Midweek and it's kinda quiet. The open training session took place yesterday and was streamed live by the official site. It was quite interesting to watch but the non-stop commentary made it sound a bit like a footballing Eurovision - only a little more camp.

It looked like fun for those that were there. There were some Q&A sessions with the players afterwards for the fans who attended and at one of them Robin van Persie, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna were asked which player in the world they'd most like Arsenal to sign.

The answer - Patrick Vieira. Of course it could be a little joke at all the rumours but we'll see. Afterwards Bob Wilson, who was compere for the day, said of potential new signings:

I think Arsene will add a minimum of one, possibly two. He has the money to do it. But you know, and I know, that he will just not go in for the sake of spending money.

And despite the cash he's raked in from the sales of Adebayor and Toure, plus what's added when the Senderos deal becomes official, he's not prepared to pay above what he considers a fair price. Speaking about a deal for Marouane Chamakh the boss told L'Equipe:

In five months, if he doesn't prolong his contract, Chamakh will be free to talk to any club and Bordeaux won't get anything. My offer seems fair to me, taking the market into account. Chamakh would be good, but there are other options should we wish to pursue them.

In the current context, to me, it is over. Let's say that at the moment it is terminated.

So he's really sticking it to Bordeaux. Accept what's on offer from us because he'll go on a free if you don't. Bordeaux, as you might imagine, aren't too happy at being held over a barrel like this and have dug their heels in a bit. So things remain at a bit of an impasse there.

The Sun reports this morning that we've had a £5.5m bid for Sevilla centre-half Fredrico Fazio turned down. I've had a look around the Spanish sports papers this morning but I can't find anything about it at all and they're just full of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid stories. Funny to think a player who was on the verge of moving to us for about £12m last summer will cost £30m this time around but this is just more evidence of how the market is being distorted by a couple of clubs.

Still, I can't help but look wistfully at Alonso going there. I think he'd have been a fantastic signing for us (but obviously not at £30m). Oh well.

There's some utter tripe this morning about Cesc and Milan and £31m bids and all that but I'm really not going to give it the time of day.

Arsenal Analysis has some quotes from Eduardo about his comeback and his involvement with the Croatia national team.

I was scouting around on Flickr and came across some shots from yesterday's member's day (thanks to Abdul for the offer of his pictures). Anyway, this particular one of the team photo for the season was interesting. 

If you count it up we have 4 keepers and 24 outfield players. Compare to the team photo from the 84-85 season where we have 15 outfield players and 2 keepers. I know football has moved on and squads are bigger and all that but it's still an interesting comparison. Plus the 84-85 group had far more in the moustache department than we do now.

The Telegraph reports that Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith is considering selling her shareholding in club with one of the offers coming from 'the former Soviet Union'. Doesn't wherever that bid came from have a real name? Obviously that would make you think that whoever's making the bid is Usmanov friendly. As I said before the next few months are going to be very interesting as things in the boardroom come to a head. This Mexican stand-off can't continue forever. 

And that's about that. Have a good Wednesday, more tomorrow.

Morning all, if I had the choice here are the top three things I would do with Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou.

1. I would make him play the hind quarters of a pantomime donkey in a post-apocolyptic rom-com featuring Jennifer Aniston as the woman who fell for the front part of the donkey until the front part of the donkey died from radiation poisoning but in the end she realises that true love can be found with the other part and they live happily ever after ... until Kalou grows an enormous beak which devours her as they sleep.
2. He could become my official food taster especially in countries where I have many enemies such as Belgium, the Congo, El Salvador and Ireland.
3. I would convince him that I was a master sculptor, capable of producing works finer than Michaelangelo's David or the great big clay head that blinder made of Lionel Richie in the video for 'Hello' and have him pose in a very awkward manner ... then take 15 years to complete the sculpture at which point his body would be frozen in that ghastly position and people would think he was some kind of monster or highly crippled war veteran.

One of the things I wouldn't do with Salomon Kalou is sign him for Arsenal, but then this is just more proof, if it were needed, that Arsene Wenger and I are very different.

Various reports this morning suggest we've made a £6m bid for the Chelsea striker. Pfff. I have to say he's never particularly inspired me and our record of buying players from that lot hasn't exactly been great in the last few years. Maybe AW's thinking it'd be a case of third time lucky and if there's any truth to this at all it's probably a sign that things with Chamakh have reached breaking point.

I know this is more than likely just more transfer fiction but stories like this always make me a bit worried because what is more Wenger-like than talking about how many attacking options you have before you go out and buy another striker when other areas of the pitch need strengthening?

