I don't mention it too much when I post the weekly Top 25s, but I'm a Newcastle United supporter. (Yes, it's been a long season.) Among the English Big Four, I usually root for Chelsea for a couple of reasons. One is just residual respect that I have so Jose Mourinho. The other reason is, primarily, that I just don't care that much for the other three.

Having won the first two games of the group, Arsenal will face AZ Alkmaar away from home and will be searching for a hat-trick of wins which would virtually guarantee them a place in the ...

Despite getting off to a start that has gone beyond all expectations, the football pundits continue to dig around for any reason to stick to their idiotic pre-season predictions of Arsenal's impending doom and gloom. The club is 15-2-2 overall having scored 55 goals, 10-0 at home having scored 33 goals at the Emirates.

By CARL ELDRIDGE Brainless Liam Ridgewell must have watched re-runs of his Birmingham City team-mate Martin Taylor's leg-breaking assault on Eduardo as preparation for his miserable side's visit to Arsenal yesterday.

That is the only conclusion I can make after watching him cut through poor Theo Walcott in a thuggish attempt to bully the speedster out of the game.

Arsenal came into its own with crisp, free flowing football. Cesc with a brace, Nasri with a very welcome contribution on his return, and Diaby rounded up the scoring. But Arshavin was the source having a hand in three of the goals. And Wenger singled him out.

Wenger highlighted Andrey Arshavin - who had a hand in three of the goals - for special praise, saying: "He was outstanding.

Andrey Arshavin is the man of the match against AZ Alkmaar in the Emirates Stadium yesterday. The Russian playmaker exuded class whenever he pushed forward and had provide assists to three of Arsenal's four goals. Arsenal beat AZ Alkmaar 4-1 in the Champions League game and are likely to qualify for the 2nd round of the competition.

Updating as it happens...
Group A
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Group B
Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Group C
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Group D
Chelsea
Porto
Group E
Liverpool
Lyon
Group F
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Group G
Sevilla
Rangers
Group H
Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar

It was a dive. It was a dive. It was a dive.
Despite every Arsenal fan accepting that, we still have had it repeated ad nauseam. All day long. So I thought it should be said a few more times.
Goodplaya's description of events is perfect:

Last night Eduardo did what a million strikers do – nudge the ball past the keeper and trust his momentum will provide enough contact to yield a penalty.

Isn't it just typical, you book yourself a little holiday only to find yourself home one week before the Arsenal head to Alkmaar which is just up the road from where you were and you miss what is for most a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, and that is seeing Arsenal in an away Champions League match.

Wenger got the team wrong last night. But first, it's important to recognise a couple of things.
Firstly, a draw away in Europe is never a bad result. We had six points on the board, now we have seven. So despite Alkmaar's last minute equaliser we're sure to go through. Which is more than can be said for Liverpool.

Points dropped, not a big deal

I was very close to lauding Alex Song to the heavens last night when he dropped his guard as to be honest did the rest of the Arsenal defence in the 93rd minute, enabling AZ Alkmaar to equalise.

He did have a terrific game, but he's not the polished gem we would yet have him to be, even though his improvement has been spectacular.

Arsenal 4-1 AZ Alkmaar R (HT 2-0)

• Fabregas 25
• Nasri 43
• Fabregas 52
• Diaby 72

• Lens 82

There's no question about what the match of the weekend will be this week. With a victory over Barcelona, Real Madrid can move within one point of the Primera Division lead. Given that a few months ago, Barcelona had a twelve-point La Liga lead, this could be one more step in a historic comeback.

MUNICH (AP) -- Louis van Gaal has been hired by Bayern Munich as the permanent replacement for fired coach Juergen Klinsmann.
The 57-year-old led AZ Alkmaar to the Dutch league championship this season and was given a two-year contract by Bayern to start July 1.
Klinsmann, the former coach of Germany's national team, left his home in Southern California to take over Bayern last summer but was fired April 27.

Groningen's prolific striker Marcus Berg, who had become a regular in the senior national team, joined the U21 side in order to help them at the tournament they hosted and he immediately showed why he was tracked by the number of European clubs. Berg scored a hat-trick in the opening game against Belarus and thus helped his side record a very important win, while at the same time he impressed the visiting scouts and he therefore made a big step towards making a move to much bigger club then Groningen.

Champions League draw Olympiakos, Standard Liege, AZ Alkmaar

I was going to header this morning's post with a suitably daft play on words such as Eduardo the Confessor or Much Edu About Nothing, but seeing as we've yet to hear a peep from our number nine and the issue of diving is not really trivial, I didn't.

Arsenal will face AZ Alkmaar in tonight's champions league game without key players, although they welcome Gael Clichy, Carlos Vela and Fran Merida back from International duty back in the squad. Below is a ...

>> Click Here To Watch AZ Alkmaar Vs Arsenal Live Now <<

AZ v Arsenal Live Streaming & Match Preview
Champions League AZ Alkmaar vs Arsenal Live Online Click Here
Tuesday, 20th October 2009
Kick Off : 19:45 GMT
Venue : DSB Stadium, AZ Alkmaar

English side Arsenal make the trip to Holland for this Champions League group stage match with qualification just a couple of points away, the Gunners finding themselves top of Group H with 6 points from 2 games, 3 points clear of nearest side Olympiakos.

Remember Reyes or Cygan?

The European journey continues tonight for Arsenal against the champions of Dutch Eredivise, AZ Alkmaar. This is the first of back-to-back fixtures against the Ronald Koeman's team. Koeman who was at Arsenal's 6-2 thrashing of Blackburn, said that he saw some weakness in Arsenal's game during that game and will look to exploit it.

