Morning all, good to see the Thierry Henry stuff has blown over. Erm ... I wouldn't normally bother but I think it's only fair that someone tries to counter the lies and the hysteria. He's not one of ours now but he was and he was one of our best. Plus it's kinda quiet.

The Mirror:

Liam Brady last night branded Thierry Henry “shameful“ after launching a bitter attack on FIFA for fixing the outcome.

Or did he? In fact LB7's use of the word "shameful" was aimed at FIFA. On Thierry he said:

I wouldn't blame Thierry Henry for what went on. I would maybe look at what happened three months before and the fact that these seedings for the play-offs were made to favour the bigger teams. I would ask why that went on.

Then we have Henry Winter in the Telegraph calling for Henry to be banned from the World Cup, saying:

Thierry, you have just given football its "Say it ain't so, Joe'' moment. From Shoeless to Shameless. 

If the reference eludes you Winter is talking about "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, a baseball player for the Chicago White Sox who participated in a match fixing conspiracy to allow the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series. So Thierry's handball is now being equated with deliberate, considered and systematic cheating. I really expected better from Henry Winter because this is the kind of shite you would see in the worst kind of tabloid. Instead he's jumped on the bandwagon and made himself look like a total idiot. He goes on to say:

A cheat like Henry should not be allowed to attend the World Cup while honest souls like Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Ireland's wonderful supporters stay at home. 

Since when did an English journalist care so much about Irish football? It's cloying in the extreme to have them fake sincerity towards Ireland just to have a pop at Henry. How nice of them to be so outraged on our behalf. And 'honest souls' like Robbie Keane and Damien Duff. After the game Damien Duff spoke to the BBC, here's what he said:

If it was myself or Robbie down the other end we'd have tried it ... you just expect the linesman or referee to see it.

Honest souls, indeed. I haven't even bothered looking anywhere else because I assume it's all the same shite, not a voice of reason anywhere (although Barry Glendenning did say he'd buy Henry a pint if he came to Ireland - he'd probably buy him a pint of Coors Lite though, which would be fair punishment it has to be said).

When you have the FAI and the Irish Government making the country look foolish in the extreme with their absurd claims for a replay you know this story is nothing more than a smokescreen for them. It suits our government perfectly, actually. Get everybody fired up about a football match to take their minds off the fact the entire country, under their pathetic governanance, is fucked. You have to question whether or not the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice have better things to be doing at the moment than worrying about a replay. And the FAI - well, as they build a new stadium they'll grasp at any straw to try and fill their coffers.

And caught in the barrage is Thierry Henry who was wrong and who cheated but did nothing that footballers don't do in every game. He sought an advantage by breaking the rules and that happens every week from claiming throw ins which aren't yours, making fouls, pulling jerseys, diving and countless other actions intended to put yourself in a position to win the game. Not all of them are pretty, some of them more costly than others, but what's great about football is shit happens to you one week, it happens to someone else the next. Ireland got the shitty end of the stick this time but not many Ireland fans complained when we got a penalty in Georgia which wasn't a penalty. From a match report:

A long ball found its way to Robbie Keane who seemed to control the ball with his hand only for the referee to let play continue. The ball was then cleared but only as far as Kevin Doyle as it deflected off the Waterford man and into the path of Ucha Lobjanidze. The referee then gave a shrill blast of his whistle for what appeared to be an offside by Keane.

Instead to everyones surprise, Hyytia pointed to the penalty spot and deemed Lobjanidze to have handled the ball. Replays showed that Keane had handled the ball in the lead-up to this decision and that Keane was also offside as play continued.

Watch the footage. What's the difference? Was there outrage at Robbie Keane's deliberate, but much more sneaky, handball? Did the English press condemn the referee for favouring the 'bigger' team at the expense of the plucky eastern European underdogs? Did the honest souls Damien Duff and Robbie Keane tell the ref it wasn't a penalty? Of course they didn't. Robbie Keane scored it and celebrated. So, what goes around comes around? Maybe not, but it certainly highlights the difference between the reporting of that incident and this one, doesn't it? As someone on Twitter put it:

Just like Eduardo against Celtic, the rule here isn't "don't cheat." the rule is "don't cheat certain teams."

I feel sorry for Thierry Henry. I know he's a big boy and he can cope and I agree entirely with those who wish to condemn his cheating. However, it has gone so far beyond what is normal, or what should be acceptable. Has football journalism really sunk this low? It's like everyone has been injected with Daily Mail and pumped full of Harry Harris. You have The Mirror putting words in Liam Brady's mouth, you have previously respected journalists like Henry Winter fuelling the fire with ludicrous copy, and the bottom line is the football match is over. France have won, Ireland have lost. There's nothing that can be done about it now despite the outrage. And those who are stirring up controversy for web page hits, for their own profiles, or anything else ought to just shut up now and get on with something else.

If that means more talk of video evidence or five officials in a game, then let's have that debate because it will do something to stop incidents like this happening again. Vilifying one footballer for doing what every other footballer would do will not. 

