Just as I said 5-0 to Arsenal summed up the Derby game, the 1-0 score line you read above pretty much tells the story here too. It wasn’t really a snatch and grab job but it was very tense and in the end 1-0 was a deserved score. Bother teams had good chances but no real sitters.

We opened the scoring early, in the 13th minute. Ade took the ball forward but was on his own so had to hold up play. Hleb joined behind him and he took possession and played a nice cross into the box. Van Persie did really well to get his head to the ball and the finish was perfect, right into the bottom corner. Green got a touch but it was so far in the corner he couldn’t quite get enough on it. 1-0 and you thought there were goals in this game.

After half an hour there was a cringe-worthy moment when Mark Noble committed a terrible challenge on Hleb. The replay showed how he went in high with his trailing leg to bend Alex’s leg sideways and it did look like he could’ve broken it. After the game Arsene said his leg does look bad but it doesn’t appear to be broken. He’s not walking properly yet so should miss Tuesday’s game but there’s no news yet of how bad this is. Eboue replaced the Belarusian.

Half time came and we were still in the lead. My only thought at half time was that there were more goals in this game, there was no doubt in my mind.

10 minutes into the second half Van Persie came so close to scoring a second by hitting the post. He picked up the ball just outside the box and shot with a bit of curl but the ball struck the woodwork. Green may have got a touch but if it’d gone in it would’ve been a great goal and possibly game over for the home side.

Not long after though, Dean Ashton reminded us all how fragile our one goal lead was by meeting a long cross for an unmarked header yards from goal. So, so luckily his finish went straight at Almunia. However you have to give Manuel credit for, 1. Seeing the ball so late coming straight at him, and 2. Holding the shot as he would’ve surely converted and rebound.

Freddie Ljungberg was really getting stuck into this game and he was getting a few kicks just to remind him his place. He nearly repaid us for those 9 years here with an equaliser half way through the second half. However the linesman flagged for offside and we were saved. The replay shows he timed the run perfectly and when the ball was played he was exactly level with the last man. Unlucky to Freddie but thank God that goal was disallowed.

We had a few more chances before the end. RVP played a nice ball to Adebayor who had a one-on-one but Green made a good stop. Diaby picked up the ball outside the area and got into a shooting position, he let fly and luckily it didn’t go in because it might’ve broken the goal. Also late on Ade kept the ball in on the left wing and Clichy continued his run centrally. Emmanuel took the ball forward and then squared it to Gael for a shot. His strike wasn’t bad, he could’ve hit it a bit harder but in the end it was a decent save and Clichy was denied his first Arsenal goal.

1-0 at Upton Park is a good result and I think we’ll be pleased with that. We go to Bucharest on Tuesday night so build up to that to come. Hleb looks to be out and possibly Ade who limped off late in yesterday’s game. We should hear news on our injuries soon. Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow we make the short trip to Upton Park to try and better last years result. We’re on form at the moment and even though West Ham aren’t doing too badly themselves I’m sure they won’t be looking forward to the visit of the Gunners. You’d think the team would be fully fit after the rotation mid-week, but no. Eduardo and Song are out, I’m not sure how bad those injuries are but we have back up in those areas so we should cope. Other than that it’s what you’d expect, no one else has recovered since the last game, however remember Eboue is back and played on Tuesday.

Manuel Almunia is set to start and he’s been talking about his run as 1st team goalie. Here’s what he had to say:

“It has been a really good season for us so far and personally for me. I am enjoying so much my position in the team and I am trying to help the team as best I can. At the moment things are going well and I keep my fingers crossed that it stays the same. I am a better keeper now. If you are a hard worker and don’t get down then you always improve. If it’s not this year then it’s next year but in the end you will play if you keep going and going. If you try to improve every day you get the results and that’s what is happening with me.”

Lehmann’s cock-ups at the start of the season cost him his place in the team despite how ‘injured’ people say he is. Jens is going to have to work hard to prove he is the best here but Almunia is making it hard for him.

So here’s my guess at the team:

I’d like to see either Diaby or Gilberto replace Flamini in the middle but I think Arsene will stick with what works and keep Mathieu in the team. I’ve said before I do not like Diaby out on the wing but obviously Arsene doesn’t listen to a single word I say and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out there tomorrow. Without Gallas that’s pretty much the strongest team we could pick. Rosicky could possibly come into the side but apart from that it’s as good as it gets.

We could come up against our own Freddie Ljungberg tomorrow which would be very weird. I have no idea whether he’s injured or not but I cannot be arsed to find out. I should be watching the game in some pub in Watford, however you follow the action, enjoy it. Hopefully I’ll have a match report up soon. See ya.

It was a good 2-0 win against Newcastle on Tuesday night seeing us through to the next round. To be completely honest I wasn’t fully confident about the game, I had no idea what was going to happen. I only managed to follow the game via text alerts so I didn’t really know what was going on. Every time my phone went of my heart skipped a beat but luckily it was all good news.

You can catch the highlights of the game here and full player reviews are here. Before the game Arsene was talking about Alex Song and by the sounds of things he had a good, solid game at the back, which I for one am very happy to hear.

