Mark Noble Should Burn

Yep, I said it. Mark Noble's tackle on Alex Hleb was simply shocking and really could have broken his leg. I thought his knee was blown out for sure when I saw it and he should have been sent off. So yet another reason to hate West Ham.

Anyways, we won the match 1-0 from a RvP header from a Hleb cross and took our winning streak to eight games. We're still unbeaten on the season in all competitions and it's wonderful to get a win against West Ham who we lost to twice last year. Even better that it was on the road because I have been worried that our form was exaggerated by the fact that most of our games had been at home.

Sorry for missing the match report yesterday but I was with Lady ArseNole and didn't really have a chance to write anything.

So anyways now it's on to today's news.

The Carling Cup draw took place yesterday and we have been drawn away to Sheffield United. They were in the Premiership last year and were awful but they did beat us somehow so it may be a tough game. It's away from home but we did well away from home in the Carling Cup last year and I'd expect a win from the young guns.

Theo Walcott spoke to the press about how he's really fired up this season and about his lofty goals for himself. He says he's set a goal of 25 starts and 10 goals. I don't really think he's going to be able to get to either of them, but the 25 starts is more likely than the 10 goals. He just seems to look lost whenever he gets down by the opponents' net and when he shoots it is usually not a very good attempt. I'm hoping Walcott progresses but I did think we would have seen more from him by now. He's still young though so I'll be withholding judgment at least until next season.

Arsene Wenger spoke about Mark Noble's cuntiness and said that Hleb's leg looked like a disaster and was red and bruised all over. He did say that Hleb will be out Tuesday but he'll take it game by game after that.

Wenger also spoke about how the Premiership is more important than the Champion's League this season. This seems to be exactly the opposite of what Arsene has said the last few seasons, and it makes me wonder if he just decides what is important by how well we start in the league.

We play Bucharest on Tuesday and I'll get up a match preview in the next few days. Like I said before if you want to contribute to the Arsenole Podcast please email me. Click the link in the top right corner of the page.

Fat Russian Strikes Again

Once again Alisher Usmanov has bought more of Arsenal Football Club, when everyone clearly despises the man. He's now up to 23% ownership of the club and the magic number is 30% when you are forced under league rules to launch a takeover bid. He just isn't giving up on taking over the club and even though his takeover bid would undoubtedly fail, I hate to see him as even a part owner of the club I support. If he gains two more percent of the shares he will become the largest shareholder over Danny Fiszman who has 24%. Apparently there is now a petition to the league to better enforce the "fit and proper" clause for club owners started by some Arsenal fans. I suggest everyone read and sign it here. It's an official government petition so if you really want this fat twat out of your club sign up.

In response to all this rubbish, Arsene Wenger, the legend of a man, has promised that whoever the owners of the club are he'll keep them happy. He said whatever happens on club level will not affect him or his squad. He's pretty much always had this stance, through Kroenke and now Usmanov, that it didn't really concern him. I kind of wish however that he would be more vocal against a hostile takeover because look what happened at Chelsea...that certainly affected the manager and the squad. I couldn't think of anything worse than that happening at my beloved Arsenal.

Wenger also said that he never considered leaving Arsenal for another club when he was debating about signing his new contract.

About the match tomorrow, we'll still have Almunia in goal. Song, Gallas, Lehmann, and Rosicky are for sure out and Hleb is doubtful. More to come tomorrow with all of that.

That's about all I have today, really not that much news. Have a good weekend.

Quick Newcastle Review and More

See this is not your everyday match report. I also promised "and More." So be expectant although there isn't all that much more to write about today.

Our performance against Newcastle was brilliant for the youngsters but very frustrating for the first 83 minutes or so. I couldn't see the match because it wasn't on anywhere in the world so I was watching a text alert gamecast. We were taking a startling amount of shots, especially in the second half, and none of them were going in. After watching the highlights I realized that we were in possession of the ball for most of the game and had most of the attacks, although the first real chance went to Obafemi Martins. He got a head on a cross and should have put it in from about five feet away but Fabianski made a fantastic stop.

Eduardo had a couple of chances as well as Eboue and Walcott, but we just couldn't beat Shay Given as he was blocking everything we hit at him. Bendtner also sent a header over the crossbar when he probably should have scored.

