Sparta Prague / Ade Injured / Eduardo / Lazio 3 August, 2007

The draw for the qualifying round of the Champions League was this morning and we got Sparta Prague. We never seem to get the easy teams do we? We played Sparta not so long ago; it was against them that Henry beat Ian Wright’s goal scoring record. The first leg is on the 14/15th August away, and the 2nd leg is at the Grove on the 28/29th. Liverpool got Toulouse and Celtic got Spartak Moscow; it hasn’t been a great draw for the British teams, you can see the draw in full here. Going out in this round is absolutely unthinkable. We know we can beat Sparta and we should do the job without any slip-ups. More on the game in a couple of weeks.

Adebayor will be out for the start of the season with a groin problem. It’s nothing major but it’s enough to put him out of the Emirates Cup and Amsterdam Tournament. Arsene says he’s not going to take any risks and rush him back so he expects he’ll miss the season opener against Fulham.

Eduardo Da Silva has got his work permit. Yesterday he was granted his work permit and I suppose now he’s officially an Arsenal player (his deal was subject to him getting it). It was a relief it did all go through, we would’ve had a bit of a panic if it didn’t but it’s all sorted now. He celebrated the day by scoring the winning goal against Lazio last night.

We beat the Italian side 2-1 in the Amsterdam Tournament last night. We fielded quite a weak side with only Fabregas in there who’d make it into our best side. Bendtner opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a well taken goal. The ball fell to him in the area but his first touch wasn’t a great one and it made the angle difficult to finish from, but Nick did well and shot perfectly past the ‘keeper and the defenders on the line.

Pandev equalized in the 40th minute from some very poor defending. It all came from a corner and Eduardo seemed to be pushed over by the bloke his was marking. Everyone stopped expecting a free kick but the Pandev pounced on a loose ball and shot past Almunia. The defence should’ve thrown themselves at the ball but I suppose they were caught by surprise and just hopelessly stuck a leg out. It was a very sloppy goal and if it was a competitive game I’m sure Wenger would’ve been fuming.

Eduardo scored the winner 10 minutes into the second half. Rosicky took a good corner, which arrived right onto Da Silva’s head who was unmarked on the edge of the six yard box. A textbook corner, quite a rarity with these modern Arsenal sides. A good goal anyways and I’m sure Eduardo is delighted to get his first Arsenal goal in the bag. You can see all the goals here

So that 2-1 win gives us 5 points in the Amsterdam Tournament. Ajax are also on 5 after beating Athletico Madrid 2-0 and top the group on goal difference. The deciding game between Ajax and Arsenal is on Saturday evening.

Right I’m off. Thanks for reading.