Archive for the ‘Champions League’ Category

Morning all…

They say there is no such thing as an easy game in football and when it comes to the Arsenal, that phrase couldn’t be more true. On a cold night at the Emirates, with a 60,000 big crowd, it was always going to be a tricky tie.

Ahead of the game, news filtered in that Gibbs was going to fill in for the flu-stricken Clichy and Denilson was going to fill in for Wilshere, whom I believe was not used tactically as the line up contained two strikers in Robin Van Persie and Maroune Chamakh.

The line up was:

Fabianski

Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Gibbs

Denilson – Song

Nasri – Van Persie – Arshavin

Chamakh

On the bench we had Szcznesy, Eboue, Wilshere, Rosicky, Walcott, Vela and Bendtner.

Partizan wanted to get a result here and I was impressed with the way they came out – defensive, but with two players at every opportunity. They started well, and we couldn’t find space and within the first 15 minutes, the crowd were already chanting the classic worry chant… “Come on Arsenal”…

There was pretty much nothing to write home about – Chamakh was having one of his worst games of the season so far, Denilson looked a little clueless and Arshavin was over elaborate.

We have the ref to thank for awarding what looked like a very soft penalty (I may need to watch the replay again) and Robin Van Persie fired us 1-0 up. In fact, outside of the penalty, we had no shots on target in the first half- very strange for a must win game – but also an accolade to the way they defended.

The first shot on target actually came from a Robin Van Persie freekick outside the box but by then Partizan had equalised with one of their few efforts – heck, it may have been their first shot too – the communication and connection between Squillaci and Koscielny still in need of some improvement!

At this point with 19 minutes to go, it was squeaky bum time – 1-1 here and 0-0 at Shaktar – if either Partizan or Braga scored then we’d be out of the Champions League… Walcott was on for Arshavin and Eboue had already replaced the injured Gibbs… and young Theo put us ahead with a good finish after some pressing from us… The ball ricocheted out to Theo about 6 yards out and the young England international dispatched the ball into the back of the net… Relief was an understatement.

At the same time, news broke around the stadium that Shaktar were 1-0 up and thank God… It started to look like we would qualify… And the sublime Samir Nasri took it upon himself to score a 3rd to put the nerves at rest when some good play from Song got Nasri in and he finished well with his left foot… His twelfth goal of the season!

There was still time for a controversial sending off, when Bacary Sagna was adjudged to have fouled a Partizanian player outside the box and was handed a straight red… I’m not if we can even appeal it. Alex Song slotted in at right back and we saw the game out with 10 men.

Not the best performance by any means, but we won – and we’re through to the next round of the Champions League. It’s going to be a tough one whoever we get as we can only get one of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Schalke. Ouch! That’s a 75% chance of getting one of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich – my money is on Barce, it’s fate!

Arsene commented on our performance…

It was a bit of a low-key game because we didn’t find our pace in the game. We couldn’t find openings in their defence. They defended very well, they were focused on closing us down everywhere. We were just below our normal pace. You have to give them credit, they defended very well and on every single ball they closed us down. I felt our speed of passing was not incisive enough and it was a bit nervous as well.

And singled out Barcelona as favourites… (one of the 4 teams we could meet!)

The potential opponents are there is a 50 per cent chance of travelling to Spain and a 50 per cent chance of travelling to Germany. If you ask me where would you like to go? I don’t know. You [the journalists] might prefer to go to Spain, for us not necessarily.  Let’s be realistic, Barcelona are the super-favourite at the moment but we take what we get and if it is Barcelona it is Barcelona. We have played them already last year and we’ll see.

Top of our league, through to the next round of the Champions League, in the Carling Cup semi finals… I don’t know how we’ve managed to stutter our way to this, but I’ll take it… hopefully we can improve on this and actually win something… I did say “hopefully”…

Til tomorrow mes amigos…

Tonight is a big night for all concerned down at the Emirates – we play Partizan Belgrade in a must win game… Technically, we can still qualify if results go our way – but when do results go our way? For me, there is nothing else required than a win. As I said in yesterday’s blog, the two away defeats were points we should have never have lost… but we are where we are and it’s time to put this one to bed.

