It's drawing ever closer, ever nearer, the football, the real football is on the way. Once tonight's round of internationals are done with we can get back to the real thing. Until the next, not too far away at all, Interlull, but let's not depress ourselves.

With World Cup qualification on the agenda Arsene is keen for his players to do well but wants them to focus more on their club than their country. He says:

I am convinced it is important for the players to go to the World Cup, but as well I know that those who have a good World Cup are those who win with their clubs during the season. The most important thing is that they do well with the club and it puts you in a strong position confidence-wise for what follows.

I'm not sure that's true really. We won the title in 2002 and didn't France have a terrible World Cup that year? Anyway, I couldn't care less about the World Cup at this stage but maybe there's something to be said for going into a tournament having been successful with your club. It'd be nice if our players went to South Africa full of beans and silverware.

On the way back is Samir Nasri who is now close to a return to action after breaking his leg in pre-season training. He says:

I'm due to rejoin the Arsenal team this weekend, or at the start of next week. I think I will be back in action against West Ham on the 25th.

Good news indeed. Despite what was probably an average first season at the club I have high hopes for him. And let's not forget most of our lot were fairly average last season. He still weighed in with 6 goals and he provides another option in midfield and possibly an option as one of the front three. Quite where the manager sees him is still a bit up in the air, there was talk at the end of the last campaign about him doing the defensive midfield role, but having him back in the squad and providing competition for places will be a good thing wherever he's going to play.

One man already back is Tomas Rosicky and Cesc Fabregas has hailed his return, hailing him as the ubiquitous 'like a new signing':

You can see straight away the vision he has, the touch, the class that he plays with. It's great to have him in the team; he's like a new signing.

Nasri's return is also like a new signing. As was Eduardo's. Philippe Senderos is like a new signing too having been away and returned to the squad. Cheese, that's like a new signing. A second-hand dart board, like a new signing. Monkey butlers, like a new signing. I'd love a monkey butler. Not as much as a real Butler called 'Cavendish' though.

Aaron Ramsey may not play for Wales due to concerns about a back injury. With Wales game against Lichtenstein more meaningless than a Dan Brown novel it'd be poor form if he did play him and the player's club chances suffered. And according to the Sun article about Nasri above William Gallas is a doubt for France after smashing a couple of teeth at the weekend. There are still a good few involved tonight so let's keep fingers crossed they get through unscathed.

Transfer speculation? According to the player's agent Arsenal are interested in signing new German hot-shot, Stefan Kiebling. He's scored a few goals this season and now his agent is linking him with as many clubs as he possibly can, most likely to ensure he gets a new deal on fatter wages at his current club.

Not much else happening so to reward you for your patience during this Interlull it's competition time. Thanks to Octopus Books I have one copy of the rather fabulous Official Illustrated History of Arsenal by Martin Tyler and Phil Soar and two copies of Gunners Lists, the perfect toilet book which provides you Arsenal top 10s which range from the obvious, like top scorers, to the obscure, such as fattest players.

To enter the competition all you have to do is answer the following question:

How many times have Arsenal appeared in the FA Cup final?

Answers, as always, to competition@arseblog.com.

It runs until Friday and I'll give you the winners then. For more info on the books in question check out Octopus Books.

Right then, have at it. More tomorrow, as per usual.

Till then.

Pre-season continued last night as we beat SC Columbia 7-1. The goals came from Aaron Ramsey (2), Nicklas Bendtner (2), Robin van Persie (2) and William Gallas.

Again there's really not a lot to be read into these games so early in the schedule. They're about gaining fitness, some match sharpness and all the rest. As time goes on you get little clues as to what the manager might be thinking for the season ahead. The partnership of Djourou and Vermaelen, for example, might be one we see a fair bit as he looks at how they play together, but right now the games don't really deserve any great analysis. The fact that we scored seven against some semi-pros is nice but essentially meaningless.

The main news from yesterday is, of course, the injury to Samir Nasri. He fractured his fibula in a challenge, believed to be with Abou Diaby who is to tackling what Inspector Clouseau is to detecting, and could spend two to three months out. It may well be sooner, depending on the severity of the injury, so fingers crossed that's the case.

The hyperbole surrounding it is funny though. Apparently Nasri's injury is a 'hammer blow' and it puts another nail in the coffin of our chances of finishing fourth. Don't get me wrong, Nasri is a good player who I would like to see fit and healthy, but him missing the first four-six weeks of the season, if that, will not have the slightest effect on a top four finish.

You hear fans wondering why we're the only club that suffers so much with injury but I'm really not sure we suffer any more than any other club. We're just more aware of it, and possibly with a smaller squad it has more of an impact, but every club has players out injured for weeks and months at a time. 

