I have yet another family wedding this afternoon as my wife's sister gets married in our local church and we head to Bray for the reception in the hotel next door to the supporters club. I hope to be able to sneak out at some stage and see a little bit of the game against Wolves which kicks off at 5.30 and is live on ESPN. I'll be wearing my red shirt and Arsenal socks as lucky omens and I'm hoping for a performance to cheer us into yet another interlull.

With Rosicky and Nasri available again the boss has a few selection headaches before the game and I'm sure Eduardo will hope that he can start too. I expect Sagna to play at right back again as Eboue seems to have that berth for the Champions league and with Almunia, Gibbs, Gallas and The Verminator he will make up our defence. Cesc and Song will play in midfield I'm sure and I would be surprised if RVP and Arshavin don't strat up front. That leaves 2 places in the team between Diaby, Nasri, Rosicky, Eduardo, Eboue and Ramsey and good luck to the boss in keeping them all happy. To be honest I don't know who will play but I suspect that Diaby will be in the team with Nasri playing too.

As long as we approach the game the right way we will be too good for a Wolves team who their manager says wil attack us because there is no point in defending against us. He will learn that it's an even bigger mistake to attack us and I see a 4-0 win for Arsenal on the horizon with RVP, Cesc, Arshavin & a centre back scoring our goals. If we get that win we go 2nd in the table for 1 day at least and Manure will need a point at Chelsea tomorrow to overtake us and they will find that very hard to come by.

Sky have chosen to show 2 of our games live in January and the the games away to Bolton on January 17th and at home to Manure on January 31st will both be shown. It looks like the Everton game I am hoping to go to is safe to be on Saturday January 9th and we just have to wait for the tickets to become available early next month now. I uppose even if ESPN take the game it will just mean it will be a later kick off so I have to say I'm delighted with that. That's all for today as I have busy day ahead.

Here's a clip of what Arshavin can do.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Lloyd Cole which is for Mick McCarthy who is hopefully going to be heartbroken tonight.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

It's a late one again this morning as I got the best night's sleep I've had in years last night and I'm playing catch up now. I've got a half day from work today which is a very welcome change for me and I've also sorted out a lot of time off I am due by taking a break from work from December 4th to January 18th of next year. Quite what I'm going to do in all that time I'm not sure but it has to involve a trip to The Emirates at some stage as I have no excuses about working the next day and so on.

In Arsenal news we have a game for the first time in almost 2 weeks tomorrow as the interlull is over at last. It sees our return to Premiership action against Birmingham and we all know what happened the last time we played them. On that fateful day in St. Andrews we saw Eduardo suffer an horriffic injury after a terrible "challenge" from Martin Taylor and we conceded a last minute penalty which led to a Gallas tantrum and the collapse of our season. I know it wasn't a penalty and we should have had one at the other end but our results for a few weeks after that were terrible as we struggled to cope with the pressure. Hopefully the current team has a lot more mental strength than they did then and we can rebound immediatly from any setbacks. 

Early team news is that both Clichy and Diaby have injuries from their international duty and they might not be risked in my opinion as it will give the boss a chance to see Gibbs play for the first time this season in the proper first team and there are numerous options to replace Diaby. I wouldn't mind Diaby being injured as he always comes back with a bang after any injury and that's a bit better than he has being playing recently. Fabianski is available too and Almunia is rated 50/50 in his efforts to recover from a "chest infection". I wonder if Don Vito will continue in goals as he has done very well so far but we will find out tomorrow afternoon. It appears that Nasri is almost back to match fitness and we should have him available next weekend for our trip to West Ham which is at the unusual time of 4.15 on a Sunday afternoon. Eduardo has not recovered from his injury and he will not playeither which isn't a bad thing I suppose even though his nemesis Martin Johnson is also out injured.

