There's so much tumbleweed blowing through the vacuum in time and space also known as international week, that the Mirror have had to resort to filling their football pages with an interview Nick Bendtner gave to the Guardian on the eve of the Tottenham game.

It's a good read, but coming when it did, there were other things to talk about, like how we handed Tottenham's backsides to them in a hat. I suppose it's natural that the interviewer would choose to highlight two incidents involving Tottenham to illustrate how fortunes can change, what with the interview being on the eve of the Tottenham game and all that. And now; to go with the headed winner, the fastest goal ever scored by a substitute, nearly two years ago and the headbutt from Mr Adebayor a month later, we have the image of Bendtner hobbling around the left hand touchline as Vedran Corluka steams past him. The end result, of course, is that Bendtner's five year plan to become the top scorer in the Premier League and one of the best strikers in the world is on hold. But only temporarily.

I mentioned Mr Adebayor there and I guess, on reflection, when we had a player that was happy to go around headbutting his own team mates, we shouldn't have been surprised when he greeted Alex Song, RvP and Cesc in his own inimitable fashion at Eastlands a couple of months back. It is said that you learn more about yourself in defeat and that defeat for us seems to have been a watershed moment for both us and Manchester City. With the media vultures circling to gleefully announce the demise of Arsenal Football Club as a top four force and say hey to the new boys from Manchester, things haven't quite gone that way. Manchester City have drawn their last 5 games in a row, whilst Arsenal are unbeaten in 13, with 11 wins in that time. City's Chief Executive reckons his club lost their way in the aftermath of that game and it's safe to say that Mr Adebayor's fire has been extinguished somewhat too. Which is some consolation for that defeat.

El Jackerinho, um, that's Jack Wilshere to you but, surely, if he was Brazilian that's what he'd be called, is looking to avenge that defeat when Arsenal travel to Middle Eastlands on December 2, he says he hopes City put their first team out. Of course, Arsenal will also be looking to put City's first team out! Hopefully they can do it, but it will be a tall order. Taller still if the specimen wearing City's number 25 ends up playing. I think I'd settle for one of our young lads putting Mr Adebayor in hospital till Christmas. Too harsh? Ok then, till next summer.

Next summer isn't something we like to thing about with our club captain. I have to say in fairness to Cesc, that his performances have been as inspirational as his interviews have been the equivalent of Geoffrey Boycott's dead bat- he doesn't like like anyone other than someone who is enjoying his football immensely at the moment and that has been borne out as Cesc has edged out Robin van Persie in the vote for Arsenal.com Player of the Month. Thomas Vermaelen, for the first time in his Arsenal career, didn't figure in the final placings, with Alex Song coming in third, so I guess he better get his left foot tuned up again. We don't want to see fine defensive play, Thomas! This is Arsenal, we want at least one 25 yard screamer every week otherwise you'll never be seen in a Player of the Month poll again.

And on that note... 

Funny how things happen. Only yesterday I mentioned Eduardogate and lo and behold we get another controversy in the Liverpool Birmingham game. Although, and it has to be said "controversy" is a somewhat ambiguous euphemism for cheating. And I know what you're thinking, as I've said before, people in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones. But whilst Arsenal were able to prove Eduardo was touched, however slightly, I don't think Liverpool will be able to defend David N'Gog's dive in the same way. Of course, if he read my blog, he'd know that he's probably never going to get another penalty again- even if his legs are chainsawed off in the penalty area.

It occurred to me though, Liverpool seem to get decisions like this whenever they need them- we all remember that penalty award just seconds after Theo Walcott had shredded their entire team in 2008, another one followed in the group stages of the following season's Champions League when Steven "If I saw a team-mate doing it (diving), I would definitely have a word." Gerrard took a tumble that earnt Liverpool a match saving and highly dubious penalty. So why is it we never hear the chant "Same old Liverpool, always cheating"? Why is it that the only time we hear that chant is invariably when one of our players is prostrate on the turf having been subjected to yet another attempt at assault? If it's taken a few years of Wenger style to bat away the "Boring, boring Arsenal" chants, it seems that the legacy of Pires and Eboue will live on for years to come. And doesn't it say everything about us as a football watching nation that the majority of football fans will remember Robert Pires' dive before any one of the sublime pieces of football he gave us?

