David Rocastle Tribute (1967-2001)

Seven years ago today we lost an Arsenal legend, and a true legend of a man, David "Rocky" Rocastle. Now on the seventh anniversary of his passing, people are trying to make a difference for kids in his memory. There is a David Rocastle facebook group commemorating his life which I encourage everyone with a facebook page to join. The founders of the facebook group also decided to start their own website which has words from his family members and close friends about Rocky. They are in association with Arseshirts, who have produced three limited edition Rocky shirts and the proceeds will go to TreeHouse, which is Arsenal's charity for this season. This is a very noble cause and I encourage anyone who remembers David Rocastle to order one of these shirts or at least visit the website and facebook group.

David was born on May 2nd, 1967. He left school in 1983 and went straight into the schoolboy ranks at Arsenal, making his full debut in 1985 against Newcastle. He won his first winner's medal in 1987 after Arsenal beat Liverpool to win the League Cup.

David also won the league twice with Arsenal, and the first was in dramatic fashion. Who can forget about Anfield '89? We needed to win by two goals to win the league on goal difference at Liverpool and Alan Smith and Michael Thomas scored to give us the title. He was also a part of the title winning side in 1990-1991 even though he only played in 18 games due to a knee injury.


As far as internationals go, Rocky did that too, playing for England 14 times over the course of his career.

Tragedy struck David though in February 2001 when he contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is an extremely serious form of cancer that attacks the body's immune system. He was administered chemotherapy but the cancer did not recede, despite hopes it would do so. He died on March 31, 2001, at age 33.

In a tribute to Rocky, Arsenal made April 1st, 2006, "David Rocastle Day" where they had a minutes applause for him before the match. Arsenal won the match against Villa 5-0. Arsenal have also named an indoor youth facility after Rocky to honor him.

David was a great player and a great man, and will always be an Arsenal legend. Please visit the following links and help us honor David "Rocky" Rocastle.

Rocastle Links:

BBC Obituary for David

Rocky 7 Day Official Site

Rocky's Career Stats

Rocky Tribute Video

Sagna Injury is a Big Blow

Hello everybody. Not a whole ton of news before the Bolton game but obviously the biggest news is the injury to Bakary Sagna, who will be out "at least" the next three weeks. He injured it going for a clearance in the Chelsea match and we hadn't heard anything until last night when this news came out. This is a big blow for us not only in fighting for the title but also in the Champion's League which begins again next week.

Sagna has been one of most consistent players this year, along with probably Clichy and Flamini, and he is by far our best right back. If you read one of the posts from last summer, I said some very stupid things about how we didn't need another full back with Hoyte, Eboue, Clichy, Traore, Gilbert etc. Well please forgive me Bakary, you have been far more than I could have ever hoped for.

So now the debate will begin as to who should play right back for the next few weeks and maybe for the rest of the season. We'll run through the options real quick here:

1. Emmanuel Eboue - He's been playing on the wing this year but is a natural right back. Has been decent there in the past but nowhere near as good as Sagna defensively. Tends to lose his temper/mind about once per game and that is a liability. He is probably the best option of the three for getting forward though.

2. Justin Hoyte - Hoyte is a fringe player for us and rarely gets a game because we have Clichy and Sagna in front of him. He's better defensively than Eboue in my opinion but is still prone to making mistakes, probably due to lack of experience. I wouldn't mind seeing him against some weaker teams in the Premiership but I worry about him in the Champion's League against top teams.

3. Kolo Toure - Obviously Kolo is a centre back but if we put Senderos in the center and moved Kolo to the outside it would probably give us our best defensive back four out of these options. Kolo is a good defender with the speed to get forward when needed. His form has not been great lately but he usually plays well in big games and can also man-mark pretty well. Senderos was in his best form of the year while Kolo was at the African Nations Cup and while Toure was injured he kept it up. If he can regain that form than I think this is the best option for the team to go with.

Let me know what you think in the comments or at my new email address: Arsenole@arsenole.com

Several sources are linking us with former Gunner Seb Larsson. No way. Not happening. He isn't good enough and he's also a cunt. Just read what he said about Eduardo's injury.

Another player we've been linked with is Hatem Ben Arfa of Lyon. Now there is a player I would like us to buy, and Wenger seems to agree, albeit hesitantly.

