought he handled the game brilliantly and in a total opposite comparison to that [beep!] Bennet at Old Trafford two weeks ago he actually allowed players to get on with playing football and allowed the game to flow.

Sure he could have blew up on a few occasions against either side and with another ref we might well have seen more than one or two yellow cards given out. I thought Flamani for one was VERY lucky on more than 2 or 3 occasions to avoid getting a card.

Regarding the penalty, Ive seen them given for much less in the past and had he given it we couldnt have much of an argument and had it been the other way round with Liverpool calling for a pen I would also feel a justified claim but from seeing the replay you cant help feeling Helb was looking for it maybe a little too obviously and that is why the ref failed to give it, Kuyt didnt so much grab and pull him as much as Hleb's fall suggested so in my own (Admittedly biased) opinion it was a correct decision.

Its a sad state of affairs that we constantly call for refs to whiste for everyting deemed against our side, the odd insignificant hand ball here, a foul there. Sometimes its for the benifit of the game as a whole that the match flows.

I think David Fairclough summed it up perfectly here..... http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_3379311,00.html

I for one would prefer to watch a match with that kind of refereeing performance letting the game flow than having a ref peep his whistle everytime a player gets within 2 yards of another.

What you are saying is - you prefer a ref who is biased in his decisions in favour of your team.

No Sanderos could have easily been booked for a bad tackle
Flamani on another day with another ref might not have lasted 90 minutes on that pitch with some of the challenges he was throwing in
Torres could have rightfully been booked for diving
Eboue could have been rightfully booked for diving
Carragher and Torres could have been pulled up for meaningless handballs

The game itself did not suffer for a lack of punishment on any of these desicions.


hleb could have won a pen
Hleb could have conceivably at the same time been booked for simulation

None of this happened and the game flowed therefore, for the nuetral viewer it was a better game to watch.

Some refs would have give a pen, some wouldnt I can see both points of view but you cant tell me that a man of Hlebs strong build cant stand up to a "challenge" like that from Kuyt and carry on with the ball and square it to an opponent and possibly score?

Thats the biggest crime to me, the fact that a grown man falls to the floor when he clearly has the chance to advance with the ball to create a goal scoring opportunity.

It used to be a mans game and I find it refereshing to see a ref not being over sensitive.

nah.. he just has a sentiment with ronaldo.. similar case to specnur who dislikes anyone at chelski but drogba

well.. if you win the second leg.. wouldn't you qualify for the semifinal?..

Liverpool has been on fire lately.. apart from their match against us in epl.. it's really hard to see they're not going to secure this chance and give it away..

This is not the sort of refereeing that those in charge of the game want (Sepp Blatter for one). They see this type of lenient refereeing as POOR refereeing. The tackle by Senderos on Torres near the touchline was another definite yellow card, and isn't your argument of NOT affording the necessary protection to the more skillful players, in favour of allowing more open play, in contradiction of Rafa's call to ref's to provide more protection for Torres.

There is no getting away from it, Kuyts use of the arm to turn Hleb and put him off is blatant cheating. It was a penalty. It wasn't given. Some decisions go for you, some don't, that's football. Liverpool should consider themselves fortunate. I agree that most players tend to go down too easily in the box, but again, that is part and parcel of the modern game and it makes it extremely difficult for referees to get the decision right. Maybe they need the help of TV replays as in rugby for such crucial decisions.

If this is the case then you're gonna have to beat us. You cant use the "better for football" line unless you actually beat us and reach the semi's and put your "better for football" remark to the test.

Better for football means you must be better, prove it, beat us

If you do then hats off, I'll take it on the chin & look forward to next year.

See you Tuesday

1-1 just like I said

Once again, Liverpool get the key decisions in their favour! Incredible. In both Inter games the opposition had a man incorrectly sent off, now they get away with a clear penalty. It wasn't a nailed on stonewall penalty, but it was still pretty clear. Kuyt pulled back his arm - penalty, end of.

I thought Arsenal played pretty well but were unforgivably naive in conceding that goal so soon after scoring. No doubt the blame lies on "the most improved player in Europe" Flamini who should have booted the ball into row Z. In fact, I believe he made a similar mistake at the weekend against Bolton?

I know several people in here don't rate Adebayor that highly, but he played exceptionally well last night and that's discounting the goal. He led the line brilliantly, linked up the play, made the ball stick, took on Liverpool's defence when the opportunity arose, and of course he took his goal well. Arsenal's best player for me last night.

Kuyt was arguably Liverpool's best player. His work rate and nack of getting in the penalty box at the right moment is serving him well as far as the CL goes. But he is less a striker than a back tracking midfielder nowadays, and that stopped Hleb (illegally but got away with it) from scoring a goal. Great burst of energy from Gerrard to take on three defenders and square for the equaliser. Torres had another quiet night away from home but that's almost the norm now. Gallas kept him quiet all match. I was expecting a lot better from Ryan Babel who had an absolute stinker.

As far as how the tie stands right now, I reckon it's 55:45 in Liverpool's favour. But I reckon Arsenal will score so Liverpool will need two, unless they pull out their penalty trick again. If I was Benitez, I'd be tempted to start with Crouch and pump long balls up to him to stretch their defence. Keep the ball up there so they can't control the middle and look for the killer pass. But I don't think Benitez will see it that way and he'll just set his team up to defend defend and defend and counter. Boring but effective.