Of course, that Liverpool won their point at the expense of Birmingham with a ridiculous penalty decision will have its own special irony for Arsenal fans who can remember as far back as February 2008- which'd be all of us, I imagine. Birmingham probably don't deserve that much sympathy, 1% possession and 100% chance conversion from their two shots on goal from last night tells its own story but, having watched Liverpool be handed a lifeline yet again, what can I say? It's not quite sympathy for the devil, but...

I was listening to The Times' podcast, The Game, last night and Gabriel Marcotti, discussing Arsenal, mentioned something I touched on yesterday. He feels that Arsenal can only be judged once we have played the teams who are chasing the Premier League title with us. In other words, it's all very well beating the Wolves and Portsmouths of this world 4-1, but how will we do when faced with the high end teams populating the league? We already know how we did in Manchester, so it strikes me that (and I apologise for repeating myself here) absolutely the only way we will be taken seriously in the Premier League race is by making a proper statement of intent when Chelsea come to north London at the end of the month. Of course, that analysis doesn't take  into account the fact that if Chelsea are going to continue to lose games to the likes of Wigan and Aston Villa and United against the likes of Burley then it's likely we'll be in the race no matter what happens on the 29th.

When Arsenal line up against Chelsea, we will do so without the Danish footballer of the year. Nick Bendtner has had surgery on his groin and, as a result, will miss the next 4 weeks of the season. Which, faced with the physicality that Chelsea will bring to the table, is undoubtedly a blow. That said, it sounds like that little guy who used to be our number three will also be missing, so it might be a good opportunity to set Theo loose on the Chelsea defence- assuming he's back and ready to go by then. More will follow on that, no doubt..

As I logged on today, I caught the opening paragraph to today's Arseblog, and him saying that he isn't going to preview tomorrow's game today. Well, as I'm going to the game and am not prepared to get up an hour earlier on a Sunday just to write a blog... you've guessed it, I am going to preview the game now.

Starting with the news that Vito Mannone will keep his place in goal as the Spanish waiter is yet to regain full fitness following his chest infection. I wonder if he will have learnt to come and catch a cross when he does make his inevitable return to the first team? Not wanting to get to negative on your ass on a Saturday afternoon, who would have thought when Vito conceded 2 goals in his first five minutes in the first team (and he could do little about either) that he would go on to keep his sheets clean for the next 355 minutes? Okay, you can argue that after those opening 5 minutes, Standard Liege offered almost nothing, we then beat a very poor Wigan team and Olimpiacos may have the distinction of being the most negative team to have ever come to the Grove (and that's some accolade) but Don Vito earned national respect with his perfomance at Fulham. Not to mention the fact that thus far this season, Almunia has proved incapable of repelling almost anything thrown at him. Or fired his way, if you prefer.

Clearly, the defence picks itself. It is strange how the massively improved Eboue, last seeing calling Wenger his "dad", is trusted to come and play on the right side of defence instead of Sagna as and when, yet Keiran Gibbs can't get a start for love nor money on the left. That's unlikely to change with the improved Clichy performance on Tuesday night. Vermaelen and Gallas pick themselves.

As do Cesc and Alex "security" Song. Diaby, Rosicky or Ramsey to fill the third spot? I'd like to see Rosicky in there, but perhaps the manager will be wary of over using him having managed, seemingly, to get him back in one piece this season. Especially with the added physical challenge that Blackburn are likely to provide- so it's got to be Diaby, hasn't it?

Up front, Nick Bendtner, who missed chance after chance in the corresponding fixture last year, has recovered sufficently from his car crash to take his place in the squad. He does so with a timely reminder from the manager that he  needs to improve his "movement and finishing". I guess there won't be too many, least of all Bendtner himself, disagreeing with that. Of course, his return to the fold offsets the fact that Eduardo managed to aggravate a thigh muscle complaint on Tuesday night and is once again unavailable. Crowded House's best of album was called Recurring Dream, this situation seems to be turning into a recurring nightmare for Eduardo.

So we will miss his finishing ability and intelligence, Bendtner will give us added strength and aerial power and the returning Theo Walcott, albeit surely from the bench, will provide the game stretching acceleration that nobody else in the squad can provide.