At the moment we seem to have enough to cope with Nasri's absence. Rosicky, Arshavin, Walcott and even Jack Wilshere are capable of playing where he plays. The big question is where he was going to play this season, we don't know exactly what the manager had in store for him. He ended last season in a strange, defensive midfield role, one which didn't really suit him in my opinion. His strengths are better exploited further up the pitch and I think that's where he'd have played in the upcoming campaign.

That being the case then his absence, while unfortunate, doesn't mean there's any need to pushing the panic buttons just yet. His injury doesn't make our need for a holding midfielder any more pressing, it doesn't mean we have to dive into the transfer market right away. 

I was expecting a few quotes from Arsene Wenger this morning but I haven't found any from a source I trust - only from one of the ever-increasing number of hit-whoring, NewsNow raping idiots who try to outdo each other and with whom I want nothing to do. 

After the Barnet game though the boss was asked about the money from the Adebayor transfer and he said:

I will be able to spend that money - [I will do it] if we are able to find the right players and if we feel it is needed. We are not in a hurry right now.

Which has been the party line for some time now. I have to say I would be surprised if there wasn't another little flurry of activity fairly soon but trying to second guess Arsenal and transfers is a tricky business at the best of times. I just can't see him not spending the Adebayor cash though and perhaps, to counter the speculation we have to sell a big name every summer just to keep things balanced, there'll be a certain amount if pressure from the board, and Gazidis, to spend it.

The Spanish press this morning are reporting that Klaas Jan Huntelaaarrrrr (Holland's more piratey footballer) has broken off negotiations with Stuttgart due to a problem over his wages (they're not offering him enough). They're speculating that we've joined the 'fight' to get him so expect him to sign for someone else by the end of the day.

It looks like an agreement has been made between Arsenal and Derby County which will see Mark Randall go on loan there for the season. It can only be a good move for the player. He needs regular football at this stage of his career. Even with that I have my doubts that he'll make it with us but let's see how he goes.

Young Arsenal forward Snoop Doggy-Dog talks about his experience playing up front with Andrei Arshavin. Word.

The next friendly game is on Monday of next week so the lads will be getting their heads down in training, working on their fitness and, of course, avoiding Diaby's tackles.

Till tomorrow.

France Football is reporting that Samir Nasri has fractured his right fibula during Arsenal's training camp in Austria - source (in French)

He's likely to be out for between six and eight weeks two and three months.

Not good news.

Now confirmed by the official site.

Morning all,

hope your day started well and that you didn't knock a full cup of coffee all over your desk, soaking your phone, wallet, keyboard and some paperwork before it spilled over the back and down on top of your amplifier which is now making strange buzzing and hissing noises. Fucking joy. 

Anyway, Eduardo made his long-awaited comeback against Portsmouth in the reserves last night. The Crozilian played 45 minutes before being withdrawn at half-time after tweaking something in his hamstring.

It's been a long road back to fitness after what was a truly horrific injury. And as much as the fans are glad to see him on his way back the players are too. Robin van Persie has been singing his praises, saying:

We need him, because he has his own style of playing and I cannot compare anyone with him. He still moves the same way and if you look at what happened to him, that is a really positive thing. I think the way he finishes and the way he plays makes him very unique.

I suspect it'll be well into January before we see him back in contention for the first team but van Persie is right, he does add something to this team. His finishing is clinical and in games when we're struggling to make a shedload of chances having someone like that in the side is a massive bonus. After such a long time out there's no point rushing him in any way but I'm really looking forward to seeing him in red and white again.

There were fresh doubts over the future of William Gallas after Arsene said the player had lost his 'joie de vivre' since having the captaincy taken away from him. Wenger said:

On a human level, what happened with William was the toughest thing I had to deal with in my career because I regard him with a lot of esteem. He has refound the stability in his game but I am not convinced that, in his mind, he has refound his stability and his joie de vivre.

Some reports this morning say that during the warm up at Boro he ignored Pat Rice when the rest of the players were called over for a teamtalk, which isn't good if that's what happened. Can anyone who was there confirm or deny it?

It would be no surprise at all if Gallas was sulking a bit. He's a senior professional who has been publicly stripped of the captaincy at Arsenal. I'm sure in his own mind he was only trying to do what he thought was right but it simply showed how unsuited he was to the role. While it's hard to see any kind of long term future for him at the club it's also difficult to see him move on in January, given the lack of depth the squad already suffers from. 

Maybe the summer will be the time but it'll all come down to his state of mind, if you have a player who really doesn't want to be at a club then it's best for all concerned if he moves on. If it's a striker the worst that'll happen is that he doesn't score but if a defender is ambivalent about his job then the consequences could be much more damaging. It's down to Gallas, I suppose.