Cesc has spoken about how our priority is the league this season and he is absolutely right because that is the trophy that matters most to the fans. I know the Champions league would be great but it would be a bonus to win that as a 38 game haul over the season is the true indicator of the best team. Speaking of which we are again faced with 5 games in 15 days as we have to make up for the interlull and we are still involved in all competitions at this stage. At least the first team players will get a break as our youth team get a chance to give Liverpool a footballing lesson in the Carling Cup in 12 days time. The boss thinks our 2 defeats in Manchester were accidents and we came out of the games not thinking that we weren't good enough but that they reinforced the belief that the squad already has in it's own ability. He also thinks that our home form will be key this season and a win against Birmingham tomorrow will strengthen that belief I'm sure. I know we played well in those 2 games but we made bad mistakes at crucial times and we need to rectify those if we are going to get that league title that our captain craves.

Our ladies managed an 8-0 win away to Nottingham Forest last night in the league and they seem to be continuing their dominant form of last season. It also emerged than Stan Kroenke has again upped his stake in the club and he now owns 28.9% of the shares and he only needs 1% more before he has to make a bid for all shares in the club. Peter Hill Wood has given him his full backing in this and he said he would welcome him on board if he did succeed in that bid as he shares the principals of the current bord in how the club should be run. It's funny that when he bought his first shares the board wanted nothing to do with him until they realised the real threat was from Jabba the Hutt and his Red and White Holdings as they started to buy up shares. That's it for today. I'll preview the Birmingham game tomorrow as we bid to push even higher up the table in our quest for our first league title in 6 years.

Here's a clip of what Diaby can do when he is playing well.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Pulp. We have played some wrong shapes at times, we need to sort out the mistakes at places like City & Manure and we have at least got rid of our misfit in he who shall remain nameless.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

By the time this blog has posted I will be somewhere over Cornwall on my way to Barcelona for my brother in law's wedding. It should be a great 4 days and I'm really looking forward to it. As a result I won't be able to post my blog for the next few days but I've set up a caption competition a la Lady Arse for each morning and I'll be able to comment on any comments on my phone. While I'm gone there are still plenty of other good Arsenal blogs to read and I'd like to suggest Lady Arse and Rock The Casbah as they are particular favourites of mine.

There's not too much news to report today from Arsenal except that both Denilson and Bendtner have signed new long term contracts. Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon has proved the point that a lot of footballers are as thick as shit two short planks by saying Eduardo's dive was worth it as his club progressed to the group stages of the Champions league as a result. He was obviously watching a different match to me as the way I saw it we were nailed on to go through anyway but then again it's maybe because he's Scottish.

Arshavin has spoken about our defeat to Manure and he blamed it on the team falling back when we were ahead and not playing our own attacking game. He said Manure attacked a little at that stage and scored their goals. I didn't think we dropped back too much but we did drop back a little. However we had chances during that time as Foster saved from RVP and RVP also hit the bar from a free kick. Indeed it was immediatly after that free kick that Manure broke and got the free that Diaby scored the own goal from. Speaking to the media about it Diaby said he got a call from the keeper and he doesn't know why he did what he did and it was an awful mistake. He said that it played on his mind which is probably why he scuffed his great chance shortly afterwards. Everybody makes mistakes and if Almunia called for the ball why did he stay on his line? It's a strange one. Also I think Arshavin has just a little too much to say recently and he should be careful not to make the mistakes that Gallas made by criticising the team too much. That's it for today.

Here's a reminder of how good we were against Everton on the opening day of the season.

LINK

Here's today's title track from The Sex Pistols. It's a 4 day break for a wedding but I can call it a holiday in the sun.

LINK

See You Soon.

After the full time whistle yesterday I went home and then straight out to a 40th birthday party which lasted until somewhere after 5 this morning. When I got up today I went out to the Dun Laoghaire Festival of International Culture and I'm only home now. I had a great time at both of them but as a result I'm only managing to get to my blog now. I watched the match in the supporters club in The Strand in Bray and I have to say I quite enjoyed it except for the result. I haven't read any other blogs yet and I saw the reaction of the boss on the club site only a few minutes ago. As a result I can only give my opinion on the game as I saw it.

