Do you  have any idea how difficult it is to write this Arsenal blog when your manager is on the phone moaning on about how crap Tottenham are- yes Randall, we all know how crap Tottenham are...?

He's stopped now, so I can continue. The Carling Cup begins tonight and for me, it's the first visit to the "Arsenalised" stadium, so that adds to the excitement I'd normally be feeling this afternoon. I wonder how Philippe Senderos feels right now, how he'll be feeling at 7.40 tonight. His Arsenal career was all but over and now he has a real chance to establish himself as the first choice back up to Gallas and Vermaelen. Having been evidently happy to let Senderos go in the summer, the manager says that the future is front of the young Swiss. It's not a bad way to resume your Arsenal career really, is it? A low pressure game in front of a big, supportive crowd. Of course, it's never been the low pressure games that have caused a problem. I'll be keen to see whether Senderos has learnt anything from his time in Italy.

He will be joined, at the back, by Mikael Silvestre- nooooo! And Keiran Gibbs- yayyyyy! Whilst Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey will form part of the midfield and Carlos Vela may make his first start of the season. You will know by now of the high hopes I have for Carlos, lauded by the manager as one of the most natural finishers at the club. Of course, last season's Carling Cup provided such evidence that we don't neccessarily have to take the boss' word for it. It'll be good to see him back.

Aaron Ramsey, for his part is- as you would- looking to use this competition as a springboard into the first team. He talks here of the  improvements he's made in touch and awareness and the feeling now, that he is "one of the lads". The progress he has made physically will have helped him too. A visibly stronger proposition than he was this time last year, the boss makes an example of him to show the process Jack Wilshere must go through before he is deemed ready for regular first team action.

The contrast between the two lads further marked by the targets in mind for both players. Where Aaron is looking for twenty games in the first team this season, the manager thinks that Jack's "objective" target is simply to improve. And improve in everything. So it seems that Gooners keen to see Wilshere as part of the matchday "14" on a regular basis will have to wait a little while longer. In fact, if you want to see Wilshere in action at all, you'll have to get yourself to nights like tonight, won't you? Or Underhill, of course. 

Due to a day spent in Nottingham at a Staff Conference- big ups to Simon Woolley for one of the most inspirational speeches I've ever heard- I missed the new contracts for Ramsey and Wilshere news. Which is good news, but given Jack only signed professional terms in January, with Ramsey joining last summer, was it strictly neccessary? Both contracts are long term and, I suppose, will be financially more rewarding for the two players.

Arsène is delighted at the prospect of seeing these two develop and I guess he isn't the only one. It's easy to forget, as you watch Wilshere bamboozling opponents, that he is only 17. It's easy to forget, when you watch Aaron Ramsey producing a slide rule reverse pass, that he is only 18. Both, though perhaps more Wilshere than Ramsey, have a maturity to their game that belies their tender years. Ramsey, of course, is also "delighted" to have signed a new deal, saying that he knew Arsenal were the club for him last year. Curiously, Wilshere, as I noted here a couple of months ago, holds Theo Walcott up as some kind of mentor. Young Ramsey does the same here. Which speaks, to my mind anyway, to a good camaraderie amongst the youths in the squad. I'm interested in this, because with Nasri, Arshavin and Rosicky already at the club, with Walcott yet to move to his destined position up top, he is another obstacle barring Wilshere's way to the first team. But this doesn't prevent him from giving advice.

It speaks to Wenger's stated desire to create a culture of style and spirit at the club. We are, of course also talking entirely about British players here and maybe it won't happen under Wenger, but what we might see in years to come is a British spine running throughout the team. Sound fanciful? Consider Keiran Gibbs coming through in spectacular fashion, consider the likes of Emmanuel Frimpong and Jay Emmanuel Thomas, Sanchez Watt. I am reminded of something my uncle said a while ago, which was that Wenger's legacy would be to leave behind a core of English players, trained and developed the Wenger way and therefore better than any others. The boss' refusal to spend silly money on players, just because of the maroonness of their passports, has evidently given the media a false impression of his opinion of English players. He does like them, just not the ones tainted by the "Baby Bentleys" culture.

