For some, this may be a controversial article but I felt the need to write it when I saw all the criticism Diaby received after the United game. Let's put things into perspective quickly; everyone bar United fans and Fergie knew that we deserved to win the game, with only a nightmare 5 minute spell costing us.

If there was one element of our new 4-3-3 formation that nobody had predicted at the start of the season it was the use of Robin Van Persie as the central striker and Nicholas Bendtner as a right sided forward. I'm sure that for many gooners, like myself, this was unfathomable; it just literally never crossed my mind that Wenger might play like this.

Hi guys Arsenalinsider.com have teamed up with Soccerpro.com to offer a lucky reader a Arsenal Away Jersey 2009-2010 absolutly free. All you need to do to for a chance to win the Arsensl jersey is answer this very simple question.

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This time last year, I think during another dull international break, I had a look at the reserves and which players will make an impact, albeit in the Carling, on the First Team this season. I thought I would do that again as the only news out of the club at the moment is the scheduled injury to an important back up centre back (Johan Djourou for those who are unaware)

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Am I alone in being concerned about Gael Clichy who seems to be rushing into tackles like a youth player and losing his positional awareness? I rate the player very highly and see him as potential leadership material when Fabregas departs for Barcelona. He links well down the flanks and gives the team much needed width, but his early performances this season have worried me.

by CARL ELDRIDGE Carlos Vela could be set for a loan move to Fulham. As the transfer deadline looms, arsenalinsider.com has been told the Mexico striker will switch to Craven Cottage and that has sparked a rumour that Brede Hangeland could yet make a move to the Gunners as part of the deal.

The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body today examined the case of the Arsenal FC player Eduardo "for deceiving the referee" during the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg match on 26 August against Celtic FC, and has suspended the player for two UEFA club competition matches.

Fight fire with fire, the expression goes. I have always argued that there is a basic anti-Arsenal undercurrent running through many of the unobjective media and some Football Administrative bodies. I have to ask myself why? To repeat a section of an earlier blog I refer you to the club statement released in response to Eduardo's ban.

By CARL ELDRIDGE We may not have signed anyone as the hours and minutes ticked away in the transfer window deadline, but Arsene Wenger has shown faith in what he has got by offering and having new contracts signed by Nicklas Bendtner and Denilson.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">

Bendtner, 21, netted 15 goals in 50 appearances last season and AW says the Dane offers more than just goals in his role.

Arsenalinsider.com brings you in advance the Wikio rankings for this month, known as the most influential blogs in the UK blogosphere.

We are delighted to come straight into the listing at no 32 and thrilled to see so many Arsenal blogs in the list.

As always, our mission is to provide you up-to-date views, news, analysis, exclusive interviews, videos and more on our beloved club and this leap in the Wikio rankings show how much you appreciate our efforts.

A large number of our players are away on international duty at the moment. Let's hope they all return safely next Thursday/Friday.

My beloved Wales, all but eliminated from the World Cup next year in South Africa are home against Russia next Wednesday evening in Cardiff.

With all the recent media attention on Eduardo he can expect to get an earful assuming he plays or is on the bench tonight at Wembley for Croatia against England.

Elsewhere Arsenal players are dotted around the globe playing for their various national teams in World Cup qualifiers. We can only hope that all return tomorrow and Friday unscathed and fighting fit for our visit to the City of Manchester Stadium (artfully titled "the Council House" by fans of the red half of Manchester) to play Citeh.

I wish I was writing this blog whilst sipping a cold one in Liège. My bank manager won't stand for it unfortunately. Good luck to all those citizens of the Gooner Republic who are. Watch out for that bière trappiste. It's lethal. No wander the Trappist monks who brew it have no troubles with their vow of silence.

Last night we saw the Arsenal past and Arsenal future, with a good stark warning for all of our youth players who think that they are bigger than the club...

Jerome Thomas of West Bromich Albion began his Arsenal career having joined the Arsenal from his schoolboy appointment at Luton Town Football Club in 2001.