Right then, the good news is that real football returns tomorrow and we've got a fairly tricky assignment away to Sunderland who have been improved by the arrival of Steve Bruce as manager. We'll get full team news today but while Walcott, van Persie, Gibbs, Bendtner, Diaby and Clichy all miss out, Denilson, Traore, Vela and Fabianski return. With Standard Liege in midweek and Chelsea next weekend you suspect the manager might shuffle his pack a bit but we'll probably know more after his press conference today.

Not much else from an Arsenal point of view so before the Arsecast let me give you the winner of the most excellent Dennis Bergkamp canvas provided by Modern Canvas Art. The answer to the question was Inter Milan and the RNG did its thing and the winner is : Stuart Stratford. Well done to you and I'll be in touch to get your details. To the rest, better luck next time - and do check out their website for other Arsenal related canvases. More competitions on the way next week including a chance to win tickets for the Chelsea game.

Now then, Arsecast. On this week's show Goodplaya joins me to talk Thierry and the return of Arsenal, Sylvester is in there, as is the penis of William Gallas, plus there's a chance for you to win (see how much I give you?!) a Savile Rogue scarf (by the way, if you buy a scarf through their website and use the code ARSEBLOG at check-out you get a 10% discount before Dec 6th. Not too shabby). 

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (22mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that, thankfully, is about that. Till tomorrow.

Happy Friday to you all,

we should probably start with the news that Stan Kroenke is on threshold of the 30% which would require him to make an offer for all the shares in Arsenal. We've watched him draw ever closer in the last few months, his intentions remain very much a mystery. What you can say though is that with the 100 shares he bought from Peter Hill-Wood what is happening is being done with the full knowledge of the board.

The main fear Arsenal fans would have is that if Kroenke is planning a takeover then he'll do it like the other Americans at United and Liverpool - i.e taking out big loans to buy the shares then saddling the club with that debt. I suppose we have to have some faith in the board that having brought the club to this point with their sensible and self-sustainable business model they don't allow all that good work to be undone if they sell up. They have always maintained their roles as custodians of the club so you have to think they'd be loath to allow someone to come in and purchase Arsenal in that manner.

Arsene Wenger seems unperturbed when asked about it. As he said in his press conference his focus is on the pitch and what happens in terms of ownership is a 'level above'. I don't see a takeover happening just yet though, I think this is Kroenke consolidating his shareholding even further, but as long as there's no public declaration from Silent Stan there'll be plenty of speculation.

On to matters football and the pre-Wolves press conference took place yesterday for some reason. There doesn't appear to be anything new to tell you in terms of injuries. It doesn't look as if anyone is back, Denilson and Theo should return post Interlull, nor does it appear as if we've picked up any new injuries from Wednesday night. We'll probably get more team news today.

I think the manager might rotate things a little bit up front this weekend. With Nasri back, Rosicky back and Eduardo looking for a game there are plenty of options for him - although there's still no Carlos Vela whose continued absences are not at all unexpected now. I think it's a measure of how often he's out that Arsene completely forgot about him after the AZ game when discussing his attacking options, throwing his name into the hat at the end when he remembered.

At the back though the manager is not to seen to rotate, preferring the partnership between Gallas and Vermaelen to continue. He says:

At the moment, no I am not tempted to rotate. I do not like to rotate too much in central defence because we are in a position where they have a good understanding and every point is vital so it's not worth to take a gamble if I'm not forced to do it.

Carling Cup aside they've played every other game this season but when you're in good form and you're winning you don't feel tired. It's an important game tomorrow. With Chelsea and United playing on Sunday there's the chance to pick up points on whoever drops them and the chance to put a bit of pressure on them with a Saturday win. More on that tomorrow.

Arsene also confirmed the club have agreed a new deal with Fran Merida but he hasn't signed it yet. He criticised some clubs who were trying to destabilise the player behind our backs, obviously Atletico Madrid, but it's obviously a big decision for the young man. Does he stay with Arsenal and fight for a first team place or does he go back home to Spain with, more than likely, more probability of first team football? With only one Carling Cup game under his belt this season you can understand why he's taking his time.

The boss says he wouldn't swap Robin van Persie for anyone, saying he's the perfect striker for the system we play. I wonder if he'd swap him for a robot who had state of the art projector with every single film and TV show ever made in his memory banks so if you felt like watching something you just told him and he'd play it. That would be tempting. He mentions Drogba. I'd swap van Persie for Drogba but only if I was in a hot-air balloon and I could throw him over the side after slide-tackling him at very close range wearing steel capped Doc Marten's. The monstery cunt.

And that'll be about that so it's time for this week's Arsecast. Joining me to discuss the hilarity of Sp*rs, the fun of AZ and the wonder of Cesc is the man from East Lower. Also on the show, vintage news, Talkshite radio and Silent Stan reveals why he keeps himself so quiet.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (20mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

There you go, have at it. More tomorrow.

Right then, it's one busy blog this morning so let's get right into it.

Just moments, possibly seconds, after an article appeared on the official site with Lukasz Fabianski talking about how delighted he was to be back, another appeared advising us that Lukasz Fabianski would be out for three weeks. Apparently he's got some kind of a thigh injury. Honestly, I think footballers are a bit too brittle these days. 

