Twelve years after Arsene Wenger left Nagoya Grampus bound for Arsenal, and seven years after the French tactician convinced Junichi "T-Shirt" Inamoto to swap the J. League for life at Highbury, the question arises... could Arsenal be about to raid the J. League once more? The answer, according to my sources, is no.

In slightly unrelated Arsenal news, the fourth matchday of Japan's League Cup group stage takes place on May 25, and the afternoon kicks off with a mouth-watering clash between bitter local rivals Shimizu S-Pulse and Jubilo Iwata.

These two sides met in the league back on May 3, with Jubilo outplaying their hosts in a 1-1 draw at Nihondaira Stadium. The stakes are different when they meet again at the hill-top venue, with Shimizu currently leading their League Cup group on seven points, while Jubilo trail three points further back. With only the group winners guaranteed progression to the final eight, there's bound to be plenty of passion on show at Nihondaira, with matches between these two rarely dull affairs.

The return fixture is set down for the final matchday on June 8 at Yamaha Stadium, by which time Shimizu S-Pulse will hope to have sealed their place in the knock-out stage. With the two best-placed runner's up also joining AFC Champions League participants Kashima Antlers and defending League Cup champions Gamba Osaka in the last eight, there's still a chance for Jubilo to progress even if they fail to win tomorrow - although things are looking bleak with their goal difference currently standing at 0.

Both Shimizu and Jubilo have been hindered by international call-ups, while Shimizu's current injury woes are well documented over on the S-Pulse UK Ultras site - with Arata Kodama and Fernandinho looking set to join the similarly injured Daisuke Ichikawa and Teruyoshi Ito on the sidelines. There'll nevertheless be a cracking atmosphere inside Nihondaira as two of Japan's most bitter rivals slug it out in the quest to progress to the quarter-finals of the 2008 League Cup.