I suppose you could sum up Manuel Almunia's Arsenal career through his performances during two of his first few games at the clubs.
In late-2004/early-2005, Arsene's patience with Jens Lehmann had apparently snapped after a few chaotic goalkeeping performances (I remember one particularly erratic performance in Greece against Panathinaikos that had cost us three points in the Champions League group stage).

Morning all.

We'll start today with the news that Arsenal have announced the release of 7 players, the most high profile of which is Manuel Almunia whose contract expires this summer.

The others are Gavin Hoyte, who follows his brother Justin out of the club, and youngsters George Brislen-Hall, Sean McDermott, Rhys Murphy, James Campbell and Jeffrey Monakana.

Like other ‘80s phenomena including the video recorder and the ZX81, George Graham is now almost viewed almost with a degree of scorn by a modern generation of Arsenal fans. But just as we shouldn't forget the impact the video market and Clive Sinclair's opening stab at bringing computers into our homes have had on our lives, the same applies to George's managerial tenure at Highbury.

To paraphrase a quote from the end of "Band of Brothers" - 'It's been a long season; it's been a tough season'.
Maybe I'll have deeper thoughts on this as the next couple of weeks go by, but, for now, here's a list of the best and worst moments of the last few months. Let's get the horrible stuff out of the way first.

Arsenal v Tottenham v Newcastle: The Race for Third Place - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

It seems the competition for third place in the Premier League is now going to be decided on the final day of the season. Here I take a look at each team's final fixture and their chances of finishing ahead of their rivals.

Good morning,

bank holiday is over and we now get on with the task of waiting out this week until Sunday's final league game of the season. There'll be plenty of time to preview that in the days ahead, and a few decisions will have to be made by the boss in terms of the team, but let's get closer to kick off before we do that.

Whatever the result at tomorrows crucial game against Norwich, no doubt there will be a lap of appreciation from the players to their supporters after the game has ended. One man deserves to have his name sung loud and proud as he walks around the Emirates pitch for the last time. It is expected that Pat Rice, Arsene's right hand man, will be hanging up his track suit following many years as an excellent servant to the club.

Whatever the result at tomorrows crucial game against Norwich, no doubt there will be a lap of appreciation from the players to their supporters after the game has ended. One man deserves to have his name sung loud and proud as he walks around the Emirates pitch for the last time. It is expected that Pat Rice, Arsene's right hand man, will be hanging up his track suit following many years as an excellent servant to the club.

Many of today's headlines have been dedicated to Arsenal completing the capture of Germany striker Lukas Podolski, who will join the Gunners next season after trying to save his current club Cologne from Bundesliga relegation.

Podolski was linked with a transfer to the North London club a few weeks ago but dismissed the speculation to focus on Cologne's struggles.

Arsenal will miss out on snaring Pep Guardiola as a new manager because he will take over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. That is the belief of former Gunners midfielder Ray Parlour, who accepts that Guardiola's footballing philosophy he and Arsenal have been cited as a good fit by supporters and pundits alike makes him an ideal candidate for the position should Wenger leave or "move upstairs".

In January 2006, we were in a bit of a mess.
Patrick Vieira, the lynchpin of three title-winning teams, had been abruptly sold in the summer of 2005 and we had failed in our attempts to buy a replacement. Fabregas and Gilberto did their best to strike-up an effective partnership in midfield, but couldn't cover up the fact that we had a hole in the middle of the side.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger understands Pep Guardiola's decision to step away from football after a highly successful four-year spell at Barcelona but has revealed that he wished for the 41-year old to stay put after the Catalan club's most difficult season during his reign.

Guardiola led Barca to three consecutive La Liga titles as well as two Champions League triumphs before falling short in both competitions this year.

Pep Guardiola is stepping aside, so who will be the new man in charge of the European champions? Here are 10 potential candidates of varying degrees of likelihood. 1. Marcelo Bielsa The Athletic Bilbao boss has caught the eye this season with his team playing very attractive football to very good effect.

Probably my least favourite game of the season arrives this Saturday, as we travel to the town that football forgot - Stoke. Here's a few things to think about before our clash - and I use that word in the literal sense - on the weekend.
* Is it third place or bust? I really didn't think the draw against Chelsea was the terrible result for us, or the triumph for them, that Sky seemed to decide it was.

You can't win the league and the Champions League every year. Five out of the last six of those isn't bad, with a few other smaller trophies thrown in and the possibility of another Copa del Rey still to come this season. However, second in the league and a semi-final exit to an inferior team is being widely regarded as a failure, maybe even a disaster, for Barcelona this season.

