With Eduardo’s season over and van Persie still stuck in that constant state of ‘a couple of weeks away’ we need to find a partner for Adebayor. Bendtner has hardly proved himself this season, he’s scored a couple in his few appearances but nothing extra special and Walcott only scored his first ever Premiership goal last weekend.

Both players have good points and bad points. Bendtner is incredible in the air; boot a ball up field and you can bet he’ll be there to take it under control or head it on. However you could argue this is part of Adebayor’s game. Manu has an incredible leap, as does Bendtner and I think it’s a case of anything Nicklas can do, Ade can do better.

Theo is a different species to Bendtner. He’s incredibly quick and skilful who can cause a lot of problems running at defences. The Adebayor/Walcott partnership has a lot of potential (as does a Bendtner/Walcott partnership but Adebayor will play), it’s the typical tall and strong plus quick and short strike force.

There’s a difference between the two youngsters though that will decide who will play tomorrow. It’s mainly an issue of confidence and match experience. Bendtner has proved on many occasions both here and at Birmingham that if you give him the ball somewhere near the box, he might have a chance at scoring. However with Theo I still don’t feel confident that he has a good chance of scoring. He’s known to lose the ball and before that weekend he looked scared to have a shot for himself.

Walcott seems to lack match confidence whereas Bendtner is overflowing with it to the extent that he’s maybe a bit too cocky. Theo has said this week that those couple of goals last weekend have given him that confidence but there will only be one way to find out if they actually have.

With Diaby now fit we can afford to play Theo up front; we can have Abou on the left and Hleb on the right. With Eboue suspended and Rosicky injured we’ve had to play Walcott on the wing but now Arsene’s got a decision to make.

The other option would be to have Adebayor play on him own. I suspect Wenger will be very tempted with this one but I’d prefer it if he went for a 4-4-2. I think Ade needs someone to support him and deflect defenders attention onto another striker. I personally would go for just him up front but I won’t be very surprised if I see it happen tomorrow.

We can also play Hleb behind Adebayor with Walcott and Diaby on the wings. Wow we have so many options for once! I think it’ll be Theo or Bendtner partnering Adebayor though. I have a feeling it might be the Englishman. Not really sure why, I can just see him being a real nuisance for tomorrow’s visitors.

Just to confirm my team…

Almunia
Sagna - Senderos - Gallas (c) - Clichy
Hleb - Fabregas - Flamini - Diaby
Walcott - Adebayor

Tomorrow is a massive game. Last week we lost our heads due to that horrible injury, I have no doubt that we would’ve won comfortably if it weren’t for that. So we need to clear our heads of Eduardo now, get on with our game and give everything we have.

Aston Villa are a great side and are more than capable of coming to Ashburton Grove and drawing, or even winning. So we’re going to need to play to the top of our ability. I think that they’re going to score, so that striker decision is quite an important one.

It’s bound to be a good game, it’s not on TV in England though so you lot who aren’t going are going to have to find an internet stream or find a pub with the dodgy channels. I’ll do the match report early on Sunday then a Milan preview later that day as in the morning I’m off to Milan! Speak to you then.

I’m still not used to having no mid-week game. I mean if it wasn’t for Eduardo’s injury then this place would be a complete ghost town. I was tempted not to write anything tonight but I thought I better try.

So, news…hmm. I guess the biggest news is that Diaby regaining fitness. He’s back in contention for a squad place, which is good seeing as how thin our squad is at the moment. So with him coming back, he injury list looks like this:

Alex Song (knee), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Kolo Toure (knee) Johan Djourou (groin), Van Persie (thigh) & Eduardo Da Silva (broken leg).

Toure might be fit for the 2nd leg against Milan, Wenger says, “He looks a little bit early but you never know.” Robin van Persie isn’t a million miles away either but Arsene refuses to put a date on his return:

“We will not rush Robin van Persie back but the news is quite good. It is very difficult to say [when he will be back in the side]. We go step by step. But he should come back into normal training, very, very quickly now. Maybe I am being a little over-cautious in my statements but I do not want to put any special pressure on him. But the fact that Eduardo is out is one more reason to [get him back].

I was hoping he might be back for Milan, we should be aiming to get a goal out in Italy but it’s going to be either Bendtner or Walcott partnering Adebayor who have hardly proved themselves this season. However after these comments I very much doubt Robin will be back. It’d be nice to see him in the squad but I’m with Wenger, he shouldn’t be rushed just for the sake of it; we did that earlier in the season and he just got injured again.

There’s been a bit of news about Usmanov this week. He’s slightly increased his shares to just over 25% which means he now has a ‘blocking stake’; Arsenal.com explains what that means. Red &White (a.k.a. Fat & Orange) have said they’re not trying to take over the club but it is very worrying when he increases his stake.

The board have set up that lockdown agreement, which means a takeover would be impossible but it still has to concern you. It’s one of those things that’s going to develop over the next few years and as a fan I can only sit back and watch. However I read today that he’s started buying into another club (some Russian or German team or something I can’t remember), which must be a sign that he’s losing interest in his Arsenal bid.

Theo Walcott’s been talking about his England U21 team mate Gabriel Agbonlahor, Eduardo’s injury and his first Premier League goals at the weekend. Agbonlahor is a decent player and we’ll have to keep an eye on him on Saturday, he’s quick and doesn’t give up easily; he can give us problems if we don’t pay attention.

I’ll preview the Villa game properly tomorrow evening. It’s a massive game for us now; we have to get back on track after last weekend’s disappointment. Speak to you tomorrow.

It’s been 4 years since we’ve won the Premiership. 4 years! Can you believe that? To be honest with you though, I haven’t been extremely bothered by it, until now. Back in 2004 it was sort of taken for granted that we were going to win the league, we were in such incredible form it was just a case of seeing if we could do it unbeaten.

Since then I’ve been a little bit obsessed with the Champions League. I’ve always wanted us to win that more than the League. I know that by winning the Premiership it is an accurate way of showing that you are the best team in England. Whereas in the cup, anyone can win it with a bit of luck. But as fans, you don’t care about that!

I suppose it’s partly to do with us never having won the Champions League, partly to do with us getting so close in 2006 but mainly I just want to be able to say that we’re Champions of Europe! However now it’s all starting to change for me.

Early in the season when we beat Tottenham, we went top of the league for something like the first time in 3 years. However at that stage of the season league position didn’t really count for anything because it could change so quickly. However we actually stayed sat at the top for some time and we’re still there now; I think the longest time we were probably off the top was maybe two weeks.

No one expected us to win the league this season, no one. Not even the most optimistic Arsenal fan would’ve truly and honestly believed we would win the Premiership. It took me a long, long time to admit we’re actually in a title race. I think it took me until about December before I finally realise we could actually win the league here. I always thought that next year would be our year but you have to give credit to the boys for doing what they’ve done so far.

