Hello all,

And today some big blog news, Asian Arsenal has moved! That's right, we're going coporate. The new site is at www.asianarsenal.com, see you there!

Asian Arsenal

Hello all,

Not a great deal to talk about today, with the biggest bit of news being that after all the hype and talk of something happening yesterday in Moscow, we are going to have to wait a few more days to sign Arshavin. In other news apparently we are top of the table for late goals, scoring 11 goals this season in the last ten minutes, if we can keep this up we may challenge for the title yet. And in our final spot of news, Wenger's been talking about how he was right to take Ramsey at such a young age, because it's the optimum time for his developement, I thought it was because Manchester Utd. were going to sign him but whatever. 

That's all for now, have a great day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

I didn't update the blog yesterday as there really was very little news and i didn't feel like wasting your time with the same old crap about Arshavin. So here we are today with slightly more to talk about. 

First I want to start with Liverpool's draw with Everton. Tim Cahill managed a late goal in a round where all top 5 teams either conceded or scored in the last ten minutes. The draw leaves us a mere six points off the pace, however Utd. do have a game in hand. And realistically I don't think it would be premature to count ourselves back in the title race. Manchester Utd. of late have been "grounding out the results" as the tabloids put it and their lucky last minutes goals can only go on for so long. Liverpool now seem to have hit a bit of a slump with four draws in their last six games. Chelsea have just shown us how bad they are with that shocking 3-0 loss to Utd. and then needing two extremely late goals to beat Stoke at the Bridge. Aston Villa likewise have had a bit of luck and without some new signings I can't see them continuing their good form. Our next game of any difficulty on paper is this weekend away to Everton, after that we have a string of games that are quite easily winnable up until the end of April when we travel to Anfield. If we can manage to win all our games from now until then, I think we will easily find ourselves up at the top. And they are all winnable, Everton away is a bit of tricky fixture but if we manage to sign Arshavin I think we shouldn't struggle too much. 

Now on the topic of Arshavin and it would seem that we are about to tie things up today with a 12-15 million pound bid depending on which newspaper you read. This would be quite useful as our squad is in slight need of a boost, however Nasri and RvP do seem to be bringing a lot presently, so the addition of another creative player would mean we could maube even start to think about beautiful football. A touch of optimism there for you.

In other news, Gallas is said to be considering his options and may not renew his contract. I can't say I really care, by the time his contract is up we really shouldn't need him as long as we hang on to Toure. And who know, Wenger may surprise us yet and give us a central defender and maybe even a defensive midfielder. And in our last bit of news, Ferguson has said that we will still pose a challenge to the title, interesting stuff there. I'm not sure if he truly believes that or if this is just some sort of mind-game to try, the sort he played with Liverpool. I certainly hope it's not the latter, Liverpool have managed two points since Rafe's exchange with Fergie and I don't really fancy that for Arsenal. 

Until tomorrow, have a fantastic day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal. 

Hello all,

And so we can celebrate an extension of our unbeaten run to eight games with a 3-1 win over Hull. After watching the game I am filled with some confidence from our performance. Yes of course there were some worrying aspects, but on the whole it was a very good performance from a severely understaffed Arsenal team. There were even some glimpses of our full potential as we managed some excellent plays and actually managed to create chances. 

Our first goal came of the back of a corner that resulted shortly after RvP had smashed a free-kick onto the crossbar. RvP swung the corner in high and deep and found Adebayor who completed a trademark header to score across the face of the goal. From then onfor the remainder of the half we maintained almost full control and should have had another when Eboue was skillfully found at the far post, only for him to smash it wide. Still, we had managed to score a goal before the last quarter of the game and that was a welcome relief. Into the second half and we retained control until the 60th minute when a Mendy cross took an extremely fortunate deflection off Clichy and Hull were able to claw one back. After that though there was very little threat from Hull on the offensive front, and we were able to push froward to nudge ourselves back in front. And this is why I feel this team may actually be onto something now. With ten minutes left we were still tied at 1-1 and I just felt that the team had had it, but our players showed determination and intent to go on and win and we managed two and could have had three in the last eight minutes of the game. 

It does instill confidence in me because we do have a team who are capable of winning in sticky situations and, whilst we had to wait once more until the last ten minutes of the match, it was in no way undeserved. Unfortunately both Chelsea and Villa achieved late wins so we gain no ground against our major rivals. Still the win does continue our undefeated run and we do look to have some consistency. Hopefully we can add some new players and we might just be able to get something out of this season. 

That's it for the moment, have a good day and keep the faith, 

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

I opted not to update the blog yesterday considering the extreme lack of new news about anything to do with us, today however there is substantial to be going on with.

