Arsenal vs Man Utd Full time report

Both teams lined up as they were at the start of the second half and with just as much energy. We had a very early chance to put it 2-0 with Ben foster stopping a van persie shot just in front of the goal with an instinctive save. We came out probably the better of the two teams after the break with all the team looking for the ball and not afraid to get forward.

Despite Arsenal's pressure it was nited that were to get the next goal.
The game picked up on the 57th minute when Rooney was taken down by Almunia's outstretched arms and subsequently put away the penalty to make it 1-1.

Arsenal almost went ahead again 5 mins later with Van persie hitting the bar from a well shot free kick outside the box. Pain was to follow almost instantly with Diaby when he poorly tried to clear a Giggs pass which he put past Almunia for an own goal what a killer blow.

The game definitley changed with the 3rd goal and Utd looked to gain a stronger grip in the game as the match went on. Wenger did try and change things with the introdction of Bendtner on the 71st minte but Arsenal still struggled to get the equaliser. 8 minutes on Eduardo was introduced and it looked to be Wenger's last attacking option to change the game.

We had few chances after that and we looked to have fizzled out in the last mintes. The last remaining hope was the 5 minutes extra time that was added. Berbatov was the first player to get a chance in extra time but only managed to skew his shot wide of the post to Arsenal's relief. Nani had another on the 94th but missed his second shot from Almunia's first save. Arsene Wenger was dancing on the touchline when he thought van persie had equalised but was deemed offside due to gallas' positioning.

So gutted! we didn't deserve to lose.

Arsenal v Man utd Half time update

Today is our first "Real" test of the season and I am surprisingly confident ahead of our trip to old trafford.

I know of course, I am bias to my beloved Gooners but I believe our recent performances and new found hunger this season may win the day. Of course I am not foolish enough to be writing utd off but I believe their losses of Tevez and Ronaldo could be the key to us overcoming the red devils this season. Rooney has now come to the fold even more and will have to fill the void left by the summer departures in Manchester. There is no denying Rooney is a class act so taming him today is crucial if we are to get a victory.
There was no Cesc Fabregas today bt apart from that we had our first team squad available.

Manuel Almunia
Bacary Sagna
William Gallas
Thomas Vermaelen
Gael Clichy
Denilson
Alex Song
Andrey Arshavin
Abou Diaby
Emmanuel Eboue
Robin Van Persie

Subs: Eduardo
Mikael Silvestre
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Kieran Gibbs
Nicklas Bendtner
Vito Mannone


Both teams started like for like with Fergie deciding to parallel Wengers decision of a 3 man midfield. The start was a good one with both teams setting a good pace in the opening minutes. Rooney as expected looked sprightly along with Arshavin and Eboue who looked to get forward early on. Both teams threatened but didn't produce a good chance on goal and each goalkeeper had little to do until the 9th minute. Rooney flighted a good pass to fletcher in the box but he blazed high from a very good opportunity.

United then produced a passage of possession which did at moments look to threaten the back four but Gallas, vermaelen and Clichy all hampered multiple Utd efforts to et the lead. The next real chance for the gunners came on the 24th minute when Robin van persie had the time to setup a left footed shot in the box but was deflected for a corner. From that corner another chance arose with Arshavin going close to side footing a shot through a wall of utd players in the top corner but just skewed it narrowly over.

The game did start to become littered with misplayed passes on both sides and as a result both sides looked to break and catch the other off guard but the score looked to remain deadlocked until till the second half. How wrong I was because on the 39th minute Arshain picked up a loose ball and rifled a shot outside the box which Ben foster could only deflect in the roof of the net, and what a goal it was!

Manchester united were determined not to go in behind and they had a good chance to equalise with vidic in the congested box but his chance was rapidly cleared away. One player of special mention has to be William Gallas who was fantastic in the first 45mins not putting a foot wrong and taking Rooney out of the game. We go in 1-0 at half time and well deserved.

