When I was a young lad I was a touch more pious than I am these days. Despite the fact there was no internet, no NewsNow, no wall to wall blogs (in fact I didn't even have the poor man's internet -Teletext- back then), it became common knowledge that Arsenal wanted to sign Charlie Nicholas from Celtic.

He was a sensation, a liquid football goal machine in green and white hoops, and I desperately wanted him to sign for Arsenal. He had all the big clubs to choose from but what swayed it in Arsenal's favour was the fact that I would lie in bed at night and say 'Dear God, please let Charlie Nicholas sign for Arsenal. I promise I'll go to mass and I'll tidy my room and I'll keep it clean and I'll put my clothes in the linen basket and not on the floor and I'll do all my homework and study for my exams and everything. Just as long as Charlie signs for Arsenal!'.

And the next day I would get up and go about my business doing none of the things I promised and the next night I would go to bed and say 'Dear God, please let Charlie Nicholas sign for Arsenal. I promise I'll go to mass and I'll tidy my room and I'll keep it clean and I'll put my clothes in the linen basket and not on the floor and I'll do all my homework and study for my exams and everything. Just as long as Charlie signs for Arsenal! But this time I really mean it, I swear'.

And so it would go. Now, there are those of you who will consider my relationship with God a touch one-sided but God did not mind. He is all generous and funky and stuff and he decided to answer my prayers and lo and behold Charlie signed for Arsenal*.

Somewhere in Russia an Owly footballer is going through exactly the same thing. Speaking about the off-off transfer deal that has plagued us for weeks, he said:

My hopes now rest with God. Apart from him, nobody can help me.

And even God would have problems with Gazprom, those are some powerful motherfuckers, let me tell you. Arshavin goes on to say:

Zenit have to think realistically. I believe that Arsenal's offer is much closer to my real value in the transfer market at the moment.

Well, he would say that as he is obviously desperate to leave and join us. If Arsenal were offering £5.99 he'd try and say that was fair too. The problem is the market is inflated, and not just by megabucks Man City. Sp*rs are doing their bit to keep transfer prices high by spending ludicrous amounts of money on players/second hand players so Zenit are probably thinking Arsenal should be spending that much on their star player.

Maybe God could make it so Arsenal win the EuroMillions lottery draw on Friday. That way we'd have the kind of windfall that meant we could just throw in the extra £5m Zenit are looking for and still have a bit left over for a couple of stadium payments and perhaps a Bischoff or two.

Chairman Peter Hill-Wood, meanwhile, has confirmed we've made our final bid, saying:

This is our final offer – we don’t go any further. If we don’t get him, we don’t get him. There are other fish in the sea.

Dennis Lacter, Arshavin's agent, is branding the Russian team as 'barbaric'. If there are other fish in the sea then I suggest we start fishing straight away. There's a little under two weeks until the transfer window closes and given how long it normally takes us to complete a deal then we'd need to get cracking.

There's obviously a big, big difference between what Zenit want and what we're prepared to pay and the club has shown in the past that they're unwilling to go beyond their valuation of a player. Perhaps if it were just a few hundred thousand we might, but when you're talking millions and millions of pounds it's a different matter entirely. Nevertheless Zenit say they hope to reach a 'logical conclusion' and say that Lachter isn't privy to all the details. It's all a bit messy.

What would you do, if you were Arsenal? Would you cave into the demands, pay the extra money? Or would you tell them to stuff and look elsewhere? If so who would you bring in? Let me know - some of your thoughts would be interesting for tomorrow's Arsecast. You can leave a voicemail by calling the Arsecast hotline. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360. Lines are now closed.

Elsewhere Emmanuel Adebayor has been talking and talking about winning the title and all kinds of stuff. It's like someone gave him the bumper book of footballing clichés. At the moment I don't want to hear about the title, only the next game.