Wenger's been doing a lot of talking in the past 24 hours and has mentioned his opinion on: Manchester City, Kaka, the deal for Arshavin, players returning from injury and of course Hull. In essesence it's mainly the same sort of thing about how Manchester City are inflating the transfer market by not respecting their income. And he's right, it accentuates the greediness in players and we see things like what happened with Flamini occur a lot more often. It also rules out other less well-funded clubs to be in the market for players that they would otherwise have been able to afford. But the worst part is that they may well beat us to Arshavin if Zenit agree to a deal with them because of the copious amounts of cash on offer. 

In other news, Eduardo says that he just need to get back to fitness before he can start thinking about scoring goals for us again, which doubtlessly he will.  And Van Persie is also talking about the impact of Vela, who hopefully will be brought on from the first whistle today. 

Moving on to this weekend's fixture against Hull then. It's yet again, as I'm sure the remainder of the games this season will be, a must-win match. And on Hull's quite depressing record from the latter part of the first half of the season, a quite winnable game. Hull have achieved just 1 win in their last 13 matches in the league, and it's an oppurtune chance for revenge after that disraceful showing at the Emirates earlier on in the season. Hopefully that result will give our players some insentive to go for the win this time, and we may actually see some motivation and enthusiasm in this game. I expect Wenger will have to opt for the 4-4-2 formation as below: 

                                               Almunia

Sagna                         Djourou             Toure                    Clichy

Eboue                         Denilson            Nasri                     Diaby

                                   Ade                 RvP

Personally I'd like to see Wilshere, Ramsey and Vela come in for Eboue, Denilson and Diaby respectively but I just can't see Wenger replacing his much loved useless midfield duo of Eboue and Denilson, and he certainly won't bring on Vela from the first whistle.  Although even with that shoddy midfield, we should still be able to come away with all three points. Lately Hull have been playing very wide, and their centre is weak and vulnerable to our sort of passing game. They also tend to rush their players forward in groups of two or three to tackle an oncoming player. So all we really need to do is stay in position and then pass the ball up the field and we shouldn't really find it hard to break through. The only real news from Hull is the Januray signing of two new players, I've no idea who they are or of their ability but I can't really see them making too much of an impact.

That's all for now and with any luck this may well be the last game I have to bemoan Wenger's choice of wingers if we're able to sign Arshavin in the early part of next week as is being reported. Have a brilliant day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.  

Hello all,

And today there isn't a trace of a good story about Arsenal. Really all we have is Wenger saying he sometimes has good ideas, van Persie empathising with the fans, and the same old transfer rumours of Arshavin, N'Zogbia and some random italians. I really wish Wenger would just hurry up and sign someone but we all know that, if indeed he is to sign anyone, it will happen in the last hour of the window. It still doesn't sedate the anxiety and annoyance of the never-ending rumours of players moving in and out and the obvious need we have for some fresh meat. 

So in view of the lack of news about us, we turn to some more exciting verbal debate between Rafe and Manchester Utd. 

But I don't think it's a mind game when you have control over everything; it's a mind game when you have the same level as the other people, then you can show you are cleverer than the others. But when you have control of everything and your chief executive is powerful in the FA and things like this, then that is not mind games. Is there a conflict of interest with David Gill at the FA?

Haha, I do love the way Manchester Utd. is always linked with a scandal or debate or some sort of squabble with the FA. When they're not getting themselves touch-line bans, someone else is trying to. Oh Manchester United, you do make me laugh.

Anyway, hopefully some more Arsenal-type news on the morrow, until then have a good day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.  

Hello all,

And the headlines of today once again clogged with the rumours of the transfer window. First up we have Arshavin, who we have reportedly made a 13.5€ million bid for, says that Arsenal would suite him, 

I would prefer my present No 10 but in the team where I hope to move it's not vacant. So I'm ready for any number they are going to offer me

This is very good news, because it means that, if Zenit do accept our offer, Arshavin is much more likely to choose us over the oil tycoons from Manchester. And I really do think that we'll sign him as long as Zenit aren't ridiculous and accept nothing under the 20€ million valuation. He is a much needed addition to the squad so hopefully a price will be agreed and we'll get some creativity back intot the side. 

On the sadder side of the transfer gossip, Arteta has said that the talk linking him with us is tiresome, 

I've always said I'm very proud to represent this club and am happy here. [The Arsenal transfer] is a little tiring.

It is unfortunate because he would have fit in nicely here, however the fact that Moyes is unwilling to sell him and that hopefully we'll get Arshavin, means that we would likely not have bought him anyway. What I would like to see, and what there is surprisingly little of, is talk of us signing a defensive player, midfielder or back, or both. It's been painfully clear this season that the defensive side of our game has been left wanting and I'd like to see Wenger fix that.