Arsene Wenger has insisted that Arsenal were denied a "blatant penalty" when Dirk Kuyt pulled down Alex Hleb during Wednesday night's Champions League quarter-final - and his sense of injustice is bound to be heightened when he learns that Dutch referee Pieter Vink, nicknamed 'Blind' in his homeland, lives in a village just five kilometres from Kuyt's hometown.

"Arsenal have doubts over their two main strikers ahead of the Premier League game against Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.

Speaking to Arsenal TV Online on Thursday afternoon, Arsène Wenger gave Robin van Persie only a 20 per cent chance of playing because of the thigh injury that forced him off at half time in the Champions League tie between the sides on Wednesday evening. Adebayor (ankle) is more likely to figure but both players will be assessed on Friday morning.

"If you ask for my gut feeling right now I would say no, Robin won't play," said Wenger.

"At the moment it is 80 per cent no and 20 per cent yes. But he has a scan this afternoon and he is better today than he was last night. That is positive for a muscle problem. But we'll know much more about it on Friday morning."

"We also have Adebayor who has a little ankle problem. We'll see how he is tomorrow. I hope he'll be OK. But the time is so short between the games it is very difficult to make a decision the morning after a game. You don't know if it is a bruise or a little twist and the first 24 hours doesn't tell you a lot about that."

Bacary Sagna (ankle) and Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) will miss Saturday's game and the Champions League Quarter-Final second leg at Anfield. However there is optimism the full back could return the following Sunday at Old Trafford.

"They will not be back for the Liverpool games," said Wenger. "But Sagna is making good progress. Manchester United is the earliest for him. We are trying everything we can to get him back for that game. But we'll know more when he starts to run outside and he has not begun that."

That was a fantastic result for us last night, after what was essentially a typical negative 2nd half performance from us. Before the match i thought it would be 70% - 30% possesion in favour of Arsenal and i was nearly correct.

Dirk Kuyt was stupid to raise his arm to Hleb. Like most people i believe that we were very lucky in not conceeding a penalty. The Ref was in a fantastic position. All i can think that saved us was that he thought it was kind of 50/50 as he was waving on 50/50 challenges outside the box. It was a certian penalty though. The ref apart from that i thought was excellent, and let the game flow very well.

The Arsenal goal was coming sooner rather than later. That very corner i said to my brother, they will score here. Our zonal marking, as it has been for a while now, cost us a goal. Was awful. How can you let Adebayor, the most threatening Arsenal player in the air, have a free header. Sami hyypia must man mark him, just like he should have marked Ronaldo the week before.

It was essential we stuck back straight away, however i never believed it was going to come. I just assumed a Arsenal riot was on the cards. A little bit of brilliance from Gerrard allowed dirk Kuyt to score again . I dont know how he does it but he scores in the big games in Europe. Shame that the fact he plays wastes a position but such is life.

Babel, once again, poor. His replacement Yossi B was equally as poor. I watched the Liverpool Everton reserve game the night before and was shocked to see Pennant playing. For me he should have certainly played last night. No doubt he will play in the League match on sat but should have been playing this game for me.

So, to Torres. He had no chance against an impressive Gallas and 50p head senderos. Together they did a very good job of keeping him quiet, but how can you perform well when you are completely isolated!!!! Far too often we just conceed to the fact we wont score and just put 10 men behind the ball. Therefore when the inevitable hoof from the back happens the attack will just keep coming right back. And the thing with Arsenal is that they will continue to ask the question. Luckily Bentner was a selfish w@nker and tried to score from Cesc's effort, even though he protests he was trying to get out the way, he is not kidding anyone. He was trying to pinch the glory. MUG!
I know we do not have the attacking players to go at better teams but i hate this sort of defensive display all the time. I know it wins us trophies but for me it does not really showcase how good a team you are. Just the ability to infuriate and ware down the opposition. Just once i would like us to go at a team. Hopefully next season we will improve (again) and have better attacking players, then again, Rafa will probably just stregthen our defence so not to let in any more goals.

Seen the highlights for this and laughed so much at Bendtner just managing to keep out the goal, what a [beep!] clown.

I was pleased with the way we played. Liverpool didnt deserve anything really. Some people say they do but i believe they dont. 1st half was even those, a beautiful header from Adebayor ( what he does best) and it was great defending by the way lol, but then i was completely shocked when Liverpool scored 2 minutes after we scored, it was good work from Gerrard but what were our defenders doing??? we just got done, i dont know what happened really.

Its a good result for Liverpool and they are probably favourites but i sure am 100% positive we can knock them at Anfield. Just go back to the year when we drew at the Bridge and the lost at Highbury. It was a horror night and im hoping we can do this to Liverpool.

2nd half we dominated Liverpool and shouldve won but in the end it was 1-1.

Thats right mate, but you said you can't wish for an Arsenal win in the second leg. So I gave you a choice of a 2-2 draw atleast so that your wish of Arsenal not winning the second leg and my wish of Arsenal going through to the Semis will both come true right??? So what is it??? Will you wish this???

i bet you never wish for my team to win.. so why'd i wish you a win against Liverpool?..

Liverpool <333 Arsenal <3 even the love ain't enough

putrum said we're probably meeting Liverpool for final this season.. so........







maybe next season

I think you're the only one that believes the non PK call was the right call. Even being a Liverpool fan, you should know that was a clear cut penalty. And if it was the same exact situation on the other end involving Torres you'd be calling for it as well.

Hell even the FIFA refereeing advisor said it was the WRONG CALL.

Kind of use to l,pool and the way they manage to get away with stuff like the above now. It's been going on for years though, remember the 70's when they where the dirtiest football team around?

Nothing changes!