The manager decided to pick Eboue and leave Bendtner out of the team which was the only change from the expected line up. I personally think that Eboue is a loose cannon and is not to be trusted in these big games and he proved me right when he got himself booked for a dive in the second half. With all the media coverage we had this week about Eduardo's dive against Celtic you would think that he would have had the intelligence not to do that but unfortunately intelligence is not a word that is associated with him. I would have liked to have seen Eduardo in the starting team with Diaby deployed in midfield but it wasn't to be.

From a very early stage it was obvious that we were going to get nothing from an awful referee as he explained to Valencia that elbowing the Verminator in the face was not acceptable and that he shouldn't do it again. I was of the opinion that an elbow to the face was a red card offence but silly me I forgot that the laws of the game don't apply to the home team at Old Trafford when Mike Dean is in charge of proceedings. That was followed by 2 more challenges that were definite yellow card offences by Manure players but were dealt with by a scolding from Dean. As I discussed the events with the other Arsenal fans we all agreed that the first yellow would be for an Arsenal player and we were proved right when Song was booked for what was a yellow card offence. If memory serves me correctly Brown was only scolded for coming through the back of RVP and he was booked later in the game. If the referee acted properly he would have walked after that challenge on Diaby.

As half time approached we really had the upper hand over a very poor Manure team and when Fletcher clattered into Arshavin in the box and upended him the referee was right there to see it and amazingly said it was no penalty. As he slid right through Arshavin he also handled the ball and the referee failed to see that also. You will very rarely see such a certain penalty and the fact that we didn't get it was testament to the favouritism that is affored the home team at Old Trafford. The FA should investigate Dean as he was right beside it and a blind man could see it was a penalty. I would love to hear what his opinion was on the incident and if he still thinks he was right.

Anyway as we were still raging about that incident Denilson played a pass to Arshavin and he turned and drilled the ball into the top corner despite the fact that Foster got a hand to it. It was a fantastic goal and it didn't even look like the shot was on when he got the ball. He had almost scored earlier with another fantastic shot as the ball dropped to him in the box after a corner. RVP had come close too but the shot was blocked as it seemed he was sure to score. We managed to see the game through to half time with our lead intact and things were looking good at that stage.

We all assumed that Manure would throw the kitchen sink at us from the first whistle in the second half but things could not have been more different. They lacked cohesion and we were in total control as we attacked time after time. Only missed placed passes or overdoing it on the ball stopped us from making more chances but the one we did make was a fantastic one as Arshavin cut the ball back to RVP but Foster somehow got a toe to the shot to keep the ball out. That proved to be a very costly miss as Manure came back with a penalty from Shrek to equalise. As the ball was played through for him Almunia came out and he pushed the ball towards the corner flag but Almunia was comitted to the dive and Rooney saw that. He lifted both feet in the air before any contact and then fell as he hit Almunia. It was very clever by him but in my opinion it was a dive as he was already going down before any contact. He got up and put the keeper the wrong way to equalise. Only a couple of minutes later RVP hit the bar from a free kick and it looked like our luck wasn't in.

Only a few minutes later Manure won a free kick and Giggs floated the ball in to the box. For some bizzare reason Almunia stayed on his line for a ball that no Manure player went for but Diaby rose to head it into the wrong goal. What level of communication there was between Almunia and Diaby I don't know but it didn't look like there was much. During the first half Almunia didn't come for a couple of balls played into the box that he was lucky that we weren't punished for. A couple of other times I could see Gallas calling him to come out for balls that Gallas was shepherding back to him that Almunia really didn't want to come for. I have said it before and I will say it again I do not think he is a top class goalkeeper and he does not control his penalty area at all. We are vulnerable with him in goal and you can see that his defenders do not trust him.

Only a minute or so later Diaby was played through and with only the keeper to beat he scuffed his shot and put it wide. We pressed Manure as much as we could but it looked like we had blown our chances until the sign went up showing 5 minutes of injury time. As Manure wasted time they made a great chance but Nani wasted it and we piled forward just at the death. As the ball was played into the box Gallas was slightly offside but nobody saw the flag until after RVP had put the ball in the net. Our celebrations were short lived as we realised the goal had been disallowed and we ended the game with nothing. We were then treated to the farcical scene of our manager being sent to the stands by the referee as he had kicked a water bottle in frustration when he realised the goal was ruled out. He couldn't get to the stands and it was ridiculous as the match should have been over at that stage anyway.

