Arsenal 2-0 Olympiacos – 29/09/09 – (Champions League) 30 September, 2009

You can’t be anything but pleased with last night’s win. 2-0, 3 points and we’ve already established a lead at the top of our group. It was a good performance too and it could’ve easily been more than two.

It was still goal-less at half time but Olympiacos were very lucky to still be in it. In the end it took a bit of hard work and persistence, and we eventually scored in the 78th minute with a second coming 8 minutes later.

I spoke about the possibility of Tomas Rosicky starting yesterday, I didn’t think Wenger was going to do it, but he did and he was very good again. Tom was replaced by Eduardo after 65mins as we pushed for a goal but he looked in good shape even after an hour of football, I think it was just a precaution. In my mind he’s pretty much back in frame now.

Olympiacos’ captain and goalkeeper, Nikopolidis had a very busy night and did a great job keeping his side in it. He made a string of saves in the first half however he was beaten by Fabregas in the 17th but was saved by his crossbar. The ball came to Cesc on the edge of the box, took a slight touch to flick the ball up then volleyed it over Nikopolidis’ head. It would’ve been one of the goals of the season if it had dipped a few inches lower but it wasn’t to be for Cesc.

Before half time came Arshavin, van Persie, Cesc again and Vermaelen had all seen shots saved by the visiting captain. We were all over them but we just couldn’t get past him.

We came close to conceding early in the second half but Mannone did well again. It would’ve been such a shame to go 1-0 down after all that work in the first half. It was a bit of a reality check and we got back up the other end in search of a goal.

An hour gone and still stuck at 0-0, it was just starting to get frustrating and it was then that Eduardo was brought on and we played most of the game with a risky 4-2-4.

In the 73rd minute I found myself shouting at the TV when van Persie almost squeezed in the opener then the following up Gallas couldn’t get it in even when the ‘keeper was on the floor and he was one-on-one. In the end Billy was flagged offside but that’s besides the point.

My frustration was vented just 5 minutes later though when we finally made it 1-0. Eduardo had the ball down the left, waited for the right moment and slid a ball in along the six-yard box for van Persie to come rushing in and give us the lead. Nicely worked goal, not the most beautiful you’ll ever see but that’s something we’re learning how do to.

With a few minutes to go Arshavin made it 2-0. He started the move outside the box and made his run into the area. His initial pass-and-move didn’t go to plan with Ramsey choosing to play it to Cesc on the right but the captain spotted Andrey in the middle who finished with a cheeky little back-heel flick.

So 2-0 it ended – job done. It was frustrating for a while but we got there in the end. We might’ve been able to relax a little easier had one of the earlier chances gone in. We’ve now got a few days to prepare for Blackburn on Sunday which should see the return of Theo Walcott; he played an hour for the reserves against Olympiacos reserves yesterday at the training ground and in last night’s post-match thoughts Wenger confirmed he is now available for selection for club and country.

Right then, I’ll speak to you tomorrow I guess. See ya.

I’m back… Olympiacos Preview 29 September, 2009

I know I’m not great with getting up to date on here sometimes but two weeks without warning with no update is pretty poor, so I’m sorry. My internet was cut off without warning and I am back online as of this morning. It’s been quite surreal having no internet for this long, all I’ve had is Sky Sports News and word of mouth for Arsenal news. I’ve just got used to not knowing anything that’s going on.

For example I’ve just found out that Nicklas Bendtner wrote off his Aston Martin and he will miss tonight’s game as a result. Denilson is also out, he will miss two months with a back injury which is bad news for him. After the important part he played in last season, this year was set to be the one were Denilson really pushed forward. It’s a shame but lets just hope he can make it back for Christmas.

Theo Walcott is also out of tonight’s squad lacking match fitness but he (and Bendtner) should return for Sunday’s game against Blackburn. We could’ve done with Theo tonight but I’d rather we eased him in than rushed him back.

