There seems to be something going on with Arsenal players right now where when they have something to say, they say it to the media rather than in private. The last to join that list is William Gallas, who first spoke about the attitude of some of the players: I think we need to be soldiers. [...] Click to continue reading...

As I was watching those final minutes of the match when it was still goalless, something inside told me that yesterday's match a key one. I was thinking about the points dropped by Manchester United and Chelsea and how important a win would have been for us. Today, I read that I wasn't the only [...] Click to continue reading...

The positive 1. After a long time, we finish the match without conceding goals and with everyone happy of the backline. 2. Gallas was superb, his response to the cigarette episode was all down to facts, not words. 3. Almunya. Another top performance yet again. 4. Adebayor. Back-to-back goals from him and it's nice to see him take chances, [. Click to continue reading...

A perfect weekend comes to an end. Manchester United failed to beat Everton, Chelsea lost at home and we have just secured three massively important points at Upton Park, a very tough nut to crack. The 2nd half featured more than 10 important things to mention, starting in the 48th minute when a Robin Van Persie [. Click to continue reading...

Line-ups Surprise change from Wenger for this afternoon's match away at West Ham, with Nicklas Bendtner replacing Emmanuel Adebayor as Gallas makes his backline return. This surely comes as a suprise, but why not Vela? Diaby, Toure and Sagna are all on the bench whilst Song moves in midfield, replacing Denilson, who finally gets some time [. Click to continue reading...

It's back to the Premiership after a second rampant Champions League win. The side-effects from the match against Porto were felt heavily as we could only manage a draw away at Sunderland so this time we'll be hoping for a different reaction from the lads. West Ham have had back-to-back disappointing defeats so Gianfranco's Zola [. Click to continue reading...

As much as I love Arsenal and the young side we have this season, yesterday's match leaves a bitter taste ahead of the future. With the exception of Denilson, in midfield(with Diaby's return), when we went forward and when we had to put it in, we were impeccable. But, and it's a big but, back [...] Click to continue reading...

The positive 1. We'll top this group and of course qualify for the next round. 2. Diaby is back, fully-fit and was one of the best today. 3. Almunya. I had doubts over him in the past but this season he's just been amazing so far. 4. Ramsey. Again, if Fabregas really decides to leave, he can be a [.. Click to continue reading...

It just doesn't happen that often that we win 2-5 away from home, in the Champions League, yet I write about concerns but unfortunately, the scoreline can't overshadow the vulnerability at the back. I don't think we'll ever see the Song-Silverstre duo again back there; if it wasn't for Almunya, I'm not sure if [. Click to continue reading...

Line-ups It's a cautious approach adopted by Arsene Wenger for the away match in Turkey. Van Persie is relegated to the bench with Diaby starting for a more protected midfield. It's also rumoured that Toure will be out of action for a month. Ferenbahce Volkan Demirel, Lugano, Roberto Carlos, Edu, Alex, Guiza, Selcuk Sahin, Semih Senturk, Ugur Boral, [. Click to continue reading...

Morning all. Just a few hours till match day 3 of the Champions League. Just a couple of things to run through this morning before the match.

First of all we do have some bad news regarding Kolo Toure, who will be out until November. He injured his shoulder against Everton and had to come off, and now he's going to miss at least two weeks. Click to continue reading...

Some articles out there are hilarious. A friend of mine just told me if it's true that Adebayor is leaving us to join his favourite team Juventus. I kindly asked where did he read that and provided me with a link. Now make no mistake, I would have sold Emmanuel last summer if I was [...] Click to continue reading...

Sunderland host Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in today's 3:00 kick-off looking to follow the example set by Hull City last weekend. The newly-promoted Tigers ripped up the formbook and made a mockery of the bookmakers who made them distant outsiders to take anything away from the Emirates Stadium as they left north London with [. Click to continue reading...

Sunderland host Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in today's 3:00 kick-off looking to follow the example set by Hull City last weekend. The newly-promoted Tigers ripped up the formbook and made a mockery of the bookmakers who made them distant outsiders to take anything away from the Emirates Stadium as they left north London with [. Click to continue reading...

Van Persie - Opened the scoring, set up nicely by Adebayor who broke the offside trap, collecting a pass from Cesc. Van Persie added a 2nd (Arsenal's 3rd) early in the 2nd half. Great finishing (8).

Adebayor - Had the assist for the winner. Scored a header from a corner, heading it into the ground, the ball bouncing off the underside of the crossbar and in. Click to continue reading...

Givanildo aka Hulk: Hulk Smash

My thesis is that the lack of inches on the Arsenal defense bemoaned by Wenger and Toure is a convenient excuse for the generally brain dead defending that sunk us so badly against Hull. In short we are freaked. Seriously, I hope this nonsense is not being internalized by the club players because it does not bode well.

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Its difficult swallowing losses to Fulham and now Hull. Especially after that wonderful mid week dismantling of Sheffield Utd at the hands of the youngsters.

Admittedly the goals that sunk the Gunners were top notch. Almunia, even if he had morphed into a giant octopus with flailing tentacles, would have had a tough time keeping Geovanni and Daniel Cousin from the back of the net.

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Ok so it's been a busy weekend and I haven't had a chance to post. I had to coach my team on Saturday, then go to the FSU-Colorado game, then Sunday I had the Jaguars-Texans game so I didn't get a chance to do a match preview. My bad. And maybe I'm bad luck because we lost...to Hull City...at home. Click to continue reading...

