If we can talk about one of our strikers for a minute, then. It was with great pleasure that I switched on Sky Sports News yesterday evening, when I got in, and heard that Eduardo's ban had been overturned by UEFA's appeal's body and so he will be available for tomorrow night.

Now, listening to a brief snippet of Andy Townsend and Mike Parry this morning, they seem to think UEFA have missed a trick by not upholding the ban. I think the trick UEFA have missed is using Eduardo, not that I'm saying the should have- only that they could have, to clamp down on the divers en masse. It was wrong of UEFA to single out one player for this incident and from the moment they stated this was only going to be a one off, that's where they've gone wrong. As it is, the charge has been rescinded, but mud sticks. Eduardo will still be booed, and okay he's dealt with worse, but I sense he's won his last penalty for Arsenal (and his national side) for a long time.

The initial charge that UEFA hit Eduardo with has been made to look rushed and knee jerk. I think the majority of football fans will agree that Arsenal's appeal had to succeed because of the arbitrary nature of the charge. This is borne out by both UEFA and Arsenal's statements. How silly UEFA have made themselves look.

Meanwhile, I was going to leave this till last, but I think it's best said here, Emmanuel Adebayor has somehow escaped charge for his "tackle" on Cesc Fabregas. But he has been charged with violent conduct as a result of the RvP incident. And improper conduct for the celebration in front of the massed Gooners. So hopefully, we won't be seeing him for a while.

That Mark Clattenberg has confirmed he would have sent Adebayor off had he seen what actually happened, I'm not sure how he missed it- selective blindness, maybe?- only adds salt to the wounds opened on Saturday afternoon. However, it looks as though he was subjected to racial abuse on Saturday and that's completely out of order. It may be what Tottenham fans and Manchester United fans were singing about him last year, but that doesn't make it alright either. We should be better than that. Apart from anything else, if he could hear it, it's a safe bet, Messrs Gallas, Sagna, Clichy, Song, Denilson, Diaby and Eboue would have heard it. How would they have felt about it? Going back to the AISA AGM, there was some discussion about the Wenger chant heard at Old Trafford, one member pointed out that it's all very well pointing the finger at others, but we need to get our own house in order too. That he was proved right less than a day later should be a source of shame to the travelling Gooners.

The Greater Manchester Police have written to the FA regarding Adebayor's inflammatory goal celebration, they will also be working with Arsenal and Manchester City to identify any supporters involved in "violent or aggravating" behaviour and so trouble inevitably looms.

The whole thing's a bit of a mess really, isn't it? Manchester City have hardly covered themselves in glory, at a time when- whatever the circumstances- they acheived a resounding win over the team many expect them to succeed in the top four. The Arsenal team have earnt criticism from former team mate Kolo Toure of their treatment of Adebayor. Adebayor himself could have spent this week thinking about a wonderful win with his new team over his old team and been looking forward to the Manchester derby. As for our fans...

A Final though on Adebayor then? I guess what that celebration showed, in the cold light of day, was how much Adebayor misses us all. I mean running the length of the pitch to celebrate with us, rather than staying with his new team. Sweet of him, when you think about it.

If he has become Public Enemy Number One to us, then the man spent much of 2008 in that position, William Gallas has enjoyed such a rejuvenation that le boss is considering offering the Frenchman a new contract. I've heard so much crap from some Gooners about how he isn't an Arsenal man and blah blah blah,  so I'm quite enjoying the rebirth he's had. I'm enjoying it to the point where, having just finished reading the Picture of Dorian Gray, I'm starting to wonder whether Willy has his own aging and blemished picture hiding away in his loft somewhere...

My dedication to the cause faltered somewhat over the weekend. Not, as you can imagine, as a result of the crushing 4-1 victory acheived over Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon. But just caught between a wealth of options. Three options, to be exact; the conclusion of the fifth and final Ashes test at the Oval, the finale to the World Athletics Championship and making some progress on my final season of Pro Evo 2009 before going back to the beginning with Vermaelen and Gallas at the heart of my defence.

There was also series six of Curb Your Enthusiasm and series one of Mad Men to take in this weekend. Lest you think I had a complete couch potato weekend, I did manage to get to the gym on Saturday morning and so there was even less time for blogging than usual this weekend. Which is a shame because it seems there has been much to talk about.