Ahead of the game, Arsene has revealed the team news and there was some good news regarding our two midfielders Abou Diaby and Cesc Fabregas – whom are both back practising – which is absolutely brilliant news

“He was out to practise today. In fact he is still out there now. He has a small chance to play on Monday. That means it is a bit under 50 per cent at the moment. Diaby is out practising as well with him. He has a very small chance.”

If Cesc is available and 100% fit then that would be an awesome bonus for Monday’s game. A game that would really catapult us into the title race with both feet… but for tonight’s game, neither Diaby nor Cesc are available – news is that Djourou has a small strain and Koscielny has recovered from concussion to return to the starting line up. We may just see RvP back into the starting line up…

Fabianski

Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Clichy

Wilshere – Song

Nasri – Van Persie – Arshavin

Chamakh

With a bench of Szcznesy, Eboue, Gibbs, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner and Vela

It was interesting to see the pre-match press conference with Arshavin by Arsene’s side… he was in full chorus and talked about the position we find ourselves in the Champions League…

“We will get a difficult draw, but Arsenal want to win the Champions League and if you want to win it you have to play the best teams, like Barcelona and Real Madrid. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the last 16, the Quarter-Finals or the Semi-Finals. We’ve lost two games and now only have the chance to finish second, but what can we do? We have to win tomorrow and see what the draw will give us. I think we have no chance of topping the group. I think Shakhtar will be first. It’s disappointing but we always knew Shakhtar and Braga were good teams, especially at home. Unfortunately they showed that against us.”

The next thing he said was something which was brutally honest… he talked about our defensive frailties… and his contribution towards them – you know? The moments where we think, why isn’t Arshavin tracking back? He should come back and close the player down – at least he acknowledges this…

“We struggle in defence so we have to score more than we concede. It’s very frustrating and we’re trying to improve. Normally I can’t go through our defenders in training, but we don’t just blame our defenders. Sometimes I can’t run [back], and I let defenders cross so the forwards score a goal. So it doesn’t always depend on defenders. As a team we need to improve defensively.”

It’s funny how he just says it like that – but it’s true! He is a very talented footballer, but he needs to remain consistent, and needs to help out defensively where possible. One of the key elements to Barcelona’s 5-0 victory over Madrid last week was the outstanding work-rate that all the players, including Iniesta, Villa and Messi put in. That is one of the key differences – the Barcelona trio never stopped running, they never gave up – where as our tracking of players and pressing of the opposition doesn’t happen like that up top.

Down at the Emirates tonight, it will be a massive game – a must win game and we’ll need the players on song and the fans cheering them on… all I can say is… come on you Arsenal!!!

Morning All…

It wasn’t our greatest game by far yesterday and decisions before the game put us in a little bit of a downer even prior to the players walking onto the pitch, with news that Sagna, Denilson, Song, Arshavin and Chamakh would be rested and Cesc hadn’t recovered in time either. As news broke of each of the absentees, you wondered how seriously Arsene took this game in the first place. The line up was announced, and saw young Eastmond score:

Fabianski

Eboue – Squillaci – Djourou – Clichy

Wilshere – Eastmond

Walcott – Nasri – Rosicky

Bendtner

Our bench consisted of Szcznesy, Sagna, Koscielny, Vela, Lansbury, Chamakh and Emmanuel Thomas… Don’t get me wrong, there was quality in the team selected, but against a Shaktar team ready for revenge, against a team feeling bruised since the defeat at the Emirates. It resembled a little like a Carling Cup team to be honest…

It’s hard to write a match report for the game, there weren’t many Arsenal talking points, except the great goal from Theo Walcott, which really put us in the driving seat. With Shaktar pressing forward, we broke away and an excellent ball from Wilshere into the path of Theo Walcott and the young Englishman wasn’t going to be caught by anyone. He took the ball early, which in the end was the right decision as it was too quick for the keeper and it put us 1-0 ahead…

Shaktar were a little shocked and at that point we could have taken the game to them, but instead we sat back and allowed them to move forward. They are a good team and always posed a threat but the amount of balls we gave away and the lack of urgency we showed was ultimately going to shape the game. Many a time, when a ball was on, we’d misplace the pass – Bendtner being rendered effectively useless by the Shaktar rearguard.