Vito Mannone will start again and lets hope it’s more of the same from the weekend’s performance at Craven Cottage. Obviously I haven’t been able to write about that game but I was watching and he was fantastic. He made some great instinct saves and without him we might not have taken all three points. By no means is he now ready to be our no.1 or anything like that but it’s promising for him and good for confidence. Another performance like that tonight and again on Sunday and Almunia will have some work to do when he returns.

Eduardo’s in the squad and he’ll be looking to put in another important performance for us. He’s got the goals when it’s counted this season and that’s what really matters.

Here’s how I think we might line up:

Mannone
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Fabregas – Diaby
Eduardo – van Persie – Arshavin

Tomas Rosicky could be ready to start; he’s done really well when he’s come on in the last few games but I’m not sure if he’s ready to be in the starting XI yet. It would be nice to see him but every time he plays at the moment I’m watching with everything crossed and my hands shielding my eyes. He doesn’t seem afraid to get stuck in though and (touch wood) he actually looks like he could be officially back.

Olympiacos beat AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in the first round of fixtures so join us at the top of the table on three points. I think it’s fair to say that we are probably the two favourites to progress so tonight is set to be one of the toughest tests of the group stages. A win would be great, we’d open a gap from the rest of the pack and give ourselves a great chance of an early qualification.

At Liege we found ourselves 2-0 down inside five minutes, one of the most incredible starts I’ve seen us have to a game and we were lucky to complete the comeback. Tonight Wenger should have his team concentrated from the very first second to avoid it happening again. I’m sure it wont, we’ve learned our lesson now.

It would be nice if we could get an early goal or two ourselves, force Olympiacos to come at us and we can dictate the play.

Enjoy it to everyone that’s going, I wish I could join you but I have work to go to.

Thanks for reading, speak to you tomorrow.

No Internet 21 September, 2009

My Internet is down hence me disappearing of the face of the earth again. I’ve picked up wireless on my iPod but if I was to write a whole blog post on that I’d be here all week.

I’ll be back soon, sorry!

Standard Liege Preview: 2nd string side need to do the business 16 September, 2009

It’s the first game of the group stages tonight and it’s always important to get off to a good start. Well as I’m sure you are aware we are resting quite a few names for all different reasons. Walcott, van Persie, Denilson, Nasri, Arshavin, Djourou and Vela are all out, which is bad. However neither Fabianski or Almunia can make the trip leaving us very inexperienced between the posts. It means either Mannone or Szczesny will make their Champions League debut tonight, most likely to be the former.

Almunia is ‘sick’ according to Arsene Wenger but when you have you’re second choice ‘keeper out you still play you’re no.1 even if he has the flu or whatever. There’s a good chance he was dropped but you just wouldn’t do it when you know the next in line is either Mannone or Szczesny.

It’s quite scary but whoever starts in goal tonight is going to have to put in a great performance. We’ll have a first choice back four in front of them so they will have to do their best to try make it a quiet night for the ‘keeper.

So with all those names out, here’s how I think we could line up:

Mannone
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) – Diaby
Eboue – Bendtner – Eduardo

Rosicky is in the squad but I don’t see Arsene Wenger picking him to start, as much as I would like to see that. Another option could be Jack Wilshere in that attacking role but it would be bringing even more inexperience to the side.

I don’t think that all these players missing the trip is because they are all injured. Wenger must feel that we can go to Liege and win with this squad. It’s fair to say they’re not the greatest opponents we’ve come up against in this competition and maybe Wenger sees this as a good opportunity to give players a rest before we try get back on track in the league this weekend.

If it goes wrong Wenger has it in for him but he’ll take it. We should do it but you never know when we’ve got a ‘keeper that’s never played at this level before.

We should be winning, with any side. I don’t want to be disrespectful or over confident but we’re a class above Standard Liege and anything less that three points is a bad return.

Enjoy the game and thanks for reading.

Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal – 12/09/09 – (Premier League) 13 September, 2009

It’s just going to have to be a quick match report I’m afraid but we all know what happened anyway, I don’t think you need me to tell you.

For the majority, we were very good and just like two weeks ago we have come away with nothing when we deserved a point at the very least. When Man City went 1-0 up in the first half it was completely against the run of play and apparently it was offside anyway. Almunia should’ve done a lot better but I wasn’t too angry with him.

The goal set us back a bit but we did eventually equalize through a great van Persie effort. When City took the lead for the second time I held my head in my hands. Craig Bellamy it was and it was completely undeserved again. After we’d scored we were all over them, and I mean all over them and I can’t believe we didn’t get a second straight away.

Adebayor made it 3-1 with a header on the break and Wright-Phillipps got the 4th again on the break late in the second half. Rosicky got one back which was good for him, but at 4-2 so late on it looked like a consolation goal. However we had three or four great chances to score, RVP hit the post, Adebayor cleared one off the line, a deflection and a Given save all denying us the route to a comeback. If any of those had gone in we might be sitting here a bit happier today.

So it ended 4-2 and we took 0 points for the two trips to Manchester, not good.

But it’s not the game that anyone’s talking about, it’s him. The biggest, most pathetic, dirty, class-less cunt Adebayor who has taken the headlines. He has shown his true colours and for the remainder of his career life he will be treated like the shit that he is by Arsenal fans. The fans that were once so good to him for his hard work and goals he now has on his back and in his conscience forever. He lied to us, infuriated us and let us down last season but I think the majority just thought, ‘oh whatever just let him be and ruin himself at City.’ Well now he’ll find himself ranked as no.1 most hated ex-Arsenal player souring above David Bentley and Ashley Cole.

At least in my books anyway.

Just look at Gunnerblog’s post today with clips of the two stamping incidents on Fabregas and van Persie. They were malicious and dangerous and if he doesn’t get at least a three game ban for his actions I will be furious. The goal celebration I can take; he is a low, low person and I expect that of him but intentionally trying to hurt two of our players cannot go without consequence.

You’ve probably read van Persie’s statement on the incident and that my friends is class. Robin is known for reacting to aggressive behavior on the pitch but yesterday he just let it be, because recognized what Adebayor was doing and didn’t want to sink to his level. Emmanuel Adebayor will never earn any respect back from anyone at Arsenal Football Club, even Arsene Wenger who has stood up for him at the worst of times is very disappointed in him.

He is a coward and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him do an Ashley Cole and miss the home game vs. City – but if he does then he’ll get what’s coming to him and you won’t see him acting like that again when he’s surrounded by 55,000 people who he has pissed off. It’s easy when it’s just a couple of thousand fans in a corner surrounded by the police that can’t get to you when you sprint the whole length of the pitch showing more effort in one celebration than you did all last season for us – but when you’re surrounded by 55,000 people things can change.

Well that’s all I have to say really. Poor result, attention turns to the Champions League now though, a competition which Adebayor isn’t in, awww. Prick.

Man City Preview: Arshavin out for three games 11 September, 2009

I said in my last post that Andrey Arshavin was a possibility to face Wales with his Russian side and we should be looking forward to him returning at the weekend for us. Well he played the full fucking 90 minutes and he will now be out for two weeks. It’s a joke. Arsene Wenger is not happy and you can watch a free video of him by clicking that link above. Arsene is under the impression he should have never played at all and Russia knew this as he went out there injured. Man United always seem to get away with not letting players go away on international duty so why can’t we bloody do the same? Andrey came off injured in our last game against Man United so surely he shouldn’t be then going off to play with his country?

Well, it’s something we’re going to have to deal with now. He’ll certainly be missed tomorrow and Mark Hughes’ Man City must see it as a bit of a bonus for them. It’s not all bad news though, Tomas Rosicky was back in action for the Czech Republic and will soon be available for us. I don’t know how that works either – he’s fit for the Czech’s but not for Arsenal? Anyway Wenger says tomorrow is probably a bit too soon for him which is fair I guess but with AA23 out we might see Tomas as a direct replacement.

