Arshavin?

Stay tuned in the next 20 minutes to watch the transfer end, one way or the other. I’ve seen that it is likely, but with these kind of things, you never know. I’ll update this once I see/hear anything
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Wenger: Arshavin Signing Key To Arsenal's Season

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed the reason why he is keen on signing Russian ace Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St Petersburg.

The attempt to bring Arshavin to the Emirates Stadium has run the entire length of the winter transfer window, with the clubs struggling to agree on a fee for the Russian International, with Arshavin also reportedly demanding huge personal terms to join the Premier League club.

However, Wenger is still confident that Arshavin will sign for the Gunners and sees the addition of the Zenit playmaker as a key signing, with captain Cesc Fabregas along with Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky all on the sidelines at the Premiership side through long-term injury.

Wenger said: "He's a guy who can go past people in the final third.

"He can have the key, individually and collectively.

"He is an experienced player, 27, a good age and we are a very young side.

"We will not have Fabregas in the next six to eight weeks, we will not have Walcott in the next five weeks, Rosicky in the next eight weeks.

"You can see with the replay of the FA Cup we have the desire to do well in every competition and one more body could help us."

Arsenal Boss Wenger Confident Striker Will Sign

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that he is confident that Gunners striker Robin van Persie will sign a new long-term contract at the Premier League club.

25-year-old Van Persie’s present deal at the Emirates Stadium is due to end in the summer of 2010, with Wenger keen to retain the Dutch International, who is Arsenal’s leading scorer in the Premiership this season after finding the net nine times.

Talks had opened two-months ago with Van Persie, but were postponed until Arsenal had appointed their new chief executive Ivan Gazidis. Now talks are underway again and Wenger is confident that Van Persie will sign, despite reports that the striker is demanding £80,000-a-week to put him inline with the top earners at the Gunners.

“He knows how much it means to me and we will try to sort him out,” said Wenger.

“I'm convinced it means a lot to Robin to stay here.

“I've invested a lot of time in them (Van Persie and Theo Walcott) because I feel it is important to them and it means something to them to be at this club.

“He wants to be part of the club and, of course, we have to satisfy his demands as well. I don't think that we're far away."

Wenger also put Van Persie’s good form this season down to being injury free and claimed that the forward was a much better player now than the one that arrived from Feyenoord in 2004.

“I believe him being fit has helped him greatly. He is a player who has made an extreme improvement,” he addded.

“When you consider the player who arrived here, and who he is today, it's absolutely fantastic. He has ingredients, which are very important - talent and motivation.

“The danger is to overplay him at the moment because we still have to be a bit cautious with him.”

Arshavin's agent denies midfielder is in London

Andrei Arshavin's agent has denied that the midfielder has flown to London to complete his transfer from Zenit St Petersburg to Arsenal.

Reports suggested that Arshavin would attend today's game against West Ham at the Emirates Stadium before finalising a £15m transfer to the Gunners, but his representative Dennis Lachter has said, "No, he is on his way to St Petersburg."

Wenger yesterday denied that the club had applied for a work permit for Arshavin and said that they had not yet agreed a fee with Zenit, despite reports which suggested that the Russian had dropped his wage demands by £1m to help the deal go through.

Arsenal have until midnight on Monday to finalise a transfer which they have pursued throughout the January transfer window.

An Evening with Anfield ’89 Legends

On 14th May 2009, nearly twenty years on from our historic title winning night at Anfield, members of the 1988/89 squad in association with AISA , Red Action and The Arsenal Official Membership will be hosting a Gala Dinner evening in the Woolwich Suite at Emirates Stadium to celebrate that unbelievable evening.
It will include a three-course meal and starter drinks, the opportunity to listen to the players regale their stories of that night, a screening of the entire match on a giant screen, an auction and the opportunity to win fantastic prizes.
Tickets are now available to members of The Arsenal or AISA members at £65 per person or £650 for a table of 10. Credit card bookings can be made via The Willow Foundation on 01707 259 777. Please send cheques payable to AISA to AISA, Freepost LON 18942, London N5 1BR

A Few Items Ahead of the Hammers

Well, I didn’t get to write a recap of the Everton game. Perhaps it was due to the shock of seeing Arsenal score so late in the game. When I saw Timmy Cahill score — the lad is on fire as well — I hung my head in disgust and thought “there’s no way Arsenal will fight back.” They were in the midst of another dreary and dreadful performance, one that signaled that this team might not make the Champions League. It’s a looming fear of most Arsenal fans, but the truth is, more performances like that one combined with the surge of Villa and it might become a reality. Cue Van Persie to step up (again) and lash home a terrific shot. Perhaps Howard could have saved it, but do people really think that? Bottom line: the Dutchman has saved this team time and time again this season, and it’s a miracle that he has stayed healthy almost the whole time. I’m shocked. Nevertheless, a point is a point, and when you look at it from the right perspective, maybe it’s not the worst result in the world.

