Archive for the ‘Team News’ Category

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 all.

Some interesting news coming from Arsene’s pre-match press conference yesterday. Alex Hleb is not for sale, and Mattie Flamini’s deadline has been extended to Monday due to ‘negotiation problems’. For me that basically means Arsenal are, as I suggested yesterday, succumbing to the threat of him leaving on a free and are trying to convince him otherwise by revising their original offer. Who knows – we’ll have to wait and see.

Good to hear that Alex Hleb is not for sale, although I very much doubt that this statement will stop the press making up stories about him going to Inter, Juve etc etc. Indeed we are linked with Niko Kranjcar of Portsmouth, whose father says Wenger ‘has been tracking for some time’ (if you say so, Mr Kranjcar senior), and that he would be the perfect replacement for Hleb.

It is something we Gooners have come to live with in recent summers. ‘Cesc is off to Barca’, ‘Hleb to Italy’, ‘Adebayor to Italy’. We know it is coming, but the bottom line is all these players are contracted to the club, and cannot go unless Arsenal is willing to sell. As the boss said yesterday, the only player free to leave the club is Flamini, although we’re all hopeful that won’t be the case come Monday.

It is, in my opinion, crucial that this team sticks together. All the progress we have made in recent seasons is down to the fact that the core players have remained with the club. We really don’t want an exodus of players this summer because it will mean we have to start again from scratch, which is not an option. If the team continues to improve at the same rate then we will be champions next season, but we do need this group to stick together in order for that to be possible.

Everton Team News

Everton tomorrow is our penultimate game of the season, and last home game. Team news sees the squad remaining more or less the same as against Derby, with Robin Van Persie being rested as a precautionary measure (thigh) and Flamini possibly returning to a place on the bench. I must say that RVP’s injury situation is of great concern. He is such a classy player but you can only be incredibly frustrated with his injury problems in recent seasons. If he had been fully fit all season perhaps we would be parading the league trophy tomorrow at the Emirates. RVP and Rosicky – we need them fit and strong next season, but if they cannot meet this requirement then we really need to think about replacing them with players who are more reliable in terms of fitness.

I think we can expect Fabianski to retain his place in goal, and with RVP not playing it seems likely that Ade and Bendtner will play up front. Theo should get another start alongside Eboue, Cesc and Denilson in midfield. The back four of Toure, Gallas, Song and Clichy will no doubt stay the same, although the Boss may well decide to give big Phil Senderos another chance after having not played since that miserable night at Anfield.

This game is not an easy one to predict. We pretty much have nothing to play for if Man Utd win against West Ham today, which is expected if we’re being honest with ourselves. However Everton are 3 points ahead of Villa in 5^th, but with an inferior goal difference. With 5^th place offering the only UEFA Cup spot this season Everton will be giving everything to take something from the game. If we are going to reach our target of 83 points this season we will need to be fully focussed and committed tomorrow or we will be punished. The game up at Goodison was one of my favourite away games attended this season, in spite of the fact that my car had been broken into when I returned to it after the game! Here’s a tip to those of you who go to the away games – use the travel club for the Liverpool matches!

Everton will be without Cahill and Arteta and this could be decisive in terms of the result. I fancy us to nick it, what do you reckon?

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Liverpool vs Arsenal

Yes, it’s another Liverpool preview, but this time, it’s more of an add on to what we were talking about yesterday.

Good news is that Mr Robin Van Persie has joined the squad of 18 and should feature at some point of the game. It will be interesting to see who Arsene chooses to play today.

Yesterday we discusseed the possibility of Eboue and Diaby on either side of Hleb, Cesc and the Flamster, but it would also be an option to have Walcott and Van Persie on the wings. Whether Van Persie will be fit enough is a big question and whether Walcott will start is debatable considering his recent 90 minutes at the weeekend.

I’ll be back a bit later today before the game to report on the official team news and a bit more about the game. It should be a cracker!

