According to The Times, the latest on the Ashley Cole front is Chelsea have offered us a straight swap deal with William Gallas. The likelihood is that this is a lie, but it is interesting, The Times says we had a £5m bid for Gallas rejected at the weekend and we value Cole at £25m. There is a massive difference between the two player’s prices’, the £5m for Gallas is so low because he is nearly 30 and only has one year left on his Chelsea contract whereas Cole is 25, he is English and his is one of the best left-backs around. The similarity they share though is a falling out with their respective clubs and they both have an urge to leave.

Chelsea are powerful because of their financial backing and could just keep Gallas; 1. To stop his talent helping another Premiership team, and 2. Just to upset us in hopes to replace Cole. However it’s Arsenal that has the upper hand because we have Ashley Cole, all of this will only get started if Cole does move to Chelsea. Everyone knows that Chelsea desperately want to sign the defender and have done for some time now. They realise he is a world-class player but for some reason they wont pay a world class player price tag. The two clubs were in talks a couple of weeks ago but they broke down on a disagreement of the price, this isn’t something that usually crosses the mind of Chelsea but they have just decided they want to be stubborn. So now nobody is really sure what’s going on including Arsene Wenger, Arsenal now want him to leave as he is distracting the club but I think Chelsea may have recognised this and be using it to lower the price. There are still 9 days left of the transfer market, there is still time for some sort of deal to be done, either with us lowering the price, them offering us more or maybe some sort of swap deal with Gallas. It’s clear both players want to leave and both clubs want to buy, it should be very simple then right?…

However there was another twist in the tale that came out this week, Chelsea have just bought another left back! Khalid Boulahrouz completed a £7m move from SV Hamburg and is probably their ‘Plan B’ for the Ashley Cole transfer. When I heard Chelsea signed a defender I thought there is still room for Cole, but when I found out he plays left back I thought there’s no chance. Boulahrouz is the same sort of player as Gallas, which could mean the Frenchman is off, not necessarily to Arsenal but he could be going somewhere. Now, after a whole summer of debating, I think that Cole will be with us come September 1st. It’s going to be awkward but that’s the way it’s going to have to be. I’m not 100% ruling out that he won’t leave because Chelsea are known for having more top players than what fits in their squad; they might suddenly decide to buy him and this Boulahrouz guy will have a place warming the bench, you just don’t know with Chelsea. It’s difficult to say anything; we’ll just see what’s what when the 1st of September comes.

In other news, Jens Lehmann hopes we can go one better this time in the Champions League. Everyone knows it is possible, we proved last year it is possible, it’s just a matter of going out and doing and having a bit of luck along the way. I hope we can put up a strong fight in Europe this season too; to go all the way would just be fantastic. However you have to take one match at a time: our next match is tomorrow night where we hope to progress into the group stages. We’re 3-0 from the 1st leg and Tomas Rosicky has set his sights on a return in the second leg. The Czech star picked up a knock over in Croatia which ruled him out of the Premiership opener. With a 3 goal lead and the ‘home advantage’ it shouldn’t be any trouble but it is no excuse to field a weakened side, I hope we can get a couple more goals and go into the group stages in confidence.

That’s all from me today, it’s Tottenham v Sheffield Utd and Watford v West Ham tonight, c’mon United! Have a good day.

With Man U beating Fulham 5-1 and Chelsea putting 3 past Man City we are already 2 points behind our two biggest competitors. I know it’s still early days but we really should have beaten Villa and it would’ve been good for confidence if we started with 3 points. Our next game is on Saturday, away at Man City at 5:15 and it’s on Prem Plus, hopefully we can pull of a similar score as Chelsea’s. All the other teams play their second game of the season either tomorrow night or Wednesday apart from Liverpool who also have a Champions League qualifier to play. Man Utd travel to Charlton, and Chelsea pay a trip to ‘Boro, any points dropped would be just lovely.