Cesc Fabregas is also back after missing out at Old Trafford. He made an appearance in both games for Spain and even scored on Wednesday. It’s great to have him back, as disappointed as I am about Arshavin at least we have our captain.

Johan Djourou’s six month injury has been confirmed by the boss however he’s put a 6-8 month timescale on it which is what I thought if you read my blog earlier in the week. That’s him out for almost the season so we now have just four centre backs in the squad, one of which being Silvestre – it doesn’t look good. Wenger must have known about Djourou’s surgery before the transfer window closed but the club chose to keep it on the quiet. It’s a bit infuriating really but they did it for a reason so lets see how lucky we are with Gallas and Vermaelen’s fitness.

Right I best start looking towards tomorrow’s game rather than dwelling on injury problems but this is always the way after an international break unfortunately. Tomorrow there’s going to be a lot of attention on a certain Emmanuel Adebayor who has a decent scoring record so far this season and would love to continue that against us I’m sure. It will also be the first time Kolo Toure faces his old club but he will get nothing but a great big cheer from the travelling fans. He is a true Arsenal hero, he knew what it took to win over the fans – hard work, pride in the badge, commitment and a never say die spirit. All qualities that Adebayor lacked and that’s why he will never get the reception from the Arsenal fans that he used to crave so much.

City have made a few strong additions to the squad this season and there’s no doubt that they are an improved side. Last year we went up there and got done 3-0 and we can have no complaints about that result. Things weren’t going our way at the time and we were punished for a shit performance. I’m not that worried about it happening again though, I think we’ve got our heads screwed on a bit tighter this time around. I wouldn’t say I am scared of City and apparently they’re not scared of us. We’re both good sides though and I’m looking forward to a good game.

As for team news it’ll be 4-4-3 again but with no Arshavin. Walcott could’ve been a good choice to come in but he’s not fit yet. He’s no longer injured but Wenger says he hasn’t taken part in any full training sessions yet this season and wont be available for at least a week.

Here’s how I think we’ll line up then:

Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) – Denilson
Bendtner – van Persie – Eduardo

It looks quite attacking but you’ve still got the defensive balance with that midfield. I think that’s a decent team and I can see us scoring goals and defending well with that 11 – that’s on paper though, we’ll have to see tomorrow.

As for City well Carlos Tevez is out after picking up a knee injury this international break. Robinho is a doubt but they have plenty of strikers. Adebayor will start and he will be well up for I’m sure. We know all about him and I hope Gallas and Vermaelen shut him out.

City have yet to concede a goal this season and are on 3 wins out of 3. That won’t bother us though, we are going there to take all three points tomorrow.

I can’t believe it’s not being televised to be honest. But I will be trying to find a stream online. If I find a decent one I’ll link you to it on my twitter.

Those of you going have a good trip and do us proud, I know you will.

Thanks for reading.

I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed tonight 9 September, 2009

No, not for an England victory (although that would be nice, if you’re English like me) but for a clean bill of health for our players off playing with their nations. This is typically a bad night for us, the midweek game of the International period and I’m hoping our poor luck will escape us tonight. So many times we go into these international breaks with the squad just about to get back to full fitness and come out of it in a worse position than we started. It would be nice if for once the only thing our stars return with it a bit of match fitness.

Tonight England can secure their place in the World Cup Finals in South Africa with a win over Croatia at Wembley. It’s a big fixture and I will be watching but I’m not worried about us qualifying. Thanks to Fabio Capello, for the first time in a few years qualification for a major tournament has been a relative ease this time around, and it makes a nice change. It would be good to see England continue their good form tonight and qualify with a win but I won’t be worried if we have to leave it until another night.