Last night saw Eduardo continue his comeback from injury against Stoke Reserves at the Brittania Stadium, but it was Jack Wilshere who stole the show. The young man scored both Arsenal's goals in a 2-2 draw, the first an absolutely stunning effort with the outside of his left foot - animated gif here. He's really knocking on the door of the first team already and if I were Arsene Wenger I'd certainly be considering him for the FA Cup game on Sunday, and beyond.

I know it's not the done thing to criticise Eboue any more but if anyone can tell me, hand on heart, that they think Wilshere would bring less to the team than him then I would have them carted away by men in white coats. And I don't mean polar explorers. Yes, he's just 17, but he's clearly an exceptional talent and I don't think being introduced to first team football would phase him one bit. Nor do I think the team would suffer if he played. Bring on the Jack, Arsene.

Right, that'll have do ya. Must dash. Have a good one.

* It should be noted that God took his revenge by not giving me any of the stuff I subsequently asked for such as my own island, a spaceship, a bomb to go off under John Terry's car or the ability to fly like an eagle. He is a revengeful and spiteful God. Oh yes he is.

Shall we start the morning with fact before we head into the realms of fiction? Probably a good idea.

The only such fact this morning is that Jack Wilshere has signed professional terms with the club. He's just turned 17 and we're all hoping he has a very good year. In the official announcement Arsene Wenger said:

We are delighted that Jack has signed a professional contract with us. Jack is a player with great potential, with an ability to find the final ball and also score goals. We have already seen Jack’s qualities in both his first team performances and in training on a regular basis, and we look forward to Jack being an important part of our first team for years to come

He's certainly the most exciting English prospect that the club has produced for a long time. Yes, we've brought through young players like Cesc and Clichy but we did a bit of pinching with them. Jack is 100% Arsenal having joined the club at 9 years of age.

I don't need to tell you how impressive he's been in the games we've seen him play. It's just a shame that the Carling Cup is over for this year because we probably won't see that much of him. All the same, he's been fairly regular on the bench as a 16 year old trainee. Perhaps that's a combination of his talent and our lack of resources but maybe now that he's turned pro will see the boss more willing to use him. Anyway, congrats to Jack and may he have a long and successful career at The Arsenal.

Right, now that the transfer window is well and truly upon us the rumours are flying around the place. The Sun this morning claims we're after Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar. At the rate players are leaving, or rumoured to be leaving, Portsmouth poor old Tony will have to come out of retirement to make up the XI on a Saturday. It seems a reasonable if rather unimaginative story.

Now, here's some rumour provided by me. Well, provided by somebody else who is giving it in good faith but  I can't say this is stone-cold fact. This person has been told that we have our eye on two players from Premier League clubs.

Firstly, Fulham's Jimmy Bullard. If I'm not mistaken we were linked with him last January but nothing happened. Currently he's in the middle of a contract 'dispute' with the Cottagers, having asked for a very, very large salary to stay at the club. Is it a tactic to price himself out of Fulham knowing there's someone else willing to take him on? We'll see.

Secondly, the centre-half we're looking at is Aston Villa's Martin Laursen. This could be a bit of a merry-go-around, actually. Rumours of our interest in Matthew Upson are wide of the mark, it seems he could be on his way to Villa freeing up Laursen to move our way. However, it would surprise me, considering the league table, if Villa were to sell to us. He's been a hugely important player for them in recent times. He had a horrendous injury record when he first joined but I thought I heard a commentator say he had been ever-present for something like 16 months. Until he missed the game against us through injury.

Anyway, those are, I have to stress, just rumours. As I said, given to me in good faith and I pass along the information to you in the same way. The reality is that Arsenal, perhaps more than any other club in the history of football, play their cards incredibly close to their chest when it comes to transfers so you might find that bits of information that are leaked out are designed to throw you off the scent altogether. 

Anyway, we'll see what happens. I just thought it was interesting. Beyond that there appears to be be nothing new in terms of Andrei Arshavin (beyond some (t)wit re-using last summer's picture of Arsene have his arse shaved) and rumours that Kolo Toure has cleared out his locker and said his goodbyes remain unsubstantiated at this point.

