The big win over Blackburn was immensely enjoyable and has lifted the mood in the Gooner camp to a great extent after an eminently forgettable January. A lot has already been said about the match and I don't want to revisit it in detail but there were two goals in that game that caught my eye.

Both the goals started from the back but were scored in a markedly different manner, each a delight in its own way.

A dictionary definition of "hope" is: "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best."

In recent games there have been certain Arsenal players who, when they receive the ball, induce in me the opposite of hope.

What I mean by this is the very personal effect they have on me when watching the game.

A dictionary definition of "hope" is: "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best."

In recent games there have been certain Arsenal players who, when they receive the ball, induce in me the opposite of hope.

What I mean by this is the very personal effect they have on me when watching the game.

Liverpool have hit some sort of form since Gerard has returned from injury. Chelsea stole a point late in the game at Swansea and are now six points ahead of Arsenal. This season has always been about a battle for fourth an it's time for the Gunners to buckle up and pick up the points in games like the next one at the Reebok, many much tougher games will anyway see Arsenal dropping points in the coming weeks.

It seems that things are looking a bit brighter for Arsene Wenger with news that a few Arsenal players are back in contention after recovering from injury. Kieran Gibbs is not back yet, but Wenger is very happy to know that Bacary Sagna's return will mean that the Gunners have at least one true full-back [.

Stop me if you have had heard this story before. An Arsenal players original injury is misdiagnosed and during his rehab, he gets injured again. This scenario almost cost Thomas Vermaelen all of last season, and now it is happening to Jack Wilshere. Its like Groundhog Day all over again.

Wilshere, whose original stress fracture injury was misdiagnosed, underwent surgery in the fall and was expected to make his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt this season in the next few weeks.

Over the last few seasons Arsene Wenger has gathered an assortment of players, paid them good wages and has waited for them to deliver. Unfortunately, they have not delivered the goods nor have they developed into the world class players we thought they would turn into.

For a few transfer windows we have been expecting these players to be sold, but the ridiculous wages, for their limited wages has meant we have not been able to get rid of these deadwood players.

1. After the man that should have been sent off for a nasty stamp won and scored a match winning penalty in injury time for Manchester City, you had to wonder whether today was going to be our day. There had been plenty of talk of "revenge" from Arsenal players ahead of kick-off, in reference to the 8-2 battering we dished out at Old Trafford, so we knew they would be up for this game even more than usual.

Thierry Henry went from hero to villain in just a matter of days when, following his amazing match winner against Leeds in the FA Cup, he remonstrated with an Arsenal fan to come onto the pitch after the game to have a word with the Frenchman.

Arsenal lost the match 3-2 with Swansea playing some excellent passing football, much in the same style as Arsenal, but won the game following a loose pass from Henry.

Angry, frustrated, disappointed. Once again Arsenal fans are left let-down, once again we are promised things will change and once again it is groundhog season for Arsenal, and we haven't even entered the annual departures of the close season.

Where do we start? It is obvious that things went wrong in the summer with Wenger anticipating that both Nasri and Fabregas will not leave these were the hopes of a man living in a dream land.

Like all responsible pet owners, we left our snark in the office over New Year. We ensured it had adequate food, water and celebrity list programmes to see it through the night, with the TV turned up loud to avoid firework-related outbursts.

We were concerned that it might be sulking today and therefore refuse to contribute to the first results post of 2012, but you'll be relieved to see it's in fine form and frolicking around our captions like nothing had even happened.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Although Thierry Henry's recent stint at Arsenal was technically just for training, rumors continue to swirl that Arsene Wenger is considering offering the former Arsenal striker a short-term contract. Some reports stipulate that a two-month loan has already been offered to the New York Red Bulls forward.

Thierry Henry to rejoin Arsenal, Luis Suarez banned: Papers round-up

Arsenal players have urged Arsene Wenger to re-sign Thierry Henry to boost their chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-29 06:45:28 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The German defender Per Mertesacker was just one of the Arsenal players that were denied a goal by Wayne Hennessey in Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Wolves, but despite the small setback he is still certain that the Gunners will be moving back into the Champions League places very shortly. "We had a big chance to [.

