Well as you expect within the middle of the summer transfer season Arsenal, as always have been linked with many players from around the world and also within England.

From the transfer rumours displayed so far this is who I would like to find lined up for the first game next season in the premier league:

Goalkeeper

Manuel Almunia:

Why?

After another exciting weekend of Premiership action, Arsenal have yet again failed to capitalize on Aston Villa's slip up. With time running out on the 2008/09 season, Arsene Wenger is beginning to realize that it's do or die for his young Arsenal squad. If fans at the Emirates want to see Champions League football next season then Wenger and co.

RvP wants some trophies.

It was the Friday before the start of the Premier League season and I was on a plane home. The two gentlemen next to me starting talking and the conversation soon moved to football. One of them was lamenting Southampton's relegation into League One, he then said to his friend, "So it's four years without a trophy now then?

There have been many occasions in recent years where the genius of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been brought into question. After all, the trophy cabinet has been empty for four years and everyone, from skipper Cesc Fabregas to that little child in the upper tier at the Emirates, is becoming increasingly restless with the club's underachievements.

Denilson has been the cause of many a discussion between Gooners over the year.
Some think he is shit, some think he is average, and some think he is the dogs bollocks. I happen to think that Denilson is a good player who potentially could evolve into a very good player.
He has his critics, but there are stats that show he has had a good season at Arsenal and is probably a very underrated player at the club.

It has been confirmed that Adebayor has signed for manchester City

Manchester City have completed the signing of Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor on a five-year contract.

The fee for the Togo international has not been disclosed, although the 25-year-old is believed to have cost City in the region of £25million.

Has Arsene Wenger lost all of his ambition or does he just not care anymore? After Arsenal lost to Manchester United in May, I published an article about how Arsenal needs to learn a lesson if they want to improve and win something again. Part of that lesson was to focus on improvement and not accept stagnation.

As soon as the final whistle was blown at the Dragao last night, Manchester United confirmed its place in one of the two UEFA Champions League semifinals. Who was the opponent? A young Arsenal side that had already been penciled in as one of the semifinalists, around half an hour before United, courtesy of an emphatic 3-0 thrashing of Villarreal.

It was an eventful week once again in world football with international club tournaments raging on and domestic champions becoming clearer. The TOW played matches and/or made headlines during the calendar week of April 13-19. The winner is:

CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB (ENG)
The team also known as The Blues had an amazing week of fine results that would be envied by any club in Europe.

I did a post a couple years ago quoting someone about the World's 5 best players, and the headline brought in an unexpected number of hits. The quote at the time was that based on Ribery's initial performances for Bayern Munich, he must be among the world's five best players. After getting so many hits, I had realized that as a kind of public service, I should periodically post a list of the world's five best players, but I hadn't gotten around to it, until now, with the Real Madrid bringing in top players to compete with Barcelona and their top players.

When I came across this morning's comments provided by the agent of Barcelona ace Samuel Eto'o, the first word that came to my mind was diplomatic. Mr. Mesalles, who has been instrumental in promoting Eto'o to interested parties ever since Barca's treble-winning season came to an end, stated that the Cameroon international preferred to see out the one year that is left on his Barcelona contract.

William Gallas is like marmite; You love him or you hate him.
I happen to love him. Lots. Like a brother. And will continue to do so at the best of my ability.
Most people hate him. Cool, that's their opinion. But I can't really understand why.
Sure, he made himself look a bit of a croissant when he started crying on the pitch at St Andrews but why is the grudge still held?

There will many disappointed Gooners out there tonight. Disappointed because we haven't made any signings today or since Thomas Vermaelen arrived at the club. I can understand your frustrations. I would have loved Arsene Wenger to make a couple of signings too. But he hasn't. And I'm not that disappointed to honest.

The first defeat of the season is always the most tricky one to deal with. Perhaps that explains why some feel that the earlier it comes, the better. At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, a determined young Arsenal squad made a typically flying start to the campaign.

Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie declared he's delighted to have defender Thomas Vermaelen on his side, rather than against him. Recalling the spat between the two in the 2007 Amsterdan Tournament and speaking of the Belgian's impact on the Arsenal squad, the Dutch striker said:

He is hard and played very strong on me physically and I was a little bit upset about that.

Regular readers of my space will know how much I adore Carlos Vela and how much I love to watch him play and also, how many times I wanted him to start last season, something which, alas, rarely happened.

Vela and I

The first time I heard about Carlos and Arsenal was when a friend of mine, a Real Madrid fan, was surprised to find out that the little striker who zig-zagged his way past Sergio Ramos and Madrid's back four was actually an Arsenal player loaned out to the Spanish Liga.

Morning all and welcome to the daily backpage news roundup...

The Sun - Wenger has a Fran plan
ARSENE WENGER is determined to fight off Atletico Madrid and Seville who are eyeing young Spanish star Fran Merida.

The Daily Mirror - Ramsey calls for consistency
Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey insists Wales must start learning to be consistent throughout a match, rather than just in purple patches.

With the January transfer market fast-approaching, many will start speculating on who Arsene Wenger will add to his Arsenal squad, although according to the club's chairman, the money is there but the Frenchman has actually ...

To recap this weeks games I will..."yawn"...oh, sorry. I will have to say there wasn't a lot of excitement. Or better yet, all the excitement was stored up until the very last game!!
The Recap;
Saturday
EMFC 95 Magic 0 vs SSC 95 Hotspur 0
FC Portland 0 vs THUSC Sodium 0
Sherwood Force 0 vs USA Hotshots 3
Sunday
USA Hotshots 0 vs ESUFC Arsenal 0
OR Rush 95G Nike 1 vs SSC 95 Hotspur 2
Bracket Standings
OR Rush [13 pts]
THUSC Sodium [10 pts]
EMFC Magic [10 pts]
USA Hotshots [9 pts]
SSC Hotspur [9 pts]
LOSC Extreme [7 pts]
Sherwood Force [6 pts]
ESUFC Arsenal [5 pts]
FC Portland 4 pts]
Bracket Notes:
With so many games left it is still pretty up for grabs.

Liverpool v. Arsenal
Stadium: Anfield Stadium, England
Competition: English Premier League
Date: 21 April 2009
Kickoff: 20:00 GMT, 15:00 ET

Second-place Liverpool will host fourth-place Arsenal in a key Premiership clash! Soccerlens will be bringing you the action live!

On a day when one of the biggest games in English history occurs, it seems natural to look back to history.
And so to the great David Rocastle. A man who deserved to play in a Champions League semi-final and missed out mainly because of Heysel. A real man who merited an occasion such as this.

By Akbar GhaffarFrom the moment the match finished I just could not stop but have this thought circling around in my head continuously: Where is the hunger? Where is the hunger?Where is the hunger?I read all Wenger's pre-match statements "my team is ready", "it is our year" and so on but I did not see the hunger to win the match at any point.

Andrey Arshavin returns to the Arsenal squad for Saturday's penultimate league game against Manchester United. The 27-year-old Russian has proved a massive hit since joining the club in late January scoring 6 goals in 11 appearances and notching up 7 assists. "Andrey Arshavin is fully fit," Wenger said at Thursday's press conference.

by GIANFRANCO PANIZO

With so many high-profile matches on this weekend's slate of games, a recurring story line throughout Europe's top leagues is teams attempting to win their respective league titles.

Manchester United is a positive result away from adding more hardware to their trophy cabinet.

Welcome to the third and final part of my season review. In Part 1, I analysed our season as a whole, what went right and what went wrong. In Part 2, I gave ratings to all our players. Today, I will explain how I see the Arsenal squad next season, who I would sell and who I would buy to replace them.

Just a quick one today because I'm off out in a bit.
I've read that Dennis Bergkamp has offered Arsene Wenger some advice and that it would be wise to buy some new players for the teams sake.
Let me stop you there Dennis. I totally agree with you my matey but say something to Wenger and he will do the opposite!