I wonder though if Rosicky might be moved up into the attacking three, leaving Bendtner on the bench, joining Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin in the attack. Arshavin is a man that the boss has also had some words for this weekend. He says the Russian can exist in the same category as Messi and Ronaldo, but he needs to win things. In many ways, he's in a similar situation to Dennis Bergkamp when Dennis arrived in north London a UEFA Cup Winner (twice?) and massively respected as an international footballer. But with little else to show. Dennis and Arsenal were very good for each other, at least until he turned 30 and then got subjected to the ridiculous yearly extension policy. Arshavin doesn't have to worry about that so much just yet, but for him the clock is ticking. He seems like an intelligent fellow and I'm sure he's in a hurry to stamp his mark on the club as Dennis did. We can only benefit from that.

Of course, "stamp his mark" is an apt choice of words coming into this Blackburn game because it was against them last year that somebody stamped his mark on Andrey's foot, Blackburn style, in the first half. Only for him to come out for the second half and stamp his mark on the game, Andrey style, with that wonderful goal.

This week has been all about one man and something he once said,

"The imprint you make in the spirit of the people is more important than the result."

We've seen that week, with even people who have questioned pretty much the majority of his post 2004 decisions (and even some that year) lining up to acclaim him as the genius he is. Ever the ideallist striving for perfection, Wenger said, as he prepared to face the club against whom it all began 13 years ago,

“I haven’t exceeded my expectations in my time here, because I always expect much more.

“My expectation is to win every single football game I manage and I didn’t do that so I can never exceed my expectations. There are still more targets to achieve.

In thirteen years at Arsenal, so much has changed, the club have moved home and the playing staff has evolved almost beyond recognition and yet one thing never changes, and that is the desire of the manager. As we head into a match against a team managed by a man who took much of what Wenger brought into the English game and perverted it to produce an almost exactly opposite philosophy, we should remember that we're lucky to have the man we've got.

Enjoy the game, wherever you are.

Regular readers here will have noticed, I hope that the banner at the top of the page now features yours truly supping absolutely beautiful red wine in an empty box in an empty Arsenal stadium at the end of the Emirates Cup. I was going to choose the image of the first set of Arsenal players "embracing" the stadium, but I couldn't make it big enough to do it justice. Anyway, in the course of trying to make that work, I briefly ended up with a default banner, featuring Mr Adebayor- Bunch.Of. Arse!

In the meantime, I was joking about Nick Bendtner and his car crash yesterday afternoon, Having seen a picture of the smash, I'm less inclined to joke.

Apparently, he has only suffered cuts and bruises in a crash that took place when he swerved off the road on his way to training. I can only wonder at the speed he must have been driving at to have caused so much damage to his car, if not- somewhat fortuituously- himself. I can only wonder at a 21 year old footballer who has, in real terms, acheived very little in his career driving around in an Aston Martin. I'm not going to say the photo above is a graphic illustration of all that is wrong with the game we love, because I don't really think it is, but it does make me wonder.

So, he won't be available tonight. But the man I wanted him to replace as our line leader this season will be. Furthermore, Robin van Persie will line up against Olimpiacos with songs of praise from the manager ringing in his ears,

"We play with plenty of offensive players, so it is important you have somebody up front who can make a short control or a short pass. There is no better player than Robin at that."

"It (the Fulham goal) is a fantastic goal. The ball in was brilliant, the first touch is brilliant, and the second touch is in the back of the net. It was all perfect."

I think that Arsène, in saying "short" actually means "quick", nonetheless you know what he means because you see it demonstrated in the penalty area quite often. My frustration with Robin in the past has been because of his tendency to drop into midfield, take the ball and then take five touches to get it under control and pass it. But perhaps that's because he doesn't feel as natural making passes in midfield as he does in the penalty area.

Arsène also backed up Robin in his desire to demonstrate when he is fouled on the pitch. And I guess, when you think about it, when defenders get away with such things as shirt pulling and various methods of obstruction on a regular basis, is showing the referee there has been a foul really such a bad thing? The problem with Robin is that he can look slightly ridiculous when he does this and so the referee, whoever he is and whatever the rights and wrongs, can be inclined to look the other way.

