Just Arsenal News

It is absolutely brilliant that Arsenal are being linked with some top, top, top players for a change, and if this report in the Spanish media is true then it means that Arsene Wenger really is buying players that will improve the team!

Sport.es confidently report that the Gunners have signed a pre-contract with the Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain and will pay 22 million euros to the Spanish giants, and we apparently nabbed him from under the noses of our arch-rivals Tottenham.

They say he will sign a five-year contract with Arsenal, but of course the agreement will become invalid if Arsenal fail to make the Top Four in the Premiership and (heaven forbid) he could end up going to the Spuds instead! .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have a big run of games ahead as the chase for the Champions League places hots up. We face QPR today, Wigan on Tuesday week, and then the nail-biting away game at Newcastle on the last day of the season. All of these are very winnable games, with Wigan having only won two of their last six games, Newcastle have won just once and today’s opponents QPR are winless in their last six.

So Wenger has given a simplistic summing up of the situation by saying that Arsenal only have to win all three to ensure their place in the Champions League next season. Wenger said: “If we win all of our games we will have 73 points. If we’re not in the Champions League with 73 points, it’s unlikely – and if it happens then at least you have done your job,” .......Read the full article here

Arsenal soon to be a non-top 4 team? Don’t count on it by Matt

Today Arsenal faces their biggest challenge for the remainder of the season in a game that could decide their Champions League fate. For years now pundits have predicted that Arsenal were soon to be a non-top 4 team. That their decline was inevitable and that they would have to make way for one of the up and comers like Manchester City.

I remember predictions from as long ago as 2008 that Arsenal’s best days were behind them and that they would be the first of the Grand Slam “top 4 teams” to drop out and start regularly landing outside the top 4. .......Read the full article here

The internet was buzzing yesterday, with lots of Arsenal websites and blogs running the story suggesting that the deal to bring Stevan Jovetic to Arsenal had been agreed between Fiorentina and the Gunners, while personal terms with the Montenegrin striker had also been sorted out. The only thing holding back the announcement, according to the rumours, was the wishes of the Serie A club and it’s manager. Apparently, Vincenzo Montella was worried about the news unsettling his players and the fans as they push hard for a finish that will see them qualify for the Champions League next season. .......Read the full article here

Only Thirty Eight games will prove who’s best between Arsenal and Tottenham by GP

Dear Gooners, Although I have been very critical of our manager and team this season, I would like to offer you all words of encouragement.

The only thing that makes this defeat worse is the opposition.

Arsenal have lost to better and worse teams than them this season. No need to name them all but the one consistent factor is that our defence or lack of it has cost us every time. It only takes one player in a defence to switch off to concede and we do this consistently as a unit. .......Read the full article here

Lukas Podolski knows how big the North London derby is for the Arsenal fans on Sunday, but he doesn’t think that the result will finally decide which teams go into the Champions League next season. He knows that playing away at a Top Four team is never going to be easy, but, as he points out, there is still a long way to go in this League campaign….

“They are a very good team, very strong and they are third in the Premier League,” Poldi said on Arsenal.com. “I like derbies, it will be a tough match but we want the three points and we have the quality to win there. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has been charged with getting Arsenal into the Champions League places every season, and the position has now been renamed as “The Wenger Cup”. Last season the Gunners just scraped into the Champions League, but now for the first time in 16 years it looks like this position could be in serious danger of slipping away from him.

The facile defeats to both Bradford and Blackburn in the two domestic Cups has left Arsenal fans bewildered by what is going on behind the seasons. In past years, even though Wenger regularly sold his best players, he still managed to motivate the remaining squad to excel during the season, but this motivating force seems to have deserted him and it could be that the once-great manager may resign at the end of eight trophyless seasons. .......Read the full article here

March is crunch time for Arsenal by JG

It is strange, but always the case, that there are certain parts of the season that are crucial, not only for the teams at the bottom trying to stay in the premier League, but also for teams trying to win the league.

This year it is also the case for us, trying to get third or fourth place. March is our time when we cannot drop points. We have five games in this month, home to Spurs, away to Everton, who seem to be falling away at last, and the return leg in Germany. We then have two easier games, away to Swansea and home to Reading. In my opinion we must take full points from the league games to achieve Champions League qualification. However in between the two games Swansea and Reading, is international week, and we could have had a much harder fixture than Reading at home after this midweek chaos. .......Read the full article here

Now we all know that Jack Wilshere is Arsenal through-and-through, but could he really be serious that he believes that Arsenal can still win the title, despite being 18 points behind Man United in eighth place right now, in fact we are only nine points above the relegation places!

The Gunners have won just two of their last seven games, and were knocked out of the League Cup by lowly Bradford last week, but Jack is still using the word “realistically” whereas “extremely hopefully” would be more accurate!

“We can still realistically win everything we are in. I know we are a long way behind in the Premier League but football changes quickly,” Wilshere said. .......Read the full article here

Champions League? by GP

I want to point out that, although Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League again, there is something that continues to anger me.

The question I have for Mr Wenger is how many times have we really threatened to go all the way apart from 2006 and 2009?

Every season we have a situation where we can win the group thereby making the next draw easier on paper. Despite that, Wenger continues to go into these games with weakened teams which result in defeat and a tougher draw for the next round. .......Read the full article here

The ex-Gunners manager George Graham is upset that Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal board refuse to go that extra mile to actually win a real trophy rather than just aiming to qualify for the Champions League, and even then don’t expect to get past the quarter-finals!

Arsenal are currently odds-on in the Premier League betting to finish in the top four, which may change if the Gunners fail to beat Spurs next weekend, but Graham thinks they should be aiming higher than that. “The problem with Arsenal is their objective is to finish in the top four rather than aiming to win the Premier League title,” Graham said. .......Read the full article here

Promoting Gnabry by KJ

The Walcott contract situation is dragging on now and even though I remain optimistic, we need to prepare ourselves for the worst. Walcott could potentially be sold in the January window, forcing Wenger to promote German wunderkind, Serge Gnabry.

He was bought from Stuttgart for about £100,000 in 2010. He was able to play during the 2011-2012 season for the club with the U-18s. Eventually, he was fast-tracked into the reserve side after massively impressing the staff at Arsenal football club. His ability was far beyond most at his age and deserved the dramatic step up after only a year at the club. .......Read the full article here