Toure: Title tilt still a possibility for Arsenal

Kolo Toure believes he has a 'nasty' streak that can help Arsenal put their Barclays Premier League title bid back on track.

The Gunners head to Bolton tomorrow in their worst run of league form in nine seasons after taking only four points from the last five games to allow both Manchester United and Chelsea to overtake them at the top of the table.

Manager Arsene Wenger believes his side have paid a high price for some poor defensive displays - which was evident at Stamford Bridge last weekend where Toure and central partner William Gallas failed to deal with the threat of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka as the Blues came from behind to win 2-1.

Ivory Coast international Toure, 27, has, though, been one of the most consistent performers since he came into the first team.

The mild-mannered African, who arrived at Highbury in February 2002, learned from legendary former Gunners such as Tony Adams and Martin Keown, who were renowned for their no-nonsense approach.

'One who really helped me a lot was Martin Keown,' Toure said, speaking in the April edition of the official Arsenal magazine.

'I have played with him several times and he helped me establish myself in the squad.

'He (was) always giving me advice, teaching me some of the intelligent things and also some nasty things you need to do in the game.

'Martin was an amazing player for Arsenal. He had a great career and had a good attitude on the pitch - he was always involved, always helping the team, always pushing people to encourage each other and raising the level because you can't rely on just one person to do that.'

Despite now trailing leaders Manchester United by six points - and one behind Chelsea - Arsenal are still not yet out of the title race, as key fixtures between the top three are still to come.

Toure accepts it is a tough battle for the championship, but insists the Gunners must focus only on their own performances rather than worry about what might happen elsewhere.

'It seems that this season the title race involves three teams and this shows that the league is really strong at the moment,' he said.

'But we have to concentrate on ourselves, and on what we have to do over the remaining games - if we win the rest of our games we will have a great chance of winning the title.'

Wenger reported a clean bill of health from those who returned from international duty to the training ground yesterday morning before he set off to the Emirates Stadium where French president Nicolas Sarkozy met Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

However, the Gunners will be missing full-back Bacary Sagna, set to be out for up to a month after suffering an ankle injury at Chelsea.

'It is a big blow because he has been a revelation for us, a fantastic player,' said Wenger, whose side face Liverpool three times in a week after the Bolton game as they resume Champions League action.

The Arsenal manager accepts his team must tighten up at the back if they are to put pressure on leaders United.

Wenger said: 'What we want to do is perform well as a team again and we know we can do that.

'At Chelsea we played okay, but we have to improve. Recently what punished us a lot is that defensively we have made big mistakes.'

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE : WHICH IS THE BEST LEAGUE IN EUROPE

For the very first time in the history of the champions league,4 teams from the same league (England) made have made it inot the quarter finals.Though this is not surprising since for the last 3 seasons we have always had at least 1 semi-finalist from England,last season witnessed the appearance of 3 semi finalist from England,something that will most likely repeat itself again should all the English Teams measure of to the standard expected of them in the quarter finals in April.

Even Spain and Italy at their best could only produce 3 quarterfinalist in between them,the question that comes to mind then is : WHICH IS THE BEST LEAGUE IN EUROPE? Or is it just a fluke ? Or is that the top four teams in England beginning to wake up ? Or is this the beginning of another dominance of England by English clubs,as was the case when Liverpool,Aston Villa and Nottingham forext won Seven European Cups In just eight seasons.

I just can not wait to see the games and most of the Excitement in the last 8 also involves English teams facing each other.The Gunners' Luck could only place them against veterans-Liverpool

Of the English quartet Chelsea will be the most happy, having drawn Fenerbahce, who on paper perhaps seem the weakest side left. However, Rick Parry of Liverpool revealed his relief at the fact that "at least we don’t have to go to Turkey." Whether this was a reference to the distances to travel or a fear of the Turkish dark horses was unclear.

It was also acknowledged by Parry that drawing an English side was bad luck, with the intriguing situation that the English four are looking some of the most competitive and strongest teams at the moment.

For the ever noisy English media the qualification of 4 Of their teams into the last 8 marks the beginning of an ear. Alex Ferguson, speaking before the draw, proclaimed that ‘the English league is the strongest in Europe’.

Even more telling than a Scot extolling the virtues of the English league was Kaka’s statement: "You can say that the Premier League is not only the best for this season but for what its teams have done over the last few years’." Soon after the draw in Nyon, a visibly relieved Txiki Begiristain, Barcelona's director of sport, also hailed the Premier League as "undoubtedly the strongest league in Europe."

