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Sevilla and Alvaro Negredo had a match to forget as they lost to Zaragoza. They fall out of the top four.

Leo Messi shows why he is a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and their composite.

Messi's first goal was a classic example of the Magnus effect wickedly bending the ball around a thicket of players. The astounding part was he did it in a split second without vision of the goal. The second goal scored by Xavi was actually all Messi using his left foot exclusively to control the ball as both raced down the field. The symphony of breath taking movements unleashed by Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, and Keita was a pleasure to watch..They remain 5 points ahead of Real in the Liga race..

The Merengues took to the air to overcome Espanyol. Gonzalo Higuain showed a sublime touch scoring the last goal. Sergio Ramos got things rolling with a superbly timed header and then Kaka broke his scoring slump by notching Real's second goal off a rebound.

Nifty backheel but it should have been ruled offside.

"You have to congratulate Chelsea. We didn't get a demonstration of football but they were efficient and, at the end of the day, that is what has made the difference."

In Wenger's world efficiency has a dirty connotation. It seems to equate not playing football. But anybody with half a brain could tell you that was Arsenal needed. A bit of efficiency after all that possession. This is not a mythical gold standard. You can be Barcelona who play beautifully and are every bit efficient.

Teams counterattack, win through set pieces, play physical- these are different hallmarks of the game. If they add up to a successful system then that system has to be respected. Chelsea played their strengths and we played ours. In the end they got what they wanted. That is still football, like it or not.

"They have fantastic defenders and I believe many times they were out of position and managed to get back, especially one situation with Nasri in the second half and another with Bendtner."

I remember Nasri managing to steal the ball away with Arsenal in great position to launch a counterattack. Strangely and yet predictably, it devolved into a lateral passing game as no one raced forward giving enough time to Chelsea to fall back in numbers to defend. The moment was lost. With Arshavin a distant dot on the horizon, Walcott in decline, Eduardo injured, Clichy missing a step - that demonstration of glorious counterattacking against Liverpool last season is a distant memory. This was one occasion amongst many in the match when we made their defense look "fantastic." .

Drogba made it an incredible 12 goals in 12 games against Arsenal.

What has Hull City got that Arsenal does not?

It took just two strikes by you know who - Didier Drogba to sink Arsenal early in the match. And as was their wont the Arsenal defense went to sleep on both occasions. Song failing to box out Drogba for the first goal after Terry headed the ball down from a Malouda corner.

The defense was then caught in a footrace as Lampard booted the ball downfield which Drogba latched onto muscling his way through Diaby and Clichy and with a clinical finish secured his second goal. It came just as the Gunners were enjoying a fair bit of possession with Arsenal coming close to equalizing through Arshavin.

Drogba has scored 12 goals in 10 matches against the Gunners. It was game, set, and match.

Arsenal are now 9 points behind with 13 games to go. They meet a resurgent Liverpool this Wednesday in a match that might decide the also rans. Winning the Premiership just got beyond reach. And if the Champions League loss to Man Utd is what affected our performance last weekend then there is every reason to presume that in reciprocal fashion, these losses will have a detrimental bearing on our European pretensions too.

Lest I become the nattering nabob of complete negativity, the Gunners did not throw in the towel to their credit. In the second half there was a spell of about 25 minutes where the ball did not leave the Chelsea half as an increasingly assertive Arsenal moved the ball with ease. And the defense stood up to the task of stopping any counterattacks. Critics might interject and say that all that possession led to no result. However when a club goes through a crisis in scoring such as Arsenal in these last four games, it is good to focus on what they did right as a sort of psychological salve.

Unlike against Man Utd, Arsenal looked assured in possession and created a number of chances. At some point it looked like a rope a dope with Chelsea soaking up the pressure and relying on Cech to make some good saves. It was quite enjoyable watching the Chelsea defense looking wobbly but their experience and Arsenal's prediliction of walking the ball into goal made their task easier.