Meanwhile Tomas Rosicky has discovered he likes the sound of the word options. He says of the upcoming season:

We have got plenty of options and that is why I feel we will be stronger than last season - because the boss will have more options. If the boss decides to buy someone, that is always good and will give us another option - but I think even if he doesn’t, we have plenty of options.

So I think it's fair to say we have plenty of options. And we have the option to bring in more options. So if the boss opts for more options then our options will be optimal. Which is good. I think.

Patrick Vieira has been left out of the French squad for their WC qualifier next week with coach Raymond Dominatrix telling him he needs to play more. Will that spark a decision about his future soon? That's a good question but frankly I don't have the first clue. 

Today is Member's Day when the club has an open training session at the Grove. This year it's being streamed live by the official site so that might be more interesting than work. Coverage starts around 11.30.

Finally for today, I was just having a poke around the Spanish sites to see if they were making up anything interesting these days and thought this image was quite interesting.

Right so, that'll do, more tomorrow.

Bank holiday *boilk* to you all. I am as hungover as a Water Sheringham celebrating the death of more humans.

Arsenal won some silverware yesterday. The Emirates Cup came home. Hurrah. Hey, it's been four years since we won a trophy, I'm taking what I can get.

In all seriousness though it was another good warm up game, a decent team performance, and one young man stood out. Jack Wilshere won man of the match for the second game in a row, scored two goals, played out of his little skin and gave the manager some serious thinking to do about how big a part he can play in the season ahead.

On the evidence of yesterday there's no reason why this young man can't play Premier League football for us this season. He's matured a great deal and he showed in the two games how much talent he has. Arsenal fans should be very excited about what this lad can bring to the team in the seasons to come.

Arsene Wenger has certainly acknowledged the talent and the ability but at the same time he's looking for people's expectations to be realistic. And I think this is so important. There's a tendency to build up young players after a couple of performances and then when they fail to reach those heights on a consistent basis people are very quick to write them off again.

The example I'd use is Denilson. His first few appearances for the club were fantastic. He came in, played well, 'like another Cesc' said people, but has since struggled for various reasons. Now he's nobody's idea of a new Cesc and is, perhaps, a victim of raised expectations. If there hadn't been such hyperbole around his first few performances maybe people would have more patience with his progress.

Now, anyone who has watched football can tell you that there's something special about Jack Wilshere. Whatever IT is, he's got it. In spades. But how the club manage the next two or three seasons with him will be as likely to decide his future in the game than anything else. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders though, but he'll need it and the club will need to protect him.

For example, the complete and utter twats at Sky yesterday. They're talking him up for the England World Cup squad already. Christ, the lad hasn't been in the Arsenal squad regularly yet. And to be fair when the cretinous Geoff Shreeves asked Jack in the post-match interview if he was aware Fabio Capello was watching he just said "I have to worry about getting into the Arsenal team first". Sensible.

However, if he does start making appearances in the first team expect more of that kind of crap and it's dreadfully unfair to young players. I think in this era of instant opinion fueled by blogs and forums and message boards that fans, not just Arsenal fans either, are far too quick to make judgements about players. I think we're all guilty of it to an extent. And it seems to work the same way in the press now.

A series of three or four good games and a player is bigged up as 'The next X, Y or Z', international honours are just around the corner and a glorious career awaits. Some bad games and he's rubbish, never the answer and obscurity beckons. So when Arsene Wenger pleads for calm and quiet surrounding Jack Wilshere I think we have to respect that.

By all means let's be excited by his potential but let's not build him up so high that when reality bites we're not distraught and hysterical. His talent is obvious, but he's just 17 and playing in a no pressure pre-season environment. League football is different, European football is different, and believe it or not he might not play well some days. So while there's nothing we can do about what the press say or the hype merchants at Sky say, we can do the right thing and, like the manager says, respect his development.

Then we can all celebrate Jack's ascension as our new God and worship him like the deity he is.

In other news transfer target Marouane Chamakh has flipped his lid over the way Bordeaux have prevented him leaving the club. Apparently he's trying to force through a move to Arsenal and again it'd be typical of Arsene Wenger to talk about how we don't need an attacker then sign him up. As Gunnerblog said rather nicely yesterday ' I’m concerned about the defence, but I’m not sure Arsene is'.