The Tottenham faithful often wonder why their team cannot break into the top four in the Premier League. Before the Martin Jol era, they were told that they needed a great coach. After the arrival of Jol, it was believed that the squad needed bolstering. Once that was done, things got going - until blunders became the norm again at White Hart Lane.

Robin van Persie, Arsenal's player of the season for last season, was speaking to Arsenal TV Online about his personal objectives and the objectives of the whole Arsenal squad for next season.

He said:

I do not feel that I am [yet] at my best.

If you look at my stats [last season], I scored 20 goals, but if you look at how many times I hit the post or the bar, or just missed the target, you could add 10 goals to that.

Wanna hear some blasphemy? Fuck. Shit. Bollocks. Cunt.
Wanna hear some more? Patrick Vieira is interested in a move to Tottenham Hotspur. Yes, Tottenham Hotspur.
What a pile of doodoo.
The geezer is one of the greatest players to have ever worn our shirt. The fifth best in fact.

Right, its this time again. Last time I reviewed the squad was the day after the transfer window shut last season, this time I am doing it slightly earlier in the hope that we buy a couple of players.

Right...this is the 2009 Arsenal squad review by The Goon Blog.

Goalkeepers: Almunia, Fabianski, Mannone.

You can really beat that for an opening day result, can you?
6 goals away from home. No matter who you're playing in the league, that's an exceptional performance.
And for some, an unthinkable result. After all, Arsenal haven't spent huge-wads of cash this summer. There's been no 'bail-out' of the squad.

Having missed pre-season and the first game of the season because he was on duty with the Mexican National side, it seems Carlos Vela is now a forgotten figure in the Arsenal squad and transfer rumours are saying he will be offered to Fulham in our attempt to sign Brede Hangeland.

But why?

Regular readers of my space will of course know I love Carlos Vela and that is why I am worried about his future as I believe he can be very important this season.

5 years without a trophy and Arsene Wenger will once again use the Carling Cup as a chance for the younger players in the squad to prove their worth. On the eve of this year's first League Cup encounter for Arsenal, I look at whether Wenger should be taking this competition more seriously.

Regular readers of my space will know how much I adore Carlos Vela and how much I love to watch him play and also, how many times I wanted him to start last season, something which, alas, rarely happened.

Vela and I

The first time I heard about Carlos and Arsenal was when a friend of mine, a Real Madrid fan, was surprised to find out that the little striker who zig-zagged his way past Sergio Ramos and Madrid's back four was actually an Arsenal player loaned out to the Spanish Liga.

Recently many HP Sauces, I mean 'sources', have revealed that a return to Arsenal could be on the cards for Patrick Vieira.
If this was indeed the case, I would welcome it more than a naked Rihanna fetching me a Chinese meal consisting of sweet and sour pork hong-kong style, BBQ spare Ribs, special fried rice, and a bottle of Peroni whilst jumping up and down singing 'Vieeeeeeeira, woooooooah'
That would be nice indeed!

This week in the U14 Gold bracket we found a a little more action. More goals and a couple surprises.
Recap;
Saturday
LOSC Extreme 2 vs. FC Portland 1
SSC 95 Hotspur 1 vs. OR Rush 1
Sunday
ESUFC Arsenal 0 vs. OR Rush 1
Sherwood Force 0 vs. THUSC Sodium 4
SSC Hotspur 0 vs.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas declared the Arsenal squad is very united and minor issues which affected them last season are now behind them. When asked about last year's comments made by former captain William Gallas in ...

Hello again. First things first, I apologize if you've been checking in and find that there's no new post or update on the blog (Who am I kidding?, I wonder how many do actually follow my postings?) But if you have, then the only reason I can give is that there is really nothing to update. The international break is really sucking the life out of football bloggers.

It's true to say that the Arsenal squad are world class when it comes to injuries. They are so good that in fact that we've put together an Ultimate 11 dedicated to the an entire injury 11, it's actually a pretty decent side and could possible challenge for a four spot.

Do you really know your clubs proud history or are you just a teenage glory hunter?