Just Arsenal News

Arsenal are apparently closing in on the signing of young Manchester City midfielder Abdi Ibrahim who has been on loan for the last few seasons away from his parent club. This would seem like a strange move for Arsenal to make but the Norwegian has been on a host of Premier League club’s radars for many years and it appears that City have resigned themselves to selling him because of a lack of room in his favoured defensive midfield role.

Ibrahim has been compared to the likes of Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure throughout his career and when Vieira was still playing for Man City, he took it upon himself to tutor the young player and teach him all he knows about football. .......Read the full article here

Could Arsenal make a shock move for 33 year old Wigan defender Emerson Boyce? by SS

Arsene Wenger would hope to get Boyce cheap and use him as cover in a variety of defensive positions and to act as an experienced leader within the defence. Bacary Sagna looks set to leave the club this summer with Russian giants Anzhi and newly crowned French champions PSG interested.

Wenger is expected to bring in Sebastian Corchia or Lukasz Piszczeck to work with Carl Jenkinson to fill the right back position in the team. Despite Boyce being 33 years old, Wenger has always been very impressed with his stamina that he displays for Wigan by bombing up and down the side of the field week in, week out. .......Read the full article here

Could Kolo Toure be on his way back to Arsenal on a one year deal? by SS

He is going to be out of contract this summer and he and Manchester City have confirmed that there will be no new deal. He has said he would like to stay in England because his family is based here and he could be available on low wages compared to his Man City pay packet.

Arsene Wenger will surely be keeping his eye on proceedings concerning Toure because the Ivorian of course played for Arsenal for many years during the glory years. He was in the team when Arsenal last won a trophy in 2005 and was even in the squad when they won their last Premier League title. .......Read the full article here

Is a top four finish a path to success? by Freezy

In short, the answer is no. Nowadays there is something bigger than the allure of Champions League football; money. Arsenal can’t claim that getting in the top four will allow us the chance to sign amazing players when we’ve been doing it for years yet still lost the likes of Nasri, Adebayor and most recently Van Persie, with no thought of a like for like replacement. .......Read the full article here

The General and the Finisher by Chunners

Luca Toni has told Stevan Jovetic to join a real ‘top club’ rather than Arsenal. Well, that hurt, Luca.

The first half of Arsene Wenger’s reign at Arsenal raised our expectations to such an extent that the past eight years can be described as somewhat of a failure. Coincidentally, Wenger’s trophy-laden years at Arsenal occurred with the presence of another man running the show on the field, our midfield general – Patrick Vieira!

Maybe it was just luck that Wenger found him and maybe there hasn’t been anyone like him ever since, but Wenger just can’t find an able replacement and maybe a Patrick Vieira is all we need to transform this underperforming team into world beaters – so let us find one! .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger still speaks about Gervinho as a key member of the Arsenal team. He explained his decision not to scout the African Cup of Nations in January by saying that the Ivorian striker was the best player in the tournament, and we already have him so there was no point. When the 25-year old forward returned after Ivory Coast were knocked out by Nigeria, Wenger decided to give him some time off before rejoining the Arsenal squad, but he will be available from now on. .......Read the full article here

Daniel Le Roux – South Africa, 1957-1958, 5 games, 0 goals

Dan Roux, or Daniel Leow Le Roux, to use his full name, might not be as familiar to Just Arsenal readers as some of the other African stars covered in this series, but the South African will go down in history as the first star from the continent to wear the red strip of the Gunners. Potentially to be considered a trailblazer for the other African stars to take to the field for Arsenal, Roux remains the only South African to turn out for the side. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal fans may find this hard to believe, but Gervinho just won the first AFCON match for his country, the Ivory Coast. He was also, for me, a good contender for man of the match, along with Yaya Toure. I wonder if a good run of performances in the competition could renew his conference and give him the impetus to get his Arsenal career back on track. .......Read the full article here

Sebastian Svard – Denmark (Ghana), 2000-2005, 3 games, 0 goals

Whilst many young Gunners arrive at the club with an enormous promise and buckets of potential, few are signed with reputations as burgeoning as Svard. Bought in November 2000 from FC Kobenhavn’s reserve side, Kjobenhavns Boldklub, the youngster had impressed Arsene Wenger after accomplished performances for Denmark’s youth teams. By the time of his transfer, he had already represented the U16s and the U17s with great distinction.

Whilst the prodigal teenager continued to work his way up the ranks of the national side, performing for the U19s, U20s, and U21s before his twentieth birthday, he found opportunities at Highbury much harder to come by, particularly due to the quality in front of him. .......Read the full article here

Even if Theo Walcott does not play as the central striker for Arsenal against Manchester City today, a lot of the expectation for scoring goals will be on his young shoulders. With the jury still out on whether he can make it as an out and out front man for the Gunners, people will be watching him closely today to see how he fares against the better teams in the Premier league.

Man City have let in the fewest goals in the Premier league this season, along with Chelsea. They have conceded just 19 in 21 games and just 10 from 10 away games. The City defenders are used to dealing with speed as they train with Aguero, Tevez and Balotelli every week, so Theo will need to be on his mettle to show what he can do. .......Read the full article here

The media have had a field day with the story about Arsenal ticket prices. Fans of Manchester City have failed to buy almost a third of their allotted tickets for the game at the Emirates on Sunday, and much has been made of the fact that Arsenal is the most expensive club to watch in the Premier league, but the price of £62 is not that much more than that of other top teams. .......Read the full article here

There has been a lot of negative talk from Arsenal fans and football pundits following the FA cup draw against Swansea yesterday, but it is not all doom and gloom. Firstly, the performance was lots better than when we played them in the league a month ago. Yes, the first half was drab, but Arsenal were the better side in the second half and should have won.

The penalty claim is inconclusive, but Wenger and Laudrup seem to think it could easily have been given. Wenger asked why Ramsey fell if he was not clipped, accidentally or not. If he had not been, he was in on goal and should have scored. Plus, both of Swansea’s goals were from silly mistakes. .......Read the full article here