There’s no update on the Cole/Reyes situation, I reckon Reyes will stay now, I just don’t think Madrid actually want him. Arsene wants Ashley Cole’s future to be sorted out now, we’ve heard that a lot recently. I think it’s now 50:50 if he’s staying or going, it’s weird Chelsea have left it so late. Arsene says he wont play Cole until it is decided where he’s going:

“As long as the case is not definitely closed I will not play him. It doesn’t concern me too much. If nothing happens by the end of next week it’s over. But I’m very sceptical it will happen now.”

Chelsea say they are not willing to sell Gallas. He wants to go, and they don’t need him if they get Cole, they are just being knobs and can do what they like because they don’t need money.

In other news, Genoa are interested in Cygan, he is now behind Senderos, Toure and Djourou at centre back and I don’t think the staff at Arsenal or the fans really want to see him playing. We are just not solid with him in the team, if a move does work out then good luck to him but if not, then another season in the reserves it is for Pascal.

Theirry Henry has said he’s not even 60% fit yet and will need another month and wont be in form for at least 4 or 5 games. I don’t blame him; he went all the way to the final of the World Cup and then played in DB10’s testimonial without any training. Most players don’t hit their top form until a few games in, I hope he can be unstoppable again for us this season. He also said that Theo Walcott could be “a revelation” for us this season, he had a great game on Saturday and there’s nothing stopping him getting better. Our captain had this to say on the youngster:

“We really saw what he is about. He was good, fresh-legged and he did ever so well to set up the goal. Full credit to him. We have not seen the best of him yet. But I am so happy for him, so glad. I hope he can also do it in the Champions League on Wednesday.

I think he will be a future star of England and this game against Aston Villa is only the beginning. He is a great talent and he has an amazing first touch. You can’t buy that. Normally, a sign of a great player is someone who makes a major impression on his debut. People think back and say He was amazing on that first game. Rooney was like that and now we have Theo’s first match for Arsenal. People will always remember him coming on, causing Villa major problems and setting up the first goal.”

Okay that’s enough for today, until tomorrow

So we didn’t get off to a winning start at the new stadium, it could have been worse though, thanks to Gilberto’s late equaliser we shared the points. With Liverpool drawing against Sheffield Utd it’s not really that bad to draw against Villa, Also Bolton beat Spurs 2-0 which was nice…It’s Chelsea v Man City and Man Utd v Fulham tomorrow, hopefully they can drop points too. We didn’t play too badly yesterday, we just couldn’t get a decent shot on goal, and we kept passing it around the box which was really frustrating. The main highlight of the day was Theo Walcott coming off the bench on the 73rd minute. His immediately impressed and showed some great skill, he really does look like he’s going to be an amazing player for us. 11 minutes after coming on he crossed it in for Gilberto who grabbed the equaliser.

After a pressing first 45 minutes we thought we’d scored with the last kick of the first half, there was an eruption of cheers but then it was disallowed. It would have been a much different game if we’d scored that and gone in at half time 1-0 up, but we didn’t and 8 minutes into the second half Olof Mellberg headed a corner into an open goal as Lehmann had come out trying to punch the ball away and he missed. From that moment on until then end of the game it was non-stop pressure from the gunners, but with no decisive end product. It was really frustrating to watch and was edge of the seat stuff. We needed to bring someone new on and I was hoping Arsene would give Van Persie a run out, on the 66th minute he did come on for Adebayor. He changed the game a little bit but there was still no cutting edge. We needed something extra. We needed Theo Walcott.

He was like a breath of fresh air for us and immediately did some skills to get around to Villa defenders and he looked dangerous whenever he got the ball. Chants of “Theeeeo, Theeeeo” rang around Ashburton Grove. After all the attacking we finally came up with something on the 83d minute then Theo himself set up Gilberto Silva to make it 1-1. There was a massive cheer from all around the stadium, everyone was so relieved. After the goal we thought we could push for the winner and the non-stop attacking football continued in the search for that second goal. In the end it came with no result but it was a good effort.

We should have won the game really, we hit the woodwork 2 or 3 times and I think if we equalised a bit earlier we might have got a winner. At then end of the day it wasn’t to be and I can take the draw, at least we didn’t lose, it could have been worse. It was still a great day out, I’m now looking forward to Wednesday for the home leg of the Zagreb tie. See ya later people.