You can blame the Englishmen once in a while for getting carried away, but when praise begins to come from those in the continent - there is most certainly some fire beneath all the smoke.

The fact of the matter is that seven quarter-finalists in two seasons and most possibly six out of eight semi-finalists over the same period is a feat not worth ignoring, even if Serie A and La Liga loyalists may attempt to shoot it down.

Manchester United who has been placed against Roma in a repeat of the quarter finals of last season will sure not be Happy to have Roma again,I am quick to warn the fans of the red devils not to expect a 7-1 win this time around.That said, the feisty reception the Red Devils' fans received in Rome last time round will worry some.

If they are to beat the Italian side they will have to play either Schalke or, more likely, Barcelona, a prospect that will have the mouths of fans the world over watering.

Meanwhile the winners of the all-English tie face either Chelsea or Fenerbahce. Chelsea and Liverpool have a habit of drawing each other in the knock out phases of cups. The Blues have, interestingly enough, often come off worse - unlike in the Premirship - and would be eager to seek revenge.

That said, I honestly think Arsenal has a better chance to progress than Liverpool ( forget the poor performance in the League ) though Liverpool seems to know how to play the ball when it comes to playing it in Europe so also their manager who has not been impressive in the local league but has a big chance in Europe.

This clash promises to be very interesting and full of goal and intrigues ,it is a tripple-header too, : too: the teams also meet in the league in the same week, so the sides will have plenty of opportunities to ‘get to know each other’.

This could be seen as the year the Premier League came of age, announcing itself to the rest of Europe as truly the strongest league on the planet. An all-English final would be the culmination of a true renaissance for the game in its country of origin.

Amid all the criticism directed at this country's football - some justified, some not quite - some of the great positives get forgotten, or deliberately ignored. Surely some credit is due.

I honestly think the dominance of the English League is real,and I look forward to a all English final in Moscow last in the year.I don't want to raise the dust here though but I stronghly believe in a Manchester united - Arsenal final,quote me anywhere

Yakubu Targets Top Four

Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni is still coming to terms with Everton’s midweek Uefa Cup exit after losing a penalty shoot-out to Serie A outfit Fiorentina.The man they call ‘The Yak’ isn’t likely to internalise his frustrations, though, not with a visit to leaky Fulham in store on Sunday.


Only Thierry Henry has scored more Premiership goals than Yakubu since the 2003/04 season. Indeed, Yakubu is looking to add to his 12 Prem strikes as the season enters its crucial phase.


Yakubu insists the Toffees are ready to put their Euro heartache behind them and have fourth-placed Merseyside rivals Liverpool firmly in their sights.


"Going out of Europe will only make us more determined to finish in the top four this season," warned Yakubu. "I have a good feeling about the Fulham game because I scored a hat-trick against them at Goodison. I can feel there are more goals in me.


"They say it was the perfect hat-trick because I scored with my left foot, my right foot and a header - but for every goal I've scored at Everton, I owe the credit to my team-mates and the manager.


"Since I came here I am fitter, faster and better.


"It is a great compliment to the people around me that I have scored more goals in the Premier League than any striker apart from Thierry Henry over the past few years. Players like Henry only come round once in a lifetime and I look up to him, but the comparison will mean nothing if we do not have anything to show for all our hard work at the end of the season.


"Liverpool are favourites to finish fourth, but Everton beat them to it three years ago and we are capable of doing it again. It would be a fantastic achievement, but I believe in my team-mates and I think they believe in me to score the goals which will take us where we want to go.


"We will keep fighting together and, don't forget, we still have to go to Anfield. We were unlucky not to get at least a point against Liverpool at our place and that will be a massive game for both clubs."


Bridge Boy



Despite recent disappointment, Yakubu is relishing his Premier League career, which has flourished at Middlesbrough and now Everton. The footballing high-life is a far cry, he admits, from his days in native Nigeria with the Bridge Boys of Julius Berger.


"I have come a long way since I left Africa and I feel blessed that my career has brought me to such a good club as Everton," he said.


"My first club was called Julius Berger, which is a big Nigerian construction company with its own team.


"They had a grass pitch - not everybody in Africa is able to play on grass - and I remember thinking I was rich when I collected my first wages, which were small.


"After only four months I was spotted by Maccabi Haifa and I went to play for them in Israel. We won the title and [current Chelsea boss] Avram Grant was my coach there.


"I have been on a long journey since those days, and to play in the Champions League next season would be a proud moment."


Reds fans will be hoping that’s a Bridge too far for the Yak.

