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.

Having sat here for a while, scratching only occasionally, I can now declare this Interlull officially a pain in the arse. I've had quite enough now and I demand it stops at once.

You would think with all the highly intelligent readers Arseblog has, and I'm including all three of them in this, that someone would have invented some kind of device to either provide entertainment during Interlulls or which would destroy countries therefore putting an end to international football once and for all.

Anyway, maybe that's something they can work on for the next one. In the meantime there's some scant Arsenal news starting with Arsene Wenger being impressed with William Gallas. He's probably in the best form since he joined the club and his partnership with Thomas Vermaelen shows a good deal of promise. Arsene says:

William Gallas has had a fine start to the season, which is down to both his attitude and the quality of the player. He behaves 100% as a professional and is highly focused in training.

Which, I suppose, is the very least you should expect from any player. On the partnership with the Belgian, he says:

It has gelled more quickly than I expected. This is for two reasons; first of all, Vermaelen adapted faster, and secondly William fits more comfortably on the right side of a central defence than on the left.

There are still defensive issues to sort out, no question about it, but you don't get the feeling any longer that we're ready to crumble right down the middle like we've seen in seasons past. 

Arsene also said he wouldn't be the one to name his own successor at the club when the time comes, saying it's beyond his remit. Which is absolutely right. Plus there'd surely be the temptation to have a bit of fun with that. At your goodbye press conference you might say "And it is with great pleasure that I name the next Arsenal manager - that's right, it's MOR sax crooner Kenny G! Kenny, get out here you big lug!!!"

And out Kenny would come, parping on his horn as shocked onlookers tried to make some kind of sense out of what they were seeing. And when he announced his backroom staff of Baltimora, the lead singer from Mr Mister and the drummer from Glass Tiger the confusion would be palpable. And that is why Arsene won't be naming the next Arsenal manager.

Frank McLintock says Alex Song can be the next Peter Storey so if you're looking for dodgy coins or porno videos the Cameroonian is the man to see. Oh, he means football. That makes more sense, to be fair. It is somewhat funny to see Frank's positive articles appear on the official site when he's been rather critical elsewhere in recent weeks though.

The Sun says Arsene Wenger has a plan for Fran. And the plan is a five year deal and not, disappointingly, anything to do with a flan. Don't get me wrong, a five year deal for a talented young player is a great thing but there's a massive gap in the market for a rhyming flan brand. Fran's Flans! I can see world domination from here. Maybe it's something he can address when he finishes with football. Provided I don't change my name to Fran and get there ahead of him. It strikes me the young Spaniard has got some tough decisions to make in the weeks and months ahead.

The Mirror reports Cesc will return to Arsenal today which, I suppose, means that things are somewhat better in terms of his family problem and that's good news. I have to say it was not at all surprising but still somewhat disappointing that some Arsenal blogs chose to publish information and pictures that they really shouldn't have with regard to this story. Sadly there's a tabloid culture to some of these blogs and they're little more than bottom feeders scratching around for cheap hits, ignoring the rights of players and their families to a bit of privacy, especially at a difficult time.

I could go on but I won't. I just hope they realise that not everything is fit for public consumption and if they don't realise that I hope they get run over by a bus. Twice.

Right, just three more Interlull days to get through before we can get ourselves back on track. 

And finally, don't forget the gala showing of The Gooner Review takes place this evening. You can get tickets on the door. See here for more info.

Till tomorrow.

Good morning and good Friday to you on this good Friday which isn't good at all due to the fact all the bars in Ireland are shut.

We shall start with injury news and it's not great, it has to be said. William Gallas is going to miss the rest of the season with medial knee ligament damage. The manager called it a 'big blow' and given the form of Gallas in the last couple of months it's hard to argue.

Regular readers will know I'm hardly the biggest Gallas fan in the world but since things came to a head and the captaincy was taken away from him he has been playing much, much better. And at this stage of the season when you need guys with experience and who have won things to lose him is a certainly not ideal. The other thought, of course, is that we may have seen him play his last game for Arsenal.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if he were to move in the summer so that could be that in terms of his Arsenal career. Arsene says he sees him at the club next season as he has one year left on his contract but I'm not so sure. Anyway, we'll see.