Reflecting on the game the manager said it was disappointing to lose as we were clearly the better team and we had a chance to extend our lead but we got punished on their 2 goals. From my point of view I thought we were by far the better team and it was very disappointing to lose a game we should have won. With a better goalkeeper who knows how to command his penalty area we would have won in my opinion. We don't get too many chances to turn them over at Old Trafford and this was a missed oppurtunity. The refereeing was an absolute joke at times and the favouritism shown to them was a disgrace. At times we overdid things when we were in possession and gave the ball away too easily at times also. I honestly can't see that Manure team challenging seriously for the league this season as they were very poor and without the diver they are a pale shadow of last season's team. Valencia is a very poor replacement for the diver and besides Shrek and Vidic there's not 1 of them who I think would improve our team. The positives for us were that we outplayed them and showed how poor they are but ultimately we were the architects of our own downfall along with Mike Dean. I'll leave it there for today.

Here's the highlights from yesterday's game.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from New Model Army. We were better than Manure yesterday and it's so frustrating that we got nothing out of the game.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

Everything went as well as we could expect last night as Celtic came to The Emirates and were dispatched 3-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate. The first goal came from the penalty spot after Eduardo was adjudged to have been tripped by their keeper and he got up to slot the penalty home himself. The second goal came early in the second half after some flowing football and it was finished off very well by Eboue. After that we made a few substitutions and Arshavin came on for Bendtner. Within a couple of minutes he finished off a pass from Ramsey with a well taken turn and shot into the corner. Celtic got their consolation goal with the last kick of the game as Donati finished off a ball to the far post very well. We were down to 10 men at the time as Ramsey had to off injured when we had already used all of our subs.

We have now played 4 games this season and won all 4 of them whilst scoring 15 goals and conceding only 3. Some so called experts have said that we are only looking good because of the poor quality of our opposition but on examining our opponents so far only Portsmouth could be said to be a poor team. Their problems are due to their current financial situation which has meant that they had to sell some of their best players and it appears to have affected their team spirit. That may have been sorted out now and they might no longer be a pushover. As for Everton I don't think anyone will spank them by a score like that at home this season and they are the same team that finished 5th last season. Celtic may not have the class of a top Premiership team but their efforts in the previous round against Dynamo Moscow and their previous home record in the Champions league were quite impressive. We totally outplayed these teams and made them look very average and if we continue to play like that we will challenge on all fronts this season.

We played well last night without ever having to over extend ourselves and Celtic's only shot on goal all night was their last minute goal. Almunia had very little to do all night and for a team who needed goals Celtic didn't show too much ambition. I thought Eboue played very well which came as a surprise to me as I was worried when I saw his name on the team sheet and I don't think he can play as a midfielder. It was good to see Eduardo starting again but it did look to me that he dived for the penalty. If that's the case it's a little disappointing as I hate to see players diving. Listening to BBC radio on my way to watch the second half in The Strand in Bray I heard their experts telling us how he had definitely dived and how unhappy they were with that. I've seen Gerrard dive on numerous occasions and heard the same experts say that "he made the best of the situation" but when Johnny Foreigner does the same thing he is a cheating diver.

After the game the boss spoke about the incident and he said he didn't think it was a penalty but he didn't think Eduardo dived either. The reporter felt free to ask him for his thoughts on it and I wonder if he would ask "Sir shits his pants a lot" or the Spanish waiter the same question after a match. With the Mnaure manager I'm certain the question would never have been asked. He also said that Cesc might be a bit short for Saturday and he took Diaby off as he had not played a lot of games recently and 3 games in a week would be pushing it a bit. With Ramsey going off injured it looks like Diaby might be starting that game. I hope if he does that he doesn't start his twirling in possession again as Manure are wise to it.