As Eduardo will apparently return to the squad tonight, one man who will definitely not be seen tonight and for the next couple of months is the unfortunate Denilson. He will miss at least two months with a small fracture in his back. Like the Arseblogger, I remember Gilberto missing a large part of the 2004/05 season with a similar injury, so I don't expect to see the young Brazilian, well... for the rest of the season, I guess. It'll be a nice surprise if he comes back early. Unless, of course Aaron Ramsey gets a run in the team and takes his chance like a lion takes a deer.

Sorry deer lovers.

On Thursday, the man who has guided us into the Champions League in every single, full, season he's been in charge will become the longest serving manager in the history of this great football club. An unthinkable prospect when he took charge amongst a barrage of "Arsène who?" headlines, with people like my friend Harry mumbling about Frenchmen taking over the club- not that Harry was alone in that, as a certain Anthony Adams admitted in a book called Addicted. He says now, as he details his career high point being the unbeaten season, that the Arsenal board were "crazy" to take a chance on someone with "no name".

Perhaps he, like me, considers them lucky too.

Let's hope the team give this great man the great performance his acheivements merit tonight.

When I wrote The Zombie Room, at the beginning of the weekend, I had no idea that my weekend would finish with another viewing of 28 Days Later. That only happened because Jo and I were at a loss for something to watch and happened to catch the opening, stunning, shots of a deserted London on Channel 4. The opening 20 minutes are always worth watching, but we ended up hooked again. Coincidentally, as the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed, 28 Weeks Later came up in the comments section on Friday- how coincidental can it be when I was going on about zombies in the first place? Not very is the answer, I think.

Anyway, that was Sunday night. On Saturday night, of course, Arsenal travelled from north London to south west London and I travelled from south east London to north west London- with little help from South Eastern trains and the seemingly permanently crippled excuse for the weekend London Underground. Whilst Arsenal were in Fulham, I was in a pub next door to Finchley and Frognal station on the Finchley Road. Which, before I began working in Islington was a station I used to travel to all the time. Without ever visiting the pub. But Jo and I were with Luke and Pia (Luke's girlfriend) and Luke likes watching the football in that pub, so there we were.

We soon discovered, after Luke had a minor panic attack as to the open or closed down status of the pub, that although it was open, it had been done up to resemble a turkish brothel? What does a turkish brother look like? You will be disappointed to know that I have absolutely no idea. By the time TFL and South Eastern had worked their magic, we were running a bit late. So the game was already in prgress as drinks were bought and nice comfy seats in front of the tv were found. And then we settled in to watch an Arsenal masterclass.

From Vito Mannone! Bloody hell, talk about zombies, it was as if the entire Arsenal team were members of the undead, staggering around in an impersonation of the football team they used to be. Ok, so it wasn't that bad, and I may be exaggerating in order to continue the zombie analogy, but against a seriously up for it Fulham, it is fair to say that we struggled. I don't know who Mannone made that instinctive reflex save from, but I don't believe Almunia would have had the reflexes or the agility to make it. The follow up save with his shoulder? Lucky perhaps, but then again, didn't he do well to be in a position to block in the first place? There was another fingertip save later on that was almost as good.

The quality of Mannone was capitalised on in the second half with the one true moment of quality that Arsenal produced amongst the pedestrian. Cesc Fabregas' lobbed pass, expertly controlled with one touch by RvP and then a delightful right foot (right foot!) finish beyond Schwarzer and into the corner. I took off, past the pool table I had beaten Luke on at half time, and jumped into the air in celebration. So I missed the players' celebration, but there were some good photos in the papers yesterday.

Bendtner, seemingly the only other Arsenal player to hit the target, produced a save from Schwarzer, whilst Eboue rolled a good opportunity on the counter attack wide as Fulham searched for what would have been a deserved but, in the context of the game, utterly infuriating equaliser. It never came. And so Arsenal rolled back north with three points in the bag. The kind of result that Championships are won on, I think you'll agree. Though the performance, Mannone excepted wasn't up to much, you can't have it both ways. The only thing that matters is that we took the points. Looking at the fixtures this weekend, this was not a game that anyone with Arsenal at their heart would have wanted anything other than an away win from. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool's fixtures all looked like bankers, it is a bit of a bonus that come 5pm, Chelsea just looked like wankers. And so, we edge three points closer to the top spots.