Finally the breakthrough came. Eduardo fed Traore down the left and he whipped in a cross that Bendtner headed into the corner superbly. It was his first goal for the club and a brilliant one at that. You could feel the goal coming and it finally did unlike last year when we would have all the chances and never score. Good for Bendtner to get off the mark.

Another young gun got his first strike just five minutes later. Diaby made a good run into the box and beat two defenders before feeding Denilson just outside of the box who put a scorcher into the top corner and Given really had no chance. A great strike and his first for the club.

So the match ended 2-0 to the Arsenal and we're on a winning streak. It was a good all around performance for our young guns and they showed the quality they have by beating a full strength Newcastle side. Man of the match will go to Traore for me, good in defense and good going up the flank and crossing. Senderos was a bit shaky again but I really do think he will come around eventually.

So on to some other news...

Manuel Almunia says that the number 1 keeper jersey is his and Jens can keep his hands off of it. He says, "I need to hold onto the number 1 jersey with all my strength and not let go of it." He has looked quite good so far this season and I think Jens and Almunia will possibly have to fight it out, like fist-fight, cuz Jens is quite mad and I think he really wants to be first team as well. Competition is good though.

Gilberto is wanting a new deal. His current one expires at the end of 2009 and I think he'll be 32 at that time, correct me if I'm wrong. I honestly think he'll be on the way out at that point and don't think he'll get a new deal. Flamini is playing well and Diarra looks good and they both play the same role as the old Brazilian. I like Gilberto a lot but I just don't see Wenger keeping him past 2009.

Nick Bendtner told reporters that confidence is "sky high" in the Arsenal dressing room right now.

"At the moment the confidence is really, really high. The win over Newcastle was just another showing of what the club is going through at the moment.

"We are doing everything really well. Everyone is really happy and wants to play for the club."

They all are playing quite well and we'll obviously hope it continues.

That's all for the day, I'll try to do better tomorrow. Later

Carling Cup vs Newcastle Preview

Alright so we have a match today against Newcastle and it'll be in the Carling Cup, the very same cup that our youngsters (meaning even younger than Cesc) made it all the way to the final last year. Wenger always plays a young squad in these games and you know as good as the young guns played last year in the competition I'm fairly nervous about this match. Newcastle will be throwing everything they have at us since they have no real chance of any silverware that other teams actually want. It'll be interesting to see if our young defenders are ready to face N'Zogbia and Martins and the like.

The squad has been named and I think the lineup will look like this:

Fabianski
Hoyte-Song-Senderos-Traore
Eboue-Diaby-Diarra-Walcott
Bendtner-Eduardo

And the bench being: Mannone, Merida, Denilson, Hoyte, Lansbury

Could be completely wrong but what can ya do. Maybe he plays Denilson instead of Diaby because Diaby has been getting some games and it'd be nice to see Denilson, but who knows. I'm hoping we get a chance to see Merida, Hoyte, or Lansbury because they are the newest of the young generation to step up to the first team fringes.

Like I said Newcastle will be putting out a strong lineup and we will have to match them. The match is sold out so they will definitely have plenty of support from the fans. We know these young players have talent they just have to play to their maximum potential and not get intimidated by more experienced opposition.

Few other news items quickly today.

Arsene Wenger is in no rush to spend his 70 million pound transfer budget.

Peter Hill-Wood ripped into Chelsea, the small club.

Lasagna Diarra says he's ready to play the match today. (Good thing since he's starting)

And that's really all I have today. Sorry it's so short, will try to do better tomorrow.

PS if anyone wants to help me out and put something on my podcast for the site let me know at Kykins27@bellsouth.net

Arsenal FC, the Richest Club in Britain

That has a nice ring to it wouldn't you say? The board released the club's financial numbers today for the past year, and they really are astounding. You can read more about it here. The club's profits for the last year are up an amazing 274% to 51.2 million pounds. This is before "player trading" is taken into effect, meaning the losses of Reyes, Henry, Ljungberg have not been added into that profit number. Another big number in the positive for the club is that we generate 3.1 million quid per match. The overall turnover for the club for the season was 200 million quid, which makes Arsenal, not Manchester United, the richest club in Britain. In the entire continent Arsenal is only beaten in turnover for the year by Real Madrid.

Do you think the fat oligarch will realize we really don't need his investment? I realize he wants to come in and make some money off the richest club in Britain but this shows that our board runs a thriving business and it leads to wonderful football. Our numbers go up every year without foreign investment and while Chelsea's owner is driving off a great manager and Man U is loaded with debt, Arsenal Football Club continues to make more and more money and uses it to make the club even better still. Stay away Usmanov, we really don't want your sort.