And it wasn’t long before the home team got back into the game, via an own goal by Eastmond. With Denilson, Song, Diaby, Cesc and long term absentee Ramsey all out injured, Eastmond seemed to be the viable option and it was a hard night for him in the Ukraine. A cross came in, flicked on by Chygrynskiy, but headed past the otherwise excellent Fabianski by Eastmond. And it was 2-1 before we knew it, this time through a mistake from Clichy who in any game in which he deemed important would have kick the ball out to touch, but he dilly dallied and Srna nicked the ball and squared to Eduardo for an easy tap in…

The second half brought much more possession, and to be honest, it looked like an “average 4th game in the champions league” after winning the first three. We could have been more attacking, but we were in second gear and maybe it was a bit more of a formality – knowing we have another home game to go, it would always be hard to motivate…

Arsene spoke about the lost urgency and said:

“Congratulations to Donetsk, they played well and won the game. We had a good start but after we lost our urgency and let Donetsk come into the game too much. We lost concentration in the duels and you could see what was coming towards half time. I felt we moved out of the game altogether and moved into the game altogether so it was more of a team problem, a kind of complacency problem more than an individual problem. In the second half we came back into the game and gave a lot so you can’t fault the team. We were a bit unlucky. We have learnt the lesson that at this level you can’t lose focus at any moment and that is why we were punished.”

And that’s basically a good summation on a game that we knew we didn’t have to win.

I’d expect to see Arshavin, Cesc, Song and Sagna back in the starting line up on Sunday, when we take on Newcastle. But for now, I will just remember this game for the Thierryesque goal from Theo and the overall superb play from Jack Wilshere….

Til tomorrow…

Two weeks, we beat Shaktar a whopping 5-1 at the Emirates, with an excellent display of attacking football and an equally intelligent defensive display – but the return trip today will be a completely different kettle of fish. The 5-1 scoreline was quite emphatic and reality was a little harsh on the visitors, who were quite stubborn up until the goals were scored. They will be looking to get some sort of revenge and it will be a test of our resolve. A point out in Shaktar will be enough in terms of progression for our progression – but a win will virtually put us through to the next round.

After our slight win, but dedicated performance against West Ham, there may be a few changes. There were fitness questions around Denilson after three games in a row and a slightly subdued performance against West Ham – with Jack Wilshere returning from suspension, I’d expect him to take his place. News broke earlier this week from the club that Wilshere has signed a new contract to see him tied down to the club for the next 5 years, and Arsene took time out to talk about the future of Jack and the contribution to the team so far… and with Cesc absent from the squad too, how he can play a more advanced role:

“When Fabregas is not there you have to share a little bit the decisive passing, the building up of the game between Nasri, Wilshere or Rosicky for example, so that is the task we have. We have many creative players who can create good passes and that’s what I count on. Wilshere is not scared to take the ball so he will have a part of it to do. It depends what I do. If I play with two more defensive midfield players behind him he can play that role but if I use Jack deeper and for example Nasri or Rosicky in front of them he remains in the same position. I am very much surprised [by Wilshere's development]. I didn’t expect that to happen so quickly. You have to be open-minded in our job and most of the time when it happens like that you are happy.”