Arsenal & Ajax Link Up

Some good news in regards to our future. Arsene had revealed that he had been talking to Van Basten recently in regard to both Arsenal and Ajax teaming up to provide players to each other. I think it’s a great idea as both teams play the same way and it’ll be better loaning players to Ajax than Birmingham or Salamanca, as Ajax always challenge for the Dutch title… Arsene spoke in his programme notes against Liverpool…

“Van Basten visited us at the training ground this week. We spoke a bit about the European Championship and about Ajax, because he is taking over there in the summer. We spoke about how he wants to see the future of the club and how he wants to work there, and any similarities with our policy at Arsenal, and about whether they can take players on loan, for example.”

It’ll be an exciting link up…

The Emirates Cup

The success of the Emirates Cup will see the return of the competition in summer. The club believe it will be an annual event and I hope so too, it was loads of fun last year, some spectacular football and an unbelievable goal from Van Persie.

The competition is back in August and this year, we’ll see Real Madrid and Juventus and Hamburg grace the Grove… three teams we have played (and beaten) recently in the Champions League.

It should be a good pre season and tickets will go on sale after the season ends.

Here’s the line up:

Saturday 2nd August 2008
Real Madrid C.F v HSV Hamburg (2pm kick off)
Arsenal v Juventus FC (4.15pm kick off)

Sunday 3rd August 2008
Juventus FC v HSV Hamburg (2pm kick off)
Arsenal v Real Madrid C.F (4.15pm kick off)

But unfortunately, I have just realised that I won’t be there! I’ll be in sunny Fiji for a wedding… but I’m sure I’ll be able to watch it…!

Anyway, guys and girls… it’s a big game today… more later]]>

With United drawing with Middlesborough, there is still a feint chance we could win the title, but 3 points on Saturday would have given us a real hope... let's see what's in store in the title twist later, but for the moment, it looks increasingly likely that all our eggs are in one basket, and that basket is the Champions League.

Of course, the 1-1 draw at the Emirates means we have to score at Anfield to progress. If we don't score, whatever the result, we won't go through. If we do, we need a win or a score draw of 2-2 or more to progress. It's pretty much the same as any one off tie, for example, where we'd need to score to win.

Toure and Bendtner are both looking forward to the game and have high hopes for our performance at Anfield. Bendtner especially believes he needs to make up for his mistake last Wednesday. To this day he protests that he tried to get his foot out of the way, but if you watch the replay, it was clear that he was trying to score. I like Bendtner, I think he is a good player, but he is vastly inexperienced at this level.

“We went to Anfield before this season and everyone was telling me before that game how great a place it can be to play in. I came on and it was very nice. The atmosphere was fantastic. I expect the same on Tuesday but we have to deal with it and win the game. As a player, you always want to produce and in a big game even more so. It certainly should be a good one to watch.”

I don’t believe Bendtner will start but may be involved in some part if we need to change the dynamic of the team.

Arsene believes we can qualify and rues the 3 players we seem to have lost at the same time. He says that the team has come on a lot and that the progress this year has been good. It’s a strange one too, as he says that he couldn’t have for seen that Eduardo, Rosicky and VP would all be out at the same time. But Rosicky and VP do have a history of injuries, so maybe it would be wiser to think maybe one or both may be injured. If we can one or two more extra players, or a bit of luck, maybe it would have been different… Anyway, Arsene said:

“I think we have enough resources to qualify on Tuesday night. We go until the end of the season and then see what it is like. But it was difficult to predict that Eduardo, Van Persie and Rosicky would be out together and for such a long time.”

With Vela joining us in summer, maybe we won’t sign a new striker, but a replacement for Jens and Gilberto and a winger (or two) wouldn’t go amiss.

VP may be back for tomorrow’s game, but at the moment, he’s not. According to the Arsenal website, we may hear more on this during the afternoon, so I’ll keep you posted on any news I hear.

In the meantime, considering VP as out of the starting line up, I think we’re looking at:

With Lehmann, Hoyte, Traore, Song, Gilberto, Walcott, Bendtner on the bench.

I originally though Walcott would start, but with his start on Saturday, it looks unlikely that he will. His role as an impact substitute is well documented. But Arsene, if you’re reading this, please drop Eboue and play Walcott from the start, he will win us the game.

So predictions? Well, Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League will always be a difficult game, but we will will score and so will they. 2-1 to the Arsenal?

More later…

Update: Van Persie is in the squad….