He looked fine on Wednesday and if he's got a problem let someone else take the kick-outs or give him a Juventus style injection to fix him. It means that the manager has got a big decision to make ahead of tomorrow's game. Does he continue with Mannone, whose inexperience is beginning to show as he plays more games, or does he bring back Almunia who he clearly had no intention of playing as he'd have been back in the team otherwise?

The papers this morning suggest Almunia will return using quotes from Arsene to back that up. However, I'm not so sure. Those quotes were from the pre-Carling Cup press conference when he had every intention of playing Fabianski both in midweek and at the weekend. The Pole's absence has caused him the kind of headache he really didn't need and if I were a betting man I'd put money on Mannone continuing between the sticks. Of course if you're a betting man you'd put money on Almunia because whatever I bet on generally loses, but I just think if Almunia was in favour he'd have come back before now.

Today's press conference will probably shed some more light on things but the goalkeeping situation at the club is verging on farcical now. Fabianski aside there don't appear to be any new injuries but maybe a butterfly will get too close to one of our players in training today and necessitate and four month absence. Full details on the squad in tomorrow's blog.

Samir Nasri has spoken about his return from injury and I think the absence has made him a little bit mad. He says:

I was very satisfied with my sensations. After five months without playing, I had appetite. I wanted to eat the pitch.

Which kind of put me in mind of this (except in English). But maybe that's just me. He goes on to say:

The boss asked me how I felt two or three times during the game against Liverpool. I had to make a sign if I felt the slightest muscular problem - but everything was all right. I thought that it would have been a little bit more difficult. We worked well with the physical assistant. Now, I need to play and play again.

I don't really see him starting against Sp*rs tomorrow but he's certainly a good option to have on the bench - especially as Rosicky's 'few days' has been Rosickeyed right in the Rosicky. Another of Wednesday's performers, Fran Merida, reveals he wants to stay at the club and sign a new deal. His current contract runs out in the summer so we'd best get things moving there if we want him to stay.

Cesc has been talking about winning things and winning them with a grandiose flourish. He says:

I can never accept that we must change our style to win. Trophies are important, but so too is the style in which you play the game. I disagree with the argument that good football can’t win trophies. We are desperate to please the fans with success, but we also want to make them happy with the way we play.

I don't really see how the two things have become so polarised, to be honest. There's nothing that says playing good football does not equal success. Like it or not United have played good football throughout the years on their way to various titles and trophies, we've done it too under Arsene Wenger. There is, of course, the whole 'win ugly' thing which we've shown we're capable of this season. Fulham away springs to mind when we played not very well and still got the three points.

But there's nothing that says when you're 4-2 up against Sp*rs at home with a couple of minutes to go that hoofing the ball into the stand when it needs it isn't good football. To me that's excellent football. Sensible, intelligent, clever football. Trying to go score a goal you don't need and ending up drawing the game is not good football despite the fact you thought you were trying to play good football. 'Good' is entirely dependent on the circumstances of the particular game. There are all kinds of 'good', we just need to learn which 'good' is best applied in the position we find ourselves in. If you get me.

As I said earlier there'll be more in tomorrow's blog about the Sp*rs game so for today that's your news for the moment.

Now, all week I've been running the competition to win one of three pairs of club level tickets for the game with thanks to Emirates Airline. The winners will be announced this morning - but in a separate blog post at 10am. Just to keep things easy and less crowded on this post. So check back to see if the RNG has made you a winner.

All that aside it's time for this week's Arsecast. On the show to discuss the week's football and a special Arsenal v Sp*rs project he's been involved in is GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog. There's Sylvester, Arsene Wenger Hawkins makes a return, there's an interview with an actual Sp*rs player and more. 

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (21mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that's about that. Enjoy your Friday, stand by for the competition winners.

Well by all accounts the AGM was a fairly uneventful affair. Arsene got a big birthday book, made a nice speech, Stan Kroenke was there and refused to talk and we got some little known facts about Gunnersaurus.

Obviously a reflection of how things are at the club at the moment. On the pitch things are looking good, off the pitch things are looking good and there's unlikely to be controversy or difficulty in those circumstances. There is more in depth stuff from the AGM on today's Arsecast.

Arsene was in bullish form about his team, acknowleged that we hadn't won a trophy in four years - "We know that!", he said - but is convinced that will change this season. He said:

I believe that this year the team will do it. When I say that, it is not to please you, it is because I am really convinced of it. This season we are ready to go for it in the Premier League, the Champions League and of course both the cups as well.

Trophies are a long way away yet but we appear to be on the right track. At this stage of last season we had already lost to Fulham and Hull, Stoke, Villa and City were about to make November miserable and the 4-4 against Sp*rs was just around the corner. All the same we've only played 8 league games so it's a bit premature to be talking silverware just yet.

The boss also spoke about the way the club is being run. Obviously we all know about our self-sustainable model, we've heard so much about it, but there's a definite sense with the appointment of Ivan Gazidis and his subsequent strengthening of the administrative staff that the club is in good shape. Wenger said:

We are in the middle today of two different ways to see the development of the game. One is people with unlimited resources who do not care about balancing the budget and one, an attempt from the European Union to regulate that, control it, and get that out of the game.