“It’s a player I’ve known for a long long time, and that I rate, but I’ve never heard from Lyon that he is for sale. I just wanted to say that for me he is a good player with a big talent.”

I think it would be great if we could get him in. He can play attacking midfielder or out on the left wing. He'd be a nice addition but we'll see if we hear anything else about it.

And last but not least Cesc Fabregas has split from his agent because he wants to stay at Arsenal. Apparently his agent keeps trying to get him to move back to Spain but Cesc wants to stay so he let him go. Good for Cesc if that's the real reason.

That's all I've got today. Who do you think should play right back? Let me know. Cheers everyone.

Wednesday News, Eduardo Update

Hello everyone. There's not a ton of news today, and most of the news that is out there are transfer rumors. I'll run through some of the ones I think are more reasonable and we'll go from there.

First we'll start with news of our mate Eduardo. He confirmed again that Martin Taylor (cunt) had not seen him face to face but did say that Taylor had come to the hospital while Eduardo was unconscious.

"Apology? There has been no apology." How can I accept an apology if I haven't seem him or spoken to him?"

"Maybe he was there when I was unconscious but I certainly did not see him that day. But if he comes to me now then I will accept an apology. I am a son of God so I will accept an apology."

He went on to discuss his current state, and it seems to me like he's doing much better.

"I feel much better, the worst is behind me, I don't feel more pain," he said. "I just want to move on."

"My days have been spent at home watching films and playing with my daughter. But I am doing more things each day."

"There are new challenges each day. I go to the Arsenal training ground. I am here at the hotel, just getting out a bit more."

So it's good to hear that his morale is up and he still gets to come to the training ground. I'm glad his recovery is going well, and by some reports it is even ahead of schedule. The Croatian National Team wants him to accompany them to Euro 2008. I hope Arsene lets him go with them. That will make him feel a lot better to be around his mates.

Gael Clichy says Arsenal can still win the title, but we have to win every game from here on out. He is absolutely right.

Young Guns has us linked with a 17 year old Irish winger named Sean Scannell. He's a U-21 international already and he's currently in Crystal Palace's first team. You can read more about him by clicking on that Young Guns link, good stuff.

Goodplaya wrote a really good bit on Gallas, who everyone seems to hate at the moment besides myself and him.

Flamini said that even though we are slumping and not looking good for the title, it has no bearing on whether or not he will stay at Arsenal or leave in the summer. This comes along with the news that AC and Inter Milan will be watching Flamini against England tonight. I really hope he stays but something has to be wrong in the negotiations, they are just taking too long for more to be comfortable with it. If he wants to say he should just sign the deal and stay. He acts like he wants to but if you want to, prove it by doing it. I'm sick of hearing a new Flamini story every day, just pick one or the other and get on with it. We've coped with losing bigger stars than him.

That's all I have time for now, but I'll be back tomorrow. Later all.

Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

Birmingham - Draw
Aston Villa - Draw
Wigan - Draw
Middlesbrough - Draw
Chelsea - Loss

Those are the results of our last five league games. If you want to win the title, you cannot have that. Four total points out of a possible fifteen, not to mention that at least three of those matches (Wigan, Birmingham, Boro) were against teams we should have won against. But onto the Chelski match though.

I will confess I didn't get to watch most of it live because it was Easter and I was at my Grandma's with the rest of my family. However I have unlimited internet on my phone so I followed it on there. I did get to watch a replay of the match later but since I knew the result already it was quite painful.

I would say the game was pretty even in the first half, although not all that exciting. Ballack had a chance for them that Almunia saved, and we had a couple half chances but nothing that looked like going in. Drogba had the best chance of the first half though, with John Terry hoofing a long ball up the field that got him past our defenders and one on one with Almunia but Gallas got back and messed him up enough that the ball got away and rolled to Almunia who collected. But after the first half it was still anyone's game really and I thought we could win it.

