With a Carling Cup clash at Manchester City swiftly followed by Premier and Champions League matches, Wenger will turn to a number of different players to see the Gunners through the busy festive period.

The Arsenal boss is well known for his youthful selections in the Carling Cup and despite coming up against high quality opposition this week, his policy is unlikely to change.

Speaking on the official club website, Wenger said:

“The Carling Cup is a competition that is not one of our priorities, but we go to Manchester City to win a game,”

“We’ll play our young players in the Carling Cup, and some of them will play in the Champions League [at Olympiacos next week] as well because we are already qualified.”

Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea has put even more pressure on Arsenal’s Premier League title odds and if they are to keep up with their London rivals, Wenger knows that they must get back to winning ways at the earliest possible opportunity.

He added:

“For us it is important to win in the Premier League [against Stoke] because we lost two games, and that of course is a massive disappointment. And two games for the first time we didn’t score. We are used to scoring goal after goal, but at the moment we aren’t scoring.”

The lack of goals may have a lot to do with the absence of Robin Van Persie, who could now miss the rest of the season after injuring an ankle while on international duty. Eduardo and Carlos Vela were both given the chance to impress against Chelsea but neither managed to breach the opposition defence.

Rather than spend money on a new striker in January, the perfect answer for Wenger, would be for a youngster, like Vela, to make a real impact on the first team in the coming weeks.

As the Arsenal manager said, prior to the Chelsea match:

“If you have to respect your budget, every mistake you make costs money and you have to be able to afford that.”

While Wenger could maybe afford one or two mistakes, the pot is certainly not limitless and promoting from within may just prove to be the more lucrative option both on and off the pitch.

In other sports news, the odds for the Cheltenham Gold Cup are tightening up, so it could be worth your while to keep your eye on them for future betting opportunities.

By Josh Allen

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Young guns set to be unleashed once again

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Young guns set to be unleashed once again

Despite the setback, Wenger says that the Hammers’ resurgence was not down to his players underestimating their opponents.

“It is not complacency” said the Frenchman after the match.

“We just have to continue to play in a rigorous way, respect the game we love. That is what we forgot sometimes and we have paid for it. We play at top quality and at the moment we do not get rewarded for what we produce.”

This was the second successive game in which Arsenal threw away a lead, after they were pegged back by Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in midweek.

Wenger expressed disappointment at that result but seemed more concerned by the unnecessary nature of Sunday’s draw.

“In the Champions League it can happen that you are 1-0 up and are caught on a free-kick in the last minute” he said. “Today it has not to happen. At 2-0 we lost the way we want to play the game. And when a team come back to 2-1 and you are away from home you are always under threat to go to 2-2.”

The result represented a missed opportunity for Arsenal, who could have moved to within a point of Manchester United, after the champions went down 2-0 at Liverpool. Wenger’s men now sit in third spot, three points behind United and five behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Wenger refutes complacency claim

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Wenger refutes complacency claim

The rule which is due to come in next season means that all Premier League clubs will have to name at least eight ‘home-grown’ players in a 25 man squad.

The term ‘home-grown’ has been defined as players under the age of 21 that have been trained in England or Wales.

The move aims to encourage youth development at English clubs but Wenger thinks that the rule is flawed.

In his pre-match press conference the Arsenal manager said: “I am not in favour of it and I said that many times,

“I feel that when you want to see the best players in the best league in the world, you have to be open. To accept competition – and we live for competition – it is not to accept artificial rules and that is why I am against it.”

The ruling has also been met with criticism by Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez who said: “It may now be difficult to maintain quality. The number of players is not the point, the quality is,”

With such a strong youth system, the move will not have an adverse effect on Arsenal, particularly as the ruling does not prevent clubs from signing young players from abroad. However it may pave the way for Sepp Blatter’s highly controversial 6 + 5 plan, which would limit all clubs to just five foreign players in their starting line up.

Fifa have endorsed the idea and Blatter hopes to impose it by the 2012/13 season but he will first have to prove that it is legal. The European Commission has already deemed it to be discriminatory and says that it will fall foul of European law.

With a huge amount of foreign talent at the club, Wenger will be hoping that the powers that be, go no further than their new quota and ruin Arsenals Premiership betting odds for the future.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

New quota rule deemed “artificial”

This post is from: Arsenal Online

New quota rule deemed “artificial”

Following the sales of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor, many predicted that Arsenal would have to spend big if they were to compete for trophies this season. However, the Gunners boss remained adamant that significant changes were not needed in order to improve their Premier League football odds and come the close of the transfer window, the Frenchman had stuck to his word by making just one major signing.