You might remember such stories in the Spanish media as the "pacto" Arsenal are claimed to have made with Barcelona to sell Cesc. The boss wasn't slow in rejecting that one, whilst that reputable bastion of journalism, also known as the News of the World, reckons Arsenal are poised to offer Cesc another improvement to his current contract. I'd be interested to know how many contracts Cesc has signed for the club, he seems to sign one every 18 months by my not very scientific reckoning. I doubt, however, that any improved deal would stop the vultures circling. We all remember 2006, a certain T Henry, a very public press conference and what happened just over a year later, don't we?

Speaking of Cesc, Arsène pulled one of his classic gambles at the weekend. Why he continues to do this I will never understand, but it's like he hasn't learnt the lessons of trying to play Patrick and Thierry when they were clearly not right. And so, Cesc took the field on Saturday with a slight hamstring niggle, he didn't reappear for the second half and will not take part on Wednesday. Not that should be a concern, but what might be a concern is his availability for Saturday evening's trip to the Champions.

Never mind though, because Abou Diaby was in scintillating form on Saturday, taking his two goals very nicely. I loved the way he took the second goal, sending James the wrong way as he finished off from Eboue's pass. Whilst Aaron Ramsey, who replaced Cesc, took advantage of a lovely little "Bergkamp" pass from van Persie to score his first Premier League goal for us. The seventy minutes that Eduardo played will have been a big plus for us, whilst Fran Merida- who I thought was going on loan, apparently not- also made an appearance so, even without Rosicky, Walcott and Nasri, one thing that this 4-3-3 apparently gives us is options.

Okay, so we might have expected more from Bendtner, RvP, Arshavin and, to a lesser extent, Eduardo, but when ten league goals have been scored by seven different players in two league matches, with an apparently rampant midfield, I'd say we're definitely in a "half full" kind of situation. The only caveat here is, of course, that it is so early in the season that Tottenham currently occupy the number one spot. It was funny to hear an exchange involving Paul Merson and Jeff Stelling on Sky's Soccer Saturday, that went something like this:

Stelling: And to come in, Tottenham have got players like Woodgate, King, Jenas, Crouch, Pavluychenko etc...

The Merse: "If they were any good, they'd be playing"

Nice one, Paulie.

On a media tip, what good is having a blog if I can't self promote ocassionally? I was interviewed this morning for Absolute Radio's Sport podcast. The interview covered my thoughts on the embryonic season so far and hopes for the rest of it. So, if you haven't heard enough from me already, you'll be able to listen to it here from Wednesday.

I was amazed to watch Match of the Day and see not only that Arsenal were not buried away at the very end of the programme, but also that Hansen and Shearer were of the opinion that Steve Bennett was absolutely correct in his decision not to give Portsmouth a free kick and William Gallas a red card at 2-1 on Saturday. That Gallas then scored the third goal must have felt like a right kick in the teeth to Paul Hart, but what a great decision from Bennett. It sticks in my craw, going back to MotD briefly, that the two hammerings we have dished out thus far have been attributed more to the limpness of opposition than Arsenal's general magnificence. Yes, Portsmouth are crap, yes Everton haven't had a great start to the season, but I can't see Manchester United dishing out two hammerings and being treated thusly.

If, as I said a while back, the boys began the season feeling they have a point to prove, it seems a few more batterings need to be dished out before people get the message. I look forward to seeing them.

If I was a Bon Jovi fan, this afternoon's blog would have a rather obvious title. Despite the best efforts of an ex girlfriend at the beginning of this decade, I'm not a Bon Jovi fan and so the blog title will have to wait..

But didn't the lads do well last night? The talk beforehand was that Celtic Park was going to be an intense, white hot cauldron, too hot for our callow boys to handle. Didn't quite turn out that way, though, did it? As I said yesterday, I was confident that it would be nothing more than they've experienced in the past and so it proved. As the Celtic fans streamed for the exits, the only sound was the sound of a familiar taunt from last season, "Is it a fire drill?"