*Steps down from soapbox*

Cesc Fabregas. Or more to the point Joan Laporta. Apparently Cesc wants to return to Barcelona. Laporta says that himself, Guardiola, and Txiki Beguiristan all want him back. Well, all I want to say to Mr Laporta is that if that is the case, then Cesc has- on reflection- rather helpfully, told you exactly what you need to do. It's very simple, all you need to do is go to Arsenal Football Club with €52m and ask for permission to speak to Cesc. And that's it, you don't need to talk to Cadena Cope about your respect for Arsenal, because your respect for Arsenal; a) is, in this case, irrelevant and b) it doesn't exist anyway. If it did, you wouldn't be trying to engineer a transfer through the media, now would you?

Adebayor might go, he might not. The boss doesn't sound particularly fussed either way. Are you? Was Benzema really a target? Even at €35m? I suppose the fact the boss didn't bid means that he never knew exactly how much he would cost, but he couldn't have expected he would get him for a pint of lager and a packet crisps.

Anyway, that's about my lot for today. It's now off to the gym to get some exercise and then... no, not porklife, we're going to have us some parklife. Alllllllll the people....

So... after a couple of days' contemplation, I've decided that, as far Abou Diaby goes, there is no case for the defence.

No, no. I'm kidding, but talking about him like the new Patrick Vieira has been proven time and time again to be a fallacy, it's rather like comparing Terminator 3 to the first two Terminator films (I haven't seen Salvation yet), they may appear outwardly to be cut from similar cloths. But actually, it's just a superficial resemblance. There's nothing inside that can be compared.

Moving on from the crowbarred in film reference, I guess you could say that Diaby has shown flashes of brilliance and you wouldn't be far from the truth. That game against Fenerbahce a shining example of Diaby at his best. But there haven't been too many of those this season. The manager thinks Diaby is best deployed as a number ten. But we have Arshavin, van Persie, Rosicky, Nasri and Bendtner that can all play that position and do it better. I'm not doubting Diaby's ball control, his ability to dribble or the fact that, when he catches it right, he can really hit a football. I'm just doubting his ability to put it all together on a consistent basis. I certainly think he's behind Denilson and Song in central midfield.

Which brings me to Aaron Ramsey.

I didn't see enough of Aaron last season for me to make a truly informed judgement. We did see, when Arsenal went to Ninian Park in the FA Cup, that- at a young age- he was still capable of letting an occasion get to him. Not that should be held against him, after all an entire team managed it  in Roma a few weeks back, having been the beneficiaries of such a happening in north London a couple of weeks before that. In the chase for 4th place, he was nonetheless all but banished from first team duty afterwards.

Before that though, we saw that young Ramsey has a very good eye for a pass, evidenced by a lovely pass for Adebayor to complete his hat trick against Blackburn, he also produced a couple of assists in the Carling Cup. On international duty, he hit an absolute screamer against the English kids and whilst these are the same kind of flashes produced by Abou Diaby, Ramsey is a significantly younger prospect. I've said it before on this blog, I was struck by Wenger's description of him having a great engine and it leads me to believe that whilst he could be seen to be yet another "number 10", he may end of playing the same kind of role that Matty Flamini did for us. I don't have any real evidence for this, but what the hell, it's my blog, and I can make a leap if I want to.

Theo Walcott apparently set a goal up in England's 6-0 romp last night, that result has been somewhat overshadowed by news that Manchester United have accepted an £80m bid from Real Madrid for the Portuguese Winker. That leaves only one question in my mind, where do Real Madrid get their money from?

This morning brought the news that Zenit St Petersburg had decided to agree a fee for you know who. It seems, though, that with Zenit's CEO Maxim Mitrofanov saying that "£12million is not enough" the two clubs are still a way of agreeing a fee. However, they have promised to give Arsenal a decision today. If this game of brinkmanship from Arsenal comes off, and I think Zenit accept that the player wants to leave and, more pertinently, wants to come to N5, then we can congratulate Gazidis on a job well done. It seems nuts to me that Zenit reckon we should pay £20m (or £15m for that matter) for a player who can buy himself out of his contract before the year's out. I'm glad it will be sorted soon though because it's getting as tedious to write about as I'm sure it is to read.

