Arsenal's new Number One is making quite a name for himself in the opening weeks of the season.

He made a string of fine saves in the cauldron of Udine, including a Seaman-esque penalty stop, to effectively win Arsenal £25m and guarantee their participation in this year's Champions League.

Over the past couple of years, Arsenal have been severely criticised for their transfer policy and their reluctance to splash the cash on big name players. The Gunners have been accused of everything from a lack of ambition to manipulating the share price, as their time without a trophy grows longer and longer and Arsene Wenger's men slip further and further down the Premier League pecking order.

By Nick Tolhurst Is the "Media" out to get us? – No, it's even worse than that. Explaining how the media got so negative and what it means for Arsenal. For many Arsenal fans perhaps the most disappointing development of the last few years has been the increasingly negative media on arsenal related issues.

Arsene Wenger eventually made some significant signings as the transfer window slammed shut with Mike Arteta arguably being the pick of the bunch of the new recruits for the Gunners.

But AW isn't the only one who has been busy tracking down top talent to represent the Arsenal.

Fans finally voting with their feet.. Silent Stan nowhere to be seen.. Just what is going on at Arsenal?

Arsenal fans are voting with their feet for the first time during Arsene Wenger's 15-year reign. Tickets for a Premier League match are on general sale for the Bolton game on Saturday week.

Ayegbeni Yakubu scored twice on his Blackburn Rovers debut as Steve Kean's team shocked Arsenal 4-3 to win their first league match of the season.

Arsenal have now won just 1 of their last 11 away league games and have conceded 12 goals on their last two Premier League away games.

But the Gunners should have wrapped this match up in the first half when they twice held one goal leads as Gervinho and Mikel Arteta scored their first goals for the Gunners.

1. If you squint, there isn't too much of a difference between Cesc Fabregas and Mikel Arteta. Perhaps Arsene Wenger took the demands for a new Fabregas a bit too literally. 2. After careful consideration, Arsenal fans are probably the biggest bunch of Sky Sports camera transfer deadline day morons, narrowly pipping Liverpool.

The transfer day deadline was a flurry of activities and I loved it! Sitting down sifting through TFB4's twitter page, there was a feeling of major surprise signings and it did take place albeit in small measures. I compiled The Flat Back Four's top five most intriguing transfer signings.

By Phil Gregory Well, that was one hell of a deadline day for Arsenal fans, and it brings to a close our summer of transfer activity which has resulted in six additions. Those are, of course: Mertesacker Jenkinson Santos Arteta Benayoun Campbell Gervinho Oxlade-Chamberlain Young Park You could also potentially include Miyiachi onto that list [.

Ordinarily, I avoid the superficial, Sky induced hype of Deadline Day in the same manner that I'd give a live railway line a wide berth. The gurning, buckteeth boys leering swearily behind Sky reporters (shouldn't you unruly yoots be looting JD Sports or something?), the strains of Jim White unloading his cargo as Jimmy McJourneyman completes his lucrative loan move to Hamilton Academicals.

By Alan Duffy

Like Gulliver in Lilliput, 6'6″ German giant Per Mertesacker towers above Arsene Wenger's collection of pint-sized playmakers, including the diminutive Russian Andrei Arshavin.

Arsenal fans wanted height, and lo and behold, the French tactician gave them height.

By Alan Duffy

Like Gulliver in Lilliput, 6'6″ German giant Per Mertesacker towers above Arsene Wenger's collection of pint-sized playmakers, including the diminutive Russian Andrei Arshavin.

Arsenal fans wanted height, and lo and behold, the French tactician gave them height.

Farewell Mikel Arteta, hello Ross Barkley? is a post from: Just Football

by Jonah Loeb

A friend of mine, an Arsenal supporter, sent me an e-mail about fifteen minutes after Mikel Arteta's £10m transfer to Arsenal went through. It began "Hope you're holding up OK," and ended "I feel bad that it went down like this.

