Good morning and welcome to another edition of Arshblog, the blog dedicated to bringing the latest and greatest news about football's most Owliest Russian.

This morning I can report that Andrei Arshavin had a fantastic day yesterday. He and his wife went shopping to the supermarket to cheer themselves up after a very trying week. Of course he's been upset that the move to Arsenal has been so protracted and not only that - he discovered that a family of rare moles has been living his his spare bedroom, which meant the RSPCA (yes, it works) have scuppered plans to build a cross between a steam room and a sauna. Russia will just have to wait for its first stauna.

Then last night came the good news that Andrei's best friend, Igor, has been released from prison where he spent the last 17 years after cannibalising his entire family in a hilarious Christmas prank! And things got even better when it became known that Arsenal and Zenit St Petersburg have, apparently, agreed on a fee which would see Andrei become an Arsenal player.

We'll have more on that in the days ahead and don't forget our regular Saturday feature - Andrei's Underpants in which we take a closer look at our man's Y-fronts. So that's it for today's Arshblog, more tomorrow. Do svidanija!

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Thank you to our Russian correspondent for that update. We'll hear more about this in the coming hours/days, no doubt, until such point as Zenit say "Agreement? What agreement? We agreed nothing. And Arshavin is being sent to the salt mines until he learns some manners".

Seriously though, it would be no surprise if something else were to happen to this deal so let's not jump for joy, or half-glee (which is my preferred happy leap), just yet.

There was some sad news in the transfer market too. Apparently we've turned down a bid from Atletico Madrid for Emmanuel Eboue and according to Eboue's agent he's been invited to London for talks about extending Eboue's contract.

Now, while the first part might cause a grown man to weep bitter tears over his keyboard of a morning the second part would be enough to take him to the top of a tall building to test his ability to bounce off the ground below.

However, I suspect it's all a load of bollocks really. Eboue only signed a new 'long term' (weeps) contract in May 2007 and he's hardly done enough for the manager to offer him a new one already. When you have players like Theo and Robin van Persie waiting on new deals I don't think there's even the slightest chance that we're going to extend Eboue's contract. Let's face it, he has been desperately poor this season, he was poor last season, at some point we've got to cut our losses with the 'pass master'.

I think we'd be quite mad to turn down any team who offered us any money whatsoever for Eboue. 

Better news about Eduardo though. He's feeling no ill-effects of the 90 minutes against Stoke Reserves the other night and he's chomping at the bit for first team action. He says:

I think I am ready for the first team but you would have to ask the boss. I feel very well and I’m training hard every day. But playing my first game for the first team, I am ready now and I am just waiting for my chance.

Great news, and perhaps the boss might stick him on the bench for the FA Cup game. I suspect he'll ease him back in very gradually though.  

In other news Aaron Ramsey admits to 'mixed feelings' ahead of Sunday's game against his old club. I suppose that's only natural having grown up there. I think he'll play on Sunday too, I reckon the boss will have one eye on Wednesday's game against Everton and will mix things up a little bit.

Meanwhile Nicklas Bendtner has apparently turned down the chance to join Hoffenheim. 

Right then, that's the news. Time for the Arsecast. On this week's show we get some of your thoughts about the Arshavin saga, the Man in the Bar has a player history, there's a tale of the unexpected plus the usual waffle. 

You can subscribe to the Arsecast 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.

Right then, that's your lot. A fuller FA Cup preview with team news and what have you on tomorrow's blog.

Morning to you, it's a quickie today because there's really not a whole lot going on.

Nothing new regarding Hooty McOwl apart from his agent saying nothing will happen this week but something will probably happen next week. This is after he said last week that something would happen this week. Frankly agents should stick to agenting and stop combining their work with that of a fortune teller.

Perhaps Man City will be back in for him after Kaka told them 'no thanks' but there really doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest from elsewhere. There was some mention of Inter Milan but that just strikes me as agent/Zenit bullshit - they're hinting at other clubs to force Arsenal's hand, I reckon.

Another one not coming is the Lazio defender Modibo Diakite. His agent ruled out a move saying Lazio was his family and blah blah blah. It was probably his agent who started the story in the first place but at least he's not trying to read our tea-leaves.

There's a lot of talk about Wilson Palacios. None of it involving us mind you. Sp*rs have made a £10m bid while the Mirror says United are set to offer £14m for the Wigan player. Those of you with good memories will remember we had him on trial last year but decided against signing him, instead recommending him to then Birmingham boss Steve Bruce who subsequently bought him for Wigan. What's my point? I don't know, only I used to have a dog called Winston and every time I hear Palcios' name it reminds me of him.

