Just Arsenal News

The Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie has been under the scrutiny of the Holland team doctors, and they have decided to call up Ruud Van Nistelroy in his place, after announcing that Van Persie will be out “for a few weeks” with his sprained ankle.

Arsene Wenger didn’t think that the injury was very serious immediately after the Blackburn game, and I was thoroughly lambasted by everyone for suggesting that Van Persie would be out for a month, but now it seems I was right! .......Read the full article here

There is much talk about about Arsenal’s injury “curse”, and every week of every season there seems to be yet another announcement of another Arsenal injury. Well today is no different.

Robin Van Persie has managed to play during the World Cup (all the way to final!) without a problem, but his first day back on duty as an Arsenal player he gets yet another problem.

Arsene Wenger seemed quite optimistic after the game. Van Persie had to be taken off after just half an hour of the Blackburn game (after setting up the opening goal) and according to Wenger it is just a “twisted ankle”. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal are preparing for the first crucial match of the Premiership season, and the lack of fitness and injuries are leaving Arsene Wenger with a threadbare squad to choose from. We already know that Nicklas Bendtner will not be returning to the side for at least a couple of months, and Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie have only just returned from their extended breaks.

“They are a lot behind,” said Wenger. “I hope Van Persie will have a good week of preparation, but I think he will be short as well.” .......Read the full article here

Arsenal fans are certainly used to having injury problems, so before a game it is normal to think “who is available” before discussing line-ups, but to have Arsene Wenger to expect three top players not to be available for the first game of the season must be a first!

The good news is that, although Johan Djourou limped out of last nights game in Austria, Wenger doesn’t think it is serious and the SWISS defender should be okay for the Emirates Cup matches. Thomas Rosicky also missed the game but again Wenger thinks it is just a minor problem. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have just revealed that Robin Van Persie is going to be wearing the Number 10 shirt made famous by another Dutchman, Dennis Bergkamp, and recently vacated by the departing William Gallas.

The Mexican striker Carlos Vela has been allocated the Number 11, which makes me think that his exploits at the World Cup must have impressed Arsene Wenger enough for him to be given more first team chances next season.

I have been informed by Arsenal that anyone who has pre-odered the new shirts with either of these players names on will get the new squad numbers, and anyone that has recently bought one will get them changed free of charge (with proof of purchase of course). .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal and Holland strike Robin Van Persie has been defending his country’s tactics in the World Cup Finals, where they were accused of being dirty and trying to stop their opponents playing, especially against Spain in the Final.

He was unrepentant as he believes that the result is more important than playing the “beautiful game”. He said: “People criticised us for our playing style,”

“It was not as pretty as it used to be with Holland. But my question is: Getting results and reaching the final or playing the beautiful game and getting knocked out in the first round — which would you choose? .......Read the full article here

Everybody in the world is in agreement that Spain fully deserved to beat Holland in last nights World Cup Final, but Robin Van Persie, along with a few other Dutch players, think that Howard Webb was instrumental in the Spain win, especially in the events leading up to Spain’s winning goal.

Van Persie was especially scathing about the English referee’s performance. “What was this man doing?” he said. “He made three big errors in extra time of a final! Believe me, this really hurts.

“Even after Heitinga’s red card I still felt we could be world champions. With penalty kicks we’d at least have had a 50% chance.” .......Read the full article here

Now that the World Cup is over, the new Barcelona president Sandro Rosell flew to South Africa with every intention of quickly striking a deal with Arsene Wenger, but according to an exclusive report in todays Mirror, Wenger refused to even meet up with him!

So it looks like Wenger is sticking to his guns and has absolutely no intention of letting his captain leave, and he will be striking a blow against these arrogant Spanish teams that believe they can force other teams to sell their players. .......Read the full article here

The Dutch manager Bert van Marwjik believes that Robin Van Parsie has been gradually improving since he arrived at the World Cup, and he is convinced that the Arsenal striker will carry on improving as Holland approach the Final against Spain.

“Robin has really improved during the last few matches and I still have a lot of confidence in him,” Van Marwijk said. “He will show his best football in the coming match.”

His strike partner, Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt, also has faith in Van Persie. “Robin is a quality player,” Kuyt stated. .......Read the full article here

I’m starting to get depressed now as the Arsenal transfer rumours seem to have stopped mentioning Koscielny, despite Wenger promising us a defensive signing this week (Okay he said ‘very soon’ but it looks like procrastination, especially as he originally told us all his signings would be done BEFORE the World Cup!).

As I said in an earlier post, I thought that Schwarzer would get announced first, and according to the Mail, the departure of Roy Hodgson has only made it more certain that Schwarzer will become a Gunner, but this time the price has gone up to £4m. I just wish Wenger would announce something, anything at all! .......Read the full article here

There is still very little in the way of positive Arsenal transfer rumours today. There has been no announcement about Laurent Koscielny which had been expected today, in fact Wenger said that a “defensive” signing would be made this week, so I suppose I should wait until tomorrow really.

The only bit of good news has come from Joe Cole’s agent, which seems to imply that the (ex-)Chelsea midfielder will be staying in London. .......Read the full article here

The Holland and Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie lost his cool when the Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk substituted him 10 minutes from the end of yesterdays match against Slovakia.

Holland were 2-1 when Van Persie was taken off, and the youngster immediately strode up to the manager and publicly remonstrated with him, but he admitted today that it was just through personal frustration at not scoring.

“I wanted to finish the game. I thought they would take risks in the last 10 minutes and I wanted to exploit that,” said Van Persie. .......Read the full article here