In addition to all this, Keith Edelman spoke about transfer money available to Arsene Wenger. He said Wenger didn't use all of his money available in the summer and will have loads to spend in January if he wishes.

'We gave Arsene a budget in the summer and he didn't even spend all of it on transfers and hopefully we'll be able to carry that forward into future years.'

He added: 'We have got plenty of financial firepower to makes the transfers Arsene wants to make.

'We had over £70million of cash at the end of the year and if Arsene wants to spend that money we will make it available.'

Wow. 70 million is a ton of money. Now while that's all good and well that he has all this money at his disposal it's unlikely that Arsene will spend it. Look at his record and you will see that he has always favored cheaper signings and his worst signings have generally been the most expensive ones (Reyes, Jeffers). Another thing is that if the squad is still playing as well as they are now he may choose not to add to it just so that it won't have any negative effects on the team chemistry. But again, maybe he will choose to use some of it and uncover some other young gems that make this football club so great.

Tomas Rosicky will be out at least two weeks with his hamstring injury, which is a shame. He gets these little injuries every now and then and it's quite annoying, especially since we don't really have anyone to back him up on the left wing. Wenger may keep Diaby out there but maybe Walcott or Eduardo will get a run out.

Cesc Fabregas says he could see himself in an Arsenal shirt ten years from now. He said he is enjoying his football so much and also that Henry leaving has really taken a load off everyone's shoulders.

And last for the day, Denilson is going to have a new contract soon. The young Brazilian is quite skillful and should feature in the Carling Cup tomorrow. He's kindof a Cesc-like player and I like him quite a bit and I am glad that he's getting a new contract. In fact, unlike last year when I couldn't stand Hleb or Flamini (or sometimes Eboue), I'm happy with the entire squad right now. I guess winning does that for you.

Later ArseNolians

Arsenal 5-0 Derby

Well I was expecting a win but this was so much more than that. 5-0 and we were clicking all over the pitch. I'm not going to do a full match report because there's lots to get to but I will talk about the goals really quickly.

1-0 - Diaby - Diaby hasn't always looked amazing on the left wing, to say the least, but this was a real stunner. Dribbled up to just outside the box, skipped around one defender but ran right into another. He got around him and let fly from a couple yards outside of the box and it was a real rocket into the top right corner. Good to see him get off the mark for the year.

2-0 - Adebayor - The first of Adebayor's greatest performance yet for the Gunners. He played the offside trap perfectly and timed his run to get on the end of a ball over the top, circled the keeper and it was basically a tap-in into an empty net. Great control and finishing.

3-0 - Adebayor - This one was scored from the penalty spot. Eduardo got "pulled down," although if i was a Derby fan I'd probably be upset about the call. But Adebayor stepped up to take it and you could see the confidence as he sent it low into the right corner. The keeper dove the right way but it was just too powerful for him to handle.

4-0 - Fabregas - Does he ever stop scoring? Let's hope not. He's on a six match scoring streak now and this one was brilliant too. A long range effort from the right channel that went straight for the top left corner. It was tipped but it still flew into the net. Great goal.

5-0 - Adebayor - Another great goal to complete his hat trick. The ball came to him high, he chested it down and immediately beat the defender off the dribble and fired a shot to the bottom right corner. Again the keeper got a hand to it but it was always going in. Brilliant day by Ade.

Man of the Match - Emmanuel Adebayor was amazing in this match. His first hat trick for the club and he of course gets the MOTM.

Needs Work - Although Diaby scored a goal from there today, he's really not a bloody winger Wenger. I hope he gets more time in the center.

So now on to some other news.

For those he didn't get to see it, The ArseNole made the news in London for all the Usmanov fallout that I wrote about the other day. Pretty impressive for a small site in Florida to make the news in London. I was only trying to point out the allegations against the man trying to buy our beloved club and next thing you know the site is on the news. I haven't however received any threats of legal action yet, but I'll keep you all updated.

Denilson is about to get a new deal from the club. He's going to be brilliant in the future I think and I hope he doesn't get tired of waiting to break into the first team. It's a crowded place in the center of midfield right now but he is young and will get his chance if he just waits a little bit. Looking forward to hopefully seeing him in the Carling Cup against Newcastle this week.

