Just Arsenal News

Arsene Wenger has got a number of selection decisions to make for Arsenal’s trip to Fulham tomorrow. These may be affected by the relative fitness of some of the players, but for the purposes of this article I am going to assume that, barring Diaby and Fabianski, there are no major injury concerns.

Assuming that Wenger does not have a radical change of heart, he will be playing a 4-3-3 formation, probably with Giroud in the middle and Cazorla or Podolski on the left. This leaves the position on the right of the big Frenchman, and there are three Gunners vying for a start in this role, Theo Walcott, Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal’s very own attacking enigma Gervinho, who can be brilliant on one day and an abject failure the next, has been talking about his childhood in the Ivory Coast and how football has changed his life.

Arsene Wenger has explained how importance confidence is to the Ivorian’s game and Gervinho himself has now showed his emotional side. He said on Arsenal.com: “I didn’t grow up in a good environment, I didn’t get everything I wished for – but I was fortunate enough to have certain things, parents who fought for me,” .......Read the full article here

Why is Podolski so underused? by AH

It’s coming up to a year now since we first started to hear of Podolski being in contact with Arsenal after his previous club FC Koln allowed us to talk to the German International, and we were all filled with excitement. As signings go, Arsenal doesn’t purchase many ‘big name’ players but Podolski was certainly one of these rarities. The news of his signing seemed as if we were going to some serious spending in the summer, to build on the talent that we already had. Little did we know that Van Persie was then going to unhinge the whole progress and arguably leave us with a much worsened team, despite the strengthening in Podolski’s signing. .......Read the full article here

After Lukas Podolski was left on the Arsenal bench after scoring against Bayern Munich there have been many rumours saying that there was some sort of rift with Arsene Wenger. Some people were saying that Podolski was injured but that was scuppered when he played 70 minutes for Germany a few weeks ago.

But Wenger finally took Podolski off the bench yesterday in place of the disappointing Gervinho, and he was instrumental in Arsenal’s last-gasp comeback against Norwich, and after the game Wenger made it clear that there was no problem between himself and the prolific German, who scored yet again in the dying seconds. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal 3 – 1 Norwich, the Gunners manage to somehow turn it around by KJ

This was an absolute bore-fest for the majority of the match and it was made even worse when we conceded an extraordinarily soft goal in the 58th minute. However, our substitutes rallied the troops and we somehow managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

We started the game of a bit pedestrian and we weren’t really pushing Norwich with our passing or movement. We were happy to just pass it amongst our defence which was slightly disappointing as you’d expect an Arsenal side with 6 wins in 7 to push Norwich to the limit almost immediately. There was some good movement from Ramsey who was constantly pressing Norwich and who was brilliant on the ball. He was even forced to bail Wilshere out a few times – something I doubt many fans will mention. .......Read the full article here

Words I Never thought I Would Say- Drop Walcott for Gervinho!! by Dan S.

The last time I went to the Emirates was in February to see Arsenal get knocked out of the FA Cup by Blackburn Rovers. My lasting image was of Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere being the only two to stay on the pitch and thank the fans while the rest of their teammates hurried down the tunnel with their heads down. To be fair the two England internationals had reasons to be less embarrassed compared to everyone else having only come on for the final 20 minutes. In the days that followed Arsene Wenger was strongly criticised for not starting someone deemed Arsenal’s future captain and Arsenal’s brand new match winner, such was the high regard the two were held in. If someone had said just two months later there would be a debate asking should these two men play in a must win game people would question if you were an actual goner, if you then suggested that Gervinho be the one to take Walcott’s place they would of assumed you mentally ill. .......Read the full article here

How Wenger evolved our wings this season by KJ

There have always been questions over Arsenal’s lack of depth for many years now but this season, you feel there is an abundance of quality players ready to factor in on the wings. This season, we started with the options of Podolski, Walcott, Gervinho and Chamberlain on the wings. In recent months, we found another quality wide player in Cazorla (who usually plays in the middle). But what combination would be the best for the remainder of the season? .......Read the full article here

Arsenal’s budget, who we can get and who we should get, have your say. by Rory

There has been lots of talk about who we should buy ever since this release of the 70 million budget which we are supposedly being granted for the Summer, however a lot of us seem to have forgotten that Wenger stated that this will include wages, so I have tried to have a realistic view of the money we can, but also ambitious in the players that we can sign. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger was delighted with the Arsenal victory against West Brom and abandoned his usual reserve to declare that his team would keep up their recent form and finish in the Premier League top four. There is no doubt that Wenger will also be pleased, but maybe not surprised, that Spurs have continued to wobble with a last gasp equalizer rescuing a point against Everton, although he is trying to keep the Arsenal players focused on their own results.

“Everybody looks at each others results,” admitted Wenger. “But I believe sometimes that can get the focus away from your own performance. We always tell the players that we don’t focus on anybody else, just on us and perform well. .......Read the full article here

There is no doubt that Gervinho possesses some wonderful football skills. Arsenal have seen the benefit of them in the last three Premier League games, and they have come at a really important time for the Gunners as the pressure is firmly on as we race Chelsea and Tottenham for a top four finish.

The problem for Arsene Wenger, and I do not envy him one bit, is how to get the best out of the mercurial Ivorian international. One day he can be producing dazzling displays of footwork and scaring the life out of the opposition, while the next day he looks like an alien who has just landed in the middle of a match and has never seen a football before. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal named an unchanged side for the trip to West Brom, which is quite understandable after a 4-1 win over Reading. The game started as everyone expected, with Arsenal comfortable in possession, passing it around the pitch looking for an opening, while West Brom defended deep and hoped to break quickly, although their pacy forward Lukaku was on the bench.

In the first five minutes, Gervinho released Sagna into space down the right, but the Frenchman’s cross was poor. Rosicky then showed his rustiness with an awful shot after a one-two between Cazorla and Giroud came to him quickly. Our good start was nearly made to count for nothing, however, when a little pressure produced two corners and Rosicky had to head off the line. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has selected the same side that beat Reading so convincingly last week, so Gervinho has the chance to continue his revival at the club. Santi Cazorla will start on the left of the attack again, although he will probably come inside quite a lot and try to influence the game from wherever he can. Monreal has recovered from the knock he took to make the starting line up.

Rosicky will be the central playmaker, and the absence of Mulumbu from West Brom due to suspension should make his job a bit easier. One less thing for the Arsenal defence to worry about is that Romelu Lukakau, the powerful forward on loan from Chelsea, does not start for the Baggies. .......Read the full article here