Just Arsenal News

Should Arsenal look closer to home for transfer targets? bt FD

At this time every season transfer speculation starts to rev up, but this year holds the promise of even more activity than usual for Arsenal followers to contend with. The talk of a £70m transfer chest has already encouraged an avalanche of rumours, and players from leagues all over the world being are being linked with a possible summer move to the Emirates. .......Read the full article here

There are always bones of contention when the PFA announces it’s shortlist for the Player of the Season award and this year is no different. Not one Arsenal player made the list, despite statistics showing that the Gunners have had some high performances this season. The one Arsenal player that should feel the most disappointed not to have made the list is the little Spanish magician Santi Cazorla.

Chelsea have two midfielders in the six man list, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard, while the Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick also appears on it. The only one of these three that can be compared to Cazorla this season is Juan Mata. Cazorla has scored more Premier League goals than any of them, with 12 so far. .......Read the full article here

Swansea vs Arsenal preview, predicted line up and score line prediction by KJ

After the valiant fight back against Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena which went agonisingly close to a great European night in our history, we bring ourselves back into the Premier league on a high in my opinion. We never really expected to overturn the deficit and 99% of the world was expecting us to get thrashed on Bayern’s soil but we dug deep defensively and it almost paid off. The players must be feeling confident after beating Bayern comprehensively on Wednesday night. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger is fully aware that Swansea are not an easy side to beat since Michael Laudrup took over as manager, and after seeing the Welsh side win the League Cup and beat many of the top sides this season, he knows that Arsenal are not in for an easy day today.

After Arsenal’s defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final a couple of years ago the Gunners went into a slump, and it regularly seems that getting to the Final can sometimes weaken a side, but Wenger admitted: “Nobody knows how they will respond,” .......Read the full article here

It feels like an age since Arsenal last played, even though it was only a week ago. I’m pretty sure that Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal players would have liked to play at the weekend to put the North London derby behind them, but the Everton game was postponed due to the FA cup. In the end, it turned out to be quite a successful weekend for Arsenal without them having to do anything, and might have just have given a little boost to team spirit ahead of the difficult second leg against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have some good news before the kick-off against Swansea for this crucial FA cup replay, as Michael Laudrup will not start with our recent nemesis Michu. Laudrup has a really good chance of getting his team to Wembley with his team two up from the first leg against Chelsea. The Swansea captain and their best defender Ashley Williams will also miss out. Former Arsenal man Bartley plays again after he did well against us last time.

Wenger has dropped Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain, while Koscielny is suspended and the team has a bit of a different look about it.

Szczesny
Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs
Coquelin, Diaby, Wilshere
Walcott, Giroud, Cazorla .......Read the full article here

According to bookmakers, Arsenal are only the fifth favourites to win the FA cup this season, behind Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham and Everton. All of those teams except United are already through to the next round, so you can understand it in a way, but it shows that they are not too confident about our chances.

The Gunners can be backed at 10/1 to win the cup this season, which is a very generous price, especially when you think that Arsene Wenger seems to be actually trying to win it this time. The manager has finally realised just how desperate us fans are for a trophy. He proved that by putting out the strongest side possible against Bradford in the Capital One Cup, although that didn’t turn out too well. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has been hugely impressed with the way his two Spanish players have settled in at Arsenal. Both Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla have done very well since coming to the Emirates, and Wenger has spoken about the fantastic technical ability that Spanish players have drilled into them from a young age. Wenger also spoke recently about what a bargain Swansea found in Michu, and he knows that many Spanish clubs are struggling financially so may be open to selling some of their stars. .......Read the full article here

Should Arsenal do to Swansea what Chelsea did to Newcastle? by Twig

Transfer business is risky. You can buy an unknown player from Ecuador who will rise to be star; you can buy a player doing well in another club and he fails to impress and flops. However, one of the biggest shows of intent is when a club preys directly upon its rival and buys it’s best player. Manchester United did it to us with Van Persie and Chelsea has recently done the same to Newcastle with Demba Ba. Big clubs are happy to let smaller clubs scout and develop players for them. We’re a big club aren’t we? .......Read the full article here

Swansea 2 – 2 Arsenal, the score line flatters us by KJ

What can I say? It was another mediocre performance by the Arsenal. The players were by and large dreadful and completely lacked any creativity until we went a goal down. We were lucky to come out of the game still in the FA cup.

We started off very timidly and we just passed it sideways or gave the ball away to Swansea who were generally better than us on possession. They were the more threatening team but it was a boring first half in truth. .......Read the full article here

There was good news and bad news for Arsenal fans before kick-off. Aaron Ramsey, who gets loads of stick from Gooners, started on the left side of midfield. Angel Rangell, Michu and Ashley Williams were rested by Swansea. It was clear that Arsenal were placing more value on the game than their opponents.

This was clear from the start as Arsenal began with intent and were zipping the ball around well, and Giroud nearly got on the end of a good ball in after four minutes. Arsenal’s high pressing nearly cost them as Swansea broke after 10 minutes but Sagna was on hand to head clear. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have never gone out of the FA cup at this stage since Arsene Wenger took the reins over 16 years ago. The Arsenal players have no intention of starting now, and the words of Le Prof in the build up to this ghame will have left them in no doubt that this game is vital for the club.

Swansea have home advantage and a passionate crowd. They also have the confidence of having beat us 2-0 a month ago. Arsenal have got much better since then, and Swansea are bound to have one eye on the Capital One cup tie against Chelsea on Wednesday. They have never been to a final at Wembley and that is surely their best chance. .......Read the full article here