Despite the noise from Arsene regarding Jack playing in more attacking role, I am pretty sure he’ll start against Shaktar alongside Alex Song, but may move higher up the pitch in the latter stages of the game if we need to be a little more defensive. With three wins out of three, we can rotate a little, and I’d expect Sagna and Koscielny to be rested. I’d also think Chamakh will be rested too, letting Bendtner have another run out. I’d expect the following line-up:

Fabianski

Eboue – Squillaci – Djourou – Clichy

Wilshere – Song

Walcott – Nasri – Arshavin

Bendtner

With a bench of Szcznesy, Sagna, Koscielny, Denilson, Rosicky, Vela, Chamakh

Update: Denilson, Song, Arshavin & Cesc have all be confirmed out injured, so line up may be:

Fabianski

Eboue – Squillaci – Djourou – Clichy

Wilshere – Eastmond

Walcott – Nasri – Rosicky

Bendtner

With a bench of Szcznesy, Sagna, Koscielny, Emmanuel Thomas, Lansbury, Vela, Chamakh

Regardless of Arshavin’s form, I’m convinced he will start, especially in the Champions League, as he has shown the better side of his play in the Champions League compared to the Premiership. One player who is impressing this season is Theo Walcott and it’s amazing to see his turn around… He has scored 6 goals this seasons from hardly any play, and if he keeps his consistency game in and game out then he will really start raising eyebrows…

Here’s a little extract on the reaction to his goals against Newcastle last Wednesday from the boss:

“Theo can be a prolific goalscorer. Once he is a yard in front of the defender no-one can catch him. He is very, very close to playing that striker role. But when you play with only one up front you like as well a guy who is good in the air as sometimes you kick it longer. Still look at the two goals he scored against Newcastle, they are from a typical striker goes who plays on a counter-attack. But most of the time we face teams with a different problem. We face teams that play very deep like West Ham so there is less space in behind. That is why at the moment I use him on the flanks.”

Theo is used in an attacking trio for Arsenal, but more conventionally in a 4-4-2 for England. The further forward he plays, the more effective he will be in terms of goals and assists (hence his better stats for Arsenal than England), but ultimately, he will be a striker – like he played for the England Under 21s and he could end up being a striker for England before Arsenal…!

Arsene took time out to talk about the comparisons between Theo and Thierry…

“It’s difficult to compare the similarities. Is Thierry a replica of Theo? Is Theo a replica of Thierry? No. But they have in common tremendous pace, they are good finishers and both are intelligent. In England, you are very impatient. Thierry Henry came here at the age of 23 and Theo is 21. Give two more years to Theo and imagine what he will be. Don’t forget that when Thierry Henry came here, he was a winger. When I played him as a central striker, he said to me ‘but I can’t score goals’. However I knew Thierry when he was 14 and at 15 I knew he could score goals when he played central. Then I left Monaco and they moved him to the flank but I knew in my head he could do it. It looks to me now that Theo has a calmness in front of goal. Before he rushed his decision but now he is different.”

Having just re-read my blog for today, I’m quite excited now!!

Come on you reds… let’s end the night in the next round of the Champions League!

There has been much debate about the fans response to Eboue's performance and tomorrow the Ivorian will have a chance to win back the fans with an outstanding display and a few goals (not own goals) against a Porto side looking to finish top of the group.

Injuries news has been pouring in today. We're of course, without Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott and Nasri. Four attacking players who'd add so much to our team, but four attacking players who seem to be in the wars a lot.

In addition, Gael Clichy has pulled a hamstring and Cesc Fabregas has got a bit of knee trouble - nothing that a squeeze of WD40 couldn't cure. Kolo Toure has had a recurrence of his calf injury that kept him out of the side for a while, whilst Robin Van Persie has got a thigh strain. Adebayor needs rest as he's not yet recovered from the International travel for his recent country match.

As a result, it's a reprieve for some of the Carling Cup regulars as well as a re-introduction to the squad for William Gallas and injury-prone French midfielder, Abou Diaby.

The squad has recently been announced and some of the following players will be chosen to play tomorrow:

1. Manuel Almunia
21. Lukasz Fabianski
10. William Gallas
18. Mikael Silvestre
40. Kieran Gibbs
41. Gavin Hoyte
27. Emmanuel Eboue
20. Johan Djourou
17. Alex Song
15. Denilson
16. Aaron Ramsey
47. Mark Randall
2. Abou Diaby
43. Fran Merida
19. Jack Wilshere
26. Nicklas Bendtner
12. Carlos Vela
50. Jay Simpson

This team includes Randall, Ramsey, Merida, Wilshere, Simpson and Gibbs, so it’s going to be a tough one.