Arsene Wenger has talked about our newfound ruthlessness in front of goal this year.

"You can see that there is something more in there that is called ruthless and belief. I believe in the team."

As a group the whole team seems to be making much better use of chances this year than we did last. Remember losing to Sheffield United and West Ham twice? Well those are the games we are winning this year, the ones we are expected to win. We have West Ham again next Saturday, so hopefully we can keep the streak going.

In news not related to our club, Chelsea lost 2-0 to United today to begin their hopeful run of shite performances without Mourinho.

Alisher Usmanov: The Rundown

After reading my blog comment yesterday from one "phat," I realized that some people do not realize what foreign ownership by Usmanov would mean for this club, so I'm putting together this little miniature biography for you.

Alisher Usmanov

• Ranked number 142 on the Forbes list of the World's Richest People in 2007
• Gained wealth from mining, lumber, and investment
• He spent SIX YEARS IN JAIL in the 1980's for crimes of corruption and extortion against the government of the former Soviet Union
• Craig Murry's article, former ambassador to Uzbekistan, made further still allegations against Usmanov...more information below.
  

On September 20th, Bloggerheads.com, the weblog of Tim Ireland was taken down for reproducing Craig Murray's article. The removal of the host server also caused the loss of other blogs belonging to the MP Boris Johnson as well as others; none of which themselves had reproduced the article.

His lawyers had this to say:

“Mr Usmanov was imprisoned for various offences under the old Soviet regime. We wish to make it clear our client did not commit any of the offences with which he was charged. He was fully pardoned after President Mikhail Gorbachev took office. All references to these matters have now been expunged from police records . . . Mr Usmanov does not have any criminal record.”

Right, and Sp*rs are going to finish in the top four...

Craig had a response to that, saying this:

"Let me make it quite clear that Alisher Usmanov is a criminal. He was in no sense a political prisoner, but a gangster and racketeer who rightly did six years in jail. The lawyers cunningly evoke "Gorbachev", a name respected in the West, to make us think that justice prevailed. That is completely untrue."

After this was posted, Alisher's legal team shut down many blogs by threatening legal action.

Is this the kind of man we want running our beloved football club? Read the facts and then you decide...

ArseNole

Arsenal 3-0 Sevilla

What a great run we've been on, and what a great start to the Champion's League! 3-0 against the second best team in our group is really more than i could have hoped for. I guessed our goals correctly but I thought they would push a few past us but we held strong and kept them out.

Our lineup was a bit different from the match against Sp*rs, we went with:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Senderos-Clichy
Hleb-Cesc-Flamini-Rosicky
RvP-Adebayor

The game started off with a chance for Adebayor in the first minute but his shot just wasn't there. He's had a couple of those this season where he misses a good chance, and tonight was no exception. He really needs to get better with his finishing. I love his work rate and his energy but please Manu you have to put the ball in the net.

In the 28th minute Cesc, the goal scoring machine, had his shot from thirty yards deflect off of a Sevilla defender and right into the back of the net. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Right at the end of the half Adebayor missed a chance and Sevilla missed two chances to equalize but nothing came of them and we went into half time 1-0 up.

Tomas Rosicky had to go off injured shortly after half time, and he seemed to have pulled his hamstring. He seems to get these nagging injuries all the time. Never serious ones thank God but ones that just keep him out for a few weeks at a time and take him out of his rhythm. Diaby came on to replace him and had quite a rough night out on the left. He's really not a winger at all and Wenger needs to put Walcott or Clichy or anyone else up there in the left of midfield because it isn't where Diaby needs to be.

A couple minutes later we had a freekick in a good position and Cesc took it. Sagna, who was brilliant in this match, headed it on to RvP's foot and he finished it easily. 2-0 to the Arsenal.

The last goal was a typical Arsenal goal. There was a poor pass out of the Sevilla defense which was intercepted by Hleb, who then waited for support, found Fabregas, who squared back to Eduardo for a nice finish. Great passing and the beautiful game was on display at the Emirates. 3-0 to the Arsenal. Good to see Eduardo score as well.

So overall it was a great performance against a good team that has won the UEFA cup two times in a row. A couple of players stood out for me, Bacary Sagna was great, Flamini gets better every game, Clichy is the best left back in England, and Cesc is...well brilliant.

Man of the Match: Cesc Fabregas - I'm getting quite used to writing this. A goal and an assist give him the award, and he had some great passing as well. World class.