Eduardo a diver, i don't think so check out these real divers-VIDEO

Arsene Wenger has called Eduardo's charge of cheating a match official a disgrace and a witchhunt. I can't help but agree with him, How many times have we and everyone else been penalised in a game by a Ronaldo flying lesson or a bad drobga acting lesson? Well it looks like we are being singled out for punishment and personally I blame Michel Platini for the problem. He really annoys me because he has a grudge against all english teams. He loves to criticise and punish Premiership teams but turns a blind eye to the likes of Real Madrid. Anyway Here you can see video evidence that our premiership rivals are not innocent and have got away without punishment on many many occassions yet we get singled out?


Drogba:


Ronaldo:


Gerrard:


Sean Davis:


As you can see, our rivals are more than guilty of their share of dives and simulations and I'm still mystified because Eduardo's "Deliberate" dive is one of the least extravagant on show.

Arsenal vs Celtic - Video highlights

Today we booked our ticket to the group stages of the champions league for another successive year. We successfully recorded a good win and it was pleasing to see some good football on display from ourselves and on numerous occassions were ripping up the Celtic defence as we pleased. Sorry for the lack of blogging recently i have been working on a new clothing site and it's taking up all my time recently (checkout shambooki.com). With that said I reckon we will bring in one or two faces on deadline day. I personally will be up all night watching the last minute deals come in and if we sign anyone i will be posting it up sraight away. Anyway enjoy the goals.

Arsenal vs Portsmouth Highlights

Van der Vaart transfer still on? - VIDEO

It appears that the rumours of us being linked with a transfer for Rafael Van der Vaart won't go away. I think this is a good thing as he is a quality player and due to our luck of picking up loads of injuries we would be a good "experienced" addition to the squad. Apparently we are not the only club looking to snap him up as Liverpool and villa are among his other suitors. This deal if it happens will go to the wire and provide us fans with another roller coaster of emmotions come august 31st. In the meanwhile here's some video of him for you to enjoy.

Arsenal v Celtic Second half report

The second half definitely started better than the first and Van persie had a good chance to put the tie to bed already 2 minutes in but slotted wide. Another chance was put wide from Denilson soon after when his shot outside the bx flashed just wide of artur Boruc's far side.

The pressure piled on Celtic and they did become ragged allowing the game to open up in Arsenal favour. On the 53rd minute we had another good chance with Fabregas outside the box who only managed to flash his shot wide of the post, but arsenal started to control more of the play and started to look more and more dangerous with every attack. Nicklas Bendtner also had a glancing shot but he couldn't put it on target.

The tired legs started to show as the half waned on and as a result the game became more and more stretched which allowed us to see alot more of the ball than we did in the first half. Despite numerous buildups the game was starting to become a little sow and certain players looked tired. Wenger did freshen things up on the 69th minute with Diaby coming on for the ineffective Arshavin. The effect was immediate as Diaby opened up his legs towards the Celtic box and found Clichy who's low driven cross was inadvertently put in his own net by Caldwell. The script seemed to be going the right way and surely the two away goals was enough to see Arsenal through.
Suprisingly we had scored two goals that were not typical of us which is a good thing. Last season we tried to score the perfect goal but bring on the dirty ones, I hope we don't use up all the dirty goal quota too soon though.

Arsenal v Celtic First Half upate

Tonight we started our first game against Celtic in the champions league qualifiers with £20m at stake for both teams progression to the group rounds. The Arsenal team that started was not different to that which demolished Everton at Goodison park on saturday.