This lack of activity is testament to a talented young squad and Wenger will be hoping that his actions instil a sense of loyalty in his players, that the likes of Adebayor are sorely lacking. As Wenger has discovered in the past, a contract doesn’t always guarantee the future of a player but he will nevertheless be delighted to have tied two of his more prominent youngsters to long-term contracts.

Brazilian midfielder Denilson signed from Sao Paulo in 2006 and has been quick to establish himself in the first team. Last season he made more appearances for the club than any other player and the Arsenal boss has clearly been impressed with the impact made by the 21 year old.

“Denilson’s contribution to the club last season was outstanding. His work rate really was exceptional and it is valuable to have players that we know will perform to the very last minute in such a demanding league.” said Wenger.

Denmark international Nicklas Bendtner has also enjoyed his fair share of first team appearances and repaid his managers’ faith last season with 15 goals in 27 starts.

Wenger commented: “Nicklas has impressed me highly with his application and determination over the last season, you can see that he wants to compete at the highest level and win things with his team-mates. He scored a number of important goals for us last season and he will look to replicate that again this year.”

This post is from: Arsenal Online

New contracts for Bendtner and Denilson

This post is from: Arsenal Online

New contracts for Bendtner and Denilson

A few things to talk about today, with Arsenal set to face off against Manchester Utd tomorrow, the Champions League group stage draw and all this palaver about Eduardo getting charged for diving by UEFA.

Eduardo goes down

First off, having convinvingly thrashed Celtic over 2 (trailing) legs, Arsenal have been drawn in Group H for the Champions League group stage. Here’s the group :

Group H

Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Which is a group that you would really think Arsenal will top without any problems. First match is 15th/16th September and I can’t wait.

On to the main talking point of the last two days (and counting), Eduardo has now been officially charged by UEFA for ‘deceiving the referee’ during Arsenal’s one-sided pummeling of Celtic.

hoooo?...Tony Mowbray

In case you missed the match or any of the sewage coming out of the pipe in the last 48 hours, the media and hooooo else but owl-faced Celtic boss Tony Mowbray would have us all believe that Celtic were well in the game with Arsenal until Eduardo’s dubious penalty gave Arsenal the advantage.

Well no, it wasn’t like that. Celtic were out-played and outclassed and barely managed more than a tiny handful of shots on goal over the two games. Arsenal were in complete control throughout and would have surely scored sooner or later in the second leg, so it is hardly as if the penalty could be said to have had much effect on the outcome of the game. Also, because of the away goals rule Celtic required 3 goals to win before the penalty and 3 goals to win after the penalty.

However, The furore has been so intense that it has lead to UEFA, lead by chief idiot Platini, (who never, ever dived by the way) to charge Eduardo and launch an investigation into the incident.

I’m usually not one to voice the old claim that the media/establishment dislike and are unfair to the Arsenal, but this whole thing stinks of inconsistency. Arsenal (with the exception perhaps of Eboue) are one of the fairer teams in top flight football, and I would point you to the way Arshavin reacted to an unjust penalty last season as an illustration of this.

I’m not going to say it wasn’t a dive. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t, there was a little contact but not much and it’s not as if Eduardo hit the floor as if had been shot. Which clumsily brings me to my main point here – and that is that diving has been a part of football for a long time and there are certain players who are prone to do it extremely frequently, yet one Arsenal player possibly dives against a beloved Scottish underdog team and it sparks days of debate, calls for and eventual charges from UEFA?

How bizarre. I mean, Ronaldo never got banned for diving after the event did he? He spends nearly as much time rolling around on the floor in mock agony as he does under a sun-bed. What about Drogba, Gerrard, Rooney, Young, Babel e.t.c e.t.c e.t.c

One final point of idiocy to point out before I try to forget about this loads of Borucs for ever; How is it that if the referee spots you diving you get a yellow card but if he doesn’t, you can be liable to a 2 match ban for deceiving him? If you dive you’re trying to deceive him whether he spots it or not, right?

Whatever, I’m just looking forward to Arsenal stuffing the Mancs tomorrow – After all, they don’t have Ronaldo to roll around and win free-kicks and penalties for them anymore do they.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

What a load of Borucs, Eduardo charged by UEFA.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

What a load of Borucs, Eduardo charged by UEFA.

