Sunday, 26 May 2013

Arsenal’s fate now in their own hands

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  With Chelsea and Tottenham playing to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on Wed. May 8, Arsenal can now guarantee themselves a spot in next season’s European Champions League by winning their remaining two games. If they do this, they can wrap up at least fourth place in the English Premier League table as [...]

Backpage Roundup: Bayern Dealt Ribery Blow, Robben Doubtful too, Hoeness Divulges Bavarians’ Attempts to Sign Wenger, Jenkinson Wants UCL Stay and More

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Bayern Dealt Ribery Blow, Robben Doubtful too Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has injured his ankle and will not play any part in his club’s upcoming UEFA Champions League clash with Arsenal. The 29-year-old Frenchman strained a ligament in his left ankle during the Bavarians’ 3-2 defeat of Fortuna Dusseldorf at the weekend. In addition [...]

Backpage Roundup: Arsenal Tracking Juventus Defender and Sunderland Goalie, Wenger Assures Fight Back in Munich, Walcott Urges Gunners to Move On and More

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Arsenal Tracking Juventus Defender Arsenal FC have identified Juventus’ second-choice right-back Martin Caceres as a potential signing for next summer, according to the latest Arsenal transfer news on talkSPORT. After suffering a humiliating exit in the FA Cup at the hands of Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers last weekend, it was reported that the Gunners will [...]

Backpage Roundup: Walcott Accused of Buying Penalty, Arteta Praises Wigan, Wenger Satisfied With Victory, West Ham Enter Chamakh Talks and More

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Walcott Accused of Buying Penalty Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez has accused Theo Walcott of buying the penalty decision that enabled Arsenal to win Saturday’s clash at the DW Stadium. Walcott went down inside the penalty area on a challenge from Jean Beausejour, and Martinez believes that it was an intentional tumble by the Arsenal [...]

Backpage Roundup: Wenger Won’t Quit Just Yet, Cazorla Rues ‘Inconsistent’ Form, Hill-Wood Suffers Heart Attack, Winning UCL Group Means Nothing and More

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Wenger Won’t Quit Arsenal Just Yet Arsene Wenger has declared that he won’t quit Arsenal just yet but will evaluate his options at the end of the season. The Gunners lost out 2-0 to Swansea at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, after which calls for Wenger’s sacking intensified. While the Frenchman hinted that he might leave [...]

Backpage Roundup: Henry Set for another Arsenal Return, Mertesacker Recalls Debut Season Struggles, Gunners Won’t Be Complacent Against Montpellier, Bendtner Unsure About Arsenal Future and More

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Henry Could Return Again Arsene Wenger has refused to rubbish media speculation that Arsenal legend and New York Red Bulls superstar Thierry Henry could be back playing at Emirates once again in January. Henry, 35, originally left the Gunners for Barcelona in 2006 but returned for a successful short-term loan deal last season and scored [...]

Is Arsenal’s glass half full or half empty?

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With Arsenal’s Champions League recent performance against Schalke in Germany as well as the season in general, some supporters are going to view the club’s glass as half full while many others are seeing it as half empty. The team showed it is still suffering from the Jeckyl and Hyde syndrome as it looked great [...]

Backpage roundup: Frimpong not fully fit, Gallas disagrees with Wenger, Arsenal losing N’Koulou battle, Szczesny set to return and more

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Frimpong Still Not Fully Fit Emmanuel Frimpong feels that his fitness is not at a level yet where he can play regular football for Arsenal’s senior side and he needs a few more under-21 matches to get back in proper shape. The 20-year-old midfielder has recovered from a serious cruciate ligaments injury that he suffered [...]

Backpage roundup: Wilshere not fully fit, Bendtner could be back, Arteta and Podolski praise Wenger, Curbishley doubts Arsenal in top four and more

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Wilshere Admits He Is Not Fully Fit Yet Jack Wilshere has admitted that even though he made his Arsenal comeback in the 1-0 win over QPR over the weekend, he is nowhere near his optimum fitness level. The 20-year-old midfielder started and played 70 minutes of football for the Gunners on Saturday and looked impressive [...]

Backpage Roundup: Wenger Baffled At Flat Performances, QPR’s Hughes a Fan of Wilshere, Mertesacker Wants Instant Recovery, Gazidis Promises Rosy Future and More

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Wenger Unable to Explain Arsenal’s Flat Performance Arsene Wenger has admitted that Arsenal are currently struggling to find their rhythm on the offensive end of the pitch. The Gunners started the 2012/13 season in fine form but their attack has now inexplicably seized to perform, resulting in back-to-back defeats against Norwich City and Schalke in [...]