They’re inspired to win it now. Even more than the fans because of the way the critics wrote them off. Cesc Fabregas has again this week told us what it’d mean to him be Champions. Also the other day Flamini said ‘we want to win it for Eduardo’.

We all know we can, we just have to somehow hold off United. If we can just concentrate on our game and treat every match as the most important one in the season we can do it. It’s going to be a really interesting and exiting run in and I’m praying we can do it. It’d mean so much to me if we could win the league. I would be so proud. Fuck the Carling Cup, fuck the FA Cup…even fuck the Champions League. If we win the league I won’t give two shits. So you can shove that Carling Cup medal up your arse Robbie Keane, and stop crying, it’s a nothing cup.

We start with Villa this weekend. Win there and the draw at Birmingham is forgotten.

Just a bit of team news finally and Kolo Toure hopes to be fit for Milan. We’ll think about that one next week though, Saturday’s game is much more important. Thanks for reading.

Today has been a day of good news for Eduardo’s injury as it was estimated he’ll be out for only 6 months before he’ll be running again and back playing in 9 months. Eddy will have his leg in plaster and on crutches for the next couple of months and then he’ll be able to start gradually putting weight on his foot again.

Eduardo’s still in hospital in London but he’ll be released later this week. Whilst he’s been there he’s been receiving loads of good will messages from the loyal Arsenal fans. Arsenal have set up an email address that they will collect our messages with and turn them into a book for Eddy. Also you can email arsenal.croatia@gmail.com before Wednesday with any get well soon messages before Thursday and I’ve also been assure that any cards/letters sent to Eduardo da Silva, c/o Arsenal FC, Highbury House, 75 Drayton Park, London, N5 1BU will reach him.

He does seem like a really nice, humble guy so the least he deserves is our support after all the hard work he’s put in this season. What we’d all like to give him though is a Premier League winner’s medal. Flamini’s said he’d love us to win the league for him. Matty said that what he saw of Eduardo’s injury was sickening and although it upset a lot of the players they wanted to use it to inspire them on to victory. I have this image in my head that I spoke about yesterday; it is of Eduardo on the podium at the end of the season lifting the title on his crutches, that’ll give me goose bumps.

There isn’t a lot of other news around. Anything about has been linked with this story. Even the other clubs are reacting to it: AC Milan had a ‘Come on Eduardo’ story up n their website just hours after the incident wishing him a full and quick recovery. Now that’s class. Birmingham have also been talking about it, they’ve been apologising obviously but there has been a lot of excuse making. The worst was Stephen Kelly’s remarks who said it should never have been a sending off. What an idiot.

I’m off now, I’m dying from some sort of evil cold/hayfever/manflu disease. Talk to you tomorrow, if I’m still alive.

In the second minute of the game, that happened. The horrific, idiotic, reckless challenge by Martin Taylor on Eduardo da Silva. For the few seconds in which the incident took place, I wasn’t actually looking at the TV, so I missed it, however it was clear that something really quite bad had taken place. The players around him urgently called Gary Lewin on, the sheer panic on everyone’s faces really hit me.

Everyone had a look on their face saying, ‘Woah, this is bad.’ Eduardo was on the pitch for 10 minutes receive urgent treatment. A lot of people were watching this thinking, when are they going to show the replay? Sky said they wouldn’t show the images as they were too sickening for general viewing. When I got home I found these images and this video (Warning: These are not for the faint hearted). Horrible.

Look at that second picture at the top of this article, Eduardo’s face. He didn’t deserve that. Taylor has gone in, clearly not for the ball but to “let him know he was there”. I don’t for one minute suggest that he’s intentionally broken his leg but I’m 100% positive that he meant to miss the ball. That’s why he’s a fucking imbecile who shouldn’t be playing football. After the game Arsene said he should be banned from playing for the rest of his career, comments which he later retracted saying it was all in the heat of the moment. I agreed with him at the time but it shows our class he so quickly, publicly apologised for what he said.

However, it raises the issue that such a terrible ‘tackle’ if you want to call it that, will only result in a three-match ban. Arseblogger (in a great post this morning) talks about this saying that it’s a shame that we had to wait until somebody got really hurt until maybe the FA do something about it. This season there has been some horrendous fouls, a lot of them seemed to come around the same time, towards the end of 2007, and I remember everyone saying that very soon somebody is going to be on the wrong end of something disgusting. Yet I never thought it might happen to us.

Obviously Taylor was red-carded immediately. However there are some stupid pricks out there. Birmingham players surrounded the ref debating his decision, pundits dismissed it as ‘harsh’ and TalkSport radio spoke about ‘typical diving Arsenal’ and how we just can’t take an ‘English Tackle’. Fuck off you stupid cunts, I’d love to see you be on the other end of that tackle you deluded-United-loving-wankers.

You might think that I’m spending a bit long talking about just one challenge in the game, however it completely overshadowed anything else that happened yesterday. When Da Silva was receiving treatment the camera panned around our players who were all abject, some with their heads in their hands. It was horrible to watch and all the fans at home and in the ground felt the same too.

When play finally continued you could blatantly see that it this had affected our play, and it was no surprise when we went one-nil down. They won a dubious penalty outside the area and James McFadden took a good free kick curling into the top corner that Almunia couldn’t quite get enough on.

At half time Arsene Wenger said what needed to be said, and it got through to the players. Within 10 minutes of the second half we were 2-1 up from two Theo Walcott goals. The first was a cross which Adebayor tried to get a head to but the ball fell in the area which Walcott reacted quickest to make it 1-1. The second was a more individual goal, with the confidence of his first Premiership goal five minutes earlier Theo cut in from the right and shot from just outside the area back across goal. A great finish and we were all smiling again.

The first half was a bit depressing with everything that happened but it least it looked like we were going to win. We were on top for the rest of the game, Adebayor had loads of chances, many of which were headers but there was one that is haunting me today. Ade broke clean through and charged towards goal with just the ‘keeper to beat.

He was sort of coming in from the left but Bendtner had followed the play and was making a free, unmarked run down the middle. All it needed was a nice ball squared and it was 3-1. Open goal, simple. However Adebayor was incredibly selfish which had me fuming, he wanted to continue his goal scoring run, not help the team. He missed at that was the end of a fantastic chance. At the time we were wining 2-1 so it didn’t bother me greatly but after game I was livid with him. I do hope Wenger had a go at him because I wish I could.