Denilson scored a screamer in the very last minute to confirm victory. I can’t wait to see September’s ‘goal of the month’ competition, as recently most of our goals seem to be absolute crackers. However it was Nick Bendtner who gave us the lead in the 83rd minute with a header from Traore’s cross. Nicklas was pleased with his goal and now has the ambition to go all the way in this competition, this is what he said when asked whether we can go one better than last year:

“Yes, I think so. It’s a good tournament and of course we all want to win it. The young players all want to play all the games we can. All through the Club, including all the young players, everyone knows what it’s all about and the way to play football. At the moment the confidence is really, really high. Tonight 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.”

I’m really pleased to hear that from him because I’m constantly, really worried about his position in the club. I think he will be important for us in the future, but I know he hasn’t got the patience to wait. From that quote he sounds quite happy but I know he will be thinking about the amount of games he’s getting.

Here’s what Arsene had to say about the game. He talks about the long-range goals we’re scoring instead of trying to walk the ball into the net and how these players are good enough for the first team if they are needed. He also confirmed that we signed Diarra for just £2m. He had a great full-debut and it looks like he’ll be a strong contender for 1st team places very soon.

In the other ties Manchester United were knocked out 2-0 by Coventry! HAHA! Chelsea beat Hull 4-0 and the Scum beat Boro 2-0, wonderful, hopefully we get another chance to knock them out this year. The draw for the 4th round is on Saturday, when we play West Ham away, a preview for that tomorrow. See ya.

Tonight our kids face a tough test against Newcastle. It’s at home in front of a sell-out crowd (*coughchelseacough*) so the support should be there to give our lads the biggest chance possible. The 16 man squad is here which includes names like Lansbury, Mannone and Merida; however we’ve also got Diaby, Senderos and Walcott in there too.

Yesterday Arsene gave us a hint of who might be starting. Here’s what Le Boss had to say:

“You will see Bendtner, Diarra and Denilson. Maybe Eboue will be coming back as well. You’ll see Justin Hoyte and Alex Song maybe Eduardo and Diaby. Then there is Armand Traore and Lukasz Fabianski who we have not seen a lot of so far. We have sold out and we will put out a good team. We want to give the opportunity to our fans to see some unfamiliar faces.”

Arsene mentioned that Eboue might be coming back and he has been included in that squad. It’s great news that he’s returned from injury as we’re lacking in wingers at the moment. I see him starting on the bench though as it’s not really worth risking him already.

Alex Song is set to start in defence and here is Arsene Wenger in his defence. He’s saying about how we can’t judge him yet and he’s got talent. He finished with this, “We believe he is a quality player and I personally believe he can make it at centre back.” The idea of Alex being converted to a centre-back (for me) is unthinkable. It’s no secret I don’t have a lot of confidence in The Song and centre-back is a position with a lot of responsibility. I hope Arsene is right though and he plays well tonight.

So, I think it’ll be this team:

Obviously I’ll be totally wrong but there you go. It might be more likely we’ll see Walcott on the wing and Eduardo up top but I’d really, really like to see Theo get a chance as a striker and Eddy on the left, we might not another chance this season. It would also be nice to see Merida to get a chance; he’s supposed to be the new Cesc and I’m sure he’d love to show his stuff to 60,000.

Newcastle will play a strong team, that’s for certain. So it’ll be a very tough test for our reserves but I know that they can do it. I followed them last year and they were fantastic. However, last season in a lot of games we had quite a strong bench, fair enough there’s a few good players in there but no Van Persie, Henry, Toure, Fabregas etc.

Right then, enjoy the game all you lot going, I’m not again Please make it a good atmosphere for the kids and cheer them all the way. Thanks for reading.

The financial results came out today and they showed that we were financially the best team last year. If you’re interested in all that sort of stuff then you can download the full document here. Our turnover has increased by nearly 50 percent to just over £200m. The move to the new stadium has meant our revenue from match tickets has more than doubled from what we used to get at Highbury; we get just over £3m per game and we took £90.6m over the course of the season.

Here’s what Peter Hill-Wood had to say:

“The best way that Arsenal can continue to deliver success is by maintaining a business that pays its own way. This philosophy helped establish our objectives for the Club’s move away from Highbury and Emirates Stadium now provides Arsenal with the increased income, profitability, cash generation and firm financial foundations from which we will continue to build trophy winning Arsenal teams for many years to come.”

So we made the most money out of all the English clubs last year, despite not winning a lot anything. No wonder there’s a few people wanting to buy us then. We might’ve had a pretty good year but don’t forget we’ve got that massive debt to pay off from the stadium. However, these results show that we’re not going to have any problem gradually paying that off over the next few years.

In other news there’s a bit of team news for the Newcastle game but I’ll cover that tomorrow. Also Arsene explains why Van Persie didn’t feature against Derby saying memories from last season against Man United came to mind.

That’s about it really for today. I’ll have a match preview of our Carling Cup game tomorrow. Until then.

Headline says it all really. However I have to write a bloody match report anyway for you lot…if you want to guess how the game went, then just read the title and move on. My reports are always too long to read anyway. Sunday is meant to be a lazy day. But no.

Excuse me, I’m in a weird mood due to lack of sleep.

So yeah, 5-0 to The Arsenal. Eduardo partnered Ade up front and Diaby was out of the left again. Gilberto wasn’t even on the bench so Flamini retained his place alongside Cesc in midfield. Almunia was in goal but we might’ve well as put his granny between the sticks because even if Derby scored all their shots, we still would’ve won.