Meanwhile club captain Cesc, is on the mend and feeling good. He also talks here of how he's spent time with his family in Spain and... I think you might like this bit, of his admiration for Kaka, who he calls one of his idols. I don't take this to mean that Cesc is going to remain here for the rest of his footballing days, but I do think that Cesc, like Kaka, is someone that prizes loyaltyL happiness and footballing philosophy above the monetary gains he could make. Of course it helps that he is also good enough to practically write his own cheque.

Arsenal's stadium is apparently up to host the 2011 Europa league Final- What? it's the new name for the UEFA Cup and doesn't it sound crap? But it's up against Wembley Stadium's bid to host the Champions League Final in the same year. Not surprisingly, both UEFA Finals can't be staged in the same country in the same year. I do think it would be good for us to have a game like that at the stadium, but I'd like it if we could play in a genuinely massive match there first.

The mention of a massive match leads me nicely onto Aaron Ramsey's return to Cardiff in the 4th Round of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon. For which William Gallas will be available. I hadn't thought of it before, but 18 year old Aaron Ramsey has more experience of Wembley Stadium than anyone else in the Arsenal squad. Except, perhaps, Theo Walcott. It's a situation I think we'd all like to see change this year. Especially with the lucky bastards up the road heading there for the second time in a year. I wonder if they'll release a dvd of that Burnley game as well? As ever, with these cup games, there is another little subplot.

Jay Bothroyd left Arsenal as a young lad, following an incident in a reserve team match where he threw his shirt to the grass on being substituted. He will be reunited withe club on Sunday afternoon and surely looking to prove Arsène's decision to let him go was wrong. The manager is not surprised by the striker's form. He has also taken the opportunity to big up Denilson. I have to say, and I'm happy to be told I'm wrong, (nicely though) that I think Denilson does a very good job for us. He passes the ball well, he passes it inventively and is generally growing into a role thought to be beyond him in the summer. His big problem is that he is not Mathieu Flamini. But none of the coaching, experience, or personal growth in the world is going to change that.

According to reports on various Arsenal blogs this morning, we won't be (Ars)havin it this winter time. Zenit have apparently moved the goalposts so many times that Arsenal have ended negotiations, without meeting in Moscow. The deal is dead, long live the deal.

Football365 report that, Zenit have now shown a willingness to compromise and lower their demand for £20m, what with them being desperate to sell a player that doesn't want to play for them and with Arsenal willing to pay no more than £12m. It does seem kinda nuts, I mean it's not like £12m is not a lot of money. Everything counts in large amounts and all that..

In the face of impending disaster, though, it's okay because the manager can call on the talents of his welsh wunderkind, Aaron Ramsey. Aaron must surely be in line to start in the FA Cup at his former club on Saturday and his manager has some things to say about him, some very good things indeed. As the dynamism of Flamini at the core of the first team has not yet been properly replaced, may these Wenger words provide some comfort to us all:

"I believe he did extremely well because he has drive and he can push the team forward. "He is always available, he wants the ball and he is very dynamic in his play. "

Wenger's quotes, suggest to me that, rather than, as one wag suggested in the summer, replacing Fabregas, Aaron could be the man to partner him next season. With this in mind, it's kind of upsetting to see a Top Ten of Patrick Vieira goals on Arse.com, I can't help- I'm sorry but he was my favourite player and I can't- thinking how we would be with Patrick sitting behind Cesc now. Instead, we're reliant on a boy wonder. Or Abou Diaby.

That being said, and perhaps I've not said it, or said it enough here, given how bleak things were looking pre Christmas with injuries mounting up, I've been really impressed, if not by the quality of the football, than by the way the team seem to have got it together and are building up an impressive run of matches unbeaten- of course, now I've said it, we'll go and lose to Cardiff. But, and I know it 's as much due to the failure of the teams above us, irritating Aston Villa aside, the fact that we're hauling ourselves, "inch by inch" back into the title race, gives me hope for the rest of the season. Yes, even without Cesc!