So it looked like we were going to win this one, until extra time. It was in the 94th minute that Gael Clichy costs us the game. A stray ball went over the box and out to the left, now for some reason Clichy paid no attention to it. He must have either thought it was comfortably going out or maybe he didn’t see Parnaby lurking. Once Gael noticed the danger we were in he tried to get the ball off him but wrapped his foot around him from behind and a penalty was given.

I’ve been told today it wasn’t a penalty but at the time it looked like it was. Usually I record Match of the Day and watch it the following morning for the match report but I didn’t feel like it yesterday. I was furious. And so was Gallas, he was so pissed off he had to remove himself from the situation and walk up the other end of the field. McFadden stepped up and put it away and it finished 2-2. Gallas sat on the pitch whilst everyone went back to the dressing rooms until Wenger came and got him.

A lot of people were angry with our captain’s actions but I would have done exactly the same thing and I do not blame him one single bit. That is my opinion. I know what he’s done wrong here so don’t try and tell me.

Yesterday was a very bad day for Arsenal. It’s the worst I’ve felt since possibly the 2006 Champions League Final. I said to myself, “Oi, we’ve only fucking drawn with Birmingham. It isn’t the end of the world. We’re still three points clear.” It was just the manner of dropping those two points, plus Adebayor’s selfishness and mainly due to the sickening injury to Eduardo.

At the time I thought this could be a career threatening injury, at least two years out, if he came back at all. He spent the night in a Birmingham hospital last night and has moved down to London today. I’ve heard from Croatian sources that the injury could not bad as bad as first thought and he could be back in 6 months. Think back to Alan Smith’s injury whilst playing for Man Utd, his bone was ticking out of his leg too and he was back in 7 months. I’m sure we’ll here all about it this week.

We have to believe now. We have to win the league for Eduardo. He was becoming a bit of a fans favourite, a fantastic finisher and a great guy. He was going to be one of the most exciting players of Euro 2008 and it’s his fucking birthday tomorrow!

All I want to see now is Eduardo Da Silva, on crutches, lifting the title at Ashburton Grove with everyone cheering his name. Make it happen Arsenal. Thanks for reading.

There has been alot of excitement this week over the AC Milan fixture but you could argue that tomorrow’s match at St. Andrews against Birmingham City is of much more importance. We play in the early kick off which means we can open a 8 point gap on Manchester United with an away win. United travel to St. James’ park later in the day, hopefully Kevin Keegan can start his winning run this weekend.

The team news ahead of the game is as follows, Kolo Toure is out for two weeks, not the initial month first thought. That’s good news. Whilst Senderos is playing like his is at the moment the injury doesn’t really bother me too much to be honest, I never thought I’d say that! Almunia’s back in the squad after recovering from illness however Arsene has a decision to make on who will start. Lehmann hasn’t done a lot wrong since he’s come back into the side and if Almunia does start tomorrow Jens will feel a bit hard done by. I’d go for Almunia but it is quite lucky we have two decent ‘keepers to choose from.

Hleb and Adebayor picked up knocks against Milan but are alright to travel to Birmingham. Also Eboue can’t play because of that red card so I guess we’ll see Theo Walcott at right midfield. So I’d be pretty surprised if the team was a lot different from this:

Birmingham came to the Grove not so long ago and got away with a draw. We didn’t play too badly but the visitors got their tactics right and made it difficult. They know how to stop us now so we need to play well. Every Premier League game between now and May are massively important so somehow we need to transform that hype the players got to play the European Champions and transfer it to tomorrow’s game in the cold and wet English midlands. A tough task but Wenger’s on the case.

I’m not going tomorrow, decided not to bother as I need to save money for Milan and it’s on TV anyway. I’m working again but I’ll still be able to watch it Hopefully it’s a much better performance than last Saturday’s.

Anything other than a win will be a massive disappointment. If we drop points United can close the gap and I’m sure they wont waste that opportunity if we slip up. Chelsea are of course evolved in that cuntfest at Wembley on Sunday, I hope no Gooners are having to attend that one. Not just because it’ll be horrible, no, because I’ve ordered an air strike on the ground for about half four.

Right see you later people, happy Friday.

Regular readers will know that my dad’s photo made it down to the final 11 picked by Arsene Wenger in the o2 competition to win an Arsenal Opus. Last night they held a party for the finalists in the Diamond club, which included meeting Ray Parlour, Martin Keown and Nigel Winterburn. We also got a mini tour of the stadium included.

The Diamond Club was absolutely amazing, pure luxury. I had a little wonder round and it was incredible. The bloke giving us the tour said how much it was to be apart of it and it was something like £75,000 for two seasons or £100,000 for three. However you do get free drinks and free programme so it’s not all bad. The bar was called the ’30’s Champions Bar’ and had a bronze bust of Dennis Bergkamp on the end.

The whole place was beautifully decorated with a mixture of style and class. There were decorative wood panels to every table-booth, which overlooked the Club Level restaurant below. There were also a few trophy cabinets around the place, this one with a couple of the FA Cups and old Division One Championships we’ve won. Tottenham fans, keep dreaming.

Then we went down one floor to the Directors Box below. It wasn’t quite as extravagant as the Diamond Club but it was still really nice. The view from the seating area was fantastic and the seats were so comfy. I sat in Peter Hill-Woods’ seat. It was like being in 1st class on a jumbo jet, pure luxury.

Then we went down a couple of floors to the area I was most looking forward to. We saw the players entrance where everyone arrives, as you walk through the doors there’s a big red wall with a massive Arsenal crest on and underneath it says ‘The deeper the foundations the stronger the fortress’. Then along the corridor to the dressing rooms there are loads of iconic photographs from our history. The guy showing us around also said that the away team are always made to arrive first, all the added together, it must be quite daunting when the smaller teams come to play here.

Then we made our way to the dressing rooms. There are 4 dressing rooms, 1 for us, one for the away team and two more that are used for the Emirates Cup. You probably know that Arsene Wenger worked in Japan earlier in his career and he shared a lot of their beliefs; there’s even a Japanese garden at the training ground. Arsene designed all four dressing rooms, 2,3 and 4 are all square shaped which is supposedly unlucky and intimidating. However the home dressing room is horseshoe shaped, which is not only lucky but it allows Wenger to address his players much better.

In the players lockers there were shirts for each of the 11 finalists with our names on and no.11 on the back. I got ours signed by the three ex-players there and it’s now framed upstairs with a copy of my Dad’s photo.

There was also a plunge-pool in there for relaxing muscles and opposite that was the physio room, and no van Persie wasn’t in there.

We left the dressing room and walked down the tunnel as our players do every week. You could imagine what it would be like on a match day. A small light at the end of the tunnel gives you a glimpse of the fans and as you walk down the massive stadium gradually reveals itself. The atmosphere must be incredible for players coming out onto the pitch.