Sorry I didn’t write anything yesterday, my flight was a bit delayed and the trains home took ages so I was home much later than I thought, also I was too fucking knackered to even think about posting. Anyways, we play Martin O’Neill’s Villa today to kick off our season. It’s the first competitive match at Ashburton Grove and should be a good game between the teams 1st and 2nd in the league, so a win is vital here. We should beat Villa, the only thing about their team that concerns me is Martin O’Neill. He’s a great manager but it would take some sort of managerial genius to beat us. We should collect all 3 points and it would be nice to start our season with but with have to put in a good performance, the win won’t come easily.

We have several players out; Rosicky and Reyes haven’t recovered in time for the game which will see Ljungberg come in. Senderos, Clichy, Diaby and Lauren are also all out, that’s quite a long injury list. I hate it when we have loads of players out, that’s what loses us the league. Most of them will be back soonish. Ashley Cole has made himself available for selection but Wenger has left him out because he thinks a deal will be done very soon. However it’s looking increasingly likely that he might actually stay, we know Chelsea are stubborn cunts so they’re not going to take much notice of our valuation of him. Also the Russians bought another defender which could be Gallas’ replacement. It’d be really good for us if Gallas came here as part of the Cole deal, he can play all sorts of positions and he’s good at it too! Hopefully this is all sorted out soon, I can’t believe Cole still hasn’t gone. I thought he would have fucked off while I was away but no. Arsene Wenger was asked where he thought Cole would be on the 1st September, and he said Arsenal, and I’m afraid he’s probably right.

Also Reyes looks like he’s off to Madrid soon with loads of reports and quotes flying about while I was away but Wenger has said Real Madrid haven’t made any offer and it is just unsettling for Jose. It’s really obvious the lad really wants to go there and fair play to him, he might be our record signing but he’s not our best player, it wouldn’t be that much trouble if he left. He was left out of the Zagreb tie because he was unsettled by the speculation, hopefully he can either get over it or get over there, just sort it out. However Wenger has dropped a bombshell saying that if Cole or Reyes don’t get sold, they are going to still be our players! Wow, shocking stuff. I don’t know what sort of reception either of them are going to get if they do get a game for us at some point, I’ve decided I’m neither going to boo or cheer them. Not that it counts what I’m doing…

Vito Mannone has gone to Barnsley on loan and Lupoli has gone to Derby County for the season. All these loans are quite worrying now, if we ever have loads of injuries and need back up, all our best youngsters are on loan. To add to those two there is Bendtner, Muamba, Larsson and I think Connolly’s off on loan too, that’s all I can remember off the top of my head.

That’s all the news that’s about. Can’t wait to get inside The Grove again, I hope we make it a good atmosphere, should be a nice opener to the season. I’m going with my mate, it’s going to be a good day, I just hope we get the points. Also one last thing, after that infamous blunder at the world cup, we’ve got Graham Poll refereeing the game today. I’m sure we won’t let him forget his 3 yellows = a red. Right, I’m just going to watch the end of Soccer AM then it’s down to The Grove. Have a good day. C’MON THE ARSENAL!!!

Just a really quick one. I just thought I’d say that I’m coming home tomorrow morning, I’ll be back to normal blogging from then on, I can’t wait. I can’t belive Cole still hasn’t gone and Reyes looks like leaving in the next few days. OK, a proper write up tomorrow, have a good day.

Arsenal came through 3-0 winners against Dinamo Zagreb, I only got to follow the game on Sky Sports News with Paul Merson reporting. I still haven’t seen any highlights or anything yet but Merson said we should be “well pleased” with the performance and Dinamo will only be coming to London for the air-miles. It was pretty uncomfortable watching as we went in 0-0 at half time after playing a great first half and then with Dinamo on top after the break I was hoping we didn’t concede a stupid goal. However it was Cesc Fabregas who opened the scoring on the 63rd minute and then RVP scoring seconds later to make it 2-0, Cesc added a third on the 79th minute and was on a hatrick on his 100th appearance for Arsenal. It finished 3-0 and the second leg shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Reyes who is being strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid was on the bench and never came on; Arsene said he didn’t come on because he couldn’t be focused with all this talk of a move out and Aliadiere was prefered to come on for Adebayor late in the game.

