A couple of weeks ago, it was hard to know whether to be optimistic or pessimistic. Many commented that the general criticism of Arsenal post-West Ham was over-the-top.
But the problem was, that on the 29th of October 2008, at about 9.30, the season so far had provided enough to be pretty optimistic. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal eased past Dutch club AZ Alkmaar after their attacking prowess left the visitors little or no chance of securing a result at the Emirates Stadium. Cesc Fabregas bagged a brace with an impressive performance that showcased his skill, intelligence, and goal scoring capabilities as he marshalled the midfield. Click to continue reading...

Today, ArsenalStation and, regular guest contributor, Ted Harwood, discuss the merits, deficiencies, and perceptions of Abou Diaby. You are welcome to comment on your take on Abou Diaby.

ARSENALSTATION SAYS: I've had this debate about Diaby for 2 years now.

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It was just one of those nights. Kind of like the home wins over Sevilla or Slavia Prague match in 2007. Arsenal came off 3-nil win over Spurs at the weekend, in which they had never really hit 3rd gear, and rode that 3rd gear for much of the Champions League match with AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday evening.

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was full of praise for Frenchman Abou Diaby before yesterday's Champions League game at home against AZ Alkmaar, although he believes the 23-year old should be more responsible in his job. ... Click to continue reading...

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was full of praise for Frenchman Abou Diaby before yesterday's Champions League game at home against AZ Alkmaar, although he believes the 23-year old should be more responsible in his job. ...

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Group E
Lyon 1-1 Liverpool -- The Reds took a late lead on a wonder-strike by Ryan Babel, but Rafa's side was pushed to the brink of elimination by an even-later Lisandro López equalizer. When is Rafa getting fired again?
Fiorentina 5-2 Debrecen -- The Italians had an offensive explosion, including four goals in the second half, in the easy home win. Click to continue reading...

by CARL ELDRIDGE Lots of purring in the papers this morning after the glorious Gunners hammered AZ Alkmaar 4-1 with some exquisite football to take us to the brink of the last 16 in the Champions League.

In the Sun this morning, Arsene Wenger says he has his best-ever strike force. He said: "We've never had as many options on the creative side.

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Free-scoring Arsenal continued their dominance of Champions League Group H with a stunning 4-1 drubbing of AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday night.
The Gunners are in top spot and unbeaten in their group, and proved far too classy for the Dutch visitors at The Emirates, where skipper Cesc Fabregas bagged a brace and was joined on the scoresheet by Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby, who netted a sublime fourth of the night on 72 minutes after some flowing build-up play from Eduardo and Andrey Arshavin. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal midfielders Abou Diaby and Andrey Arshavin have both spoken out ahead of their Champions League clash with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. Diaby has clamored for better defensive displays while Arshavin has stated his ambitions to win a Premier League and Champions League double.

"It is always good to win every game and stay in first place," said Diaby.

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Gallas pretending to be ashamed but laughing (a French laugh) on the inside
This week's winner is: Diaby Does Gallas
I've known this was going to be the winner for about a week now (thanks TD Ocho), but I couldn't actually bring myself to write this post because I was laughing too hard. Click to continue reading...

It was his birthday and the AGM was conducted in a very different atmosphere from the last meeting. So of course, in the warm bask of accolades and affection, one tends to become magnanimous.

But I saw the AZ Alkmaar match and if we are to win a major trophy, we need to do much much better.

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Arsenal fans love scapegoats, rightly or wrongly. � Invariably these have been players on the fringe who the fans can't wait to have a go at, from Perry Groves, Ray Parlour and last season Emanuel Eboue. � Towards the end of last season and for this season the bête noire of the fans has been Abou Diaby.

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AZ Alkmaar v Arsenal
UEFA Champions League
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 2:45 PM (ET)

Walcott's injury woes continue.

His medial collateral ligament has been damaged and will sideline him for four weeks. The team left for their AZ Alkmaar fixture without him.

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Facebook is just weird funny

You really can't argue with the title. Seriously you can't so don't even try.

As Arsenal return from the 2 week break with a good win if not spectacular over Alex McLeish's Birmingham, some opposition fans chose to greet Liam Ridgewell's crunching tackle on Theo Walcott with a distasteful chant of "there's only one Martin Taylor".

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Wenger gives his reasons for not pursuing midfield pair.

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Wenger revealed why he had not bought either Xabi Alonso or Gareth Barry in the summer.

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Despite a knee injury suffered by Theo Walcott, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was delighted with their 3-1 win over Birmingham City.
By the time Arsenal lost Walcott, they were already 2-0 ahead through Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby.
However, Lee Bowyer capitalised on a mistake by young keeper Vito Mannone - preferred to fit-again Manuel Almunia - to pull a goal back before half-time. Click to continue reading...

See below, as always, for match highlights and a post-match interview with Arsene Wenger.

