Arsène Wenger handed a Premier League debut to Craig Eastmond this evening as Arsenal maintained their title push with a 4-1 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Eastmond replaced goalscorer Samir Nasri with 4 minutes of normal time left.
With Alexandre Song, scorer of the 4th goal, set to jet off to the African Cup of Nations later this month, Wenger is looking for internal solutions as a replacement. Song may have failed to track Nadir Belhadj’s run for Pompey’s consolation, but he put in a typical bullish performance and will no doubt leave a major dent in Wenger’s midfield engine room.
Craig found himself with two good chances to shoot as the 18-year-old played a little more advanced, but he overall looked comfortable among older and more experienced players. The Hale End product has already featured in the Carling Cup ties against Liverpool and Manchester City, showing the managers faith in him. With midfield options becoming limited, it appears that Wenger may to turn to one of the young Gunners to help fill the gaps until Song returns.
Article By – J.Sanderson
It was a hint to me as well: Wilshere will go on loan. Wenger was checking if Eastmond was not out of his depth… so he can help deputise during january and febuary, whilst Wilshere goes on loan.
Eastmond isn’t fit to lace Coquelin’s boots. He has not future with us.
Waste of game time which should have gone to Merida. Wenger is going the right way about getting him to sign a new contract…
NOT!
wow that was quick. i was impressed with him first time i’ve really seen him play. its funny how a year ago the likes of Coquelin and Frimpong were considered to be above him
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i think it means eastmond is above coquelin in pecking order.but i will never understand why
obiously, he has shown alot more than what Coq has.
I was iniially impressed by Coq, but havn’t been that blinded by him since. I actually prefer randall..
Coquelin is badly out of form at the moment. He’s not playing very well for the Reserves and you’ve got to take your chances when they come. Craig has done that, and people are slating him, that must be pretty difficult to take.
Where can I watch the Highlights, I live in the us ( though leaving to come back here soon), so i cant get highlights easily!
Anthony: Can you back that up with anything? Eastmond has really impressed with the chances he’s been given so far.
I hope he is given the chance when Song goes. Gibbs was allowed a similar opportunity last season when Clichy was injured- if the manager thinks a youngster is good enough, then they are given the chance to prove themselves worthy of playing for us. It helps that we have some easier fixtures in January.
Stay locked to NewsNow, there should be some highlights posted soon. Or maybe one of the fine posters here will link you.
UPDATE: – HIGHLIGHTS – http://goonertalk.com/2009/12/30/highlights-portsmouth-1-4-arsenal/
TheCritic: Bookmark 101greatgoals like every other football fan, your life will become 101times better.
Normally I look at ArsenalHighlights or Goal4Replay, but they havent got em’ yet?
critic,
try this for individual goal highlights
http://tinyurl.com/yj2szx6
Pls, pls, pls, where is Nazer Barazite?
Ramsey played a hell of a great game.
Nice touches, passing the ball neatly, Cesc-style.
And the important thing is that he assisted the goal for Samir and scored a stunning goal.
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i can draw two conclusions from this match
1. coquelin future lies away from arsenal
2. merida will not sign a new contract
http://www.caughtoffside.com/2009/12/30/portsmouth-1-4-arsenal-premier-league-highlights-video/
here are the goals of tonight
mammohit: wow fast conclusions. Idiot.
Coq is still great. Wilshere had a bad patch last year…it happens.
It’s all about taking your chances however slim. Le Coq who I love hasn’t and Eastmond has. I hope he delivers and we have another Englishman in the side. Equally would love to see Le Coq as he has everything I like about a player. Grit, pace, power, he cares. Bt go go Eastmond. Take a bow, you’re on your way.
@ John, Barazite had shoulder injury and should be back for the rserves 1st match in the new year.
@ TheCritic, footycast.com is quite decent as well but if you subscribe to Arsenal TV online, you get full match highlights.
I know Watford wanted to extend Landsbury’s loan, but what about bringing him back and giving him a runout?