The first goal came in the 59th minute, and it came from the most unlikely of scorers...Bakary Sagna. RvP won a corner which Cesc took and Sagna made a run to the near post, got his head on it and flicked it right in the corner. Great play by Sagna to get his first goal and at a very important time for us. You could tell how much it meant to him by his celebration and I'll have to admit I have a slight man crush on Bakary. He's such a good player. I thought we could hold on to that lead really, they had had a few chances but they never looked all that threatening and I thought the goal might have taken it out of Chelsea. Sagna injured himself on a clearance though, and Eboue ended up having to move to right back while Sagna was on the sideline.

The Chav fans starting chanting "You don't know what you're doing!" at Avram Grant when he took off Ballack and Makelele for Anelka and Beletti. Those same fans were cheering his move when a goal came almost a minute later. At the same time we brought on Diaby for the injured Sagna. The goal should have been called offside really. Anelka and Drogba were both offside when the long ball was played, Drogba passed and the ball was scrambled back in the middle of the box and fell to Drogba who blasted it into the right side of the net. Then that huge cunt decided to take his shirt off and run into the stands to celebrate.

Taking off your shirt = yellow card
Running into the stands = yellow card

So going by the rulebook Drogba should have been given two yellows and sent off correct? Guess the refs forgot their rulebook as well as their offside flags. We were wishing he had been sent off just 7 minutes later. Anelka headed the ball down into the middle of the box for Drogba and he hit it on the bounce towards the goal. Almunia got a hand to it but couldn't stop it from going into the net and it was 2-1. He almost made it a hat trick just a minute later but Almunia made a great save to stop him.

We had brought on Walcott and now we brought on Bendtner looking for an equalizer but it never looked like happening. Drogba's play had really taken it out of us and the match ended 2-1 with Chelsea taking over 2nd place in the league.

All we can really do now is asses where it all went wrong. A lot of people seem to be placing the blame on Emmanuel Adebayor, but I can't possibly see why. He's scored so many crucial goals for us this season and to blame him for our dip in form isn't right. No, he hasn't been scoring lately, but nobody else has scored ALL SEASON. Eduardo was our second leading scorer and he is gone and Cesc's goals came in the beginning of the year. Hleb doesn't score and Flamini is good for only about 3-5 a year. RvP has been out all year and since he's been back he hasn't even looked close to scoring. We have to take some of the load off of Adebayor. He's out there every match playing 90 minutes and people expect him to score every single match. He needs help from RvP, Walcott, Bendtner, and the midfielders and until we get that help then we can't throw Ade under the bus.

So the league title looks unlikely now, United are 6 points ahead of us with only a few games to go, but it isn't impossible. As we said with the Chelsea game though, we HAVE to win at United. That's the only way we have a chance.

If I could ask Arsene one question though, it'd be this: "Arsene, why won't you just buy a bloody winger?" Please Arsene, we need it.

So we play Bolton next, let's turn it around then. Cheers

Chelsea Preview - Win Or Bust

'Ello everyone. It's a big day for us tomorrow, I think that goes without saying, but it's REALLY really important so I said it anyway. We've got Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and it's going to be a tough one but it's a match we have to take all three points from if we want to win the title. We were the last team to win at Stamford Bridge, although that isn't saying all that much since it was in 2004. Holy shite that's like four years ago. We must be due for one. Plus the whole four draws in a row thing sets us up for a win as well. Hopefully. I'm grasping for straws here but whatever.

Injury news is not so bad ahead of the match, with Eduardo, Rosicky, and Diaby being the only ones out. So the lineup in my mind should look like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
Walcott-Cesc-Flamini-Hleb
Rvp-Adebayor

A lot of people probably want Eboue to start because they say Walcott is better as a sub, but at some point we want him to be able to start right? So why not now? He scored his first goal for Arsenal against Chelsea in the Carling Cup final remember? He can do it.

As for van Persie, I think he owes us a goal for being out for a million years. Maybe four goals. That would be nice.

Speaking of Emmanuel Eboue, that cunt Avram Grant is still complaining about him injuring John Terry last time we played, when Eboue didn't really do anything. Then he spoke how Cuntley Cole was "very mature" because he apologized for his tackle and his treatment of the ref.

William Gallas has said that he is far happier at Arsenal than he ever was at Chelsea. He says the captain's armband has made him think of the team much more than himself and he is very proud of the honor of coming after Henry, Vieira, and Adams. I'm sure Gallas would love to get another goal against Chelsea this weekend. I'll be cheering as hard as I can for it.