Needs Work: Big Phil Senderos - Very, very sketchy in defense. Looked like he had no confidence really. Needs to get it together because we need him this season.

In other news Jose Mourinho has left Chelsea, which is good news for everyone who hated that egotistical twat. He's a very good manager but I guess after all the drama it finally caught up with them and now he's left. Chelsea will be distracted hopefully by looking now for someone to replace him and maybe they'll lose all of their matches. Hopefully.

While all this is going on at Chelsea, it's wonderful to see our manager sign a new contract and for the team to all have such a great spirit. If we can keep this up through wins AND losses, and yes there will be losses, then we have a real chance at making a run at the title this year. We need to keep playing like we're playing.

Up the Arsenal

Arsenal-Sevilla Preview

So now it's the official start of Arsenal's Champion's League for the year and what a tie we have tonight. We have Sevilla at home, probably the best number 2 seed in any of the groups and really the one everyone wanted to avoid. They play a wide open game very much like Arsenal's but just more Spanish and more shite. They have some great players though and are not to be taken lightly even though it's at our ground. Daniel Alves is one of the best right backs in the world and was linked with Chelsea over the summer. He loves to get forward so we'll have to watch out for him. Fredi Kanoute went to Sevilla after spending time at our hated rivals The Shite Hart Cunts. He'll be playing like it's a north Nondon derby since he never beat Arsenal while he really was in North London.

Here's what I think our lineup will look like today:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Senderos-Clichy
Hleb-Cesc-Diaby-Rosicky
Van Persie-Adebayor

Some may be thinking that Eduardo should get a game but I don't think you can take out Adebayor after his goals against Sp*rs so I think he stays in the lineup, but maybe Van Persie gets a rest, who knows. Our injury situation is the same as last week, we have Gallas, Lehmann, and Eboue out.

It seems like Gallas "might be fit" about two weeks ago and still isn't, and it's reminding me of last year when it always sounded like he'd be back soon and he would come back a month or two after. Let's hope it's not the case but ever since he came to Arsenal he has been injured a lot of the time and it really is worrying.

Like I said though, both teams play wide open football and it should be a great game to watch. I think our quality and experience in the Champion's League will pay off and we will get through tonight with three points. My final prediction: 3-2 to the Arsenal.

In other news, our former captain Thierry Henry says that Cesc is right, we play more as a team without him. I agree, it seems like when Henry was here we passed the ball to him on every offensive possession but now we have gotten better at involving everyone and it is paying off for us.

Peter Hill-Wood has said that Alisher Usmanov is a cunt and he'd much rather have a beer with Stan Kroenke. He also said that David Dein is destabilsing the club but he still has no intention to sell shares to Usmanov and Dein, but is prepared to talk with Kroenke. He had this to say:

"I would think Kroenke is probably a long-term investor and I would welcome him as a shareholder more than Usmanov - unquestionably,"

"He is involved in sport and understands it. As for Usmanov, I am not sure what he wants or why he wants to get involved.

"He is clearly a very determined fellow, but it won't get him anywhere. It doesn't change anything.

"The board is absolutely resolute and they have no intention of selling to Dein and Usmanov.

"This is all very disruptive and I can understand the fans being upset. The club has been stable for many years and this is destabilising it.

"I think David is very much the architect of that."

Kapow! Eat that one David Dein you little twat! It's absolutely wonderful that we have a board that recognizes that he is only trying to take over this club for his own gains and they aren't letting him have any part of it. Keep strong boys.

That's all I have for the day. Enjoy the match.

Usmanov Ups Stake, Traore Arrested

So there actually is a bit of news before the Sevilla match tomorrow so I'll give the quick run down.

First off we have Armand Traore's arrest last Saturday. Apparently Armand went to White Hart Lane to watch the match with a mate of his and was caught with a set of knuckle dusters going through the turnstile. They were both arrested but then shortly released after only receiving a warning. Apparently he told the police that he was from France and that of course everyone carries them around in France. He was probably just going to use them if Robbie Keane got on the pitch. He would dash out in the pitch, slide tackle Keane and punch his legs until they were a bleeding pulp that fell off so he could never do a cunty cartwheel again.

