Just Arsenal News

Lacktustre Arsenal get the victory – Player ratings by NS.

With Gareth Bale FC winning just before kick off, Arsenal knew a victory was essential.

My first can of beer had hardly finished fizzing on opening as Theo Walcott scored. We were relaxed. What a nice feeling a goal in 20 seconds gives you!

Sadly, the players seemed to relax too. Thankfully, due to good defensive play from Koscielny (again) and Mertesacker, we were never in any real trouble. Monreal started well, but ‘ol’ twitcher’ put Andros Townsend on the right side an Nacho struggled at times with him. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger had warned his Arsenal players to expect a good performance from QPR after they were relegated last week and he was certainly proved right. He felt that his Gunners handled it well, though, and they got the result which was hugely important. After being awful for most of the season, QPR gave it a real go, especially in the second half. That could have been the case in the first half as well, because they were definitely up for it. .......Read the full article here

In the wake of the departures of Robin van Persie and Alex Song from Arsenal last year, the French international Bacary Sagna was critical of the club and questioned the ambition of the board. In that, he was not alone and most of the Arsenal fans agreed with him to a certain extent. There have been rumours and speculation all season about the right back leaving the Emirates and there is, apparently, strong interest from PSG.

According to the Mirror, though, Sagna has decided to stay at Arsenal and snub the super rich Parisien club. The 30-year old is approaching the last year of his contract with Arsenal, so this summer was always going to be make-your-mind-up time and it appears that Arsene Wenger has convinced Sagna to stick with the programme. .......Read the full article here

Sir Alex Ferguson famously spoke the words “squeaky bum time” about the nervewracking end of season games, and it certainly is for fans of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham at the moment. This is a time for the players to try and approach each game calmly and confidently and not to let the nerves affect their game.

With this in mind it seems that Wenger is intending to stick with his experienced players at this time of the season, and that may include the depressingly out-of-form Bacary Sagna. The Frenchman said on Arsenal.com: “There is a lot of disturbance in the environment,” .......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

A lot of Arsenal fans have been getting very worried that the Gunners late surge up into the Champions League places may give Arsene Wenger the perfect excuse to say that the present squad is more than good enough to compete next season, but finally the manager has given us the first indication that there will be new arrivals this summer.

Arsenal are currently top of the League form table with five wins and two draws since the devastating defeat to Tottenham, and Wenger was directly asked if this squad could challenge for the title next season if they maintained this consistency. He replied: “We have good stability, on both flanks, full backs, we are quite strong and defensively we have stabilised the team,’ .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger takes his Arsenal team on the short journey to Loftus Road to face QPR today and one of his main messages to the players this week will have been to expect a tough game. The Frenchman knows that a team playing under pressure to stay up can suddenly play much better once they are down and they relax.

“It can happen, yes, that they play under less pressure, with less fear. It can of course be very dangerous,” said Wenger.

QPR have some good players, although they haven’t been showing it much recently. With Remy, Zamora and Taraabt, they have pace and skill up front, while Granero and Jenas add a touch of class in the middle and Samba and Bosingwa are both quality defenders. .......Read the full article here

Lukasz Fabianski has been an Arsenal player long enough to know all about the bitter rivalry between the Gunners and Tottenham Hotspur. The fact that the spuds have been pushing for a top four finish and Champions League football recently, while Arsene Wenger has been struggling to keep Arsenal there with very little money, has made this all the more tasty recently.

Arsenal travel to relegated QPR tomorrow knowing that another three points will be a massive step towards being part of the European elite again. QPR have been awful this season and a lot of the players seem to be there just for the money. Fabianski is concerned, however, that the Tottenham connection will try to ensure that they do everything they can to help the mod down the road. .......Read the full article here

With the unlucky Arsenal hitman Olivier Giroud unavailable after his red card against Fulham, Arsene Wenger must yet again decide who to play in the centre-forward position against QPR this weekend. Last week the Frenchman gave Lukas Podolski a go at proving his worth in the centre against Man United, but he was mostly anonymous against the newly-elected Premiership Champions.

This has prompted Theo Walcott to once again re-iterate his desire to be given a chance, and he believes he has performed admirably when played down the middle earlier this season. He said: “I played a few games there and I would like a few more towards the end of the season,” .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger usually keeps his Arsenal team selection close to his chest, so it was a bit of a surprise yesterday when he issued a statement that clearly intimated that he would be playing the German international striker Lukas Podolski as the centre forward in the absence of Olivier Giroud. The tall French front man has two more games of his three match ban to go before he can return for the final day trip to Newcastle United, so Wenger was asked whether he had confidence that Podolski could fill in successfully.

“I believe so, he has the qualities because he is a good finisher,” replied the manager. .......Read the full article here

I am not one of the Arsenal fans that think Bacary Sagna is all washed up and should never play for the Gunners again, but he did have a bit of a shocker against Manchester United last weekend and it ended up costing two valuable points. Alex Ferguson may have thought, or at least said, that his team deserved to win, but the truth is that Sagna’s double mistake let them off the hook and changed the outlook of the Arsenal players. .......Read the full article here

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is the first to admit that this season at Arsenal has been a disappointing one for him. This is mainly because he has not really pushed on after a great debut campaign when he signed from Southampton for around £15 million just before turning 18.

Now 19-years old and having scored just two goals for Arsenal this season, his best game recently came for England against San Marino. Alex is aware that he has not done enough this season, but he is determined that he will correct that next season.

“It has been difficult,” said the youngster. .......Read the full article here