The boss has also been talking about Samir Nasri and how he's been injured too much. The boss said:

You tell yourself that if the guy was always with us, he would bring us a lot, but for the moment he has only been there half of the games, and fits and starts are bad for high level football.

Five injuries in five months is not good, by any standards. Especially when you're a first XI player who is badly needed by the side. No Walcott, no Nasri = no width. Of course you could ask questions of the manager whose winger rota is completed by central midfielders but Nasri is important and we have to get him fit.

His injury record at Marseille, from what I can make out via stats, wasn't bad at all. He missed a lot of last season after suffering from a virus similar to meningitis but that aside he played 133 games for Marseille between his debut in January 2005 and the summer of the 2008. I'll stand to be corrected by French football experts but that seems a reasonable return to me.

His talent is obvious, even with the injuries he's scored 5 goals so far this season - and often important goals too. He got the winner at West Brom, the equaliser against Everton and the two against United which showed he can do it in a big game. We've been lacking that kind of threat from the wings since the days of Pires and Freddie so to see him so often on the sideline is frustrating. Fingers crossed he can get fit and stay fit but then we seem to say that about rather too many of our players.

The boss claims the 'big four' in England is a thing of the past. I'm quite sure Arsene would say no such thing if we were higher up the league and not in an almighty scrap for fourth place at this moment in time. Yes, smaller teams have picked up good results this season but it's not something I expect to happen in the next campaign. It's crazy and mad this year but to me, at least, it's not a sign of vast improvement by those teams.  

Responding to Rio Ferdinand's claims that Arsenal are not in this season's title race, Cesc said:

With all the experience they have, they should know more than anyone that football can change in one week, two weeks.

Quite right. In two weeks time we could have some new players adding quality, experience and competition to this squad. What's that buzzing and hissing? Oh crap, some of that coffee is short-circuiting my brain. Cesc is right though but with Liverpool and Villa our next two matches we'll have a much clearer idea of our title chances before any new players don't arrive.

Right so, that'll do. See ya'll tomorrow. 

Well, that was a bit better, wasn't it?

A 2-1 over Manchester United was delightful for many reasons. It gives us confidence, shows that in big games some of the players can step it up, and I had €20 on Arsenal to win 2-1 at 12-1. Not a bad day all round.

It was the kind of game pundits describe afterwards as being pulsating. Normally they're just trying to hype things up but yesterday's match really was. I can't remember being that nervous for the duration of the 90(6) minutes for a long time. It was end to stuff in the final third and while games like this can be cagey at times this one started as it meant to go on.

United had the first chance after just a couple of minutes when Almunia inexplicably picked up Sylvester's back pass. It was such a poor pass I think the keeper thought he could get away with it not being a deliberate effort. Anderson took the free kick, it rebounded to Carrick and his shot into the ground bounced wide.

Then Bendtner headed a fantastic Clichy cross over and he just missed another cross from Nasri but I think Abou Diaby got the slightest touch on it to take it away. Up the other end some lovely football from United saw Ronaldo cut it back for Rooney and I'd have put money on him to score. Instead he skied his effort into the stand and pretty much every attempt he had on goal subsequently got further and further from the target, one shot actually going out for a throw.

We took the lead on 22 minutes when Cesc's free kick came out to Samir Nasri. From a difficult angle he took a shot which deflected off Gary Neville and flew past van der Sar. And if anyone thinks Almunia is dodgy I defy you to look at United's keeper and tell me he's better. He flapped at one corner, his lame punch landing at Diaby's feet but the midfielder's shot was blocked, and overall he eased my nerves a bit because there was always the chance he could gift you something.

Cesc then had a shot which went wide, Denilson chose the wrong option on a break and played the ball to Bendtner when Theo was bombing down his right, United had a goal disallowed for offside, Clichy headed a Ronaldo free kick just past our far post and Almunia saved from Park in what really was an action packed first half.

So 1-0 at half time and I don't think there's an Arsenal fan in the world who wouldn't have taken that. It got even better early in the second half though. A sumptuous passing move ended with a wonderfully emphatic finish from Samir Nasri. Theo's run took Vidic away leaving acres of space in the middle of United's defence, Cesc played the pass and Samir finished with aplomb. That's 4 goals in 5 league appearances at home this season and I really like the look of him. He's quick, strong and has an eye for goal.

United then should have pulled one back almost immediately. Park's cross found Ronaldo at the back post and his finish went just wide. It couldn't possibly have gone any less wide without hitting the post and of all the players on the United team you'd have put your money on him scoring that chance. After that, and a rather rugged Clichy challenge, he was pretty much anonymous for the rest of the game. And it's misses that like which make you think it's going to be your day. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and we had a bit yesterday.

