I never want to hear the words ‘marriage’, ‘wedding’ or ‘matrimony’ ever again. Shudder.

So Arsenal win the Emirates Cup after beating Ajax 1-0 last night with a 87th-minute goal from Van-the-Man Robin. Dramatic as that may sound, it seemed even sweeter revenge given the complete rough-house tactics evidenced by Ajax. van Persie was fouled throughout the game on too many occassions than I can count. What is baffling is that this is a preseason friendly - sure, a preseason tournement that even Lazio aren’t crying in the cups about that they came stone last. Would we? We’ve won the Amsterdam Tournement, hip hoo ha hey, let’s get on with the recouperation. Spurs fans drone on about preseason tournements, not other clubs. So why Ajax would go to so much trouble to be more cynical than Beaudrillard is beyond me.

Good things to note was the way the direction of the game changed on 70 minutes when Eduardo came on. The five-man defence of Ajax seemed a little more porous with his penetration brought into the mix, but the rough-housing continued regardless. The build-up to the goal was encouraging: Gael Clichy dribbled from deep within his own half to the byline excitedly, crossing in for van Persie to deflect a finish from close-range. So of course, Heitinger decides to boot Robin on the same foot he injured last season, stretchering him off to the close of the game. van Persie returned later to celebrate the trophy-win, though.

What is important here is that Eboue did indeed get a yellow for ‘dissent’, and van Persie for his own cynical foul. They’ve experienced it again, now, and will hopefully be keeping their cool in the forthcoming Premiership matches. Friendly or not, the players should be congratulated and allowed to enjoy their win, and hopefully any niggling injuries are clearing up. It’s good to see Rosicky playing more minutes as well.

After the match, Wenger was naturally concerned with the nature of the game,  saying: “I was very disappointed with some of the challenges.I think some players were a little bit overboard, but we kept our nerve.
Physically it was a tough game. What you can see is the spirit is strong in the team and that everybody works for each other. That is very positive.“

In the same article, it mentions that Wenger’s contract-talks are ‘on-going’, and he implies that the thing will be signed in the coming months. Deliberately vague time-scale, but it’s looking positive.

Nothing much else, other than Diarra’s being linked to us still. At least he’s better than Alex Song appears to be. Oh, and Cesc is being a bit pessimistic, for a refreshing change.

Normal service will resume tomorrow. Better blogging, better time, better constination.

Adios.