There really isn't much other news about the match to be found. There is AC Milan being linked with a move for Adebayor, but as that isn't about the match I'll probably just leave that until tomorrow. So here's to three points tomorrow and hopefully three points for the scousers as well!

Cheers!

Remember any comments or suggestions can be left in the comments section or emailed to me at ArseNole@arsenole.com

FIFA Really Hate Martin Taylor, Walcott Gets Call-Up

I hate him too. As you probably all know Sepp Blatter, FIFA President, recently told the FA that they should increase the three match ban on Taylor for his tackle that broke Eduardo's leg. After hearing his rantings, the FA refused to increase the ban saying it would be "a dangerous precedent to set" and that they would not be able to prove his malicious intent.

How's that for malicious intent you cunts. That's either malicious intent or a player so shite at football that he should never be in the top flight. I coach a team of seven year olds that can tackle better than that.

So with the FA's refusal, FIFA has again encouraged them to reconsider their decision. FIFA cannot increase the player's ban so all they can do is talk to the FA and hope they listen, but I hope they listen too because something like that should not only be three games. Just ask Eduardo.

Speaking of players that I hate, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals against Bolton to send United three points clear of us last night, while Chelski got a draw against Sp*rs. That really puts the pressure on us for this weekend. It's been said we need to win every game from here on out and I have to agree. A loss this weekend to Chelsea, if accompanied by a win for United over Liverpool, would surely be a blow to large to come back from. C'mon you Gunners!

Inter Milan have released a statement saying they never tapped-up Alexander Hleb. They also said they have received no complaints from Arsenal. I don't know what to think of this story anymore. Is it maybe a case of Hleb's agent wanting to attract interest from other clubs and so he put a story out there? It's happened before so that may be it.

Several Arsenal bloggers and myself are trying to figure out a plan to increase the noise level at the Emirates. We are trying to come up with several plans such as meeting before the games for those that sing or wearing special shirts or something. We are looking for more ideas though and if you can think of any to make the stadium louder leave a comment or email me at my new email address, arsenole@arsenole.com.

And the last news of the day just came out when the England squad was announced for the match against France, and Theo Walcott has finally been called up again. Now I'm not from England so I'm no huge fan, too many Chelsea and ManUre and Sp*rs players for my liking, but they have been a bit shite over the last few years and younger players like Agbonlahor and Walcott could really bring a lot to the team. Walcott has been playing better and certainly deserved the call-up more than someone like David Beckham, who also got a call-up in search of his 100th cap. Let's go Theo!

That's about all I've got. If anyone watches college basketball (don't think that's big over there but maybe it is) I've got UNC over UCLA in the finals of the NCAA tournament that starts today. Any other predictions? Comments please.

Cheers.

Wenger to Report Inter Milan For Tapping Up Hleb

Morning everyone. I'm bloody tired. Hang on going to start the coffee maker. Ok coffee is being made. So the first story today is about Alexander Hleb and Inter Milan. It is a tale of Ice Cream, Italian cunts, and agents that never are happy with what they have. Apparently when we went down to Milan before the match at the San Siro, Hleb and his agent went off to speak with Inter Milan the night before, which is clearly not allowed. They left in the same taxi at night, that much was admitted to, but his agent said that "they went to get ice cream." Hleb's agent flew into Milan just to take him out for some ice cream!? Nice bloke then that guy.

Of course Arsene Wenger didn't believe a word of it and got pissed off as most people would. Here it is the night before a huge match and one of your starters is out sharing sundaes with Inter Milan. So he said that he is going to report Inter for tapping up Hleb. Hleb's agent then said:

"It's not true that they went to talk to Inter Milan." They went for an ice-cream. We are sorry that Mr Wenger took it badly and complained because we have a good relationship with him."

So the moral of the story is that Hleb and his agent both think that everyone is an idiot but themselves and I hope Inter get fined 100 million quid. Not going to happen but wouldn't that be nice?

In more Italian news, Abou Diaby's agent has been talking about how his client could make "the jump to a major Italian club" in two years. Since when is Arsenal not good enough for all of these players? I can't remember many people leaving Arsenal to go to an Italian club, and now it's the hot thing to do. Diaby is only 21 and in 2 years he could be a starter for Arsenal, who knows. He needs to tell his agent to shut up and let him try to become a better player and he may turn out to be a great one here with Arsenal.