United will feel they should have had a penalty in the first half when Rooney's cross hit Clichy's arm but then we should have had a penalty when Vidic tried to take Nasri's shirt off his back. To be fair to the ref he couldn't see it from his angle, but surely his assistant could? Webb also totally failed to give us a free kick when Carrick clipped Diaby's heels as he went through in the first half. I thought he had a poor game really and it's ages since I've heard 'The referee's a wanker' being sung with such gusto.

We lost Almunia after he got a kick in the head, bravely diving at a loose ball as Carrick went to try and shoot. Fabianski came on and did pretty well but the stoppage for Almunia's injury meant there was going to be a lot of injury time. And just before the board went up United scored. You could almost see it coming. We had about three or four chances to hoof the ball upfield but a collection of our players scuffed their clearances giving the ball back to United. Eventually it fell on the edge of the box to Rafael da Silva, a young man who is going to clearly end Gary Neville's United career, and his left foot volley was quite a goal.

Then the board went up. 6 minutes. Then every Arsenal fan, every Arsenal player, every one of the management and staff thought 'Sp*rs'. To be fair we did a bit better than against them but there were times when we might have scored the third but fucked it up and others where we should probably have gone for the corners more but in the end we survived, won the game, took the three points and hearts returned to normal again.

Andy Gray is a blustering cunthammer (his defence of Rooney's deliberate hack on Walcott in the first half was pathetic) but he was right when he said that those 6 minutes were the most important 6 minutes of league football Arsenal would play all season. Had United managed to score it would have been utterly devastating. All the good work would have been undone and the questions we had gone such a long way to answer would all be there again.

But we held on and rightly the team will gain a lot from this. A win over the Champions is always a pleasure and when the Champions are United it's even better. The display and the performance was nice to see as well. The team was about the best team he could have picked, given the injuries/suspensions, and there were some excellent displays. I thought Denilson and Diaby in midfield were very good indeed, Cesc looked more like the Cesc we all know and Nasri was the hero, his two goals winning the day.

But you can see the difference when the team plays with energy, commitment and drive. It also begs the question 'Why can't they play like that all the time?'. Afterwards the manager said:

We went out with the attitude that we'll win whatever happens. We had one accident at Stoke, which provoked hysteria, and it was difficult to understand why everybody became so critical. We showed that we have a squad, which was questioned many times.

Somewhat disingenuous of Arsene there. We had one accident at Stoke. And one at home against Hull. And one at Fulham. And nearly one at Sunderland. I don't want to dwell on anything negative after what was a fantastic day yesterday but I think the win has to be seen as part of the bigger picture. Of course we should all enjoy what was a fantastic day yesterday but now it's down to this team to show they can show the same kind of effort against the so-called smaller teams. It's easy to be up for a game against United but you have to do it every week, otherwise days like yesterday become pointless.

Anyway, as I said I don't want to dwell on that and we have to hope that the confidence, which was clearly on the floor after Sp*rs and Stoke, has now returned and the team is ready to kick on. They need to think to themselves 'Right, well if we can beat United we can beat anybody', and take that belief with them into games. They need to have that hammered home.

So overall a most valuable win. Not simply because of the three points but because of the confidence it will instill in the players. The support yesterday sounded brilliant too and maybe the there's a bit more belief amongst the fans too. Of course the proof of the pudding will come in the subsequent games. Was this just another one of those days for a team which is, let's face it, capable of beating anyone on their day, or the start of something good? Hopefully, fingers crossed, it was the latter.

In a quick look at some of the other Sunday news the News of the World reports that Theo Walcott is set to open talks with the club on a new deal while the same article Robin van Persie is close to agreeing a new 4 year deal with the club.

Told you it was quick. And the games are coming thick and fast this month. Next up is the Carling Cup against Wigan and who exactly plays in that game is going to be interesting. Anyway, we'll look at that in greater details during the week. In the meantime I'm off to enjoy the Sunday papers for what seems like the first time in weeks.

Till tomorrow.

Three points. Not the most convincing three points we've ever won but three points all the same.

We started with a strange formation, the manager preferring to use Alex Song at right back instead of Eboue, a more natural right full. Song struggled and when Everton opened us up way to easily to score the first goal his effort to get back and defend was, at best, idle. I think perhaps he's a victim of nobody knowing what his best position is. Maybe he doesn't actually have one.

Everton had one cleared off the line as our weakness from high balls was exposed again while van Persie had our best chance of the first half, Twitchy Tim making a good save. At half-time there was a chorus of disapproval from the home fans, those that had stayed to watch the end of the half anyway, and it was very worrying.