So out of these players, who do we think will start against Porto. Well, here goes…

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Tomorrow we take on Fenerbahce in the "Sukru Saracoglu Stadium" stadium and will expect a tough reception from the home side as the Turkish supporters are known for their passionate support, especially when a big team come to town.

The squad for tomorrow's game has been released and here it is:

Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie, Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner, Aaron Ramsey, Abou Diaby, Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Denilson, Samir Nasri, Kieran Gibbs, Gael Clichy, Mikael Silvestre, Alex Song, Emmanuel Eboue, Johan Djourou

From this squad, it’s clear to see that we will be without 3 of our first choice defence in Sagna, Toure and Gallas, but a timely return for Johan Djourou increases our options in that department.

Arsene has often adopted a 4-5-1 in European away games, and I reluctantly expect him to do the same thing tomorrow. It’s a hard one to know who will play, as both Nasri, Walcott, Van Persie and Ade are our first choice wingers and strikers, not all of them can play if we go for a 4-5-1 unless Nasri plays more centrally along side Cesc and Denilson fills in the holding midfield role. With Song available and Nasri having a little niggle, we may see the following line up:

Subs: Fabianksi, Hoyte, Gibbs, Walcott, Bendtner, Nasri and Vela.

In this line up, I think Arsene may give Diaby a full run out in midfield as well as resting Walcott and Nasri. I would be tempted to throw in Bendtner instead of Ade, but maybe too many changes aren’t good…

Arsene has been speaking ahead of the game and has focused on the “UEFA is watching you” stance warning Fenerbache not to do anything untoward and stating that the fans will not affect the players. The boss said:

“They have the most passionate fans in Europe. Especially in Istanbul where you have Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.

“It is a unique place and for me it is a special city. But it is very, very tough.

“However it will not affect the players. It could have done 20 years ago but one of the good things done by Uefa is that they protect the players and the competitions so much they know if [the teams] do too much they will be kicked out.

“Every simple thing is filmed. That was not the case 20 or 30 years ago. You had a little more freedom to express your aggressiveness then. But that has gone.”

It’s a game that I can’t wait for, it should be a good game, and will be good to see Diaby and Djourou back in the squad and first XI…

Don’t forget to participate in the World of Arsenal’s first poll, which asks Should Bendtner replace Adebayor in the first XI? At the time of writing, 65% of readers agreed that it was time for a change up top…

Til tomorrow…]]>

Hull Hell”.

Anyway, let’s look forward to the game, and hope that we’ll be on the top of our game.

Arsenal v FC Porto
UEFA Champions League, Emirates Stadium
Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 19:45

Team News sees the welcomed return of Samir Nasri. Of course Diaby, Eduardo and Rosicky are all out injured. Song has yet to return so it looks like we’ll have to field the only two fit central midfielders who’ve got any experience, of course, Cesc and Denilson. Even though Arsene said there would be changes, I think this is masked in the fact that Nasri is coming back, so inevitably would return to the starting XI.

As much as I’d like Ade dropped and Bendtner and Vela start, I don’t Arsene will do this. If anything, he’ll drop Van Persie and play Bendtner. I’d be in favour of this as Van Persie was very much ineffective on Saturday.

Apart from those two changes, can you really see Arsene changing much else? He should drop Gallas and play Djourou, but will he really? I sincerely doubt it.

Subs: Fabianksi, Silvestre, Djourou, Eboue, Ramsey, Vela, Van Persie.

We really do need to make amends for Saturday’s abysmal performance. Toure seems ready to make things right.