 We’ll see where Reyes will be playing his football next season in the coming week, it’s hard reporting from this internet cafe. I wish I could write more on this and other things but I have a time limit and this keyboard is shit, it’s gone onto caps lock twice this sentence and the scace bar doesn’t work properly…Can’t wait ’till I get home on the 18th.

 Chelsea have said they’ve placed a bid for Cole but their valuation of the left-back doesn’t meet Arsenal’s. This coming from Chelsea don’t forget. The team backed by a Russian Billionaire. The team who forked out £30m for a player earlier this summer. The team who paid £24m for that piece of crap Drogba, Cole is double the player he is. Of course we are going to try and squeeze every penny out of the Russians but Cole is a good player so will cost quite a bit of money. At the end of the day Chelsea could just decide to be knobs and not buy Cole at all leaving us stuck with him. We play Aston Villa in our first Premiership fixture in just over a week, I’m not sure anymore if Cole will be playing or not, but he should be going to Chelsea. We want him to go, they want him to come, it’s that simple. Theirry Henry has said it would be a shame to see Cole go and would like him to stay, he had this to say to the Sun:

“Let me make it clear. I don’t know what is happening with Ashley Cole but the fact remains that if Ashley goes we would be losing one of the team’s best assets for the second year running.”

I was hoping we’d make a signing sooon with Arsene saying that we were interested in a couple of players but he said we haven’t made a bid for anyone at all. I hope he does put a bid in on someone soon.

I have to go now, I’ve run out of time. See ya later.

Thanks to West Ham and our result at the last game at Highbury we’re playing in the Champions League again tonight. Could you imagine if it was Tottenham v Dinamo Zagreb tonight and we were in the UEFA cup this season. Well I’m so grateful that we are here. Arsene has told us to not take Dinamo for granted and has said it will be a “tricky” tie, and he’s right. Despite what I said after the draw Dinamo are a good side, if they weren’t then they wouldn’t be playing us.

Thierry Henry, Jens Lehmann, Freddie Ljungberg, Ashley Cole, Gael Clichy, Philippe Senderos, Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott have been left out of the squad for various reasons: sickness, fitness, suspentions and possible transfers. Wenger has said that Cole has not been included to to a lack of fitness and is not feeling well but the main reason may be that Chelsea don’t want him cup-tied for them. The lastest revelation on the Gallas situation is it looks less likely he will come as Chelsea have just handed him the no.3 shirt which it was expected would go to Cole. It is still a possibility that Gallas will leave but it doesn’t look likely now. Arsene has said he’s getting fustrated by the Cole specualtion and hopes to have something sorted out in the next few days. There is still that chance of Cole not leaving us which still might happen but it is a slim chance but Gallas getting Chelsea’s number 3 shirt could be a sign. Anyway the squad that has travelled out to Croatia is: Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure, Tomas Rosicky, Jose Antonio Reyes, Robin van Persie, Alexander Hleb
Mathieu Flamini, Alex Song, Pascal Cygan, Gilberto, Johan Djourou, Mart Poom, Manuel Almunia, Emmanuel Adebayor, Emmanuel Eboue, Jeremie Aliadiere, Justin Hoyte and Armand Traore.

There’s plenty of talent there to do the bussiness against Dinamo but it’s not that simple. A draw would do tonight but a one or two goal lead to take to Ashburton Grove would be great. Tickets for the 2nd leg come out today and I’m going to sort out mine after I’ve done this post. The match tonight is live on ITV but the sky box I have out here doesn’t pick ITV up and I’m going to have to watch Sky Sports News unless there is a pub locally showing it somehow. There are all sorts of problems if we don’t make it into the Champions League and it would be a massive financial loss, last year we made over £10m from this competition alone.

