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When I woke up on Sunday morning and opened the curtains of my hotel’s room, as I always do, my first thought was that the match would not be played… Luckily I was wrong, and all that snow that was falling down was not enough for the game to be postponed. I say “luckily” because, despite we suffered in the second half, we got back on the victory trail at home. It was about time we won at Stamford Bridge, and against a big rival. We needed this boost.
Things went very well in the beginning, with two goals in the first 15 minutes. We were enjoying ourselves on the pitch. I was able to score first thanks to a great ball from Azpi, and then came the second one from Frank, from the penalty spot. It was 2-0 at halftime. We knew Arsenal would try to hit back in the second half and to score soon after the break. So it was, with a goal from Walcott after a very good pass from Santi Cazorla (it’s great to see him playing around here). The ‘Gunners’ put pressure on us until the end but we managed to keep the advantage and get those valuable three points.
We worked hard to get this victory and I hope it will give us confidence to face Swansea on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Capital One Cup, second leg. We are back to the training sessions this Monday, thinking about the best way to overcome those two goals and get into the final. It would be tough, but I think that if we score an early goal we will have chances to succeed. We will have to keep an eye on Michu and Pablo again, good friends of mine, which are their most dangerous players…
Also, this week is saved for the two Cups entirely, as we will be playing the FA Cup next weekend, at Brentford. It’s always nice to get to know different stadiums and to play against teams that are not in the Premier League. This tournament is quite surprising some times, with teams of a lower level –on paper– beating big clubs. I hope this is not the case 
From la Liga’s matches last Saturday I would like to highlight the great performance by several goalkeepers: Caballero, Varas, Roberto and Rubén made superb reflex saves. Obviously, I also have to mention Barcelona’s first defeat so far in la Liga, at Real Sociedad. The way the local team came back after being 0-2 down is remarkable. They kept the faith until the very last minute. If you look at Barcelona’s winning streak, it seemed impossible to beat them. They still have a good gap with Atlético de Madrid though.
Already on Sunday, Atlético were strong at home one more time and beat Levante with goals from Adrián (this is his second goal with the left foot, and I thought he only used it for leaning on it! 
) and Koke. Falcao’s injury is a pity, I hope he will get well soon. Later on, at Valencia, Real Madrid got a massive victory (0-5) thanks to a superb first half, with Ozil launching the counter attacks that would provide Di María, Cristiano and Higuaín’s goals. When Real Madrid plays like that, they are almost unstoppable. For Valencia, a defeat like that is tough, I know it because it happened to me before, but now you have to stand up and go back to work the next day with a new goal, and trying to learn from mistakes. Cheer up ‘amics’!
As you could see at Stamford Bridge, it’s been snowing around here for a few days, and the weather is really cold. London looks beautiful, but you can’t go out unless you wear several layers of clothing. If you fancy, there is a cool area in the West called Little Venice, not far from Camden and the London Zoo at Regent’s Park. It’s nice to go there and walk alongside the canal or even take a boat. You will like it.
Now I say goodbye but let me thank you for all the comments you made in my previous posts and the networking sites. I encourage you to keep participating and to suggest any other topics you may find interesting!
A big hug and see you next week!
Juan.