“We can’t just think about Hull. It’s true we lost and didn’t play well. But we didn’t play very well against Fulham and then we came back well in the next game when we beat Twente in the Champions League (qualifiers). For a team like Arsenal it’s always good to have a good reaction. Any team can fall down but it’s about how they react to defeat that matters. Tomorrow is a really good test and we will see if we can show another face. We are lucky we can play a match so soon after that and change everything in the minds of our fans. We want to show everyone we are still a good side. The manager, like everyone at the club, was very upset after Hull. If you want to be champions you need to win every game, especially when you play at home. We didn’t perform well. We’re professional and we know that when we play for Arsenal we can’t afford to lose like that. The manager didn’t have to say anything to us but he still had a few words. Every player was very sad and disappointed.”

Damn right. You play for Arsenal. You cannot afford to lose like that.

Jesualdo Ferreira, the Porto coach says he doesn’t need to worry about a backlash from us and also isn’t going to change his tactics.

“In the Champions League teams always play differently. Arsenal use different tactics to the ones they use in the Premier League. Arsenal losing at the weekend will not have an effect on Tuesday night. If Arsenal conceded a goal from the set-piece against Hull it doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t suddenly become something we look at.”

On reflecting on the game between the two sides 2 years ago, Ferreira said:

“There have been many changes since then. Arsenal have big players still but only Thierry Henry is missing who was there.  Most of their players are bigger, older, better and more experienced. Porto weren’t able to keep up with Arsenal in that game but we were able to qualify from the group. Now we have different players, some left and some have come. At the moment the only thing we can say is that Arsenal have more experience and that could affect the outcome.”

And in the other game, Fenerbahce take on Dynamo Kiev and a draw would probably be the best result.

I’ll be at the game tonight, and despite the result on Saturday, I am still very excited and really can’t wait…

Til tomorrow…]]>

Afternoon all, and it’s a slightly warmer Wednesday than Tuesday albeit freezing overnight… surely it will be a little colder in Kiev today?

Okay, well how cold? Let’s take a look…

So, 10 degrees, a little colder than average, but should be okay… not in the minus degrees. And who is scared of the weather anyway? Arsene Wenger isn’t scared of the weather, he’s not scared of the stadium, he’s not scared of their mascot or what’s in store.

In fact, what is Arsene scared of…

“We are happy to play football – we are afraid of nobody in the world. But we respect Dynamo Kiev because I feel mainly their strength is that they are very efficient as a team. They are a very hard working team with good discipline, and they can score goals. In that kind of game you want to defend well. But as well we are an attacking team so we are only happy when we score goals. I believe we have learnt that any place in the world is difficult and I believe mentally we can cope with that better now.”

And of course, with Nasri confirmed as not in the squad, Arsene will unleash the young England pretender, Theo Walcott on the Ukrainians. The squad has been confirmed…

1 Manuel ALMUNIA (GK)
3 Bacary SAGNA
4 Cesc FABREGAS
5 Kolo TOURE
10 William GALLAS (c)
11 Robin VAN PERSIE
12 Carlos VELA
14 Theo WALCOTT
15 DENILSON
16 Aaron RAMSEY
17 Alex SONG
19 Jack WILSHERE
20 Johan DJOUROU
21 Lukasz FABIANSKI (GK)
22 Gael CLICHY
25 Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
26 Nicklas BENDTNER
27 Emmanuel EBOUE

Which means the probable line up should be:

As I said yesterday, I’d expect Van Persie to be rested as well as Denilson, with Bendtner and Song coming in. The bench should comprise of Fabianksi, Silvestre, Djourou, Denilson, Ramsey, Vela and Van Persie.

It should be a cracker of a game tonight and Ade believe the team has real desire to win this competition…

“We have every chance to win the Champions League with Arsenal. I had the chance to be in the final with Monaco, but I was on the bench and I could see all these special things going on. Then with Arsenal, I could not play because I was cup-tied and in my head it was difficult – but now I have a chance to play so there is an argument for me to be more hungry than most of my team-mates. However, I am not the only one. Cesc [Fabregas] and Kolo [Toure] lost in the [2006] final as well and so all these players would like to win it in their career. These are the things that we are going to pin together as brothers and help each other on the pitch and off the pitch and try to achieve something this season.”