Moving ahead to tomorrow night's Champions League fixture with Olimpiacos, it appears that Nick Bendtner will be unavailable as he was involved in a car accident. Rumours that witnesses at the scene, who tried to flag down the other vehicle, reported seeing a big black man in a floppy hat at the wheel have not been substantiated. Seriously though, Bendtner is expected to be okay for the weekend, along with Theo. I don't know what the deal is with Eduardo, who didn't make the bench on Saturday, but if he is injured again, we're looking a little light up front. I'd like to think Carlos Vela would get the call if needed, yeah, I'd like to think that...

In other news, Peter Hill-Wood and Ivan Gazidis gave a full, 21 gun salute to Arsenal Holding's Financial Results for 2008/09.

Not only did matchday revenue jump £6m, to a figure of £100.1m, showing the value of a good cup run or two- Arsène, but the group were able to announce the following good news,

"• Of the 655 private apartments in the development, sales have now completed on 445 units with a cumulative sales revenue value of £172.4 million.
• The balance on the bank loan used to fund the project has been substantially reduced to £47 million and agreement has been reached to refinance the loan and extend its term to December 2010."

Hill-Wood said,

"The Group’s profits have now risen in each of the three years in which Emirates Stadium has been our home. This is excellent news although I should perhaps stress that making and reporting profits is not in itself the primary objective for the directors. First and foremost we are supporters of this great football club and, as such, our main goal will always be the achievement of success for Arsenal on the field. Hahahahahaaaa, you mugs think we want to have a successful team? No! We just want money in our pockets, lots of lovely, dirty, sexy money!"

Um, I made have made a bit of that up, I'll leave it you to work out which part whilst you read this from Ivan Gazidis,

"Clearly, the Club already has a first class stadium, an excellent world-wide reputation and outstanding core support. Football is a hugely competitive and fast moving business and we must ensure that Arsenal is not just keeping pace but setting the pace, both on and off the field. The Club is superbly positioned for the future and I am tremendously excited about the opportunities we have ahead of us.”

And not a word of that "Actually guys, we're doing just fine" message has been fictionalised.

Oh, I nearly forgot, Liverpool at home in the Carling Cup? That's pretty exciting, isn't it? I'm very much looking forward to that one, if not thousands of scousers invading the north London hostelries we like to call our own.

Tomorrow, y'all.

Even as Amazon hide behind a ludicrous "freedom of speech" defence to justify their sale of a Manchester United cd featuring that chant, the press pack, finally, have got involved. The Guardian and The Mirror questioning why the Football Association, the Police have not acted to stamp out the abuse routinely suffered by the Arsenal manager.

Some people read my blog yesterday and apparently wondered where I get off emailing Manchester United about this. It's really very simple, it's gone on for years and United have had ample time to do something about it. They haven't. Some people read it and wondered whether I'd like to take my middle class sensibilities for a cup of tea and a game of rugby. I'm sorry, but if that's the way you feel, then this blog isn't for you. I can't help the fact that I was educated enough to know that 70,000 thousand people singing a song about our manager, that decries him as the lowest of all humanity, is totally unacceptable. As it happens, I do like tea but, despite the fact I went to a rugby playing school (yes, I did) I can't stand the game. Yet another person wondered whether the fact that Wayne Rooney is widely lampooned as Shrek is even worse than the abuse that Arsène suffers, because it intimates Rooney is ugly. Let me answer that one, no it isn't. There were some good points like the one that said, shouldn't the media bear some responsibility for this as they were the ones who started it and then have pretended it never happened? It is funny that the media have suddenly picked up on this after all these years.

It can be put down to Arsenal having just had a very bad week and, I think, us fans thinking that enough is enough. UEFA are out to get us, we shot ourselves in the foot on Saturday evening and on top of that, on top of all that, we had to listen to our manager being demonised. The internet has given football fans the world over a louder voice than ever before, and we've been able to use it to get the media to wake up to this embarrassment.

Good.