I sat In Wenger’s seat, stood in his technical area and felt what it was like to be sitting on the bench. For some reason I’ve always wanted to do that, I don’t know why. When I go to home games I usually sit in the 4th row, so I know what it’s like to be close to the front, however last night when I was down by the pitch, it felt so much different. The stadium looks so much bigger down there and I was just thinking about how the players must feel surrounded by all these fans, the immense pressure they’re under to perform. I sort of take our stadium for granted now but yesterday I started to realise how special it is.

We then went back upstairs to the Diamond Club for a Q&A with Martin, Ray and Nigel who joined us on the tour which I thought was really nice. It was good because you could ask them questions along the way or whatever you like and Ray made a few little jokes and it sort of gave the whole thing a really relaxed atmosphere and I completely forgot that they were people I idolised a few years ago, they just seemed like regular nice guys.

Ray Parlour had some funny stories to share in the Q&A, they also spoke about Arsene Wenger and how revolutionary he’s been for the club. Martin was talking about how he left the club when he was 19 because he didn’t get on with the manager and he was offered a raise of £250 a week to £300 when his contract expired and he left. He came back though obviously and became a fans favourite. Martin was also talking about Ruud van Nistelrooy, we all joked about it but he was saying about how it showed we weren’t going to be pushed about anymore.

It was a really enjoyable evening and I’m so grateful I was able to see all these things behind the scenes. That’s why I thought I’d share them with you on the blog today, hope you like it. I thought they were going to announce the winner but the bloke from o2 said they’re going to email everyone in a couple of weeks with the results and the announcement will be made before the ‘Boro game. As soon as I know anything I’ll let you know, but thanks so much to everyone who’s voted for my dad’s photo.

I’ll write up a match preview for the Birmingham game a bit later, until then.

We really deserved a lot more than that 0-0 headline last night. I said in the preview that if we could keep a clean sheet it would give us a good chance in the 2nd leg. However it was the visitors that seemed more obsessed with defending. The barely broke into the last third of the pitch and even then, they weren’t great.

My evening started in the worst possible way. I thought I’d head down to the game early, soak up the atmosphere, look round the shop, have a pint, then go to the game. I was in good sprits sitting on my train, thinking about the game and slightly nervous. However, suddenly I thought, “SHIT! MY TICKET!” I had gone all the way to Wembley Park before I realised and I had to jump off the train and run to catch one going back the way I came. I couldn’t believe it, I never forget my ticket…one of the biggest games I’ve been to and I forget my fucking ticket. So I got the train all the way back, went home as quick as I could, got my ticket, back to the station and jumped straight on the first fast train into London. I was now a sack of nerves and completely stressed out.

In the end I made it to Arsenal Station about kick off time but there was hundreds of other people there too and the slow moving crowd was driving me insane. I ran right round to the opposite end of the ground where I was sitting and made it to my seat after about 8 minutes gone.

We started with the team I expected however it looked like Senderos had been preferred to Toure. I later found out that I’d missed an early injury to Kolo when Pato’s shot hit his leg and it twisted his knee forcing him off. After the game Wenger said it’s a calf problem, but whatever he is he said he’s going to be out for another crucial month. Luckily Senderos is in form at the moment but it’s a bit worrying if he or Gallas picked up an injury. Hleb was in the middle and Eduardo started on the wing but later in the game he was pushed up front.

There weren’t a lot of chances in the first half; I suppose both teams were being a little cautious. Even still, you’d have to say we were getting more of the ball and doing more with it. It took until the 36th minute for a proper shot on goal. Eboue cut in on the right and played it back for Flamini however his shot didn’t have a lot of pace on it and went straight into Kalac who had made himself fit for the game.

It finished at half time 0-0 still with everything to play for. Early into the second period Nesta was forced off injured and some bloke I’ve never heard of came on, I thought this might give us a chance to break Milan down.

We were definitely the most dangerous side of the two but we still weren’t really creating clear-cut chances. We were playing class football though; we were completely cancelling out the European Champions. I was interested to the Kaka play as I’d never seen him live before but he was anonymous. Senderos completely dominated him and made some great tackles against the World Player of the Year.

With about 20 minutes to go, players were tiring. The whole Milan side looked exhausted but there was one of two Arsenal players who looked a bit fatigued too. Clichy was ambling around for a little while but he soon picked himself up. Fabregas looks a bit knackered in the middle after all the work he’d done. Eduardo was replaced by Bendtner in the 73rd minute and it was from then on that we really should’ve scored.

Fabregas had a couple of shot but they both went straight at Milan’s 8ft ‘keeper. The best chance though came right at the end when Theo Walcott picked up the ball on the right. His pace and trickery was too much for the visitors and he cut inside and whipped in a cross to the far post to Adebayor. Theo put the ball right on his head and somehow Ade managed to hit the bar from just a couple of yards out. I’ve been watching the replays this morning and it’s making me cringe. How did he miss?

Anyway it ended 0-0 with it all to play for in the second leg. Birmingham in league up on Saturday which is arguably a much more important game. Thanks for reading.

The day is finally here. I’ve really been looking forward to the game and now it’s finally tonight I’m unusually calm…and quietly confident. Arsene has us as underdogs which is quite right, they are the European Champions and are a massive side. However, we haven’t been doing too badly ourselves and although our side is young and lacks silverware, we have a lot of heart, belief and speed. We’re in a good position I think, so much so I was watching Sky Sports News this morning and they were showing the odds and we’re favourites. 11/10 I think it was.

I said the Man United vs. Arsenal game would be a good game to watch, but I was wrong, I really should’ve guessed it. However tonight it will be a great game, there are so many talents on the pitch and the score could really be anything. Cesc Fabregas believes the game will be won in midfield, he’s been talking about how he admires Pirlo and that their experienced midfield can ‘kill us in a minute. Gunnerblog weighs up the two midfields ahead of tonight’s game in his piece today.

One of his comparisons was Flamini vs. Gattuso. Matty has been likened to the Milan midfielder this season with his never-say-die spirit, his commitment and ability to control the game. He’s been a revelation for us this year and he will be massive for us tonight. He’s been playing down those comparisons though, he says, “I’m a different player to him. I’m more attacking. We try and play a little more football. And, anyway, I want to make my own name in the football world.” He has got a point there, he does help us going forward quite a bit too, to be honest with you I haven’t studied Gattuso’s play so I can’t really argue their likeness.

The team news for tonight is good. Lots of players have managed to make themselves available for tonight which is fantastic. Bacary Sagna returns after mourning the sudden and tragic death of his brother, all thoughts go to him, I hope it won’t affect his game but only inspire him on. Gael Clichy, Mathieu Flamini and Emmanuel Adebayor were all on the bench against United but return to the first eleven tonight. Denilson and Walcott have also been added to the squad, that could be just to make up the numbers or they have actually made a recovery. Our biggest absentees are Almunia who’s still recovering but Arsene says he’s not far away and Thomas Rosicknote is still out too.