They will be without Theo Walcott tonight but he could return for Arsenal as early as the weekend. I doubt he’ll get thrown in straight away against Manchester City but it would be good to see him come off the bench and make a bit of an impact. A week tonight we play Standard Liege in the first match of the Champions League group stages, which could be a more realistic target for Theo.

Andrey Arshavin should also be fit after this international break, he could play tonight for Russia against Wales but I guess he will be having a fitness test this afternoon. I’m not really fussed whether he plays or not, I just hope that if he does he is genuinely fit and will be ready to start at City. If he takes part this evening and then can’t play at the weekend then I think there could be riots in the streets of North London.

Cesc Fabregas made a return with Spain at the weekend, he played 20 minutes with no problems so could be involved again against Estonia tonight. It’s vital he’s fit for the weekend too; we clearly missed him against Man United.

You can check out who else might be playing tonight here but one thing is certain, Vermaelen won’t be representing Belgium as he is suspended.

Nicklas Bendtner has been talking about the new season and his personal targets. With Adebayor gone and not replaced that means it’s time for Bendtner to really step up. He’s played in every game this season and I don’t expect that to change much as it goes on. Anyway, here’s what he said:

“In order to qualify as one of the world’s greatest attackers, then you are judged on the number of goals you score. You could have all the characteristics but if you don’t score people can say ‘Yes, he knows all the stuff but he has just scored 10 goals in 40 games.’

Of course that’s not a good record. I hope to see that I score 20-25 goals in 40 games.

If Nick could get 20+ goals this year that’d be fantastic. I think even around 15 would be an alright return for him. He hasn’t opened his account yet this season but he has been an important player in our new 4-3-3 and he knows that even if he isn’t scoring he can contribute in other ways:

If I get a Premier League season where I score 10 times and have 30 assists, I think that would be OK as well.”

Well at least he’s setting his heights high. If I remember, I’ll bring this article up at the end of the season and see how he has done.

Tomorrow everyone will be making their way back to London Colney to join up with Arsene and the gang and I look forward to looking forward to facing City at the Weekend.

Keep your fingers crossed tonight with me.

Djourou out for pretty much the season 6 September, 2009

This season was meant to be a very important one in the career of Johan Djourou. After working his way up the ladder throughout his years here, he is now officially third choice in central defense. This was supposed to be his year to step up and become an important first team squad member.

An early injury set him back but it gets much worse, he’s undergone surgery and will be out for six months. He’s aiming for March 2010 to make a return but then he’ll have to get match fit and he will have missed out on everything the squad has done this season. Senderos will probably have taken his place as preffered 3rd choice by then and it wont be easy for Johan to get back in the side for the remaining couple of months.

On a personal level Djourou’s target must be the World Cup Finals but he’s not going to be able to help his international team mates qualify. It’s a frustrating time for Johan so for his sake I hope that the Swiss make it to South Africa.

I bet Wenger’s glad he didn’t sell Senderos now! To be fair this is very likely the reason why he didn’t. Big Phil hasn’t been involved in a squad so far this season but I think now’s the time to reintroduce him to the first team squad. We’re ok for the moment as far as central defenders go but I could see us making a move for another as early as January.

Some of our players have been involved in internationals this weekend and Aaron Ramsey, Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner have all got on the score sheet. You can see all the goals here and it is well worth you taking a look. Aaron’s was for the Welsh U21 side and it was an absolute beauty. He started the move with a clever flick over the top for the forward but he turned his back to goal and played it back to Ramsey who took a touch and volleyed it into the back of the net. Anyone would’ve been proud of that goal.

Robin van Persie’s and Bendtner’s goals were both taken down well on the chest before firing high into the goal. Both in different circumstances but both well taken goals all the same. We’ve scored a lot of goals so far this season but these two haven’t opened their accounts yet so it’s nice to see them scoring while they’re away.