So that's that. We'll possibly have some more fact and probably a lot more fiction tomorrow. Until then.

Dear Ray Wilkins,

as a former Manchester United and Chelsea player I have never really liked you. It's nothing personal, it's just that you are tainted by association. I have to admit I took umbrage at your remarks yesterday in which you claimed that playing young players in the Carling Cup devalued the competition.

To my mind this was an obvious dig at Arsenal. In a way I can understand it. You say your focus is on winning the Carling Cup so you'll play your first team players. It's a decent bluff, in fairness. Chelsea have a good record in the competition as Arsenal fans know only too well. Your lot did us in the final a couple of years back.

But let's be honest. The real reason you play your first team players in this competition is because you don't have any kind of youth system to speak of. As your team has been assembled by the chequebook there's no need to waste any time on anything as paltry as young players. If a star leaves you can simply buy another star.

While Arsenal see the Carling Cup as a way of blooding fresh talent and giving them the chance of first team football, Chelsea see it as just another trophy. Which is fine, one man's meat is another man's poison and all that. But surely as a former Chelsea apprentice, who made his debut in 1973 having just turned 17, you'd like to see some young players get their chance. Imagine if you were a youngster at Chelsea now. You wouldn't stand a chance of getting anywhere near the first team. Chelsea would simply go out and buy somebody who could pass the ball sideways rather than bring through a youngster who could pass the ball sideways all day long.

You said "Playing a young or weakened team undermines the value of the competition. And we have not and will not do that. We want to win it, big time". Far be it for me to suggest otherwise but perhaps some young players might have approached the game against Burnley with a little more effort than some of your 'big time' players.

Oh, you can put it down to a freak result, these things happen in cup football, blah, blah, blah, but we all know that's not true. Chelsea lost because you happened to open your big mouth and then you sideways passed your own foot into it. You totally and utterly jinxed them with your comments. And it's brilliant.

Did you see Arsenal against Wigan? Did you? Do you really think seeing young players enjoying their football is undermining the value of the competition? Do you think Arsenal slashing ticket prices so more fans, especially young fans, can attend the games is undermining the value of the competition? Do you think those young fans seeing incredible young talent like Wilshere, Ramsey, Vela, Djourou, Merida and Simpson is undermining the value of the competition?

If you do then you might need to step back and have a little rethink. Surely Chelsea's 'big time' players bottling a penalty shoot-out undermines the value of the competition more. Surely Didier Drogba throwing a coin at the crowd, Carragher style, undermines the value of the competition more. Surely even playing Drogba (a man whose behaviour in the Champions League final was so appalling that most clubs would have sold him in a heartbeat) ahead of some, young, eager teenager undermines the value, not only of the competition, but of your club. That's assuming there are any values there to begin with. Which there aren't.

We beat Wigan with kids, you couldn't beat Burnley with your first team. That's proper 'big time'. Anyway, I'm rambling here. I'd best leave you to work with those 'big time' players. What joy it must bring you to coach £140,000-a-week been there, done that, worn the t-shirt players and have them lose in a cup game to a team with Ade Akinbiyi in it. I'm sure it's nothing like the pleasure gained from taking young players, developing them the 'Arsenal' way, and seeing them destroy a Premier League team. Not that you'd know.

sincere regards,

arseblogger

ps - undermine my hole you poxy, uncle Fester looking cuntwrench.

In other news today some people are calling Jack Wilshere the 'new Gazza'. That is grossly unfair. Jack is obviously not a mentally deranged cunt with the IQ of a wellington boot. Some background on Jack in The Sun and the Independent, who make those outrageous claims of Gazza similarity, run a piece which suggests he could even be called up to the England U21 squad for the European Championships next summer (Stuart Pearce saying he nearly went to the box office to get a season ticket after Tuesday's game - there's a waiting list, Mr Pearce. Thank you). Meanwhile, Liam Brady, who I'd much prefer Jack was compared to, says the comparisons are a compliment to him. Now there's high praise.