In other news, Alisher Usmanov has upped his stake in Arsenal to 21%. If he buys Kroenke's that would put him over the limit to at least make a takeover bid. I'm sure it would be rejected but it would be quite scary to see him have upwards of 35% of the club. I think Kroenke has lost interest frankly and would be willing to sell if he will make a profit, so we'll see where this goes. Usmanov has not said he is looking to takeover Arsenal, but he's obviously a lying twat. Just look at the picture of him. Quite scary if we had that man running our beloved club.

Fredi Kanoute today pointed out the obvious. He says Sevilla must stop Cesc if they are going to have a chance to beat Arsenal. The former Sp*rs twat really had to work hard to think of that. He says that winning back to back UEFA cups has given them the experience needed to win against us but I think a draw is more likely. Probably put up a match report tomorrow.

Arsene Wenger has said he is unconcerned by the takeover possibility, and is pretty much saying the same things he always does.

"I am responsible for the results at the club and not for the rest," said the Arsenal boss.

"People will buy and sell shares or not want to sell shares only if a club is doing well. My job is to make sure the club does well.

"I am not concerned about a Russian takeover. I am concerned about tomorrow's game. It will not disrupt anything."

Wenger really is all business and I think our club could be going through a war and Wenger could still have the team fired up and ready to play. He's a real legend.

That's really about all for the day. Match report to come tomorrow if I have time off from everything. Update on my Under 12 boys team that I coach is we are top of the table with three wins, no losses, and no draws.

Later Sp*rs Haters

Top of the League...Hopefully to Stay

It's great to be a Gooner eh? It was a simply magical match on Saturday as we kept our unbeaten streak against Sp*rs alive with a 1-3 win. We had two goal of the season candidates, and Adebayor's may win the award. What a flick up and shot to match. Cunty Robinson didn't have a chance. I'm not going to put up a match report for this one since I'm a day or two late so if you want to read one you can here.

So with Liverpool and Chelsea both drawing their matches, we have gone top of the league. Cesc Fabregas says we need to take it one match at a time and not get caught up in leading the league while it's so early in the year. He also talked about how he has found his scoring touch on the year.

"Last season I had the same chances and never scored. But this year I've had even less and scored more."

"We need to keep winning, which was what we were missing the last two seasons.

"We lost a lot of points at the beginning, had to come back, and it was too difficult as the teams at the top did not lose any points.

"We're on a good run but have to keep going as this was just one game. It's just the beginning."

Cesc is a legitimate candidate for Player of the Year so far this year and I think there's much more to come from the young Spaniard. Let's hope he can keep his form going and stay healthy and we will get to see even more magic like we saw on Saturday.

Now that Arsenal are winning despite losing Henry, which everyone said couldn't be done, there is talk about the Gunners bringing home the title this year. Emmanuel Adebayor was quick to say that it's quite early in the year and we have to take it game by game.

"We are very happy and we are very confident at the moment, but it is now about keeping it going."

"Every game we play they call it a test. We feel that as well, but the most important thing is taking it one game at a time.

"We are showing maturity now, every player knows how to play for 90 minutes. But we don't want to speak about the title, we just want to keep on going.

"We are learning and we are playing good football. If we carry on like that we'll see where we are at the end of the season."

He's had a bit of a slow start to the season, probably because of injuries, but he really does love to score against Tottenham. He's a real difference maker every time we play them.

The next match is Wednesday and we face Sevilla. They are a good side who have one the UEFA cup the past two seasons and now they're looking to make a run at the Champion's League. Arsene Wenger knows of their quality and he spoke about it.

"I know Sevilla very well and I think that they are one of the best sides in Europe."

"It is a match which, from the very start, will dictate the potential of the two sides.

"It is important for us to play well as we are at home and we will need to be very focused both to prove that we are good enough at this level and, more importantly, to put us in a good position to qualify."

I think we'll be able to get past Sevilla simply because we are at home and in good form. They like to attack but that seems to play to our advantage. Look at when we played other attacking sides...we beat Man U twice last season and they are another team that likes to play going forward.

Wenger also spoke about Theo Walcott, saying this season is vital for him.

“He told me he knows it’s an important year for him.

“I studied the team who won the World Cup for France in 1998. They all started age 18.

“If you don’t get in the team at 18, 19, 20 doubts start. He’s at an age now where you expect him to exert his personality and turn up in big games. OK he will still look young on occasions but as well it is [time] to show that this guy can be a player.