Speaking of UEFA, as widely predicted they will not be pursuing the diving culture wholesale. This standpoint rather negates Mike Parry (yes, I know) and his opinion yesterday that Arsenal should accept the Eduardo punishment as for the good of the game. I don't see any good for the game in the fact that Eduardo seems fairly certain to be the one and only player in the history of football to be charged with diving. Just typing that sentence makes me think how ridiculous it is. In the era of Gerrard, Rooney, Ronaldo, McGeady et al, it is Eduardo whom UEFA have decided to tar and feather. How absurd.  

Moving onto something rather more positive now. As also predicted (although not by me) in the absence of any last minute signings this week, Arsenal have got busy tying down more of the youngsters. And what a wonderful image that is. Denilson's looking to "build" on the solid platform laid last year, whilst Nick Bendtner is looking for "success". Is he dressed for it? As long as he keeps his jeans on. Now, I know Bendtner signing a new deal and Adebayor being the one gone is not how everyone saw our future- though it is how Mr Bendtner Snr saw it at the time of the Tottenham debacle. But don't we, as fans, clamour for players who want to play for our club? Bendtner has, for me, shown not just that he wants to play for our club, but that he has the ability to do so. I also think that anyone prepared to write a 21 off as a professional footballer, is being a little bit premature.

I've just read that Chelsea have been banned from making transfers till 2011- how funny is that?

Just as this afternoon's bumper, action packed edition of Tales from Gillespie Road went to press or, to be more more accurate, I got ready to hit "New Post" on my blog page having read a few stories, I saw that the Daily Mail are reporting that Barcelona's president is now under pressure to sign Cesc or lose his job. Which rather simplifies the "Sportsmail reporter's" story that Barcelona have a Presidential election next summer, which Joan Laporta's former vice President, Sandro Rossell will be contesting. Rossell is said to have a verbal agreement with Cesc's representatives to the effect of Fabregas going back to Cataluña next summer.

And that is the first sentence of this lunchtime blog I have managed to complete without interruption.

I have no doubt that Cesc will eventually return to the club where it all began for him, but I think for a man of his undeniable talent, he would surely feel that he needs to win something in north London before making that move. He came into the first team on the back of that unbeaten, untouchable, invincible or whatever you want to call it season and since being made the fulcrum of the side- in a move that signalled, for me anyway- a shift in focus from the daily domestic grind to the glamour nights of Europe, we have acheived nothing. He must feel that strongly. Perhaps not as strongly as the manager who, whether by design or not, dismantled the best Arsenal side in living memory and replaced it with an ever developing cast of maybes, but he must bear some of the responsibility.

The story goes that Barcelona value their hometown boy at £25m, but may be prepared to throw players in- yeah, we'll have Toure and Messi please! Seriously though, given that we sold the troublesome Adebayor for something approaching that figure and Fabregas' strategic, and symbollic, importance to Arsenal, they will have to up the ante considerably. Bear in mind Cesc's likely participation in the Champions League qualifier next week and the ante must also be raised quickly. Though surely no money would be enough to spirit away one member of the squad who could still be said to be "Untouchable".

Before I continue, I'd like to welcome "Swine Flu" Ben Ingber back to the office, good to see you back mate.

So, Johan Djourou has been returned from international duty with a knee problem. Why is it not a surprise that the season hasn't even begun and we're already two likely first teamers down? It doesn't sound like Djourou's problem is that serious, but as I suggested yesterday- yesterday?- with Vermaelen short of match practice, there is a strong likelihood of a return to centre back for Mikael Silvestre. Which doesn't exactly fill my jeans, I have to say.

Nicklas Bendtner has been explaining his shirt number change to Arsenal.com, with a very PR friendly offer to personally cover the cost for anyone who has bought his number 26 shirt this summer to change to his new number- 52. Most Arsenal players come down the numbers as they establish themselves, but Bendtner says his new number is "special" to him and there are a few guesses going around as to why this is. Rumours that 52 represents the average number of times per match Emmanuel Adebayor was caught offside last season have yet to be confirmed, though.

Jack Wilshere and Keiran Gibbs were both involved in England's Under 21 0-0 draw with Holland last night. The 0-0 scoreline was a surprise to me as Arse.com's slightly misleading headline appeared to suggest Wilshere was responsible for the draw, I thought he must have scored. Their young colleague, Nacer Barazite played for the Dutch team.

