It was very frustrating as neither team could break the dead lock. This meant Arsenal have now gone three games without any goal.

Arshavin played on the right wing and had two very good chances to score. He intercepted the ball from Reid in the fifth minute and run at the defenders and stopped and shot with his right foot. The ball went just wide of the right post. His second chance was 10 minutes later .He was dribbling in the box and had a powerful shot that made their goalie to hit it away for a corner.

Robin van Persie also had an early chance to score. He made his way behind Sunderland’s defense and collected a through ball from Denilson, but his chip went wide of goal in the 11th minute.
Arshavin’s cross from the right found striker Nicklas Bendtner and he was able to leap into the air and header it at goal in the 29th minute.

Sunderland also put Arsenal under pressure. Anton Ferdinand had a shot from about 15 meters out, which Almunia comfortably fisted away in the 17th minute. Also Dean Whitehead had a shot from distance which made Almunia.

In the second half the teams were equal with neither side having many chances.

Vela came on and had two very good chances to burry it into the back of the net.
The first one was, the ball came over and went over Van Persie. It dropped nicely to Vela who’s shot went well wide of the goal. The second was basically the same and this one went to the corner flag.

In the dying minutes the ball was squared back to Gallas on the edge of the area who shot the ball wide.

This game was our chance to put pressure on Villa however now we are fighting to stay in the UEFA Cup spot.

It is not that the guy has no ability or speed, he does, it is just the stupidity of his actions. He is like a baby that has not grown up. Arsenal fans vented their anger on poor Eboue against Wigan , after the match the players and Wenger came out in his defence.

Since that game, things have got worse for our Ivorian utility player, with the final blow being the criticism leveled at him by the manger.

“He didn’t sense how far you can go,” said Wenger. “When he got the first card it was unfortunate, but the second one, you cannot complain about that.”

“During the game he had problems in dealing with his frustrations. We want to play a part in helping him to deal with that.

“The other players want to help their partners to deal with frustrations, but you are also responsible for the way in which you deal with it.”

The comments from Arsene will place further pressure on Eboue and the Arsenal fans will not afford him a second chance.

Now that we have Arshavin and Walcott, Fabregas and Rosciky all coming back from injury, there will be little room for Eboue in the Arsenal squad.

Eboue’s time at Arsenal is up and about time.

Russia international Arshavin completed his transfer to the Gunners from Zenit St Petersburg earlier this month for £15 million and has been working on his fitness in training.

The 27-year-old has not played a competitive match since the end of the Russian Premier League season in late November, but Wenger is ready to involve him at Emirates Stadium this weekend. Arshavin was on the bench against Tottenham but didn’t come on.

“He will be involved,” Wenger told the club’s official website. “But I have not decided what I will do with him yet.”

Wenger is indecisive Where he should play him. For Zenit St. Petersburg Arshavin played as a attacking central midfielder. I think this is where Wenger will play him. At the moment Arsenal’s central midfield is weak and fragile. We have Song and Denilson in the middle and I think they aren’t that strong. Arshavin will bring confidence and also experience into the center of the park.

When Fagregas comes back that will be a very strong central midfield. Fagregas has a defencive way of playing and Arshavin has a attacking way. This could work well because they will compliment each other.

With Van Persie this could be a very good tag team with Arshavin. Arshavin has a very creative and attacking player. Van Persie has a similar mind with him and could mean that them two will have a great partnership together.

“He is still working on preparation and he is not qualified for the Champions League game against Roma on Tuesday so we can give him another week of hard work,” added the Frenchman. “At the end of next week, that will be three weeks with us and one week with Zenit, that should be enough.”

Wenger suffered a selection setback in the build-up to the game after it emerged yesterday that Eduardo had injured a hamstring in Monday’s 4-0 win over Cardiff, the Croatian’s first game for Arsenal since breaking a leg last February.

Since playing officially for Arsenal Carlos Vela has had made twenty appearances nine in the premier league five in the cup (FA Cup and Carling cup) and six in Europe. Altogether he has made twenty appearances and has scored four goals, all of these in the cup, three of these against Sheffield United.

Vela has a very powerful left foot and also a footballers mind. He is never scared to run at defenders and more importantly isn’t scared of taking shots anywhere. He has a good pace and is strong against people which is important on the wing. Vela can cross the ball very well.

Against Cardiff on Monday Vela played on the left wing and shone. He set up Eduardo’s first goal on the night by making a clever chip cross into the box. Also he made some very clever runs on the break. One of these was when Eduardo made a cross ball over to Vela who ran at the defence and shot. The shot was so hard that the goalie wasn’t able to hold onto it.

 Over other games Wenger has tried playing him upfront but hasn’t shone. He is classified as a striker but when he plays upfront he moves to the left wing. This seems to be where he fills comfortable to play.

Overall he should be starting on the wing for these reasons.

Bendtner won a ball in the centre of the park and then played it to Vela who crossed it in and Bendtner leaped up and headed it just wide. Bendtner who was running the game so far passes it to Eduardo in our half who played an amazing long ball to Vela, who ran at the defenders and shot and blocked.

Eduardo who had just came back from injury showed he had the right mind with a shock shot from the halfway line.

Arsenal broke Cardiff’s attack with Eduardo who ran up the pitch, passed it on the wing to vela who played a chip cross into the middle. Eduardo was unmarked and GOAL!! Eduardo headers it into the back of the net. What a start after his injury.

The corner came in and Bendtner leaped into the air and GOAL!! Bendtner flick the ball passed Heaton.

The second half started lively with Arsenal pressuring Cardiff from the start. The first 10 minuets were very quite with not many chances for either side. Cardiff for the next 6 minutes pressured Arsenal with there best chance a thirty yard shoot from Bothroyd which was comfortably stooped by Fabianski.

 Then Bendtner pushed the ball forward and fell in the area, no penalty. Then a minute later Eduardo was in the area and was tripped up.  Penalty. Only one person to take it Eduardo. He stepped up and GOAL!! His second goal of the night. Not much happened after that with Arsenal with all the possession and some shots that went wide. Late on in the match Cardiff had a claim for a penalty.  

From know where Bendtner won the ball and slotted it through to Van Persie and GOAL!! Van Persie after coming on scored with his weaker foot.  Very late on in the match Van Persie hit the post. The final whistle blew and Arsenal cruised through to the next round.                               

1. Fabianski

                    3. Sagna          5. Toure (C)       10. Gallas     40. Gibbs

                    8. Nasri           15. Denilson       17. Song       12. Vela

                                            9. Eduardo          26. Bendtner

Cardiff team to play Arsenal:

  13. Heaton

                    2. McNaughton    12. R. Johnson   5. Purse    21. Kennedy

                    29. Burke          4. Rae           16. Ledley (C)     11. Parry

                                  44. McCormack      8. Bothroyd                                       

  After a year out of football with a broken leg and then a hamstring problem which prevented him from coming back quicker Eduardo, according to the Croatian boss Slaven Bilic Eduardo will be match fit for our fourth round replay against Cardiff on Monday.

Eduardo was on the bench against Spurs last Sunday however he didn’t play because he wasn’t as fit as Wenger hoped he was. 

 Now that Slaven Bilic has said he is fit to play he could be the partner for Robin Van Persie now that Adebayor is out for a long period with a hamstring injury. Bendtner, although on a good spell in January has gone back to his old self. Vela still needs to learn a bit more and to be a bit more confident.

This could resort in Eduardo playing against Cardiff. I hope he plays against Cardiff at the Emirates and scores. He could be the player we were missing for most of this season.