Tottenham-Arsenal Preview

So it's time for another North London Derby. I'm really looking forward to it honestly. Sp*rs spent so much money in the summer and it's at their ground so they'll be looking to win. Unfortunately for them, they never beat the mighty Gunners.

The injury situation is not so good for us, especially at centre-back. Senderos is suspended for his red card last match and Gallas is still injured. This means that Gilberto, who has been gone on international duty until today, will probably fill in at the back. I still maintain that we should not have sent out Djourou on loan. We only have three centre backs in the squad now and that just isn't enough. Gallas is prone to injuries shown by last season and the beginning of this one. Senderos can play there well but it seems like he gets suspended quite a lot. Not only does playing Gilberto there mean that we have a midfielder playing center back, but we also take away from our midfield by having to play him at the back. Bacary Sagna is fit again so he'll most likely play at right back.

I'd guess the lineup then will look like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Gilberto-Clichy
Hleb-Cesc-Flamini-Rosicky
Van Persie-Adebayor

I picked Flamini in the midfield over Diaby and Denilson simply because the boss seems to like playing him this season. He has been in quite a few games and so I think that's the option he'll go for, even though I'd like to see Diaby in the game and get a few of those crunching tackles on the cunty Sp*rs players. Almunia has looked good in the games he has played so hopefully he can continue that. Adebayor has a tendency to score in these games and it seems like Gilberto does too but it will be tough for him to from the back so Ade can hopefully pick his game up and score a couple.

The last Tottenham victory over Arsenal was on November 7th, 1999, when Spurs won 2-1 at White Hart Lane; the Gunners have remained unbeaten against their North London rivals in the eighteen matches (fourteen Premiership, one FA Cup, two League Cup) since. In other words, they never beat the Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger has said the team will be ready for the match, even after the international break.

"It's a big game, so players straight away know they have to be switched on," he said.

Speaking about the international break, he had this to say:

"It's a big disturbance, this interruption, and all of the players have been under big pressure with their national teams.

"But if you want to be a successful team, you have to deal with that and Tottenham have had the same problem with their players."

I think the squad will come out looking strong even after the break and given how well we've played this season I'd say that we can come out with a win. Our midfielders have been scoring so they should be able to keep that up and our forwards should start scoring goals soon too. Tottenham are weak at the back, especially without Ledley King, and we really should be able to score goals.

As for my prediction, I'll say: Tottenham 1-2 Arsenal.

I Hate International Weeks

Hello everyone.

It's been a bloody terrible week for news. There hasn't even been a new story about a potential takeover of the club or anything. England beat Israel 3-0 on Saturday, but I don't honestly care. I'm counting down till the match against Sp*rs this weekend. Hopefully we can keep up the good form that we had been showing prior to this break. There haven't been many injuries from the internationals, but one did happen to Mad Jens. Seems he bumped his funny bone and will miss his match against Romania this week and may be out for the Tottenham game. I don't think this poses a great problem because I think Almunia would have started anyway. He has looked good in place of Jens and won't be giving up the Number 1 shirt easily.

Speaking of Jens and Almunia, Mad Jens has gone on a bit of a rant against Almunia. He says Almunia doesn't deserve to be the first choice keeper yet. He had this to say:

"I am without a doubt mentally the strongest player at Arsenal because I have more experience"

"There will always be a keeper who will play better for two or three matches but I have never seen anyone do this for ten games.

"I know that I have an advantage at Arsenal and that I can keep it. I don't see any young supermen keeping me out."

"I know I will be playing again at Arsenal. The coach will let me play.

"He knows it, and I know it - it doesn't matter if I have another week out.

"I have read that Almunia said he deserves to be the No 1 but until now he has not won a single important game."

It's all a bit mad really. How in character. Jens is the mentally strongest player at Arsenal? We may be in trouble then cuz he's a bit loony.

Emmanuel Adebayor is going to play for Togo again. He says he's fixed all his problems with the Togolese FA and is prepared to come back and play again.

Billy Gallas is hoping to be fit for the match this weekend and says his recovery is going well.

David Dein is a cunt.

Right-e-o that's about all I have in this boring boring week. Later

Wenger Signs New Deal

Arsene Wenger has finally committed his future to Arsenal by signing a three year contract extension through 2011. The deal is worth a reported 4 million pounds. This has been in the works for a while but it's great to see a deal finally get done with the most important part of Arsenal. Arsene said that it would be wrong to leave after bringing in so many young players and I agree. He convinced them all to come here to play the Arsenal way under his watch and to leave would have left them all out to dry so to speak.