The aim of the process is to turn the Emirates into an Arsenal stronghold through the installation of a whole range of new effects including a ‘Highbury shrine’ and a signing wall for some of the legends of the club.

Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis told the official matchday programme that comments from the fans led to the idea of Arsenalisation:

“Listening to the fans, we were hearing a consistent message that, while Emirates is a superb modern stadium, they want us to make it more of a home.”

“Ultimately it’s our fans’ house, so we’ve listened to that and taken steps over the last few months to engage them in a process of discussion about what these ideas should be – and then to implement as many of them as we can early on in the new season.”

“We have been working hard on Arsenalisation for the last couple of months, and will be phasing changes in over the first two or three home games – and I think that’ll be quite exciting, because each time you come back to the stadium there’ll be something new to experience.”

Manager Arsene Wenger is behind the project but knows that the only way the Emirates will ever recapture the magic of Highbury, is if the club defeat the premier league football odds to recapture the same level of success.

He said:

“You want to transfer the history of the Club somewhere into the walls, and create a new history with the results,”

“At the moment we have maybe not achieved that, not outside or on the pitch. My job and that of the team is to create it.”

In their bid to make that all important history, Wenger’s team have got off to the best possible start to their Premiership title challenge this season with three wins out of three and 12 goals to boot. If the Gunners can keep up this sort of form, then the process of Arsenalisation could be completed way ahead of schedule.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Wenger says trophies are key as process of Arsenalisation begins

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Wenger says trophies are key as process of Arsenalisation begins

The Gunners will have been hoping for an easier play-off tie after being seeded for the draw but now face a ‘battle of Britain’ clash, just to make it past the qualifying stage.

The tie is crucial for Arsenal in both a football and financial sense; failure to win could be costly for a number of seasons to come. While the club may have money to spend at present, they also still have a new stadium to pay for and cannot afford a substantial gap in their income, courtesy of an early Champions League exit.

Teams competing in the group stages and beyond can earn up to £20million, in addition to £3million per game from television and match-day income. With a guaranteed minimum of six games for the play-off winners, it doesn’t take an accountant to spot the financial benefits of the competition and for teams that expect to qualify every year, the dangers.

With regards to Champions League betting, Arsenal will be favourites for the tie but face a Celtic side full of confidence after a historic 2-0 victory away to Dinamo Moscow. The Scottish runners-up had never previously won a European tie after losing the first leg at home but a late strike from former Manchester City striker Georgios Samaras saw them finally break their duck with a 2-1 aggregate win.

Speaking after the draw, Celtic first-team coach Mark Venus said:

“I think realistically it’s the draw that we probably wouldn’t have taken of the five teams, but we’ve got to look forward to it, enjoy it and relish it.”

“It’s going to be a great game, a great European night.”

He added:

“Arsenal are a talented bunch of footballers, a totally technical team, very patient in the build-up.

“I hope they’ll maybe underestimate us. This is a big club, we’ve got some good footballers, there will be a big crowd.”

The first leg is due to be played at Parkhead on the 18th of August, with the two teams heading to the Emirates the following week.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Celtic placed between Arsenal and a European pot of gold

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Celtic placed between Arsenal and a European pot of gold

The mini-tournament serves to highlight one of the many financial benefits of the new stadium and should give the club’s coffers a boost as Wenger finalises his squad for the 2009-10 season. While the club still has around £240million worth of debt that was incurred to fund the new stadium, events such as the Emirates Cup should ensure that in the long run Arsenal will be able to compete financially with the rest of Europe’s leading lights.

Arsenal are joined in this season’s event by Scottish champions Rangers, Athletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, with all four fixtures set to be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

The games are also expected to attract large crowds and Wenger believes it is a good opportunity to greet the fans ahead of the new season. Speaking to the club website he said: “I believe first of all it’s always the first gathering with our fans.

“I personally enjoy the two days immensely and it’s a good opportunity to see how far we are in our preparation and how fit our players are.

“I enjoy it because it’s always enjoyable games in a good climate without pressure. It’s the final firework of the preparation”.