That this was made possible was down to the superior footballing ability of the Arsenal. It was also down to the work they put in, another sign of lessons learnt from last season. I know that the goals could be said to be lucky, I'll address that further in a bit, but it can't be said that Celtic were unlucky. Gordon Strachan might think they were, but he's biased. Celtic managed one shot of any note in the entire 90 minutes. One shot at home. One shot in their supposed European fortress. Storming a European fortress is fast becoming an Arsenal speciality. The first English team to win in the San Siro? Check. Bernabeu? Check. The Sukru Saracoglu? Been there, done that. 

Anyway, the goals. The first one came from a cleverly devised training ground routine. RvP tapped a free kick to Cesc, awarded for a foul on the Catalan, who fired it towards Artur Boruc in the Celtic goal. William Gallas ran across and diverted the ball off his back, it spun and dropped just inside the far post with Boruc nowhere. Played for and got. Just before half time, this was a hammer blow Celtic clearly struggled to recover from as the second half began, as RvP, Bendtner and, closest of all, Denilson looked for the second goal.

Removing my tongue from my cheek; the second goal, when it arrived, came from a nice little passing move, Abou Diaby producing a quick shuffle of feet, exploding into the space created, releasing Clichy to cross into the box. His cross was put away beautifully by the Celtic captain, Gary Caldwell. The parallel with a cross that William Gallas had to deal with earlier in the half but had successfully cleared for a corner was obvious. It seems harsh to the neutral perhaps, but I believe we deserved the luck we got. It would have been ridiculous to have come away without a win, such was the gap in class. Especially as Celtic's main priority appeared to be the enforced withdrawal of our Catalan captain.

The importance of strength was clear last night. Alex Song continued to blossom, covering ground in a manner unrecognisable to the player who came on to cruise through the dying embers of the Arsenal- Spurs match last season. One little flick over an opponent reminded me of my favourite ever Arsenal player. And it wasn't just the flick that had me thinking of PV4. He wins the ball so well, though his passing was a touch suspect last night. Well, what to say about Vermaelen's performance? Arsène is certainly impressed, the moment when he sprinted back to make that last gasp challenge in the first half was sensational but everything else he does, he certianly isn't the player Rachid warned me about a few months ago and he seems to have had a really positive effect on the defence. He, himself, talks about the importance of Gallas to his start as an Arsenal player. It strikes me that perhaps these two are feeding off each other in a way. As much as Gallas' experience is helping the Belgian settle in, is Vermaelen's uncompromising, no nonense, attitude to defending a tonic to a player who has had to play with someone resembling a headless chicken for the last 18 months?

At the end, then, of a largely positive blog, I feel I should mention this story. It says that Arsenal have agreed the sale of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona next summer, for a fee of between €30-35m. Apparently, no conditions are set on this deal which would apparently have gone through had we failed to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. Of course, we still might, but it seems a distant possibility now. The implication is that Cesc played himself out of a move last night, putting the team before himself with a lion hearted display. Something doesn't tally here though. It is said that Arsenal are waiting till the Champions League money is guaranteed before they go shopping, but if we were to get knocked out, the sale of Cesc would (a touch simplistic, this) just replace the money lost, wouldn't it? So, it's probably rubbish, but just thought I'd mention it.

There may be no blog tomorrow, if that is the case I will talk to you on Friday.

In the face of reported interest from Jose Mourinho's Internazionale, William Gallas has said that whilst he has not discussed a new deal with Arsenal, he is "relaxed" and looking forward to next season at the club. Which may surprise some of you reading this. Of course, the cynical amongst you will probably look at this and ask why he hasn't begun to at least discuss a new contract. It may well be that he leaves the club next summer- of course it may be that he leaves us this summer- but if Arsenal were to let him go now, bearing in mind where this blog finished yesterday afternoon, I think it would be a mistake of biblical proportions. But perhaps I am overstating things slightly.

Overstatement is something our glorious football club seem to specialise in at the moment and if you don't believe me, check out the reveal for the next season's"third" shirt. For some reason Nike have decided that they're going to give us a shirt which mirrors "the craftsmanship of a fine English shirt". Now, the Arseblogger has already pointed out that nobody who wears a football shirt will give a monkeys about the fine cratsmanship, I'd say that if I wanted to wear a "fine English shirt", I'd buy, um, a fine English shirt and not an Arsenal one. Certainly not one that had "Fly Emirates" emblazoned all over it. Could this shirt have been dreamt up by some marketing whizz at the club, hoping to capitalise on the amount of city boys and corporates populating the "prawn circle"? "Surely not!" I hear you cry.