Read an interview with Adebayor on the official Arsenal site… it’s quite interesting.

Well, good luck boys, let’s put on a display and get three points on the board tonight!

‘Til tomorrow…]]>

Talking about this season, tomorrow night is the first game in the group stage of the Champions League as we take on Dynamo Kyiv (not Kiev, that's chicken) in the Valeri Lobanovski Stadium. Yes, try saying that ten times.

FC Dynamo Kyiv v Arsenal
UEFA Champions League, Valeri Lobanovski Stadium
Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 19:45

The game will be shown live on SKY Sports and coverage will start at 7pm.

After the 4-0 demolition of Blackburn on the weekend, I’m quite exciting about taking on Kyiv now. It’s going to be a real test. It’s kind of a free test where people will not really over-react if we lose, but if we win, it will put us in good stead to qualify with three home games to come…

Arsene Wenger of course is being he usual cautious self and partly to re-focus and bring our players back to earth after a few good wins on the trot, he spoke to Arsenal TV and said:

“It is a tough place for us to go. It is maybe a little bit better for us to play earlier but I am convinced it will still be a massive challenge. We’ll go there and try to win the game but even if we take a point then for me it will be a good start.

“Dynamo Kyiv knocked out Spartak Moscow 4-1, 4-1 [in each leg of their qualifying game]. When you know Spartak Moscow and how strong the Russian League is at the moment that means it is a tough draw. I saw the first game at Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Kyiv were really impressive.

“Our group has four teams who are all used to playing in the Champions League – Fenerbache, Porto, Dynamo and us. Anyone can take points off anyone that’s why for me it’s very important we start well in this game.”

And I think he’s got a point. Dynamo are not a “bad” team. If both teams play to their maximum, yes, we are better, much better, but we must not be complacent, otherwise, like last season’s game against Sevilla, away from home, it can be harder than we think.

First team coach at Kyiv, Yuri Semin, was highly talkative about Adebayor:

“We knew very well prior to this the capabilities of the Arsenal forward. But we will not be putting a man-marker on him. Adebayor plays all over the pitch, and in every zone there will be one of our players to meet him.”

It’s clear to see that Ade has a growing reputational in Europe, and his hattrick against Blackburn would surely have caused some fear in the defenders.

Onto team news and the doubts for the game are Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Eboue and Samir Nasri. I think all three will be fit and Arsene may try and use all three as he attempts to rest Theo Walcott. Arsene has talked about resting his midfield, so here’s my expected line up:

As you can see, I’d also expect Van Persie to be rested as well as Denilson, with Bendtner and Song coming in. I may be wrong, but with a game every three days including the internationals, we have to adjust here and there. On the bench, I’d expect Fabianksi, Djourou, Denilson, Walcott, Ramsey, Vela and Van Persie. With Djourou the only defender on the bench, Ramsey may not be included with Silvestre appearing on the bench after injury.

There will probably be more official news tomorrow… we should have landed in Kyiv by now and be on the training ground…

More tomorrow…]]>

So tomorrow sees our first "proper" game of the season and  we take on FC Twente of Holland, managed by England's very own Steve McClaren. The Twente side is a decent side with some good players, but we really should be able to beat this side over two legs.

Steve McClaren has said it's fate that he drew an English team. I say it's irony! With Engelaar, their best player, transferred to Schalke, I can see no real strength in this team, with McBrolly's only signing that of Chelsea teenager Slobodan Rajkovic. The former England boss has been diplomatic about his chances against a hungry Arsenal side:

“I think of all the teams we could have had, that is the toughest – or one of the toughest. Obviously we looked at Arsenal, Liverpool, Juventus, Schalke and we got one of the most difficult. In one respect it’s a tough draw for us; on the other it’s now an opponent we know very well, not just myself, everyone in Holland knows the Premier League well so Arsenal will be no strangers to us. This is a reward for a great achievement last season in reaching this stage, to get one of the big teams. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience that doesn’t come along that often. I’m sure the fans will be delighted.”