Manuel Almunia
Bacary Sagna
Thomas Vermaelen
William Gallas
Gael Clichy
Denilson
Alex Song
Cesc Fabregas
Andrey Arshavin
Robin Van Persie
Nicklas Bendtner


Subs: Vito Mannone
Abou Diaby
Eduardo
Aaron Ramsey
Mikael Silvestre
Emmanuel Eboue
Kieran Gibbs

The start was as to be expected as both teams came out and tried to play good possesion football and each had a number of half chances within the first ten minutes. One the 11th minute Arsenal looked to have scored the opener with Arshavin but he was deemed to be offside . The game still was at a lull until the 18th minute where a a van persie foul was not given and this seemed to liven up the game on the physical side. Celtic still pressed and caused problems for the defence but new recruit Thomas vermaelen was on hand to spurn the majority of Celtic chances.

The teams were locked together at most points during the first 30 minutes and both seemded to give little chance to the other of scoring. Arsenal did look the more likely of the two to score however and they continued to press the Celtic defence with Alex Song defending well as the defensive midfielder blocking the counterattacks. One criticism I would say of the team at half time was that we did have a lot of loose passing around the field and on another day some of those could have been converted to goal chances. The pressure was piling on Celtic but they were the next ones to have their shot at breaking the deadlock on the 40th minute but Almunia was on hand to make sure it wasn't going in. Arsenal However broke from the resulting chance and a Rifled Fabregas free kick got a deflection of Gallas' back and bent into the bottom corner. That was the last real instance of the first half and Arsenal did well to get an away goal.

Arsene Wenger Pre Celtic interview - VIDEO

Sorry for the lack of posting the last few days, i have been busy on some other projects and nothing has really happened recently so thought there was no need anyway. We're playing Celtic tonight and i'm really excited so until then here's Arsene talking up our chances, enjoy.

Arsenal 6 Everton 1 VIDEO highlights

Here are the goals from today's thuming of everton, enjoy.

Arsenal 6 vs 1 everton Full time report

Arsenal wasted no time adding to everton's misery in the first half when the gooners added a fourth only 2mins and 15 seconds after the whistle. Captain Cesc Fabregas found himself on the end of a cutting Robin Van persie pass and slotted home to add to the ever expanding scoreline.

The game tempo seemed to slow down during the second half and Arsene Wenger made his first substitution of the season bringing on Eboue for an impressive Nicklas Bendtner. The change seemed to invorigate Arsenal again and a direct throw from Manuel Almunia found fabregas who ran most of the field and blasted his shot to the left of the Everton goal for his second and our 5th! I bet our critics will re-evaluate our title credentials after this performance. We had been brilliant in all positions today and especially our so called problem positions CB and DMF. Vermaelen today was quality and proved his aerial power by his debut goal in the first half, Song today was outstanding as well. He totally dominated the centre of the park and his passing, awareness and tackling were very impressive denying a host of everton chances all game.

Just as the game seemed to draw to a close, Arsenal were determined to add to the scoreline and they did on the 89th minute. Andrey Arshavin twisted his way in the everton box and as his shot hit the woodwork Eduardo had a tap in for his first goal in the premier league since his leg break. The cleansheet was not be added to the performance when Pienaar's saved shot from almunia bounced straight to Saha to tap in the consolation. What a performance and what a statement of intent for the other title hpefulls.

Arsenal v Everton Half time update

Hooray, it's the first game of the new season and today we have a good challenge in Everton. It's been an exciting time waiting for the new season and the late kickoff makes it even more anticipated. Anyway here was the opening lineup of the season.

Manuel Almunia
Bacary Sagna
William Gallas
Thomas Vermaelen
Gael Clichy
Alex Song
Denilson
Cesc Fabregas
Andrey Arshavin
Nicklas Bendtner
Robin Van Persie

Subs: Eduardo
Aaron Ramsey
Mikael Silvestre
Vito Mannone
Emmanuel Eboue
Kieran Gibbs
Fran Merida


The opening game was not as explosive as may have been thought between two very competitive teams both looking for an opening day win to kickstart the new campaign. The opening minutes were pretty uneventful with both teams having moments of possession. The deadlock was broken emphatically on the 26th when Bendtner's good work at the edge of the box setup Denilson to curl a perfect shot into the the top corner of Howard's goal. Everton did threaten however, and on the 33rd minute Denilson came to the rescue again from an Everton freekick to clear a Fellaini header of the line. Arsenal did ride the pressure and added a second on the 37th minute with Thomas Vermaelen latching on to a beautifully lofted free kick with a towering header into the box to getting a memorable debut goal.
Arsenal were rampant after the second goal and the third was added on the 40minute mark. Another freekick opportunity outside the box allowed fabregas to find Gallas in the box who cooly headed past Howard to complete a first half destruction of Everton. (Who said we can't do set plays?)

