Just Arsenal News

Arsenal may have gone into this game thinking that their north London rivals had dropped points and left the way clear for a top four finish, because the spuds’ game kicked off half an hour late. Maddeningly, though, Gareth Bale rescued his average team again with a late winner out of nothing. Whether the Arsenal players knew this or not is unclear, but we started with purpose and got ahead straight away.

In these vital end of season games, there can be a lot of nerves, so Arsene Wenger will have impressed the need to start well. They certainly did that. Not only did we score a quick goal, the strike by Theo Walcott was the quickest in the Premier League this season. .......Read the full article here

Is there any keeper who hasn’t yet been linked with Arsenal? by FD

It must be dispiriting if you’re a current professional goalkeeper and your name hasn’t been linked with a summer move to the Emirates. But you shouldn’t get too down. It’s still only May.

Today’s news that Swansea’s Michel Vorm is a possible Arsenal target means we could almost field a team of keepers from the names of contenders for that Number 1 jersey.

Before Vorm, we’ve had speculation linking us with Asmir Begovic, Victor Valdes, Julio Cesar, Iker Casillas, Rene Adler, Simon Mignolet, Federico Marchetti, Pepe Reina and even Petr Cech! .......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

Arsene’s Blind Spot by FD

In the early years of Arsene Wenger’s reign at Arsenal, the press liked to make fun of the things on the pitch he “didn’t see”. Although it became something of a standing joke, I doubt many Arsenal fans really minded that much.

Over the years, however, I suspect those following the Gunners may have become more than a little concerned about Arsene’s real blind spot. The goalkeeping position. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny can count himself lucky that he got his starting place back from Lukascz Fabianski. It was only the rib injury to his Polish international team mate that let Szczesny back in. He could have been in the same situation as the Gunners captain Thomas Vermaelen, who has played just once since the derby defeat by Tottenham and that was because Per Mertesacker was suspended.

The two players were dropped at the same time and Szczesny has been very impressed with the way Laurent Koscielny and Mertesacker have performed as a defensive pairing since then, conceding just three goals in eight games. The keeper has been much better since returning, although the centre backs in front of him have made his job a lot easier. .......Read the full article here

Wojciech Szczesny may have the next four games of the Premier League to prove himself once again at Arsenal but, even if he produces four faultless displays, it is still likely that Arsene Wenger will bring in a new keeper in the summer. This season has proved that the Polish international needs to be pushed for his place to keep him on his toes.

According to the Mirror, there is a new front runner to be the new Gunners keeper. Arsenal scouts have apparently been regular watchers of Rene Adler at Hamburg in the Bundesliga. The 28-year old German international transferred there from Bayer Leverkusen last year after six seasons with them in the Bundesliga. He has played in all but one of Hamburg’s games this season and his performances have led to comparison’s with Arsenal’s previous German keeper Jens Lehmann. .......Read the full article here

Should we should offer Fabianski a new contract! by AH

Lukas Fabianski is a player full of controversy! He has managed to not only divide the fans but he also has the ability to amaze fans one week and then make them as angry as possible the next.

For me, this season, Fabianski has been a massive improvement over the last few years however the question is can he keep it up?

Fabianski is out of contract at the end of the season, and although at first he seemed to be one of the players we were looking forward to getting off our wage bill, suddenly I think we should be looking to try to sign him up to a contract extension as soon as possible! .......Read the full article here

Arsenal still trying for Barca keeper? by AH

The Express has today reported today that Arsenal have opened talks with Barcelona and the appropriate agent over the possibility of Victor Valdes moving to North London with the Gunners this summer.

Arsenal are notably looking for a new keeper with Fabianski likely to leave at the end of the season, as well as Mannone, and so Arsenal have identified a few goalkeeping targets and 31-year-old Valdes is reportedly one of them. Valdes is now entering the final year of his contract and he has already declared an intention to leave the Spanish giants this summer, so it’s possible that Barcelona will sell him instead of losing him for free next year. .......Read the full article here

Wojciech Szczesny can probably not believe his luck, while you have to feel sorry for his main rival for the number one shirt at Arsenal. Lukasz Fabianski has cracked a rib, which has put a stop to his run of games in which he was finally shaking off his unfortunate nickname of flappy-handski. After being on the sidelines for so long, Fabianski stepped up brilliantly after Szczesny was dropped for the Bayern Munich match. It didn’t look like he was going to let his Polish international team mate get another chance until he damaged his rib against Norwich last Saturday. .......Read the full article here

The Polish international and Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny has certainly not had a good year and it may be on the verge of getting a whole lot worse. The Gunners have been linked with a number of keepers, including Pepe Reina and Victor Valdes. It was thought that an older experienced keeper would be brought in to challenge Szczesny and provide cover while being a role model for the 22-year old.

If the story in today’s Independent is right, though, it could spell the end of the line at Arsenal for Szczesny. Apparently, the Gunners have decided that Simon Mignolet from Sunderland is the man they want and are preparing a summer swoop for the 25-year old. This would effectively demote Szczesny to the bench, or even worse, andoffer him little chance of playing unless Mignolet was injured. .......Read the full article here

The game at the Emirates tonight between Arsenal and Everton could have a massive say in which team will be playing in the Champions League next season. Arsenal are in cracking form, with all four of the Premier League games since the north London derby going our way. Everton are also in good form, though, with three wins and a draw since going out of the FA cup to Wigan.

It seems like Arsene Wenger has been up to the old mind games again, because after saying that Wilshere had come back too soon, he starts again tonight. Fabianski has not recovered, so Szczesny gets the chance to prove himself again, while Mertesacker comes straight back in after his one match ban. .......Read the full article here

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

This is going to be arguably the biggest match in our final run in. We are both top 4 contenders and a win for Everton blows everything wide open and makes sure that the race for top 4 is not in our hands. But the Arsenal is in some pretty good form at the moment and after somehow managing to get a win against Norwich, they’ll probably be buzzing about the potential of making the gap between us and Tottenham 4 points. .......Read the full article here