The first one was a screamer from Abou Diaby. He picked up the ball on the left, cut inside side-stepping 3 defenders and launching a shot that swerved right into the top right corner. It was an absolute beauty; we’ve scored some good’uns this season so far and this one might just top all of them. So we were one up after ten minutes and you could see where this one was going.

The second came 15 minutes later from Ade. Cesc played an absolutely beautiful ball up to Emmanuel who took a brilliant touch on his chest allowing him to be one-on-one with ‘keeper Stephen Bywater. He rounded him and it was a tap in for two nil.

Walcott would’ve made it 3 if he had more confidence in front of goal. Fabregas played a great one-two and Theo was through. Fair enough he was at a bit of an angle but his shot had no power and went straight to Bywater. I do worry about Theo, he said himself that he has to prove himself this season and he’s still got a lot to prove. He might be a striker but with the competition he’s got for a place up front plus our lack of wingers it doesn’t look likely. I think he will play striker in our Carling Cup game on Tuesday though.

Then Eduardo had two chances to add to the score line just before half time. He got clean through and just as he was about to shoot he was tackled well and the ball went out. From the resulting corner he somehow found himself with a free header dead in the middle of goal but somehow couldn’t manage to make it 3-0 to Arsenal.

Eddy did have a part in the third goal 5 minutes into the second half. He was pulled over by Matt Oakley in the box and we were awarded a penalty. Ade took and it went right into the right corner, the goalie went the right way but it was so expertly taken he couldn’t reach it. Thierry who? Exactly.

Toure was getting forward quite well and he clearly fancied his name on the score sheet too. Cesc played a nice little chipped cross that Kolo ran onto for a free header a few yards out but he managed to miss! I thought it was a certain goal but it just want to be.

Fabregas hadn’t scored so far in the game which was just wrong so in the 70th minute he decided it was now time for his goal. We were toying with the Derby defence knocking the ball around, in the end it came to Cesc just outside the area on the right who smacked a shot into the opposite corner. Bywater got a hand to it but it was another screamer and he was unable to stop it. From his celebration you could tell that he’s loving this goal-scoring run just as much as we are. 4-0 Arsenal. Cesc came off right after his goal to a massive standing ovation replaced by Denilson and Diarra came on for Walcott.

There was only one thing left to do in this game and that was to help Adebayor complete a well-deserved hat trick. With ten minutes to go Denilson picked up the ball just inside Derby’s half, spotted Ade and launched a perfect pass. Emmanuel showed his strength chesting to ball down, holding off the visiting defence and managing to stay up even when some knob was pulling him down. Then he took a clam shot into the far corner along the ground. Five nil now, Adebayor had his hat trick, lovely jubbly. He had a great chance to get his 4th and Arsenal’s 6th in the last few minutes when he got clear again. In the end the defender did really well and got back to make a great tackle, one positive for the Derby fans to take on the trip home.

I have to mention Francesc Fabregas. He was incredible again and to say he’s the best midfielder in the world in this form wouldn’t be far from the truth. He is god. Diaby was also good even though he was out of position again. It was a great all-round performance and 5-0 does it justice. The only ‘negative’ would be Theo’s apparent lack of confidence in front of goal, a few more chances upfront should help that but as I said, places are hard to find.

Newcastle in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. Preview and all that rubbish to come. See ya.

I don’t want to disrespect Derby but you have to say today we have a break from the run of difficult games we’ve had recently. Wenger says he will try and rotate the team a bit if possible, however he doesn’t really have a choice; We picked up two new injuries on Wednesday, Senderos is back fit but Hleb is not, added to that there’s Eboue, Gallas, Rosicky and Lehmann. Gilberto is back from well deserved rest in mid-week; maybe he can be the first person the push Flamini out of the centre of midfield who has been simply undroppable this term.

There are a number of different options Wenger could go with so it’s hard to make a guess. He hinted he might go with Eduardo down the left and that Theo could start. I would like to see Eddy down the left wing, there was a game a few weeks ago where he had a spell there towards the end of the game and he did really well. Taking all things into account I’d go for this starting 11: Almunia, Clichy, Senderos, Toure, Sagna, Eduardo, Gilberto, Fabregas, Flamini, Van Persie and Adebayor.

That is probably completely wrong but what do I know? Today will be the first game I will not be attending at the new stadium since we moved. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet but it will later I’m going to try find some pub in Watford with the dodgy European channels that might be showing it.

We should be expecting nothing less than three points today. A draw would be very disappointing and a loss would be unthinkable. A win this afternoon keeps our form going and will keep us nicely ahead of the chasing pack. Mourinho-less-Chelsea face Man United and Liverpool entertain Birmingham.

Have fun all of you who are going…I am jealous. Cheer on the lads for me. I’m off to find this pub. Laters.

Brilliant. Just brilliant. The score line might be a bit flattering but we were worthy winners. We got off to a flying start and were really putting Seville on the back foot. However shots were limited and it took half an hour for the first goal to come and guess who it was? Yep, Cesc scored again. Well, it was quite a dubious goal as the shot took a big deflection off Julien Escude. The visitors lost possession in a dangerous area and the ball went straight to Hleb, he gave it to Cesc and with the confidence he’s in he shot from some distance and with the help of a deflection it was 1-0 to The Arsenal.

The first goal in this game was always going to be very important. Seville were now on the back foot and as I’m sure you know, we can exploit teams very well that are forced to attack us.