The boss is looking forward to the trip to Manure and testing the team against a top side. He thinks there's a better atmosphere at the Emirates as our good start has made the fans more optimistic and he's happy with our central defensive partnership and the amount of goals we're scoring. He said we're playing higher up the pitch and we need to be less passive at Old Trafford than we were in the Champions league last season. We have a real chance to get a good result up there as they haven't got going yet and their defence is looking weak. The boss needs to pick the right team and get them to play at the tempo that we have so far this season. If we can do that there's every chance that we can lay down a marker for the rest of the season. The key to getting that result could be the fitness of our captain so let's hope he makes it.

The draw for the Champions league group stages is on this evening and we are 1 of the top 8 seeds yet again. We could get a few tough teams from pots 2 & 3 but the most important thing is that we made it this far. With another £20 million to be banked from these games we can hopefully expect a couple of signings before next Tuesday but I won't be holding my breath. That's it for today.

Here's the highlights of the first half from last night. If I can get full highlights I'll add them later.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from UB40. As I said above I think Cesc's fitness could be the key to our chances on Saturday.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

ps I'm sure a lot of people have seen the changes on Oleole and I am only getting about 50-60% of the hits that I was previously. I'd like to hear other peoples' views on this as I intend contacting Oleole about it quite soon.

We have a huge game tonight against Celtic in Glasgow. It's the first leg of our Champions League qualifier and we have them at home in the second leg next week. They have a very good record at home in European games and in recent years they have beaten Manure, Milan & Villarreal up there. In my opinion we can expect a typical English type game from them and we can expect to be kicked at every oppurtunity. They know that if they let us play we will destroy them so we can expect to be closed down in every area of the pitch and given no time on the ball whatsoever. We will need to be brave enough to play our own game and not resort to playing the ball long too often when we are under pressure.

I am confident that the players can do it and I expect the manager to play the same team as he did on Saturday as it would not be fair to change a team that played so well. The only player to come in is Diaby as Theo is still not quite ready and even though I wasn't too fond of the thought of Denilson playing on Saturday he played very well and he deserves to play tonight. There are fitness tests for Cesc, Sagna & Denilson but all 3 are expected to make the game. I think we will score and if we score first they could really struggle but it does have to be remembered that after losing at home in the last round they went to Russia and won 2-0 to get through. Their new manager believes in playing football the right way but I think an exception will be made tonight and I would be surprised if we have less than 55% of the possession. As a result I am predicting a 3-1 win for Arsenal with goals from RVP, Arshavin & Eduardo after he comes off the bench again. In my opinion that should kill off the tie as they will need 3 goals at The Emirates and that is a very tall order. I hope I'm right and that I haven't been blinded too much by our stunning win away to Everton on Saturday but I did predict that win except by a scoreline of 2-1 only.

A lot has been made of the atmosphere at Celtic Park but I think the best thing we can do is get on with it and play our football and not worry about them. We have played on bigger stages in the past and we will play on bigger stages in the future. I'll be watching the match with the Wicklow Gunners in The Strand in Bray for a change but I'll probably be on the 7up as the chances are I'll be driving. We had a great day watching Arsenal thrash Everton on Saturday and hopefully we can get as big a turn out again.

Jay Emmanuel Thomas has joined Blackpool on loan for a month and I hope things go well for him as they're the team my dad supports since he went on his honeymoon there a few years ago(about 45 years at this stage). He's a player with a lot of potential and the physique to remind us of the likes of Vieira or Petit. Nacer Barazite has also made it known to the club that he would like to go out on loan again this season to get first team football but he wants to join a Premier league club, an Eredivisie club or a bigger team in the Championship as he would prefer to stay at Arsenal than joining a small team in a lower league.

The boss said that he thinks there will be a European super league within 10 years with clubs having 2 teams as 1 plays midweek and the other in their national league at the weekend. He thinks the clubs will bring it about as they will need to bring in more money as they continue to spend vast amounts on transfers and wages and UEFA currently control how the Champions league money is paid out. At the moment fans are finding it hard to cope with the cost of supporting their teams and the economic climate will have to change an awful lot for fans to be able to fork out even more money to watch their teams or subscribe to even more TV packages. Before I go don't forget that you have until 7.30 tonight to make any transfers or subs in your Fantasy team before gamesweek 2 gets underway. That's it for today but wherever you're watching the match tonight don't forget to cheer on Arsenal.