The manager said something though at half-time and in the second we were much, much better. Theo Walcott came on for Kolo Toure who had injured his shoulder and his presence on the pitch certainly unsettled Everton. We scored quite quickly too. Just three minutes after the restart the ball fell to Nasri just outside the D and he low shot nestled in the bottom corner. Just what we needed. Walcott created a good chance for van Persie but he whacked it over with his right foot.

There then followed some aggro with Arsenal player aggrieved at Tony Hibbert's tackle on Denilson. The Everton man came flying right through the Brazilian. He may have gotten the ball but it was from behind and dangerous. When confronted by Gael Clichy he then grabbed our left back by the throat. The result, a yellow card. Shit refeering from Peter Walton. Hibbert should have been sent off. Arsenal's mood was not helped when Walton gave a goal kick when van Persie was obviously pulled down in the area - a more stonewall penalty you won't see this year.

But van Persie had the last laugh when, after Adebayor's clumsiness saw him spurn a chance and Cesc's subsequent shot was saved by Howard, he nodded home from 6 yards to put us in front. We then lost Nasri to a thigh injury with Abou Diaby coming on in his place. The game was made safe right at the death when some nice interplay between Walcott and Diaby saw Theo arrow one between Howard's legs to make it 3-1. Relief all round and the three points secured. Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:

What was very important today was that the team has shown personality by being 1-0 down. We played our season today, we could not afford to drop a point. The way we responded when we were 1-0 down was of course vital. I wasn’t nervous at half time because I had confidence and belief that we would change the game.

I think he must have been the only one who wasn't nervous. The fans were and you could see some of the players were too. Defensively we have some real issues. I think Sylvester did pretty well for the most part, after a shaky start but some of the problems we have are just down to doing the basics. Look at Lescott's header which Clichy cleared off the line. Everton played a short corner to Baines who had all the time in the world to drop in his cross. Why did nobody pick him up? Why was nobody awake to the threat in the first place?

The way we were opened up for Osman's goal was very worrying too. It wasn't like it was incredible forward play. It was simple pass and move stuff which we didn't cope with at all. Osman won't score an easier goal in his life and you have to wonder how we'll cope when we face teams whose movement and interplay in the final third is so much better than Everton's.

It does seem churlish to criticise after a win so I'm not going to say a lot more that's negative. All I will say is that I wish Bendtner was fit because I'd like to see him get a little run of games ahead of Adebayor whose form is clearly not as good as it should be. I'd also prefer to see the manager play players in their best positions and not hope to muddle through using utility players to plug the gaps.

On the positive side Nasri got another goal (perhaps balanced by another injury) and again he looks, to me at least, like a much more productive player than Hleb ever was. Theo scored and caused all kinds of problems to the Everton defence and, of course, to come back from 1-0 down at home and win is always a good thing, even if being behind in the first place is hardly idea.

The three points yesterday were absolutely vital though with United, Chelsea and Liverpool all winning. If we can sort ourselves out against the so-called lesser lights of the league then it's going to be the games against these sides that sort out the title.

We go into Tuesday night's game with something approaching an injury crisis though. It seems Kolo's injury is ligament damage to the shoulder and according to the boss it doesn't look good. We may have Djourou back and Bendtner so that'd be something but the already thin squad is really being stretched at the moment. We'll find out more in the next day or so about the Champions League game.

In a quick Sunday round-up the News of the World reports Cesc has turned down an improved contract from the club, 'paving the way' for his exit at the end of the season. Shut up, News of the Cunts and stop trying to ruin my Sunday. Normally you'd dismiss the stuff from the NotW as bollocks but with his agent now Dein Jr and the fact they have a little bit of history in leaking stuff to papers for their own benefit I'm slightly less dismissive about it. Anyway, the bottom line is this: the best way for Arsenal to ensure Cesc stays at the club is to build a team capable of winning trophies. If we build it he will stay.

Update: Cesc is the most awesome human being on the planet. The ink is barely dry on the News of the World's first edition and he's already dismissed it as 'mischief making', saying:

A newspaper report suggesting that I have rejected a new contract is untrue. The article is just mischief-making. Everybody knows I have a long-term contract and that I am happy here. I'm focussed on doing my best for Arsenal.

Even Ming the Merciless would make this man captain of the universe. 

Julio Baptista talks about his time in London and at Arsenal. 'The Beast' will play for Roma against Chelsea this week. May he score many and injure many.

And that's really about it. It's good to get a win under our belts, no matter how nerve-wracking it was. Onwards and upwards, arsechums.

