As both an Arsenal fan and a longtime Los Angeles Galaxy season ticket holder, I have been asked how I reconcile my support for two different teams. I always reply that supporting Arsenal and the Galaxy is like having two friends who are destined never to meet. This Saturday at the Emirates, that quip will be forever buried as my beloved Arsenal takes on Everton who will likely feature Landon Donovan, the captain of my beloved Galaxy.

The west stand of Highbury being demolished in 2006, home of Arsenal since 1913.

Photo Credit: ex_in_newc on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

Related posts:

1. Photo Daily: Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough Ayresome Park from the air, home of Middlesbrough FC from 1903 to 1995 and a World Cup finals venue in.

After a long, hot summer filled with plenty of football, we now stand between what's left of the work week before the Premier League returns with guns blazing, before Arsenal look like world beaters for four months on all those pristine green pitches before the weather turns, and before your least favorite post, Premier League Footballer of the Week returns with an unabashed arrival.

Tonight sees Liverpool and Tottenham go head-to-head in the latest battle between the contenders for fourth spot. If week 22 matches were anything to go by then all teams are doing their best to give the priceless spot to someone else.

Liverpool's average display against Stoke is a microcosm of their 'pants on the ground' season, with performances lacking sharpness, imagination and concentration (not bad luck) in dropping points in key Premier League and Champions League games.

I hope Ramsey recovers soon and his injury won't be as serious as that of Eduardo or RvP. There isn't much I can do for him so I'll just pray and hope. The injury was really bad so I don't want to dwell on it too much right now.

The team responded brilliantly and the spirit was phenomenal. Hats off to each and every one of them.

Ducky's Note: For all of you who might have been intrigued by the title of this post, yes, that's exactly what this Guest Post will be about. The poster however wishes to remain anonymous, and hence shall only be known as the Mystery Maiden. Of course, that is also to prevent the Arsenal loyalists who are bound to get incensed by what follows below from pouring out vitriol on her.

As the news slowly made its way across the pond to me that Thierry Henry had signed for the New York Red Bulls, I couldn't help but think, "He is always right". As a long time Arsenal fan, I was as disappointed and worried as other fans when Arsene Wenger allowed Henry to leave for a modest €24 million back in 2007.

I know, I know. The Premier League's Big Four aren't quite the impenetrable super-bloc of old. But despite the progress of Tottenham Hotspur and the fortunes of Man City, the Big Four are still the quartet of Premier League teams with the biggest worldwide profile.

Tweet

By an anonymous Arsenal fan who would quite like to revisit Barcelona one day

THERE was a time when if you asked any sane British footy fan who their favourite other European team was, they would smile and wistfully say Barcelona. Not any more.

As we all know, Barca is a club steeped in the best traditions of football, which has in the past boasted some of the most amazing players to have graced the game.

Several stories making the rounds today:

Supposedly Arsenal's 2011-2012 kit has been leaked, and you can find the pictures of it here. I don't like it as good as this year's, but this year's home shirt set the bar pretty high. If that's really it (and I stress that this has not been confirmed) .

The Nigerian man that attempted to bomb the American plane on Christmas Day lived in London, and studied at the University College. In an article this evening from the Middle Eastern Financial Times, it was also revealed that he was an Arsenal fan! The article said: Mr Abdulmutallab, described as competent in Arabic, had left Yemen [.

You can now get the exclusive Arsenal Periodic Table (sized A3 = 29.7cm x 42 cm) for only £2.99 plus p&p.

It's 118 of Arsenal's greatest players and managers in a periodic table, along with the years they played for the club. Specifically designed so the top 24 Arsenal players are listed seperately in the box below the main table, this is a fantastic poster that would grace the wall of any Arsenal fan.

After having their first bid rejected and United having their offer accepted, Arsenal put in a second bid to Fulham which was accepted. Arsene Wenger was a big fan of the young Fulham defender and was doing all he could to lure him to Arsenal.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson met the player in London on Tuesday night after Fulham's defeat to Spurs and that was all that was needed to get the deal sorted.

Sky describe tonight's FC Barcelona vs Arsenal game as "one of the biggest in Arsenal's history", which judging by the mood amongst fans out in the Catalan capital may well be true. "If we qualify it'll be on a par with Anfield '89″ claimed one Arsenal fan, though the half-empty pint swaying in his hand and glazed, fixed stare on his face implied he could have been standing outside Underhill, Barnet for a friendly and still said the same.

We are on the eve of what could be St. Totteringham's day. The signs, if you believe in them, have been ominous. The Tinies have lost some key players to injuries and suspensions and were worked for over two hours on a heavy pitch. The only thing that can see them through is adrenaline, although as an Arsenal fan I should never discount a gift from one of our players.

By Andy Jones

I apologise for not having a post last week and for this one being short, but I guarentee that next week's shall have a lot more depth and I shall be looking at player transfers, who should go, who should stay, and who should join the English Premier League!

Today's sponsor: Arsenal Worldwide. The association for every Arsenal fan across the world by Walter Broeckx So here we go again. Cesc has hardly put one foot on Spanish soil and the Spanish media are all over him again with all kind of stories about his move to Barcelona. Now to understand how things work we must know [.

The Man Who Still Holds the Key to Arsenal's Future

At first glance, this question looks bleedingly obvious. With their massive fan base, a beautiful new 60,000 plus seat stadium, and their years of success and trophies, Arsenal should be quite clearly considered to be a "big club.

Hitler - A Spud!?

Summer is here & the transfer market is rife with speculations. Every day a new name pops up linking him with a possible move to the Emirates. Even more frequent is the 'calling' for Cesc to his spiritual home i.e. Camp Nou. All this has made me sick to the point that I've avoided dwelling into them right from the offset.