Ramsey was outstanding!!! His first pass of the match was intercepted but from then on he was near perfect!! It`s so hard to believe that he`s only 18 or 19. And what a leftfooted shot!!I don`t want to say I told you so and I know it`s only Portsmouth but he continues to impress and excell. He`s sooooo much better than last year it`s really amazin. And don`t kill Eastmond!! He had a couple good interceptions and read the play well even though he misplayed a couple passes. That will improve just like Ramsey, Song and Diaby improved their passing. He`s skinny as hell though lol.
Ramsey is superb i prefer him to denilson hes much more of a fighter and battler as well in midfield
Eastmond is a london lad lets get the behind the locals for gods sakes.
I thought he did quite well on his debut got shot in, some tackles, passes done well
Craig might show more maturity in his play than Coq at the moment or be a little more tactically aware. Might just be a small difference like that.
In fact, Wenger has already said…
“We always felt that he is very intelligent in his reading of the game but he lacked a little bit of pace so we put him in midfield.
“He has blossomed there in the Reserves and that is why we gave him a chance tonight.”
So obviously Eastmond has a little more intelligence in his play at the moment. That’s something that just comes a different times for different players. Look at Cesc v Diaby.
Coquelin is 18 and Eastmond is just 19. Over reaction on who will make it or not is insane.
It’s crazy for anyone to make conclusions right now. I’ll hold my hands up and say that i slated Diaby’s run of non-performances after the West Ham game earlier in the season but i love the guy right now. He’s been absolutely brilliant over the past few games and long may it continue.
Not taking anything away from Song but Ramsey was my MOM here. He ran the show with a performance that belied his tender age. Absolute class, this kid is.
Nuff happy for Eastmond. He had one opportunity to smash a volley at goal but tried to tee someone up in the middle instead and he gave a dodgy back-pass which went for a corner to Pompey when under a bit of pressure but that’s to be expected on your PL debut. Apart from that, he played well without doing much.
Song MOTM!
Sure Ramsey played well, but Song was more instrumental today.
eastmond will start against west ham me thinks
Song was MOM by a country mile.
In a 4-3- with Song the anchorman, Eastmond is more efficient that Coquelin. Francis all action type is more suited to a 4-4-2.
Against West ham, Eastmond will be on the bench again.
It will be interesting to see if Merida or Wilshere start.
With Song away, Cesc and Denilson injured, at least one of them has a good chance to get some playing time during January.
mommohit and anthony: shut up and talkin shite becuase criag has been a lot more successfull in life already thn u will ever be
Fabianski
Gilbert Bartley Silvestre Traore
Eastmond
Diaby Rosicky
Wilshere Eduardo Vela
fa cup
What about JET?
Arsene has already made his choice! He’s grooming Craig as our future DM. Craig height is good and playing at RB for years has definitely helped with his defending. Craig to beat Denilson in a year.
What is with all the Craig Eastmond hate, is he better than Francis Coquelin who knows, because all that matters to me is that Arsene Wenger rates him and is giving him an opportunity to shine, dont get me wrong when i saw him play at right back he did not really convince me in that position. But seeing as now Arsene Wenger has moved him into the holding midfielder role he lookes like a completely different player, and to be perfectly honest here you can call me xenophobic if you want but if they are both as good as each other i would rather give a chance to an English player than yet another foreigner at our club IMO.
I live in the US and I watched the game on my couch. Cable isn’t that rare, TheCritic.
I thought Song was actually running a couple of times today instead of loping. Diaby loafed a couple of times when I thought he was an even distance from the ball as the opponent, but overall I thought it was a good game. I’m realizing that Eduardo really isn’t fast, but he economical in his movement, and he doesn’t panic. I think he’s going to come very very good for us.
I was happy Eastmond came on since I’d read about him on this awesome site! Thanks for keeping us up to date!
Kentpoul
Great post. Our French supporters feel that once you’re French, you should have a headstart. Arsene don’t look at passports but I think your assertion is right. Too many foreigners in the team for Arsenal’s own good especially on the marketing and public relations side of the business. Its time we get good local lads into the team.