I didn't write a blog yesterday because I wanted to try and answer the questions I posed in Monday's blog, but in trying to answer those questions, I found myself profoundly depressed. Everywhere you read about Arsenal in the blogosphere, it's doom, gloom and more doom and gloom, I didn't want to echo that. Hence no blog.

Did a day of not writing about Arsenal hlep my mood any?  Perhaps a little bit. I went home and ate pork chops... yum yum yum. I... oh, how could I forget? Finally, I received my membership pack from Arsenal- they beat the end of the decade and I lose my bet. Although I am currently engrossed in Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah, I took a look at the opening chapters and, cheekily skipping ahead, some of the Arsenal related writing in Perry Groves' autobiography. An absolute riot, I can't wait to explore it in more detail. So that cheered me up.

And then, as I got on my 7.30 train out of Terminal 5 this morning, I see a Metro lying on a seat carrying the news of Theo Walcott's injury in a training session for a friendly that nobody wanted and nobody really cares about. At least, not me, I knew there was a friendly tonight, I only realised this morning it was against Germany-  only because of John Terry's tubthumping.

Three months. Three bloody months. Though I said a couple of days ago I thought Theo probably needed some kind of break, I didn't mean this. So, Arsène will take his squad up to Manchester at the weekend without Cesc, without Walcott and without Carlos Vela, though hopefully we will have both Robin and Ade fit for selection. What a palaver. It seems obvious to me that Abou Diaby will deputise for Walcott after the Citeh game, but who replaces Cesc on Saturday? It has to be Aaron Ramsey. That is, assuming he comes back in one piece from his tour of duty, but perhaps the boss will be tempted to play Diaby in the centre. It is after all, supposed to be his position. Personally, I'd like to see Ramsey and Diaby in the centre on Saturday and see how they get on... could Jay Simpson do a job wide if he was required? I'd like to see him on the bench at the very least. It's ironic that as the striker crisis is easing, our midfield options are reduced dramatically. 

I don't know if it is ironic actually, it certainly isn't surprising. Let's hope we're in no worse a position tomorrow afternoon.

If this blog was a Martin Scorcese movie, you would get at this point a jump cut of images, getting on the train at Grove Park, the Northern Line at London Bridge, Chicken Satay at Miso, a beer from a newsagents, Rachid on the corner of Liverpool road and then finally the facade of the "EMIRAES STADIUM". No, not a typo, one of the lightbulbs on the north-west side has died. I do have a photo of this but due to having a new mobile phone, with internet settings that aren't functioning properly, I can't upload it here.Perhaps later, and consider yourselves slapped on the wrist, O2.

Anyway, Arsène said in the aftermath of the Stoke defeat, let's talk again in three weeks "when we are the best" . And everyone laughed at him, I guess it would be wrong to say I didn't. It was also noted that the series of home games, last night's being the third of four in a row might be the most important of Arsène's time with us. Now, I'm not saying a draw with Fenerbahce, a win against Manchester United and then a fairly comfortable win against Wigan last night means that we're going to win everything in sight, but once again, we've been shown that perhaps there is a reason why journalists do what they do, fans are fans and Arsène is Arsène.

In a team unchanged from the previous round save for Jay Simpson getting the nod to replace Bendtner, even before Arsenal took the lead last night, they might well have been 3-0 up, Chris Kirkland making a couple of fantadtic saves from Aaron Ramsey and Carlos Vela, whilst Jay Simpson hit the bar.  Vela had also been put through earlier but Kirkland managed to tip the ball away without taking the player down in front of a slightly subdued Carling Cup crowd- did it just seem that way because of the fantastic atmospheres generated in the last two and a half league matches? Minutes before half time, as people again left for half time pints, Jack Wilshere played Simpson in with a lovely through ball, Simpson's pace took him away and he only needed one touch to slide the ball past Chris Kirkland. Three guys in front of me, otherwise upstanding and singing all night missed the goal, as someone pointed out to them on their return, one of them replied that he'd seen it on the tv. So perhaps, Arsenal, there's your answer, get rid of the tellys. Oh but then people will stop buying the fizzy liquid passed off as beer so much, won't they? What a conundrum.