It is impossible for an Arsenal fan to forget what Robert Pires meant to the club, one of the most important figures of the last decade for the Gunners. In an interview given to Catalan Radio ...

The man behind the media drive (couldn't resist) to get our Captain shipped over to Catalonia, has finally retreated this afternoon.

He has actually had a mini breakdown RE:Twitter and the abuse he has taken off Gooners since his Cesc to Barca quotes last month.

By Tony Attwood 1. My father was an Arsenal fan in the 1930s and he saw the greatest team the country had ever produced. I grew up supporting Arsenal during one of their lean spells when year after year we not only won nothing, we never once looked like winning anything. As a teenager I wondered why [.

Good morning from a sultry London. At least, I expect it to be sultry later on, or I want my money back. The shorts are on, perfectly complementing the hairy white legs, and I even got the electric fan out the loft last night it was so warm. That's as big a meteorological death wish as you'll ever see – it will be grey and dull within days.

By Chris Wright

New York Red Bulls striker Thierry Henry has revealed (yet again) that he really really really wants to return to Arsenal after his playing career ends, and the former Highbury legend admitted that he would be willing to shovel sh*te (metaphorically) in order to get his foot in the door.

By Walter Broeckx If you ask me what is the most depressing on being an Arsenal fan I should have to have a deep thought before answering. The reason is simple: I don't find many things depressing when it comes to Arsenal. Would it be the fact that we haven't won anything in 5 years? [...]

Arsenal as a club and their supporters have had to put up with a whole year of Barcelona players trying to poach Cesc Fabregas, and their statements have been getting more and more outlandish. Well now I think that every Arsenal fan should become a fully paid-up supporter of Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid, as [.

Apparently riled up by the brilliant Tottenham Hotspur contest entries we received from Brian Mechanick and Amy Sanders, Keith Hickey of Goal.Com and Match Fit USA offers a rebuttal piece. The longtime Arsenal fan certainly has a dog in the hunt, but if you were going to write a rebuttal piece, I'd say you better have something at stake.

I was watching the Fans Forum on ATVO when John Ley, an Arsenal fan and Telegraph columnist, mentioned that he'd been talking to Redknapp recently and the Tottenham manager was talking about winning the league and finishing above Arsenal. That information was being published just as they were talking live on the show so I decided to check the article out.

Well, I confidently suggested that the seemingly ubiquitous Colin Murray was the ideal fit for the BBC's ‘Match of the Day 2' and its more relaxed view of the weekend's football, and that Adrian Chiles would be "Adrian Who?" before long. Was I right? At the end of this Sunday's first show, I wasn't sure.

Like most soccer fans, I am a soccer league polygamist. Because I live less than 20 minutes from an MLS club, I root for and follow Major League Soccer in the U.S. However, I am also a passionate Arsenal fan who lives and dies in every match they play throughout the year. And of course, I love Serie A best of all and have my favorite club, whose scarf I wore proudly this past Sunday.

In line to start against Chelsea

In recent years, whenever Arsenal goes up against Chelsea, there will always be one name which scares us. Didier Drogba, the powerful Ivorian has definitely been a thorn in our side considering he has plundered in 12 goals in the last 10 competitive games he has played against us.

In the aftermath of the controversies surrounding the penalty incident between Marouane Chamakh, Scott Dann and Martin Atkinson in which the first look to being going to ground when the second touched him and the third called the penalty, it seems everyone has an opinion. Arsene Wenger and Chamakh were insistent that the striker was brought down.

Some nights of football defy you not to enjoy them. Even the most mean-spirited Arsenal fan must surely have felt at least a small stirring of joy in their souls at Spurs performance against Inter Milan. If Spurs can keep this kind of performance up and it is a big if, there will be two teams on North London capable of playing sublime if quite different kinds of football.

Following a week in which many members of the media have scrutinized tackles made by many players such as Michael Essien, Cesc Fabregas and Karl Henry it made me think, is tackling becoming extinct in the modern game.

I write this article as I strongly disagree with a lot of the bad press such tackles are receiving.

Arseblog pal and Arsenal fan Michael met Wojciech Szczesny on Monday and he's been kind enough to write a little piece for Arseblog.

It was with keen interest that I watched Wojciech Szczesny train with Poland Under-20s in Warsaw on Monday. He looked like he was enjoying himself, flying from one post to another making splendid saves, having fun and brimming with confidence in every move he made.

Ducky's Note: BFZ's long-lost Arsenal guest-writer is back after what has admittedly been a crushing week, even by Gooner fan standards. And it shows in his latest piece...

Three days before the game Surfing into physioroom.com to find out the no.

FC Barcelona Produced a Matser Class to thrash Real Madrid

"The worst thing isn't losing, the worst thing is not having a clue what's going on" wrote the pro Madrid AS's Tomas Roncero after seeing the wonderful display put upon by the great Barca side. In a nutshell that explained the entire match.

Here is a Guest Post from very thoughtful Arsenal fan called SVGunner, who gives a reasonable assessment of our chances against Manchester Utd on Monday, and of the season as a whole. I enjoyed reading it, and I hope you all do as well! Over to you SV...... Do Arsenal Have a Chance Against Man Utd...

We have another new writer on Just Arsenal to introduce today. Richard Hall is a dedicated Arsenal fan and loves writing about them, so hopefully we will see a lot of posts from him in the future. His first article is an analysis on the tactics used in Monday nights game. Over to you Richard........ A [.

Written by gunnern5

We all have blood running through our veins; I'm just the same with the exception that my red and white cells equal Arsenal. You see Arsenal is as much a part of me as my blood we are totally inseparable, one without the other is simply impossible.

My family ties with Arsenal go back to 1913 (almost a century) when my maternal Grandfather witnessed the first game at Highbury.