When Robin Van Persie scored Arsenal's third in the North London derby against Spurs, it prompted me to draw comparisons with the Real Madrid legend Raul. He has scored seven goals in the league and been given the role of the top of the Gunners attack. He has previously been compared to Dennis Bergkamp who was a genius at linking up attacks with the rest of his teammates.

Click to continue reading...

Stephen Ireland has spoken about the recent incident where he was taken to hospital following the Fulham win:

"Thankfully it wasn't too serious because at the time I thought that was the end of me but I don't even know what it was. I've had every test that there is and still don't know what it was.

Click to continue reading...

There has been a steady stream of rumors about Maicon potentially leaving Inter since last summer, though nothing has come of them and it seems nothing will. Says Maicon's agent, Antonio Caliendo:

"Every day there's a story linking Maicon to a different club. First it was Real Madrid, then Manchester United and now City.

Click to continue reading...

Before this season began, many were criticizing Arsene Wenger's decision to sell Adebayor and wondered where goals would come from for the North London team. I responded in an article:
"It is Arsenal whom I think will be this season's top scorers. Arsenal's attacking midfield and attack is tough to criticize. Click to continue reading...

Adebayor has once again broken his silence about his true feelings for Arsenal, the fans and former team mates. Much has been thrown his way since interests from other clubs began surfacing after the 07/08 season when he scored a remarkable 30 goals for the Arsenal. But, does he really deserve the stick he's gotten [. Click to continue reading...

Alright all,

I'm still half dying from Swine Flu here, its horrible I tell you, absolutely bloody horrible. Anyway, it didnt stop me from watching the lads the other night and what a great game it was, I really enjoyed it. It was entertaining and you got that feeling that anything could happen at any time.

Click to continue reading...

It was another incredible weekend of English Premier League football. One single match was all it took to lift the doom and gloom at Anfield. A stunning 2-0 win over arch-rivals Manchester United was just the tonic that Rafa's men needed. An excellent all-round Liverpool performance got even better when David Ngog glossed the scoreline with a goal that put the issue beyond doubt. Click to continue reading...

Andy Brassell, or ‘the Top Brass' to regular World Football Phone In listeners, is a freelance football journalist, with a knowledge of European football that matches Tim ‘Vickapedia' Vickery's knowledge of all things South American.

Not only is he an expert on France, Portugal, Germany, England and Spain, but he also knows his stuff on the Russian league.

Click to continue reading...

Recently Arsenal FC Blog sat down with Arsenal captain and future Barcelona star (let's admit it, it's easier that way) Cesc Fabregas to talk about the pressure of playing several years without any trophies, Manchester City and on Arsenal chances in the Premier League and Europe this season.

Click to continue reading...

The most glaring difference between this and the last AGM is not the shareholders' attitude. It is Arsene. His demeanor was completely different this time around, and with good reason. Though that reason may not be down to results entirely.

Of course, we still get Arsene's standard lines about "belief," the "real spirit in the team," etc.

Click to continue reading...

Lately he's been a man on a mission, and the Republic of Ireland international is hoping to continue his current form. That's right, I'm talking about Aston Villa center back Richard Dunne. The man is doing it all for Aston Villa right now, and it is paying major dividends for his club.

Let's rewind back two weeks you know, before that extremely boring international weekend?

Click to continue reading...

Russian star highlights a potentially big problem.

Join Our Facebook Fan Page for the Latest News/Rumours/Forums/Videos/WAGS/Funny Stuff/Features!

Arsenal midfielder Andriy Arshavin says he expects a large number of Premier League stars to abandon England in the near future, as the tax band is almost twice as big as in Spain.

Click to continue reading...

Time to be brutally honest.

Join Our Facebook Fan Page for the Latest News/Rumours/Forums/Videos/WAGS/Funny Stuff/Features!

Last night David Ngog was picked to start up front against Lyon in a crucial, let me repeat crucial, Champions League tie. One we could ill afford to lose, hell a draw would have been something, but to lose puts us in a whole heap of trouble.

Click to continue reading...

We have seen Tottenham challenge the top 4 place few years back, then Villa doing the same last season, nut never have we seen so many sides capable of upsetting the title contenders as this season. Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa all look capable of upsetting the odds, especially since Liverpool look to be all over the place at the moment.

Click to continue reading...

I can see us beating them 0-2 tomorrow, plain and simple.
Let's face it, with the mess that they were (still are) in, Paul Hart had no choice but to bring in Championship players. Championship players normally end up in the Championship.
O'Hara, who's been solid for them this season, won't be in the side, whilst King (who Patrick Barclay of the Times called the best centre-half in Britain) should be back. Click to continue reading...

Replace Seedorf with Van Persie's face and Adebayor definitely connects
Alright, this is somewhat of a weak Funny Feeling Friday - because this player is a proven fantasy commodity - but just hear me out on this one.
Adebayor is only owned by 6% of fantasy managers. Six percent. Click to continue reading...

In what's becoming a common quarterly occurrence for Steven Gerrard, just as earnings season comes once every three months on Wall Street, Liverpool's Captain aggravates a minor groin injury about 4 times per year as well.
Gerrard has done it again. England's finest midfielder is a major doubt for the team's trip to Sunderland this weekend after aggravating his groin problem - again. Click to continue reading...

Player's agent tries hard to convince Wenger to sign his client.

Watch England vs Belarus Live Online!