Every time there is an International break, Arsenal fans grit their teeth, close their eyes, and say prayer that one of our players will not suffer a big injury during some trivial international tie. Unfortunately, ...

This is really one of the biggest questions in the minds of Arsenal fans these days what should we make of Financial Fair Play? As I wrote in my last blog, and as everyone already knew anyway, we most certainly don't have a sugar daddy type owner. At the same time, we also know that our club makes a ton of revenue, and would compete pretty well with the giants in Europe if every club lived within its means.

While many Arsenal fans are pleasantly surprised by the five unexpected additions that the club made before the summer transfer window closed, some are disappointed by the fact that, with the possible exception of Per ...

After everything, the transfer deadline day, the ups and downs of that, the Interlull and more, it seems like ages since that game at Old Trafford.

I get the feeling that even though we qualified for the Champions League August 2011 is not a month that many Arsenal fans will care to look back on, and if they do, it won't be with a great deal of fondness.

The signing of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton this summer was met acrimoniously by many sectors of the Emirates faithful. Over the international break, Chamberlain went some way to justifying the money that Arsene Wenger paid for the talented teen and giving Arsenal fans a taste of what is to come.

The Republic of Ireland side briefly lost concentration during their 0-0 draw with Russia when an image of Robbie Savage in his 'Strictly' costume appeared on the stadium JumboTron. Image: Getty Images/Daylife.

With normal league fixtures resuming at the weekend, now is your last opportunity until er.

When the fixture computer plucked out Arsenal v Swansea for Saturday 10th September, most Arsenal fans could have been forgiven for thinking of not just of an easy three points from this early season fixture – but also about a goal fest!

But given the Gunners recent poor performances Arsenal fans are nervously looking over their shoulders – could Swansea do the impossible and win at the Emirates?

Three matches in and there are already a few things we know about the Premiership.

1 That Manchester United will hit double figures against some poor unfortunates this season

2 Thanks to some serious spending QPR might just end up being the second most successful West London club this season

3 Gary Cahill will go in the January transfer window for £20 million plus

4 There are at least a dozen commentators hoping that Denis Stracqualursi isn't a success at Everton

5 Shane Long might just make the difference between West Brom staying up

So on to this week's games brought to you in conjunction with our betting sponsors www.

by Adam Bate

Welcome to September. It's the month in which we say goodbye to summer and football fans everywhere say hello to the squad of players they now know they'll be stuck with until January. The transfer window has shut but the recriminations continue. And Arsenal fans etch the date of 7 April into their diaries – the day on which Samir Nasri will return to the stadium that he found just a smidgeon too quiet for his tastes.

by Adam Bate

Welcome to September. It's the month in which we say goodbye to summer and football fans everywhere say hello to the squad of players they now know they'll be stuck with until January. The transfer window has shut but the recriminations continue. And Arsenal fans etch the date of 7 April into their diaries – the day on which Samir Nasri will return to the stadium that he found just a smidgeon too quiet for his tastes.

For many Arsenal fans, Saturday brings a mixture of optimism and caution. Following the defeat at Old Trafford, the future direction of the club has been questioned and debated in the press and in the pubs alike. The collective voice suggests that Arsenal can no longer compete at the top level for player transfers and wages.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is of the opinion that the Gunners' season begins in earnest with victory over Swansea City at the Emirates Stadium after a dreadful start to the new campaign. It was former British Prime Minster Harold Wilson who once said that ‘a week is a long time in politics'. Indeed, the [.

Join us for live blogging of Arsenal v Swansea in the Premier League. Kick off is 3pm, team news posted as soon as we have it.

Live blog is 100% free to follow on your computer or mobile device and gives you up to the minute text updates from the match. And now you can bet on the game as it happens with Paddy Power providing live odds throughout the game.

Made my first trip to see a match at the Emirates today to watch Arsenal play Swansea. Luckily I saw Arsenal win 1-0. But it was far from an impressive performance by the Gunners.

