Fulham Preview and the Death of Football

So I broke my wrist. Which is pretty unfortunate seeing as I now cannot write for a month. But on the upside it's not too painful.

Ok now you know what's going on in my world, let's move to football. Since last time we beat Spurs oh so convincingly, Theo Walcott received some devastating injury news and we then won against Aston Villa, picking up some further injuries along the way. We play Fulham at the Emirates today so I'll get onto that later.

The Spurs game, by nature, was a nervous affair. I was physically shivering until we got the second goal which is I think perfectly ok when bragging rights are up for grabs. But as it turned out we were in control from the moment Christian Eriksen fluffed his lines in the fourth minute. We excelled Spurs in just about every position (notably left back) and in return they gave us a few extra reasons to dislike them.* There was the obvious coin throwing, the chants of 'we hope you die' or words to that effect as Theo lay on the turf with what later turned out to be a season ending ACL injury and the attempted stamp from Nabil Bentaleb. The later is my personal favourite because, as the word 'attempted' implies, the Spurs academy graduate missed his target, stamping on the ground next to Nacho Monreal. It's nice to see they really drill in the club ethos of not being able to hit a cow's rear end with a banjo from an early age. Good of the senior players like Soldado to respect the tradition too.

Now I'm not a doctor but when I had a quick look at a diagram of the knee and found the part that Theo had ruptured, it occurred to me that his leg must kind of be in two pieces. I can understand why it would take so long to heal and why rushing him back for the World Cup is not only a ridiculous idea, but a dangerous one too. On a lighter note this picture is really indicative of the fantastic team spirit we seem to have at the moment and it's another reason for me to love Kieran Gibbs. If anyone can tell me why Theo is wearing some kind of Burkha that would be much appreciated by the way.

And team spirit seems to be pretty key at the moment. I'm cautious with my optimism so I'll whisper it but it feels like we've got something really good going on here. The squad is like a delicious omlette with no bad eggs to spoil the flavour. Even players like Nicklas Bendtner, who could at best be described as the seasoning to the omlette itself, are towing the line, putting shifts in, that sort of thing. Although I think Man City will win the League, we can be proud of having an excellent team made up of generally good people.

On the subject of Man City something was said this week that hit a nerve for me. Both Vincent Kompany and Manuel Pellegrini alluded to a Man City quadruple, that is to say total and complete dominance, being an inevitable outcome in future seasons, if not the current one. Kompany himself described it as being only 'a matter of time' before the World's richest club achieved it. I find those kind of statements staggering. Simply staggering.

Firstly I'll say that I don't hold any prejudices against either of them. Both Pellegrini and Kompany are likable and respectable guys and moreover they are fantastic at what they do. In fact it is for that reason that these brashly arrogant statements annoy me so much. Confidence is fine but this is disrespectful to the whole of the football community.What Kompany really means is that it's only a matter of time until the oil money injected into the club by wealthy Arabs dirties any notion of a level playing field to the extent that each and every competition is reduced to a mere procession with the inescapable outcome of complete Mancunian supremacy. And that's not ok.

Unfortunately, I think this notion gets to me because there is some truth to it. And I hate to admit that. There will come a point when a team is so saturated with money that they can afford to employ perhaps the world's eleven best players. With the best coaches, and physios and performance analysts and the best professionals in all other capacities, you have manufactured a team of incomparable quality and we come back to the notion of inevitable victory.

It's said that we enjoy the beautiful game because it's so unpredictable and cliche it may be but it's true. What City are trying to create will be the death of football, the point at which people stop watching because the results are pre-determined. A quadruple is meant to be the holy grail of of the game. Until around five years ago, it was thought impossible. Football being as irrational as it is, something, somewhere would stop a team from winning everything on offer. And that's why managing to win all four competitions was viewed with such awe.

So describe the attainment of this honour as only 'a matter of time' is obscene.

Anyway, Fulham. Injuries have been a feature over the last couple of months but it's the same for all clubs really. By my reckoning we have seventeen fit and selectable players which is fine. I don't think we'll need to leave second gear to beat Fulham today. Nevertheless, I'd like us too. Even with Brede Hangelaand, a poor man's Per Mertesacker, back in the side, Fulham will not offer much resistance and goal difference is becoming key. The primary flaw of Arsenal this year seems to be the tendency to not score as many goals as they could. Think Aston Villa this week or Marseille at home. So when facing a side with a historically poor away record and no player who could get into our team as I see it (yes, including Berbatov), the aim today should be to dish out a real tonking.

I have no idea who will play where, which, as I've previously mentioned, is a good sign of competition in the side. If I was Arsene I'd avoid risking Monreal and Rosicky but maybe there are unknown reasons why he can't do so. One thing is for sure; with Chelsea and City breathing down our necks, this is a game we must win.

Anyway, here's to a great big win that justifies my arrogance, a City defeat so horrific that the owners lose faith in the project and withdraw all financial backing and, on a serious note, the full recovery of Theo Walcott. For now.

*I am aware of the shocking comments made by some of an Arsenal persuasion on Twitter. They were unforgivable and I would encourage criminal proceedings to rid Arsenal, and football as a whole, of this minority of fools.