We're only a couple of blogs away from a first match preview of the season now, this summer has flown by, hasn't it?

Being serious, for just one brief moment in the life of this blog, I would like to pay tribute to Sir Bobby Robson, who finally succumbed to cancer this morning at the age of 76. I remember, as a 12 year old, more than Gazza's tears, more than Lineker's finger to eye gesture (pesky Tottenham scum!), the look on Bobby Robson's face as the World Cup Semi Final reached its' heartbreaking conclusion. And there was a time, for me, when England defeats were heartbreaking, rather than just being accepted as the natural of order of things, before I became completely indifferent to the fortunes of the national side. I also remember, as Thierry Henry went bezerk after Newcastle inflicted a controversial 3-1 home defeat on the Arsenal, Bobby Robson commented "Some people around here don't know how to lose". Quite.

We then proved how right Bobby was as, not losing another league- or, for that matter, FA Cup- match, we charged to a second "Double". So, um, thanks for that Sir Bobby. And for everything else, I think the football world, the world itself, is a sadder, emptier place this afternoon.

--------------------------------------------

Not sure how to carry on now... I like this article by Joel Che. He makes a point here that I've been trying to make, probably not as articulately as Joel has, but it seems to be a point that millions of Gooners, burnt out by another summer locker clearing session, just can't understand. The sale of Touré and Adebayor has taken place because the manager wants to change the culture and attitudes around the club. Destroying the African clique, which had become complacent in its comfort is one way to do that. As with Vieira and Henry, once Touré and Adebayor had become more negative influences than positive, they were shipped out. Which in turn gives players like Bendtner, like Djourou a chance to shine and positive influences to learn from. And what the hell is so wrong with that?

I've seen people questioning Bendtner's ability to score more than 20 goals this season. Well, he's 21- is it not reasonable to expect an improvement? Is it not reasonable to assume that he will start more games this season than last and therefore improve on his 15 goals from last time out? Fans demand player loyalty, perhaps they should show more faith in the players we have, because if anyone can show me a 21 year old striker, not an automatic first choice, who scored 15 goals last year, I'd be happy to hear about him. Some reckon Carlos Tevez to be the kind of player we need, I say that he did score 15 goals this season gone, but 4 of them were against Blackburn in the Carling Cup!

I mentioned Patrick Vieira up there somewhere, as he is in my estimation, it seems that Ian Wright's Wednesday evening comments may have something to them. The Guardian reports that the boss will discuss a possible move (I was going to say return, but we've moved home) with the former captain next week. One of my favourite moments of Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial was hearing Vieira's name rolling around the new stadium, it's clear that he is still loved by the majority of Gooners. It's less clear that; a) this could happen and, b) that at the end of it all, he would continue to have the love of his public. Maybe it would be a great way for him to go out. I question though, one person's contention that Vieira now, with one leg, would be better than Denilson. That is, as a guest post on A Cultured Left Foot today makes clear, grossly unfair on the Brazilian. Blaise Matuidi's name crops up again and the Guardian article suggests that he may become an Arsenal player soon. But for £5m more than the £3m originally suggested.

I'll close today with the acknowledgement that working in Islington really does have its' benefits, I've been given Executive Box tickets for the first day at the Emirates Cup tomorrow. Call me a Champagne Charlie if you want, but it's the only way I'd have been setting foot in North London tomorrow!

How was your weekend?

I've had a heavy one. Late nights and alcohol throughout and so, as I sit on the third floor of our building on Pentonville Road, I feel fairly well shredded.

The news that Kolo Touré looks set to join the latest blue revolution to flood the Premier League has me feeling philosophical. £15m is a lot of money for a player who, in my opinion has seen his best days come and go. I didn't think Thomas Vermaelen was coming here to sit on the bench and, I'm sorry, it makes no sense to sell William Gallas. Touré wants first team football, he has a chance for a massive payday and after 7 years of, mostly, stellar service, I don't begrudge him that. If he goes, then good night, good luck to him and thank you very much for all the memories. Particularly that own goal at Aston Villa, a hilarious moment in Arsenal history.

I jest.