Yes they won via an Arshavin goal, but Swansea really should have equalized late in aded time when Danny Graham shot over from the edge of the six yard box.

Made my first trip to see a match at the Emirates today to watch Arsenal play Swansea. Luckily I saw Arsenal win 1-0. But it was far from an impressive performance by the Gunners.

Yes they won via an Arshavin goal, but Swansea really should have equalized late in aded time when Danny Graham shot over from the edge of the six yard box.

Poor Arsene Wenger has bourne the brunt of disillusioned Arsenal fans the land over and further to that he has also had to endure the biting comments of former Arsenal legends. The latest Gunners legend to slam the Frenchman is Peter Storey. The 65-year-old spent twelve seasons with his boyhood club between 1965 and 1977 [.

Well, that should see off the Monday morning blues. Thank you, Palermo's Mauricio Pinilla. And if that's not enough skin for you, Kickettes, you might want to follow the jump... Image: Getty Images/Daylife.

Oh, Monday. Why are we never ready for you? Even though we're aware how you bring the inevitable conclusion of our weekends each and every time and might take measures to stave off your ruinous effects (gulp water in between cocktails, try to sleep at least five hours in forty-eight, take spare shoes out so our feet aren't reduced to bloody stumps) we're never ready for your arrival.

The Game Arsenal today kick-off their official Champions League campaign when they face Borussia Dortmund in their first game of Group F. When five players were signed in two days, many Arsenal fans thought that many of ...

His arrival at Arsenal wasn't met with anything approaching jubilation. He was no marquee signing. Consistent and efficient on the pitch, and quiet and modest off it, The contrast between Mikel Arteta's understated entrance and Fabregas' regal arrival at Camp Nou, could not be starker. But this contrast does not extend to their talents.

Gervinho and has yet to show the Arsenal fans what he is capable of since signing from Lille in the summer, but now he has finished his domestic ban he is raring to go and is settling in well at his new club. Speaking to Sky Sports today he said, "I am settling well. It [...]

By Kirsten Schlewitz / Senior West Coast Beer and Aston Villa Correspondent


So fans of soccer in America, do you know what Fox Soccer would like to show you on Saturday? Blackburn – Arsenal is the early match, followed by Aston Villa – Newcastle. I'm a Villa fan, and I'm still not pleased by this offering.

Nicklas Bendtner always talked a good game but never quite managed to convince Arsene Wenger or the Arsenal fans of his ability, but now that he has finally made his debut for Sunderland he seems to have regained his old confidence and is aiming to be the top scorer in the Premier League. The Black [.

Has the league title gone? Would you take fourth place if it was offered to you right now? Should Arsene Wenger be sacked? These are just a few of the questions that are flying around on the forums and amongst Arsenal fans in the pubs and clubs right now, but what are your expectations now [...]

Being a Gooner these days is becoming a very frustrating time.
It seems to me that Arsenal fans are torn more than a Michael Owen hamstring.
The Arsenal faithful appear to be at each others throats and it is a sight more disturbing than watching Harry Redknapp perform a lap dance.

Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal

Back to the drawing board.

To be honest, the drawing board would be an improvement on the losing board, where we find ourselves time and again yet after another false dawn. Collaps-o-Arsenal© is not a fleeting blip, it's endemic, and the most worrying thing of all is that Wenger seems entirely powerless to remedy it.

Arseblog has teamed up with Thomas Cook Sport, official travel partner of Arsenal, to provide two pairs of tickets for this Saturday's game against Bolton.

Arsenal need to get back to winning ways after a disappointing start to the season and you could be there to help cheer them back into form.

Good afternoon, readers. It's been a while...

Sorry for the recent lack of inactivity. Generally, life has thrown me some rather challenging obstacles lately and in turn, I've had to deal with them accordingly. Everything seems to be back on track now, and it seems that normal service can finally resume, once again.