Just Arsenal News

When Gervinho returned from the African Cup of Nations in early February, many Arsenal fans expected to see him back in the side for the Gunners fairly soon. After scoring four goals for the Ivory Coasy while away, and impressing with his all-round performances, it seemed the perfect time to give him another chance with the Gunners.

However, after an uninspiring showing in the FA cup exit to Blackburn Rovers in mid February, the Ivorian did not play again until Wenger brought him on as a substitute in the second leg against Bayern Munich four weeks later. The extra time off certainly appears to have helped though, and Wenger believes that the African trips have hindered his progress as a Gunner. The boss has clearly been working hard on improving his forward’s end product and has maybe found the key to making him the player we all want to see. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal right back Carl Jenkinson has pledged his international career to England, despite having appeared for Finland at under 19 and under 21 levels. He is waiting for FIFA clearance, but he could have a long wait if the case of Emmanuel Frimpong is anything to go by.

20-year old Frimpong played for England at under 16 and under 17 level, but decided to pledge his future to the Ghana national team. He made his mind up back in 2009, when he said this.

“No matter what, I will always play for Ghana because, at the end of the day, from what I believe, I am a Ghanaian.” .......Read the full article here

Arsenal are one of a number of Premier league teams who are looking at the Crystal Palace youngster Wilfried Zaha. The 19-year old is also attracting interest from Chelsea and Tottenham, but Palace are either trying to put off buyers or seeking alot more money than he is currently worth, stating that around £20 million is the price tag for a player untried in the top division.

Arsenal are reportedly planning an opening offer of around £9 million in January, but if Palace are going to hold out for double that, the Gunners may switch their focus to a player who has already proved his worth in the Premier league, Adel Taarabt of QPR, according to the Daily Mail. .......Read the full article here

Marouane Chamakh thought that he could get his Arsenal career back on track this season, following the sale of Robin van Persie to Manchester United, but the Moroccan international has only played in the two Capital One cup games so far. The striker has told French radio RMC that he will make a decision about his future in January, and that will be largely dependent on his playing opportunities between now and then.

“After Robin van Persie left, I thought I’d play more. The competition is always a little hard in a club like that. I expected it. It’s up to me to prove myself. But in two, three months, if nothing changes, I must make a decision. .......Read the full article here

While most Arsenal players were in action in the World Cup Qualifiers this week, there was also the small matter of the Qualifying rounds for the African Nations Cup going on in the African continent.

We all know that Gervinho’s Ivory Coast team didn’t even get to the end of the match thanks to the rioting Senegal fans, but it seems certain that the result will stand and the Ivorians will be confirmed participants in January’s competition. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong made his decision to play for Ghana instead of England some time ago, but his international debut has been delayed due to his few injury problems, but also because Ghana need to get clearance from the British football authorities proving that he hasn’t made himself ineligible in any way.

The Director of Communications of the Ghana Football Association, Mr Ibrahim Saanie Daara, has made it clear that it is now only a matter of time before he gets to play his first game for the Black Stars, despite playing for England at U16 and U17 levels, and his first call-up could be for the African Cup of Nations in January. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has hinted that the Ivory Coast international Gervinho will be playing for Arsenal against Sunderland today, and thinks that game-time is the only thing that could help the mis-firing striker get over the disappointment of missing the crucial penalty that gifted the AFCON trophy to Zambia.

Wenger said: “He was very down when I spoke with him on Monday, now he is better and hopefully he can contribute on Saturday,”

“We don’t know what impact the Africa Cup of Nations will have. I see Yaya Toure played on Thursday night for Manchester City and sometimes the best thing to get things out of your system is to play a game and have a performance. .......Read the full article here