Away from the transfer window, and we can expect a lot more to come from Bendtner according to Arsene. It would be good if he actually starts to regularly score for us as it is something that none of our strikers have managed this season, although RvP has been very good so far.

In other news, Ferguson is getting angry at the FA, shock horror, because apparently one of the officials who decided on Evra's four match ban is an Arsenal season ticket holder. This man seems to be able to find just about any ecuse to attack the FA and indeed, at times, us. With any luck we'll see Benitez back out there in the media, giving Fergie a piece of his mind, again.

That's it for today, have a good one and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

And after five days away from the real world a lot has happened in the world of football. So I think I'll start today with our win over Bolton during the weekend. 

Overall a fairly typical game of Arsenal this season. We had I believe in the region of 70% possession but failed to create anything of any substance. We had our moments of course, van Persie with the majority of them and he was unlucky not to score midway through the second half, instead hitting the woodwork. Our best chance up to our goal fell to Adebayor who once again was caught taking far too much time on the ball. What he needed to do was control and shoot, what he did was control, trick an invisible player, and have a shot blocked. It's becoming increasingly common for him to do this, and it could quite easily have cost us the points today. Otrher than that we had a few decent chances taken by Nasri, who is currently our most creative player and I think he's done pretty well so far. In the end we sneaked a win from a goal from Bendtner, some good play from Nasri, Clichy and RvP found the Dane sliding in at the far post with six minutes left on the clock to secure the points. Although we could and perhaps should have lost two after Kevin Davies shot straight at Almunia. Still, it proved to be a vital victory as we close the gap on Liverpool who drew 0-0 with Stoke, and on Chelsea who lost 3-0 to Manchester Utd. 1-0 Arsenal is becoming a very common scoreline at the moment, but right now we need points, so it really doesn't matter overly as long as we win. 

On the transfer front we have still yet to sign someone although Arshavin is looking ever more likely to pen a move. There are still a lot of other rumours as you might expect, predominantely linking us with midfield players. The problem is, whilst we do need midfielders, we are in desperate need of a solid centre-half, although Wenger has himself been saying he isn't in the market for defensive players, so I wouldn't hold your breath on that one. 

In the broader world of football, Benitez has taken over from Arsene as Chief Ferguson Abuser with a quite spectacular spiel about the bias of the referees in Manchester. Arsene looked upon it jokingly and said 

He was good. At half time he was perfectly free I promise you. He got a good cup of tea with nobody around him

Moving on, and Wenger has come out like just about every other premier league manager and said that noone will be leaving from the squad. I really do hope he won't let anyone go just yet unless it is in exchange for another player who would better the squad, because right now we really can't afford to lose any more players. 

And last of all Asian Arsenal is now proud to announce it's affiliation with Natajak. You can now receive blog posts on Asian Arsenal plus the latest Arsenal news and scorelines for free direct to your mobile. It's compatible with the majority of phones with access to the internet. To register, click here and install it on your mobile phone. 

That's all for now, have a good day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal. 

Hello all,

And once again the blog went postless yesterday as there really was not a great deal to report on. Today is unfortunately no different in terms of news.

All that happened yesterday was Wilshere siginging a professional contract with the club. Which is good news, hopefully we will see a lot more of him over the years and I expect we'll see a lot more of him very soon if Wenger fails to sign a winger. To day the Arshavin stories are growing and there is even talk that we're in contact with Zenit already. Other than that apparently we've made a 10 million pound bid for Kranjcar, who is a good player but definitely not for 10 million. The last bit of news in a completely bordem packed day is the Adebayor is talking anout how we can still win the title.

Anyway that's all there really is for today, and in fact until Monday from me, as I'm heading off for a four day holiday tomorrow, so in that time we'll have played Bolton and hopefully have won. Anyway I'll review the game and the week, and possibly some signings, on Monday. Have a good week, and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.  

Hello all,

And so the unusually dull drone of the January trasnfer window continues as we see more of the same stories republished; Arshavin, Upson for Bendtner, Ireland, N'Zogbia, etc. The only resl bit of news to report on is that we've drawn Cardiff away in the fourth round of the F.A. Cup, which means that we should have a fairly easy game as long as we don't get complacent. There are a few good draws also in this round, it will see Everton face off against Liverpool with the chance of a shock result I suppose, and Manchester against Spurs, with no chance at all for a shock result. We may well also be able to get rid of another top opponent if Chelsea lose their replay fixture against Southend. This will turn out to be a very vital and interesting competition this season and hopefully we can win it. We should at the very least from here see ourselves into the quarterfinals. 

That really is it for today, hopefully there'll be some more exciting news tomorrow, have a good day and keep the faith, 

Asian Arsenal.