In news not related to Italy, Young Guns reports that Arsenal are set to offer Carlos Vela a new contract. I think he's quite a good player for us and when he gets back he can bring a lot to the squad. If you've never had a chance to see him play, check him out on youtube or watch him play for Osasuna or something but take a look at him. He's another young guy with huge potential and I think if Rosicky keeps getting hurt he may lose his spot to Vela next season.

The 2008 Emirates Cup will again feature some top teams along with Arsenal, and a source from inside the club has said that those teams will be Real Madrid, Juventus, and Hamburg. Now those should be some fun games to watch. I'll be especially excited about the Madrid game. Loved the last time we played them. In fact, (cross your fingers) that may be the first time I ever get to make it over to England to watch the tournament. It's reportedly going to be the first weekend in August which is perfect for me but the date should be confirmed in the coming months.

Last but not least today, Gael Clichy spoke of having to face Liverpool 3 times in a week. He said it should be "quite good fun." Yeah it will be fun if we win all three of them. I hate Liverpool. Does Torres not look like a woman by the way? I've always thought this but haven't really asked anyone else, so tell me what you think.

Well that's all I've got for you today. Have a good one and up the Gunners!

Happy St. Patrick's Day From The ArseNole

Morning all. By this time half of you lot at least that are over in Europe are probably too hammered to even read this but since it's only 9:30 am here in the States I figured I'd write this up just in case. Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone! Make it a good one.

Arsene Wenger says he is puzzled as to why the team hasn't won in their last four Premiership outings against shit teams like Birmingham and Boro. I'm pretty puzzled as well. Watching those last four games has been terrible. We've not gotten any sort of rhythm going and we kept letting in crap goals.

"I don't know [if the players feel sorry for themselves]. You can come to any conclusion. I feel they gave absolutely everything but there was a little fraction less of belief.

"There was a big disappointment in the dressing room. It was like a defeat. It is the flattest I have seen them after a game."

I don't know if they feel sorry for themselves either Arsene, but you should probably tell them that we REALLY need to win every game from here on out. C'mon lads, get it together.

Gilberto Silva has again said that he will probably be leaving Arsenal in the summer if he doesn't get into the first team. Unless something happens to Flamini (please dear God no) than I can't see any chance of that happening. Gilberto has just been a bit crap this year when he's gotten on the pitch and I can't imagine any way that he gets back out there at all the rest of this year. It's been fun Gilberto.

So it's now the second half of March and we still haven't gotten Flamini his new deal. It's becoming quite worrying and now the press has already started linking us with replacements. I wish we knew what was really going on here. Does Flamini just want more money than Arsene is willing to give him? The contract offer has supposedly been on the table but he just hasn't signed yet. We know he's heard from other clubs but he has said he wants to stay and you'd think that would outweigh a couple of thousand extra quid but maybe not. Please sign Flamini. You and Cesc are so good together.

But that's all I've got time for today really. Have a great St. Patty's day everyone.

Champion's League Draw Gives Us Liverpool

Well that's a shocker. No it's really not. Of course we would get the holders and then runners up one right after the other. It's not a bad draw for us though. Only problem is now we play them I think three times in about eight days because we play them in the Premiership between the two legs. The rest of the draw looked like this:

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Man United vs Roma (7-1 repeat? I'll be hoping it's for Roma though)

Schalke vs Barcelona

Chelsea vs Fenerbache

So you'd probably say ours is the most evenly matched tie. I can't think of any way Schalke or Fenerbache gets through but maybe Roma could on their day. They also made the draw for the Semi-Finals and they pit the winner of us vs the Scousers against the winner of Chelsea and Fenerbache. So that means we'll have Chelsea. I was hoping for a couple of games that would be more fun to watch but at least Arsenal will try to make them fun while Liverpool and Chelsea will just play like a pack of cunts.

So I'm going to break this down position by position and see who SHOULD come out on top, but remember I am slightly biased.

Goalkeepers: Pepe Reina vs Manuel Almunia. Clear edge I think goes to Reina here. While Almunia has certainly not been bad this year, I'd always take Reina over him.