This being Arsenal it seemed no one wanted to take the responsibility of pulling the trigger. Arshavin had the clearest chance after Fabregas floated a beautiful ball but with only Cech to beat the little Russian shot it straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper. It might have been a different story with that equalizer. Diaby and Nasri also came close but their touch and moments of hesitation cost them.

In a tactical move, Wenger decided to start Theo Walcott to back up Sagna in neutralizing Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda. His defensive duties came at the cost of his attacking instincts which meant that the right flank looked inert. Nicklas Bendtner replaced Walcott bringing a bit more variety. He was brought down by Ricardo Carvalho a few feet from the box. Fabregas free kick through a crowd was denied by Petr Cech at the very last moment. Wenger trotted out Emmanuel Eboue and Tomas Rosicky as the final throw of the dice but it amounted to little.

It was left to the woodwork to deny Drogba his hattrick.

The match was also an occasion for the Stamford Bridge faithful to thumb their nose at Fabio Capello's decision to strip John Terry of England's captaincy. Signs proclaiming their support for him were everywhere. For his part, Terry conducted himself as a leader showing no signs of distraction. A big cheer went up when Terry hobbled with a second half injury and with his thigh heavily strapped went about his job manfully. Somehow all this contrived to make Capello look peevish.

As for Wenger, these matches are hopefully telling him something is wrong. We as fans can berate and tantrum all we want. Some of it is throw the baby out with the bathwater stuff which is counter productive but surely by now there must be some sort of self realization.

Against Getafe...

Barcelona won 2 -1 ,the second goal was scored by Xavi again with a little bit of help from Messi.

Manuel Almunia is a giant bundle of nerves. Loss of confidence is contagious. Especially when it comes to an opportunistic club like Chelsea with its veterans who can smell the reek of low self esteem and see muscles turned to jelly a mile away. Wenger has indicated that Fabianski is not yet ready. Not that this really matters since both keepers don't really inspire confidence. Arsenal has to be every bit as vigilant and not give up cheap and easy goals.

1. Limit damage: Get behind the ball, protect the goalkeeper. Give up little space, tackle hard, cut off the passing lanes, disrupt the flow, and deal with set pieces and free kicks by sticking to defensive assignments. That goes for every Arsenal player on every inch of the field.

2. Do without the adventure: A fast and powerful counterattacking team like Chelsea exploits giveaways. The last thing Gallas and Co. want to do is to chase a Didier Drogba who has killed the Gunners. Cut out the attacking junkets addicting every Arsenal defender at present. Leave that to Fabregas and Arshavin.

3. Beware the crosses: Last time around it was Ashley Cole with his devastating crosses that panicked the Arsenal defence. Sagna and Song have to be physical in their marking and disrupt the overlapping Cole and Malouda on Chelsea's active left flank.

4. A 4-4-1-1: I think Wenger needs to give Bendtner a start. He may not be fully fit but if you are to loft long balls and crosses a 6'2" striker has a better chance of getting to them than Andriy Arshavin who should be moved to the slot. Denilson was awful against Man Utd. Time to give Aaron Ramsey a start.

5. Open field shots: Lets not walk the ball into goal. The Chelsea defenders expect it and they will just clog up the middle. Cech has been susceptible to the sudden long range bomb. It might be a good idea to test him.

6. Winning the Premiership: Forget the third place finish happy talk. Wenger might have said other things too in his interview but these are the headlines. Very few go beyond it. He promised in the beginning of the season that Arsenal would win a big trophy. The Premiership is as big as they come. Play the lights out.

In rehearsal at least. The countries await the final verdict on the Euro qualifiers. But Michel Platini thinks that it will be fantastic if it does happen and France decides to play football.

Ever wonder which Premiership clubs are guided by motives other than self interest? Have a long term vision? Show clarity of purpose? Remain engaged with fans and the community? Have ownership that are committed to good stewardship and transparency for their club and football in general?

Forceforgood has developed an index akin to good corporate governance based on these above five areas. Aston Villa, Arsenal, and Wigan are the top three clubs.