I believe that will happen and fortunately we are on line with the modern development of the European game and that is why I believe to keep a club strong is essential.

It's going to be an enormous challenge for anyone to change the way football is run, especially in regard to the ownership thing. Chelsea and Man City have taken it to a whole new level in recent years but aren't their owners just doing exactly what Jack Walker did with Blackburn back in the 90s? He bankrolled the club with his own money, made signings that broke transfer records, and brought them success and the league title.

Of course Walker was a Blackburn fan all his life and he put his own money into the club he loved. There's an obvious difference there between him and the Abramovich and Sheikh Yorbooty at Citeh but in terms of what they're doing it's exactly the same. You can be sure any attempts to make clubs live within their means will be seriously opposed because most of them don't and won't be able to. And that includes more than Chelsea and Man City. And the other danger is that if the moneybags owners are told they can only spend the income of the club, for example, it strikes me that it's just as easy for them to walk away leaving the clubs with massive debts that would, probably, end up bankrupting/destroying them completely.

Much as I dislike certain teams it can't be good for football if that is a possibility so it's an area the EU are going to have to tread carefully in. Although the firesales could be nice. We'll see what happens but at the moment Arsenal's more sensible approach leaves us in good shape.

On a football level he was asked about the crop of goalkeepers at the club and he believes they have the required quality. Of course he couldn't possibly give a different answer in such a public environment, and we know he wouldn't do that anyway. He's always fiercely protective of his players but you can't help but think the goalkeeping situation is one that will not exactly trouble him but give him pause for thought between now and January.

The Almunia situation is strange. I don't think you need to be a genius to realise there's more to his absence than a chest infection and when Fabianski returns in the very near future it will be interesting to see what kind of pecking order emerges. One thing is certain - Almunia is clearly no longer the first choice keeper, a big turn-around from the beginning of the season. And with all due respect to Don Vito, who has performed admirably, can you expect to win major trophies with a rookie keeper? I'm still to be convinced by Fabianski and in general I can't help but think this is an area in which spending some money could improve us. Whether than happens in January or the summer remains to be seen but if our ambitions for this season are to be realised then I think we need to sort this out sooner rather than later.

For whatever reason there's an absolute ton of transfer speculation about the place this morning. Firstly The Mirror links us with Belgian whizzkid Eden Hazard and also suggests we're looking at young French striker Sega Keita (I wonder do we have an eye on JVC Murphy). The Mail says we're after Spanish wonderkid Antoine Griezmann who plays for Real Sociedad while The Sun claims a £20m interest in Inter's Mario Balotelli as well as Ajax defender Gregory van der Wiel. 

It's only October as well. Imagine what it's going to be like when the transfer window gets closer and then actually opens. Mayhem!

Some early team news ahead of the West Ham game on Sunday and it looks like Eduardo will return although Tomas Rosicky and Nicklas Bendtner remain 50-50. Nasri and Fabianski will most likely not be involved but the Carling Cup game against the Mugsmashers should see them work their way back to first team action. More on Sunday's game in the next couple of days.

Right then, on to this week's Arsecast. On the show I'm joined by Tim Payton from the AST to talk about the AGM while Amy Lawrence also has some AGM obervations as well as thoughts on matters football, including the goalkeeping situation. 

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (19mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Right then, that's about that. Have yourselves a good Friday, more tomorrow.

Right then, here go back into the thick of it. We've got football tomorrow and this is good. A home game against Birmingham is a relatively nice way to get things going again after the Interlull and there's some early team news.

Eduardo misses out on the chance for revenge against Birmingham as he remains out with his thigh injury. With arch-villain Martin Taylor injured anyway that will have to wait until we visit St Andrews in March. The goalkeeping situation is that Lukasz Fabianski is back yet Manuel Almunia remains 50-50 with his 'chest infection'. You have to think the Pole will come back into the side ahead of Don Vito who has done well when called upon.

Gael Clichy is a doubt with an ankle knock picked up on international duty so a first Premier League start of the season could be on the cards for Kieran Gibbs while Abou Diaby has a bit of a knock but should be ok. Aside from that I don't think we've got any other niggles but we'll get a definitive answer on that when Arsene talks to the media at his pre-game press conference today.

As I said Birmingham is a good game to try and pick up where we left off before the break. We had, since the Man City defeat, won 6 games in a row scoring 18 and conceding only 4. With the game tomorrow and a trip to Holland midweek for a Champions League tie against AZ Alcazar it's as good an opportunity as the fixture computer throws up to build momentum before we start getting back into the thick of things again. More on the Birmingham game tomorrow.

The other main news is that Stan Kroenke has upped his stake in the club to 28.9% after buying another clump of shares. I have no idea if he's paid for these ones or written an IOU or what but what's clear is that he's edging ever closer to the 29.9% stake which would require him to make an offer for all the shares. And it does look as if this purchasing is being done with the full blessing of the board. Chairman Peter Hill-Wood said:

It does look like he is edging towards a takeover, which I would welcome. I have not asked him if that is what he plans to do, but I am very relaxed about it.