Yoann Gourcuff has been linked with a move to Arsenal for a long, long time.
Since the summer this 'rumour' has grown bigger than Gervinho's forehead and won't go away despite Arsene Wenger denying it will happen.
Wenger's reason for not bringing in Gourcuff is that Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby will be back from injury soon and there will be a lot of players in the midfield area.

Isn't it funny how different people see different things? I know opposing managers will see one incident in very different ways. For one it was a penalty, for the other his defender just got a touch of the ball.

But I'm genuinely curious as to how Alex McLeish thinks Arsenal players 'conned' Alan Hutton into getting sent off the other night.

Morning all.

Last night Chelsea beat Man City. Not with iron bars, sadly. If it were up to me teams I didn't like (which is all of them) would be sent onto the pitch carrying clubs and planks with nails sticking out of them and told to have at each other. The team with most men left standing at the end gets the three points.

Lots of chat today over whether Arsenal chose the right people for the 125 year statues.
In issues like these, you're basically asking people to decide who their favourite Arsenal players were - a ridiculously subjective exercise.
So, at least for the initial statues, you have to go with the obvious candidates.

The 3-1 humbling to Olympiakos is Greece in the last group match of the Champions League was a match full of frustration for some Arsenal players. It shows that they may have to leave during the January winter transfer window in 2012 as they just don't look like they are interested in playing well for [.

Team news, manager quotes and match facts ahead of the Champions League Group F tie between Olympiacos and Arsenal at Stadio Karaiskaki.

TEAM NEWS

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger selected a mixed squad for the final Champions League Group F game at Olympiacos.

With the Gunners already qualified having won the group, the likes of raw midfielders Oguzhan Ozyakup and Craig Eastmond, defenders Ignasi Miquel and Nico Yennaris many of whom had played in the Carling Cup defeat toManchester City - were included, along withEngland Under-21 international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Team news, manager quotes and match facts ahead of the Champions League Group F tie between Olympiacos and Arsenal at Stadio Karaiskaki.

TEAM NEWS

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger selected a mixed squad for the final Champions League Group F game at Olympiacos.

With the Gunners already qualified having won the group, the likes of raw midfielders Oguzhan Ozyakup and Craig Eastmond, defenders Ignasi Miquel and Nico Yennaris many of whom had played in the Carling Cup defeat toManchester City - were included, along withEngland Under-21 international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Team news, manager quotes and match facts ahead of the Champions League Group F tie between Olympiacos and Arsenal at Stadio Karaiskaki.

TEAM NEWS

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger selected a mixed squad for the final Champions League Group F game at Olympiacos.

With the Gunners already qualified having won the group, the likes of raw midfielders Oguzhan Ozyakup and Craig Eastmond, defenders Ignasi Miquel and Nico Yennaris many of whom had played in the Carling Cup defeat toManchester City - were included, along withEngland Under-21 international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The messages I have received about Jack Wilshere tweeting stuff on S*urs has gone off the richter scale.
Sure, from their point of view, at times, it probably may seem a little annoying.
However, surely they can see it is only a bit of banter?
If one of the S*urs players was tweeting about Arsenal I would have banter back and tweet a reply.

Video highlights and reaction match report -

So Carling Cup defeat last night, and late defeat at that, but the overwhelming sense I have this morning is that of team that deserved more. Arsenal's youngsters, combined with some experience, more than held their own against the most expensively assembled squad in modern football.

Ah, how annoying, eh? A nearly flawless "away to Arsenal" performance only undone because Thomas Verbloodymaelen decided to make amends for his earlier own goal, thus turning an away win into a 1-1 draw. Pah.

Fulham as the live commentators never stopped saying were very organised. Sometimes Fulham players must feel a bit like Pamela Anderson here: well yes, thank you, but there's more to me, really there is.

As many will know, we are in the middle of Movember. Yup, in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and Ireland, chaps are being encouraged to let the above-the-lip stuff grow unchecked for a month.

And this has exactly what to do with the greatest football club in the world (that's us, in case there's any misunderstanding)?