There is one good thing about this shirt though,. As Ben Ingber observed moments ago, as long as Cesc Fabregas keeps it on when not playing, nobody will ever be able to complain about his "inappropriate" attire again. Not looking at anyone in particular there, Mr Brown. Taking it further, if Nick Bendtner wears it out clubbing, the next time he loses his trousers, perhaps the high quality engineering of the shirt, and those horizontal stripes, will distract everyone from the sight of his Calvin Kleins (that one's mine).

Arsène Wenger has been explaining why he decided not to go to Real Madrid. If you think about it, it's a tribute to the work Wenger has done over the years that, even in the "worst" period of his Arsenal career, a club like Real would want him. I say this when you bear in mind the "football spectacle" that Madrid are intent on operating, as opposed to the "construction" project our manager is in the middle of. I'm sure his words will be interpreted by the naysayers as an admission that Wenger is in a comfort zone, but then he says something like this:

"I want to have success by building a team with a style, with a know-how, with a culture of play specific to the club and its fans and with young people. "

Personally, I find that inspiring. I also think it's a much braver, bigger and will ultimately be a more rewarding experience then going to Madrid and being able to throw money at something long enough so that eventually some of it will stick. We're lucky to have him.

I was going to begin this blog by saying something about Ronaldo and Madrid- and thanks for the responses to yesterday's blog, people- but it's Ronaldo and Madrid and to be honest, do we give a monkeys? £80m quid though, there can be one word, and word only, for it and that word is "obscene". Meanwhile, our own Iberian superstar has reconfirmed his commitment to our great club. That must the be 428th time now, yes Cesc Fabregas is staying at Arsenal. So there.

And so begins the final Tales From Gillespie Road. The final blog before my summer break, anyway. Yes, The Online Check In is done, the tickets for Depeche Mode at the Stadio Olimpico are in the bag- actually, they're not, but they will be- don't worry, I won't be wearing my Arsenal shirt up there and we fly out to Rome early tomorrow morning.

We've spent, or I've spent a lot of time over the last week trying to assess the squad, the best players, the best partnerships and so on. One of the players I guess I've looked at and come to the conclusion that, with everyone fit, isn't quite good enough to be starting regularly is Theo Walcott. And one of the players I haven't looked at because I don't consider him to be a genuine first team option is Jack Wilshere. A couple of months ago I was considering an article for The Gooner based on the premise that young Master Jack is going to find it extremely difficult to break into this Arsenal side. That article never got written, but with a bit of patience, I can see Jack being alright here. Rosicky won't have much more than a couple of seasons left here (you would have thought) Arshavin is bursting to play centrally, Walcott may yet make that move to a central position. In a couple of years Jack'll be fine, but will this undoubted talent have the patience to wait?

It seems he does, he's been talking about how Theo's been "helping" him with the difficulty of playing in a game and then not playing for 6 months. Only at Arsenal would a 20 year old end up in a mentoring capacity! Seriously though, Jack talks about wanting to do what Theo has done, I think the majority of Arsenal fans who have been watching Jack closely, will be hopeful of Jack superceding him. And isn't it great to be talking about two young englishmen?  

So, before I go off to buy my Euros and sun tan lotion, we come to the defence. The other area of the pitch causing palpitations this season gone.

Let's go with tradition and start at right back and Bacary Sagna, the unflappable one. A touch of second season syndrome afflicted his performances this season. Nothing major, I didn't think, but something seemed to missing this season. Not one for undue speculation, but perhaps this year has been so difficult for him following the death of his brother. Perhaps he has just been afflicted by the Silvester effect. I don't remember him making many mistakes apart from one panicked clearance at Anfield, when he was clearly not 100% fit, that led to a goal. He's still solid and still the man at right back for me.

It came to something, at home to Chelsea, when the quality of Sagna's crossing led me to hoping he would be replaced by Eboue- of course, it was a cross from Sagna that Bendtner eventually headed in- but that is the only way I think Eboue could be said to have anything on Sagna. Quicker, maybe. But in all other ways; defensively, mentally, Eboue is clearly inferior. Mr Wenger might have told Eboue that the right wing is now his position, but I don't think he's got a future there. The only future I see is as Bac up.

