The news that the 25 has had talks with Man City and appearently a medical too is absolutely everywhere at the moment. It would appear that the deal will go through as soon as he can agree terms with City as Arsenal are more than willing to sell him. The need for a work permit may also be an obstacle as he has missed some games for his country due to his ongoing disputes with the Togolese FA. Mark Hughes has admitted that City are in talks also so all the indications are that he will sign for them very soon. I personally won't be too worried about his departure so long as we replace him with a top class striker as his attitude got worse and worse as the season wore on. My only wish is that he might bring Silvestre with him and do us all a favour. He had a good goalscoring record for us and his 30 goals the season before last was a very impressive haul. However he dirtied his bib with the fans by courting Milan and Barcelona last summer before staying with us after we doubled his pay to £80,000 a week. After a deal like that we hoped that he would repeat his performances of the previous season but we were sadly disappointed as the season wore on. The first time he scored after last summer he kissed his badge and it really stuck in my throat and although he did appear to be playing well early on it soon became appearent that he didn't give a toss about the club or the fans. If the transfer to City falls through I can't see how he can stay with us as it is obvious we don't want him and he wants away from us.

We are of course being linked with Marouane Chamakh of Bordeaux and he is available at a good price as he has only 1 year left on his contract. I don't know too much about him but the fees being bandied about are somewhere between £6 million and £8 million and it sounds like good business to me. It would leave anything up to £20 million available for the boss to buy the central mifielder we need and Gokhan Inler of Udinese is being mentioned yet again. In another story circulating at the moment it appears that Patrick Vieira might be joining The Spuds. I sincerely hope that this story is not true as he was a true Arsenal legend and the thought of him playing in a Spuds shirt would make me feel sick.

The club site has given a hint of the squad that will be making the trip to Barnet on Saturday for our first pre season friendly and it seems that Eduardo & Rosicky will be in line to make their long awaited reappearences in the team. Other first team regulars that should be there on the day are Almunia, Clichy, Gallas, Nasri, Denilson, Arshavin & Vermaelen. Also in line to play on the day are Mannone, Djourou, Wilshere, Traore, Senderos & Silvestre and I'm sure there will be a few youngsters on show too. It's getting close enough now to almost smell it. It may only be a pre season friendly but it's Arsenal playing a football match and it doesn't get any better than that. That's it for today except fot the Fantasy Football details.

LINK

Oleole league code  4383-1847

Oleole Arsenal league  4383-1835

Oleole Head to Head league  4383-1828 (only 3 teams needed to complete this league as it is limited to 20 teams).

Here's a clip of Chamakh playing for Bordeaux.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Dodgy which is for the 25 who I'm sure wants to go as far away as Manchester at least.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

Today's blog is named after a song by the late, great Mikey Dread and it may well be what Arshavin sings to himself when he thinks of our manager. The player wants to join us and it is up to Arsene to go and get him now. He also wants the no. 10 shirt which is currently owned by Gallas but I'm sure he can have it in the summer.

The youth team played very well in beating Wolves 3-1 in the FA Youth Cup last night and Henri Lansbury was particularly pleased with his contribution and he reckons it was his best game for us since missing 6 months last year with glandular fever. He is another player who could make a big impact in the first team next season and I hope he gets the chance to do so. Steve Bould has said that Jack Wilshere was man marked by Wolves last night and he reckons it was good for him and that he may have to get used to it. He played in the Bergkamp role and seemed to do very well there. Speaking of the Iceman he has said he won't rule out a coaching role at Arsenal at some stage. I'm sure he could teach our players a great deal as he was a class act. Jay Simpson scored for West Brom last night in their FA Cup victory at Peterboro and he appears to be playing very well for them.

In transfer news we are linked with Bullard & Hangeland of Fulham yet again and also Inler of Udinese again and 1 new player to me - Agelo Obinze Obgonna of Torino. If we sign him the club will make a fortune on the lettering on jerseys but how are we fans supposed to pronounce his name. That's it for today.

Here's young Jack's Bergkampesque goal for the reserves last season.

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

And to finish the title track from Mikey Dread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_-QHLqnStU

See You Tomorrow.

First of all today the news that young Jack wilshere has signed his first professional contract with Arsenal. He turned 17 on New Year's day and he has now signed on for us which is great news for the future. Now to the present and there are rumours circulating that we will swap Kolo for Stephen Ireland. I can't see Man City letting their best player so far this season go as they don't need the money. I would also like to see Kolo get the rest he needs and get a chance to regain his fitness and form.

The boss has said he is not interested in Inler from Udinese any longer. The rumours about Arshavin persist and he would be a good signing in my opinion. The title above is about Arteta as I think he would make a good instant replacement for Cesc and he could keep a place in the team in the long term. Go on Arsene - go out and sign him. Never mind what Everton say about not selling.

On a more positive note Silvestre is injured for 3 weeks and we won't have to watch his poor attempts to prove he is not past it for a while at least. RVP says he wants to win the FA Cup and I second him on that one. We are treating it with more respect this season, for obvious reasons, and we must have a chance of winning it. Mind you Cardiff won't be easy in the next round. That's about it for today as I'm back at work and it's bloody freezing here. The heating has been off for almost 2 weeks and the building needs to heat up for a few days before I can feel anyway comfortable.