First of all, I must apologise to the Ole Ole Auditor, who text messaged me last night to ask if I was all set to write the blog today. My initial reply was "who the fuck is this?" since my phone didn't recognise the number. I knew it wasn't Arseblogger, since I know his number. So said text messager replied to me and said he was the Ole Ole Auditor, and I decided that was licence to send back a rather rude message. I may even have mentioned his mum (I'm not sure. I've deleted all the text messages since; I find myself increasingly doing that of an evening). Anyway, he phoned me, I hadn't a fucking clue who it was cos I was so blind drunk, and I had to text Arseblogger to find out. Anyway, long and boring story short, I now know who it was, and I apologise. That's what happens when you talk to a drunk cunt.

Secondly, being madder at work than a badger on LSD that's just been taken to the circus and pumped full of mescaline, I haven't had time to frequent the forums recently, and I had no idea that Arseblogger was going to London today (until earlier in the week when he asked me to write the blog - right enough, with the benefit of hindsight that should've been a clue). So when he texted me last night to say it was only his fucking birthday today, I felt like a right cunt. Even more so. So I'm sure you'll join me in wishing Arseblogger many happy returns on his 43rd birthday. There's no doubting, he looks good for his age. I'm glad he's chosen one of the game of the season nail-biters for his trip. Fingers crossed for an 83-0

So, enough of the frivolity. What's happening in the world of Arsenal today?

Firstly the bad news. Tomas Rosicky has no fixed date of return, leaving the manager speechless. I'm not sure that's too much of a problem, frankly, since barely anyone can know who he is anyway. I don't know what we do about him. Not a lot, I suppose - it's not like we can sell him, and having signed a contract, (quite rightly) he's going to carry on trying to get fit. He doesn't strike me as the sort that would drag an injury out because he's a lazy cunt that just wants to sit and earn his tens of thousands of pounds a week for doing fuck all (unlike, say, me, perhaps), and he's a talented player. It's very frustrating.

Worryingly, Samir Nasri also remains sidelined by a knee injury, and joins Rosicky, Diaby, and Eduardo as the only other injured members of the squad. Nasri, as you know, picked up his knee injury on international duty. I fucking hate international duty. I hate it more than I hate being poked in the eye with a fucking hot poker. And I fucking hate that.

In better news (sort of), Silvester is fit and ready for his first game of the season. When Gallas joined us, he'd been agitating for a move, and I think it's fairly common knowledge that we'd been after him for a while. But Silvester is a cunt. A proper cunt. A right cunt. He played for *those* cunts right at the time when we were having our most intense rivalries with them, and he was a fairly significant part of their team (who are cunts). I think to get himself out of My Book of Cunts (of which I have two - he's in the bad one), he's going to have to do something very special. Like kill Gary Neville.

What else is going on? Gael Clichy feared the worst when that fat Bolton cunt tried to break his leg (I don't know why the Chester Chronicle gets the credit for those quotes; it just seemed one of the more obscure reports on News Now!). Some people, including Craig Burley, commenting on Setanta, thought that challenge was fair "because he got the ball". I didn't. I think that "if you take the man after the ball that's just the game" is a big load of old hairy bollocks. That way do very, very serious injuries lie, as we're all too familiar with, and I don't blame the team one little bit for the way they reacted on the pitch. They've seen it happen - horrifically - to one of their mates and unsurprisingly, they're not keen to see it happen again. People can bitch about Cesc waving imaginary yellow cards all they like, and I don't like to see that either, but the fact is that Clichy could've been seriously injured, because of some fat no mark Bolton cunt being "committed". Fuck off. I really do fucking hate Bolton (not as much as I used to, mind). And yes, I'm probably overprotective and hypocritical. So?

Top man Cesc Fabregas has been talking about how he'll never leave Arsenal. He seems to qualify the statement slightly by saying that he will only stay as long we keep playing our football, but it's so refreshing to hear a footballer who isn't *just* interested in the money (and regardless, I'm sure he's very well paid indeed). Also, I've no doubt The Sun has spun those "quotes".

So, Hull today at home. It's on TV at half five on Setanta 1 (so no doubt we'll have to put up with that cunt Burley again). George Boateng has been talking up Hull's chances, and there's no doubt that they've made a great start to their season. Let's hope we can bring them crashing back down to earth today and take the three points.

Once again, many happy returns to Arseblogger, and I'll see you all tomorrow for post match ramblings and other nonsense.

Come on The Arsenal!!

Morning from a wet and dreary Dublin. I was really hoping for a bit of an Indian summer in September but it turns out the Indian summer is just another Irish summer, except a bit colder.

A few bits and bobs to talk about but as we are still in the midst of the Interlull it's all a bit quiet overall. Samir Nasri is settling in nicely and is rather enjoying himself at the Arsenal. He says:

I'm setting in nicely and I'm rather enjoying myself at the Arsenal.

But really he says:

I am very happy. I have been able to regain my place in the national side, there is a good atmosphere at the club, and we have a very young squad that shares my excitement.