The UEFA Champions League returns to action today with eight matches that will go a long way in clarifying the picture as team's battle for position mid-way through the group stage.

Liverpool is in crisis mode and needs a win against Lyon today to stop the bleeding and establish itself as a team capable of advancing out of its group.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger declared his side were superior to AZ Alkmaar in yesterday's Group H Champions League game and only failed to win for losing concentration in the dying minutes of the game. Speaking after ...

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger declared his side were superior to AZ Alkmaar in yesterday's Group H Champions League game and only failed to win for losing concentration in the dying minutes of the game. Speaking after ...

A David Mendes Da Silva stoppage time volley following a free kick that was taken from AZ's own half cancelled out Cesc Fabregas 36th-minute opener. A 1-1 draw away at AZ Alkmaar meant that The Gunners were unable to rack up their third straight European win in the Champions League.

See below for match highlights followed by Arsene Wenger's post-match interview.

Tuesday's match with AZ Alkmaar was full of deja vu on so many levels. Arsenal created a similar amount of chances to most of their other matches this season. Also, our inability to take our chances and kill the game off with the second goal was reminiscent of last season.

I didn't get to see much of the game last night and I have hardly had a chance to sit down today and watch the full highlights so this blog may again be fairly short.

We drew 1-1 away at AZ Alkmaar of Holland but should really have won the game and closed it out, as it happens we conceded from yet another set piece and had to settle for a share of the spoils.

The third C-word to consider is choking. Can you have both 'choking' and 'complacency' in one game. I believe you can. Hello, Gooners wherever in the world you are reading this. As promised this is my second preview-ish post to the game against West Ham. Why two posts BEFORE a game? Special games need special focus.

by CARL EDLRIDGE Baffling coverage in this morning's papers devoting vaulable space to the fact that a toilet in a run-down pit of a place in north London is being knocked down. See the story here in the Telegraph.

Meanwhile, Andrey Arshavin gives his take on the disappointing draw at West Ham on Sunday in this morning's papers and, unlike his leaden-footed performance seemed to demonstrate at Upton Park, it seems he does care.

The Under-17 World Cup knockout round game between the United States and Italy is only available online (10am - ESPN360.com). Champions League on Fox Soccer Channel: Rubin Kazan - Barcelona at 12:30pm, Lyon - Liverpool at 2:30pm, and Arsenal - Alkmaar at 5pm (2:30pm on Setanta). All Times Eastern

Right then, football tonight against Alkmaar and I really hope they're just plain old AZ tonight and not the typical Ronald Koeman AZzzzzzzzz.

Every time we play a Koeman side it's inevitably a truly dire spectacle. A tedious, coma inducing draw of some kind and I could really do without that tonight.

I'm sure you're all like me out there in the Gooner Nation. Still luxuriating in the warm glow of the derby win last Saturday over the Forces of Darkness. The cod DVD cover doing the email rounds with Spurs releasing a highlights video of the first forty-two minutes of the game is absolutely delicious.

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.

Samir: Let it go Fab, they can't help it if they're that bad

Ok. I'll admit if you think that's lame but that pretty much sums up the match doesn't it. Andrey Arshavin had a blast as Arsenal met (thrash) Alkmaar in the Champions League encounter last night. Qualification is not mathematically secured yet but it would take a miraculous set of results for Arsenal not to go through.

Liverpool was so close to victory yesterday in Lyon. After giving Lyon their best for 83 minutes, a Ryan Babel wonder goal broke the deadlock, handing Rafa and the Reds a lifeline in Group E. A win against the French powerhouse would throw them back in the thick of things. But it was not to be, as Lisandro Lopez capitalized on some poor Liverpool defending to snatch a 1-1 draw that sealed Lyon's passage to the knockout stage.

Arsenal attacked AZ Alkmaar with speed and purpose to all but seal their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
______________________________________________________________________________

Whisper it quietly but this may be the real deal. Arsenal's speed and incision cut apart Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar but the win received as little as a whimper of attention across Europe.

The 4-1 thumping of Alkmaar in midweek was an immensely satisfying affair, a triumph of footballing philosophy over the defensive nous of coaches such as Ronald Koeman, and yet another demonstration that this Arsenal team is serious about combining footballing beauty with tangible success.

But prior the the match, there was a definite sense of relaxation amongst the fans, as if the game really didn't matter, so assured was our progress regardless of the result.

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.

by CARL ELDRIDGE The goal-hungry Gunners are on course for a record-breaking ton of Premier League goals.

And this merits mention in today's Press with the Daily Mirror telling us that Arsene Wenger's men notched four more goals at Wolves to take their top-flight tally to 36 already in just 11 games.

Another week has passed and the top of the rankings are a little clearer. One reason that the view at the top is so clear is the Super Bonus Points awarded to the four clubs that have reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. (Super Bonus Points also were awarded to CONCACAF Champions League semifinalists, but those still weren't enough to put any of those clubs into the rankings.

Word is the 34 year old is set to make his debut with Sydney FC.
He's trying to Beckhamize the A-League.
Or not.
Anyways, the links:

• Big Ronaldo keeps dominating Brazil. [Guardian]
  
• Newcastle looking relegation in the face. [Daily Mail]
  
• Ref just laughs at PK query.

Fans pour onto the streets of Alkmaar to celebrate as news filters through confirming AZ Alkmaar as champions of Holland for only the second time in their history. PSV Eindhoven's 6-2 win over Ajax...