Here's a clip of Saturday's game against Plymouth(in English this time).

 http://www.boxofficefootball.com/cupbox/arsenal-v-plymouth-fa-cup-highlights/

And to finish the title track from The Smiths.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb70YDbx31c

My wish for the new year is for "Deliverance" from the state the team is currently in. We need to buy some top quality players in the transfer window and maybe bring young Armand Traore back from his loan spell. We could have him playing wide left from January 1st and he might be 1 of the pieces we are missing from our jigsaw. He has done well at Portsmouth but has spent a lot of time injured. I think he might jump at the chance to play in an attacking role for us. Elsewhere Arseblogger has mentioned Arteta as a possible replacement for Cesc. I think that is a great call and he would relish the chance to play for a club like Arsenal. He has loads of Premier league experience and he is a really good player. Go and get him Arsene. Don't be afraid to spend the money. I also think that the manager has to look at other players he has other than always using the same midfielders. Some of the younger players deserve a chance. They shouldn't all be thrown in together but 1 from the start or the bench occasionally wouldn't hurt the team. You know who I'm talking about - Wilshere, Rambo & Vela in particular but also Gibbs or Lansbury.

Besides those 2 players we are again linked with Arshavin, Senna, Yaya Toure, Inler, Matuidi & Noble. These players have all been linked with us recently and the speculation is really hotting up now. Every club will know we need players so I don't think we will see too many bargains available. Then again a lot of clubs need money and we have loads of it supposedly.

The good news for today is that Cesc won't need an operation but as I said yesterday I don't expect to see him again this season. Inter are rumoured to be after Adebayor again but we would be mad to sell. The boss has said he has no regrets about selling Diarra last January as the player signed for us knowing who was ahead of him in the pecking order and that he would have to wait and then he refused to do so. What else could he do ? The boss has said that Graham Poll is an embarrassment and after his comments about not sending off the likes of Terry I must admit Wenger is right. It doesn't matter who commits an offence it is the offence that has to be judged and nothing else. We all know that English national captains have had preferable treatment over the years though and we didn't need Poll to tell us. That's the lot for today except to wish everybody A Merry Chrismas and I hope you don't drink too much or eat too much either, unless of course you really want to, like me.

Here's clip of a godd goal by RVP against Villa(let's hope he can do it again).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npj9DFLLVTw

And to finish the title track from The Mission.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk8xf0QF9Kg

See You Tomorrow(maybe).

Here we are again. Our most important match of the season is upon us again and we go into it hoping that we can show up with our heads right and knowing that nothing less than a win will do. Don't get me wrong, if we draw it won't be the end of the world but if we can win today and then beat Villa and Portsmouth there might actually be light at the end of the tunnel. If we lose I think that the light will have gone out as we will be 11 points behind Liverpool but also we will be too far behind United, Chelsea and maybe(although I think we can catch them) Villa.

We need to play the game like we played against united and Chelsea and we need to take our chances. If we get a lucky win it doesn't matter, so long as it's a win. I'm going for 3-1 to us with 2 goals from Adebayor and 1 from RVP. Call me optimistic or foolish but I don't like Liverpool's style and I can see them losing their place at the top of the league after Christmas. As I said yesterday, how can a team with Dirk Kuyt in it be on top of the league ? I gave my thoughts on the possible team yesterday and my 2 biggest wishes are that Nasri is back and Song doesn't play.

Danny Fiszman has been quoted as saying that we have begun talking to Usmanov but that he will never let Arsenal come under foreign ownership. Elsewhere both Usmanov and Kroenke have appearently said that they don't want to take over the club. There is an awful lot going on in the boardroom at the moment but I'm sure it won't effect the team. As long as the money we need is there in January they can do as they please for the moment.

RVP has said it is a miracle we are still in the title race and he wants to shoot Liverpool down like he shot Chelsea down. Let's hope that he can put away any chances he gets with his chocolate leg today because he has missed quite a few with it since that goal against Chelsea. At least he is shooting with it now as he always used to try to work the ball on to his left previously. I hope he can get the Christmas miracle he wants.

In transfer speculation we have been linked with a host of players today which is to be expected when the board say we have money to spend. According to a few reports we are trying to sign Carlos Tevez from United or whoever owns his registration. We are also linked with the following players again - Andrei Arshavin of Zenit St. Petersburg, Gokhan Inler of Udinese and a new one on me - Steve Finnan. There are also reports that Real Madrid are trying to tap up our boss but that is a non runner. I'll be in the pub with some Liverpool fans watching today but I hope I'll be going home happy and not them. Either way we'll all be going home drunk. That's it for today. For anybody going to the game I hope you have a great day and enjoy another great win. Sing as loud as you can and keep the faith no matter how hard it is do so.

Here's Adebayor's goal against them last season.

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

And to finish the title track from above by The Smiths(I like to call it the greatest song ever written).

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