His injury has been compounded by one to Gael Clichy who will miss a couple of weeks with a back injury. Now, Clichy's form this season hasn't been great but it leaves the manager with some thinking to do.

Obviously Johan Djourou is going to replace Gallas at centre-half. Does he then use Kieran Gibbs or try and replace some of the experience he's losing between Gallas and Clichy by bringing in Sylvester? I suspect he'll go for the latter option. We know Sylvester has been there and done that with United, he's won things and knows what this final part of the season is all about, my concern would be that he doesn't necessarily have the ability to play the way he did at United.

They let him go, to us, which is telling I think. I was never a big fan of him as a player when he was there and I'm worried that he might not be up to scratch. I would happily and cheerfully be proven wrong on this one. If he can come in and do a good job then fantastic, no complaints from me. I'm just a little anxious, is all.

On top of that we've lost Manuel Almunia for three weeks with an ankle injury. The same ankle that filthy twat Diouf tried to break so in will come Lukasz Fabianksi. It's a good opportunity for him to stake a claim for more regular football but he is still quite raw. Fingers crossed he's more Manninger (97-98 vintage), than Richard Wright.

So with any number of important games coming up in the next few weeks the squad is going to be be tested. Yes, we've certainly been unlucky this season with injuries but they are part and parcel of the game. We just have to cope with them, get on with things and hopefully the players that come in can do their jobs well.

Ahead of tomorrow's game Eduardo and Robin van Persie have fitness tests. I'm told that of the two van Persie is the more likely to make it but even this weekend might be a bit soon for both of them. To be honest, I don't think there's any point taking risks for tomorrow. With all due respect to Wigan we should have enough in the squad to get a result there, leaving Eduardo and Robin more time to get fit for Villarreal and the small matter of the FA Cup semi-final the following weekend.

In his pre-match press conference, which took place yesterday due to the Easter weekend, the boss also revealed that Tomas Rosicky was 'not close' to coming back. Reports that he was due to play in last night's reserve game against Sp*rs were wide of the mark it seems. I really don't think we'll see him until next season. After such a long time out there's no point in rushing him and he's probably better off with a full pre-season under his belt - provided he's fit enough to do that.

So that's about it with regards the news. Despite it being a bank holiday weekend there's an Arsecast which features George with a tale of the unexpected, some news, team news, a late night TV discussion, and other stuff all around a common, twitchy, theme.

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 (18mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Right, that's that. Time for toast, more coffee and possibly a beer. Nah, it's too early for beer. A gin and tonic will do.

Till tomorrow.

Morning all,

there's a veritable William Gallas love-in going on this morning. Both Manuel Almunia and Abou Diaby have been praising the former captain.

Almunia reckons that not being the captain any more is doing good things for Gallas, saying:

I think he is playing better than before. I spoke to him last week and he told me that now he is playing better because he is not losing too much energy because he is not worried about other things and other players or other circumstances off the pitch.

Now he can focus 100% on himself without recrimination! I kid, I kid. Sort of. The challenge on Agbonlahor the other day was awfully careless and undid the good work he did previously in the Villa game but then he pops up and scores the winner against Portsmouth. And while we can't ignore his attacking contribution we have to accept that he has been a central figure in the worst Arsenal defence for quite some time, both as captain and not.

Almunia is filling in as captain in Cesc's absence and he feels that what this Arsenal side lacks is the character of previous sides, saying:

We have shown good character, but we still have a little more to go to find the real Arsenal. The main thing is to look for our identity, our way, our character that gave this club all their titles and trophies. We need to re-find our spirit and our desire to win games.

The 'real Arsenal', there's a thing. It's not the first time a senior player has been critical of the attitude of the side. Clichy said it, Sagna said it, Gallas, in a hugely misguided blunderbussing of his own team said it, and now Almunia has said it. There is something fundamentally wrong with the attitude of this Arsenal team.

It's incredible when you think about it and ultimately it has to come down to the manager. He is responsible for this squad, for the team selections and their state of mind. There are those who think this group of players have had it too easy. That Arsene's backing of them, all the time, has allowed them to think they're better than they are. That the lack of criticism, his unwavering faith in the face of evidence to the contrary, the mollycoddling, has been instrumental in bringing about the kinds of performances we've seen this season.