The English press do love the homegrown prodigies. Jack is certainly that but I'm sure between his folks and the education he's getting at Arsenal that it will be well managed. He doesn't look like the kind of kid that feels any pressure though. You just think back to the summer when he absolutely creamed Michel Salgado in the Emirates Cup. That's a boy who cares not for reputation or experience. Still, slowly slowly catchy monkey, as they say.

The Daily Mail (spit) has a piece on Carlos Vela and how he became an Arsenal player.

And that's really about it. Tomorrow we can look forward to the Villa game, we should get team news and such later on. And there'll be an Arsecast. Number 100 too. So I have to think of something special to do for that.

I'll get busy, till tomorrow.

Lots of stuff still bubbling over from the Carling Cup game the other night.

Carlos Vela, hat-trick hero, shows he's got a good head on his shoulders by acknowledging that young players, despite being given their chance by Arsene Wenger, have to work hard if they want to make it at Arsenal. He also talks about the unity in the team, saying:

We are very close as a group of players. We have a strong friendship - it's almost like we are a family. You can see that from the way in which the team is playing.

And that's a big factor in a team's success. I know we've spoken before about how you don't have to be friends with somebody in order to play football with them, but if you are mates I think it makes a difference. You're willing to put in that bit extra.

Nicklas Bendter says the display of the youngsters has justified the boss's decision not to sign anybody before the end of the transfer window. The big Dane says:

There is talk about the strength of the squad and every year the boss says we have the players. They have showed they have the quality to do what is required. We are strong and capable enough. We are top of the table and are doing well.

There's a long way to go yet though. Bendtner has had a decent start to the season and his game looks to have become much more rounded. He's got a good eye for a pass and the technique to carry it out, he certainly knows where the goal is and more importantly he seems to be much better integrated into the first team this season. Keep it up, Nick.

And to complete the Carling Cup fun we have young Jack Wilshere being compared to Liam Brady by none other than Arsene Wenger. Well, by none other than other people whose comments Arsene Wenger has referenced, but I'd imagine those people are people know knew or played with Chippy down the years. Anyway, it's about time we had a new Liam Brady. We've had a new Vieira on more than one occasion, a new Tony Adams from time to time and Theo is, of course, the new Thierry Henry, but a new Liam Brady is something else. The manager is aware of the fact you can't put too much pressure on Wilshere but it's clear he's a very special talent. How far he goes is entirely down to him but he looks fantastic and he has a cheeky little scamp face. 

And while I don't want to go too overboard with the Carling Cup win as there's still a lot of football to be played this season, some of the results we've seen this week should put it in some kind of perspective. Fulham, Man City, West Ham and Villa all out to lower league opposition. Other Premier League clubs have merely scraped through so it's a good sign that we can do what we did on Tuesday night. 

The League Manager's Association has come to the defence of Arsene Wenger after the comments this week from UEFA President Michel Platini. It's been interesting to see how people have sided with Wenger on this one, even fans of teams who you wouldn't expect to back the Arsenal boss in any way. I suppose it goes to prove how misguided Platini's comments are. And for more on why he said what he did and his reasons make sure you tune in to tomorrow's Arsecast where I'll have an in-depth interview with France Football's Philippe Auclair to talk about Platini and our Carling Cup kids.

You might have seen that Chelsea have signed that bloke Mineiro that we had on trial with us. I suppose it illustrates brilliantly the difference between the two teams. Chelsea, short of a player in midfield, will not even consider giving a young player a chance, choosing instead to sign a guy who is basically at the tail end of his career. We had him on trial, didn't think he was good enough and now he's signed for Chelsea. How disheartening it must be to be a young player at Chelsea knowing you are never going to get near the first team. Not that I give a shit about them, nits make lice and all that.

Right, that's about that. Have a fun Thursday, if that's possible, and I'll talk to you on tomorrow's blog. 