Advantage: Liverpool

Defenders: Carragher, Arbeloa, Agger, Riise, Hyppia, Finnan, Auerelio, whichever cunts he "rotates" into this match vs Sagna, Gallas, Toure, and Clichy, or Senderos, whichever the boss prefers. I think we definitely have the advantage here. All our defenders have more speed than theirs, Senderos is really playing well and Sagna and Clichy have been great all year.

Advantage: Arsenal

Midfielders: Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Gerrard, Pennant, Kewell, Benayoun vs Cesc, Flamini, Rosicky if healthy, Hleb, and Diaby. This is a tough one to call here. There's no doubting the quality of Mascherano, Alonso, and Gerrard, just like we know Flamini, Cesc, and Hleb are great. If we can control the midfield with our passing and hold a little possession I'd give us the call. But for now I have to say:

Advantage: Neither

Forwards: Crouch, Kuyt, Torres, Babel, and Voronin vs Adebayor, Bendtner, RvP, and Theo. This season I'd give Adebayor the win over anyone in the world just about the way he is playing, but Torres is a great forward all though he looks like a little nancy. The decider will be RvP, if he can get into some form than he will be the one who can win us this tie. Cmon Robin!

Advantage: Arsenal

So by final count of 2 to 1, Arsenal wins. Let's hope so. Up the Goooooners!

Adebayor on a Mission, New Kits for 08?

Morning everyone. You might have noticed I have been mysteriously absent for the past week. Then again, maybe you haven't. I've been extremely busy with my footy team, work, school, karaoke, pints, and rock band and just haven't been able to do much else. But I'm back and so let's get on with some news.

Emmanuel Adebayor says he wants to beat Cristiano Ronaldo to the title and to the golden boot as well. Personally I'd like to beat Ronaldo too, not only to the league title and the golden boot, but also with a shovel.

"As a footballer you have to have a lot of ambition. The boss says you have to take it and you cannot wait for tomorrow.

"Don't wait for next season or two years time because you never know what is going to happen. At the moment I am having a good race with Ronaldo for the Golden Boot.

"I am a striker and cannot let myself be dominated by one midfielder. He is a great player and a fantastic footballer. But I just want to prove that I can score more goals and if I can win the Golden Boot and the title there will be nothing better for me.

I know that was a really long quote but I always like when Ade speaks because he seems to always have really good, positive quotes about himself and the team.

Poor Thierry Henry. He's having a rough time of it in Spain and says being away from his daughter makes it even tougher. He's also playing out on the left instead of as a striker and he just hasn't been the same old Thierry.

This brings up my main point for this article. How does Arsene Wenger ALWAYS know when a player should be sold? Think of his record: He sold Pires to Villareal right when his decline was really starting to show, Anelka was sold for a load of cash even though he was a moody twat, and Henry and Vieira were sold right before their declines. When all of these players were sold, especially Vieira and Henry, people said we had no chance without them. And yes for a while we missed Vieira's physical presence and leadership, but we have found the physicality through Flamini and the leadership through Gallas. Henry's goals they said we would miss have come through Adebayor and Cesc and Eduardo. The point of this is that in Arsene Wenger We Trust, because he knows better than anyone what his team can do and who should stay and who should go. Thank you, Lord Wenger, for being the best manager in the world.

Speaking of Wenger, he gave his usual speech on how Arsenal has loads of money to spend but that he isn't looking to spend any of it because he likes the current squad. I like most of the squad too, but maybe we could invest on a goal keeper and one or two wingers? What do ya think?

We also have some news about Flamini's possible new deal. According to this report he's wanting more than the 50,000 pounds a week which is our salary limit for everyone but Cesc and Gallas. I really hope this isn't another Cuntley Cole situation where he leaves because he can get 55,000 somewhere else. I know everyone wants to make their money but Flamini has said he loves playing here, so please Flam, stay with us.

Last but not least, Gunnerblog reckons this might be the new kit for 08/09. Looks pretty nice, I especially like the home one. The away one not so much but it is definitely more Arsenal colors than the white ones. Have a look and tell me what you think. Could be complete rubbish of course but who knows?

Cheers

Bit of News For Today

Morning all, not much to write about surprisingly today. We'll just quickly run through what there is to cover, and first up is the typical ignorance of Tottenham.