If it was to happen, I don't think you can expect any big changes because he seems to like things very much the way they are.

It's the first time we've heard from the board that they'd be willing to sell up to Kroenke and you have to think that his increased presence at the club, he attended the Wigan game last month for example, means that there's a plan in place. He is board-friendly, he's not buying up these shares for fun, and at some point I suppose he's going to try and consolidate his holding.

Kroenke does have part-ownership of some sports 'franchises' in the US and I think, if the rest of the shares were held by the board he'd probably be quite happy to do the same with Arsenal. The elephant in the room, of course, is Alisher Usmanov and Red and White Holdings. We know there's no love lost between the current board and Usmanov and I can't see Kroenke and Usmanov working side by side in the years ahead so what happens will certainly be interesting. 

And while I've always been of the opinion that I'd prefer if Arsenal's ownership was more traditional, shall we say, I'd certainly feel more confident that the self-sustainable, well-run model currently employed by the club would be maintained under Kroenke rather than Usmanov. Let's wait and see what happens.

Not much else going on. Cesc talks about winning the league and there's some idle transfer speculation regarding Eboue and Atletico Madrid but with the transfer window not open until January I'm going to pass on that kind of stuff for the moment.

Right, competition winners. I've had a copy of the Official Illustrated History of Arsenal and two of Gunners Lists to give away with thanks to Octopus Books. I asked you how many times Arsenal had appeared in the FA Cup final and the answer is 17. Although I did allow 18 if you mentioned the replay against Sheffield Weds. It's funny how many people answered the question 'How many times have Arsenal won the FA Cup?', weird.

Anyway, the RNG has done its thing and the winner of the Official History book is Jeff Ferman while Richard Savage and Brian Agnew get copies of Gunners Lists. Well done to you, I'll be in touch to get details, and thanks to everyone else who entered. Better luck next time.

Now, Arsecast time. On this week's "Oh shit there's nothing to talk about" Arsecast I chat with Goodplaya about the return of the Premier League, Almunia's 'chest infection' and more. Sylvester is in there and ... erm ... that's about it. It's a shorter Arsecast than usual but it's (probably) better than no Arsecast at all. Probably.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (15mb MP3), you can download a zipped version here or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that's that. Have a good day, more tomorrow.

I find myself somewhat *boilked* this morning. Stupid Arthur.

Arsene Wenger's normal pre-game press conference took place yesterday instead of today as Arsenal were celebrating the official opening of Highbury Square. Last time I saw Highbury it was all bockety and muddy and a bit sad looking, will have go take a look next time I'm over.

We got some team news ahead of tomorrow's game against Fulham. Andrei Arshavin is back, Robin van Persie has a little problem and faces a fitness test today but should be fine, but Manuel Almunia is still out with his chest infection. When asked who would play in goal Wenger said 'Normally Mannone' which may be a little hint that he's thinking of going with the man whose name I will always have to copy and paste, Wojciech Szczesny.

It does seem as if the goalkeeping situation is a bit up in the air at the moment. Unless Almunia has got the dreaded lurgy it's hard to think a chest infection has kept him out this long. The manager doesn't seem sure which of Mannone or Szczesny to pick while Fabianski remains out with a knee problem. A little continuity in this area would be welcome, I think.

There was good news regarding Theo Walcott who is back in full training but still remains a doubt for this weekend. When asked if he'd be involved Arsene said:

I don't know. He is still a bit short because it's the week he's back to full, normal training. But the good news is that he's available again.

There's a midweek Champions League game which might just come at a better time in his recovery but it'll be good to have him as an option once again. Theo's thoughts on the state of the squad and the way we're playing are here.

Arsene also responded to the claims of Bordeaux President Marie-Claire-de-Lune that he had acted inappropriately over Marouane Chamakh. He just about stopped short of challenging him to a duel, saying:

It's very difficult for me to understand any statement of that kind from him. I'm ready to make a press conference with him if you want. We can sit down here with the player and the president of Bordeaux and have an explanation. You will see what I did and I'm sure the president of Bordeaux will agree with what I say.

And the way he believes transfers should be done was illustrated with his comments about how people should keep things confidential. Arsenal's reluctance to talk about any potential transfer is pure Wenger and he believes all parties in any potential deal should do the same. Sadly the people who share his point of view are few and far between so more gets into the public domain than he would like. You can't control other people though and when big money is involved they'll always try and look after their own interests first.

There's some other stuff about time keeping and injury time if you're interested. It doesn't really warrant any comment from me though.

The Sun is linking us with a move for Osasuna full back Cesar Azpilicueta. That's another copy and paste job right there. Don't know anything about him, it's September, transfer window opens in January, we've got lots of full backs, next.

Right then, on with this week's Arsecast. As we had Carling Cup action in midweek and the youngsters got to show their stuff on the big stage I thought we'd have a little look at the reserve/youth set-up at the club. I'm joined by J Sanderson of Young Guns to talk about the Carling Cup, his blog, and things like a day in the life of a young player at Arsenal.