Here's a clip of another of my favourite Arsenal goals from Patrick Vieira.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from The Cure. It's nights like this that make supporting a football team special with so much resting on the outcome of these 2 games against Celtic.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

Arsenal news is very thin on the ground yet again today but at least our captain is back in training and he has a new haircut to go with it. It looks like he considered joining the military during his few weeks off and he's still trying to grow his hair back. There are plenty of pictures on the club site and they're on my profile page too if you want to see them.

It has emerged that Nasri's injury may not be as bad as was feared at first and he might be back in 6 weeks but I'll believe that when I see him back. He will have missed the majority of pre season training so it will take him up to 4 weeks to get his fitness levels up to the same level as the rest of the squad. That would make the best case scenario a 10 week absence from now which will be up to the end of September. The club's doctors always seem very optimistic when they give their prognosis on timescales for injured players to return so I won't hold my breath. It has also emerged that his injury was caused by Diaby but it's not clear exactly how.

A lot has been written by Arsenal fans(me included) about our need to sign some more players and the need to do it soon. Some fans are going as far as to say that they hope we finish outside the top 4 to prove the boss wrong and make him abandon his project youth. I could never wish failure on Arsenal no matter what and I still think we have a chance in the league if we can keep all our players fit. That's a very big if as was proved by Nasri's injury and the lack of Eduardo from either match so far. As last season though I think our best chance will come in the FA Cup and I just hope the boss doesn't sacrifice it again like he did last season. When you look at our squad in the cold light of day it is stronger than it was at this time last season. Adebayor is gone but we have Vermaelen in and we will hopefully have Rosicky & Eduardo raring to go. Also we have seen the emergence of Gibbs and Traore & Senderos are back from their season long loans. Ramsey & Wilshere look more likely to step up too and Emmanuel-Thomas & Lansbury aren't too far off either. The most important addition to our squad though is Arshavin who can play in almost any attacking position and is a truly world class player. He will have had a full pre season with his new team mates and I expect an awful lot from him. He was the second player I bought for my Fantasy Football team. Speaking of which here is the link to join up. You will also need the codes to join the leagues I have set up.

Oleole league  4383-1847

Oleole Arsenal league  4383-1835

 Oleole Head To Head league  4383-1828

I know the score league(score prediction competition)  FC85F-XSC

There is usually a link on Fantasy Premier league to this competition but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Meanwhile here is the link on it's own.

That's it for today.

Here's a bit of Diaby when he isn't breaking someones leg.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Eminem as our captain is back in training.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

The season review continues today after a rather hectic weekend for me and it's on to the next set of Arsenal players for me. First of all I think I should mention the fact that the boss said that Man City could be a real threat to the top 4 next if the transfer window goes well for them. He also mentioned that Villa, Everton and The Spuds could be a threat too and I would think that Everton would be the biggest threat of all. If City are to threaten the big 4 we need to make sure that we are chasing for the title and not just making up the numbers again. We are percieved as the most vulnerable of the big 4 and you can be sure Chelsea and Manure will strengthen again. I don't know if Liverpool's financial position will allow them to strengthen but the way they finished the season they should challenge again. It is imperative that we challenge for the league next season as the fans are growing impatient and will demand that challenge.

On to the season review and the only defender that I haven't given my opinion on is Silvestre. To be honest there isn't much I can say about him that hasn't been said already but personally I think it was a mistake to loan Senderos to Milan and bring him in instead. He performed well on 1 or 2 occasions and even scored the odd goal but our defence was at it's most vulnerable when he was in the team. We went through our best run when he was injured and if I never see him in an Arsenal shirt again it will be too soon.