Adebayor went close towards the end of the first half when he broke through. He did well but the final shot was poor and went wide. The visitors too had a chance before the break. The ex-Tottenham striker, Kanoute was getting a bit of stick and he shot from range forcing Almunia to make a good save.

Four minutes into the second half Rosicky came off for Abou Diaby. Tomas had a brilliant first half in my opinion and was definitely a contender for man of the match, however early on in the second 45 he was forced off with a hamstring injury. He’ll be out for at least two weeks according to Arsene. He’s a very injury prone player and just when it looked like players were starting to recover, we have a new load.

Just before Rosicky came off Hleb took a bad knock and was limping around. I though he was coming off but he shook it off. However today Arsene says he’s now a ‘major doubt’ for Saturday along with Senderos who has a hip problem. I guess we’ll learn more about them tomorrow but I doubt they’ll be risked against Derby, in a game which Wenger says he’ll rotate the team a bit.

Anyway, back to last night’s game. The second half seemed to lack the pace of the previous one but Seville were still clearly behind and chasing the game.

In the 58th minute we won a free kick on the left hand side near the corner flag. It was taken quickly and was wasted but just like Saturday, the referee blew his whistle and ordered it be taken again. I was thinking about the Spurs game and thinking maybe we’ll do it again and score from the re-take. And we did! Fabregas’ ball wasn’t brilliant but Sagna helped it on at the near post, it fell to Van Persie right in front of goal and it was a tap-in for 2-0.

Seville made a double substitution a few minutes later and they were really pushing for a goal. They came close a few times but Eduardo would have the final say on this game. He came on for Adebayor in the 84th minute and Lassana Diarra came on three minutes later for RVP for his debut. Eddy’s goal was a simple tap-in by the chance only came from a great, traditional passing move by Arsenal and players not being selfish and shooting. It was a lovely worked goal and a great end to the game.

So we won the first game of the group 3-0 against the toughest opposition we had to face. A perfect start. There were some great performances too: Almunia looked dodgy at times but made a few good stops, Sagna and Clichy were brilliant, Toure was unbeatable, Cesc was…Cesc, Rosicky has a great first half, Flamini was awesome, Hleb looked good and the strikers looked hungry. It was a great all round performance. The only disappointment was Abou Diaby. He didn’t play badly; it’s just that he’s not a winger! He looks lost out there. I have complete faith in Arsene but seriously, I don’t know why he is playing here. If Vieira was put out on the wing what would you think? I pray that Wenger isn’t hoping to convert this player into a winger when he looks like he’s going to be something special in the middle.

It’s back to the League now and it’s Derby at home on Saturday. It should be no problem but they’ve just beaten Newcastle and will be high on confidence. I will build up to that one in the coming days, thanks for reading.

Tonight is one of the biggest games of the season so far. We can afford to lose, but it would put us bottom of the group and place pressure on us for our next group games. A win tonight would be fantastic but I think we would settle for a draw. We’re on form at the moment though and I’m sure the side from Spain are well aware of this.

There’s lots of quotes coming out of the Sevilla camp this week. Renato is aware of our tendency to try and dribble the ball into the net and the difficulty we sometimes have to score. I said before that Luis Fabiano, Seville’s 2nd top scorer last season, has been included in the squad. Tottenham old boy, Kanote is bound to get his fair share of abuse tonight but he’s not worried about that, it’s our midfield maestro Cesc Fabregas he’s worried about. He says if they can stop Cesc and get off to a quick start then this game can be won.

This week Jens Lehmann publicly declared himself fit but according to Arsene he’s still out with an elbow injury. So, it’s Gallas, Eboue and Lehmann who will miss this one as we now have Senderos back from suspension. Arsene will field his strongest possible team tonight; he has a dilemma whether to player Gilberto in defence or bring in Senderos. I think Phil should come in and the Brazilian be push up to partner Fabregas in the middle.

Tonight should be a good game, both sides will be pushing for the win. Here’s hoping the side that does it is The Arsenal. Right I have to get to work now. Match Report tomorrow, until then.

I’ve always been a big fan of our young left back, Armand Traore, but his actions at the weekend has made me admire the guy even more. After not being selected in the squad to face Tottenham he decided to go to the game with a mate. It is customary at the North London derby that the stewards on the turnstile give a quick check to see if you have anything dangerous on you. Armand was said to be acting suspiciously around the ground and the steward uncovered a knuckleduster in his possession!

I’m sure you all know there’s usually a bit of afters at these games and it seems like Traore was ready to get stuck in! The 17-year-old was arrested outside the ground. An Arsenal spokesman said, “He has apologised.” And a ‘club insider’ has said:

“Armand had no idea he’d done anything wrong because the laws are different in France.”

But still…who carries a knuckleduster round? Unless they think they are going to get into a fight. Maybe he thought he might get recognised by a Spurs fan and might be attacked? Fair play if that is the case as he came ready, and armed! Could you imagine if Armand actually got in a scrap and actually started knocking out members of the ‘Yid Army’? Brilliant. Oh Armand, you legend.

On to more serious matters and Red & White are dramatically increasing their stake in our club. Apologies for not really talking about this story much, the truth is that I don’t really understand behind the scene things like this. However, Red & White are now up to 21% and are making very generous offers to shareholders. The worry is that Stan Kroenke will sell up to Usmanov. Kroenke is a businessman too and if Usmanov was to make him an offer for his shares then I bet Stan would be willing to sell at a profit. Red & White still insist that they are not trying for a takeover, just simply increasing their stake. Hmm.