The belief that they just had to turn up to beat the likes of Hull or Fulham or Stoke. Defeats which came about because the team simply went through the motions. There's probably more to it. We spoke previously about a lack of leadership, there's a very obvious lack of competition for places which is evident when someone like Alex Song becomes a first team regular at a club like Arsenal, but essentially there's a serious flaw in the attitude of this group of players at times.

Look at what Tony Adams has to say:

I always remember playing in front of the North Bank, and you had to earn your spurs. That’s a wrong statement, sorry; you have to earn respect, you really do.

It comes from playing, from commitment, from honesty and loyalty and a sense of duty and passion, of turning up, of being on time, simple things.

And he's bang on there. We saw fans frustration with the team and certain players boil over at times this season but for me it was because of the lack of fight and effort, not lack of ability. We've had poor players at Arsenal before and we will again but fans can accept the limitations of any player so long as he gives 100% when he's out on the pitch. When they don't, well, we've seen what happened.

Is it a case of too much too young? Are they being paid too much without having earned it? Do they think they're better than they are? Are they too assured of their places in the squad? Legitimate questions, in my opinion.

It will be very interesting to see how some movement in the transfer window affects certain players. Will they raise their game and fight for their places? Or will they take off and move somewhere more comfortable because that's the easiest thing to do. There's a quote somewhere about success in football being 10% talent and 90% application. I'm sure we've all played with very talented footballers who were lazy cunts simply because they had that talent. And we've all played with guys who made up for their lack of technical ability with pure effort. And it's the latter guy who got into the team every week and who the rest of the lads wanted with them when the going got tough.

Anyway, this is all very rambling but perhaps the introduction of some experienced quality into the squad will help in more than just the obvious way. Perhaps it will bring out more from some of the younger players who have definite ability but maybe aren't quite ready to play week in, week out just yet.

And speaking of transfer business the agent of Andrei Arshavin has been speaking about our apparent interest in the player. He says:

We know that Arsene Wenger likes the look of Arshavin. But I like the look of Angelina Jolie and it doesn't always mean you get what you want.

Haha, there does appear to be plenty of smoke around the Arshavin stories, time will tell if there's fire.

Young striker Jay Simpson has signed a new deal with the club. He scored twice against Wigan in the Carling Cup and will go on loan to WBA in January. That's a tough gig but it should give us a better idea of whether or not he's got what it takes after a decent loan spell at Milwall last season.

Not much else happening so until tomorrow's New Year's Eve blogmanay, have a good day.

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. 

And here we go again. Exactly seven days after the last one, it's Friday again. Hope we find you well this morning, there's plenty to get through so we'll crack on.

Starting with team news ahead of tomorrow's game against Wigan we're without William Gallas (calf strain) but Kolo Toure returns and could play alongside Johann Djourou in the centre of defence. We might also see the return of Eboue after his knee injury. Beyond that it's the lifers although Eduardo is getting ever closer to his comeback.

He was scheduled to play a friendly game last week but that didn't happen. However, the manager says he's back in full training and just needs games. There's a reserve match against Portsmouth on Dec 16th in which he's likely to feature

We know it's a game we have to win in order not to render the Chelsea result completely useless and you hope that the post-United lessons have been learned. More on the game itself tomorrow.

So, while one Arsenal player was quickly playing down a move to AC Milan (Cesc's wonderful habit of killing these kind of stories is fantastic), speculation was growing over the future of William Gallas. The Sun quotes a 'source' who says that Gallas feels 'humiliated' by recent events and would welcome an escape from the club. I have no doubt he does feel a bit humiliated but he doesn't really have anyone to blame but himself, does he?

Since being stripped of the captaincy though he's put in two decent performances at the back (clanger against Kiev aside) but I've always maintained that his future at the club was in serious doubt after everything that happened. I'm told that Arsene's priority in the January transfer window is to reinforce the defence (see below for more on that) so Gallas moving on and someone else coming in wouldn't be a surprise at all.

Some other little snippets - Aaron Ramsey is the future of Wales, says Ryan Giggs, while Fabio Capello has raided Arsenal again for one of our club doctors. Dr Ian Beasley will start work straight away and hopefully he can slowly poison John Terry.