Manuel Almunia reckons we're still better than Man City despite selling them Toure and Adebayor. That's all fine and dandy, the problem is we need to be better than United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

There's now a week of training ahead for the lads and then a game in Valencia on Saturday. The manager is still not ruling out the possibility of Vieira's return and I suspect this might be an interesting week. We'll see.

Right, painkillers, coffee and bacon. Liquidised. In a mug. The hungover breakfast of champions. Till tomorrow.

Lots going on this morning as the boss held his first real press conference of this pre-season. I watched it on Arsenal TV and he was flanked by Bacary Sagna who was roundly ignored by the press boys until they were reminded he was there.

Of course they all wanted to hear from the boss about the various goings-on, more than anything about the possible return of Patrick Vieira. It does seem as if there's something to all the speculation as AW said:

There is a football decision and then there's the psychological impact of a player of that stature coming in. We are nowhere near to making a decision like that. But it is a possibility. We don't rule it out and we don't say we will do it. That's my decision at the moment.

Which is classic, Arsene. We might. But we might not. But it's possible. Because anything is possible. But you never know. And when something happens you'll be the first to know.

I'm sure the Vieira song will get a rendition or two during today's game but I think any decision on his return will be made based on the physical side of things. I know the boss has talked about the psychological impact but it's difficult to see that being anything but positive. 

I've said for some time that the best thing for a number of these young players would be to play and train alongside experienced campaigners, and Vieira is certainly that. He could teach them a lot about football, about attitude and desire, and it may just improve them more quickly. Either way the boss will make his mind up but I think whether or not he's still got the legs will prove to be the most important factor.

He was asked about the sales of Adebayor and Toure and he confirmed that money raised from those sales would be available to him if he decided to go into the transfer market. When asked if selling to a rival for the top four was a factor he said:

I always say when you come to the decision to sell a player you can’t on top choose who you want to sell them to. If they are becoming a main rival I cannot stop it with a decision to sell a player or not. If they don’t buy from you they buy another good player from someone else.

Which is an interesting perspective. In Adebayor they've bought an effective striker provided he gets the right service and he's interested enough to play for you. Could they have bought a better striker with the money they have? Yes, no doubt. Kolo is a fine player but not the same player he was and while a change of scenery may rejuvenate his career the manager has looked at his stats, his performances, and decided to let him go.

So City are stronger but are they as strong as they could have been? That's the question. The one thing the boss did stress during the press conference though was that we are not close to signing anybody just at this moment in time. Truth or Wenger spin to put people off the trail? I suspect truth.

He would not be drawn on the statement of the Bordeaux president regarding Marouane Chamakh but the whispers are that the Moroccan striker remains a disinct possibility. He's stressing at all times the belief that this squad is strong enough to challenge next season, both in terms of quality and numbers. I know we all have our opinions on that but I wonder if there's a bit more to it.

If he talks all the time about how he thinks they're good enough then adds a player or two to the pack then they'll think they're good enough + 2 extra players good which will make them unbeatable! I could be reading too much into that.

Team news ahead of the weekend's football and the boss confirmed that Tomas Rosicky would be taking part as would Gael Clichy who some reports said would miss the start of the season. Aside from Nasri though the only injury is to Abou Diaby who has a minor knee problem but really you could spin a wheel, pick from any number of niggly little injuries and assign it to Diaby at any given time.

We read about how he'd spent the summer working on his fitness and that's only to be commended. He knows he's got to prove he's capable of playing for Arsenal this season. At some point you have to cut your losses with a player who is hardly ever fit or fit long enough to get into any kind of rhythm. It's reminiscent of a couple of pre-seasons ago when he was expected to step up and be Cesc's partner only to spend the time out injured and watch as Mathieu Flamini grabbed the opportunity by the throat.

So far he's only played against Barnet, the boss says he'll be back for the Valencia game in a week's time, so we'll have to just wait and see. 

Today's game against Atletico Madrid sees the return to Arsenal of Jose Antonio Reyes. I know he frustrated a lot of people with the way he left the club, me included, but on reflection I don't think he's a bad lad at all. He was just unable to cope with the familial pressures that blighted his time in England and I hope he gets a decent reception. He's had some nice things to say about the Arsenal too.

This morning's Mirror speculates that Philippe Senderos could be on his way to Everton as they prepare to sell Jolean Lescott to Moneybags City. I know the boss has talked about how many defenders we have in the squad but I'd rather we kept a 24 year old Senderos, for this season at least, than a 33 year old Sylvester. 