18 man Arsenal squad to face Liverpool tomorrow:

1 Jens LEHMANN, 2 Abou DIABY, 4 Cesc FABREGAS, 5 Kolo TOURE, 6 Philippe SENDEROS, 10 William GALLAS, 11 Robin VAN PERSIE, 13 Alexander HLEB, 16 Mathieu FLAMINI, 17 Alex SONG, 19 GILBERTO, 22 Gael CLICHY, 24 Manuel ALMUNIA, 25 Emmanuel ADEBAYOR, 26 Nicklas BENDTNER, 27 Emmanuel EBOUE, 31 Justin HOYTE and 32 Theo WALCOTT]]>

Arsenal
 
24 Manuel Almunia 
27 Emmanuel Eboue 
31 Justin Hoyte 
10 William Gallas 
5 Kolo Toure 
30 Armand Traore 
4 Francesc Fabregas 
19 Gilberto Silva 
16 Mathieu Flamini 
32 Theo Walcott 
26 Nicklas Bendtner 
 
Bench
1 Jens Lehmann 
22 Gaël Clichy 
13 Alexander Hleb 
25 Emmanuel Adebayor 
17 Alexandre Song 
 
Liverpool
 
Jose Reina  25
Jamie Carragher  23
Martin Skrtel  37
Alvaro Arbeloa  17
Steve Finnan  3
Jermaine Pennant  16
Yossi Benayoun  11
Lucas  21
John Arne Riise  6
Damien Plessis  47
Peter Crouch  15
 
Bench
Charles Itandje  30
Andrej Voronin  10
Sami Hyypia  4
Steven Gerrard  8
Fernando Torres  9 

 ]]>

I've got the official team news, but before I publish it, I just want to touch on our strength in depth. Yesterday I was playing Pro Evo and the Masters League. Now in the game, it's pretty hard to have any long term injuries, or major absenses. So throughout the season we had the luxury of having a fit group of players. The options we had were amazing.

Van Persie and Adebayor played as the first choice striking partnership, and they finished 1st and 2nd in the scoring charts, Van Persie with 25 goals and Ade with 22. VP also got 11 assists to finish top of the assist league.

Our first choice midfield saw Rosicky, Cesc, Flamini and Hleb play. Rosicky got 11 goals, Cesc 8, Hleb popped up with 7 too, with the Flamster picking up 4 scorchers himself. Our strength in dept saw Eduardo grab 15 league goals and Bendtner managed 8 of his own. Walcott was an excellent option and played somtimes on the wing and sometimes up front. He got himself 8 assists and 6 goals.

With a fit set of midfielders, Diaby, Denilson, Song, Djourou all played vital parts in the midfields with Eduardo and Eboue also playing quote a few games in midfield.

Our defence was the best in the league and Senderos, Gallas, Toure, Song, Clichy, Sagna, Hoyte, Traore and Eboue giving us depth.

It goes to show how much strength in depth we have - but how badly our injuries have been... come on you reds today and show the Pool what we're made of...]]>

Arsenal vs Liverpool Preview

Tomorrow sees two midfielders suspended. One for each side. As we know Diaby will be suspended and so will Mascherano. I believe Lucas will come into the starting XI for Liverpool, whilst Diaby hasn’t featured in our first XI. Van Persie is injured – how many times have I said that this season?

It’s been a strange series of team selection that has seen Eboue constantly picked ahead of Theo and our games have only changed positively when Eboue has been replaced. It will be interesting to see who starts on Wednesday. I think with VP out, Bendtner may start with Walcott on the bench. The reason I see Arsene putting Walcott on the bench is that a) he has attacking options on the bench b) he would want to keep him fresh for Tuesday c) Bendtner will want to make up for his awful clearance on Wednesday.

Rumours are that Liverpool team will be somewhat weakened. The Liverpool supporters I know have mentioned that the starting line up will see Crouch, Vorinin, Pennant and Benyauon play. No matter which Liverpool team plays it will be a strong team and we’ll have to be at our best to beat them. This is the line up I expect to see tomorrow:

With Lehmann, Hoyte, Song, Gilberto and Walcott on the bench.

Transfer Rumours

There have been a somewhat hightened round of transfer rumours this week and we’ve been linked with various players this month (and it’s only 4 days old)… here’s who’s who in the transfer target talk… (now that’s a tongue twister)!