Right, I've been running a competition this week with a rather fine prize. A copy of Arsènal: The Making of a Modern Super-Club by Kevin Witcher (The Gooner) and Alex Fynn, signed by Arsene Wenger. I have never, ever seen a response to a competition like it in all the years of Arseblog. Obviously the number of entries means odds are slim but thanks to everyone for taking part all the same.

The three lucky winners, selected by the RNG, are: Ian Allerton, Kevin Faulkner and Alexander Ridler. Well done to you three, I'll be in touch to get your details and have the books sent on.

Bad luck to everyone else but if you do want to get your hands on a copy for yourself or for someone else as a Christmas present (it is a very good read) then simply go to this website and using the code 'rocky' at checkout will get you a £2 discount on the price. Can't say fairer than that, can you?

Now, speaking of the book I'm joined on this week's Arsecast by one of the authors, Alex Fynn. He's spoken to Arsene recently and has some insight into his thinking on the squad, possibly reinforcements in January, the appointment of Ivan Gazidis and what it might mean, amongst other things.

As well as that there's a player history from The Man in the Bar, a tale of the unexpected and more scarf related goodness from the fine people at Savile Rogue, makers of the finest neck warmers known to man.

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 (16mb MP3) or 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.

Right so, get that lot down ya. More tomorrow. 

Morning all, it's Friday. Hurrah! I have a poxy cold. Booo!

Early team news ahead of the Chelsea game on Sunday is that Adebayor, Nasri and Sagna might be back from injury. Let's hope they are because we need them back and we need a big performance, similar to the one against Man United.

Chelsea are formidable opponents, people might talk about how their form is not great at the moment, but they've only conceded four goals in the league all season and they've scored thirty-two. It's not exactly as if they're there for the taking, or anything. In fact, they'll be looking at us and thinking it's a great time to play us. The only thing is they have been more prolific in front of goal away from Stamford Bridge and have conceded more goals at home than away so perhaps that's something we can exploit.

Cesc says we won't be going there to defend, which is good because we're really not very good at it. He says:

Our target is to go there and win. We need to get some points back. Arsenal never go for a draw and a club like Chelsea will be the same as us. Every time I have played against them they have gone forward and tried to gain victory. We will expect it will be the same on Sunday.

There's no Drogba, of course, he's suspended after his coin chucking antics but they do have Nicolas Anelka who is probably in the best form he's ever been in since he left Arsenal. We know they have quality in all areas though so it's going to need a big, big performance from our boys. More on that game in the next couple of days.

The pre-match stuff will be full of the return of Gallas to Stamford Bridge, particularly after what has come to light in his autobiography. He has well and truly poked the hornet's nest by bringing up his acrimonious departure in his book and that's making plenty of headlines this morning. All I'll say is that I think footballer's biographies are a stupid idea when they're still playing. When you're retired you can say what you want but given everything that went on last week the last thing we need is another Gallas inspired media shitstorm. What good does it do anyone?

Chariman PHW says Arsene has reiterated that the manager has money to spend, if he chooses to spend it. He says:

There have been suggestions that we keep stopping him from buying - that is not the case. He certainly has got money if he wants to spend it.

He goes on to talk about how Arsene will only buy if he can find players who will improve the squad. Which is just common sense - but when it gets to a point where every single fan can name players who would be an improvement over some of the squad members then you have to accept that the squad needs work. Anyway, this is old ground which has been covered time and again and we still have January to cope with.

Aaron Ramsey talks about living with a Sp*rs player and his ambitions to become an established first team player at Arsenal.

Not much else going on so let's crack on with the Arsecast. On this week's show I chat to GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog about the events of the last week both on and off the field, as well as that I get some insight on our new CEO from Glenn Davis who is a football writer for the Houston Chronicle as well as a radio presenter for 790AM Houston where he has a show/podcast called 'The soccer hour'.

Amaury Bischoff PI is there and the penis of the William Gallas shows up too. Plus I announce the winner of the Savile Rogue scarf and give you another chance to win the sought after scarf in all of scarfdom (and do check out the site if you're looking for Christmas presents, they are quality).

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 (16mb MP3) or 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.

Ok, that's your lot. Have a good Friday. I can currently only breathe through one nostril and my eyes hurt. Stupid eyes. Till tomorrow.

It's a busy morning so let's get straight into it.