In case you want to place an early football bet, the games will take place on the first two days of August and are scheduled as follows:

Saturday 1st August

Rangers v Paris Saint-Germain (2pm)

Arsenal v Athletico Madrid (4.15pm)

Sunday 2nd August

Athletico Madrid v Paris Saint-Germain (2pm)

Arsenal v Rangers (4.15pm)

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Emirates Cup To Ensure Pre-season Ends With A Bang

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Emirates Cup To Ensure Pre-season Ends With A Bang

There is no doubt that Barcelona’s free flowing possession football against Manchester United in Rome would have put a smile on Wenger’s face. At times this season Arsenal have been some way off the Catalans’ high standard and this needs to be rectified.

Seven of the eleven players who started the final in Rome for Barcelona were products of their academy. Arsenal won the FA Youth Cup in midweek with a comfortable victory over Liverpool. Therefore, we can be confident that within the next few years these players can develop into first team regulars.

This FA Youth Cup win is great news for all Arsenal fans as it shows they are still producing players with skill and possessing great potential. It is also music to the ears of England fans that players such as Jack Wilshere, Emmanuel Frimpong, Luke Ayling, Jay-Emmanuel Thomas and Henri Lansbury all starred in the dismantling of Liverpool.

Wenger has always been in favour of long term stability over short term success which can put a club in considerable debt. Looking through the Arsenal squad it is fair to say they are in a very comfortable position with many Arsenal fans believing they are only a couple of signings away from greatness again.

Looking through the Barcelona team, the main players that made them tick this season were Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and the magical Argentine Lionel Messi. These three players can hold possession under any circumstance and cut through opposition midfields and defences like a knife through warm butter.

They also have Samuel Eto’o up front who is clinical in front of goal. He proved this against Manchester United on Wednesday with a great finish against the run of play which all but killed off the game. A certain Thierry Henry on the left is also worth relying on to create and score the odd goal!

Comparing these players to the Arsenal squad does leave them a little short. However in Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri they have two players who could emulate the type of passing found in Barcelona’s central midfield. Andrei Arshavin next season can act as Arsenal’s Lionel Messi, Eduardo may be able to show the type of finishing expected from Eto’o.

If Wenger can get his team playing near the benchmark set by Barcelona next season, the Emirates faithful will enjoy the Premier League season very much.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Barcelona’s victory a breath of fresh air for Wenger

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Barcelona’s victory a breath of fresh air for Wenger

What does Wenger plan for the summer?

Media sources recently suggested that Wenger has met with Real Madrid’s presidential candidate Florentino Perez in recent weeks to discuss taking on a role at the Spanish club.  Wenger then stated that managing Real Madrid would be “an interesting project”.

This proposed meeting sent shock-waves through the current Arsenal board, but this was short lived and Gazidis was happy to hear Arsenal’s most successful manager commit his future to the club. He now sees no reason why Wenger will not honour out his contract which runs until 2011.

The Frenchman has grown increasingly concerned with the lack of support from a section of fans in recent weeks and this is part of the reason for the question marks over his future.

At an open shareholders question and answer time last week Wenger’s tactics, team selection and transfer policy were questioned by many angry supporters. The same fans referred to the failure to land a single trophy since 2005.

However, since Wenger has admitted his disappointment at the lack of support from many Arsenal followers, fan group ‘Redaction’ will use Sunday’s game at home to Stoke to remind Wenger they still have faith in him. He is the man that they want to take this club forward.

There was speculation could leave Arsenal

Another topic high on the agenda during the recent meeting was Arsenal’s transfer budget and targets. Their budget is rumoured to be a lot less than the £30million that executive director Danny Fiszman said was available last summer.

If Wenger wants money to spend, it is believed that he will have to sell to add more funds to his transfer kitty. With this in mind, one man who could leave this summer in return for a considerable sum of money is Emmanuel Adebayor. Interestingly, Adebayor seems to have been absent from an end of season party held for the Arsenal players on Thursday night.

The £7million signing from Monaco hasn’t rediscovered his form from the previous season and his commitment and passion for the Arsenal cause has been in question. If a deal were to be struck with AC Milan or Chelsea – who have both showed an interest in the past – the fee would be at least double what Arsenal paid back in 2006.

The central midfield and defence has also been in question this season and this could be an area that Wenger could strengthen with the Adebayor money.

Overall, Gazidis will be very happy coming out of this meeting with the confirmation from Wenger that he intends to see out his contract till 2011. Regardless of which players come in, this could end up being the most important signing of the summer.tw

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsene Wenger’s plans for next season

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsene Wenger’s plans for next season