 In transfer news, Sol Campbell had a medical at Pompey yesterday and is continuing talks today. I’m guessing he’ll be a Portsmouth player soon which will shock Wenger as he let him go on the condition that he’d go abroad. We’re being linked with Franck Ribery again and Sky Sporrts say we’re in a three horse race with Lyon and Real Madrid for the winger, personnaly I don’t see him coming and Wenger has also said he doesn’t see where he’d fit into our team. The boss also said he’s looking to add a couple of players and it won’t be just young players for the future either, he’s brought in Rosicky this summer; the only real player who’ll slot right into the squad. I’m hoping he’ll add a couple more players and it looks as if he might:

“We still have some experienced players out at the moment — Henry, Lehmann - but having said that I will still buy one — with experience. The target is one or two. One certainly.”

 So he’s guaranteed us at least one player…I’m going to hold him to that.

 There isn’t much other big news, only the story that Theo Walcott won’t be joining Watford on loan. To be honest, I never knew there were any rumours, and I know he’d never be allowed toi leave anyway, hopefully he’ll make an impact this season, and possibly get a game tonight? Who knows.

 Right then, come on Arsenal, I hope I can work out a way to watch it. I’m going to get my tickets for the 2nd leg now, hopefully that shouldn’t be a nervous game if we can put in a good performance tonight. Have a good evening.

Since I’ve bin away we actually signed someone! Fran Merida the 16 year old has joined from Barcelona and scored on his debut against Borehamwood where we won 4-0. In the other game against AZ Alkmaar we won 3-0 with Gilberto, Adebayor and RVP scoring.

There’s still nothing on the Cole situation but I did hear on Sky Sports News yesterday that he’s happy at Arsenal and is looking forward to the new season…hmmm we’ll see. Also Gallas’ Agent has said that we’re interested in him.

 Well I really must go, I’m going to run out of time. I’ll probably come back here later in the week to do an update. Untill then

Well I’ve been hoping I signing was made before this date since the World Cup ended, and recently I’ve been hoping that Ashley Cole’s move to Chelsea had been sorted out before today. I’m off to Ireland pretty soonish after I’ve posted this and I’m not sure how frequently, if at all, I can post on The Cannon. I’m not sure if they have the interweb yet over in Ireland so there’s a possibility I won’t write anything until the 18h August. I’ll try hunt down an Internet cafe but there’s no promises, I defiantly won’t be posting everyday, that’s for sure. I hoped the Cole situation would be sorted this week but it hasn’t, talks are probably going on at the moment but it would be quite funny if we registered him for us in Europe this season leaving Chelsea having to play Wayne Bridge (who played with Fulham last season!) in Europe’s elite competition. Will Gallas looks to be heading the opposite way as we’re apparently monitoring his situation with The Russians. I’ve said before I would mind him as part of a swap for Cole, I think he’d suit us as he can play both central defence and left defence; in fact yeah, I’d love to see Gallas come to us, I think he’d suit us really well.

The 1st leg of our Champions League qualifier away to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday 8th August is going to be shown live on ITV which is good, I’ll be able to watch that. Tickets for the home leg come out whilst I’m away so I’ll have to find a way to get on the Internet. I cant believe that Champions League is up underway already again, Paris seems only the other week, I hope we can go one better this year round…

Today we travel to Holland to play AZ Alkmaar at their new DSB Stadium, it kicks off at 6:00pm UK time and it’s being shown on British Eurosport. At six tonight I’ll be in Swansea about to get onto the ferry to Cork so I reckon I’m going to miss it, I hope there’s a chance I can get to a TV because there’s likely to be some of our stars playing. Expect to see the likes of RVP, Adebayor, Gilberto, Toure, Fabregas, Hleb, Reyes and others, should be a good one, obviously I wont be writing a match report but I’m sure you’ll cope. Around the same time, much closer to home, Arsenal field an 11 against Borehamwood, kick-off is at 7:30pm. I did have tickets but I gave them away as I’m off on hols, if your going tonight don’t expect to see a feast of football. With most of our players in Europe, the team against Borehamwood is likely too be a mixture of youths/reserves players, I would be surprised if you don’t recognise anyone there, you’re better off finding a pub on the high street and watching the AZ game to be honest. If anyone is going to either or both (impossible but there are some very dedicated Gooners out there, you never know…) of these games have fun, they’re our last friendlies of this summer before the big kick-off.