Randy Lerner's taekover of Villa has proved to be the best thing for the club and the index gives high scores to his stewardship.

Arsenal gets high marks for its long term vision and clarity of purpose.

" As percentage of turnover the lowest wage bill in Premiership! Prudently refusing to enter the transfer merry-go-round. Invested in youth and stadium, and keep faith with their management. Potential bidding war among new shareholders. Older shareholders had until all recently maintained stewardship with "lock-down" agreement. Debt two thirds of Chelsea or Man Utd but aggravated by property slump."

Wigan gets the same marks as a club that gives "best value for money" to the fans.

Man Utd ranks 13 obtaining poor marks in putting club first, engagement with fans, and passion and commitment. The Glazers high levels of debt are an issue and so is their lackluster engagement with fans.

They are better than their derby counterparts City who rank a place below Sheikh Mansour Al Nahyan's passion and commitment to good stewardship especially in question.

Chelsea come in 15th getting the worst marks out of all the Premier League teams in clarity of purpose with Roman Abramovich's single minded obsession leading to the highest level of debt and a culture of undermining managers.

Liverpool is 19th just one place above bottom of the barrel West Ham which became a victim of Iceland's economic meltdown. The Reds get the worst score in putting club first because the American owners have shown that they are nothing more than carpetbaggers. Surprisingly, Portsmouth which I think has the poorest stewardship or more realistically, none at all is ranked 17th. They rank above Spurs who get poor marks for Daniel Levy's high handedness and inflated transfers.

Debate away.

Martin Hansson,the swedish ref who failed to spot Henry's double handball in France's World Cup qualifier against Ireland will no doubt be watching his hands like a hawk if they come together in any game during the finals.Here's a new trick that Henry can learn from David Villa to fool him again - scoring from behind the goalline.

Seen here chatting with buddy Blatter - no doubt taking tips from him on how to make moronic decisions.More than 10,000 protested in Togo calling Issa "a shame to Africa"
More.

I am really glad to see Jozy Altidore get regular minutes and so must Bob Bradley.

He seems to have worked his way back into Phil Brown's good books after being benched for tardiness.

This comes in the wake of the terrible devastation and loss of life inflicted on Haiti by the earthquake. Altidore was especially affected as his parents come from that country. He still has relatives who proved difficult to locate because communications were cut off. Phil Brown, showing a softer side to his hard nosed image granted him leave on compassionate grounds if Altidore decided to go back and aid in the search.

Altidore maintained his connection with the island nation even before this tragedy, traveling back with singer Wyclef Jean in 2006 on a charity mission with Jean's organization Yele Haiti.

"Without Haiti, I wouldn't even be here and I'm very grateful," Altidore said. "I remember going and seeing the youngest children roaming the streets with nothing to eat, but they still had smiles on their faces, running after footballs, dancing to music.

"To see what I see on TV of devastation is very heartbreaking."

So it is heart warming to see Altidore dedicate his goal to the people of Haiti. He wears an armband that has the flag of Haiti and the USA every time he steps on the pitch.

"I wear it [the wristband] every game, it has the Haitian flag on it and the American flag," he told BBC Sport. "It was really emotional for me because of what's going on in Haiti."

"I dedicate the goal to them and hope they can smile to see one of their own doing well."

if you have not yet contributed and would like to contribute for the first time or like to contribute further- here is Soccerblog's link to the organizations that are helping in the Haitian relief work. They still need help on a massive scale.

Sweet goal from Altidore, his first in 18 appearances for Hull City. The Tigers have proved tough opponents these last two weekends forcing a draw from Chelsea and now a win against Man City. Hull added another from George Boateng before Emmanuel Adebayor closed the gap. Wayne Bridge returned to duty for City and played reasonably well while Patrick Vieira's debut failed to make an impact.

Wayne Rooney and Berbatov broke up the monotony of a hat trick of own goals by a terrified Pompey defense. Man Utd go to the top ahead of the big Chelsea vs Arsenal match.