Kolo Toure, what do we make of young Kolo? Kolo the Invincible, Kolo who spat his dummy over the winter and asked for a transfer, Kolo who two weeks later led the side out in the absence of Fabregas. Kolo who, having struggled for form for what seemed like a year belatedly turned it round, but still managed to produce such magnificent moments of headless chickenry like the one at Old Trafford? Five months ago, I think the majority of Arsenal fans would happily have taken him over Gallas. I wonder now whether the years of goodwill Kolo has built up have been eroded to the point where we can now look at him objectively and unemotionally and say, you know what? He isn't good enough to be first choice centre back. What? Well, in my view, he isn't.

William Gallas has had a hell of a season. This we know. He began it as captain and finished it on the treatment table, deposed, humiliated but having produced possibly the best football of his Arsenal career. Now, I know a certain Arsenal blogger has been advocating a move away from north London for Big Willy, but look at this guy's character. Isn't it something good, something that too many player in our team seem to lack? Gallas took a look at our squad and didn't like what he saw, so he said so. Of course, he didn't go about that the right way, but what he said was something we all could agree with and something, apparently what the squad took on board. He then, having been playing like a pub player when stripped of the captaincy, produced some exceptional football. Strength in adversity. For me, it is emminently possible that the two semi finals may well have turned out differently with Gallas involved. Suffice to say, not only do I not want him to go, but I consider him centre back number one come August. 

Johan Djourou has had an interesting season. Probably a frustrating one, for him. He began the season in the team, as Kolo recovered from whatever fuckery he was involved in over the summer. Despite clean sheets being kept in that time, Kolo was restored as soon as he was available and Djourou had to wait until the centre back melt down began and he was brought into the team to add a physical, aerial strength at Stamford Bridge. Despite the own goal giving Chelsea the lead, he put in a towering performance and stayed in the team until undone by a Liverpool long ball- like he's the first Arsenal centre back to have suffered that fate. A key to strengthening the defence, he played a bit part in the latter months of the season, seeming to suffer injuries whenever called upon. Most notably, in the game after Gallas was ruled out for the season. Perhaps he is not quite good or, for that matter, robust enough to be considered centre back number two, but for me he is a better bet than Kolo and certainly a better bet than...

Mikael Silvestre. Who has been a disaster. It can not be a coincidence that every time we've conceded 4 goals, he has been in the side. And that is all I want to say about him.

Alex Song acquitted himself well at centre back against Manchester United in May, but he isn't so good that he can play in two positions at once and, squad as it is, I see him partnering Cesc, so that brings us to left back and Gael Clichy.

I've said it before that I'm a big fan of his, at the same time, it wouldn't serve to say that he has been faultless this season. His slip at home to Tottenham was punished harshly and it has been this kind of thing, allied to slips in concentration that have led to his reputation being dented somewhat this season. Again, I think he's still the man, but he will have to do much better next season, especially with a new kid on the block.

Keiran Gibbs began the season playing in the Carling Cup, by the end of it, he had been our best player in an FA Cup semi final, even setting up our goal, one of the best on a bad night in a Champions League semi final first leg and then brought back to earth with a Clichy like slip proving fatal in the return match. It would be ridiculous to hold that against him as one thing holds true for this young man and that is the fact that he has not looked out of place at all in this Arsenal side. Nobody has made him look the raw 19 year old he should be, it's clear to me, at least, that the sky is the limit for this youngster.

 So, 90 minutes later, and before I head off to the post office, here is my idea of what our first XI should look like next season:

Substitutes; Fabianksi, Toure, Gibbs, Denilson, Walcott, van Persie, Bendtner.

As you can see there is no room for Eboue, Ramsey, Wilshere or Vela, but then this assumes everyone being fit and available and we all know that hasn't happened at Arsenal for about 3 years!

Talk amongst yourselves and I'll be back next Thursday.