Perhaps his sale might be an indication of further moves in the midfield area. At some point he has to decide if Alex Song is a midfielder or a centre-half. If Senderos goes it does leave us a bit short in that area. Sylvester spent a lot of time out injured last season and in his time at United, Gallas has picked up one serious injury a season ever since he's arrived so I would inclined to keep him around.

Right, well that's it. Kick off today is 4.15pm. I will be sat downstairs, beer in hand, looking on with much interest, especially at the way the team lines up. If you're going have a nice day out and enjoy the football.

Till tomorrow.

On the eve of the Emirates Cup it's transfer rumour madness. Honestly.

There are transfer rumours and some of them are madness. After an article appeared on the official site yesterday which seemed to suggest the manager was happy to be Scroogelike this summer, the post-Hanover interview shed a bit more light on things. Arsene confirmed that Kolo Toure left because he wanted to leave (and Kolo himself confirmed the move had been on the cards since City came shooting their viscous green wad at him in January), but also hinted at signings. He said:

We do not make money to put it in the bank. We are looking at a few possibilities at the moment.

Ah-ha! So there is light at the end of the tunnel which isn't really a tunnel at all and there was some light anyway because my long vision is particularly good. However, the last few summers I have been convinced that we would buy players, big, important, strapping, handsome, lithe, possibly slightly oiled players. And it hasn't happened. So this summer I'm maintaining we'll buy nobody at all. Not one more player.

Some of the players we won't be buying include Blaise Matuidi, despite the Guardian saying we're set to make a move for him. Apparently the Grimster, our head French scout and sporter of curly locks, has told Arsene it's time to bring him in after watching him for the last three years or something. I met Grimster at the CL final in Paris, you know. I got someone to take a picture of him and me together. It was awesome. Until I saw the picture. You see, the Grimster is there in all his splendour, his aura majestic, while I look like some kind of demented window licker pitching a fit and making a face like a gnu eating a hippo's shite (yes, yes, 'What's different than the way you normally look?', you say. Very good).

Anyway, Matuidi's 22, he'd be more Diarra or a Flamini than a Yaya Toure, but there really wasn't much wrong with Diarra as a footballer. As a character he left much to be desired and he had a head like dolphin, or, to give them their scientific name, Water Sheringhams. As for Flamini, he's gone, baby. Forget him.

Meanhwile talks are apparently taking place with Patrick Vieira but who knows what's going on there? Maybe there's something to it but the more you think about it the more it doesn't really make sense. Unless they put him through the mill physically and decide there's one good season left in those long legs of his it's hard to see it happening.

Then there's Daniele de Rossi. This is the mad one. A couple of days ago some wag photoshopped a screenshot of the Arsenal.com homepage making it look as if someone had gotten rather too excited and revealed him as our new number 13. To add some 'cred' to this photoshopped image an update was made on Wikipedia which said some crap about him joining us, how much he was going to be paid, blah blah blah.

Now, we all know how easy it is to update Wikipedia. You click 'edit', write whatever the hell you like, then save. Any 'tard with a keyboard can do it and frankly anyone who believes anything about football transfers on Wikipedia needs their head examined. Or, to put it another way, they are too stupid to live in the same world as normal people and should be shot into space with a giant cannon.

So, if somebody could please procure Sam Wallace from the Independent, who appears to have fallen for this crap hook, line and sinker, I shall prepare the giant space blasting gun.

If de Rossi signs for us I shall eat my hat (please note my hat is made from fillet steak and comes served with foie gras, herbed Julienne potatoes and Heinz baked beans with sausages in them).

It's been a while since we've heard about Maroune Chamakh, the Moroccan striker currently playing for Bordeaux, who, like every other player in the universe, will not be joining us this summer. The French club's President, Jean-Pierre la Vache de la Tache, said:

Wenger has in fact called me. He said he had a list of attackers and Marouane was one.

I think it's very personable and sporting of Arsene Wenger to call up the President of Bordeaux and give him a list of players that he might sign if he were going to sign any players. What a boost it must be for Chamakh to know that Wenger would sign him under any other circumstances but the ones which involve spending any money for anything at all. Then Bordeaux can say 'Hey, Arsenal would sign this player' and get a bigger transfer fee and single-handedly Wenger is keeping the football economy alive.

Looking ahead to the football this weekend and we play Atletico Madrid on Saturday and Rangers on Sunday (although the official site's graphics folk might want to do a bit of airbrushing on their splash page).