Champions League Draw

Arsenal has been drawn against Liverpool in the champions league quarter finals Arsenal came out of the bowl first, and they got Liverpool. The Reds will have the luxury of playing the second leg at home.

Incidential the champions league feature will collide with a premier league fiture which makes it 3 games in just 8 days!

In the Other draws Roma will be playing Manchester united ,yet again in a repeat of last year's quartfer which ended in favor 7-1 in favor of the English side.The second leg comes up in old Trafford,this fixture promises to be interesting and full of drama.It may sound controversial but I predict a win for Roma this time around.

The only German team left will be playing former champions Barcelona in what seems to be a easy draw for the la liga outfit.The second leg comes up in Spain.

The Last game will be between Fenerbahce and Chelsea.The second leg comes up in stamford Bridge.This is fixture will hat will involve Mateja Kezman and Nicolas Anelka facing their former clubs.

The semi-finals will see the winners of Arsenal-Liverpool play the winners of Fenerbahce-Chelsea. In what could Yet be another Liverpool-Chelsea semi-final?

The other clas would potentially see Manchester United and Barcelona clash expect if one of Schalke and Roma pulls a surprise as I already predicted.

In general ,the draw seem to be a good draw for chelsea,Barcelona ,manchester united and Liverpool since they all will be playing their last matches at their stadia.

But then again, Arsenal and Roma won in Milan and Madrid respectively, just a few weeks ago, and will back themselves to produce something similar again!

Is Grant A Big Match Manager?

As soon as the Carling Cup finalists were known, it was obvious that one of two new managers would be lifting silverware within months of being appointed. The fact that, in the event, it was Juande Ramos of Spurs rather than Chelsea's Avram Grant not only confirmed the Spaniard's midas touch in cup competitions; it also raised doubts about the Israeli's acumen at the highest level.

Unpopular Changes

Ironically, neither Ramos nor Grant had been popular appointments. Both were succeeding men who had swung the mass of their respective club's supporters behind them: Martin Jol at Tottenham and Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.

But while Spurs fans were unhappy with the way Jol was clumsily ousted, they were not anti-Ramos per se; they knew he was a good manager - as his record, especially at Sevilla, proved. And they have seen such a rapid improvement at White Hart Lane since Ramos arrived and started to put his managerial approach into practice that they have embraced the new regime with gusto, especially after Sunday's triumph. Jol may still be liked, but they would not want him back in place of Ramos.

Can you say the same about Grant at Chelsea? The short, brutal answer is, 'No.' Mourinho was adored by the Chelsea fans (and, it was clear, most if not all of the Blues' players). He was always going to be a hard act to follow, whoever took over.

But when Grant, brought in two months earlier as director of football, was handed the reins, the cloud over Stamford Bridge was heavy with disillusion, scepticism and anger. The contrast with Mourinho could not have been starker: the extrovert and self-styled Special One with charisma to spare had been succeeded by the introverted Quiet Man with the permanent hang-dog expression.

Grant's first assignment was at Old Trafford, the home of the defending champions, at the end of the traumatic week in which Mourinho left the club. To nobody's great surprise, United won 2-0, and with some of the senior players apparently threatening to jump ship, predictions of Chelsea's imminent implosion abounded.

Impressive Record

To his great credit, Grant held it all together and, moreover, set the team on a 16-match unbeaten run in which there were some impressive victories: 2-1 at Valencia, 6-0 at home to Manchester City and 4-0 in Trondheim against Rosenborg.

A narrow defeat at Arsenal in which inspirational captain John Terry broke bones in his foot compounded a debilitating injury situation at the Bridge, but despite the privations caused by injuries, suspensions and, in January, the demands of the Africa Cup of Nations, Grant led the team to another unbeaten run that stretched, by coincidence, to 16 games again before Spurs halted it on Sunday at Wembley.

Only the churlish and the uncharitable would argue that Grant's record of just two defeats in his first 34 matches in charge of Chelsea was not impressive. His team had withstood the absences of many key players without losing matches, remaining in contention on four fronts; the mooted exodus of stars in January had not happened; and Mourinho's 'untouchables' policy had been swept away, with the likes of Michael Ballack insisting nobody was untouchable now: you earned your place on merit and good form. And yet there were lingering doubts.

Doubts Persist

The fantasy football that owner Roman Abramovich ousted Mourinho for not providing was still conspicuous by its absence. Chelsea were functional and effective rather than free-flowing with flair. The fans continued to chant Mourinho's name at Chelsea matches, suggesting that Grant had not yet won their hearts. And there were signs latterly that as players returned from injury and Africa to give the coach more options, he was not entirely sure-footed in dealing with the selection dilemmas this posed.