Well it does look worrying. The Board have a significant number of shares that they would not be willing to sell. Also there are shareholders who are associates of the board who are also planning to keep hold of their shares. The only thing we can do is sit back and just watch this develop and I just hope that some of our shareholders are strong, and hang onto their stake.

Finally, Setanta Sports are set to launch an Arsenal TV channel. It will launch in December and will be a part of the Setanta package. Click the link to find out more on this. There’s meant to be six hours or more of programming per day, showing five days a week. It’ll be interviews and behind the scenes stuff. However the best bit is there will be live coverage of Reserve and Ladies games and ‘delayed’ coverage of all first team games. They don’t specify how ‘delayed’ these will be but still at least there is a way of watching them. I suppose we’ll find out more on this towards the end of the year.

Right then, I’m off. Have a nice day.

Monday mornings are dreaded by everyone but I think I speak for us all when I say us Gooners couldn’t wait to get into work today and have their little dig at our Tottenham supporting colleagues. Marvellous. I hope you all said your piece.

If you haven’t been at work today then I’m sure you’ve been staring at the Premier League table and seeing 1. Arsenal…and then seeing we have a game in hand…and then seeing our next games are Derby, West Ham and Sunderland. Wonderful.

However, Adebayor is asking us not to get carried away and talking about the title already is a bit early.

“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.”

On Saturday you could see Emmanuel was enjoying the win just as much as us fans were and I’m sure he’s pleased with the positive August and September we’ve had so far. We’ve made a good start to the season and if you think back, if it wasn’t for that cock-up by Lehmann against Blackburn then it would’ve been a 100% start, plus an extra 2 points ahead of the top four. West Ham won’t be easy but our next three games are against recently promoted teams so we should be taking 3 points from those games. I would take 7 points, however, a team that wants to challenge for the title must win these games.

Arsene has been talking about Ade saying what his inclusion does for the team:

“When he is not in the side you see that a lot of presence goes out of the team. Sometimes he was frustrating because he can miss an easy chance but on Saturday he showed the type of chances he can take. He is a constant threat in the air.”

Adebayor has a lot of critics but Arsene says he does a lot more on the pitch than some might notice. I don’t think Emmanuel played too well on Saturday at times. In the first half he played a few misplaced passes and his shots weren’t always on target. However there were flashes of his talent and at times he caused the Spurs defence some troubles. Later on in the game he really flourished, with the home side tiring he found more space, and with it, confidence. In the end he produced two important goals and carried on his run of scoring against our most biter rivals.

Our attention must turn to Europe now though as we face Seville at home on Wednesday night. They are the trickiest team in the group and Wenger has been warning us not to underestimate them. He believes they are ‘one of the best sides in Europe’. We are the two favourites to qualify, even though we’ve had to reach this stage through the qualifying stages we are up there with the top sides in the tournament.

A draw would be acceptable but if one team were to lose then they’d be on the back-foot early on in the group stages. Neither side will want to risk losing so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a draw. Luis Fabiano is back from injury for the game and we’ll have Senderos back from suspension. I’ll have a proper match preview up before the game.

Until then.

“We are top of the League!”

Well what an absolutely brilliant Saturday that was, with Liverpool and Chelsea held by Portsmouth and Blackburn respectively We’re two points clear at the top with a game in hand over Chelsea and United. All the singing at the full time whistle was about winning the league and we might just be up there. I don’t think this is our year, however if we’re lucky with injuries and we carry on with the belief and hard work we’ve shown so far this season then we can put up a title challenge.

I was a bit late for yesterday’s game due to grid-lock traffic on Seven Sisters Road. The large group of Gooners on the bus decided we just had to get off and walk. We had still quite a way to go and would be lucky to make kick off. When we got up to Seven Sisters station there were riot police everywhere holding up a group of fans and there was police vans as far as you could see. This was what was holding up all the traffic and it was obvious there had been a bit of pre-match trouble.

When I finally reached the ground the atmosphere was electric as you’d expect and I was really up for this one. However, seconds after I found my seat Spurs scored. Tottenham were looking dangerous around our area and Gilberto went for a tackle from behind which resulted in a free kick in a decent position. Gareth Bale took it and he struck it really well towards the bottom corner. Almunia dived well but his reactions were a split second too slow and the ball went underneath his hand.

We were 1-0 down with quarter of an hour gone but I wasn’t really very worried. I know what Spurs are like and I know the resilience of our team.

Adebayor came close to equalising with what would’ve been a clever goal. Robin Van Persie took a quick throw in which Ade ran on to and shot on the volley at an angle. It was a very difficult shot to get a connection to but it was on target. The angle was tight so it wasn’t difficult for ‘England’s no.1′ to block, however it did show Spurs what we’re capable of in a split second.

Diaby came closest to making it 1-1 when he hit the crossbar. Hleb made a good run cutting inside and found Diaby unmarked over on the left in the area. Abou shot first time but the ball blasted into the woodwork. It should’ve been a goal and there were thousands of Gooners with their heads held in their hands.

We went in one goal down at half time and I wasn’t too impresses with the performance. Looking back on it now though we didn’t play that badly, it was just the emotion of losing at White Hart Lane that exaggerated every single tiny error into a monstrosity. All I could think about was countless misplaced passes and the absolute sitter that Diaby missed plus other chances. There was 45 minutes to go though and I knew the game was far from over.