Juande Ramos says he is not jealous of our win over Milan because Sp*rs were just as good in a big match against Chelsea...in the Carling Cup Final. It's the Carling Cup! We got to the final of that last year playing a bunch of U-18's and they think it's a massive accomplishment. Then they lose 4-1 to Birmingham.

David Bentley talked about how he had to leave to get first team football and said Theo Walcott might have to do the same. As we all know Bentley left for Blackburn at the beginning of 2006 and has since bashed Arsenal and Arsene Wenger every time he gets a chance. Theo gets his minutes and he is only going to get more when he has good appearances. He's only 18 David, worry about your own team.

There is some potentially great news today, as it looks like Mathieu Flamini is getting closer and closer to signing a new deal to stay with us.

"I am very happy here. Every game I give more than 100% and I love playing for this team," he insisted.

"We are a new generation, we have to create a new history. I want to be part of this history, so I hope I will be here for next season. At the moment my advisers are talking with the club, so I really hope that everything will be okay.

"I cannot put a time on it, but I really want to stay here. What is important for a player is to play and I am playing. I am becoming more and more confident and I want to take more responsibility."

Sorry I know that is a really long quote but it is absolutely fantastic news. I was worried when they said Juventus had offered him a deal but then they denied that and now it looks like he'll be coming back. Glad to have you Matty!

Cesc Fabregas says the goal against Milan was the best moment of his career. It really was a sign that he could take over a game in the way that other great players do. When we needed a goal, he got one by himself and out of nowhere. If he can regularly do that he'll be an even scarier proposition for our opponents.

And last but not least is an update on Eduardo, who is now on crutches. He said they don't know when he'll be back but it could be 6 months, 9 months, or 15 months. Let's hope it isn't 15 months but his health is more important than anything else.

That's all I've got for ya, be back tomorrow with a Wigan Preview.

Arsenal 2-0 Milan

What an amazing match. If you missed it, borrow it from someone who taped it or something. Absolutely a feast of football. I don't know if I've ever enjoyed a match so bloody much. But anyways, on to the match report.

The lineup we started with is one that I had guessed for the most part. It looked like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Senderos-Clichy
Eboue-Cesc-Flamini-Diaby
Hleb
Adebayor

So we went with the old Champion's League 4-5-1 and it didn't look like it was working out well in the opening twenty minutes. Milan had several good chances. Pato had one that he should have put in probably but Almunia saved well and Pato never really looked dangerous the rest of the night. Kaka was in the game in the opening stages but after that our defense had him completely under wraps. Milan definitely had us pushed back though early on and it looked like they could maybe finish it quickly. Remember last year at the San Siro against Man United they scored a few early on and it was over. But we made it past that stage without being scored upon and we slowly settled into our rhythm.

Diaby had a good chance when Adebayor held the ball up while being surrounded by three defenders and squared for Diaby who shot it one time and it curled just the wrong side of the post. Adebayor had the next chance when he really made something out of nothing on the edge of the box and curled in a screamer that just went over the bar. Then Cesc was next up to the plate, making a run down the middle and unleashing from outside the box and it hit the crossbar. We had a couple other minor chances in the first half and the match was still action packed but it was another half of this tie without a goal. 0-0 at the half.

There was one moment in the first half that was absolutely shocking by the referee. Hleb made a nice run into the box and Nesta came from behind and clearly tripped him. You could see the contact and it may have even been a penalty, but amazingly the ref comes over and gives Hleb a yellow card! Absolutely shocking. I hope that ref gets suspended for his performance tonight. It was terrible.

The start of the second half came and you knew there was going to be a goal in it. The question was whether we'd keep up the pressure or would Milan switch it up and get the goal on a counter-attack. That was answered pretty quickly as we came out firing in the second half as well. In the 48th minute we got a corner that was sent in from Fabregas and fell perfectly to Senderos (who had a great game I thought) who hit it on the half volley but right at Kalac. three minutes later a perfect pass found Eboue unmarked inside the area but his shot went horribly wide somehow. Pirlo then had a chance for Milan on a free kick aimed at the bottom corner but Almunia parried it.

