henry times three, arsenal to the seventh power

who says henry doesn't enjoy what he's doing? look at the smile on the captain's face. today was the henry show at highbury and arsenal have exacted their revenge on boro, making them pay for their surprise win when last we met at the riverside.

henry scored three to beat cliff bastin's record of 150 goals. and after a week of good aquisitions, the return of much missed ashley cole (the great feeder of passes on henry's left flank), and an increasingly stingy (even playing heavily undermanned) back line, the arsenal guns are blazing once again.

the one place we've been struggling in recent weeks is goal scoring, but that all ended today. not only did henry (20, 30, 68) get his beautiful three, but phillipe senderos (22) scored a header , pires (47) and hleb (84) scored a couple of goals from free play, and gilberto (59) scored his first league goal of the year off, heading in an henry free kick.

why is this such a big deal, you ask? arsenal only beat middlesboro. well...it is a big deal cause it is the biggest asswhooping anyone has delivered in the premiership since arsenal thrashed everton 7 - nil las year; it is a big deal because the lack of confidence arsenal have been suffering from has resulted in countless shots off the post and crossbar, countless missed chances, and increasing frustration -- and all of that disappeared today; it's a big deal because this is the team that will be playing part two of the carling cup next week when wigan roll into highbury, and that means we're going to the finals; it is a big deal because we are now only three points back of tottenham for the last champs league spot and we've got a game in hand; it is a big deal because we are surging up while real madrid is still struggling -- just in time for our february meeting; it is a big deal because our team, finally recovering from injury, are getting stronger while our main opposition for third place (cause i know liverpool are getting second) are only getting weaker. today solidifies the new order of the premiership with a triumverate of chelsea, liverpool and arsenal. enjoy fourth place man utd. it will be all yours come season's end.

and one more thing: we're going to win a double this year. we'll win two of these: champ's league, fa cup and/or carling cup. mark my words. (p.s. i hear that fergie is whining about the officiating today. funny, the citeh v. utd game was almost a carbon copy of the game in which man utd ended arsenal's unbeaten streak. sucks doesn't it, fergie, when you're against the ropes through the other team's dirty tricks and then you're killed with a bullshit goal at the last second cause you have to push forward? my heart bleeds.)

syren

and for this, joe cole got his ass kicked on the weekend. is it worth it? is keeley hazell, page 3 girl and superbabe worth a humiliating shit kicking? hmmm...hard to say. whattay'all think?

104 places...and an update

yep, 104 places seperate burnley albion and man utd. the former are just a lowly little, mid-table conference team, and the latter are, well...man utd. let's be fair though, man utd did play their young guns today, so maybe they can be excused for being held to a 0-0 draw against conference opposition.

of course, back when the youth team consisted of beckam and giggs and scholes and the nevilles that never would have happened, but then these aren't those days anymore are they. hell, wayne rooney and cristiano ronaldo, who came on in the 58 and 59 minutes, respectively, don't rate enough to have made a difference do they?

so now brave burnsley is off to old trafford for the replay. they can't win that, but they sure gave it their best, and they underscored the crap that is man utd.

arsenal may not have done great this season, but our young-uns have still been coming through even after tough games. and a lot of our young-uns are the first team. we're rebuilding and getting better (like liverpool was doing for the last two years). where're the signs that fergie's rebuilding? they're nowhere to be found. man utd fans better get used to status quo and worse, cause that's all you're going to get.

update: even better for gunners is the fact that tottenham went down in a stunning 3-2 comeback by leicster city. arsenal's own ryan smith, on loan to the foxes, played a role in the comeback, which should piss of spurs fans to no end.

this isn't quite as huge an upset as man utd's shabby draw and boro's equally shabby draw, but it is still impressive. the best part is that the spurs fans are, once again, cupless. no carling cup, no fa cup, no european football, and no championship. good luck holding on to euro places for next year spurs. i predict an ignominious drop to seventh.