The home side were taking confidence from their lead and 5 minutes into the second half Berbatov broke through with some poor defending from our centre backs. Gilberto was nowhere but Toure raced back. Almunia had no option but to come out and the Spurs striker rounded him to put all of Arsenal fan’s hearts in their mouths. Toure was the only thing stopping him from scoring now and he pulled off one of the most important tackles of his career. What an absolute legend Toure is. I love him. We broke off that attack but our final ball was poor and we lost possession in the opposition area.

We had another chance to equalize almost immediately after this when Sagna did well to keep the ball in on the right wing. He went passed the defender and then stretched to stop the ball going out for a goal kick. He advanced into the area and played a little pull-back ball to Adebayor unmarked 6 yards out. I thought it was a goal, 1-1, back in the game. But no. Emmanuel blasted the ball way over the bar and I was absolutely fuming. He redeemed himself a few minutes later by scoring the equaliser…

He seems to love scoring against the spuds and how desperate we were for another one from him. We won a free kick out on the left and Fabregas took it, it was a poor effort and a good position was wasted. However, while this was being taken, a stupid Spurs fan was trying to run onto the pitch and his efforts forced this free kick to be re-taken. This time it was a great delivery towards the far post and for some reason Robinson decided to go for the ball and came nowhere near. Adebayor leapt and headed into the open goal. 1-1, fucking ‘ave it. Game on.

After the celebrating had died down we started singing “England’s no.1, England’s, England’s no.1″ over and over again at full voice with everyone clapping and jumping up and down. It was quite beautiful and a reminder of just how terrible he is.

Tottenham nearly took the lead in the 80th minute from a corner. It came straight to Berbatov unmarked in the middle of the area. He struck it with a side-footed volley and Clichy saved the ball on the line with his chest. Phew. So, so lucky there.

Shortly after we were on the attack and Fabregas picked up the ball 30 yards out. He took at touch and there were screams of “Shooooot!” from the away section. I was thinking ‘don’t shoot, it’ll be a waste!’ But how wrong I could be. Cesc struck to ball and it was an absolute screamer swerving into the top left corner and England’s no.1 had no chance. I couldn’t breathe when that went in, it was an absolutely amazing goal to score, the game, the importance, the timing and the fact it was just a brilliant goal. Then I went into absolute ecstasy and in celebrating the goal I broke a seat. I wasn’t too bothered though. It was quite possibly the best goal I’ve ever celebrated live at a football game. However, it is closest contested by our third.

Before that though, mega-money-super-summer-signing Darren Bent (ha!) was clear through on goal and had a one-on-one to equalise. He produced the most pathetic left-foot shot I have ever seen. It was well off target and I knew from this moment on that we’d won the first North London derby of the season.

However this was secured when we added a third late in injury time. Rosicky broke from a Tottenham attack and we out numbered them at the back. The ball came out on the right to Denilson in acres of space. His shot was weak and Robinson made an easy save. However it came out to Cesc who played it into Adebayor on the edge of the box. With his first touch he flicked it up in the air, and with his second it was an acrobatic volley into the top corner. Another brilliant goal and it sealed the victory for Arsenal.

The fans came over to the fans at the end and some threw shirts into the crowd. It was a brilliant day and you could see the players were loving it just as much as we were.

I got out of the stadium pretty quickly to avoid any trouble. Last time got caught up in the police escort, which walked us down Seven Sisters Road in the sun for what seemed like hours. I needed to get back so I made sure I wasn’t in that again. I got between two police fans and got in with all the Spurs fans. Someone tried to trip me up just after I got through but after that I was fine. I had to contain myself was I walked with all the woeful scum…seeing all those dejected faces only made me feel so much better.

I could talk more about individual performances but there’s really no point in taking anything away from this. 3 points is all that matters in game like these.

It was an incredible day made even better by the other results. Top of the league and full of confidence. Here are some words from Wenger on yesterday’s game. Next up is Seville at home in the first game of the Champions League group stages, it’s important we get a good start and coming off the back of this win I believe we can take three points.

A bit of a long one today but I think it deserved it. Thanks for reading.

Yes you heard it right, as a result of this week’s internationals Jens Lehmann’s elbow has exploded and it can’t have been a pretty sight. It has to be one of the most incredible injuries I have ever heard of. This surely will end Lehmann’s career as a goalkeeper, as I do believe arms don’t grow back. However, if he could get some sort of extendable robot arm then he might just be the greatest ‘keeper ever. Although Gary Lewin will have to consult the FIFA rulebook before creating his Frankenstein’s monster. This is how manager Arsene Wenger broke the news:

“Jens Lehmann pulled out of the second German game. His elbow has blown up.”

A really quite remarkable story, I will get some pictures up as soon as I find some. Keep your eyes peeled on though as the German fan who caught Jens’ forearm is set to make a killing on eBay. It’s must for any Arsenal fan’s mantelpiece.

Apart from that there are no other new injuries to report. Sagna returns from his knock, which is great news. Wenger says “he still has some pain but he should be OK if needed” which doesn’t sound 100% convincing but I expect him to start. Gallas, Senderos and Eboue are all still out though which means Gilberto is expected to play in central defence along with Toure. A good pairing but Arsene says his back up is Alex Song, which is terrifying.