On a more positive note was the performance at times of our only real signing last summer Nasri. His best moment of the season was the brace he scored at home against Manure and his performances at The Emirates always seemed a little better than away from home. For some bizzare reason the manager decided to play him as a central midfielder at the end of the season and while that might work against the weaker teams it won't work at the highest level. I suppose he is suffering a little from the fact that we have so many players who can play in his favoured position just off a lone striker and he was used in a wide position more often than anywhere else last season. If we get the new central midfielder that I believe we need and we have all our other midfielders available I think his chances might be limited just a little next season.

I suppose the player who improved the most over the course of the season was Song and I was one of his harshest critics in the early part of the season when we were struggling and he was too. As the season progressed he grew into his defensive midfield role and some people even think he was our player of the season. He got a run out at centre back at the end of the season but to be honest I would prefer to see him in midfield and protecting the defence so long as we can sign someone else to play at centre back. If we do sign the central midfielder that we need also it may limit Song's chances next season but I don't see the problem in having a strong squad with a lot of competition.

Next up we have Denilson and if the statistics are to be believed he was one of the top midfielders in the league last season. I don't think those statistics tell the whole story as I just can't see an Arsenal side with him in it on a permanent basis being good enough to win the league. For me he makes too many careless passes and doesn't offer us enough as an attacking threat. His defensive abilities also leave a lot to be desired. We can afford to keep him as a reserve and play him occasionally but again I don't think his game is good enough against the top teams.

One player who can be very frustrating is Diaby as he can be exceptionally good in one game and downright awful in the next game. He has been very injury prone since his very bad leg break at Sunderland a few years ago. I can't remember a time where he has been available for more than 5 games in a row and when he does play I'm never too sure what position he should be in. Appearently the player himself would prefer to play just off the striker as would Nasri, Arshavin RVP and probably Theo too. His similarity to Vieira in stature has led to a lot of comparisons but they are different types of players altogether. Diaby has an incredibly annoying habit of what has been described as twirling on the ball and he gets caught in possession far too often. In the FA Cup semi final he was found out by Chelsea and they knew that if they challenged him 2 players at a time he would turn away from the first player and into the second one and thereby lose the ball. He is one of the players I find myself shouting at most often on the TV as he never seems to release the ball on time. Again if he is to stay I can see him being a bit part player next season.

The final 2 players for today are Eduardo & Rosicky. Rosicky missed the whole season injured and Eduardo played very few games after coming back from his horriffic injury. As it stands the official line from the club is that both players will join up with the squad for pre season training and I really hope that is the case. There are doubts about the long term future of both players though and I hope they can get themselves back to full finess after a year and half out of the team. In the few games Eduardo played he managed to score a quite fantastic goal in the FA Cup against Burnley which should be a contender for our goal of the season. Rosicky is a genuine top class player and eduardo has the potential to be the same and to have them both available for next season would be fantastic but I won't hold my breath.

That's the lot for today. My review of the players is almost over and where I will go from there for the rest of the season I'm not too sure but I'll find something to write about.

Here's a clip of Eduardo's fantastic goal against Burnley.

LINK

And to finish here's today's title track from Radiohead which describes how I am witout football.

LINK

See You Tomorrow

It's Sunday evening and I'm only writing my blog now after a very hectic day yesterday. I went go karting as the first part of my brother's stag party and we had a great time but I injured my back in a crash and I might have a cracked or bruised rib and I do have a very sore spine too. After the go karting it was on to the pub and then back to my brother's house where we met up with all the girls and when I left after 7 am the party was still going strong. It was good to see some faces from a few years ago and I'm looking forward to the wedding in Spain next week. 

In Arsenal news there is still a lot of speculation about and it hasn't changed too much in the last few days. There are rumours of an exit for RVP, the 25, Eboue & Diaby. Appearently Diaby's agent has had contact from Inter & Chelsea but the boss wants him to stay at Arsenal. Am I being niave or are these clubs supposed to contact Arsenal if they are interested in one of our players. I thought an approach to his agent is against the rules. I'm not saying that I would miss the player if he left but I'm fed up with agents spouting off about approaches for their players just to try to earn a pay rise for those same players. I think that there is no hope of Diaby getting a pay rise after another injury prone season where he did very little when he did play. If he insists on a pay rise I think we should sell him and use the money to buy a player who will add something to the squad.