The manager has confirmed that Tomas Rosicky will play a part this weekend, which is good news. There were reports he'd had a 'minor setback' after the Barnet game and unfortunately with Tomas that could mean anywhere between 2 days and 14 years out. I'd shit myself if I heard he broke a fingernail. Anyway, we'll get a good look at the team, what with the games being on the TV and all, so that should be fun.

Aaron Ramsey will get some playing time too. He's been telling the official site how much stronger he is after a summer of 'doing things' with his Dad and his brother. Obviously he's looking to make more of an impact than last season but I don't think we should underestimate the step up he took. From Cardiff to Arsenal having just played 20 games or so is a huge change, so hopefully this season we'll see more of him.

Right, that'll have to do. It's Friday - and it's a bank holiday weekend here. I think. Is it? I could be wrong. I often am.

Is it too early for a beer?

Well, if there's anything to be said about our transfer business this summer it's been efficient. Certainly when it comes to selling a player to Man City.

No sooner has their been confirmation of interest from the nouveau riche Mancarabs then the deal is practically done. So it was yesterday when Kolo Toure flew back from the Arsenal training camp, underwent a medical, signed a four year deal worth £100,000+ a week and the next moment it's all official - on both clubs websites (City this time actually waited for the deal to be done between the clubs before announcing it).

There was talk of a row over a 'severance payment' but I think that was Sky trying to add more drama to a transfer which was business-like and professional. That didn't suit them though so they make up some story about the player holding out for payment. It smacks of fiction when the deal is done so quickly after announcing it.

So, Kolo is gone and he goes with the best wishes of all Arsenal fans, I'm sure. He's been a real legend for us, the last real link to the Invincibles and he'll be missed. I don't think there's anyone connected with the club who would have a bad word to say about him. He's an all-round good guy and while I don't think we want to wish his club great success I hope he does well there and smashes Craig Bellamy's spine in training one day.

Thanks for the memories, Kolo. 322 games, 14 goals, and lot of smiles. Good luck (except when you play against us). Oh, and give Adebayor a slap for us too. Cheers.

Moving on to on-field matters there was a game last which saw us beat Hanover 96 1-0. The goal came from Cesc Fabregas, making his first appearance of pre-season, a nice through ball from Robin van Persie and Cesc went around the keeper before sliding it home.

It was certainly a more competitive game than the ones against the part-timers and what have you, but that's no bad thing. You need to step up the intensity a bit. What is interesting is the way we lined up. We started with a kind of 4-3-2-1 formation. Three central midfielders, two attackers wide and a central striker. Last night saw Bendnter and Arshavin in those wide positions with RVP up front. 

When you look at the players coming back, Vela, Walcott, Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri - there's certainly a lot of scope for those roles to be interchangeable. The latter two could even play as part of the midfield three if necessary.

What is clear though is that if the boss is thinking of adopting this for the campaign ahead we still need one more player. If you take Cesc, Denilson, Diaby, Song and Ramsey as our central midfield options and you're going to play three at any one time then we need more cover than that. Leaving aside the fact I believe we need more quality in there anyway, five midfielders for two positions is plenty, five for three is a bit short, in my opinion. Anyway, we'll get a better look at the way we're lining up during the Emirates Cup this weekend.

At the end of last night's game it seems that Emmanuel Eboue went over to the Arsenal fans, threw in his boots/shirt etc and waved goodbye. He's been linked very strongly with a move to Fiorentina and it does look as if something is happening. Now, regular readers will know I won't shed too many tears at his departure but at the same time it does leave us a bit light in the right back department. There's no obvious stand-in for Sagna if needed. Kolo's gone, Alex Song was used there once and it did not go well, Djourou is a centre-half, so if the manager sells Eboue perhaps that's an area he might need to spend some money in. 

The big gossip this morning is the return of Patrick Vieira. Apparently Ian Wright said on his radio show that he heard we were going to offer him a 'pay as you play' deal. Whether or not this is Ian Wright trying to get a bit of publicity for his show remains to be seen. On one level it makes a kind of sense. You bring in a player who is not going to get in the way, long term, of players Wenger has great faith in. It adds experience and quality to the side. 

On the other though how many times has Arsene ever gone back and signed someone he let go? Does Paddy even have the legs for the Premier League anymore? He's spent a lot of time injured in the last two years, so I have to say I'd be more than surprised if he came back. That said, if you gave me the choice between Vieira and nobody at all then I would most certainly choose Vieira.

Former great Nigel Winterburn has his say on transfers in an interesting Guardian piece. He says:

I think it is now essential that Arsène makes new signing. They need three players to bolster the squad; a centre-half, a strong central midfielder to complement Cesc Fábregas and possibly someone else up front.

