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Arsenal’s chance of lifting the Premier League title is out of the reach of Arsene Wenger but they still have a chance of ending their trophy-less seasons which has seen the Emirates Stadium based team not being able of securing any major pieces of silverware in over 8 years.

Arsene Wenger and his players overcome Wigan on a penalty shootout with Lukasz Fabianski turning out to be the surprising hero for Arsenal. Wojciech Szczesny is the regular first choice picks of Wenger but this time around, the French tactician decided to switch it up and go for Fabianski which proved to be a good decision as the Polish shot-stopper saved 2 penalty shots in the last stages of the match.

Wigan managed to take the lead in 1^st half with Jordi Gomez scoring a penalty set-piece but it was cancelled out by Per Mertesacker as his goal forced the match to continue on to extra time until reaching a penalty shoot-out.

This victory allows Arsenal on entering the finals of the FA Cup and giving the Premier League club a chance to rescue their season by securing the trophy.

Arsene Wenger has lately been under a lot of pressure for his inability to compete with England’s and Europe’s best.

“Everyone can dream of winning it at the start of the season. It is a dream open to everybody and that is the beauty of the FA Cup. Last year Wigan won it, this year you have Sheffield United in the semi-final and that kind of dream open to everybody makes the competition special. In the league you can talk and talk but we know the biggest budget will win it. That open dream is what makes this competition special in football’’. Wenger said.

The FA Cup is not such an important trophy for some club but for Arsene Wenger as it could be the difference between getting sacked or not.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger has come out with an astonishing revelation that he is gay. He recently finished his playing career after representing popular clubs like Aston Villa and West Ham. He has also made numerous appearances for the German national team as well. Hitzlsperger has revealed that he has so far not disclosed his sexual orientation because of the fear of being punished by FIFA. He has received support from several players across the world. He is one of the very few to have come out openly about his homosexuality.

Lukas Podolski, who is his former international colleague, is one of the several to come out in support of Hitzlsperger. He has stated that it is a brave decision by the 31-year-old, who retired in September of last year after his spell with Everton. Injuries of persistent magnitude forced him to announce the decision. He is best known for his five years at Stuttgart where he made more than 125 appearances. Justin Fashanu and Robbie Rogers are some of the players who have come out in the open about their sexuality.

Podolski, who recently returned from a long injury layoff, says that it is a brave decision by his international colleague and one that should be respected.

“Brave and right decision. Respect, Thomas Hitzlsperger. His outing is a important sign in our time,” said Arsenal striker in his tweet.

“Thomas Hitzlsperger has shown a lot of courage today. Sad times when people have to wait till they retire from their chosen profession. Before they feel other people will judge them solely on who the human being is. Shame on all of us as a society,” said QPR midfielder Joey Barton in his tweet. Many other players have come out in support of Hitzlsperger after his revelation in a German daily.

Lukas Podolski is regarded as one of the finest of his generation in German football, but he failed to make the grade at Bayern Munich. He was an extremely good football during his time at FC Cologne, but failed to recreate the magic at Bayern Munich. Former Borussia Dortmund star Marcel Raducanu thinks that the same fate could fall upon new signing Mario Gotze, who moved to the archrivals in a £ 38 million deal in the summer. At Dortmund, Gotze was one of the important players at the club.

This will not be the case at Bayern according to Raducanu, who thinks that the young player could have done well with regular first-team football that is almost guaranteed at Dortmund. Gotze has caused a lot of discontent amongst Dortmund fans especially after having come through the academy. Despite the loss of key players this summer, the team has not lost its edge and are currently fighting with Bayern Munich for the title. There are also doing well in the group stages of the Champions League as well.

He has said that Gotze is undoubtedly a great player, but he will find 24 other such players at Bayern Munich. As with Raducanu’s predictions, the young midfielder has been unable to make a lot of appearances and he has largely been on the sidelines.

“I fear that it will be very difficult for Mario at Bayern. It could be a bit like with Lukas Podolski, who also left Koln way too soon. There’s no doubt about Mario’s qualities, but the competition for places at Bayern is incredible. It would have been better for him had he stayed at Dortmund. He would have been the undisputed star here and had a lot of freedom. At Bayern, there are 24 more great players,” Raducanu told Bild.

Arsenal managed a 1-0 win over Fulham during the weekend, which propelled them back into the top three of the table. Arsenal were extremely fortunate to not only come out with a victory, but with a clean sheet. Fulham had several chances over the course of the match despite playing with 10 men for much of the 90 min. Midfielder Steve Sidwell was sent off following a straight red card in the 12 min after his tackle on midfielder Mikel Arteta. The red card was extremely debatable because Sidwell did not have two feet off the ground.

Arsenal managed to take the lead in the match through a set piece goal from defender Per Mertesacker. Despite this victory, Arsenal will have reasons to be concerned in the remainder of the season. They played against 10 men for most of the match, but they were able to create any clear-cut opportunities. As in every other match, Arsenal dominated the possession, but they were not able to convert them into chances. Arsenal also had a man sent off late in the match when Oliver Giroud was given a straight red card.

After the match, Wenger said that the referee was right in giving the red card to Steve Sidwell.

“I think the referee could only give a red card [to Sidwell]. We will see [if Arteta is okay]. He played the second-half. I don’t know how much damage is done. It is a kick, a bad kick. I don’t know if he has twisted his ankle or not. In these kind of things it is a question of a fraction of a second. If you are fully on your foot at the moment you get it you break your leg. If you ease a bit off maybe that is why he got away with it,” said Wenger.

Tottenham and Arsenal will be renewing their rivalry once again during the weekend. This match is also extremely important as it could determine the Champions League future of both the clubs. Arsenal and Tottenham are currently fighting to finish in the top four, with Andre Villas-Boas’ men slightly edging this contest.

Due to the home advantage and good run of form, Tottenham are expected to clinch this encounter. This would enable them to open a significant advantage over Arsenal in the table, but the German international Lukas Podolski thinks that this match alone will not determine the top four positions this season. Continue reading DERBY DAY

Arsenal’s German striker Lukas Podolski has expressed his confidence that the club will be able to overtake their London rivals Chelsea to the third place in the Premier league. Chelsea are currently third in the Premier league after a disappointing season, while their London rivals Arsenal are further behind in the table. Despite their lowly sixth position, Podolski still believes that they can catch Chelsea, who have several points advantage with only a few months of matches remaining in the calendar. Arsenal have to overtake Tottenham and Everton before they can catch Chelsea. The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has always made it a priority to finish in the top four rather than winning major trophy.

After having qualified for the Champions league consecutively for the past 16 seasons, Arsenal are in danger of missing out on the competition. Chelsea and Tottenham are the main rivals for the fourth position. Podolski has submitted that the slow start to the season has cost Arsenal their place in the top four at the moment, but he is confident that they will be able to recover in the remaining few months of the season. Even though he has not set the world alight on fire, Podolski has managed to score eight goals in 23 appearances for Arsenal this season.

“We must fight for the Champions League places and this is our focus. We want third place and we have a lot of matches to play. We are in the FA Cup and the Champions League but the focus must be on the Premier League. We wanted to finish first but we lost a lot of points in the first half of the Premier League and now the difference is too big. The other teams are really strong so we must fight in every game,” said Podolski.