I think we might go 4-5-1 tonight, or another option would be to play Hleb behind Ade. However I worry that a single striker might not be enough for Milan’s top defence. Here’s how I think we’ll line up:

That line up allows for us to change things if the need be. If Arsene wants to put 5 across the middle then Eduardo just drops to the left, the same goes for if he wants to put Hleb playing off the striker. I’d be quite surprised if it was anything different from that. Toure didn’t put in a fantastic performance in Manchester, whereas Senderos has been consistent; I still think Toure will get the game though. On the right I’ve had to pick Eboue, we haven’t got anyone else to be honest, hopefully he plays well and doesn’t do anything stupid, this is an important game.

I believe we’ve got a really good chance tonight, we have to consider the away leg to come though. If we were to keep a clean sheet tonight that would be great to take to the San Siro; a 1-0 or 2-0 would be incredible. I’d take a 3-1 or something as well but it does leave a nice opportunity for Milan in the 2nd leg with that away goal. We have to stop them from scoring, if they score two or something tonight it’s not the end of the world, it just means we have to do the same over there or at least get a goal at home.

The game can really go any way, they might completely outclass us, or we could unlock their matured defence and take the advantage. Maldini’s been saying he’s worried about Adebayor; his Champions League record isn’t great put hopefully he can continue some of that League form tonight. A goal tonight from him would be very important.

I think the game’s on Sky Sports 2 tonight but for those of you going I’ve got three bits of advice: 1. Wrap up, it’s going to be fucking freezing, 2. Bring your scarves, the club and RedAction have been trying to get everyone to bring theirs tonight. It looks really good inside the ground and they’ll keep you warm too you know. And 3. Sing your heart out. We need to make advantage of that home advantage so lets make it a special atmosphere.

Right I’m off to work now, then down to The Grove, love it.

Just if you hadn’t noticed.

Build up to the big one beings. Honestly, I’ve forgotten about the Man United game, didn’t dwell on it too much. We now have just the Premiership and the Champions League to focus on, no other distractions. I think that’s the ideal situation for Arsene, especially with the number of players we have in recovery at the moment.

The players have been talking about the game too. Gilberto Silva thinks we can bounce back from the disappointment at Old Trafford against Milan. In my mind there’s no doubt in that. I don’t believe the players will be still thinking about going out of the FA Cup, if anything, they will realise that they need to up their performance in Wednesday night’s game; Wenger will let the players know that today I’m sure.

The Champions League is a massive tournament and it will always inspire the players to give absolutely everything they have. The fact that we’re playing the current holders only emphasises that. I don’t think the players will take it negatively though, they’ll use the pressure as their advantage and hopefully we’ll see some great performances from the likes of Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini and Adebayor.

In our 2006 European Cup run we faced top sides in Real Madrid and Juventus on the way to the final. We were able to keep our heads above the hype and the players put in memorable performances. A win against a team like that gives you invaluable confidence and I think that was what gave us the spirit to take us to the final in 2006.

This year we’ve been drawn with another great side in AC Milan and Wenger will be looking to get the most out of his players like he did a couple of seasons ago. Back then, we were considerably injury hit too, but that didn’t matter. If we can overcome Milan and progress to the next round I will be extremely confidence of our chances to go all the way.

If you think back to last year, we played PSV in this round of the competition; they were the easiest possible draw we could’ve got. However that backfired as the players weren’t as up for the game as they might have been if they were playing say Real Madrid or AC Milan.

This time round we’ll be really up for this game. I’m looking forward to this one already! It’s a mixture of nerves, excitement but confidence as well. I read some team news today and AC Milan are without their 1st and 2nd choice ‘keepers! Dida injured himself on the bench, no really and Zeljko Kalac dislocated his finger in training the other day. We know that that’ll see him miss a few days at least after Almunia did the same to his thumb in training a couple of weeks ago. That could mean they’ll have to play Valerio Fiori the veteran goalie who hasn’t played since 2003. But you know he’ll have the game of his career against us wont he.

Anyway I should really be saving all this build up for nearer the game but I just can’t wait. There’s not much news out there anyway. Just before I go I’d just quickly like to give you this cheeky reminder. You might remember before me saying that my Dad entered a photo for that O2 Arsenal Opus competition and he made it down to the final 11 photos. I think they count all the votes and announce winner on Thursday night at Ashburton Grove on Thursday. There’s going to be a couple of ex-players there and all the finalists for dinner in ‘The Diamond Club’ and I’m representing my Dad as he’s away so I’m really looking forward to that.

Anyway, if you like my his photo and are feeling generous then please click this link and vote for my Dad’s photo, which is the ‘Flying High’ one:

It will be amazing if he won it and seeing as I’ve got this blog I thought I’d ask you for your votes mwhaha! Obviously I’ll let you know who wins when I find out. Thanks a lot guys.

Speak to you tomorrow.

Ouch. Well I was prepared to lose this one but to be completely outplayed like that was a bit upsetting. I was quite excited about the game yesterday; just like any Arsenal vs. Manchester United game even though there was that slight feeling that the game didn’t matter.

The main thing that was keeping me looking forward to that match was something I said on Friday in my match preview. I’ve quoted it below:

Whatever side Arsene does put out, they’re going to give everything they have to send us through to the next round of the cup. It will still be a great game to watch. I’ve said before that whoever loses this, it won’t be the end of the world. However I’m still going to want us to win and if we do it’ll be fantastic.

I still stand by the last two sentences there; despite the 4-0 loss it is still the case. However, The first couple of sentences was the one thing that I knew as I Gooner I could hold on to but I was left utterly disappointed yesterday.

We fielded the side I pretty much thought it’d be: Lehmann, Traore, Toure, Gallas, Hoyte, Eboue, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb, Bendtner and Eduardo. Not a bad side and certainly capable of putting in a performance to upset any United side. However, what I said in my match preview was completely false. They didn’t ‘give everything they have’ and definitely from an Arsenal point of view it wasn’t ‘a great game to watch’.

The side not only looks disinterested, they looked hopeless. It’s like Wenger said to them, “Look, we have to just get this game over and done with, it’s not important. Whatever you do, just don’t get injured.” I’m sure that’s not the case but it’s what it seemed like.

Gallas and Toure looked like they’d never met each other in their lives, never mind that great partnership we saw before the African Nations Cup. The wing backs were put in their place by United and reminded us, and them, that they have a long way to go still. Fabregas and Hleb were two names that you’d think could create something for us, even against the run of play. Yet they were completely anonymous.