If we keep the three goal advantage we will finish top of the league from day one!

Van der Vaart could join arsenal on free transfer

Real Madrid outcast Rafael van der vaart has been tipped to be available on a free transfer. Due to the spanish giants spending spree this summer it has been made apparent that he is not in their future plans and to compound the fact he was not even given a squad number this season.

Despite only having 32 appearances for Madrid, FIFPro lawyer Wil van Megen reckons Van der Vaart should be available for nothing.

"'It's obvious that Real is not planning to let Van der Vaart play and does not want to make use of his services anymore. He even did not get a player's number for the new season. In such a case they should let him walk away for free," Van Megen said in the Daily Mail.

"Apparently he's worth nothing to them, so why should they ask a transfer fee? FIFA and the clubs always talk about players who should respect their contracts. But in this case Real is the one who is not respecting the contract.

"They have just written Van der Vaart off by refusing him to be a part of the team.

"In my opinion by acting in this way Real has lost the right to demand a transfer fee for this player."

He makes a great point and I think he will definitely leave soon but will he go to us? We have been linked with him in the past and think a dutch connection with RVP can't be a bad thing. With the list of injuries adding up perhaps the free transfer option will force Wenger's hand and bring him in?

Oh and i thought alot of you would be interested that he does have an absolutely gorgeous wife and seeing her in the stands at the emirates would certainly bring a smile to people's faces whatever the result.

Wenger turns to Neven Subotic transfer?

Reports are circulating that Arsene Wenger has renewed his interest in the 20 year old serbian, Neven Subotic. Currently playing in the german league with Borussia Dortmund the 6ft 4in Centre Back has been touted as the next addition to Wenger's squad this season. With Fulham apparently setting Brede Hangeland's price to £15m I reckon Wenger will cease his interest and perhaps Subotic is the ideal replacement and cheaper!

I must admit I don't know anything about him really except his height is exactly what we need. Have any of you seen or heard anything about him?

Arsenal target Chamakh scores VIDEO

The name Marouane Chamakh just won't go away, so i've decided to give in a do another post on him this time we can see him score for bordeaux. It looks increasingly likely he may join so would be an advantage to see what he's got.

Arsenal 0 - 2 Valencia VIDEO Highlights

Arsenal suffered their first defeat of Preseason tonight as they were outclassed by David Villa and Valencia. In a weird way I'm happy because now i think Wenger will definitely buy. I reckon if we had won or scored alot of goals he may have been more hesitant to add to the squad, Vieira for one i hope will come home.

Arsenal to face Celtic in champions league playoff

In today's draw for the champions league qualifying rounds we were drawn against Celtic. I'm personally pretty happy with it but I think they do have a chance of doing damage against us (especially in the away leg) if we are sloppy in defence. Despite getting Celtic, I must admit that drawing one of the other teams in the draw such as FC Sheriff or APOEL FC would have been entertaining especially FC Sheriff what a name LOL

What's taking Wenger so long?

Arsenal in my opinion today missed out on a good signing in Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Despite the people who say we don't need a striker because Wenger will be using a 4-3-3 formation next season,that is not a reason not to buy him. Firstly, even though I was glad to see the back of Adebayor, the fact still remains that he added to the teams goal tally and we may be a few goals short as a result. Of course we do have other attacking options in Walcott, Arshavin Van Persie etc but a player of Huntelaar's goal scoring ability alone would add some double figures to the season's tally. I'm going to be really interested to see how Huntelaar does at AC, and i will be gutted if he has a stormer.