While we're all hoping for one signing I think three is really expecting too much. We haven't heard from AW after last night's game and I'm assuming there'll be some pre-Emirates Cup press stuff so hopefully we'll get some more info in the next day or so.

What is interesting to note though is that very few clubs are buying players at the moment. United raked in £80m from Ronaldo, spent £20m on Valencia and that French bloke who looks like Sylvester's son plus a cheapo deal for Michael Owen and that's it. Liverpool bought a right back half funded by money they were owed by Portsmouth while Chelsea have signed Zhirkov and nobody else.

Look at who is spending money. Real Madrid, gone mad with the money. Man City, throwing cash around like they're playing football monopoly, and Barcelona have paid Inter Milan the best part of €50m + Eto'o for a striker who isn't nearly as good as the one they've let go. So there seems to be a kind of madness around the transfer market at the moment. We're not buying, that's for sure, but neither is anyone else. It's odd.

Anyway, just thought that was worth mentioning. That'll do for today. More tomorrow.

Morning all,

it's all about a former captain this morning. Patrick Vieira has been talking a lot about Arsenal and seeing as there's nothing much else going on it's a Vieiratastic blog this morning.

Firstly he has backed Cesc Fabregas as the right man to captain to the site and to reunite the dressing room. He says:

He knows the club really well. He has been there for quite a long time even if he is still young and I think he is the one who can bring everybody together. Because outside it looks like Arsenal are not together.

Splendid. He then goes on to defend Arsene Wenger, saying:

My message is to be patient and calm. He knows what he is doing, of course. Arsene has been fantastic and committed to the club for the last 12 years. Questioning his commitment and quality as a manager is really difficult to understand.

Now, I don't think anyone has questioned Arsene's commitment, nor his past quality, but like any other manager he is judged on the results of his team and at the moment they're not great. He then suggests our lack of cohesion and the poor results aren't due to lack of talent:

I don’t think Arsenal lose because they don’t have the talent. They’ve lost games because they’ve lost the experience.

However, it's not as if the two are directly opposed. That you can't have talent and experience at the same time. He continues:

Arsene has never spent big money and it’s been the same for 10 years. Even the likes of me, Thierry Henry and others — we weren’t big, Arsenal made us big.

The difference is Vieira and Henry arrived into teams which had experience and quality already. The famous defence, Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars - all quality players who allowed the younger guys to develop without so much pressure on them.

Great as they were would Vieira have become as good as he did if he'd been playing with the equivalent of Alex Song beside him? Would Henry have scored as many goals if he'd been looking for service from Denilson and Diaby? 

He's right in that Arsene has never really spent big money - often his most expensive purchases have been much less successful than he'd like. Reyes didn't really work out, Jeffers, Wiltord did ok for £13m but such is the state of this squad at the present that you'd have him back in the side in a flash (if he were young again, you know what I mean).

What Wenger has done is buy quality for relatively low prices. Sagna and Eduardo are the two perfect examples of that. More or less unknown, pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things, but they both had experience and quality. And I don't think any Arsenal fan (beyond some of the more Champoinship Manager obsessives) has ever advocated him spending £30m on one player, even when he said himself he had the spending power to do that.

We just want more Eduardos and Sagnas and less Songs and Diabys. That's what makes January so interesting as well as so vital. We know all about Arsene's legendary scouting system and impeccable knowledge of players around the world. Can he find us what we need, Eduardo style? We shall just have to wait and see. 

Emmanuel Adebayor (OleOle) is looking for some kind of revenge on Liverpool, saying they 'broke our dreams' last season. Easy at it is to blame Liverpool, and those cock-sucking referees, our failings were ultimately our own fault. Still, the big man says we have to focus on this season and Sunday's game, as I said yesterday, is make or break for the season, no question about it.

Reminding those of you with Arsenal TV that you can see Eduardo's comeback from injury as the reserves play Portsmouth tonight. Fingers crossed it goes well for him. 

Not much else happening so it's worth mentioning that all the Arsenal players, staff and management will be donating a day's wages to the Teenage Cancer Trust ahead of the Liverpool game. There's a video - which you can see here - featuring some of the Arsenal players. Djourou, Clichy and Adebayor makes me laugh, especially Djourou. He looks so mournful, like the Arseblog basset hound almost.

It's a very worthy cause, obviously, so props to everyone if you'd like to make a donation yourself you can do so at the Be a gooner, be a giver website. 

Till tomorrow.