Well that was a nice way to get things going again, eh?

Blackburn away is never easy, it wasn't easy yesterday, but we spanked home 4 goals meaning in the last 3 games we've scored 11 and conceded none. It's good preparation for the midweek trip to the Ukraine and we didn't suffer any kind of Interlull hangover which we are prone to now and again.

We started very brightly in the face of a physical Blackburn team. Their lad Andrews was very lucky to stay on the pitch, I thought, after a shocking raking tackle down van Persie's ankle and a studs-up tackle on Cesc. He was obviously told to put himself about by Paul Ince but Mike Dean's refereeing was weak and the bloke didn't even get a yellow card. When you add the challenge on Eboue to the mix that's three very bad tackles on our players since the start of the season and not one of them was punished. Typically the cretinous Blackburn fans started singing 'Same old Arsenal, always cheating'.

Nevertheless we went in at half time two goals up. The first from van Persie after nice work from Walcott and right on the stroke of half-time Adebayor headed in a Denilson cross. Robin might have had a couple more in the first half and had Adebayor decided he'd even try to stay onside he might have too. All the same Blackburn looked dangerous when they came forward. Pedersen and Emerton whipped in a series of crosses from either side which had our central defence panicking. It was slightly worrying, I have to say. You always felt we could score more than them if they did get one but a better team would have taken those chances. Something to work on at the training ground.

We coped better in the second half though and beyond one very good save late on from Benni McCarthy, Almunia was relatively untroubled. I know the Spaniard has his critics but that he was alert when needed is a good sign. And keeping clean sheets behind a central defensive pairing that really doesn't quite work is good going.

Ally on the Arseblog forums worked out that in 14 games against Paul Robinson we have scored a total of 46 goals. Incredible. It was something the 'holic pointed out in the Arsecast on Friday and it was no surprise to see another couple go in. He made a decent save from a very good Eboue shot but could do nothing about the third, a penalty won by a ridiculous Eboue dive, and the fourth when fine play from Ramsey put Adebayor clean through for his perfect hat-trick (header, right foot, left foot). Typically the Arsenal fans started singing 'Same old Arsenal, taking the piss'.

A word about Eboue. He had his best game in a very long time yesterday. He looked good offensively, made good decisions in the final third, but then managed to injure himself diving for the penalty. Just classic Eboue, I suppose. He, Clichy and Nasri are all doubts for the Champions League game on Wednesday.

Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:

I am happy we didn't concede and that we always looked fluid going forward. It was a well-accomplished away game.

And the result was all important yesterday. There are definitely things we need to look at from a defensive point of view but going forward we look dangerous all the time. Walcott is playing with more confidence, Eboue is/was contributing, van Persie got another goal and Adebayor, despite having what I thought was a pretty poor game, ended up with three. In midfield I thought Cesc was quiet but he has such presence it calms the team and Denilson put in another good shift alongside him. There are plenty of positives to take from it.

And not only did we win the game, handsomely, history was made when Jack Wilshere became the youngest ever player to play for Arsenal in the league when he came on as a sub with about ten minutes to go. Cesc still holds the overall record, his appearance in the Carling Cup, but well done to young Jack and may it be the first of many.

It's good to have football back, isn't it? It makes the Sunday papers so much more enjoyable. Now we just regroup and get ourselves ready for Dinamo Kiev.

Till tomorrow.

Morning morning, from a despicably rainy Dublin.

Some bits and pieces to go on with this morning, starting with the promotion of Jack Wilshere from number 55 to number 19 for the season ahead. It shows that what the boss said yesterday was true, it's about what he's doing on the pitch and with 7 subs allowed this season he's got a good chance of being involved from time to time. He's named in our first team squad so it's a real measure of his talent that he's there at his age. But let's not forget his age and while it's great to enjoy his pre-season performances let's not expect the sun, moon and stars just yet.