Gilberto once again confirmed that he’s past it, sorry mate. Bendtner showed us how much of a lazy, selfish and careless striker he is, didn’t look like he cared. Eboue was disgraceful. I forgot what he was like while he was away with the Ivory Coast but yesterday he firmly reminded me what an absolute cunt he is. I’ve never hated a current Arsenal player (even when Ashley Cole was still with us, to an extent) but he’s just done one to many stupid things for my liking. I was hoping he would learn from his mistakes but it appears the only way to put an end to his madness is to get rid of him.

We can’t focus on what went wrong for us too much, because that would be taking something away from Man United. They were fantastic, outplayed us the full 90 minutes, no exaggeration. Ronaldo was rested but it didn’t matter, Nani was showing the home crowd what he can do in Ronaldo’s absence. They were worthy winners.

The home side opened the scoring through Rooney after quarter of an hour. I wasn’t too worried; we still had plenty of time to find our feet. However they went 2-0 up four minutes later and I knew it was going to take a lot to come back against Man United. It was made 3-0 in the 38th minute and it was game over from there. We only had pride to play for but the players didn’t even seem to want to go for that.

Maybe they were conserving energy for Wednesday? Who knows? With 20 minutes to go Adebayor, Flamini and Senderos were brought on for Eduardo, Hleb and Cesc; further confirming where our intentions lie. Flamini gave the travelling Gooners something to cheer about, he worked his socks off but you expect that from Matty, that’s why we love him. Adebayor also displayed his never-say-die spirit; yes, that including diving in the area but I’m sure we can all see why he did it. In his optimistic mind he thought we could nick a penalty and come back.

I feel sorry for the Gooners that made the long trip up north. We took 9,000 fans and every one of them will have paid a decent bit of money to be there yesterday and to witness a performance like that they must’ve been a bit pissed off.

I’ve said all I really want to say about the game I think. Both teams can take positives and negatives from the tie but I have a slight suspicion that the fans in Manchester Manchester United fans will have the bigger smiles across their face this morning.

Another strange match report, sorry. Arseblog has a great analysis and the Arsenal.com match report is here.

Next up it’s AC Milan, build up to this massive game to come the next couple of days. Until then.

Fuck off you idiot. He will never learn and however you might think he can improve he will always be a cunt on the inside and will continue to do these stupid things in games. Today’s red card just reminded me what he’s like, he had a chance to return from Africa and make a fresh start, but no.

He makes me embarrassed to have anything to do with him.

Match report to come tomorrow probably. See ya.

This past week or so the only news coming out of the club has been bad; every couple of days or so we hear about fresh injuries. Today Wenger’s said we’re down to the bare bones and of course there were new names that are a doubt for tomorrow’s game against Man United. Arsene says Adebayor is struggling with a ‘muscular injury’ (?) at the moment.

All these injuries were a nuisance but I got to a strange this week were I found the whole thing just hilarious. However today I’m at the next stage. I’m starting to think it’s too bad to be true, I mean it’s a bit far-fetched isn’t it? I’ve heard some people raise the point that these players aren’t actually injured but Wenger is saying they are for a number of possible reasons: 1. To shock United and name a good side with ‘injured’ players. 2. As an excuse so if we lose there is something to blame it on. Or 3. Give an excuse to the fans so that they don’t moan when it isn’t a full strength side announced and if Man United were to win, their victory wouldn’t give as much of a psychological edge.

I don’t think no.1 would be true, even Alex Ferguson isn’t that stupid and whatever our team plans are that won’t in the slightest way change that team Ferguson is going to pick. No.2 is an option, I don’t really see it necessary for Wenger to do though. However gets knocked out of the FA Cup tomorrow, there will be a silver-lining to their defeat; it’s one less competition to focus on as you’d have to say the other two are far more important. I think number 3 is a quite likely option though, I always thought this year that Arsene would field a slightly second-string side for the FA Cup, and I think that has always been his plan. However he will have been thrown a little when we were drawn with Man United some weeks ago.

I feel that the ‘injuries’ to the likes of Clichy, Flamini, Fabregas, Adebayor are non-existent or so slight they would never normally be mentioned. As for Sagna, he isn’t playing for personal reasons but when it’s Arsenal vs. Manchester United you’d expect the players to want to play and that would be that.

Maybe I’m looking into it too much, but don’t be surprised if loads of players make a miraculous recovery for either this match or our next one, against AC Milan.

Right I’m going to guess the team, I’m going to have to make some sort of a logical judgement right now as to whom I think will be ‘fit’. I know the team won’t be 100%, that’s pretty much all I have to go by. So this is what I think:

The announcement today that Adebayor has a slight muscular problem says to me: “Ade is going to start on the bench but we need an excuse so fans don’t wonder why he’s not playing.” He’ll be joined on the bench, I think, by Fabianski, Gilberto, Senderos and Gilbert.

Whatever side Arsene does put out, they’re going to give everything they have to send us through to the next round of the cup. It will still be a great game to watch. I’ve said before that whoever loses this, it won’t be the end of the world. However I’m still going to want us to win and if we do it’ll be fantastic.

It’s a 5.15 kick off tomorrow, so make sure you’ve sorted out where you’re watching it. Me, I’m fucking working. This is not going to stop me watching it though…I’m just going to be getting paid whilst doing it. Hurrah! Anyways I’ve got to shoot off now, but thanks for reading and enjoy the game. Match Report to come either tomorrow night or Sunday. More likely Sunday…you lot know what I’m like. See ya.

I’m sorry but this just isn’t happening, is it? This can’t be for real. I can only laugh now. Wenger’s revealed three new injured players today to take our injury situation to something quite extraordinary. Clichy, Senderos, Sagna and Walcott are the new one’s to add to the list, which now looks like this:

1. Lehmann - fit
2. Diaby - calf problem
3. Sagna - out for personal reasons
4. Fabregas - fit
5. Toure - fit
6. Senderos - thigh and knee problems
7. Rosicky - hamstring
9. Eduardo - fit
10. Gallas - fit
11. van Persie - thigh
13. Hleb - fit
15. Denilson - hamstring
16. Flamini - fit
17. Song - injured in ANC Final
19. Gilberto - fit
20. Djourou - groin problem
21. Fabianski - fit
22. Clichy - hamstring and knee problem
24. Almunia - thumb/ill
25. Adebayor - fit
26. Bendtner - fit
27. Eboue - fit
30. Traore - fit
31. Hoyte - fit
32. Walcott - thigh problem

Incredible. We were probably going to field a weakened side in Manchester this weekend but it looks like we don t really have a choice who we can play. At the moment the first 11 looks too me something like Lehmann, Hoyte, Gallas, Toure, Traore, Eboue, Flamini, Fabregas, Hleb, Eduardo, Bendtner. The weird thing is that’s still not a bad side; yes the wing backs are reserve players but everywhere else we’ve got some good players. Not saying that Traore and Hoyte aren’t good, they are, but Sagna and Clichy are a different class.