And finally before I have to rush off to work, Freddie Ljungberg has been linked with a loan move back to Arsenal in January. Apparently he will be looking to keep fit at the end of the MLS season and we might be willing to take him back. ‘An Arsenal spokesman’ just gave the usual no-comment sort of stuff saying we’ll announce any transfer dealings when it’s done but I very much doubt this will happen. We all know that Freddie’s getting on a bit now and as much as we love him I don’t think he’d get anywhere near our side. The only truth I see in this story is a kind of David Beckham type thing happening where he joins us purely to partake in our training sessions after the American season has finished. It would be great to have him around.

I really must go now, have a nice Sunday. Thanks for reading, more tomorrow I hope.

Random stuff in a quiet week 4 September, 2009

What’s with this international break… it’s so bloody boring. I swear we’ve just had one? Why is there nothing, not even a little bit to keep us entertained? It just goes completely dead around here. Well at least there’ll be some games to watch tomorrow, but no doubt that will result in injury news for us…

Anyways I’m waffling. The only bit of half-news there is, is the official statement that we will be appealing the Eduardo ban. And we knew that already. I doubt we’ll get anywhere with our appeal though, UEFA wouldn’t have done it in the first place if they were going to approve an appeal. The best we could hope for is probably a reduction to a single game ban.

I don’t think it’s the actual suspension we’re bothered about to be honest, it’s just to make a point and get justice. We can get cover for Eddy, and it’s not like they are the two hardest games in Europe we’ve ever had. We’re just appealing because it has totally come out of the blue with no warning. There’s no rule about a two game ban for diving, you can’t just issue one without prior warning.

I know the official reason is for ‘deceiving the referee’, but the example of ‘deceiving the referee’ they are charging against is diving! I don’t know what’s going to happen but there’s a good chance that UEFA will continue to be cunts and increase it to three games for appealing.

At the end of the day I’m not bothered if Eduardo keeps his ban as long as the punishment is applied to the next incident but I just very much doubt that happening.

Man United are taking action over the Wenger-pedophile chants and have made another appeal for it to stop. I guess it’s nice to see it publically disapproved by the club but it’s just good to see this finally getting a bit of media attention rather than being swept under the carpet all the time. I doubt the singing will stop, especially when United come to Arsenal but at least it might calm down.

You can hear Gilbertosilver from Gunnerblog debating the issue on Radio 5 here, just skip to 47mins.

Nicklas Bendtner has been talking about playing out wide and he says he’d much prefer to be down the middle. It’s odd because he’s the sort of striker you’d typically play centrally and Robin van Persie has played in a wide position many times before but Wenger chooses to play them the other way around. They can swap around during the game which is good but surely you’d want the height of Bendtner in the middle all of the time to get on the end of crosses? Wenger knows his reasons…

Well that’s about all I can force out today. Hopefully it’ll be a bit easier to write something tomorrow. See ya.

Midweek news update 2 September, 2009

Nothing huge going on today with it being the international break. We’ve got over a week left of this rubbish but then I guess when all our players are off with their countries no news is good news. We always seem to pick up a couple extra injuries every international break and I’m not expecting this one to be any different. And it’s always at a point when we’re just getting the squad back to full fitness, but that’s life.

I guess today’s top stories are Denilson and Bendtner both signing long term contracts, nicely timed with the ending of the transfer window to show where our priorities lie. Wenger’s always been about bringing the youth through rather than splashing tens of millions around and Denilson and Bendtner are two of his bright young stars. Both are well established in the first team now but remember they are both still very young and they’ve got so much more to give.

Rather than make more signings Wenger has banked on players like these two showing a years worth of improvement and maturity this season. Denilson played every Premier League game in midfield last season so we’ll be expecting a bit more from him this season and with Adebayor gone and not replaced this is a big year for Bendtner to make an impression. Both have done well so far this season so I’m looking forward to what’s to come.