As well as that GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog joins me to preview the Fulham game, we're at home with Eboue, George has a tale of the unexpected and there's some Arthur powered waffle from me.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (22mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

So, that'll do. Enjoy the 'cast, more tomorrow.

Happy Friday one and all, hope you're well. A fair amount to get through and we'll start with the early team news ahead of tomorrow's game against Wigan.

The most likely returninantor is Robin van Persie who will shake off his knee problem while Andrei Arshavin has a 10% chance according to the boss. He's so tiny that's like a 43% chance for a normal sized person. Meanwhile Denilson is going to be out for a couple of weeks with a back problem so he joins Nasri, Walcott, Vela and the long-termers Djourou and Fabianski on the sick list. More on that game tomorrow after Wenger's pre-match press conference today.

Then, as you might expect, much of the copy this morning is about Adebayor. He 'reluctantly' accepted his 3 match ban for violent conduct but still claims he has done nothing wrong, that he couldn't help stamping on van Persie's face, that it was the Arsenal fans fault for 'abusing' him and that some of the Arsenal players wouldn't shake his hand before the game. He reminds me of an Irish politician. Nothing is ever his fault. Even when caught red-handed stealing, fiddling expenses or handing fat contracts to his buddies there's never any acceptance of responsibility.

He always trots out this line about how 'The people who know me know I would never do that'. What a load of nonsense. We know you fine well and we know you would do that. In fact, we saw you do it, there are pictures taken with cameras and TV cameras and everything, you stupid, lanky twat. It's called 'evidence'. And this bullshit about the 'abuse' he suffered is fast becoming accepted fact and not simply part of Adebayor and City's spin on the whole thing.

Even his former mate Eboue has been critical of him, saying:

I’ve not spoken to him because I am very disappointed in him, it was a bad thing to do. For me, Adebayor didn’t do well and that is no good for football because you have a lot of young people who watch the game and then, they see that and it’s no good for football.

He revealed he hadn't spoken to him since, saying:

If Ade calls me, I will speak with him. But he hasn’t called me yet. I’ll wait. If he calls me, I say ’Thank-you God’, if he doesn’t call me, that’s his problem.

I love how Eboue thanks God for everything. Like he gets up in the morning and finds a fresh custard slice and says "Thank you, God, for this custard slice!", while Mrs Eboue stands behind him going 'You wanker. I spent 2 hours in Tesco yesterday". Alex Song has had a good pop at him too. I like the line about not having a laugh with him in the tunnel. Quite right.

Now, since the stamp on his foot on Saturday captain Cesc Fabregas has been very quiet, but he broke his silence yesterday, saying:

All I tried to do when he was at Arsenal was to create opportunities for him to score. So I think I didn’t do too bad for him. It is a bit strange. It is football and we don’t think about him any more. He doesn’t play for Arsenal and we just have to concentrate on our game and our play.

And that's seems entirely reasonable to me. The Sun has pictures apparently of Cesc's leg and the damage inflicted by Adebayor (obviously in a different challenge to the one on his ankle). Nice. We'll see him in April.

In other news Tomas Rosicky talks about his desire to win silverware this season, Philippe Senderos talks about why he stayed at the club, while Arsene Wenger has hit back at Karl Heinz Rummenigge over rather outrageous allegations of 'child trafficking'. He says:

We are only signing two, three players and if we are signing teenagers then we are handing them a real opportunity. You cannot say that about Bayern. I am well dismayed about such nonsense.

Well dismayed? Heh, he sounds like that fat one from Little Britain.

Anyway, that's about that. Now it's time for this week's Arsecast. I'm joined on the show by Yogi's Warrior from A Cultured Left Foot to pore over the events of the week. As well as that there's a player history from The Man in the Bar, Sylvester, scientific examination of Adebayor's antics last weekend and, of course, the winners of the competition to win the books signed by Arsene Wenger will be announced.

If you weren't one of the lucky winners remember you can buy Arsènal: The making of a modern superclub via the link using the code 'rocky' at checkout to get a £1 discount.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (20mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Right then, that's your lot. More tomorrow.

Morning, it's a busy one so let's crack right into it.

Arsene's pre-match press conference took place yesterday instead of the Friday before a game but as usual he had plenty to say. Starting with injuries ahead of the weekend's game he said Andrei Arshavin would miss at least 3 games due to a recurrence of his groin injury. He said:

We are upset because he should not have played. He was not in a condition where he could afford to play 90 minutes. We took him off against Manchester United because he was injured already at half-time. He will be out for Saturday, Wednesday and certainly next Saturday.

A lot of headlines suggest Wenger was upset with Guus Hiddink but Hiddink made it clear that the decision whether or not to play was up to Arshavin himself. If your best player tells you he's fit then as a manager you're not going to leave him out, are you? So I suspect the boss is unhappy more with Arshavin than the Russian management. I could be wrong though. And if he was that injured why didn't we just withdraw him from the squad, or are you not allowed do that anymore?

Whatever about the Liege and Wigan games but he's going to be missed badly against City tomorrow and his absence is frustrating, to say the least. As of this moment we don't have any further injury worries but the press conference took place before many of them had returned so there's the possibility of further frustration today. Hopefully not though. More on the City game tomorrow.