He's played down talk of him being the 'new Pires', and rightly so. The lad has made a very bright start to his Arsenal career but it's a career that spans a whopping three or four games at the moment. He has been the bright spark amongst all the current darkness though. 

Gokhan Inler says he deliberated for a week about whether to move to Arsenal or not. Get to fuck you scaldy cunt. If you need a week to decide you want to move to Arsenal then you're a stupid scaldy spoon of a cunt. Maybe he likes Italian food though. And there's no better place to get Italian food than Italy. I've never been to Italy. Anyway, the point is Inler is a cunt. We never needed you anyway, bastard! That part may not exactly be true but I'm just bitter and lashing out.

Arsene Wenger says the appointment of a new Chief Executive will be made soon. The boss says:

I am involved in it and I am consulted for it but it is down to the Board to make that decision. Having consulted me, they will take the responsibility to name the right person. I think the decision will be made soon but I don’t know exactly when.

You know who would make a good Chief Executive? He-Man singing 4 non-blondes. He'd certainly bring some campness to the club which, frankly, we've been missing since Keith Edelman and his revolutionary 'Your own dress Friday' edict, which meant suits and ties were thrown aside for one day and everyone had to come to work in a frock. Failing that someone with business acumen and knowledge of football would do.

Beyond that there's not much to tell you so let's get on with this week's Arsecast. On the show I chat to Kevin Witcher of The Gooner about the transfer deadline day lack of business and the implications for the team and the manager, The Man in the Bar has a player history, there's a tale of the unexpected, Eboue and more.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, the direct feed URL is here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

As well as that there's a dedicated Arsecast hotline available all season long should you desire to make a comment, get something off your chest, share a song a chant or hilarious anecdote. Feel free to call it any time during the week, it'll go to voicemail and you can leave your message. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360.

And, as we're talking to Kevin from The Gooner, don't forget his book Arsènal - The making of a modern superclub is still available at a discount price to Arseblog readers.  To buy the book online, simply click here and select ‘buy now’. In the window that opens enter the word rocky in the promotion code box and your £2 will be discounted when you press the ‘go’ box next to it. The money you save will be donated to cancer charities so it's well worth it all round.

Right so, that's about that. More tomorrow, no doubt.

Arsenal's post-Fulham rehabilitation continued yesterday with a comfortable 3-0 win over Newcastle. Since that black day last week we've won two games, scored seven goals and kept two clean sheets. Not bad.

Of course you have to take the quality of the opposition into account, and both Twente and Newcastle are poor teams, but you can only beat what's in front of you. We started very brightly. William Gallas somehow missing at the back post and Shay Given (who made three or four outstanding saves as he always does against us) kept out a low Kolo Toure shot.

The first goal came from the penalty spot. Adebayor's cross was handled by N'Zogbia and Robin van Persie slammed home his first goal of the season. It was the Dutchman who got the second as well. Eboue broke forward from midfield, got into the box after swapping passes with Adebayor, he then played a crafty little back heel and van Persie lashed it home from close range.

The only trouble Newcastle caused us was the series of borderline challenges by Nicky Butt. One, where he raked his studs down the side of van Persie's leg should have seen him booked at least. He got his just desserts later on though when his looping header hit the bar. In the meantime Almunia had been called into action a couple of times as Newcastle had a period of pressure but he was solid and made the stops.

Not long after Butt hit the bar we got the third. Nasri played it in the box to Adebayor who could have shot but saw Denilson's run around the side of the defender, gave him the pass and Denilson finished to kill the game. Not long afterwards we might have had a fourth but van Persie's shot hit the bar and he seemed to have his foot stamped on requiring him to be replaced. Fingers crossed it's not as bad as they seem to think it is.

There was some fun late on when scumbag convict Joey Barton was brought on. His first action was a crunching, and quite fair, tackle on Samir Nasri, but it was physical. Nasri then sparked outrage from Kevin Keegan for an off the ball challenge on Barton which he got all out of proportion. Just to let the scumbag convict know he wasn't going to take the crunching tackle, he gave his ankles a little tap and sent him flying. It hardly merited the ranting from Keegan but then I suppose if you'll pick someone like scumbag convict in your team then your sense of right and wrong is a little skewed anyway. As all this went on the Newcastle owner, his belly wobbling in the late summer sunshine, slugged back pints of beer in his replica shirt. A classy lot, no doubt about it. Anyway, the point is Nasri won't be bullied and is verging on awesome already.

So another three points and, as I said, a good response to what happened at Craven Cottage. Sometimes a team does need a slap in the face to wake them up and that's what they got last week. I thought the performances and the commitment were so much better. Obviously the return of Fabregas helps us play better football, but van Persie was more involved, Adebayor ran his socks off and had a very good game, Eboue had some end product, Denilson got himself a goal and in Nasri I think we've found ourselves a player. He always looks dangerous, he's so confident on the ball (one turn leaving three or four Newcastle players looking the other way was just classic), and he's giving our left hand side that attacking threat we've really missed since Pires left.