So, despite not playing football for three weeks and no gym work in that time, football went ok, well even. I managed to set a goal up with a raking, back to goal, off my left foot pass that drew the keeper for our striker, Vez, to round him and tuck away which prompted a rather excessive and in your face celebration. You see, Vez had earlier been denied what should have been a clear goal because the ball hadn't crossed the line. The ball hadn't crossed the line because the goalkeeper had neglected to clear a spare ball from the goalline. Is that bad seven a side etiquette or what?Anyway, we won 3-2.

KFC on the way back led to the bath and then a massage, but my groin still feels like it's strung with piano wire. Too much information? Sorry, I'll move on. This evening blog comes to you after a bedroom reorganisation, a building of a bed and a bath. Now, I'm ready to type.

An opening preamble about injuries, slight or otherwise, seems kind of fitting in the aftermath of the news that Gael Clichy will miss two weeks with a back injury. Whilst Manuel Almunia, as expected, will miss three weeks, William Gallas has been ruled out for the season.

*Gulp*

We had to prepared for this kind of news though. The good news, for me, is that it seems Arsène is happy to stick with Johan Djourou as the preferred back up for Gallas and Toure rather than bringing back the fit again Silvestre. Sensibly too, we will be seeing more of the impressive Keiran Gibbs. It is in such circumstances that careers can be forged. They can also be fucked too, but I'm backing Keiran to step up at what is an extremely challenging time for the club. As much as it is challenging, how exciting for Keiran to think that whilst his season started with appearances in the Carling Cup against Sheffield United and Wigan, over the next week plus one, he'll be playing against Villarreal and Chelsea. Oh and Wigan as well. And should results go our way, he may yet feature in a Champions League semi final. F365 reacted to news of the promotion of the Carling Cup crew by saying they'll be "thrown in", but I don't agree with that, Djourou played a big part in reestablishing the side's defensive stability over the winter months and is no stranger to the first team, whilst Fabianski has 20 appearances for the first team under his belt.

I did catch myself, whilst in conversation with Rachid yesterday, wondering whether Gallas' injury (how heartbreaking for him to miss the Wembley semi final) would represent the last sighting of the number 10 in an Arsenal shirt. The boss has quickly moved to allay such fears. And as far as I'm concerned, they are very definitely fears. Whatever else went on earlier this season has been put firmly in the past in my mind by some excellent performances from the Frenchman, so I'd hate to see him go.

Interestingly, in that "thrown in" piece, the boss talks about the effects of tiredness, saying "My experience from France is that they always talk about 'fatigue, fatigue.' When you talk about it you are tired." Makes you think about all those times he has talked about the players being tired, doesn't it? In this instance, he has dispelled the notion that the players might be tired after a long season and certainly, if you look at the players in line to play tomorrow, the only ones you'd really be worried about are Sagna and Denilson.

For tomorrow, Eduardo and Robin may be back. Which would be just as well in my opinion, of course the little Russian genius will return to the first team too. I wonder now, does the boss feel we have enough attacking power and defensive stability to start Arshavin on one flank and Nasri/ Walcott on the other, or will the more defensively minded Eboue come in? Maybe we'll even see Arshavin central and Walcott and Nasri wide. That would be some sight to behold. Of course, I'm forgetting that Fabregas has been deployed in that central role since his return.... options, options! We've built some momentum of late, but I think this is going to be a very tough game, it would be a very good three points to take.

Who's hungry?

Hot on the heels of the dismantling of one of the most successful sides in our illustrious football club's history, comes the news that Kelly Smith has joined Karen Carney and Alex Scott in quitting Arsenal Ladies to cross the atlantic. How did I miss this news? Did noone see the Carney go? Scott and Smith are heading to Boston to join their Breakers, whilst Carney will play for the Chicago Red Stars. Kelly is confident though, that there is still enough quality in the Arsenal side for them to remain at the top of the english tree.

Now that you've recovered from what must have been truly shocking news, let's talk Eduardo. He played the last half hour of Croatia's 2-1 win in Romania. In fact, he set up the winning goal for Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar. He still has a way to go yet however. And, though apparently both Slaven Bilic and Arsène Wenger believe that reserve team games are not enough for Eduardo now, Underhill regulars can expect to see a bit more of him yet. Hopefully, we'll get to welcome Eduardo back properly on Monday night.