Another multi-goal margin of victory. Another "more than two goals" tally. Another soft goal conceded. Arsenal have seemingly picked up� where they left off before the international break. Birmingham's visit to North London proved to be an entertaining match that is open to interpretation.

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Morning all,

Arsenal moved into the top four yesterday with a good win over Birmingham, but it wasn't quite as comfortable as we would have liked. We started well, pretty much bossed the game and it was no surprise when in the 15th minute Robin van Persie put us ahead. Collecting a low, hard pass from Alex Song his first touch was quite brilliant and his finish first class.

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Carson Yeung, the Hong Kong tycoon, a fan of slick passing football had been taught a painful lesson by one of the best in England as they were clinically out-played in this fixture.ARSENAL outclassed Birmingham City 2-0 in the Emirates Stadium. Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby goals put the Gunners into a 2-0 lead inside 18 minutes. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal hosted Birmingham City on Saturday, October 17, 2009 in the English Premier League. Here's a recap and video highlights of the match.

Arsenal beats Birmingham City 3-1 Video Highlights

Arsenal cruised to a 3-1 in against Birmingham City on Saturday, October 17, 2009 in the EPL.

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Arsenal beat Birmingham thanks to goals from Robin van Persie, Abou Diaby and Andrey Arshavin. Full report to come. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says that left-back Gael Clichy and midfielder Abou Diaby are still slightly in doubt for Saturday's clash with Birmingham City.
The pair picked up ankle injuries on international duty for France and have not yet been passed fit to play.
"Clichy got a little knock on his ankle and Diaby was kept out of the French squad last night because of an ankle problem as well. Click to continue reading...

Back to League action tomorrow with the visit of Birmingham City. Let's hope the international break hasn't disrupted the momentum that was building before the players scattered for the World Cup qualifiers. We need three points in the bag. Manuel Almunia is said to be "50-50" for availability for selection.

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Right then, here go back into the thick of it. We've got football tomorrow and this is good. A home game against Birmingham is a relatively nice way to get things going again after the Interlull and there's some early team news.

Eduardo misses out on the chance for revenge against Birmingham as he remains out with his thigh injury.

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One of the most remarkable things about this season so far apart from the painful fact that we trail the scum in the table, is the fact our central defender Vermaelen is top scorer. Now is the fact that we have had thirteen different players score goals in the Premier league a good thing or something to worry about?

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Gunners by name, gunners by nature Arsenal's players have come up with a new training technique that might be a little too revolutionary even by Arsene Wenger's standards: Nerf gunfights! Manuel Almunia, Abou Diaby, Kieran Gibbs and Emmanuel Eboue, please grow-up. Jack Wilshere, you can carry on as you are because you are still in the target [. Click to continue reading...

I can still remember my first impression of Arsene Wenger when he took over as Arsenal manager back in 1996. He had the look of a geography teacher about him and came across as being very studious. A few of us in that Arsenal side were of an age where we were set in our ways, but also looking over our shoulders to see how long we had left in the game. Click to continue reading...

Contrary to the last one, Arsenal go into this new International break with plenty to smile about. Back-to-back wins, six goals, players clicking together, Cesc Fabregas back to his best and we're also closer to the top of the table.

Writing about such an incredible win comes easy, reason why I prefer amongst other things of course to expand a little on Abou Diaby.

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Contrary to the last one, Arsenal go into this new International break with plenty to smile about. Back-to-back wins, six goals, players clicking together, Cesc Fabregas back to his best and we're also closer to the top of the table.

Writing about such an incredible win comes easy, reason why I prefer amongst other things of course to expand a little on Abou Diaby.

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This is it. For all the marbles. The group of players that will (absolutely positively will) get us at least to the UEFA playoffs for a World Cup slot.

Only "nouveau" is Nicolas Douchez from Rennes. (And FOUR goalkeepers? Have Lloris and Mandanda not impressed Domenech enough to guarantee their spots for next summer?

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Young Hotshot Carlos Vela was introduced after 77 Minutes in tonights UEFA Champions League clash with Olympiacos Piräus, as Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has decided to give the young Mexican a run out to replace French midfielder Abou Diaby.

The plan of the French man was that Vela can force some problems on the wings for the back four line of Olympiacos.

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I should start off by saying that, no matter the performance, this is a fixture we lost last season and that Fulham looked more like the team they were last season down the stretch than a team currently in and around the relegation zone. It wasn't pretty, but these are the matches we need to win.

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Eduardo scored a late winner as Arsenal staged a second-half comeback to win 3-2 at Standard Liege in their Champions League Group H opener.

Arsenal found themselves two down inside five minutes with Eliaquim Mangala's low drive followed by a Milan Jovanovic penalty. Click to continue reading...

"If somebody stamps on your head in that way, you wouldn't say, 'thank you very much' and turn the other cheek. Only Jesus Christ did that."

Wenger backs Van Persie for speaking out about the unholy incident.

"I don't watch Match of the Day, I watch Coronation Street instead.

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