Arsenal vs Schalke: Match preview

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After a disappointing defeat to Norwich City, Arsenal would be expected to respond tomorrow evening with the visit of Schalke to the Emirates Stadium. In recent seasons, Champions League home games have proved largely comfortable for the Gunners, especially in the group stages. The last time Arsenal lost a home game in the Champions League? [...]

Backpage roundup: Wilshere in Arsenal squad, Wenger’s ‘Moment Of Truth,’ Ayew happy at Marseille and more

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Wilshere Back in Arsenal Squad Jack Wilshere has been included in Arsenal’s 18-man squad for Saturday’s away game against Norwich City, according to his agent. While coach Arsene Wenger had told the press on Friday morning that Wilshere would play another under-21 to build up his fitness, the player’s agent Simon Bayliff revealed a few [...]

Spurs shoot themselves in the foot

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I can’t quite understand it – myself and most Arsenal fans are feeling pretty good this week with the news that Harry Redknapp has been sacked by Spurs. This is credit to a manager who has made our neighbours a genuine threat for the first time in what feels like forever. And yet, most Spurs [...]

Where’s the crisis?

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Do we as Arsenal fans perhaps have the right to feel slightly aggrieved at the way the media treats us? I see no special reason for pundits, journalists and bloggers to have some kind of agenda against the club, but it does seem like there’s something there. Take the coverage our rivals Spurs are currently [...]

Chelsea 3rd worst winners ever

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I just want to make it clear quickly, that I’m not being petty here; I’ve got over Chelsea winning the Champions League and this article is not intended to have a dig (I’ve done that more than enough already), merely to have a look at something, admittedly kind of pointless, that interests me. It occurred [...]

Parking the bus – why does it work?

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We’ve seen it so many times in recent years – inferior teams go to difficult games (at Barcelona and Arsenal in particular) with the sole intention of ‘parking the bus’ in front of their goal. Ironically, this term was coined by the master of this tactic, Jose Mourinho, when Spurs came to Stamford Bridge and [...]

Arsenal need to get their act together

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There are few sicker sights I’ve seen in football than that of Chelsea’s Champions League celebrations last night. They are the first London team to bring home the European Cup. It should have been us. We are London’s biggest club. Chelsea were nothing before 2005 when Roman Abramovich’s millions and Jose Mourinho’s dull, defensive football [...]

Arsenal given third place lifeline

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As Arsenal threw away two vital points in the race for third, Norwich City left the Emirates with a 3-3 draw, after a match that can only be compared with a 90-minute rollercoaster ride. As Arsene Wenger celebrated his 900th game in charge of the Gunners, the Canaries pounced on Arsenal’s mistakes and were able [...]

Arsenal lose grip on 3rd place

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With five games to go, 3rd place was in Arsenal’s hands. It wasn’t the season we’d hoped for, but considering how badly we started, we looked like saving some dignity. Four games later, we are looking at another typical end-of-season collapse. Of course, it’s nothing like last season, where the prize we’d lost was far [...]

Should making the Champions League really matter so much to Arsenal fans?

Arsenal’s focus since their elimination from the Champions League by Milan back in March (or February if you accept the tie was over after the first leg) has been on securing a top four place in the Premier League. Tottenham’s remarkable collapse has even made third place a likelihood now, which is just as well [...]

Backpage Roundup: Wenger on Guardiola, Chelsea, RVP Future and More

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Arsenal Target Being Chased By Inter and Bayern It has been reported by the Daily Mail that long-term Arsenal target Yann M’Vila is also attracting interest from Italian giants Inter Milan and Champions League finalists Bayern Munich. The Gunners manager Arsene Wenger has been an admirer of the highly-rated Rennes midfielder for a long time but [...]

The curse of being too good

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You can’t win the league and the Champions League every year. Five out of the last six of those isn’t bad, with a few other smaller trophies thrown in and the possibility of another Copa del Rey still to come this season. However, second in the league and a semi-final exit to an inferior team [...]

The Di Matteo effect

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Roberto Di Matteo has taken Chelsea back to basics. With his only previous Premier League management experience being his time as the manager of West Brom, he knows what it means to be in the results business. When you get a team promoted from the Championship to the top flight, it’s often all about getting [...]

Fourth-Place finish doesn’t yet guarantee Champions League spot

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This might not really be news to many supporters, but casual fans and youngsters may not realize that a fourth-place finish by the Gunners this season doesn’t necessarily guarantee them a berth in the European Champions League. It rarely happens, but the UEFA rules state there are only four spots available for English teams and [...]

Bilbao give a great advert for La Liga

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Since Barcelona and Real Madrid started regularly thrashing everyone and Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would fight it out every week for who can score the most hat-tricks, it has become a widely accepted norm among English fans and pundits that the Spanish league is just weaker than our own. Barca and Real are great [...]