Clement GrenierClement Grenier is an attacking midfielder, currently plying his trade at Lyon in France. Clement Grenier is 17 and has not yet signed a professional contract. Of couse, we all know that Arsene has had much success in landing non contracted youngsters.Grenier has been dubbed the new Kaka, which is some accolade. Although sometimes agents talk up their players in this manner to raise their profile…

And…

DiegoDiego is the next highly touted Brazilian to hit the national side. He currently plays for Weder Bremen and was in action for Brazil against Sweden at the Emirates. His performance was impressive. It is understood that the asking price is around £20m, so it’s not exactly something that Arsene usually does. His father, who is also his agent has been talking this week about how both Real Madrid and Juventus have had talks.

True or false???

Almunia Signs A Contract Extension

Something which is becoming increasing clearer now is the goalkeeping situation. Almunia has been solid, has pulled off some great saves and have established himself and the number one keeper, displacing the German #1 Lehmann. The players like to play with him and have confidence in his ability.

It’s clear that next season he will be our #1  with Fabianski our #2 and Mannone our #3.

Almunia signed a long term contract recently and hopes to end his career at Arsenal.

“I’ve extended my contract and I hope to be here for a long, long time. Hopefully I can finish my career here.”

Fran Merida Signs On Too

Young Fran Merida has followed in the footsteps of Cescy from Barce to Arsenal. Merida has been out on loan with Real Sociedad this season. He is a special talent and Arsene rates him highly. I believe he will feature in our first team this season and the season in Spain will prove very useful. I have seen him in a few friendlies and he does look awesome.

Don’t forget to get up early, coverage starts at 12noon tomorrow, come on you Gunners.]]>

The starting line up sees Eboue return to the squad at right midfield and Ade restored up front.

The line up is:

Almunia

Toure, Senderos, Gallas, Clichy

Eboue, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb

Adebayor, Van Persie….

The bench sees:

Lehmann, Hoyte, Song, Diaby, Gilberto, Walcott and Bendtner

Come on you reds!]]>

Update: Second Leg Preview Here

Morning all. It’s an exciting day today and whatever I could possible say to hype this match will be overshadowed by the simple phrase “Arsenal vs Liverpool in the Champions League at the Emirates”. Games can’t get bigger, can they? And what makes it more exciting is that we’ve got the quality to win it, we’ve got the home advantage tonight and psychologically we have the edge. Our performance at Anfield was awesome, with sublime passing and precision football, albeit we came away with a draw.

For those of you who know Bob, you’ll know he’s an avid Arsenal fan too, and I managed to catch up with him today for a quick interview about today’s game.

Are you looking forward to the game?

Yeah I’m really excited about it, but at the same time slightly nervous. In the Champions League, Liverpool are a different type of proposition to the Premier League, so coming up against them in the competition is a little apprehensive. We mustn’t concede a goal. If we could take even a slender 1-0 advantage to Anfield, then one goal there could see us knock them out.

Who will be our star player tonight?

I think Cesc is the obvious one, as he loves playing in these big games as he really shines and pulls the strings in midfield. If Hleb is on form, he will be difficult for the full backs to track, and could potentially pull players out of position and expose gaps in their defence. Ade would also be an obvious one with his size and strength and can definitely give Carragher and co a handful, but I’m quietly confident about Van Persie. I think if he has his shooting boots on, and the match practice he’s gained recently, plus those behind close doors, he could be a real difference between the team and also in the link up play between midfield and attack.

Who do we have to watch out for tonight[on the opposition team]?

One player in the Liverpool side that you can never rule out, in the Champions League, is Steven Gerrard. He seems to have a love for Big Ears [CL Trophy] like no other player in England, and I feel coming up against another English team will make him all the more determined to inspire his team the way he has in recent seasons. Up front, Torres is another player who seems to be hitting form, just at the right time. His mazy runs, his eye for goal and hold up play for Liverpool almost reminds me of a certain Mr. Henry; if you give him half a yard he will hurt you; so will definitely be a danger man and one to watch.

So how we will deal with Gerrard and Torres?