Anyway back to the point, why is Arsene Wenger taking so long with the summer transfers? Firstly don't get me wrong I know we don't have the ability to compete financially with other teams but we should send an example with our transfer policy, which we don't. I find it embarrassing that teams like sunderland and the spuds seem to have more ambition than us in the league. Wenger was quoted as saying he wasn't the man to put the club in debt but come on, don't insult our intelligence you don't have to buy £25m plus players all the time but show some grit on the players were fighting for. The main problem I have with our transfer policy above all other things is not wenger's miserly actions but the drawn out affair that always ensues. This fact has cost us in the past and even recently, look at Xavi Alonso's transfer to Madrid, last season we only had to cough up £15m to take him but now he's worth £30m. I'm not implying Alonso would have magically transformed the team but he definitley would have helped.

On a positive note though I do believe despite all wenger's miserly reputations this season he may suprise us. Arsene seems different then he has been in recent seasons and I think last season's pressure's and criticisms could be the reason for his change of policy. The fact that Arsene had stated that he "could" break his policy to sign Vieira or publicly admitting that we lacked aspects of our game was unusual for Wenger.

To wrap it up, today we have once again been linked with Brede Hangeland but the difference this time is that Wenger has stated his interest in Hangeland publicy. This is counter to Arsene's policy of complete privacy with regard to transfers, you just have to look at all the undisclosed transfer fee's there are to see that he takes it seriously. Could this be a Wenger smokescreen for another player or has Wenger changed his stance on getting the players he wants and perhaps he has been playing possum the whole time and will make us happy!

Cesc Fabregas not for sale - Wood

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood insists Cesc Fabregas will not be leaving the club after the Gunners captain was linked with AC Milan.

Following the departures of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City, reports had claimed that Fabregas could be the next big name to leave Emirates Stadium.

Italian giants Milan were rumoured to be planning a �30million bid for the Spain international, who is under contract to Arsenal until 2014.

However, Hill-Wood has ruled out selling the 22-year-old and is confident Fabregas does not want to leave the Premier League club.

Hill-Wood said: "There is absolutely no chance of us selling Cesc and all this talk is just fabrication.

"This sort of thing crops up from time to time and it is something we are perfectly used to. Cesc is happy at Arsenal, as far as I am aware."

Arsenal have only signed Thomas Vermaelen over the summer, but Hill-Wood says manager Arsene Wenger can have money to spend on further additions.

He added: "We are pretty happy with the players we have got.

"Everyone says we've got a very small squad, but we played a lot of youngsters in the Emirates Cup and not one of them looked out of place.

"Arsene is talking about adding one or two to the squad and there is a certain amount of money he has to spend.

"If Arsene wanted to buy a decent player he could, as long as the figure was not ridiculous."

Skysports

Wenger ends Chamakh transfer, Phew

Arsene Wenger has stated that Marouane Chamakh's potential transfer to Arsenal is effectively dead. Wenger had made a bid of £6m for Chamakh but Bordeaux have valued the player at £15m which Wenger sees as a deal breaker. Arsene also made the point that Chamakh's contract is near to expiring,

"In five months, if he doesn't prolong his contract, Chamakh will be free to talk to any club and Bordeaux won't get anything,"

And also is it just me but didn't i hear that when we were originally linked with Chamakh (I'm so fed up of spelling his name) had a buyout clause of around the 5-7m mark? Anyway, I won't be shedding any tears over Wenger's decision and hope his other statements leads the way for a better option to come to the club.

"My offer seems fair to me. Chamakh would be good, but there are other options should we wish to pursue them."

I really, really hope it's Huntelaar, as his goalscoring record is phenomenal alone and if he even halved ratio in half for a first season in england would be great!