In the 70th minute Walcott came on for Eboue. I had been hoping to see RvP come on for Eboue or Diaby but Walcott came on and I'm certainly thankful now that he did. Just a bit after he came on he got some space on the edge of the box and I thought he would have easily scored if he had shot but he tried to square for Adebayor and it was well blocked. A good chance wasted there and I was beginning to think it'd be like a fortnight ago, much better play overall but no goals to show for it.

But the goal finally came in the 84th minute. Cesc Fabregas picked up the ball and stepped around Gattuso and unleashed a shot from at least thirty yards that I really though had no chance of going in. It curved to the left corner of the box, bounced twice and somehow went into the back of the net. I haven't screamed so much in my life. 1-0 to the Arsenal with an away goal. I was absolutely bonkers at this point. All the stress I had felt the whole two legs was gone and I was sure we were through.

Milan never looked like scoring again and we put the finishing touches on it in extra time. Walcott sprinted past the defender onto a long ball, got fouled but it wasn't called, managed to turn inside and crossed beautifully for Adebayor who put it in quite nicely. Wonderful play from Walcott and a typically classy finish from Ade.

The whistle blew a minute later and it was official. 2-0 to the Arsenal and we are through!

I taped the match so I can watch it over and over again. In fact, I think I'm going to go watch it again tonight. So to wrap up.

Man of the Match: Oh it could be sooo many players as almost everyone was great tonight but I'll give it to Cesc Fabregas for his wonderful goal that really gave us the victory. What a goal.

Needs Work: I can't think of anything. Best night for Arsenal in a long time, and that's saying something with how well we've played much of the time this year.

Looking Ahead: So far Arsenal, Man United, Barcelona, and Fenerbache are through, and Liverpool look good as well after going up 2-0 in the first leg.

What a great day to be a Gooner!

Cheers!

Milan-Arsenal Preview

Hello all. Another rough result against Villa Saturday, scoring in the last minute to earn a point. That only leaves us one point ahead of Manchester United with not long to go in the season. I'm not going to bother with a match report because I'm honestly not going to worry about that match. I'll just take it as a point we didn't deserve but managed to get. We were pretty bad throughout but we didn't lose, which is important. And what else is important is the match against AC Milan Tuesday. We're at 0-0 after the first leg at the Emirates so we will have to score to go through. It should be a great game as both teams will want to score and make it through to the next round. I would think Milan will defend more than we will because if they concede an away goal they'll have serious problems. We really need to come out firing on all cylinders. I think if we score one goal we can get through, it's just a matter of getting that goal.

As far as injury news, it looks like mostly everyone is back, including Robin van Persie. It was hoped that Kolo Toure would be back but he's a bit short of fitness at the moment. Eboue can play because he is not suspended for Champion's League games, but Rosicky, Song, and Eduardo are all out.

So the lineup should look like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Senderos-Clichy
Eboue-Cesc-Flamini-Hleb
Adebayor-Bendtner

I'm not sure about the strikers. You know how Wenger sometimes likes 4-5-1 in Champion's League games so he could put Walcott or Diaby on a wing and put Hleb behind Ade in a supporting roll.

The Philippe Senderos hate club came out again after he scored an own goal in the match against Villa. Look, he's been good the past like six games he's played in. It wasn't a terrible own goal and there wasn't much he could do about it. Carew would have had a great chance even if Phil had not tried to clear it but he did and it went in. Every defender scores own goals at some point. Get off the guy's back and realize that he is a solid option for us at centre-back.

Cesc Fabregas talked to the press about how Arsenal are superior to Milan. Couldn't agree more Cesc, bunch of old cunts. I really do like Kaka though...hard not to. But this is what Cesc said:

“I respect Milan, but we proved in the first leg that we were superior and we drew because we lacked luck and [Emmanuel] Adebayor hit the bar.

“I think that our style of football would permit us to shine in every league. When there is quality and togetherness, we can surpass the markers and the hard play."

Apparently some of the Aston Villa fans were spouting sick chants about Eduardo's injury and it sparked a couple of fights and led to some arrests. If I would've seen one of those twats making fun of Eduardo I would've smashed his head open too. Who makes fun of a player when he's almost had his career ended and could have lost his leg? They deserve a good kicking.

That's all I have for today. Enjoy the match tomorrow, I know I will.

Cheers