Anyway, second half, Keiran Gibbs might have scored, played in by Ramsey after he had stepovered his way from the half way line, waiting for the run he knew was coming outside him. Gibbs' first time shot was blocked. So it fell to Carlos Vela to guarantee progression to the next round. First off, he chased a ball down our left, cut into the area in front of us and rather than shooting, picked out the onrushing Simpson who crashed home his second of the night.

Better followed for our "Mexican Superstar", we were in the middle of imploring Arsène to give us a wave, when somehow, I don't know how, because I was looking at le gaffeur, the ball landed at Vela's feet in the box, one on one with the keeper he delivered a chip that I believe  most jounalists would describe as "impudent", it seemed to fly high into the moonlit air and take ages to drop down into the back of the net. Another wonderful moment for the young Mexican to savour in front of the home fans, such displays of lethality will surely see him knocking on the first team door sooner rather than later. I can't think of another first team player who would have scored that goal, except perhaps "Arsenal's number 9, Eddy Eddy!" 

The rest of the game became a bit of a procession, as Rachid noted, Wigan had given up but late on they forced a double save from Fabianksi that was well worth staying to the end to witness. And speaking of witness, it was Roots Manuva's Witness (1 Hope) that greeted Jo and I as we popped into the Library for a celebratory White Russian or two after the game. I look forward to the next round.

Welcome to another schizophrenic blog post.

You might be forgiven for thinking that after last night's no score draw in the north London enormodome, I'm currently hanging from the rafters with a noose around my neck. Not so.

I thought that it was very obvious last night that; a) Fenerbahce arrived in London determined to avoid any semblance of a repeat of the events of two weeks ago and, b) once again Arsène rotated his team with a huge game looming on the horizon. 

Fenerbahce didn't, in my opinion, come to play, they came to sit 10 men behind the ball and frustrate. They acheived that end, if not admirably then competently. That foul on van Persie as he turned to go one on one with the keeper being the highlight of a night of cynicism and negativity. The foul that left Silvester on the floor for a couple of minutes was so well executed that neither the referee or the linesman saw it. See, it's things like that that grind Arsène's gears.

Concentrating on us, I thought Aaron Ramsey looked really good in the first half before tiring and beginning to give balls away as Cesc Fabregas did seemingly all game. Another of the players I wanted to see in last night did well and proved that not all Arsenal centre backs have to be scared of heading the ball. Every time Djourou has begun a game at the back for the Gunners this season, we've kept a clean sheet. Coincidence? Probably, but he needs to be given the chance to stand or fall. Fabianksi had little to do, but in the main he handled well, the only problem he had was a rush of blood to the head in the first half. Finally, Carlos Vela was given the opportunity to try and break through the yellow brick wall, but was maybe guilty of trying to do too much too often.

Our attacking threat seemed mainly to be carried through van Persie, who Cesc played in delightfully early on, but his shot had to be taken quickly and fizzed wide of the post. Robin didn't have a great night, but was probably unlucky, later on, to see Demerel's fingertips divert the ball onto the crossbar and away. I also thought skipper Kolo had a lively game at full back, also going close with a chipped free kick. It's a shame though that when it comes to final ball, he lacks a bit of composure. He was by no means the only one last night though.

So far, so normal. I close here though, with this assertion. We will beat Manchester United on Saturday afternoon. I have no rational reason for this belief, and I can't see how we will score a goal, whilst I can see all too clearly how United will, but football is never played on what should happen, it's played on what does happen. And I think what will happen is that one player will stand up for us on Saturday and win us the game.  

Rational? Me?

What was Dennis Bergkamp to you?

To me, the man is, and will always be. a total legend. Albeit one who perhaps went on a season or two too long. Never the less, an Arsenal legend and by all accounts a thoroughly decent chap. The very anithesis of the modern footballer stereotype perpetuated by David Bentley, Ashley Cole and, so as not to make this sound like the rantings of a bitter man, Frank Lampard in fact. So it's fitting that Gaël Clichy, another who knows how lucky he is to have football rather than the other way round, has told L'Equipe of a conversation that took place with the great man when Cole and Clichy were both occupying the treatment table in 2005,

'He watched Ashley Cole, who was also having a treatment, and finally said: ‘Come back soon, and if you succeed, you will get his position.’ Dennis and Ashley are friends, but that simple sentence was so good to me. I held on, and then I recovered quickly.'