Cesc Fabregas has declared himself fit for Spain’s internationals verses Belgium and Estonia. Our skipper missed out on the weekend’s game at Old Trafford through injury, he was close to making it but failed a late fitness test. He now says he is ready though and will play for his country this week:

“I’m fine. I tried to train on Friday and Saturday to play against Manchester but I had a little trouble. I decided with the coach not to push it and to be okay for the national team.

If it feels okay I will stay, I’ve rested in the afternoons for three days to see how I respond, but I have a good feeling. Right now I am physically fine and I want to help the national selection with two important games.”

Cesc has also been in the news today for starting a small fire at his home in Hampstead. Oh dear. Why not just stick to eating out and stay away from the oven next time Cescy!

That’s about it for today as far as news goes. I should mention soccerpro.com before I go who have been absolute legends and sent me some more soccer apparel. They’ve sent me the new 2009-2010 Arsenal away jersey which I must admit I am becoming a bit of a fan of. I don’t see the problem of us playing in blue, I see it as one of our away colours now after all those lightening kits in the 90′s. I do prefer yellow though and last years away was a beauty by Nike but I think this one is nice too.

Anyways, you should go check Soccerpro.com out if you haven’t already. They’re a really friendly company and keep in touch with all their clients personally. By the way, they haven’t told me to say that! I’m just quite impressed with them.

You can check out their other Arsenal Jerseys by following that link but if you’re interested you should add them on twitter for their last minute bargains they do.

Right then that should do for today. Thanks for stopping by.

Eduardo handed two match ban – Disgrace. 1 September, 2009

It’s transfer deadline day and instead of the usual chaos it’s been a very quiet and stress-free day. We weren’t even linked with anyone, never mind completing a last minute signings. In recent years this has traditionally been a busy day for us but it was none of the sort this year.

I thought a late minute Chamakh deal could be done, but apart from that I wasn’t expecting a signing to happen. The performances have been good this season and attention has been drawn away from the size of the squad allowing Wenger to get away with no additions.

It’s a risk, we have a very thin squad and if we are as unlucky with injuries as we usually are then we could be in trouble. I hope and pray we can stay keep fit.

However there was some breaking news today, and that was the news of a two-match European ban for Eduardo Da Silva. That means he’ll miss our Champions League opener away to Standard Liege and the visit of Olympiacos at the end of the month.

The club have released an official statement expressing their disappointment in the decision and I’m sure we will be appealing. This is the first time a dive has been punished with a match ban like this and it’s not like no one has ever dived in a UEFA competition before. Two games he’s been suspended for. That’s one less than a straight red card! I’m not saying he should’ve been banned but surely a single game suspension would’ve been more appropriate?

So does this mean now that any player caught diving, whether during the game by the referee or afterwards via video evidence, will receive a two game ban? I seriously doubt it. That’s why it’s a disgrace.

Say they do go ahead and ban every diver for two games, there would be so many players out of Europe’s top competition and seriously jeopardize clubs’ chances. It would get rid of diving very quickly though, which is a positive thing.

We’re just going to have to wait and see how UEFA deal with the next diving incident, which there is bound to be in one of the games in the next round of games. Wenger said in a press conference after the Celtic game that he would from now one challenge every single dive in any game and ask UEFA whether they will receive a ban. If it doesn’t get justice for Eduardo then at least it will piss the cunts off.

In other news Tomas Rosicky has declared himself fit for Czech Republic’s games this week. Wenger said he should be fit when he returns anyway so hopefully if he plays for his country it will get him match-fit for us rather than send him back injured again. We’ll just have to wait and see with fingers crossed.

Andrey Arshavin however has been ruled out of Russia’s first game but could be fit to play Wales. This after being pulled off early against Man United with an injury. He says he went into the game with an injury in the first place but was risked anyway. In an ideal world he is ruled out of the Wales game too and returns back at Arsenal ready to play Man City.

Well that’s it for transfer deadline day. Not as much news as you would’ve hoped for but hopefully we’ll stay fit and we wont need any signings anyway.

Thanks for reading.