Palacios is certainly a better footballer but I bet he's not as good as my old dog at swimming in a lake then running up beside you and spraying you with water as he shakes out his fur. 

Denilson has been talking about the upcoming game against Hull City this weekend. They came to the Grove and beat us 2-1 back in September but the Brazilian is promising a different outcome this time, saying:

We need to concentrate this time and we will do, I believe in the team and in this game we will be strong against them, not like last time.

Not like last time indeed which was one of several wake-up calls this season. Sadly the team managed to put the alarm clock on snooze and didn't really wake up until after the Man City game, but there you go.

Hull's form is patchy at the moment. Having started the season so brilliantly they're going through a difficult time right now. They won in the FA Cup last night against Newcastle but in their last 13 league games they've only managed one win, a 2-1 over Middlesbrough.

You've got to think we've got enough to win the game but then I thought that about the home game too. Anyway, more on that one tomorrow and Saturday.

Dennis Bergkamp spoke to Arsenal TV and hinted that he'd be interested in returning to the club in a coaching capacity. He said:

I am doing the course in Holland which is the same as the pro-licence over in England. I really love this club and the country and I love working here. I would advise everyone to work in England, as a player or a coach, it just breathes football. It is fantastic for the game.

He's currently on the coaching staff at Ajax but how awesome would it be if he came back to Arsenal? Imagine Arsenal stars of the future having been brought up coached by someone like Dennis. Magic. 

The Daily Mail reprints an interview with Eduardo that appears in the official Arsenal magazine this month. He's due another reserve game soon so fingers crossed his recovery continues as well as it seems to have up to now.

Right, that'll be that. There's no more. Nothing to see. Move along please. Till tomorrow, with Arsecast, and what have you. 

Around 4am this morning I woke from a dream in which a monster, who lived behind a serving hatch in a canteen I was frequenting, went mad and started to eat my hand. A peculiar dream, no question, but not as peculiar as the fact that the hand he was eating in my dream was exceedingly painful when I woke up.

There was nothing wrong with my hand before I went to bed, now the outside of my right hand is very sore indeed. Almost as if it had been chomped on by a monster. Weird.

There's nothing really new to report regarding Andrei Arshavin. Gunnerblog, Johnny Swift that he is, has bits from an article in a Russian paper in which it appears Arshavin might go on strike in order to force through a move to Arsenal. It's reminiscent of Sylvain Wiltord who did exactly the same before he joined the club. Anyway, the Owlish one remains on the agenda, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of owls - check out this crazy video of how weird and scary they are. They'd eat your hand, oh yes they would, the hand eaters.

I bet it'd be like Jaws. Someone would catch a giant owl, string him up, open up his stomach and out would fall hands of all shapes and sizes. Maybe that's the secret to Arshavin's success, he sets his owly gaze on a defender and using his owly mind powers lets him know that if he tackles him he'll be like Captain Hook after the game. It makes perfect sense to me.

Robin van Persie knows Arsenal have gone too long without silverware. He says he feels the fans frustration, saying:

Yes, and I am like them. I feel the same, I want it as badly as them and it can be frustrating when it doesn’t happen. We didn’t win everything in the past couple of years, but we are doing absolutely everything we can to change it. The main thing is to finally get silverware.

Meanwhile Gael Clichy talks about how we're grinding out results at the moment while the boss explains why he put Samir Nasri in the middle against Bolton - and it's not because Diaby was rubbish, honest.

Well done to Jay Simpson who is on loan at West Brom. He scored his new team's first goal last night as they beat Peterborough in the FA Cup, immediately drawing the plaudits of manager Tony Mowbray. That's a decent start for him, hopefully he can keep it up. 

In the FA Youth Cup Gilles Sunu scored a hat-trick in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Wolves. We go into the 5th round now where we'll face Sunderland.

And from an Arsenal perspective that's about it. The main story of the day though is Man City's £100m bid for AC Milan's Kaka. While transfer fees have reached outrageous heights over the years this is just pure Championship Manager stuff. Of course Kaka is a brilliant player, one that every club would love to have, but £100m is madness - especially as they're offering to pay him £75m on top of that.

And as good as Kaka is he's not going to do much to prevent City being a defensive shambles, is he? I'll tell you, when the oil runs out in 30 years then City are going to be completely screwed. That said they're likely to have the best squad in next year's Championship by a long, long way.

Righto, have yourselves a good and owl free Wednesday. More tomorrow.