Arsenal appointed a new CEO yesterday. Ivan Gazidis will take up his new role in January after spending 14 years with the MLS. I'm not sure too many of us know a great deal about him. Chairman PHW gave the standard welcome while Gazidis himself said:

I relish the prospect of working with the key stakeholders to further propel the Club forward. It is nearly 16 years since I left the UK but I’m very much looking forward to returning in January.

I like that. 'Propel' is a good word. We could use some propulsion at the moment, no doubt about it, and it's about time we filled this role at the club. On tomorrow's Arsecast I'll be speaking to somebody who knows a bit more about Gazidis so tune in for that one.

Cesc Fabregas has been talking about his new role at the club and he'll be checking with Arsenal captains of the past to help him do the job as well as he can. He says:

I still speak on the phone to Thierry and I will ask him about it. I’d love to talk with Patrick about the job as well because he has so much experience.

He also talks about being inspired by Tony Adams, which is no bad thing when it comes to captaining a football team. On a more general level though he has set out the objectives for the season, saying:

I want to lift a trophy. It’s true that we are 10 points behind, so our immediate target is to win at Chelsea. Sunday is a good opportunity to get some points back and a couple of weeks after we have Liverpool at home. It is not over yet and it is up to us to finish where we will finish. We will see, at the moment nothing is done and we will fight until the end.

And that's the kind of spirit you want from your captain, that's exactly the attitude we need. Sunday is huge, no question, but there's plenty of time to talk about that. In the meantime something Cesc is going to have to deal with as captain is William Gallas and the continued fallout from his rant last week. The usually mild mannered Gael Clichy has accused the former captain of 'shattering' morale within the team. Gael says:

It has shattered something within the squad. It is something that should have remained between him and the boss even though there may be some truth in what William said. It is now down to the players and staff to glue the fragments back together and move on.

What William said was difficult, not only because he was the captain but because he is an experienced player.

It really is hard to see how Gallas has a long term future at the club, to be honest. At the moment the manager is being very pragmatic. He needs Gallas as a player because of injuries but if someone like Gael Clichy, who is usually a very positive person, has that to say about him then you can't help thinking there are others in the squad for whom the resentment burns much brighter. Whatever way you look at it that's not good and it's a problem you have to solve as a manager.

Maybe it's something that will repair itself with time but I suspect we'll move him on in January if we can identify a decent replacement. There's talk of Milan being interested, talk which Milan deny, but we know Italian clubs can tell a lie out of both sides of their mouth at the same time, especially when it comes to transfers. We'll see what happens though.

Nicklas Bendtner, who rather tongue in cheek (I hope) claimed to have always dreamt of wearing pink boots, is being linked with a £5m move to Spartak Moscow. There's a Danish connection there with Michael Laudrup the Spartak boss, but I'd be very surprised if it happened. Unless, of course, they give him that pair of diamond encrusted boots he so desires. Maybe we should get him a pair of ruby slippers and call him Dorothy.

Chairman PHW has given his backing to Arsene Wenger but this is not the usual dreaded 'vote of confidence'. He says:

Of course he has my backing. What he has done for the club over the last 12 years has been fantastic. You do not lose faith in a man like him after three or four bad results. It is a ridiculous suggestion really.

That seems very reasonable when it's put like that but there are still questions for the manager to answer. They may not be coming from board room level but the fans are asking them. I know there's an increasing amount of frustration with some fans about the way things are going but I can only speak for myself when I say I'd love nothing more than to see AW turn it around and start winning trophies again for Arsenal.

Right, that's about that. We should get some early team news today ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday so more on that tomorrow and in the Arsecast. In the meantime, have a good day.

Morning all, hope we find you well this Saturday.

While there's been no official confirmation from the club the fact remains that William Gallas is no longer the captain of the club. He is not in the squad to face Manchester City today which should tell you just how Gallas is viewed at the moment. The squad is down to bare bones but there's still no place for him.

I think Arsene made the right decision yesterday. Gallas simply had made his career as captain untenable. He might well have done the same with his playing career at the club too. His outburst was extraordinary, plunged the club into the kind of media frenzy it does its utmost to avoid at all times, and the consequences had to be brutal and swift.