Its hurts to say but I think that Le Boss needs to drop Kolo Toure and bring Johan Djourou into the side.

It's obvious that the Toure-Gallas partnership isn't working. There is no doubt that both are superb defenders but as a pair they struggle.

Both need a dominant player alongside them. Click to continue reading...

I missed the game on Saturday.

For what it's worth, I have a pretty good excuse: my second son was born in the morning, and there's just no way I would have got away with scuttling off to watch us take on Hull in the afternoon. In the end, I have the little devil to thank for saving me from the purgatory of a home defeat to a team that only recently lost 5-0 at home to Wigan.

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It started promising for Arsenal; great passing football, a constant threat to score; but the first half ended goalless.

One of Theo Walcott's runs came off in the second half, and Cesc was there to tap it in, although it ended up being an own goal (it almost looked like Cesc got a touch). Click to continue reading...

Not quite a manifesto, but a brief statement voicing support for Arsenal's central defense against a rising tide of unanimity that it's flawed:

I like the Arsenal defense as it is. They've shown some vulnerability on set pieces, and Arsenal have been conceding a lot of chances so far in the league, although between poor finishing and Almunia's keeping they haven't conceded many goals; but I rate the four defenders (Clichy, Gallas, Toure, and Sagna) as individuals and as a back four. Click to continue reading...

Kolo Toure has branded Bolton's Kevin Davies a 'disgrace' after the striker's first-half lunge saw Gael Clichy rushed to hospital for scans on his shin. The French defender suffered no more than heavy bruising to his leg during the Gunners' 3-1 victory at the Reebok but Toure insisted such a challenge should be stamped out of [. Click to continue reading...

Johan Djourou has signed a new, long-term contract with Arsenal which will reportedly see him stay at the club until 2012. The 21-year-old Switzerland international centre-back joined the Gunners from Etoile Carouge in 2003. Born in the Ivory Coast but raised in Geneva, Djourou has made four appearances this season most recently coming off the bench to [. Click to continue reading...

Yes, it's hardly something to get overly excited about (although I love this kind of enthusiasm). But good times call for celebration, even through just five games of the season, as Arsenal sits on top, one point ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool. The biggest point of triumph is the elimination of the dropped points at Fulham.

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Morning all, hope this finds you as well as can be expected for a Monday morning. If I were the ruler of all the universe Monday mornings would be put back until Monday afternoon sometime, allowing people to ease into the week with much greater comfort. Sadly nobody voted for me so you're stuck with what you've got.

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Well, it's top of the league for Arsenal with a 3-1 win over Bolton.

Games up there are rarely dull and yesterday was no exception. We started brightly but found ourselves a goal behind early on as our central defensive weakness was exposed again. From a corner William Gallas stood watching as Kevin Davies ran off him, leaving Kolo Toure with two men to mark, and the Bolton man got to the ball first to head his side in the lead.

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Almunia – 8. He had a busy day, and he was in good form. It could have been an Arsenal loss if the keeper was shaky.

Adebayor – 8. The playmaking center forward had a great assist for the third, was involved in the first two, and involved in creating some other chances as well.

Bendtner –7. Click to continue reading...

The amber fluid was flowing in the land of ArseNews as a silky Arsenal side outclassed a tough Bolton outfit. Megson's Men took the lead in the 14th minute as Kevin Davies climbed above Kolo Toure to head in a Joey O'Brien corner. A lack of communication between Toure, William Gallas and Gael Clichy [. Click to continue reading...

Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboue have been handed starts by Arsene Wenger as the Gunners' take on Bolton later this evening. Dutch forward Robin van Persie has been dropped to the bench, while Theo Walcott is also replaced despite putting in a energetic performance against Dynamo Kiev during midweek. Click to continue reading...

Morning all. The match preview is a day early this time because I'm headed to Tallahassee tomorrow to watch Florida State beat Wake Forest. I'll be back Sunday and will hopefully get a match preview up then.

So we've got Bolton at the Reebok Stadium tomorrow. This used to be really a tricky fixture for us, although since Fat Sam left for Newcastle they haven't been the same. Click to continue reading...

Happy Friday to you and we'll start with the early team news ahead of tomorrow's game against Bolton.

We've got no new injuries from the Kiev game, despite the Ukrainians trying to obliterate Theo Walcott. I suspect Bolton too will attempt to terminate him but Theo's strong enough to cope. In fact, displaying heretofore unknown masochistic tendencies, he says:

It's a nice feeling when a defender is scared of you straight away.

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Good day folks. Thanks to my current unemployed status, I'll be following the match online (In Spanish) and bringing a blow by blow account of the action. Not sure how this will go, but feel free to leave thoughts in the comment section. Back soon with starting lineups.

Click below to read more:

Starting Lineups courtesy of BBC Sport:

Dynamo Kiev: Bogush, Betao, Diakhate, Mykhalyk, Nesmachniy, Vukojevic, Yussuf, Yeremenko, Aliev, Ninkovic, Bangoura.

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Arsenal, and especially Arsene Wenger, continue with their quest to win the UEFA Champions League and prove themselves as being one of the best teams in Europe. They qualified with ease against Twente, winning 6-0 on aggregate, and they will feel confident they can come out of this group and earn a place in the [. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal could launch a bid to sign Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure after the Ivory Coast international lost his place in Pep Guardiola's team, according to reports. The Daily Mail claims that the 25-year-old - brother of Gunners defender Kolo - is back on Arsene Wenger's hitlist as he is light in midfield following the departures of [. Click to continue reading...