I have given my opinions on RVP and the 25 numerous times before and I would like to see RVP stay and the 25 go if we can get the right price and buy Dzeko instead. As for Eboue I don't think him moving on would be any loss whatsoever as long as we can find suitable cover for Sagna at right back which is the only position Eboue should play for us if he stays.

As for potential targets the same names keep coming up again and again. If we are to believe the reports today Vermaelen is all but our player with only personal terms to agree. I'm still not sure if he is the centre back we need but if we can get Hangeland as well I would be happy. There is more talk of Dzeko coming to us and as I have said before I think he looks like a super player and I would love us to sign him. There were a host of internationals yesterday and Arsenal players played in many of them but to be honest I don't think too many people give a damn about how our players did for their countries so I won't be going into those performances here. Ireland did manage a creditable draw in Bulgaria and it leaves them as favourites to come runners up in their group and qualify for the play offs for the World Cup next year. Before I go here's a picture of Cesc's new haircut.

Here's a clip of Eboue actually scoring a goal for us.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Tears For Fears and it is dedicated to my very sore back.

LINK

Well it has emerged today that Diaby, RVP & Bendtner have all been injured with their countries and we have only had the first round of international matches. It was probably too much to expect anything else to happen and as the title says there are "No Surprises" at all in these players getting injured, particularly Diaby & RVP who between them over the past 2 or 3 years have spent half of their time in the tratment room. I hope we can get them back for the weekend but I won't be holding my breath. We have got Adebayor & Eduardo available up front but I was looking forward to Diaby playing alaongside Cesc in the next week or 2.

RVP has been speaking in the press and he says that there are no problems with the financial end of his contract offer from the club but he will only sign if the club shows their committment and desire to win trophies matches his. He has only won 1 trophy in 4 years and he says that is not enough. This all sounds quite similar to what he was quoted with last week but it does appear to be new.

Hull handed their report on Cesc to the FA today and they now claim that they will drop the whole matter if they get an apology. How's this - We at Arsenal are sorry that you were knocked out of the FA Cup by a dodgy refereeing decision and that you took the defeat very badly. We are sorry that you were offended by our captain coming onto the pitch afterwards to enjoy the victory with his clubmates. We are sorry that you were such sore losers that your lying manager has decided to make up stories about said captain and that it has taken him 2 weeks to get 2 other members of his staff to back up his lie. We are sorry that you are going to be relegated and return to the abyss that you came from and most of all we are sorry that you are such a sorry bunch of lying losers.

On to the goings on in the boardroom yesterday now and as I reported Stan Kroenke bought 5,000 shares from Danny Fiszman yesterday and it does seem a bit odd that he didn't buy them from Lady Nina but it does mean that if he buys all of her shares he will then be in a situation where he has to launch a bid for the club. That would get rid of Jabba The Hutt if he were to do it but maybe the board are just making sure the shares are more evenly divided out. I have read that Stan has never sold a single share in any sports club that he has shares in so I imagine he is in it for the long term. It's funny that when Dein brought him in it cost Dein his job and we were all very worried but now we see him as a saviour from Jabba. How things have changed.

We are linked with Sambou Yatabare of Caen today in the latest of rumours that are going nowhere. Finally for today Arsenal will be wearing their red jerseys in the FA Cup semi final against Chelsea and they have asked the fans who are going to wear their colours(red obviously)too. Let's hope it's a colourful occasion and we will return there a month later to play in the final.

Here's a favourite goal of mine from a few years ago by Anders Limpar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6mW43iDVZY

And to finish today's title track from Radiohead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqsyXdj_p_I

See You Tomorrow.

ps I can't believe that I forgot to mention that today was the 8th anniversary of the death of David "Rocky" Rocastle. We miss him and remember what a great player he was for us for 8 years when he played 218 games and scored 24 goals. May he rest in peace.