Speaking of Thomas Vermaelen, it seems that if there was a "Become a fan of Thomas Vermaelen" group and Bac Sagna was on Facebook, then our dreadlocked little terrier would be signing up to it. I was going to provide a link to the story on Arse.com, but it's a short one, so I'll precis... Very good, good passer, good left foot= Happy Baccy.

Meanwhile, the most recent signing before Jean Claud- er, sorry- Thomas Vermaelen, is showing the kind of fight that has made him such a huge hit with the Gooner nation. The very credentials, in fact, that lead Dennis Bergkamp to believe that in Andrey Arshavin, Arsenal have found the missing link and a player that could write himself in Arsenal history. And I don't think Dennis means in the way that Adebayor just has. Arshavin himself is thinking about winning the title for Arsenal, dismissing both Adebayor's departure as neccessary and Manchester City as title challengers. He seems to talk a lot, does our Andrey. Talk is fine, as long as you walk the walk too, Andrey has no problems with this, so neither do I.

Last week, I mentioned the prospect of Nick Bendtner going to Milan. The player himself has dismissed such notions, hailing Arsenal as a "special" club- you see Ade? That's how to deal with these things. I did read that Arsenal were looking to include Bendtner as a makeweight in a deal to to bring the Roma striker Vucinic to North London. But given the fact that we've just got rid of one striker, not to mention Bendtner's progress last season, that seems a touch unrealistic.

Emmanuel Eboue, I read, may well be off to Fiorentina. I've made my feelings on this one clear, but what all this movements points to is a clearing of the decks, before bringing in some fresh, and hopefully suitable, faces to take the club up a level. I don't believe that the club are sitting on their hands, thinking that the current personnel is at a sufficient level to win the title, and I find it difficult to imagine that anyone else would either.

I find it as difficult to believe as anything that Farhad Moshiri says, in fact. If his grasp of maths is as shaky as acclaiming Adebayor as averaging 20 goals a season appears to indicate it is, then forgive me if I'm not taking his word on the bigger financial picture.

Would you believe it? I said yesterday that I'd be back today, hopefully not talking about injuries- well done to Biggus on Arsenal-Mania for starting a "Who will be our first long term injury?" thread about two hours before the Nasri news came through, I'm holding you personally responsible- and then there was a big flurry of gossip and rumour regarding, who else, Eduardo being injured.

But wait a second, it transpires that this rumour has come about from a small linguistic error on the part of our beloved manager, who had said of the options left to him, after the injury sustained by Samir Nasri:

“But the options are Tomas Rosicky who is back. And in [those] two months Eduardo will be back as well. We do have offensive options but we don’t want to lose important players before the season starts.”

1) Thinking about it, this confirms my belief- stated yesterday- that Nasri was to be used this season as a wide player. Though, of course, Rosicky can also play centrally, Eduardo wouldn't be a great alternative in central midfield, now would he?

2) More pertinently here, it's understandable that people would read those comments as meaning Eduardo would be back in two months, because that what he said. But he means that Eduardo will be available during those two months and, in fact, will play on Monday night. Eduardo himself was left somewhat confused by Wenger's words although I can't find what he had to say on the subject. He has confirmed that he is fit and ready to play, however.

Crystal? Excellent, let's move on.

One man who words seem to be chosen not so much in error, but just plain stupidity, is our old friend Ashley Cole. He said last night that he hopes Manchester City finish above Arsenal. And there I was thinking that it was us carrying on the vendetta and, in fact, Ashley had put all the nastiness and "taking the piss" behind him. Not so.

A message to you, Ashley. I go to bed every night, and hope that when I wake up your house has been pelted with Saddam Hussein's non existent Weapons of Mass Destruction, warheads dipped in petrol, but it will never happen.

Never. It's no suprise, though, to see your sympathies lying with the flashers of cash, I wonder how long it'll before you end up meeting them in a hotel lobby somewhere.

Finally, it amused me yesterday to see that Milan were considering a £10m bid for Nick Bendtner- you know I consider him to be a vital part of the first team squad. But a thought struck me, just a year after Adebayor's flirtations with Milan, how funny would it be for him to have ended up with a team less Beyonce than Ivana Trump, whilst "shit" Bendtner waltzes on into Beyonce's arms? Even allowing for the fact that I'd be disappointed to see Nick go, I'd love that.