He spoke about Eduardo and all the fuss surrounding him. Rightly enough he said he's been through worse in his career. When you come back from the kind of injury he has a few braying morons isn't going to affect you. He did say though:

The worst is that now he is not given penalties when they are penalties. That is much worse. The one last night against England was a penalty.

That's just something he'll have to live with, us too, I suppose, but with Wenger banging the drum of fairness and having everyone treated the same I think things will return to normal soon enough. He also put it to the media again to look at their part in it, saying:

Being a hero or a cheat depends very much on what side of the camp you are on. England are in the World Cup and if Rooney does that in the last minute of the game and England win the World Cup, do you really think Rooney will be slaughtered the next day?

And that about sums it up really. I hope we can move past all this now. I'm as bored of diving and the associated furore as I would be reading a Dan Brown book while listening to Tracy Chapman's Fast Car over and over and over again (this is because scientists have proved this is the most boring song of all time).

He then spoke passionately about transfers involving young players in the light of the Chelsea transfer ban. It's clear this is a subject close to his heart and it's well worth watching the press conference for this if you have the Arsenal TV online stuff. His main concern is that it prevents the best young players from progressing. He says:

If you have a child who is a good musician, what is your first reflex? It is to put the child into a good music school, not in an average one. So why should that not happen in football?

And it's very difficult to argue against that. Particularly as the whole thing is natural. A kid starts at one club, moves on to a better one, to a better one again and so on. That happens at every level. The issue of compensation is what needs to be looked at, not draconian measures like preventing players from moving to further their careers. But then this is FIFA we're looking at, lobbied by know-nothing morons who have accused Arsenal of 'child trafficking' in the past. Nothing would surprise me but in this case everything Wenger says is absolutely right.

Right, that's about that in terms of news. There'll be a more detailed look at the Man City game tomorrow. Now it's time to go book crazy and get on with the Arsecast. All week you've had the chance to win a copy of the new republished 'Forward, Arsenal', which details the early history of the club. The question had to do with the author, Bernard Joy, and which club he was with when he represented England as an amateur. 

The answer was c) Casuals. There were loads of entries but with 6 copies to give away your chances of the RNG (Random Number Generator) pulling you off out were good. So it's congratulations this morning to Ollie Angot, Rodrigo Feijó, Peter Spencer, Robert Allen, Suzanne Noble and David McNamara. Well done to you, I'll be in touch for address details and so on. In the meantime my thanks to the publishers of Forward, Arsenal, GCR Books, for their generosity and the book, which I highly recommend, can be purchased through their website.

Ok, on to today's Arsecast and there's a bookish flavour to this one as well. Joining me on the show is Alex Fynn, co-author of Arsènal: The making of a modern superclub (out now in paperback with four new chapters). We chat about Arsene Wenger, his transfer business this summer and his overall policy, as well as things at boardroom level including Ivan Gazidis, what's going to happen to Lady Nina's shares and former director David Dein.

Not only that though, Alex and co-author Kevin Witcher of the Gooner, have been kind enough to give me three copies to give away in the Arsecast itself. And not only that, those three copies are signed by Arsene Wenger himself, so they're real collectors items. For details on how to enter the competition simply listen to the Arsecast and remember, if you'd like to buy the book, you can use this link and the code 'rocky' at check-out will get you £1 off the cover price.

As well as all that on the show there's some poetry and a rather desperate Sylvester looking to make his first appearance of the season. On the pitch, I mean.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (20mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

So, there's plenty to be going on with. Till tomorrow, Arsechums.

Morning all, as you might expect, being in the depths of the Interlull, things are a bit quiet.

The club has officially responded to Eduardo's two match ban, saying:

We strongly believe that the decision taken is deeply flawed and not based on any forensic review of the video evidence available. 

There are obvious errors and inconsistencies in Uefa’s judgment and we intend to appeal.

And reading around it seems the club's desire to defend its player will be even stronger as some reports suggest that UEFA have no intention of applying to same standards to all matches as they did to Eduardo. If that is the case then they are absolutely right to mount the most vigorous defence possible. If only Eduardo is going to be treated like this then it simply shows that UEFA will pander to media coverage of incidents or pressure from factions within. 

Either way it's a sad indictment of what is already a deeply flawed organisation. Footbal365 reported yesterday that UEFA sent Arsenal two faxes in relation to the Eduardo case. One of which we never received, the other arrived at the offices of the Arsenal Ladies. And that about sums up their efficiency and professionalism.

If they applied the same rules to every match people might think UEFA were actually interested in cutting things like diving out of the game. If the reports are to be believed then they have no interest in doing that and Eduardo is being used to advance the political careers of certain officials with one stupid curly French twat right at the heart of it. Unfortunately you just get the feeling that the opportunism will far outweigh any appeal we might have, any evidence, any proof, rules or regulations, but we'll see what happens.

Eduardo is, according to one of his international teammates, 'deeply upset' at the ban, although I'd say it's the fact his reputation has taken a battering in the last 10 days that bothers him most.