What was unclear yesterday was why he gave this interview. What emerged during the morning that the interview took place as part of the publicity to launch Gallas's autobiography in France. The more cynical amongst you might speculate that some controversial comments would generate some publicity for Gallas and the book. Maybe he didn't think what he said was that bad (remember, there are points he made that were valid, even in my opinion!) but when a passage from the book revealed a furious bust-up with a player called 'S' while on international duty, and that player was revealed to be Samir Nasri, then you really have to question his intelligence.

Why do footballers feel the need to write autobiographies when they're still playing? Surely the best thing to do is wait until your career is over then you can write about who you want, when you want, and the only problem you might have is at your 25 year Euro2008 reunion dinner. When you start creating problems within the team you're captain of then it's grossly stupid. If I were a football manager I would put a clause in players contracts forbidding them from writing biographies while still playing for the club. Otherwise we will continue to swerve off the road at their idiocy.

But the book is secondary. Gallas has never been a convincing captain and the comments made about his teammates were the straw that broke the camel's back. Again you could be cynical and suggest he made them to put an end to his Arsenal career. It's not like he doesn't have previous, his exit from Chelsea was unseemly and undignified and it looks like his Arsenal career is going to end the same way.

There are no hard facts this morning. The Sun says Gallas has been told he is 'free to leave' the club. They quote one of those old reliable 'close family friends' who said:

“Arsene told him ‘If you don’t want to be in my team then just go. You are free to leave’. William was shocked at the outburst and went straight home. He simply doesn’t know what will happen to him. He’s very down."

It's hard to see how he can continue at the club in any way, to be honest. He has betrayed the rest of the players by making public things which happen in the dressing room and that won't easily be forgotten. But he's also a French international who is worth some money. It will be interesting to see if the club hold on and try and sell him in January or if some agreement is made which sees his contract cancelled and he leaves as a free agent. Given the circumstances you feel it might be worth taking the financial hit and getting him out of the club as quickly as possible.

What will be most interesting is seeing what kind of comment the club and the manager has to make on the situation. We've had a brief snippet (in that Sun article) from the chairman who talks about not making things public but that could have come from any time in the recent past.

I'm sure Arsene will feel betrayed by Gallas. He made him captain, he put more faith in him and backed him more than he probably should have, perhaps feeling that giving Gallas responsibility might change the man, but Gallas was always too old to change. Or not intelligent enough to cope with the pressures of the job. So while I'm glad Arsene has done this now it's a case of better late than never because this is a decision he could easily have made in the summer. It's a decision he should have made in the summer.

Now, it feels like a big thing. It feels important, really important. Almost like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders and we can move on. Goodplaya's point is good, the removal of Gallas does not solve all our problems, not by a long way, but this certainly does feel like a step in the right direction. I felt the position of Gallas as captain made it difficult for Wenger to drop him as a player when he should have been dropped. There is no such problem now.

So it's up to the rest of the players to show what they're made of today. I know that some of them did not take to Gallas as captain, and like the rest of us footballers can be petty, spiteful individuals at times. Imagine you have a team leader at work who you actively dislike, you don't do your best work for them, do you? The same thing goes for footballers which is why the choice of the next captain is absolutely crucial. You know who I think should get it but I'll write something on that in another blog in the days ahead.

Today it'll probably be Almunia with the armband as we take on Manchester City. The squad, as I said above, is threadbare and how we line up is going to be interesting. I suspect we're going to see Sylvester and Song as the centre-halves, Djourou at right back and I think Aaraon Ramsey will come into the midfield. There are doubts about Adebayor apparently so we'll have to see how we line up but a five man midfield with Ramsey, Denilson, Diaby, Nasri and perhaps van Persie playing off the main striker wouldn't be a surprise.

It's almost like a new era for the team now. Soon it will have a new leader, in January I am quite sure it's going to have new players, but there's plenty of football to be played between now and then. The lads out there today have to show they're Arsenal players, they have to show they can perform when backs are against the wall, perhaps they need to prove a point to the former captain, but what's undeniable is that they need a good result today.

Goodbye Gallas, hello the future. Come on Arsenal!

More tomorrow.

I'm told by a reliable source that William Gallas is no longer the captain of Arsenal.

No decision has been made yet about who will replace him. I'm sure we'll get more on this story in the next 24 hours. He is also reportedly out of tomorrow's squad to face Man City although that's yet to be confirmed.

Comments on this can be left on today's earlier post.