Of course there are other options we've been linked with that would also do a great job but what do who do you think would be the best?

Anyway I'm rambling so i'll wrap it up quickly. This is the first "proper" post you could say so i'd love feedback from you guys. Cheers

Senderos transfer looking likely

Everton have confirmed they are in talks with Arsenal over the £6 million signing of Swiss international centre-back Philippe Senderos as they begin to prepare for life without Joleon Lescott.

The Goodison Park club’s chairman, Bill Kenwright, this morning revealed talks are “ongoing” between the two clubs, though contrary to reports in Switzerland, “nothing has been concluded”.

Senderos, who spent last year on loan at AC Milan, is surplus to requirements at the Emirates after the arrival of the Belgian international Thomas Vermaelen and thanks to the emergence of John Djourou.

Senderos would be a direct replacement for Lescott, who yesterday informed manager David Moyes of his desire to move to Manchester City.

The player is expected to write to Kenwright this week to explain his reasons for wishing to bring his three-year spell on Merseyside to an end, though he has, so far, stopped short of handing in a formal transfer request.

Lescott may be forced to do so, though, thanks to Moyes’s unwillingness to part with a player who has developed from a Championship-level hopeful to England international regular under his guidance.

It is believed Moyes informed the player yesterday that he would not be allowed to leave.

City, who have already had two bids, worth £15 million and £18 million, turned down by Everton, will wait until the player has formalised his intentions before returning with a third bid.

Sources at Eastlands have confirmed that Mark Hughes’s interest in the player is “still alive” but admit they are waiting to see how the dispute between player and club resolves itself before acting.

Should Everton refuse to allow Lescott his move, Hughes is likely to switch his attentions to Roma defender Philippe Mexes or Chelsea’s Brazilian international centre-back Alex.

Moyes, though, may find the prospect of around £22 million, the amount City are prepared to offer, too good to turn down for a player who wishes to leave.

As well as Senderos, the Scot has been offered the versatile Toulouse defender Albin Ebondo and is thought to be tracking Standard Liege midfielder Steven Defour - a target for Real Madrid and Liverpool - as well as Swedish U21 international Rasmus Elm.

Sourec: Telegraph

Samir Nasri confident of injury return

Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri is confident he will fully recover from a broken bone in his right leg.
Nasri was injured in a training ground accident on July 21, when he clashed with France and Arsenal teammate Abou Diaby while attempting to make a tackle.

"I am happy that it is just a fractured fibula. And it is better that it happened now rather than right in the middle of the season," Nasri told Monday's edition of sports daily L'Equipe.

"So it is just a case of being patient ... I have three weeks of immobility remaining before starting my physiotherapy in early September."

The 22-year-old Nasri was signed from Marseille last summer. He scored on his debut against West Bromwich Albion last season. He scored a total of seven goals in 44 appearances.

Foxsports

Chamakh in england for arsenal transfer?

Skysports.com understands that Arsenal and Sunderland target Marouane Chamakh is in London.

The Moroccan international has been left fuming by Bordeaux's decision to reject bids from the Premier League duo.

Sunderland's offer was understood to have matched or been very close to Bordeaux's valuation of the player, but their coach Laurent Blanc stated he was too good to join the North East club.

Now Arsenal have come in for the 25-year-old - but their bid has been rejected.

Arsenal are understood to have offered just £5million, an offer president Jean-Louis Triaud has branded 'ridiculous' as the club are believed to be looking for at least double that figure.

But now events have taken a fresh turn as Chamakh missed Bordeaux's clash with Villarreal on Sunday.

Blanc confirmed he was informed by the player he could not play, saying: "I received a phone call on Saturday evening. He told me he was sick and I am forced to believe it."

Despite Chamakh missing the match, it now transpires he is in England as he looks to try and push through a move to the Premier League.

And Chamakh shows no signs of relenting over his stance as he launched a fresh attack on Bordeaux.