Afterwards the manager said the improvement came from a change of attitude and also spoke about new signings, saying:

We are trying to buy but the problem is availability, as well as the fact we have to find players better or as good as the ones we have.

With the players now away on international duty for the best part of two weeks - our next game is away to Blackburn on Sat 13th - the boss has time in the next couple of days to do that. Anyway, it's good to go into that break on the back of a much improved performance and three points.

Looking around the Sunday newspapers there are a couple of things. The People links us with a loan move for Real Madrid's Christoph Metzelder. He certainly has a beard worthy of the Arsenal. Meanwhile the Sunday Mirror says West Ham are ready to pay £8m for Johan Djourou to replace Anton Ferdinand who has gone to Sunderland.

The deadline is tomorrow night at 11.59. What's the bets if we sign anyone it'll be at 11.58:47?

Other than that I am now blogging this at you from my new house. Moving yesterday was hard, hard work and I celebrated with some Thai food, a load of beers and about three bottles of wine. As you might imagine my head is saying *boilk* but my stomach is saying something much more gurgly than that.

Thanks to Tom for filling in yesterday. A slight breakdown in communication meant he forgot all about it but nevertheless he came up with the goods. Next time I'm going to send him a message via carrier pigeon. Nobody can ignore a pigeon with a message.

Right then, have yourselves a good Sunday. More tomorrow.

Morning all, it's the start of another week. Dreary too. The weather really is depressing for summertime.

After the chorus of boos that Emmanuel Adebayor was treated to on Saturday Arsene Wenger has urged fans to get behind the Togonator and leave what happened in the summer in the past. He says:

We have to get behind him and support him because he is of tremendous importance for the team and you want your fans to be behind him. What happened in the transfer period did not always reflect his deep desire [to stay] and there was manipulation from agents on both sides.

I'm sure Adebayor heard what happened and I have no doubt it must have been upsetting. But that's life. Sometimes you make choices and do things and you piss people off. It takes a bit of time to heal the wounds. I have no doubt there were agents sticky fingers all over what happened in the summer but ultimately the player has to take responsibility for it. I read a great quote from Gael Clichy who said of transfer rumours and speculation:

In my opinion if you want to be in a newspaper you will be in a newspaper. If you don't want to be then you won't be.

So the bottom line is that Adebayor has made his bed and as uncomfortable as it is he's got to lie in it. That said the manager is also right. Booing players rarely ends up being terribly positive but perhaps there's just only so much fans can take. Sp*rs fans gave Berbatov a good booing for wanting to go to United, Villa fans booed Gareth Barry for wanting to go to Liverpool and Arsenal fans expressed their distaste at Adebayor's apparent desire to leave by booing him. 

In an era when players are paid extortionate amounts of money and the gap between the fan and the player widens ever more maybe it's just time for the player to get a thicker skin. Especially if they rock the boat all summer and expect things to be forgotten about just because they kiss the badge in a meaningless friendly. I do hope Adebayor isn't booed again but at the same time I hope he's got the message and that, maybe, he learns something from it. And when you read stuff like this it really is a shame the way he fucked things up.

On a more positive note Samir Nasri rather enjoyed his day on Saturday. With the manager already making comparisons to Robert Pires (no pressure there then, Sammy) he spoke about his debut, saying:

I could not dream of a better start, to score in my first game after four minutes. Now I will have to continue week in and week out, and hopefully I can keep playing like that, it will be brilliant.

Yes, it will be brilliant. You could see the spark of a lethal new left side partnership between him and Clichy and I think if they get a good run of games together they could become even more dangerous. Pires and Cuntley always worked well down the left before and you get the feeling that's something the manager wants to replicate. Still, it's early days but that was as positive a start from Nasri as you could have hoped for. 

As I said yesterday with a round of meaningless international friendlies this week it's going to be a strange week on the training ground with so many players away. Not the ideal preparation for Fulham on Saturday but that's just the way it goes.

Not much else happening. Just to let anybody who has my email address know that it has changed. The old blogger @ arseblog.com email address got ruined yesterday by some bunch of spamming cunts who flooded my inbox. After downloading about 2,000 'return to sender - you spamming bastard' emails I saw there were another 7,000 waiting to be downloaded so I've nuked that address.

If you do need to get in touch please note the new address (in spam friendly format) is thearseblog AT arseblog D0T com. Please update your address books. 

Right so, enjoy the day, especially if you're a duck. Apart from the duck of death. Clint won't like that.