His night was a bit of a contrast to the one endured by the french contingent, beaten 2-0 by Argentina. William Gallas and Bac Sagna played the full 90 minutes, whilst Super Samir spent 90 in his former home sat on the bench. The game did, however, give former captain Thierry the chance to talk about former captain William, his best friend. I don't know about you, but I can well imagine a wry smile and the "gallic shrug" when he said:

“I was sad for him. When things are not going your way, people look for scapegoat. And I can tell you about that.”

To quote another hero of mine, Joe Strummer, Gallas "learnt that bitterly" last year, but friend and team mate (and someone who knows a thing or two about fortitude), Sagna has praised Gallas' mental strength in coming back so strong. He also managed a sly dig at the rabid dog mentality of the english media. The good news is that, as Thierry observed, Gallas has returned to the side and played very well. It's good, for me, to see his team mates sticking up for him.

Short one today, are you relieved? I am.

"All transmitters to full! All receivers to boost! This is London Calling, this is London Calling..."

I'm back now. Sorry about that. Saturday was spent travelling back and forth across south London, including a lovely District line journey in a carriage full of Roman's rent boys and so there was no time to blog. Sunday was spent scratching my head as to how Arsenal could have played as they did at Cardiff, coming the width of the crossbar away from a shock FA Cup elimination in the city that became our second home at the dawn of the decade. And then yesterday, for some reason, I couldn't get on the website, so here we are today. My delays are nothing, however, when compared to the Arshavin saga.

The journey we have been on regarding this player could perhaps fill the number of pages needed by Tolstoy to complete War and Peace, or perhaps Stephen King's The Stand. But it wouldn't nearly as interesting. No, I haven't read War and Peace, but if it could keep my mum's mind off giving birth to my sister, as it did- well then it must be pretty damn interesting! The never ending story appeared close to, um... ending last night with Zenit's statement on their website that a fee had been agreed with Arsenal and all that remained was for the player to finalise personal terms with us. "Well, hold on a minute" said Gooners everywhere- weren't personal terms agreed, by Zenit's own admission, a few days back? The complication now may be that money might have to be diverted from Arshavin's bank account to Zenit', I would have thought that given the player's desperation to play for us, this wouldn't matter. So perhaps, given the ever moving financial goalposts Zenit seem to have planted, it would be unwise to read too much into their website statement. Anyway, by way of protest/ hurrying the deal along, and with ample evidence on Sunday of the need for more creativity, I'm not going to get my hair cut until this deal happens. That'll work, won't it?

To matters more immediate and tomorrow night's clash with Everton. I always anticipate these clashes with equal measure of dread and excitement as two of my best friends are toffee noses and I had to take a lot of flak from them after the Goodison game last season, despite the 4-1 win, due to the nature of Eduardo's two goals. That said, I got more from them the year Andy Johnson scored in the last minute of a really dull game a couple of years back, so I'd happily take the 4-1 kind of stick again.

According to the internet bible that is Arse.com, William Gallas is set to return to the first eleven. Which obviously means either Kolo or Johan making way. I'd rather it was Kolo, I'm sure if you've been reading the blog as long I've been writing it, you know the reasons why. Unfortunately, nothing would surprise me less than seeing Kolo and William lining up tomorrow evening. Despite all the available evidence to suggest  they shouldn't be. Interesting to note too, that with Gael Clichy to return after suspension, despite the abject cowardice of Emmanuel Eboue being on display for all the world to see (and no, I'm not talking about the "dives" as I don't think he dived on either occasion) yet again on Sunday, it is Jack Wilshere who is expected to be dropped from the squad. God moves in mysterious ways, doesn't he?

With the return of "Mr Arsenal" to Arsenal yesterday afternoon, it was perhaps inevitable that it would be another ex Arsenal skipper making the headlines today. Well, if not the headlines, then the heading to a story halfway down page 3 of the sports sections today.

As so many times last season, and a couple already this time around, it was Billy Gallas to the rescue yesterday. I listened to most of the game on the radio and it reminded me of a passage from Fever Pitch. Nick Hornby describing an era where teams would routinely come to Highbury, park, in the parlance of our times, the bus in front of the goal, stick a big man up top and hope to frustrate the Arsenal, an Arsenal with neither the wit or imagination to break such a side down. I think the game in question was a late 60's encounter against Stoke, and Arsenal nicked the game with two headers. But by the sounds of it, shorn of Walcott, Rosicky, Eduardo and Fábregas, it could have just as easily described the game against Portsmouth yesterday. I went for a bath, early in the second half and came back fully expecting Portsmouth to have scored. I was surprised that they hadn't, surprised further still that David James dropped yet another clanger and enabled us to pick up the points.