The signing also gives us some stability during all the takeover saga's we've been through lately. First it was Kroenke now it's these Red and White Enterprises whose chairman just so happens to be one David Dein. The Arsenal board has done well keeping the club away from these investors who just want to make a buck and hopefully that will continue.

We've been out of the transfer season for one week and Cesc to Real rumors are already starting again. The papers are reporting that Fabregas had agreed to join Madrid next season, but Cesc has turned those rumors down.

"I am very happy at Arsenal and I go 100 per cent with the decision I took, although I praise the interest of Real in me."

Although it'd be nice if he said he just hated Real Madrid, we'll have to be happy about him staying for now, although I think eventually him leaving is inevitable. Arsene's new deal however should keep him around a while longer.

Jens Lehmann, gifter of free goals, says that he is still number 1 at Arsenal and for Germany.

"I feel I am the No.1 at Arsenal and Germany, although I know I have to train hard every day to justify this," he said.

Bit of a bold statement and I really don't know that he is the number 1 at Arsenal anymore. We'll have to see when he recovers from him "injury."

In other news, Pete H-W is going to have more talks with Stan Kroenke next month. I don't think he's working with David Dein anymore and I'd guess that's what old Petey will want to find out from him.

Tomas Rosicky, Alex Hleb, and Cesc Fabregas have all made a bet to see who can score the most goals this season. Cesc is leading the bet right now with four goals but Rosicky says that he hopes to take the crown as midfield scoring champ.

"I hope I can win it," he added. "It includes all competitions - Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup. When you look at those competitions last year I would have been the winner.

"It would be nice to win again but the most important thing is that we win the games. It doesn't really matter who scores."

It's bloody well worked so far so maybe they should bet on more things.

That's about it for the day. Later ArseNolians

News Before the Break

So of course, because Arsenal is on a good run, they throw in an international break right in the middle of it. You can see who all the Arsenal players that have been called up. Jens Lehmann and William Gallas have both been called up so hopefully that means they'll be ready to face Sp*rs.

Since the last post we've had two matches, one that I got to see and one that I didn't because I was at Disney World with my girlfriend and two friends.

We beat Sparta Prague at home 3-0 to win 5-0 on aggregate. Rosicky, Fabregas, and Eduardo all scored. It was pretty much over after we went up from Rosicky's goal since it put us up 3 goals aggregate with 2 of them being away goals.

The other match was home to Portsmouth. Adebayor scored a penalty in the 7th minute to get things rolling for the team and for him as it was his first goal of the season. It was a quite a good penalty really. Senderos got sent off in the 49th minute or so on a shite call where he barely touched Kanu but of course Kanu fell and the refferee sent him off straight away. So down to 10 men but 1-0 up and we seemed to get even better. Fabregas added a goal almost right after, then Rosicky got another a few minutes later. Kanu scored for Pompey but the game was really over. So another good win for the Gunners and we remained undefeated.

The main thing that you can really notice from those two games: the midfielders are scoring and it is outstanding. Fabregas only had one league goal all of last year and he has four goals this year already. Hleb is scoring and Rosicky is too. Gilberto was our leading midfield scorer last year and he's the one that hasn't scored yet. It's very encouraging seeing them scoring and motivating each other to contribute to the goals each game. Let's hope it continues.

Arsene Wenger says Eduardo is about to explode. Not literally of course but just into a super Crazilian forward that scores 4 goals against Spurs at the shite hole.

Dennis Bergkamp got inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. Good for him and fully deserved.

Lassana Diarra, who from now on will be called Lasagna, has signed from Chelsea about 12 seconds before the transfer deadline. He left because he wants more first team football and while he'll probably get a little bit more I can't see him playing all that much in league matches with at least Cesc, Gilberto, and Diaby ahead of him. He'll probably get a run out in the Carling Cup matches, which I think we got drawn against Newcastle in.

The Champion's League groups have been drawn as well, and we have a pretty good group. It'll have a tough tie against Sevilla, and we also play Steaua Bucharest and Slavia Prague. So pretty much everyone in Prague will be sick of Arsenal coming and beating their teams, first Sparta, now Slavia. Hopefully Tomas scores 5 goals or so against them since he probably doesn't like them from his Sparta days.

Well that's about all lads. Cheers.

ArseNole