Moving along, today West Ham comes to the Emirates, and you’d have to say it’s a good chance for a win. The Hammers are enjoying a fairly good season, sitting in eighth place with 32 points. Not a bad return for Gianfranco Zola, and he’ll no doubt be looking to spoil Wenger’s afternoon. Still, West Ham doesn’t exactly have a side that strikes fear in your heart, no matter how badly Arsenal is playing these days. I have a hard time knowing what to say about it — three points is definitely a must, and fingers crossed that Villa might actually lose for once. Continuing the nine game unbeaten streak would be nice as well, depending on if it’s a win or a draw.

Even though I refuse to talk about Arshavin, I noticed an interesting article on the official site. Wenger has revealed why he wants to sign the Russian. Take a look:

“He’s a guy who can go past people in the final third,” said the manager. “He can have the key, individually and collectively.

“He is an experienced player, 27, a good age and we are a very young side. We will not have Fabregas in the next six to eight weeks, we will not have Walcott in the next five weeks, Rosicky in the next eight weeks.

“You can see with the replay of the FA Cup we have the desire to do well in every competition and one more body could help us.”

Funny that the decimation of the midfield has cued this move, one that could have helped the team even with a healthy Cesc, Adebayor, and Rosicky. I guess you can’t live in the past though. As usual, there is news coming from all angles that Arshavin has signed, he hasn’t signed, word is that he’s taking a boat to London from Russia, another paper says that he has secured a work permit without a deal — who the heck knows. Point is, whether he comes or not, I will rejoice when this transfer window closes.

Let’s get three points today, shall we? Thoughts and comments below please

A Much Not-Needed Cup Replay

It was another sub-par performance from the Gunners yesterday, and with the 0-0 result after the 90 minutes at Ninian Park, we’re headed towards a replay at the Emirates for February 3rd. Geez, it’s February next week. Time flies. The winner of the replay will get the winner of the West Brom-Barnley replay, so perhaps a chance for revenge if they find a way past Cardiff.
The game was far from an impressive one. Wenger trotted out a strong side–or at least what counts as a strong side these days–with Van Persie and Bendtner up top. I was surprised to see Van Persie and Nasri in the side, but the boss gave an explanation in the post game news conference:
“We are very short at the moment and cannot rotate too much, so with two games coming up I could have rested more players than I did. I planned to take [Robin] Van Persie off if possible but it didn’t work out that way. It shows in football that you can try to plan but it never goes how you think it will .”
The first half was quite forgettable. Cardiff City had a bit of an edge in the first 15 to 20 minutes and the defense looked well out of sorts. Chance after chance went begging for the Bluebirds, and it was really an ugly sight for Arsenal fans all around. Aaron Ramsey didn’t impress me much, which could be attributed to return-jitters and the fact that he’s only 17 or 18 years of age. Simply put, a team with a bit more quality up front could have been up 2 or 3 goals in the first 30-40 minutes of the match. They could barely even get a shot on frame, and had a few golden opportunities to take the lead. The action of the first half is a recurring theme of the Arsenal season — dominated for long stretches, then striking back against the run of play or near the dying stages. Not a tactic that you want to rely on, and it didn’t backfire thanks to the poor finishing.
On the offensive side of the ball, Ramsey’s struggles weren’t aiding things in the center of the pitch, Eboue was rubbish as usual, and Nasri missed the one good chance of the first half that Arsenal managed to create. It was reminiscent of the previous week against Hull — Van Persie had the ball at the top and found Nasri wide open on the left, only this time he didn’t finish in the far right hand corner.
Things were brighter in the second half, despite the fact that no equalizer could be found. I laugh at Arsene’s quote, however, crediting Cardiff’s defense:
“In the second half we were on top and it was the quality of their defending and their commitment that stopped us scoring. The pitch, too, was not easy, but it was a great cup game and showed what this cup is about.”
It was definitely their defending that caused Van Persie’s freekick to go just wide or Adebayor shank the ball when facing an empty net. Not to take away from Cardiff, they did play well. I would go out and say that they deserved to win this fixture. The pressure did pile on them in the latter stages of the game, but the Bluebirds held firm. Wenger did not want to draw this game, that much could be seen by his substitutions. Bringing on Adebayor for Eboue (did I mention that he was rubbish?) signaled his desire to not go to a replay. This side, undermanned and underperforming doesn’t need an extra 90 minutes. That’s the last thing an Arsenal player/coach/fan would want. And I hope it doesn’t screw things up even more in this already difficult season.

Hull City 1-3 Arsenal

Another weekend, another pulse-raising, sweat-inducing Arsenal victory. This game was much, much, closer than the misleading 3-1 victory. But at the end of the day, with a team short of a lot of creative players, it is three points in the bank.

Despite Hull struggling with form, it was obvious that another tough game would be in store for the Gunners, and the first 20 minutes delivered. Nothing seemed to be working, and the lack of a creative presence was felt once again. Fortunately, Van Persie continued his sizzling form — imagine how lost this season would be if he was his typical unfit self — setting up Adebayor with a lovely corner kick in the 26th minute. The Togonator obliged with a looping header that easily beat Boaz Myhill for the 1-0 lead. Right before that, the Dutchman sent a vicious free kick on frame that Myhill did well to parry over the bar.