Van Persie, our Dutch maestro has been busy in the press, reminding us of the importance of the game.

“Arsenal always wants to play Champions League and I think Arsenal needs to play Champions League. If you have players like this, good players, big stadium, then I think you need to play in the highest league in Europe. But this is football – if you don’t win two games then you don’t qualify and we play Uefa Cup.”

Van Persie, who played for Feyenoord until his transfer in 2004 know all about the Dutch side.

“I know them quite well as I have Dutch satellite. It was quite, though, a big shock because in Holland everyone expected Ajax to win and in the end Twente played better and these things happen in football.

“They had a great year last year, but they lost two of their best playmakers – Karim El Ahmadi and Orlando Engelaar. However, they got Theo Janssen from Vitesse, so they are still in good shape with a good team.”

And whilst VP it at it, he managed to take a quick dig at Sp*rs. You got to love the boy!

“It is unthinkable for us not to be in the Champions League. Twente’s equivalent in England? Tottenham!”

I’d say we were definitely favourites. The only real concern with our XI tomorrow will be the defensive midfield position. We may be able to get away with Denilson partnering Cesc in this game, but we are a little exposed in this area. Our injury list so far is:

Nasri – thigh strain
Diaby – thigh injury
Rosicky – everything
Bischoff – unfit
Song – Olympics

That’s not a huge amount of people to be missing, so it’s obvious the we will sign a defensive midfielder by the 31st August. We have to, it would be insane if we didn’t!

Okay, here’s a first XI preview:

I’d expect to see Eboue and Walcott deployed on the wings as Rosicky and Nasri are injured.

On the bench, we may well see: Fabianksi, Senderos, Djourou, Traore, Wilshere, Vela and Bendtner. And if any one of the above doesn’t make it, Ramsey would be next in line.

Here’s to a great victory tomorrow…

Just before I go, I expect Joe Cole to say something nasty about us later today. I dunno. Just a hunch…

Have a great day… ’til tomorrow.]]>

Good-day to you, wherever you are in the world of Arsenal. Dev has asked me to blog in his absence and as always it is my pleasure to do so. Unfortunately there is a good chance I will be without internet access this weekend so here’s hoping Dev can take a ‘break’ from the beach to give you an update.

The weekend before last I was fortunate enough to have a chat with the legendary Bob Wilson and it was interesting and exciting to hear some of the things he had to say. Of Theo Walcott he said he has been in the gym all summer to build some muscle. This is great because you have to feel that at times Theo was nudged off the ball too often. His pace normally compensated for this but with some upper-body strength I am optimistic he will become a more ‘complete’ package.

This week everybody has been talking about the young Jack Wilshere. At just 16 years of age it is far too early to place ANY expectations on him. However, Bob Wilson was very excited about what the future holds. He said he is going to be a big player for Arsenal, to which I responded ‘big like Pennant or Bentley were predicted to be?’. He said no, Jack Wilshere is going to be an Arsenal and England superstar. Promising stuff, but as I said, let’s give him the time he needs.

The draw for the Champions League third qualifying round was made today, and we will face FC Twente of the Netherlands. What makes this draw interesting is that Steve McLaren is their manager. I hope he gets the abuse he deserves when they come to the Emirates! Seriously though, we should be fine even if they did beat Ajax for the qualifying spot. Thank goodness we avoided teams like Atletico Madrid and Galatasastab.

In other news David Bentley has been talking about Arsenal (not for the first time). He is looking forward to playing against us for Sp*rs. And we are looking forward to watching you lose against Arsenal, David. Having joined Sp*rs he has confirmed what we already knew about him. I will let you come up with the appropriate terms to describe him.

Arsene has said he is looking to find one more player for central midfield, and Gokhan Inler has been linked with us this morning. The 24 year old Switzerland international is a highly regarding midfielder, currently playing for Udinese. However, all of the quotes all come from the player’s agent. In agents we cannot trust. We’ll have to wait and see who this new signing will be. Anyone have any ideas?

Have a good weekend.

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