"I am angry, I am disgusted and I do not understand why they have done that," he told L'Equipe when asked about Arsenal's offer being rejected.

"One thing is certain, I will not be signing a new contract - if they will not let me go now, I will leave for free.

"If a solution cannot be found quickly, everyone will lose. Frankly I really do not want to start the season with Bordeaux."

Chamakh is infuriated that neither Sunderland or Arsenal can agree terms with Bordeaux.

"Already I am told that Sunderland is not the club for me," he continued.

"But since when does a club chose the future of a player? Then my bosses tell me they will let me go to one of the 'Big Four' like Arsenal.

"And then when an offer comes in, it is refused because they want a bigger fee as I have one-year left on my contract.

"Everything is being done to prevent my move, I do not understand given how much service I have given to Bordeaux."

Source: Skysports

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I will be making a badge in the future but either use the above link or Click on the banner at the bottom of the homepage, Happy Shopping.

Arsenal vs Rangers Full time Report

There was only two changes coming at the beginning of the second half with both being in defence, with Denilson and Traore replacing Gallas and Clichy.

Unlike the start, the second half lacked the speed and effectiveness that was displayed at the opening of the game as Arsenal were contained to half chances. This stayed the same until Arsene Wenger made more changes to try and reinvigorate the Arsenal team. Goalscorer Eduardo was replaced by youth prospect Sanchez Watt and Nicklas Bendtner made his first appearence in the game at the expense of the briliant Andrei Arshavin. The substitutes seemd to be working well and the attcking pressure paid off when Aaron Ramsey dinked a beautiful pass to Jack Wilshere who cooly blasted the ball in the top corner for his second of the game.

Immediately after the goal Wenger made further chances by introducing Tomas Rosicky for captain Cesc Fabregas on the 73rd minute. Wilshere had a chance to make get his Hat trick but was rewarded with the Man of the Match award two days in a row helping the gooners lift the emirates cup for the 2nd time in 3 years.

Arsenal vs Rangers Half Time update

Arsenal started their last Emirates cup game this year in the knowledge that a draw against Rangers would be enough to lift the Emirates cup, but a win for Rangers would send the trophy to Scotland. Today's Starting 11 was:

Almunia
Eboue
Gallas
Silvestre
Clichy
Wilshere
Fabregas
Song
Arshavin
Merida
Eduardo




Subs:

Bacary Sagna
Tomas Rosicky
Robin Van Persie
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Johan Djourou
Nicklas Bendtner
Armand Traore
Sanchez Watt
Wojciech Szczesny

Arsenal had an amazing start today already scoring in the second minute. A well placed ball in the box from Fabregas allowed Arshavin to flick back his pass to the path of Jack Wilshere who added his first goal of this year's pre season campaign setting arsenal off to a flyer. The pressure was too much for Rangers to handle and yet again they were punished by Arsenal's fluency in attack. Fran Merida found himself in alot of space in the middle of the park and slid a perfect pass to Eduardo at the edge of the box who sidefooted a beautiful shot to the left side of the Rangers goal.
The half was mostly dominated by the gooners after the two goal lead but Rangers looked to threaten from a number of set pieces that Arsenal struggled to deal with. Wilshere again had a chance to add his tally on the 40 minute mark with a cheeky chip that could only be tipped over the bar from Mcgregor. Arsenla will be very happy at the break.

Arsenal vs Athletico Madrid Full Time update

Arsenal didn't make as many substitutions as predicted at half time with Arsene Wenger introducing Jack Wilshere, Fran Merida and the only senior substitute Gael Clichy for the second half lineup.

Unlike the end of the first half, Arsenal started the half very brightly and dominated with their counterattacking prowess but couldn't get past the very impressive Asenjo saving clear goal chances from both Aaron Ramsey and Merida. The lack of finished product forced Arsene Wenger to introduce his three big guns on 66 minutes Arshavin, Fabregas and Eduardo.
The game started to slow down near the end with Jack Wilshere probably the most threatening of the Arsenal players to try and make a breakthrough, twice jinking his way through the Valencia box only for his end product to be blocked.