We all know what happened in 2006 and so the youngster, who seemed to have a lot of bad luck with injuries up until the move to our new home, has now become one of our most consistent performers. Over at A Cultured Left Foot, the speculation is how this coversation, if it was heard by him, would have affected Cole. For me, the potential effect on Clichy to hear something like that coming from Dennis must have been hugely galvanising. It must have been similar to Tony Adams casually, and famously now, remarking to Dennis himself a few years previously, "You've been here two and a half years, isn't about time you won something? It would be a shame not to with your ability"

Of course, at the end of Dennis' third year, Arsenal had the Premier League trophy and FA Cup residing in their trophy cabinet. Job done and mission accomplished, perhaps the youngsters at the club now need that kind of pyschological management around them.

Speaking of youngsters, what a goal young Aaron Ramsey scored for Wales U-21s last night. It needs to be seen to be believed. It's difficult to imagine he will ever score a better one, Aaron also went on to deliver another defence splitting through ball for the second goal Wales scored last night. He's getting a bit of a habit for those. I didn't see the game last night, but my Tottenham supporting mate Randall did and was telling me (no pressure here) that Ramsey is already better than Fabregas! Another one subscribing to the theory that, rather than partner him, Ramsey is here to deputise for and ultimately replace Cesc when he returns to Cataluña. I'm not sure about that myself and given the fact there's only 4 years between the two lads, it seems unlikely; but could there come a time when Cesc finds himself subject to the same law of diminishing returns that, once upon a time, saw him replacing Patrick Vieira at the hub of our engine room?

First, let me apologise for the lateness and length of last night's match report, I know you were all waiting with baited breath. Gremlins prevented me posting what I wanted when I wanted, so you all got the redux version. Sorry!

It's clear to me that three weeks of good results, particularly the two trips to the north west, have dissipated the cloud of doom that had descended over N5 at the close of the transfer window. You remember those dark days, don't you? We "only" had Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey and fish face to show for our summer's wheeling and dealing. Too injury prone, too young and too crap and manyoonited coloured.

Yet, on Tuesday night, we exited the ground singing "Arsene Wenger's Red and White Army!" and "We are top of the League". Okay, it's very, very early to be singing that. As I remarked to Jo, in between choruses, I'd rather be singing that in April- or May, come to that- but isn't it great to be able to sing it at all? And in the face of such an early demonstration of the talent bubbling under the surface ranks of the first team squad, perhaps even the cynics are starting to believe. Which is a dangerous place to be, because if it all goes wrong, they'll be the first, and loudest voices complaining. Speaking of which, it was amusing to hear Ian Wright crowing about Arsenal and giving it large about believing in Wenger's way last night. Was it not 6 weeks ago that Wrighty bemoaned the lack of big name signings and, by extension, the lack of excitement to be seen in north London this summer?

So, Wrighty's a believer again. If there's a danger of anyone getting carried away about anyone, it will be the next big english hope to roll off the Arsenal production line,  Jack Wilshere. The papers have already started. The Times going with a big headline telling you that Arsene's compared him to Liam Brady. Which isn't quite the case, others have been doing it. I wonder what Pat Rice, who of course played with Liam, makes of it all. I'm way too young to have seen Liam for Arsenal, so I don't know, but I do think that for a 16 year old to play as well and as assuredly as he did on Tuesday, not only is he very talented, he clearly has a maturity beyond his years. But I will not compare him to Cesc Fabregas, absolutely not. Of course, in the hubbub caused by Vela's stunning hat trick and Wilshere's first Arsenal goal, Aaron Ramsey has largely been forgotten by the media. "Is it cos he is welsh?" But he showed enough to suggest he will be playing a bigger part in Arsenal's season as it progresses. Abou Diaby must be a worried man, I would be if I was him, earmarked for a starting berth in central midfield for two seasons, he's not been fit enough to get there and the competiton is clamouring around him again.

Which is great news for us. Till tomorrow.