Chelsea 6-0 Arsenal [Sri Yakim Cafe, Kota Kinabalu, Borneo]

Borneo.

OK. Chelsea at the weekend was an embarrassment, and perhaps proof that we simply aren't good (or rich) enough to compete for the title. That being said, our season still isn't over and we have a lot to fight for, not just the FA Cup but making sure we stay as high up in the top-four as possible, with the aim of avoiding another Champions League qualifier in August. We have Swansea at home this evening. If we don't pick up three points, it'll be a key message that drastic action needs to be taken in time for the start of next season.

If it were me, I'd drop Arteta. I always try to play the optimist but I know that he's just not up to the job of playing a holding role. It's not even his natural position. Arsenal desperately need a proper holding midfielder, especially with the way our fullbacks play (high up the pitch). And, I think I've finally conceded that we need a true talisman striker. Giroud has practically proven that he's not up to the job and I wouldn't be surprised if he left at the end of the season. It has been made quite clear that there is a good transfer kitty available for the next window. The top two priorities, in my eyes, are a genuine, enforcing defensive midfielder and a clinical striker. I won't bother with any names as that's completely pointless.

There are of course other areas which need addressed. The Sagna situation is still unclear, but it looks like he may depart for France at the end of the year to take advantage of the bosman stuff. I suppose you can't really argue too much with him if that's the case. It means we will need to look for another right-back, and whilst I love Carl Jenkinson and his heart for the club, he simply isn't ready for the task in hand. Another important subject is the backup for Mertescielny - is Vermaelen up to the job?

Tea plantation, Mount Kinabalu.

The Chelsea match for me, and many others, was a depression-fest. Fortunately I was in Kola Kinabalu in Borneo to watch the match so my surroundings helped cheer me up. In just one day alone for example I managed to take a walk on the beach, drive up a mountain (somewhat), sample local tea and get literally eaten by fish in a freshwater river. It's a truly wonderful experience.

Due to lack of time and funds I didn't get to sample some of the other thrills of Borneo, like a river cruise or jungle walk, but despite this I still highly recommend visiting. I will definitely be coming back here when I can take advantage of the place more.

I'm back in Kuala Lumpur now (for the third time) to watch the Swansea match, then, on Friday, I'll be flying up to Vietnam, a country home to tens of thousands of Arsenal fans. It's going to get really interesting!


COYG

Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea [Star City Casino, Sydney]

Merry Christmas from Sydney, Australia!

Having spent a week in beautiful Cairns avoiding crocodiles, man-eating spiders and sharks, I headed back down to Sydney to resume the art of watching every 2013/2014 Arsenal match with another Gooner. This particular game was a Monday evening one in the UK, translating to a 7am kickoff here in New South Wales, meaning yet another trip to a casino and my fourth in four weeks.

Casino!

Don't worry, I wasn't throwing my very limited funds at the 'pokies' like some of the other shameful punters, I was there to watch us play the second of two oil-powered, manufactured-pop football clubs in a row, the filthy Chelsea, and around fifty Sidneysiders had the same idea (not bad for stupid o'clock on Christmas Eve).

Unfortunately, the game wasn't a great one, far from it in fact. I would say that, even for an Arsenal fan, the City game last weekend was a much better one to watch despite walking away with zero points. A lot of people are disappointed, saying that 'we should have won' and 'this is a disaster', and in fairness I think we had the advantage, having not played a mid-week game like Chelsea had. They played defensively but we didn't want to risk upsetting the equilibrium of defending well with a lot of attack-minded players - it was frustrating to watch because you could see that a pair of fresh legs in either Podolski or Cazorla would have given us a boost for the last fifteen minutes, and if it was Ozil or Walcott making way, the rhythm of the team wouldn't have been in doubt. But Wenger knows best, and so for the first time since I can remember, we didn't use a single sub. The goalless draw meant going into Christmas joint top of the league, but second on goal-difference to Liverpool.

It was an opportunity missed, but it could just as easily be looked at as a disaster averted. Being top of the table at Christmas is something that we haven't been able to witness for a number of years, and it should give us a great deal of hope and confidence to take into the next few weeks of football. We've had a very difficult run of fixtures and now, despite a bit of congestion, you'd like to say we'll take the majority of points up for offer against West Ham, Newcastle, Cardiff, Villa, Fulham and Southampton, if we play the way we played against City for example. And that'll take us right up to the end of January. When you consider that Liverpool have to play Chelsea and Man City in that same time, as well as the Merseyside derby, this imminent run of fixtures could definitely go in our favour.

Let's first see how we get on at Upton Park. COYG

Class and Heritage 0-2 Corrupt Russian Oil Money [George & Dragon, Seattle]

My time in the 'Rainy City' has come to an end. 

One of the first things you notice about Seattle is that it's on a pretty steep hill along the coast of the Puget Sound body of water. There doesn't appear to be a lot of fat people in this place, and with those hills in mind you can understand why. Normally, when you see cities on TV shows and movies, you don't really get any sense of perspective, you don't think about the vertical dimensions that make up the landform where a city stands. So when you see it in person for the first time and realise you need to get from 'down here' to 'up there', it makes getting places that little bit more challenging.

Photo taken from my paddle-board. Honest.

Seattle's a great place to come for arts and culture, and the sports scene here is very respectable too; the city is represented by the Seahawks NFL team, the Mariners MLB team and of course the Sounders MLS football team, currently captained by Tottenham reject Clint Dempsey.

I managed to score a free box ticket to the impressive CenturyLink field to watch the Sounders beat Stan Kroenke's Colorado Rapids and progress to the next round of the MLS Playoffs. The game itself, when compared to watching the mighty Arsenal, was less entertaining than watching algae grow, but thankfully the atmosphere made up for it. This is the 5^th MLS stadium I have been to see this year and like all the other teams – with the exception of the NY Red Bulls – there is something innovative that could be taken back to Premier League football. The crowd interaction is great, you can see that the people responsible for this are creating an experience that incentivises the fans to get behind their team as the 'twelfth man', including national anthems, fireworks and songs to inspire chants. It's all very American, but it seems to do the trick.

Impressive stadium. Football is questionable (as in, 'are they actually playing football?')

The thing is, when you don't have that level of atmosphere at your home stadium and the majority of your fans are sleeping at their seats, you never feel like you get that twelfth man advantage, and that's exactly what it's like for Arsenal. Chelsea knocked us out of the prestigious Capital One Cup, the third team to beat us at home this season (it's only November), and I think one contributing factor here is the complete lack of chanting and crowd interaction. We are unbeaten on the road and, not wanting to take anything away from the outstanding team performances we've had on this run, our away fans get behind the players in a way that our home fans don't. As a team on the bleeding edge of technology and setting standards across the globe, I think Arsenal Football Club is well-placed to introduce new ways of improving supporter participation at The Emirates and making the stadium a fortress that opposing teams fear to come to.

The George & Dragon pub, owned by John (middle) who is a Gooner.

The George & Dragon Pub is the spot to go to watch Arsenal in Seattle. The game on Tuesday was about 60% Gooners and 40% clueless Chelsea fans. This made it the least enjoyable atmosphere to date of all the pubs I've visited, but I'm sure that has something to do with the scoreline. We were outclassed, outpaced and out-everything-elsed and you could see the difference a billionaire sugar-daddy can make to the depth of a football squad.

My next stop on the itinerary is Portland in Oregon, known to have the best beer in all of the US. Oh dear.

Remember, you can donate to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation HERE, if you are enjoying reading the blog please spare what you can, and please, don't make the mistake of waiting for the 'next person' to do it.

COYG