Shortly afterwards though it was Valencia that almost scored when Mannone made a meal of a Maxi Rodriguez shot which he almost palmed into the goal from his inital block. The deadlock was soon to be broken when Andrei Arshavin got on the end of a Cesc Fabregas chip in the box which he volleyed in the bottom left corner of Asenjo's goal. The celebrations caught Arsenal out and almost instantly Athletico equalised when German Pacheco intercepted a poor pass to slot cooly past Mannone.

At this time it looked like Arsenal would only scrape a draw but Andrei Arshavin made sure that wouldn't happen. On the 90 minute mark He latched onto a short back header, skipped past the keeper and slid the ball home from a ridiculously tight angle to win the game 2-1.

Arsenal vs Athletico Madrid Half time update

Arsenal Faced Athletico today in their first game of this years Emirates Cup. Arsenal's starting lineup was as follows:

Vito Mannone
Bacary Sagna
William Gallas
Johan Djourou
Emmanuel Eboue
Tomas Rosicky
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Armand Traore
Robin Van Persie
Nicklas Bendtner

Subs:
Cesc Fabregas
Eduardo
Alex Song
Mikael Silvestre
Jack Wilshere
Gael Clichy
Andrey Arshavin
Sanchez Watt
Fran Merida
Wojciech Szczesny




Today's game saw the introduction of what looked very strong Arsenal and Athletico sides. Arsenal started with the possible new season front pairing of Van Persie and Bendtner to lead the attack and also the inclusion of Tomas Rosicky was a major boost to the side shaking off reports he had injured himself again. Most notably for the Athletico team was the return of spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes' first return to Arsenal to which he was booed every time he touched the ball. It was Athletico however, who had the best of the opening chances in the game with Sergio Aguero only being able to header on the post when the ball dropped to him in the arsenal box. Arsenal had few guilt edge chances except for a Rosicky goal that was disallowed for a correct offside ruling. The game's pace started to slow down towards the end of the first half until Robin Van Persie found the pass to Eboue who had his shot saved well by new athletico keeper Sergio Asenjo.

Samir Nasri injury Video

Here's video footage of Samir Nasri's broken leg. You can see that the donkey Diaby catches him with a bad challenge nd he instantly hits the ground.

vieira arsenal transfer a possibility says wenger VIDEO

Arsene Wenger has refused to rule out a move for former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira.

The lack of experience in Wenger's squad has become a talking point in recent times, particularly since the departures of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City.

Vieira left the club four years ago, joining Juventus and later Inter Milan, but he has been linked with a move back to the Premier League after an injury-plagued 2008/9 campaign.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has made no secret of his interest in the Frenchman but Wenger believes he would only want to play for one team if he returned to England.

A pay-as-you-pay deal has been mooted and Wenger has now admitted that he will have to seriously consider the matter.

"There is a football decision and there is a psychological impact on a player of that stature that could come in," said the Gunners boss.

"But at the moment we need to look at the level of experience in your squad to make this kind of decision.

"We are nowhere near to making a decision like that, but it is a possibility.

"We do not rule it out and we do not say we will do it - and that is my decision at the moment."








Wenger remains in regular contact with Vieira and is aware that he experienced a difficult season with Inter.

"I speak to Patrick, I speak to many players who have been here because I keep good connections with them," he explained.

"He has gone through a difficult period as well in the last season. I am aware that he wants to come here.

"I think Patrick is a legend here and he would always like to come back to this club. That would be his first choice.

"With emotion you always like the club you spent time (with).

"But as a professional as well, you always give 100 per cent for whichever club you sign for."

However, Wenger insisted: "Our focus should not be who can help us from outside, but who can help us from inside.

"We need a strong start and it is important that we do not dream too much and win our games in pre-season."

Source: Skysports