Apparently Van Persie only played 45 mins, not 90 of Holland’s game so hopefully that means he’s a little fresher for tomorrow’s game. With all that news here’s my prediction of the team for the first North London derby of the season:

I think that 11 is quite predictable and I’d be surprised if it’s much different from that. The only possible differences I see is maybe Hleb playing through the middle with just RVP up front or maybe Eduardo will start after his performances for Croatia.

I think that those players are by far good enough to beat this struggling Tottenham side but we all know this game has nothing to do with the teams on paper; it’s about who fights to the very end, who gets nervous, who relishes the challenge and who has the belief. Last night I started getting goose bumps and hairs standing up thinking about this one, that’s tells you how excited I am.

I did think that if we won this we’d be top of the league but with Man United and Liverpool both in early kick offs it depends on the results in those games. We haven’t been top of the table once in over two years (except at the beginning when we are alphabetically), which is terrible for our standards.

Right that’s it for the Arsenal vs. Tottenham preview. It’s off to the Shithole for me tomorrow and I cannot wait. A match report will come Sunday I guess, until then.

I’m back, and as I guessed, there was really fuck all news about. Apart from that there was the announcement of Arsene Wenger’s new contract; He’s signed an extension of 3 years and is set to become Arsenal’s longest serving manager. I don’t need to tell you that this is good news. There’s an interview here.

The general feeling behind the new contract is that Arsene is in the middle of creating something special here at Arsenal and he can’t leave now. The development of these youngsters are very important for our future and we have a selection of players whose futures are very exiting.

It did get worrying whether Arsene would sign another deal but recently it’s become obvious that he would. It’s such a relief to have him finally extend his contract. I think that this may well be his last one, I imagine he will see that state of the club three years down the line and choose whether to stay a bit longer or move on. However if there was an extension I guess it would only be another year of two; he said on his 10 year anniversary that he wouldn’t be here for another 10 years, and I don’t blame him.

Other news…well in the internationals Eduardo played really well as he usually does in his national colours of Croatia; he scored both goals in the 2-0 win against Estonia and got the fifth in the 6-0 thrashing of Andorra. Van Persie played the full 90 minutes of both Holland’s games against Bulgaria and Albania but couldn’t manage a goal; hopefully all that football doesn’t leave him fatigued for the trip to Shite Hart Lane. The ‘injured’ Jens Lehmann has been playing for Germany, he picked up a clean sheet against Wales but that’s really not that amazing is it really? Sorry Welsh readers

That’s really about all the news there has been in a week. Crazy. We play Spurs away on Saturday lunchtime so build-up to that to come. It’s an early kick off, but it’s not on TV (in England anyway), which is stupid. I found out this is because police ask for the 1.30pm KO to stop fans from getting hammered before the game causing trouble.

Anyways, talk to you tomorrow I guess. See ya.

I’m off to Spain for a week and I doubt that where I’m going will have internet access but if it does I’ll keep the blog up to date. It’s international week anyway so there shouldn’t be loads of news, there’s the possibility of an announcement on Wenger’s contract and hopefully there’s no more injuries. Here are those players that are off on international duty; it’s strange that William Gallas and Bacary Sagna have been called up to the French squad even though they’re injured, maybe they’ll be back for Tottenham? Also, “Jens Lehmann has been selected to play for Germany despite suffering from an Achilles injury” is the quote from that article. Hmmm.

With the transfer window now closed, Wenger explains why he didn’t add another striker to his squad. He makes it quite clear though here, talking about Nicklas Bendtner:

“Every other club in the Premier League seems to phone me to get him on loan. So how can I say that everybody wants you but we want you here and then go to buy someone new.”

I can accept that. I’m sure we all know how desperate Bendtner is to play; he only came back here from Birmingham on the guarantee of first team football. He’s certainly 4th choice striker but I’m sure he will get games. If we did bring someone else in then Nick would’ve left and then we’d be back down to the same amount of strikers so there was no point in bringing someone in. Gilberto Silva has supported Wenger over not making many signings.

One player Arsene did decide to bring in though was Lassie Diarra. He only had a year left on his Chelsea contract and according to reports we got him on the cheap. He says that Chelsea thought he would “crack and finally accept a contract extension”. What a delightful situation. He goes on to say:

“But I refused every extension and now I have signed a three-year deal with The Gunners. Chelsea finally accepted, maybe because they were scared I would leave for free in one year. At 11pm on Friday night, I got a phone call to tell me I could start to negotiate with Arsenal as both clubs had found an agreement. I didn’t hesitate because Arsenal was the only club I wanted to join. It was Arsenal or nothing. Other teams contacted me, but I knew what I wanted. Chelsea knew I wanted to join The Gunners.”

I love the way it sounds like Chelsea were desperate to sign on this boy and offered him extensions and extensions yet he refused them all, brilliant. To be completely honest, by the sounds of things, behind the scenes at Chelsea Football Club is not a nice place, and I’m not just talking about the Diarra situation. There’s Lampard, Gallas, Mourinho and others who in one way or another have been unhappy, or had stalls in contracts talks or fall-outs.

That’s about it then for today. I’ll try get on el internetio this week, if not, I shall speak to you after the international break for a build up to Tottenham away. Thanks for reading.