Well, I feel that Liverpool will come with a 4-5-1 formation, with Torres being the spearhead of the attack with support on the wings by Kuyt and Babel. With the pace between those players, especially the threat that Torres poses, our defence has to be alert to any counter attacks. The partnership of Senderos and Gallas, if they start, will have to really compliment each other, with Gallas using his pace and strength with that of Torres and Senderos attacking the long balls. What I’m trying to say here, is that Senderos has the aerial presence to win the ball in the air and Gallas has the pace to mop up the second ball. I think both Toure vs Babel and Clichy vs Kuyt will swing in our favour due the pace and experience that our full backs have. As for Gerrard, with the level of maturity that Flamini has shown this season, it will prove an interesting contest, but one I’m confident Flamini will relish. He will be the lynchpin of our defensive play, allowing Cescy to go forward and do what he does best.

So Bob, I know you never like answering this question, but what is your prediction for the game tonight?

It’s a tough one, I think we’re gonna win it. I’d love to say we’re going to score a handful of goals and not concede any. But I think it’s going to be a tighter affair than many think, with both teams being cautious going forward due to the pace and counter attack threats. Also both teams will not want to concede the first goal. You can tell I’m trying to avoid the prediction…

You can’t avoid the prediction!

Okay, okay… Going in at half time, I think it will be 0-0, but, unfortunately, as we’ve been leaking goals recently and I think they will score, but we will win the game… I’d rather take a 1-0 victory but I’ll go with 2-1 to the Arsenal. Man I hope I’m wrong and we win 6-0!

Thanks Bob, that’s got me really g’d up for the game today, whatever happens it will exciting. 

Team News

As predicted yesterday, nothing makes me think anything different. Of course, we won’t know the line up until 45 mins before the game, but here’s who I think will be starting.

With Lehmann, Hoyte, Eboue, Song, Gilberto, Walcott and Bendtner on the bench.

Hleb has been recovering from a little injury but both him and Gilberto were cleared for this game.

Arsene has been talking about the game today and the challenge that it brings.

“It will certainly be the highest challenge for me. If you look at the next 10 days or so it will define our season because I strongly believe that we are in the title race. Our next two games in the Premier League are Liverpool and Manchester United and then, on top of that, we have two Champions League games against so this next period is vital. And the impact of the first game is also vital.”

It’s going be an exciting day today.

Come on you Gunners!]]>

Manuel Almunia 24

Gaël Clichy 22 
William Gallas 10 
Philippe Senderos 6 
Kolo Toure 5

Vasiriki Abou Diaby 2 
Francesc Fabregas 4 
Mathieu Flamini 16 
Alexander Hleb 13

Nicklas Bendtner 26 
Robin Van Persie 11]]>

A win today won't be easy, as Bolton really are our bogey side. We not beaten them in 8 and they've won the last three at the Reebok. Not the greatest of grounds for us, but something we can start rectifying today.

Arsene spoke about the game yesterday:

“On Saturday, the team just wants to focus on a top-level performance, and then we will win. Not the opposite when how you play does not matter as long as you win. It is important how we perform, then we win the game.

That’s very true, if we can play our game we can win. But “play our game” also means let’s not get upset when Kevin Davies challenges Gallas in the air and let’s not get upset when Nolan clips Walcott’s ankles. Let’s just get up, focus, play well and score goals.

As discussed yesterday, we have two possible options with the game’s starting line up. One version saw Bendtner and Van Persie up front with Ade rested and Arsene seems to think this is a good idea.

Official team news shortly, but Arsene agrees young Ade needs a rest.

“I believe he has given a lot this year and so he would need a little breather, maybe. He has played a lot on his own up front and has had to fight very hard. So at the moment, to refresh him a bit would do him some good. He has not scored recently but then, as a team, we have made less chances. Also physically he was a bit jaded because he has played in nearly every single game since the start of the season. He is an important player in our squad. But I have Bendtner there and I have van Persie coming back.”

This same variation saw Walcott and Diaby on either side with Hleb rested and saw Senderos at the back with Toure on the right.

The other variation saw Eboue at right back, Hleb and Diaby on the wings. It’s one of those days, where with a few players back from injury and a drop in form from the remaining players, we won’t know who will play until Arsene announces it…

Who ever plays will be the choice of the gaffer and a team that he thinks can win…

Come on you Gunners!!!]]>