A reason to have van Persie in your Fantasy Football team? – Laughing at Tottenham

Hello again. I’m back – as you always knew I would be – and I’ve got plenty of Arsenal stuff to talk about today. Righto then, I’ll get started.

By now you will surely know that Arsenal gave Blackburn a good thumping on the weekend, largely thanks to an excellent hat-trick by this blogger’s favourite player, Emmanuel Adebayor. And while the first and third goals saw him score from open play the second one saw the Togolese striker net from the penalty spot, a job usually left to Adebayor’s striker partner Robin van Persie.

I have to say that I was a little surprised to see the big man step up and take the kick when van Persie was still on the pitch. But today Arsene Wenger commented on the situation, explaining that the penalty kick switcheroo was down to the good relationship between the pair and the fact that Adebayor was absolutely brimming with confidence. In his own words:

“I like the fact that Van Persie gave him the penalty. The No 1 penalty-taker is Van Persie, the No 2 is Adebayor. But they have the right to reverse it. So this decision is down to Van Persie. He gave the ball to Adebayor, who had asked him if he could take it. I believe this shows that the team has a collective spirit.”

It’s nice to know that our two strikers get along so well and I do agree with Wenger that the little “No sir, after you” moment is a good indicator of the team’s spirit. Back in the day Thierry Henry and Robert Pires used to share the responsibility as well, depending on who had been fouled, and it’s nice to see that Adebayor and van Persie have got a similar sort of thing going. I just hope they avoid the temptation to follow in their forefathers footsteps and give this little manouevre a second attempt.

Wenger’s comments about van Persie being the No 1 taker also begs the question – does that make him a better choice than Adebayor to have as a player in your Fantasy Football team? At the moment the Togolese man has 29 points versus van Persie’s 21 points (in the official Premier League game) but he also costs 11.0 as opposed to 9.5. Maybe at the end of the season those extra five or six penalties that Arsenal are surely going to get will add up. Unless of course Adebayor keeps sticking his nose in it.

I’ll leave you Fantasy Football experts to ponder this thought regardless…

Sticking with the manager for the moment and Wenger has also been talking about how difficult and tight he believes the Premiership race is going to be this season. The Frenchman is expecting tough competition from the usual suspects but also suggested there may be a decent challenge from one of the outsiders. Wenger had this to say on the topic:

“This season you will need a high number of points and you will have to be consistent. I don’t know how many we’ll need, ask me again in January then we will have a better idea. But you might have a surprising team coming in to challenge like Man City, Tottenham and maybe Portsmouth. It will certainly be very tight and very interesting.”

There’s little doubt that it’s going to very tight at the top but I will say one thing: there’s absolutely no chance of a challenge coming from our good friends down at White Hart Lane. As I’m sure you already know their Premiership record this season stands at; Played 4, Drawn 1, Lost 3, Won 0. Ouch. Not to mention the fact that they’re sitting at the very bottom of the Premiership ladder. Double ouch. And they lost to Hull City. Triple ouch. Ahh, crap. Sorry about that.

I’m not normally one to give too much stick to Tottenham – after all, I’m from Australia and the rivalry doesn’t really hit home the way it would if I was born and raised in London – but I’m sure the current situation puts a smile on the faces of my UK-based readers. Good stuff.

That’s about it for today. I’ll have a preview of the Champions League clash with Dinamo Kiev in tomorrow’s post as well as another lovely Wednesday Poll. Hopefully it won’t bugger up like the last one did. Have a lovely day or night, depending on where you are in the world, and I’ll talk to you then.

Cheers.

Have your say on Adebayor/van Persie or just have a laugh at Tottenham by leaving a comment.