I was expecting a good game, and it was. We played really well and should’ve won 3-0 if it wasn’t for a very lucky Kanu goal. Flamini started in right back (obviously Diarra was never going to start, it was more me hoping) and had a very good game as did Clichy on the other side who had another great performance. Hleb recovered from his illness in the week to start out on the wing and he didn’t have a bad game at all. Rosicky on the other side had a brilliant game, he hasn’t made a great start to this season but if he continues on yesterday’s form then this will be a very good year for him.

We got an early goal with an Adebayor penalty in the 8th minute. Clichy closed down a ball being knocked around the Pompey defence and Van Persie raced onto it and was through on goal. David James came out to intercept and sent Robin flying, how James didn’t get a card is beyond me but we won the penalty and Adebayor placed the ball on the spot. He sent the ‘keeper the wrong way with a cool finish and it was 1-0 to The Arsenal.

Both teams has some long-range efforts, none of which troubled the ‘keepers. There was a similar chance from the other day when Hleb but in a low cross across the face of goal and Adebayor running in couldn’t quite reach it to put the ball in the net. In the 35th minute we did manage to double our lead. Rosicky’s corner came to the head of Gilberto but his effort was blocked. Fabregas reacted quickest and shot on the turn to make it 2. With that goal Cesc has equalled the amount of goals he got last season and it’s now 4 in 5 games for him.

So at half time we were in a strong position and Harry Rednapp made two subs to try and change things around, he knew his side were being outclassed and something needed to be done. Last year we were 2-0 down just after half time and managed to come back and this is something that Portsmouth thought they might be able to emulate.

Senderos went close early in the second half with a free header but minutes later he was sent off for a challenge on Kanu and was the last man. I think it was harsh but I’m probably wrong. The ref was absolutely terrible again, can’t be bothered to go into it though, there’s no point. So we had to play with 10 men for 40 minutes but we coped fine, Gilberto came into defence and we were fine. From the resulting free-kick Pompey came close but luckily they didn’t score; a goal then could’ve dramatically changed the game.

Rosicky made it three just before the hour mark. Clichy was pushed over near the corner spot and we got a free kick, Fabregas played it short to Rosicky who fired a low shot from a tight angle. It went through the legs of Glen Johnson and in the net. However seconds later Kanu pulled on back from the visitors with a very lucky goal. The cross came in to him and his first touch was poor ball the ball hit him and went in the far corner.

You feared that Pompey could score another and then it’d be very close. However that didn’t happen, we held the game at 3-1 and that win takes us to 2nd place with Liverpool only above us on goal difference. The top two have a game in hand over Chelsea, who lost to Villa, and Manchester United who are down in 8th.

Thanks for reading. I’ll get a news update up tomorrow then I’m off on holiday for a week. The players are off on internationals so there won’t be a great deal of news anyway.

Well it seems Chelsea prefer to sell us players’ at 11:45pm on 31st August; last year it was Gallas, this time round it’s Lassana Diarra. Apparently he’s signed on a long-term contract and as always the fee is undisclosed.

I never expected Arsene to make another signing, I thought the chequebook was firmly closed but this is a good signing. The news broke to me on the comments section on here and I was truly shocked. We were linked with him a couple of weeks back and it did look promising but it went all quiet and I forgot about Lassie. You might say that we don’t need any more central midfielders, and you’d be right. However when the opportunity comes up to sign a player of this quality you don’t ignore it.

Gunnerblog has some excellent quotes from a Chelsea forum, and I spoke to two Chelsea fans at the pub tonight and the overall feedback is that they’re gutted to lose this player. Similar to Gallas, he is a player that I’m sure Chelsea would’ve wanted to keep, however both players grew unhappy of the set-up behind the scenes there and made their way a few miles north to Ashburton Grove.

He’ll definitely go behind Gilberto and Fabregas in the squad, however I do worry where this signing leaves Abou Diaby; I’m a big fan of his and he had a good game the other day. My feeling is that Wenger will play Lassie out wide more often than not. We’re low on wingers at the moment and I’m sure Arsene will deploy him out there shortly and see how he performs. He’s also comfortable at right-back and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he makes his debut there today with Eboue and Sagna out injured.

I’m really pleased with this signing and I’m excited to see how he performs in the red and white of Arsenal. He takes Freddie’s old no.8 by the way.

Yesterday morning the draw for the Carling Cup was made and once again we’ve a tricky tie; our kids will be playing Newcastle the 25th or 25th September. It’s a home tie, which makes a change, but the Toon will be very much up for this one and will be a tough, tough test for our youngsters. I’ve always liked watching the kids in the League Cup; last year was very special with Spurs in the Semis and unluckily losing to a strong Chelsea side in Cardiff. Another run in the cup would be nice but I wouldn’t be surprised if we got knocked out in the first round. With the squad looking as thin as it is at the moment it might do us a favour to be out of one competition.

We play Portsmouth at 1.30pm today I’m expecting a really good game. Several ex-Gooners are set to start for the visitors and we have a few regulars out of this one. The injuries are the same as from the Sparta game; Eboue, Gallas, Sagna and Lehmann are all out however Alex Hleb is a doubt. I’m pretty sure the Belarus international would’ve started this one however he’s fallen quite ill this week and it’ll be decided whether he’s fit to play or not today. So, I’m going to guess at this team:

It’ll be tough game no doubt and Pompey have made a great start to the season. If I had to put money on the result I’d go for 2-2 but I know we are capable to go for the win. If the fans get behind the team we could be in very a very moral-boosting 3 points.

Right I’m off to bed, it’s another bloody early kick-off. Thanks for reading.