A couple of things I noticed on the radio were that the crowd began booing halfway through the first half and that Tony Adams probably got the biggest cheer of the afternoon. I ask again, are things really that bad?

Arsène has spoken of adding a creative +1 to the squad in the window- the Guardian, as with many other news outlets, think he's talking Ars.

Jay Simpson has inked a new, long term, deal with the club and Manuel Almunia, the inexplicable Arsenal number 1 never mind captain, has talked about Gallas still being the leader of the pack. Though following hot on the heels of the mad Man's description of our late collapse at Villa Park as "showing our character", it's difficult to take much the guy says seriously. Seriously though, it must be somewhat gratifying for Gallas to get some good press. God knows, he needs it.

I should also add that I think he deserves it.

Lots  to talk about today. Arsène's been chatting, quite literally and Peter Hill-Wood's also been chatting. And on the face of it, none of it makes for enjoyable reading for anyone of a red and white persuasion.

I begin with William Gallas and The Times' story that he has fallen out with Cesc, Theo, RVP and Samir Nasri. If this is true, and nobody would be surprised if the latter two had fallen out with him, then it's hard to see how he can continue in London. The boss has already spoken of the captaincy decision being one of the hardest he's taken as a manager and how Gallas has lost his "joie de vivre" and, at this point, a taxi for Mr Gallas seems inevitable. In my view, unless Kolo Toure can recover his mojo, this is not good for Arsenal. As in the past, however, there is little point in keeping someone who's head has gone.

Also not good for Arsenal is the news that... our manager has said his current side are not too far away from the level attained by the 2004 Untouchables! I'm sure that I'm not the only Arsenal fan, in fact I know I'm not, who has to question that statement. I think you could go through the sides man for man and every single one of the 2004 side would be an improvement on what we currently have. Perhaps Sagna over Lauren and to me it's close between Clichy and Cole but Ashley Cole, much as we hate him, if he was some Carlos Kickaball... nobody would have given two fucks about what he did to us. As it was, he happened to be one of the best left backs in Europe, if not the world. Then you look at the back up we had, for Edu and Ray Parlour, we now have Song and Aaron Ramsey, for Kanu and Wiltord, Nick Bendtner and Carlos Vela. Actually I think Vela will prove to be a massive improvement on Wiltord, but that's not the point...

I really could go on here, but the basic point is that if the manager really, really believes that this squad is close to matching the best side in Arsenal's history, the responsible, honest, way to react to that is to question him. Increasingly the gaffer is beginning to resemble a lone wolf crying out in the wilderness. I am reminded, however of a scene from Halloween when little Tommy Wallace spots "the boogeyman" outside the house and is told not to be so silly. "Nobody believes me" he moaned, and guess what? He was right.

So, it's tough to hear Arsène talking as he is, especially when he says Alex Song is the most improved player this season- surely Johan Djourou making the jump to becoming the strongest link in central defence is the man who's made the bigger jump? In fairness, Djourou did get a mention, but Alex Song? What is it the manager sees that 60,000 people don't?

And to finish, the zinger. I'm not too sure how long the Bracewell- Smith family have been represented on the board, but that association came to an end yesterday with the news that Lady Nina has departed the board and as such is no longer subject to the lockdown agreement in place between all board members. Richard Carr has also stepped down from the Holdings board, but remains on the board of the football club. What, I ask you, is going on? To be honest I don't even want to guess. It seems Lady Nina has gone as a result of an argument with Hill- Wood and despite an attempt to mollify her with a Life Presidency offer. What will she do now? Who will she sell to? The Ghost of Christmas Future looms large and I guess the panic button reaction is to think that Usmanov will now smell blood in the boardroom, but perhaps as happened 60+ years ago, an American will ride in on a white stallion to save the day. The bottom, line is that nobody knows for sure what will happen and anything said is just guesswork, so we wait, that's what we do...