Eduardo, who got a great reception when he appeared on the pitch before the Real Madrid game says he hopes to be playing again before Christmas. There were reports that he might be back in time for the start of the season but given the severity of his injury I think that was a bit optimistic. And there is no point rushing back before everything is 100% ready, physically and mentally.

In the meantime the bulk of the striking responsibility will fall to Robin van Persie and that Adebayor fella. The Dutchman says:

We showed that Ade and I have a few nice combinations together. That is really important for two strikers, you always have to work together, you always have to look for each other. Hopefully this is a good start.

I have to say I was a bit surprised at how well they linked up. One move in the first half saw them cut through the Madrid defence with a series of one-touch passes and if they can work on that understanding as the season goes on then they could be a very good combination indeed.

The Telegraph links us with a move for Real Madrid midfielder Ruben de la Red. He is a good player and would slot into that Flamini role very well. Madrid value him at around £9.5m apparently. With the Spaniards having just been in town who knows what kind of post-match discussion went on. I can't find anything in the Spanish press about it but with Real about to sign van der Vaart they may well be disposed to letting de la Red go. We'll see.

Armand Traore has signed a new long term deal with the club. I'll be interested to see what happens with him this season. I think he needs a loan move. He's certainly very quick but he's got an awful lot to learn still. The best way to do that is play a season somewhere, perhaps in the Championship, then we can see what he's really made of.

And that's about that. I'm off to stare at the rain all day.

Morning and happy midweek to you all.

We've got a game tonight against Stuttgart in what could be called the first 'real' pre-season game. Whereas the others have all featured teams with mostly youngsters with some regulars thrown in tonight should see a return to action for the majority of the first team squad.

Again the result really isn't that important but at the same time good results in pre-season can give a team a good lift and confidence as they begin their campaign. Look at last summer and how well we performed in the Emirates Cup and the Amsterdam Tournament. It definitely played a part in us starting the season so well.

Tonight though is more about fitness and getting some match sharpness back. One man likely to play tonight is Robin van Persie who is hoping to have an injury free campaign. He says:

Last year I missed too many games and I am still disappointed about it. This is a new year with new chances. Hopefully I can be injury-free this year.

He's not the only one hoping that. Regular readers will know I'm a big fan, I think he's a fantastically talented player, but so far his career has been blighted by injury. Some of them due to bad luck, others due to him not managing them properly and coming back too quickly. And I think we can all understand that. Everyone wants to play but he's got to be a little more mature. I really hope he can have an injury-free campaign and if he does I think he'll score a lot of goals. If he spends another season mostly in the treatment room though you have to start thinking about alternatives.

One of the names to emerge from pre-season is that of Jack Wilshere, a central midfield player who has caught the eye in the games so far. He is the youngest of the pre-season squad and the boss seems to have high hopes for him. He's obviously not ready for first-team football yet though and there is the danger that we hype our youngsters a bit too much. As talented as they are, and there are some obviously talented young lads, very few of them are going to make the breakthrough the first team squad.

Arsenal said goodbye to Gary Lewin yesterday. We've done this before but good luck to him and thanks for everything.

Gilberto talks about players who want to leave clubs for more money and challenges them to earn their money by winning things. He says:

When you win things, you achieve more than anybody else. You get better contracts, and more money, anyway. I can’t blame a player who wants a good contract. But I believe if they stay at the club, they can earn good money and do a lot for the club and themselves. So if they win something, it means more and they are more appreciated by supporters.

It's been mentioned before but a lot of player's contracts at Arsenal are achievement based. So if you win trophies you get more money. For most players that's an incentive to perform and to win things. There are those though who find that rather too much like hard work and would rather just go somewhere else to do the same thing and get paid more. What can you do? You meet them in every walk of life, not just football.

Finally for today OleOle's Fantasy Football game is kicking off soon. Prizes include match tickets, Champions League trips, PS3s and more. To sign up click here and I'll set up an Arseblog league which we can keep track of during the season. Let me see if I can't blag an Arseblog only prize as well. Details to come.

Right so, busy day today. More tomorrow.