I write this blog with my tin hat on and head firmly down in the trench. There are some people who positively revel in being unpopular. I'm not one of them. I'm no masochist! Seriously, I stand by what I wrote in my blog this past Monday. I believe- having watched the recordings umpteen times that Eduardo dived against Celtic for our penalty.

Following on from a 3 – 0 victory over Fulham, Arsenal's Reserve side picked apart a strong Birmingham team that featured Kevin Phillips and Gary McSheffrey up front. At St. Andrews Neil Banfield made 5 changes to the team that overturned Fulham.

Arsenal lined up as follows:

Vito Mannone

Kerrea Gilbert Kyle Bartley Gavin Hoyte Armand Traore

Craig Eastmond Francis Coquelin

Mark Randall Fran Mérida Gilles Sunu

Sanchez Watt

Subs: James Shea, Cedric Evina, Ignasi Miquel, Roarie Deacon, Luke Freeman.

Part IVa, My original trilogy has become rather drawn out and repeatedly rewritten because of the need to keep things current. In earlier sections I dealt with our Club, our Board and of course AW our manager. In turning to our squad, I have been forced to look at all the players available and the last instalment dealt with our prospective new Goalkeeping talents.

Oh great. It looks like it's all kicking off again in the boardroom (or not in the boardroom as far as Alisher Usmanov goes).

There's been renewed media speculation about the final resting place of Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith's 15.9% stake in Arsenal. The stories have Alisher Usmanov's Red & White Holdings on the march again.

by CARL ELDRIDGE Does Johan Djourou's knee injury throw his Swiss team-mate Philippe Senderos an Arsenal lifeline? Djourou, who faces six months on the sidelnes after surgery for a knock he picked up playing for Switzerland, was third in the pecking order behind Tommy Vermaelen and Billy Gallas with Mickey Silvestre loitering with intent in that reserve position too.

It has been nearly two weeks since we saw our beloved Arsenal in action because of the International break, but when the team returns they will have to play in what will be the most important game of the season so far. After the unfortunate loss to Manchester United at old Trafford, this will be a real test for the team to show their response.

Welcome to this week's edition of TGIF, where FTK takes a look at some of the stories that have energised Insiders on the site this week. International weeks are always frustrating because of the risk of injury to our key players. This week was no exception and without further ado, let's dive straight in.

By STUART WATSON Well what a weekend and another game full of incident and drama to keep us talking all through the week.

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Despite the pathetic attempts of mark Hughes to distract people from the main point of issue, and in an effort to draw a line under the incident on the Manchester City Website, the authorities have taken a stance which indicates they will be making an example of Adebayor.

Mark Hughes said:

"There has been much discussion over the weekend regarding the various incidents in Saturday's game which is understandable, Emmanuel Adebayor sustained a tremendous amount of personal abuse from the kick-off but strongly maintains that there was no malice intended in the challenge on Robin Van Persie and apologised to him when he hugged him on leaving the field of play at the end of the game.

Welcome to TGIF after quite a week. I want to make one thing clear, today I am going to mention the complete asshole who is Adebayor just once. This pathetic excuse for an ex-Gunner has disgraced himself, his culture and the game of football with his immature egocentric behaviour last weekend.

After Wednesday night's drama in Belgium I'm hoping for something a little more tranquil at the Grove tomorrow afternoon. Being Arsenal I doubt if we'll get it. Doing things the most difficult way possible is a proud club tradition!

What we do need to do LIVELY is learn the lessons from Wednesday without obsessing too much.

BY HARPER:

The intent of this article is not to focus once more on Adebayor and his antics against our players and supporters at Eastlands. Rather, I wanted to write this piece in response to the ridiculous myths that have now become entrenched as "facts" with regard to the Gooner Nation in the aftermath of not only the events of that game, but also the series of incidents that have generated negative coverage of Arsenal supporters in the last few seasons.

by CARL ELDRIDGE So, what would you prefer? Would you rather see Arsene Wenger blood his youngsters in the Carling Cup as is annually the case? Or would you rather our beloved leader played a stronger line-up with the emphasis very much on winning the competition?