The goal did well to energize the players and it should have been 2-0 with Eboue set up alone at the edge of the box. Unfortunately he could do nothing more than scuff the shot wide of the net. A 2-0 lead could have buried Hull, but as it was things were left at 1-0 heading into the half. At that point it seemed like a well-established lead, but when Arsenal is playing, you know that conceding a goal is likely. The dream of a shutout lasted until the 66th minute, when Gael Clichy decided that he’d rather be a spectator rather than a defender, lazily lifting a leg to deflect Bernard Mendy’s cross onto the head of Daniel Cousin. 1-1. At that point, with Chelsea, Man United and Aston Villa all winning today, a draw would leave Arsenal high and dry, looking shaky even for that Champions League spot — I know, a bit of an overreaction, but one that can easily be justified.

Fortunately for the Arsenal (and for Clichy), RvP kept up his hard work at the front. He drew the attention of three Hull defenders in the 82nd minute, spotted Samir Nasri wide open on the left hand side, and the Frenchman slid his shot into the net at the far post, and providing a sigh of relief to Gunners fans everywhere. A 3-1 result put the game out of reach when Van Persie collected a pass — and he was way offside — dribbled into the area and set up substitute Nicklas Bendtner to seal the three points.

These Arsenal games are almost stress-inducing for me — I expect them to take a lead, squander it, fight for ages, and of late, come away with a win. Yesterday’s victory not only keeps the team on pace with the rest, but it also allows confidence to grow in key players. Bendtner, for example, nets another goal, and should have had a second that rattled Hull City’s post in the dying seconds of the match. By the way, I can’t explain how I came across this, but typing in Bendtner is useless in Google yields 2,070 results. Fun fact for the day. In all seriousness though, the Dane only just turned 21, and if he can keep providing a strong attack off the bench, he will hopefully no longer be as useless. Keep the goals rolling, Nick.

Another key player to gain confidence? Adebayor. The big striker has struggled this season, and instead of missing heaps of chances and scoring goals in bunches, he’s only doing the former. The goal he scored today will give him something to build on, and he’ll hopefully get his groove back on.

The other two players — Nasri and Van Persie — are the two who this season hinges on as the season progresses (Note: this is assuming no transfer action is taken, which hopefully will prove false). Van Persie was a monster today, and his play has been absolutely stellar all season. He’s scored goals in big games (Chelsea, Liverpool) and had a hand in all three goals. Because this team has proven that it can’t defend well, scoring goals in bunches is vital, and he’ll be key as the season continues. Nasri is our only creative spark playing consistently out of the midfield. Diaby put in a much more solid performance against Hull, but strikes me as a frustrating waste of talent sometimes. I don’t know what it is about him, but he seems lazy on the pitch and reliant on fancy footwork to beat opponents. His compatriot Nasri continues to impress, and his cool finish at the far post today continues what has been a solid debut season for the Gunners. Keep in mind that this kid is only 20, and hopefully he’ll be a strong complement to Cesc and Theo for years to come. However, focusing on the here and now, Nasri’s influence on the left/center plays a vital role in the kind of offense this team trots out there. If he’s off his game, it is hard indeed to see where any kind of offensive spark would come from.

A Quick Hull Preview

What’s that sound come from today’s match? The sound of revenge. For those of you unaware of the great rapper Chamillionaire, check him out for some tasty sounds.

While to me, today’s match is about revenge, Wenger and I are not on the same page:

“So on Saturday we just want to continue our progress, it is not about revenge at all. We feel we are on a good run so we want to be quiet and focus.”

I will be quick to admit that revenge bit was just an excuse to link to a cheesy rap song. Getting back at Hull for beating us 2-1 at the Emirates earlier in the season is a nice way to look at things, but in all honesty a win will do us nicely. This undermanned squad has put together a surprising 7-game unbeaten run, and continuing that will keep the distant chatter of a title alive. Remember though, a Champions League spot is a much more realistic goal to aim for, and keeping up or putting pressure on Villa is important.

The good news is that Hull City’s early run of form has dwindled, and they’ve struggled in their past few matches, dropping four in a row, including the now well-known pasting at the hands of Man City, where Paul Brown sat his troops down on the pitch for a halftime talk — or something like that. Speaking of Man City, the transfer news coming out of the UAE is ridiculous. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Injury news is the same as usual. Gallas and Silvestre remain on the sidelines, leaving Djourou and Toure in the lineup, likely backed up by Alex Song. Not exactly a defensive powerhouse, those three. But I think they’ll have enough to get the job done. Today’s fixture won’t be easy even with Hull in a bit of a lull. Look at me rhyme, perhaps a poetry career is next? I’m off to bed, here’s to three points. Chatter is welcome below