What a thoroughly entertaining game of football that was. Even Robbie Williams, the greatest entertainer known to mankind, had nothing on that.
The only thing missing was a pissed up Delia Smith coming onto the pitch and cooking a Sunday roast (on a Saturday) at half-time.
To be fair though Norwich City were roasted enough as it was and had Delia showed then she would have only overcooked them.

Ok in the height of the interlull (or is that the bleak midwinter of it?) a trip down memory lane as requested by the Raven Haired Warrior Princess.

Watch from about ten seconds in to see the brawl that resulted in a 2 point deduction for us and a one point deduction for the Mancs. You will see Winterburn receiving an almighty kick in from McClair and then the melee starts.

Arsene Wenger has never been a great fans of international football matches, especially 'meaningless friendlies'. It always seems to end with one or two Arsenal players coming back with injuries and Wenger certainly does not approach these games with 'joy'. "It is certainly not a joy for me but hopefully it is not a pain [.

Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere has pledged to remain with the Gunners for life. The forward who is out with an ankle injury also explained how much he hoped to part of the new wave of Arsenal players along with team mates Aaron Ramsey and Kieran Gibbs who will take the club to greater heights.

3PM Extra: Watch Arsenal's brilliant Xmas ad, Ronaldinho showboating and an MLS fan almost lose her head

Presenting quality football videos from the interweb, daily at 3pm. Here's today's collection: 1) Not only have Arsenal players rediscovered their form on the pitch, but the marketing department is also going great guns off of it.

It may have been a poor start to the season for the majority of the squad but the Arsenal players have certainly turned things round, both individually and as a team. Who, then, would give way for the Gunners' 2010-11 Player of the Season Jack Wilshere? Whilst Song has continued his impressive consistency, Walcott – [.

Video highlights and reaction Match Report By the numbers

There is a tendency these days to over-hype every little thing as something special but what we saw yesterday ... well, that was extraordinary. At the end the Arsenal players celebrated as if they'd won a trophy. Normally I'd be cynical about that, it being only one game after all, but not yesterday.

I woke up this morning after another miserable sleep (my entire family has been sick all week) and patiently waited for the alarm to sound at 0530 hours. I then proceeded into my methodical habits for early morning Arsenal matches of slipping on whatever clothing was lying around, and immediately making a strong pot of coffee.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is fully aware that pundits will rip apart Chelsea's deteriorating defense but the Frenchman believes that today's 5-3 win should be attributed to the offensive quality of his side.

The Gunners looked shaky themselves on the defensive front but their relentless attack on the Blues' goal was rewarded with a hat-trick was skipper Robin van Persie as well as a goal apiece for Andre Santos and Theo Walcott.

The thing which everybody forgot was that it was hardly a great Arsenal side which challenged so strongly until March last season.
Tears were spilt on deadline day 2010 over a refusal to buy a veteran keeper; the centre half whom everyone insisted we signed turned out to be not much cop; the side as a whole was very dependent on Marouane Chamakh and Samir Nasri in the first half of the season, Robin van Persie in the New Year.

Defenders Oliver Nicholas and Rhema Obed maybe unfamiliar names to many but they have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Emmanuel Frimpong and Conor Henderson, two highly rated young Arsenal players. In fact, anorak alert, the four of them feature side by side in the Arsenal Handbook 2008/2009.
They're together no more of course.

Arsene Wenger understands that it has been difficult for all the new Arsenal players coming in to handle the great expectations immediately placed on them while they were still settling in, but he now feels that the squad have the "mental strength" to deal with the criticism. "Football is difficult if you are not united," [.

There have been many times when I have blasted ex-Arsenal players, that have become TV and newspaper pundits, who continue to knock Arsenal when we are down.
These 'experts' claim to love the club yet jump on a bandwagon that has gained more pace than Frank Lampard chasing an ice-cream van down a hill.

Arsene Wenger thinks that the fact that Thomas Vermaelen has bucked the trend of Arsenal players wishing to leave the club and has committed himself to a new contract is proof that things aren't all doom and gloom at the Emirates. The Frenchman is very pleased with the attitude in the dressing room at the [.