Since England qualified for South Africa 2010 by belting Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday night the redtop tabloids have gone into nationalist overdrive as usual.

As a Welshman I confess to a tinge of envy. Russia's 3-1 win at the Millennium Stadium puts them through and killed off any lingering mathematical chance of Wales getting a play-off spot.

I described my feelings for the Togalese ex Gunner as intense dislike in earlier blogs. Now after today's performance I actually think that I have a deep loathing for him which in time may exceed that which I have for Ashley Cole. I have not seen anything other than a excerpts of the game, I listened to the match commentary, and if what is being suggested is half true, then my loathing may turn to hatred.

Ok the day after the loss to Man Citeh, I can rationalise that it is not the end of the world. We have won the premiership before having lost four games, but under those circumstances, we were scoring lots of goals and shutting out lower teams before half time. What really annoys me is the fact that we possess the players able to beat the likes of Man City, such as Eduardo and Jack Wilshere and yet the weekend after International fixtures we choose not to play them.

Oh dear! After Saturday's lovely clear sunny skies across the country, Islington was completely covered with a grey lid of cloud yesterday. It was as if the sky was in mourning for our result against Manchester City.

First things first. We didn't play THAT badly. City's opener was against the run of play.

Arsenal striker Eduardo has seen his two-match UEFA Champions League ban overturned by European football's governing body.

The Croatia international was handed the punishment after tumbling to the ground to win a penalty in the second leg of the qualifying showdown against Celtic.

I went to the game on Saturday and decided to post some thoughts on the game as a travelling Gooner; there is only one place to start. Adebayor has now become the most hated figure amongst Arsenal fans, even more so than Ashley Cole. When Adebayor turned towards the Arsenal fans before his 90 yard gallop, he made himself enemy no.

Welcome to Ask the Oppo! Perry groves' lovechild is till on an extended break so Eldo71 talks to Tony Holmes, a Wigan fan from Warrington who will be at the game today at the Emirates...

Eldo71: First off, what are your opinions of your new manger Roberto Martinez?

I'm writing this blog in Zurich where I arrived for a short business trip yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately my arrival in the hotel was greeted with the news that Chelsea had comprehensively done Spurs' legs three nothing and Manchester United had revived that old hit of theirs, the 96th minute winner against Manchester City.

It seems an eternity since the defeat at Eastlands just over a week ago, but Emmanuel Adebayor has done his best to ensure the fallout over the two incidents has kept his name in lights ever since.

I think that the three match ban was correct for the stamp, and I hope the F.

by CARL ELDRIDGE Clear your throats ahead of tonight's rendition of that old school Arsenal classic: "Phillippe Senderos, la, la, la, la. la (repeat to fade)." Because, yes folks, he's back! Just when you thought it was safe to pass your Senderos shirt (I still have my Igor Stepanovs top BTW) to the charity shop, the big Swiss defender returns for the Gunners in tonight's Carling Cup clash with West Brom at the home of football.

Listen to some Gooners after the Fulham game and it would seem like Mannone has suddenly become the greatest keeper on earth. Quite an elevation from our number three keeper. I have to congratulate the boy though for his reflex saves during the game at Craven Cottage. I am relieved for him, but I have not changed my view that he scares me and that he lacks what it takes to be a truly great keeper.

A precious three points at Craven Cottage on Saturday. We all need to say a HUGE molto grazie, regazzo! (thanks very much, mate!) to third-string goalie Vito Mannone for an inspired performance between the sticks. I share F bregas The King's reservations about him as a long-term prospect, but you've got to give credit where credit's due.

Well Arsenal Football club have provided the financial incentive for any prospective takeover by producing a significant increase in turnover yet only a modest increase in taxable profits which is good because I hate the tax man. I have read the pdf accounts and find no major surprises except the "Impairment charges" incurred because of the discrepancy between the 24 million valuation of Queens Square and the true costs incurred through the fall in value and the placing in mothballs of the project.