Now, after Sunday's Carling Cup final, in which Chelsea took a first-half lead but uncharacteristically failed to protect it, losing 2-1 to worthy winners Spurs, Grant stands accused of timidity in his team selection, caution in his tactics, lack of urgency and imagination in his substitutions, and lack of motivational powers when his players may have been looking to him for leadership and inspiration.

Damningly, none of those perceived failings were levelled at Mourinho. He ticked all the boxes. And fairly or unfairly, Grant's performance is again being compared to that of the Portuguese following Sunday's defeat. Apart from leading Chelsea to back-to-back Premier League titles, Mourinho took the Blues to three domestic cup finals and won them all. Sunday was Grant's first chance to authenticate his reign with silverware, to confirm that he is also a winner. On this occision, he blew it.

Spurs played well throughout but there was a contrast between the two benches. Ramos appeared to be thinking on his feet, and his tactical switches and substitutions brought rapid dividends and, ultimately, the Cup. Grant seemed less decisive and less flexible. And Chelsea lost.

Positively Negative

Spurs won because Ramos was positive, and instilled positive thinking into his players, while Grant and his team were negative. That is why many neutrals enjoyed the outcome. Chelsea, after taking the lead from a set-piece - Didier Drogba's superb free-kick that maintained the Ivorian's record of scoring in English cup finals - retreated into their negative shells until they were forced to chase the game in the last 15 minutes of extra-time.

If Spurs had not won, at least they would have gone down giving it their best shot. They played with urgency, self-belief and imagination against opponents seemingly primed to play a percentage game which eventually back-fired thanks to a rash handball and a goalkeeping error.

On the touchline, Ramos outwitted and outflanked Grant, whose claim afterwards that for a period before and after half-time Chelsea had dominated was not a view widely held beyond his bench. There was a telling shot on TV - between the end of regulation time and the start of extra-time - of the Chelsea players in a huddle, seeking inspiration and instruction on how to approach the additional half-hour. But who was providing that input? Not Grant, and not the much-vaunted Henk ten Cate. No, it was Chelsea survivor Steve Clarke.

There were other concerns for Chelsea fans, regarding the composition and balance of the team, and the way the substitutions were handled. Why was such a talented and incisive striker as Nicolas Anelka exiled on the wing where his contribution was never more than peripheral? Why was Ballack on the bench when he has been the midfielder in form during the past month? Was it to accommodate Frank Lampard - who perhaps is an untouchable after all? It began to look that way when the industrious Michael Essien, rather than below-par Lampard, was removed from the fray to accommodate (belatedly) Ballack.

There were subversive rumbles in the build-up to the final that, following Grant's team selection for the Champions League game in Greece against Olympiakos, Lampard and Terry had thrown, or threatened to throw, their toys from the pram if not given starting roles at Wembley, despite both having only just returned from lengthy injury absences. Are some of the players, rather than the manager, calling the shots?

And why was the mercurial Joe Cole, a potential match-winner, left on the bench for so long? One of the defining aspects of Mourinho's success was his ruthlessly decisive approach to substitutions. They were not a last resort for Jose but a potent tactical weapon to be used the moment he deduced the opposition had an edge.

After the game, Grant complained about refereeing decisions - the penalty, which looked cut-and-dried, Bridge propelling the ball away with his hand - and even the timing of the final whistle. Of course, every manager, Mourinho included, struggles to cope with defeat and seeks scapegoats when it happens. That's OK, as long as Grant doesn't delude himself that Chelsea were unjustly robbed of the Cup.

Perspective

All of that said, it is important to keep things in perspective. After all, this was just one match, and Chelsea are still in real contention for three trophies, which is all credit to Grant and his players. As he also said after the game, his players must get over their disappointment and re-focus on the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

He revealed that it was "very painful," to lose, although the Chelsea fans do not need to be told that. They feel it just as keenly. And they will hope that the lessons learned from this game will be taken on board when Chelsea find themselves in their next big contest.

But they will be slightly disturbed that the three matches Chelsea have lost under Grant have been a cup final and Premier League games against the two teams above them in the table. They may be wondering whether their manager, solid enough most of the time, lacks the temperament and/or tactical nous for the big matches. Because if he does, Chelsea will plateau rather than reach the next level that chief executive Peter Kenyon trumpeted when putting his spin on the decision to replace Mourinho with Grant.

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