Anyway, I’ll talk about the game properly tomorrow afternoon in the match preview. There’s not a lot of news around. Diaby’s been talking about the FA Cup game. Also Clichy has been thinking about getting his first France cap.

Right I’m knackered and these new injuries have pissed me off just a little bit. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.

If like me you’re enjoying the great British weather we’re getting at the moment you’ll have an especially big smile across y our face today. Top of the league and loving it. I don’t know what it is, it’s such a nice feeling when the team you support are top of the league. Such a simple thing like that makes me smile.

However, at the same time, the nerves are going to start to kick in soon and that’s the worst part. The pure desperation and hope of going all the way this year is going to drive me insane. Sleepless nights and all that, just for the simple matter of us being in 1st place.

I’m off to the park to play a game of footy with my mates in a bit so I’m going to keep this post quite brief; there’s not much to cover anyway to be honest.

There are a couple of stories about Emmanuel Adebayor. The first is a rather nice one about how Ade gets texts from Thierry In Barcelona wishing him good luck. He says Henry really believes in him and follows how he’s doing in the league. I don’t know any Gooner that holds anything against Thierry, and if I ever met one I’d ask them why. He was a fantastic servant to the club and it’s nice to hear that he still keeps in touch with the players.

Adebayor’s also been talking about his Golden Boot rival Cristiano Ronaldo. He says he’s got a lot of respect for him and thinks he’s an amazing player, however the Golden Boot means nothing to him in comparison with winning the league. Ade says he’s always dreamed of being the top scorer but it’ll mean nothing if Arsenal don’t come away with the trophies. He’s right, but his goals are helping us on our way, so keep knocking them in mate!

Lastly, a bit of good news on the injury front. Rosicky, Toure and Eboue could all be back for the weekend which is great news. However I don’t think we’ll be fielding a full strength side. I imagine we’ll be seeing Lehmann, Hoyte, Eboue and Bendtner + others but we’ll think about that game later in the week.

Right I’m off now, have a nice Wednesday. Thanks for reading.

What a great result; 5 points clear at the top now and it’s our to throw away. I was told yesterday that ‘our season starts tonight’ and he was right. We could take a commanding position in the league with a win, which we did. Then it’s Man Utd in the FA Cup on Saturday and AC Milan after that. Exciting times to be an Arsenal fan but it’s in the Premier League where we look to be in the strongest position.

I was talking a lot about our team for last night and in the end Senderos and Flamini were declared fit and started the game. Mathieu partnered Gilberto in the middle and Fabregas played out on the right, Arsene revealed after the game that Cesc was a doubt for the game too as he’d been in bed ill for the past three days. I’m glad he didn’t fill us in though as I think I would’ve had a heart attack.

We started really well and you could tell we were really up for this one. We got a corner after about one minute, Fabregas took it but nothing came of it. However 2 minutes later Da Silva stepped up to take another corner from the right, I’ve never seen Eduardo take a corner before and it was a good one delivered perfectly into the six-yard box. Phillippe Senderos lost his marker and met the ball perfectly making it 1-0 to The Arsenal. The perfect start.

I thought after the early goal we could get at least a few more from the game. We dominated most of the first half, Blackburn couldn’t get anywhere near our goal. However the visitors did start to find their feet after about half an hour. Still, they didn’t cause us massive problems. Their best chance came when a ball was whipped in from the right to McCarthy and Santa Cruz in the middle. I think both of them got a touch but not enough to put it on target, it was a great chance missed though.

So we went in at half time 1-0 up. We were in a strong position but there was always that chance that Blackburn could nick an equaliser, so we had to be careful.

Early into the second half we had a great chance through Hleb just outside the area, the crowd screamed shoot and he did. The ball slammed against the foot of the post. I don’t think Alex would’ve shot if the crowd had kept silent but it was nearly a very good goal.

In the second half Blackburn did get a bit of the ball but we were still dominating them. We had some great chances but Friedel was equal to all of them and it looked like even after that early goal this game would end up one nil.

Towards the end of the game I was a bit nervous when Blackburn pushed forward but in the end it was us that had the last say.

In injury time Hleb forced his way into the area with some great skill and played a little ball to Adebayor. He took a great touch to send the defender the other way and with the second touch he tucked the ball right in the bottom corner out of Friedel’s reach. It was a great goal and it meant that Adebayor stayed on his fantastic goal scoring run.

So it ended up 2-0 to us and everybody’s happy. Well, Arsenal-wise they are…I doubt the Blackburn fans were too happy, but the majority of people were happy. Which is good.

As I said earlier, our next game is Man Utd away. I collected my tickets today but they weren’t for me; I decided I needed to save money for Milan. It was hard posting them off to my mate today This was made even worse when I have to work throughout the whole game. I will still be following the game though, not a lot stops me from watching Arsenal vs. Manchester United, build up to that one to come this week. Thanks for reading.

Tonight has turned into a massive game for us. With Manchester United losing yesterday we must take advantage of this and make some ground in the title race. Last time Blackburn came to visit The Grove we put 6 past them, but I’m not expecting that again tonight.

We’re severely injury-hit at the moment and can barely put out a full squad. Luckily a lot of our best players have steered clear of any problems and we can still put out a decent side. I put this match report on hold until today hoping that there’d be some team news about but there isn’t. Therefore I don’t know about Flamini and Senderos, their inclusion makes a bit difference to how the team will look. Team news will probably come out just after I’ve written this, it’s typical

I’m just going to have to say at this point that everyone who is a doubt will be out. If you hear this afternoon that someone’s going to be fit then they’ll go straight in the team so it’s pretty easy to guess the side. For now though, this is how I see the team if everyone is out:

I don’t really see many other options than that; Gilberto could play defence but that’d leave a space to fill in midfield, maybe Hleb would play centrally in that case. If Toure comes back, he’ll slot in for Hoyte, the same goes for Senderos. If Flamini comes back he’ll replace Gilberto and if Almunia recovers he’ll be in goal. So if any of those 50-50 players return it’s just a simple swap for one of those players above; but basically that’s how I see the structure of tonight’s team.

Lehmann will get a chance to redeem himself after that error against Blackburn earlier in the season. Jens’ mistake cost us two points that day and that was the last straw for Wenger, but with Almunia temporarily out at the moment Mad Jens has a chance to show us he’s still got it.