Okay, I’ve got to go do some final bits before I leave for Ireland, have fun people, I will miss you all of course. With Gunnerblog also away I’m afraid your going to have to make do with Arseblog for the time being…Also check out some of the other sites on my links. Try help me out by writing any news that pops up on the comments, I’m sure what’s happening with Cole will be sorted out very shortly. Bye bye for now then, see you soon!

Which is kind of a good thing as I have to leave for work very soon. The only piece of news which caught my eye was that a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina will take place at Ashburton Grove on 2nd September. Should be an interesting one, I’m sure they’ll be lots of Gooners after tickets, I might go, I never get to Internationals and would be a good one.

Jose Mourinho has said he fears Arsenal and Man U more than Liverpool. Last season Rafa Benitez’s side finished above us and some people seem to think Arsenal are on the decline. I hope we do put in a strong challenge for the title, and if we won it somehow that’d just be amazing.

Arsenal Ladies beat Everton 3-0 last night to win the Community Shield with the goals coming from Smith, Chapman and Davison. It’s nice to see one Arsenal side up where they should be. Also last night, Dinamo Zagreb beat Ekranas 5-2 making it 9-3 on aggregate. The away leg at Zabreb will be played on Tuesday 8th Aug.

We’ve got two games tomorrow, one at 6:00pm (GMT) against AZ Alkmaar to open their new DSB Stadium, and then at 7:30pm we play my home town, Borehamwood in what’s officially an Arsenal XI fixture. The one against AZ should be the more exiting one but I’ll keep an eye on both scores.

Right I really have to go now, I’m going to be late for work. Have a good day people.

It’s looking more and more likely that Rosicky will be the only addition to Arsenal this summer. With Campbell, Pires, Bergkamp and nearly Cole all gone you’d think we’d have to bring in some replacements. Gooners everywhere have been hoping for a signing, including me, I was calling out for Arsene to please sign someone. However, Campbell can be replaced with Djourou who Wenger hopes can break into the side, he’s been handed the no.20 shirt and I think Arsene believes he is the back up for Toure and Senderos. Pires we know was replaced by Rosicky, I honestly believe that our new Czech play-maker is a much better player than Bobby from what I have seen and I’m really exited about him. Bergkamp’s departure will give an opportunity to some other our younger strikers like Aliadiere, Bendtner and Walcott. And on the Cole situation we have got Flamini/Clichy who can step in but it does look as if Gallas could move away from Stamford Bridge.

A number of players who have left Chelsea during the Abramovich era have come out afterward say club to be at and the players don’t enjoy it there, most recently of these was Eidur Gudjohnsen who this summer secured a move to Barcelona. Most people are aware of this situation at Chelsea, but alot of people are more about the money, i.e. Ashley Cole. And when your players have to publicly say that they want to stay all the time that is not a good sign, check this one out from Drogba, not so much the content but look at his new hair, what a prick.

Also another thing I noticed about our in/out situation is that we’re no longer going to have Cole and Campbell, two Englishmen. Not just Arsenal fans but everyone knows that we are somewhat lacking in British players. Presuming Cole leaves we would only have Hoyte, Walcott, Connolly, Garry, Gilbert and O’Cearuill, most of which would be considered as reserve players. Only 6 homeland players out of a top-flight squad of about 30 players is not good, and with the new European rulings on this it is not good.

One of our players who’s having trouble just getting to England never mind being English is Carlos Vela. There are complications with getting him a work permit and spent the last season on loan at Celta Vigo, it seems there are more problems with this and he’ll have to find another club again.

Well that’s all for today. I passed my driving test yesterday by the way. If Wenger is going to sign someone else this summer he better do it quick as we’ll have to hand in our squad list for the Champions League soon, any additions after that would be ineligible. Dinamo Zagreb and Ekranas play the second leg of their tie tonight, the prize: a trip to Ashburton Grove.