When Eastmond is doing good… why the hell do people say Coq is better? What count is how good you are at the moment and not how good you was. As long as Eastmond is doing good no one should complain. Can’t people see what a big big prospect Eastmond is? He is from our academy! Eastmond with muscles like Song will be a strong holding midfielder for us in the future. Lets not hope to buy a world class player in the future but to hope Eastmond will be that player.
Some people are so damn stupid.
I think walcott is awful at the moment but yet he is given chance after chance because he was really good before he got injured. Now he is injured again and Merida should be given a chance.
On Wellington :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1239620/Arsenal-sign-Wellington-Silva-3-5m-16-year-old-Brazil-star-wont-arrive-till-2011.html?ITO=1490
Great News.
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nice one jay
can you confirm his agents comments jay
do a story put the wellington story to bed and the mails photo is funny number 11
and the passport doesn’t matter
a lot of young english pass port holders at the prem clubs have no english blood in them
unless they eat black pudding lol
not racist just a fact
Did Ramsey get man of the match from Sky Sports?
Wellington confirmation:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fgloboesporte.globo.com%2FEsportes%2FNoticias%2FFutebol%2F0%2C%2CMUL1430779-9825%2C00-PROMESSA%2BDO%2BFLU%2BWELLINGTON%2BSILVA%2BE%2BVENDIDO%2BAO%2BARSENAL%2BPOR%2BR%2BMILHOES.html&sl=pt&tl=en
Wellington :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
This was a kick assed performance. The best goal was Songs. Two minutes of possesion then bamo- header into the back of the net. Nasri and Ramsey’s goals were great too. You gotta love it. http://bobbygee.wordpress.com/
As a new years thing how about sorting out the white text. I love your blog but I still can’t read it on google reader or on my phone.
The problem (I think) is that you have your formatting inline e.g. , meaning that the readers can’t overide it. You need to create a class in you main css stylesheet or in the page then refer to that.
Well my formatting example was stripped out, but it’s the style you have on you article text. It’s easy to see what’s going wrong just by viewing source.
I love to see youngsters debut in the PL for Arsenal. It was quite fun when Eastmond kicked the ball to a Pompeycorner and he asked Almunia if he was supposed to take the post. Love to see small details =)
Is there a link to my article on Eastmond? ;)
Eastmond is playing better than Coquelin so he should be playing. Nufsed!
Keep in mind that Flamini played a full season at left back and than returned to his prefereed d-mid with a bang. Eastmond also spent a season at right back and is now exploding in the d-mid spot.
There may be something in this. Maybe, AW knows how to groom a player for the d-mid spot while they play as fullbacks.
If we don’t see Merida this weekend, I think that will signal his decision not to sign a new contract with us. He will desappear to the reserves and leave on a free in the summer.
Ramsey was excellent yesterday. Diaby, Nasri, and Song were also excellent. Eduardo’s confidence is still low. Arshavin was above average by his standards but even when he’s not on top form hse’s still a very dangerous player.
Don’t know much about this Wellington kid. Don’t know much about Zizhino either. I they both turn out to be huge for the club!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1236765/EXCLUSIVE-Step-inside-Arsene-Wengers-talent-factory-Arsenals-football-nursery-laid-bare.html
off the topic but its a great little article about arsenals academy
What gets me every time about selecting the youngsters is that so many people on here think they know how to do Wenger’s job better than he does. HE works with the Coquelins and Eastmonds every day and we don’t. We know nothing of what goes on other than the occasional kosher nugget that slips out and that’s the end of it.
If Eastmond is being selected above Coquelin at the moment then there is good reason for it, end of. And how good is that a born n bred Battersea Boy might just make it our club? Let’s give him a chance and get behind him and all the boys that wear our shirt with PRIDE. Up The Gunners.
i agree id rather a london lad make it atrsenal then another french as it would defeat the purpsoe of our academy if we kept bringing in foreigners to our academy and only allowing them to break through into the first team.