As one of the most vilified Liverpool players, Dirk Kuyt surely comes up with some very important goals.

COSATU - Congress of SA Trade Unions have the following objection to Blatter's World Cup strategy...
"The Western Cape is losing jobs as a result of FIFA's actions. It seems that whilst in the rest of the country Fifa and the World Cup related activities are growing the economy, the Western Cape is being prejudiced," the union federation's provincial secretary, Tony Ehrenreich said in a statement.
"The clothes and mascots are being made in sweat shops in China. Traders were excluded from the soccer stadium precinct and the city centre. The companies trying to manufacture local soccer-related merchandise are being taken to court. The beer deals are leading to all beer being foreign and imported, and buses used for the World Cup are being imported, when we could be manufacturing them," he charged.
They have threatened to disrupt the World Cup if steps are not taken .

"When you are fighting with Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa you cannot say that because you finished third it is a disaster."

Wenger's words smack of defeatism. This does not augur well on the eve of the Chelsea encounter. For words like these can be internalized by a young team to mean that matches now have little consequence. We have moved the goalposts from winning the title to now preserving third place. But these are the sort of words that carry over to subsequent seasons - used by players who are being courted by other clubs to inform their decisions.

The sight of Man Utd without their talismanic striker after four seasons, a patchwork defense decimated by injuries with Rio and Nemanja Vidic pairing up barely four times, players flirting with retirement like Giggs and Scholes, and an attack which has seen its share of gold diggers like Berbatov, Owen, and Valencia. Sir Alex might have been forgiven if he spoke those words. But Man Utd even in their darkest moments have managed to pull through by fighting hard and sometimes winning ugly. That is because their coach never gave them any other choice.

The pursuit of trophies might be the least of the worries. What Wenger is doing with these words is discount his own legacy. If he truly believes that the system that he set up at Arsenal with its premium on supremely talented youth was the wave of the future then he is admitting that he has failed. And youngsters are attracted to shiny, new objects like trophies - so why take away their most important motivating factor?

Thierry Henry can hope that Martin Hansson officiates one of France's matches. This time he might be able to get away with a volleyball spike.

The pundits are holding back their plaudits.

Shaibu Amodu will now coach Nigeria's homegrown players

Shaibu Amodu has been sacked as expected. The Super Eagles were suffering a crisis of confidence in Amodu and even with their third placed finish in the CAN, looked far from self assured.

Jay Jay Okocha reflects a growing consensus that a foreign coach needs to replace Amodu. To this end Ronnie Shehata with his successful tenure as Pharoahs coach was sounded out about taking over. But the problem may not be Amodu as much as a dysfunctional NFF that interferes with every facet of football including player selection.

Be that as it may, Guus Hiddink has proven exemplary in providing short term shock therapy. So it is natural that he is on top of Nigeria's list to replace Amodu.He is also being courted by Turkey but unlike that country, Nigeria is going to the World Cup. The Super Eagles also have extremely talented players but not neccesarily the work ethic and the defensive intensity. Hiddink has an established reputation in these areas. After Russian complacency cost them a World Cup spot, he might be looking to burnish these credentials elsewhere.

An option is yet another Dutchman, Clemens Westerhof, who coached Nigeria to their 1994 Africa Cup of Nations title and to the second round that year in the World Cup. He now works as a administrator of a Nigerian football academy. Most Nigerians see him as their best coach. But Westerhof seems to have grown wary of the corrupt and sectarian nature of Nigerian football and has refused such calls.

Another candidate is Ghana's former coach Ratomir Dujakovic who took that country to the 2006 World Cup and the second round. Others mentioned are Bruno Metsu who coached Senegal to the 2002 World Cup, former England U-21 manager Peter Taylor, and Bayern Munich's Louis Van Gaal.

The rush to foreign coaches is not unanimous as there are others in the Nigeria camp like Lawrence Orairo who believe that Amodu should have been strengthened by adding assistants like Samson Siaisia and Stephen Keshi.

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