Blackburn are a good side, but we can’t think about the draw; we have to win this one. 3 points tonight are vital and could be decisive in the title race. The weekend’s games have set this up for an exciting game tonight, everyone I’ve spoken to is really excited about tonight and a little bit nervous. Hopefully the players will be more professional about it.

I’m going to have to leave it there, I’ve got work to do. There’ll be a match report tomorrow, until then Gooners.

I spoke to you yesterday about how bad our injury problems are and the unbelievable has happened; we’re another man down! Alex Song went off injured in tonight’s African Nations Cup Final. He was apparently carrying an injury from the semi which I’m sure Arsene wont be at all pleased about. This tournament has really been a coming of age for Alexandre and he’ll be looking to impress us when he returns back to London.

However tonight’s injury won’t do him any good. It’s too early to say how bad it’s going to be but you know what we’re like with injuries, we’ll take every precaution not to rush him back. Our squad is really struggling with all these absentees, however there is some slightly good news:

Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue were both rested in Ivory Coast’s 3rd/4th place play off; which means they’d be fit(ish) to play tomorrow night. We might have to call upon them the way things are at the moment,

I’m saving the match preview until tomorrow morning in the hope that there’ll be some team news by then. There are a few players that could play, Flamini, Almunia and Senderos weren’t completely ruled out and as I said we could get Toure and Eboue back.

Tomorrow night’s game has now become a really important match. Man Utd lost 2-1 in this afternoon’s Manchester derby and Chelsea drew 0-0 with Liverpool. This gives us the chance to go 5 points clear at the top and 8 clear of Chelsea in 3rd. A win tomorrow night would give us a fantastic advantage in the title race so we have to hope some of our players recover from their midweek injuries.

I’ll talk properly about the Blackburn game tomorrow morning and give my prediction to what the team might be. Thanks for reading.

I cannot emphasise enough how much I loathe these pointless international friendlies. I said at the beginning of the week that we couldn’t afford any more injuries this week, and I was right but it never stopped them going and getting injured did it? Like fuck it did. We’re now down to the very bare bones, here’s how our squad stands at the moment:

1. Lehmann - fit
2. Diaby - calf problem
3. Sagna - fit
4. Fabregas - fit
5. Toure - ANC*
6. Senderos - knee ligament damage*
7. Rosicky - another hamstring problem
9. Eduardo - fit!
10. Gallas - fit!
11. van Persie - thigh injury, long way off
13. Hleb - fit
15. Denilson - hamstring
16. Flamini - hamstring*
17. Song - ANC Final
19. Gilberto - fit
20. Djourou - groin problem
21. Fabianski - fit
22. Clichy - fit
24. Almunia - he’s ill*
25. Adebayor - fit, thank god
26. Bendtner - fit
27. Eboue - ANC
30. Traore - fit
31. Hoyte - fit
32. Walcott - fit

There you have it. There are only 14 names there with the word ‘fit’ next to them, two of which are goalkeepers. That’s not even a full squad! There are some ‘possibiles’ though, I’ve put asterisks next to the few of those that might make it. Kolo Toure plays the 3rd & 4th place play-off today in the African Nations Cup but Arsene says he might need to call him back for Monday night for Senderos. Phil picked up a knee injury against England but Arsene says, “He has played with it before and we’ll see on Monday.” I guess that one’s a case of how bad it is but if he’s out then either Kolo’s going to need to come back or it’s Gilberto or Hoyte at the back. Toure will be knackered after a busy tournament in Ghana so I doubt he’d be fully fit for a Monday night game.

Almunia had a thumb problem last weekend but he’s recovered from that only to fall ill this week. They’re going to see how he feels this weekend but to be honest he’s the least of my concerns, I’ve got now problem with Lehmann in goal. Flamini also has an asterisks next to him, Wenger says we ‘might have lost him’ , so again with him we’ll just have to wait and see.

Thankfully we’ve still got Hleb, Gallas, Fabregas, Clichy, Sagna, Adebayor and Eduardo. Luckily a lot of our injuries are to some of our least important players; I suppose we have to be grateful for that. Hopefully one or two will find enough fitness over the weekend to play on Monday night but more build up to that game tomorrow.

In other news Wenger has been talking about the idea to stage a Premiership game abroad. He thinks it’s an innovative idea, which will allow a lot of supporters to see their team when they could not before. However he says if it’s just about money then it’s not worth doing. I’m a bit shocked by Arsene’s comments but apparently he’s said in the papers today that he’s more against it than he is for it.

Gilberto feels left out. He’s saying he had a great season last season and fully expected to play this year but that hasn’t been the case. I feel really sorry for him, because yes he did play really well as captain last season in Henry’s absence, and I was shocked when he didn’t take the armband for this term. However Wenger had other plans and I’m afraid that Arsene was right, the Brazilian has lost a lot in his game this season and he will be moving on in the summer. A real shame but everyone’s time has to come to an end one day.

That’s your lot for the day, speak to you tomorrow at some point. See ya.

The Premier League have today come up with an idea to stage one Premier League game a season in another continent. The game would be in addition to the usual 38 games but it would still count in the league table. They’re saying that there would be some sort of a draw to decide who plays who but the top five might be seeded; so we would end up playing one team at home, away and one in another country.

The venues they’re thinking about are in Australia, America but mostly in Asia. We all know that the Premiership has a global appeal and it would give foreign supporters the chance to see their beloved team; and of course it would also be a rare opportunity to fans to go out to places they’ve never been before and follow their team.

When I heard about this, this afternoon I was a bit confused, I didn’t really get it. I mean I think it’s a really nice idea, and I can see every reason behind it but this extra game would jeopardise the league’s structure. For example, some teams would have an easy game and others a hard one, and the long-distance travelling could affect the players.

However I think the biggest negative that might be raised by the fans is what I’m thinking tonight. I wouldn’t really want to pay about £1,000 in travelling just to go and watch Arsenal play Birmingham. The response to that would be that these extra games are an opportunity for fans the other side of the world to get to a game. Fair enough, but it’s our club! Shouldn’t they be coming to us?

I don’t know, there will always be loads of positives and negatives. Anyway, nothing’s final yet, it’s just an idea at the moment; however it looks more likely than not that they’ll go through with it. I think it’s an interesting idea but I hope it doesn’t spoil the Premiership.

In other news we…oh hold on, there isn’t any other news, sorry. Our players’ return from international duty today so we’ll be able to see the shape our players are in tomorrow. Fingers crossed. It looks like Flamini could play against Blackburn.

Oh I almost forgot. Alex Song is doing really well at the African Nations Cup with Cameroon. He helped them reach the final tonight putting in a man of the match performance. Nice one Alex!

Thanks for reading.