The draw has been made for the 4th round of the FA Cup and we will be making a trip to Wales to play Cardiff City. It won't be easy as they are playing very well at the moment and they play a good brand of football. As I have said before we need to progress in this competition if we want to win a trophy this season. So lets hope we continue to play a strong team and we bring our best game to Cardiff.

We have been linked to Stephen Ireland in the papers today after Everton said they won't be selling Arteta. I still think we should test Everton with a big bid for Arteta and see if the player wants to join us. As for Ireland I don't think we need a player who has the problems that this guy does. He is a potential powder keg and it could backfire on us badly. We are also linked with Alessandro Rosina of Torino & Matthew Upson of West Ham. What is clear is that we need some top class players right now and I don't think the boss should wait until the end of the transfer window to save a couple of million like he usually does. There doesn't seem to be any progress with regards to Arshavin and I hope there is still a chance of him joining us. There are also rumours that Theo is unhappy about the fact that he hasn't been offered a new contract. I'm sure we won't let his contract run down like we let Flamini's as it would be a disaster.

It was nice to get the win under our belts yesterday and let's hope we can continue in our winning ways at home to Bolton on Saturday. My title above refers to our good win yesterday and ability to keep it going so long as we can bring in the right players to compliment the ones we have available at the moment. Vela & Rambo are getting more game time at the moment and I would prefer them to be in the team rather than Eboue, Song, Bendtner, Silvestre and even Denilson. Let's hope the boss thinks as the fans do that they are looking very good too. Anyway, that's it for today.

Here's the highlights from yesterday with thanks to Boxofficefootball again(check out her profile here )

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

And to finish the title track from above by The Wedding Present.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_j8xUZ_3AQ

See You Tomorrow.

Well we are through to the 4th round of the FA Cup after a fairly good 3-1 win against Plymouth today at The Emirates. RVP was captain for the day and he justified the manager's faith in him by scoring a brace. The other goal came by way of an own goal and we did seem to dominate proceedings whilst Plymouth carved out a few chances for themselves.

I intended to preview the game yesterday but I could not get on to my profile and therefore it was impossible. The manager had said that Fabianski will be our FA Cup manager this season and he played a fairly strong team as he is treating the competition seriously. To be honest I have said since August that we need to treat the FA Cup with respect as it is our best chance of a trophy. The manager obviously agree. Ramsey got a chance to start again and so did Bendtner. Clichy was rested and Silvestre came in for him. He had to go off after 30 minutes and Gibbs came in and played well enough. By all accounts Nasri & RVP were our best performersand we need them to perform like that on a consistent basis.

In transfer news David Moyes has said that Arteta is going nowhere but I still think a large bid might persuade Everton to sell. The boss said he has not made a bid for Arteta and he won't be buying Given. He also said there is no progress with Arshavin and I'm not quite sure what he meant by that. Time will tell. He also said he hasn't spoken to Madrid and that he is going nowhere. He also said that we are in a healthy financial position and he won't jeporadise that by going mad in the transfer market. He does intend bringing players in but it will be money wisely spent more or less I would imagine or so he thinks anyway. I'll leave it at that as I have a big poker game in a friend's house tonight and it's going to be a late one I'm sure.

Here's a clip of our latest captain showing his skills in another sport.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtJkfrt1n4c

And to finish the title track from David Bowie which describes our captain of today.

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

I have a feeling that 2009 is going to be a better year for us than 2008. This year started so well but ultimately we won nothing, despite playing some great football, and it has finished with us 5th in the league and with a team that doesn't look strong enough to challenge for all the major honours. However I think that if we can get the players we need in to the club in January we can make 4th place and maybe even win the FA Cup while we're at it. Call me an optimist if you want to but anything else doesn't bear thinking about.

The media is awash with names of players who might or might not sign for us as we might expect but some of them would be really good for us. Arteta & Arshavin would really improve our team at this precise moment and long term they are good enough to play for us when all our injured players are back. Other names being mentioned are Given, Inler & Alonso again and Pape Diakhate of Dynamo Kiev who is a new one on me. Among all of those players I don't see a centre back and if the rumours of a fall out between Kolo & Gallas are true we may well need 1 in the new year. We all know they can't play together anyway so if Djourou is out we only have Silvestre to fill the gap and he isn't up to it. There are rumours that Kolo is on his way out to Man City but I hope not.

A few of our youngsters have left us on loan until the end of the season(well they will leave tomorrow) and I hope it works out well for them. Jay Simpson will join West Brom as expected, Gavin Hoyte will join Watford & Nacer Barazite has extended his stay at Derby and also signed a new long term contract with us to boot. 

We will be in action again at home to Plymouth in the FA Cup at 3 on Saturday afternoon and I hope we are at least in negotiations for some of the players we need by then. The window opens in just over 6 hours and our next league match is 9 days later. That's plenty of time for Arteta & Arshavin to sign and become a part of the squad before that game against Bolton. Finally it's just left for me to wish 1 and all a Happy New Year and I hope that you have a great time in whatever you choose to do tonight and that the new year works out really well for you. Arsenal wise things can only get better as the song goes. Come on you Gunners. We all believe you can still do it.

Here's a clip of the last trophy we managed to win( we miss you Paddy Vieira).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3aley1x1lo

And to finish the title song by Bad Manners.

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

See You Tomorrow.

The title above comes from the fact that I have "Many Rivers To Cross" on my journey to North London this Saturday morning. Luckily I will cross all but the Liffey and the Thames by plane and I'll be in plenty of time to get to see my beloved Arsenal considering I leave home at 4.30 am on Saturday. I cannot describe how much I am looking forward to my first trip to The Emirates but I intend to put as many pictures on my home page as I can take so that I won't forget in a hurry.

On to matters to do with last night now and our kids lost 2-0 at Burnley in the last 8 of the Carling Cup. By all accounts they played well enough in what was a good game and if they had taken their chances things might have been a lot different. The manager reckons they missed 6 one on ones with the Burnley keeper who was man of the match so it wasn't all doom and gloom. The main culprit seems to have been Bendtner and his laid back attitude can be infuriating at times. Here's a good funny item on him by Gooner Talk. Sadly it means Arsene has lost his proud Arsenal record of never having lost to a team from a lower league but all records are made to be broken as they say(whoever they are). The press somehow have seen this as a bigger giant killing than when Burnley beat Chelsea's first team at Stamford Bridge in the last round but they need to write any old garbage to fill their pages.

In other news Jay Simpson has been linked with a loan move to Norwich and Cesc has again been linked with a move to Milan. Whatever about young Simpson we all know that Cesc is going nowhere. we have also been linked with Diego Capel of Sevilla and he might not be a bad player to strengthen our options on the wings. Our ex captain Paddy Vieira has been quoted as saying Roy Keane was his best opponent. I used to love the two of them squaring up to each other in the good old days when we won a barrow load of trophies. Our FA Cup match with Plymouth will be played at The Emirates at 3 pm on Saturday January 3rd and that's about it for today. I'm in a bit of a panic as to how I will manage my blog on Saturday & Sunday but I will find a way(I hope).

Here's the goals from last night if you can watch.

 http://www.boxofficefootball.com/burnley-vs-arsenal-live-cup-action/

And to finish the title track fromJimmy Cliff.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMzuXlKQv8

See You Tomorrow.