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is keeping an eye on Bayer Levekusen striker Stefan Kiessling and is keen to sign the hitman in January.
The German striker has grabbed six goals in eight matches in the current campaign and is current on course for the Golden Boot award in the Bundesliga scoring charts.

Click to continue reading...

Its a list, and a damned long one, but well worth taking a look at! We love Four Four Two, almost as much as we love Fennec Fox's.

Our friends over at Four Four Two have compiled their annual list of the top 100 players in the world today, take a look below and let us know what you think?

Click to continue reading...

Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become the latest Barcelona star to egotistically pronounce the treble winning club's's dominance over their global rivals. Following Sweden's bitter loss to Denmark this weekend, where the spotlight was stolen away from him thanks to Nicklas Bendtner's scintillating performance for the Danes, Ibrahimovic has taken his frustrations out on former club Inter Milan.

Click to continue reading...

This is it. The entire world wraps up the group rounds of world cup qualifying. After Wednesday, there will only be 5 slots (4 in UEFA and the CONCACAF-CONMEBOL play off) left to fill. Who will handle the pressure? Who won't? Who will be the shock entrants, and who will shockingly miss out? Click to continue reading...

Well, the international matches are almost upon us. The official site has a full round-up of all Gunners who will be participating in internationals this weekend here. No fewer than 20 Arsenal players are listed on international rosters for tomorrow's matches.

There's no point in covering every match, but some of the highlights:

Clichy, Diaby, Gallas, and Sagna look to get France into at least a playoff match for the World Cup in what should be a romp against Faroe Islands and a mid-week home match against Austria.

Click to continue reading...

Sigh. International breaks are so boring. Not too much going on in the lead up to the games over the weekend, but a few things have popped up so I thought I'd do a roundup/link dump of what's been going on this week.

First, Adebayor said he "regrets" stomping on former teammate Robin van Persie's face last month.

Click to continue reading...

I have found that listening to most podcasts is not good for my health, especially my blood pressure. With very few exceptions, most notably the Guardian's fantastic Football Weekly, the drivel spewed forth in these little mp3s is enough to make one scratch their eyes out. None more so at times than the BBC's 606.

Click to continue reading...

All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

More footballers reviewing music. This time: Millwall on a song called "Oopsy Daisy". [Channelbee]

Will you be dumb enough to pay to watch England v Ukraine on the internet?

Click to continue reading...

With the final set of World Cup 2010 qualifying fixtures coming up for many teams, David Scullion takes a closer look at which teams are on the brink of qualification.

AFRICA

As we all know South Africa have qualified as next years hosts.

Also in Africa, Ghana have qualified for their second consecutive finals appearance, gazumping all the teams in their group with 2 games to spare.

Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa has been a Jekyll and Hyde team so far this season. While they have yet to surpass the impressive performances they showcased for portions of last season, they showed glimmers of hope Monday night with an admirable defensive display against a very talented Manchester City team.

Click to continue reading...

Looks like this guy is doing his best Dr. Emmett Brown impersonation.
You know, the wacky scientist in Back to the Future.
Ahhhh, now you're seeing it.
To the links:

• Rangers win the Old Firm bout 2-1. [Telegraph]
  
• Garber backs Kroenke to buy Arsenal.

Click to continue reading...

Captain Cesc Fabregas turns in a match winning performance- four assists and a goal, as Arsenal beat Blackburn Rovers 6-2 at home. Video highlights from the game. Final score:- Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn Rovers ( Vermaelen, Robin Van Persie, Andrei Arshavin, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner/ Steven Nzozi, David Dunn) Half time score :- Arsenal 3-2 Blackburn [. Click to continue reading...

I wanted to write this the other day when I actually read a piece that Harry 'check out my eye-bags' Redknapp wrote in his column in the Sun newspaper. My apologies for it being later than a London bus.
He seems to have a massive opinion on Adebayor-gate and my advice to him is to keep his mouth shut. Click to continue reading...

Well, not as such anyway as he was handed a two game suspended ban, in addition to a £25,000 fine, with the FA saying:

"In reaching its decision, the Commission took into account his (Adebayor's) admission of the charge, public apology and the extremely provocative nature of the abuse he received.

Click to continue reading...

The title to this article might suggest that I am providing some late coverage on Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner's recent car accident while driving to practice in his Aston Martin. In reality, though, this article is written in vehement defense of the player, who has certainly had more than his fair share of critics, to put it bluntly.

Click to continue reading...

Arsenal defender Gael Clichy was delighted with the Gunners' performance in the Champions League, believing the squad have the quality to go on to lift silverware.

Although needing two late goals to secure all three points against Olympiacos, the overall performance of Wenger's players was superb, with Clichy highlighting the scoring options of the Gunners.

Click to continue reading...

Arsenal defender Gael Clichy was delighted with the Gunners' performance in the Champions League, believing the squad have the quality to go on to lift silverware.

Although needing two late goals to secure all three points against Olympiacos, the overall performance of Wenger's players was superb, with Clichy highlighting the scoring options of the Gunners.

Click to continue reading...

Since I did not do the EPL review for week 5, I figured I'd might as well combined weeks 5 and 6 together in this bumper post on the Barclays Premier League weekend matches review.
Week 5 was all about the fiercely contested Manchester derby in which an Adebayor-less Manchester City traded punches with Man United. Click to continue reading...