Manchester United have released a statement about the chanting directed at Arsene Wenger, saying:

We have gone on the record about this disgusting chant. We don't condone it and have appealed to fans several times – through supporters' groups, the programme and MUTV, but to no avail. There are many chants that fans find objectionable, and this is one to which all decent fans should object

Apparently the issue will be raised by their Chief Exec at a fan's forum next month and hopefully we'll have heard the last of it.

Meanwhile, back to matters more footbally, and Nicklas Bendtner says he'd prefer to be playing as a striker, which I think we all know. The big Dane said:

It is important for me to play and when Arsene tells me to play a position I'll do that. Last season I played a lot from the left side and this season it's been on the right side but, like I said, I prefer to play up front. I am an attacker, not a winger.

To me he's the most obvious candidate for the central role in the front three but at the moment the manager wants Robin van Persie to fill that particular position. I wonder will he change his mind after seeing Bendtner put in a fantastic cross from the right hand side against United which was just too high for Eduardo but which would have been perfect for someone tall and good in the air, like, I dunno ... Bendtner?

Not much else happening. That whole Chelsea thing is quite funny, isn't it? Arsenal fans are acutely aware of their tapping-up skills and won't have a great deal of sympathy for them, especially as they appear to have ignored repeated warnings on the subject believing their money could buy their way out of any situation. Ooops. 

Right then, time for the Arsecast. There's no guest this week, only me waffling, however Den Nielsen makes an appearance, we've got some vintage news, scientific analysis of UEFA, a song from The Man in the Bar, the winners of the Nike training top competition and more.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (20mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Right then, have yourselves a good old Friday. More Interlully goodness tomorrow.

Morning all,

the main news this Friday is that Eduardo is to be put on trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity. His dive against Celtic is on a par with the kind of genocide, butchery and ethnic cleansing and he is likely to be sentenced to death by Michel Platini later today.

UEFA have become involved and the possibility of a two match ban has been mooted. I see no problem with that at all, so long as two things happen:

1 - They explain how a yellow card offence during a match becomes a two match ban off it

2 - They rigorously enforce the same standards across all UEFA competitions so any player who dives is banned for two games.

It just strikes me that in order to make number 2 happen a lot more thought needs to go into the process and a reactionary measure because the Scottish FA have got their haggisy old bollocks in a twist about it might be setting a dangerous precedent. You've got to give credit to Celtic manager Tony Mowbray, he hasn't been banging on and on about it, calling for punishment.

He understands the significance of the Eduardo penalty in the grand scheme of things, even if some of his players are deluding themselves somewhat. The pathetic comments from Celtic defender Glen Loovens about Eduardo's alleged inability to speak English do him little credit. Anyway, until something else happens the storm in this particular teacup ought to be left alone now.

Meanwhile the draw for the Champions League group stages took place and it appears that UEFA, with all the other fuss, got us confused with Manchester United as we seem to have been drawn against the teams they had arranged to play. AZ Alkmaar (who should be managed by General Alcazar), Standard Liege and Olympiakos is far from the most challenging group we've ever had.

Reacting to the draw Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis said:

LOL! Thanks for that. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

And who can blame him? Of course nothing is easy at this level blah blah blah but if we don't get out of this group then it will be up there with the world's biggest failures, such as the De Lorean, the new Indiana Jones film and Francis Jeffers.

Ahead of the United game the manager says Cesc's chances of involvement are 50:50. He's due to undergo a proper fitness test this morning to see if he'll be included in the squad so we should find out at some stage this afternoon. Tomas Rosicky is back in full training but is unlikely to be thrown in to a game of 'this intensity'. Interestingly both players have been called up to their respective national squads for the games next week.

For Cesc in particular this presents the manager with a bit of a dilemma. If he's just about fit enough to be nursed through the United game then there's no chance of a rest if he goes away with Spain and the danger of a recurrence is quite high, I'd have thought. As for Rosicky, well he's got to play sometime. If he breaks down again it could happen with us or with the Czech team - at some point we have to just let him play and see what happens. 

Theo Walcott, meanwhile, will not be available at all until after the international break as he continues to struggle with his back injury.

Emmanuel Eboue has got his local priest to thank for his goal and celebration against Celtic. More thoughts on that in today's Arsecast, all the same he says he's forgotten about last season and wants to stay at the club. Maybe what happened to him was a wake-up call, of sorts. I don't think it's as easy for fans to forget some of the stuff that went on but if he continues to perform the way he did against Celtic then nobody can have any complaints. And it's good for the opposing fans too because we all know the only reason they turn up at the Grove, don't we?

Jay Simpson has joined QPR on loan for the season. Although he did well enough at West Brom last time around he didn't get a whole lot of goals. You have to think he needs a big, big season at Loftus Road to convince the manager his future lies at Arsenal.

And that's about that so it's time for the Arsecast. On this week's show I talk to the Man from East Lower about the Champions League, Eduardo, the United game and potential transfers before the window closes. As well as that there's Sylvester, Talkshite Radio, the greatest match report of all time and more - including your chance to win one of three Nike training tops. Listen for details on how to enter.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (25mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Enjoy and we'll preview the United game more fully in tomorrow's blog. Till then.