Who should be our two wingers for the remaining games? by KJ Arsenal fell victim to another frankly stupid injury. Walcott has done his hamstring and now looks certain to miss the rest of the season. However, it's not too bad and he should still make the Euros. As a result, Arsene must assess which [.

Threat at both ends

Looking at the result of yesterday after the final whistle and 4 hours later when Sp*rs finished made for 2 contrasting feelings. The first was one of frustration and disappointment, the latter was one of huge relief. For we had the chance to open up a little gap to the chasing pack but we did not take it.

Morning all and what better way to kick off your Saturday than a massive game of football?

Make no mistake, today's game is huge. Not just because of the opposition and the recent history we have with them, but because of our need for points in the race for a top four finish, and ideally a third place one.

Nicks' note: Sample, Arsenal man with sound mind and body, delves into the recesses of his mind and brings forth an honest assessment of what went wrong on Monday; when Wigan went veni, vidi, vici on the Emirates turf.

Their first goal...

Was coming the moment Arteta started limping off.

Since Nasri left Arsenal, Our left wing position has been a bit of a problem.

Ramsey, as clever as he is. Lacks both the pace and dribbling skills Alex and Gervinho have. He does how ever have this ability to always be at the right place at the right time.

He lacks the ability to take on a player and win -consistently that is-.

This doesn't appear to be new, but it's too excellent to be missed out on.

Actually, it might be a bit late. While Citroen has a wonderful idea of mixing football with ballet to sell a car isn't that the ideal? this is probably several years too late. This commercial needed to happen six or seven years ago, with Patrick Vieira, Jens Lehmann, Freddie Ljunberg (this one, not CKFreddie) and of course, Pascal Cygan in the role of trainees.

If today's game wasn't already important enough, yesterday's results provide even further motivation for Arsenal.

Sp*rs dropped two points away at Sunderland, one of their most difficult games in the run in, while Chelsea's late win against Wigan means they've closed the gap on us to 2 points.

As the season is drawing to close and another trophyless one for the good guys again thoughts are beginning to turn to who we should buy and how much we will spend in the summer.

Some fans are beginning the clamour for new experienced signings already, sure that it is the only way we can ensure success going forward.

As the season is drawing to close and another trophyless one for the good guys again thoughts are beginning to turn to who we should buy and how much we will spend in the summer.

Some fans are beginning the clamour for new experienced signings already, sure that it is the only way we can ensure success going forward.

The Pincer Movement. We may try this one ourselves.

We managed to find a theme to our post this week and stick to it all the way through. Boom.

EPL

The "Bloody hell. That's heavy." Image: REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth.

Although he had the concept of 'squeaky bum time' explained to him by Sky's Geoff Shreeves a few weeks ago, it's only now that Yaya Toure will be feeling the physical consequences.

By Alan Duffy

Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Arsenal Premier League 31st March 2012

A below-par Arsenal were deservedly beaten by QPR on Saturday afternoon, with the home side producing a vibrant display which will give them the belief that they can dodge the drop.

We travel away to QPR today and although it should be three points on paper, I am sure Arsene will be repeating himself to the players in saying that we need to be fully committed in every game and if we are not, then we will slip up and drop points. QPR are no great side but it is a London derby game with the hosts fighting for every point they can get to try to avoid the drop.

Man City to bid for Ronaldo, Luke Rodgers exits MLS, an update on Fabrice Muamba, Villa captain Petrov diagnosed with a serious illness, and much more lead today's top stories. Links for all stories below will open in a new window.

Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia (AVFC.

One of the problems 'identified' during the season, when things were going badly, was the fact that we relied on a core of players for most games, with the manager seemingly reluctant to use the squad players. This led to jaded performances and poor results.

In some cases the manager's hand was forced.

Morning all,

it struck me this morning that out of the 7 league games we've won in a row, 5 have come against teams whose manager is really, really annoying.

I don't have a league table or anything like that. I find that over-complicates things. But if I did it'd be hard to decided who got closest to the top of the pile.

Morning all,

as I sit here, head in hands, drinking a quite foul cup of hotel room coffee, I dearly wish I had one onomatopoeic word to sum up how I'm feeling.

Today we play Aston Villa. A team who have been obdurate, difficult and, let's not forget, managed by a shrunken, withered, sunburnt testicle.

It seems like an age since we last had a game, and so much has happened in-between that Newcastle feels like a long time ago.

It's back down to business tonight though with a tough trip away to Everton. The boss has confirmed that there are no new injury problems and that everyone who played in that last game is available tonight.

Robin van Persie makes a lot of sense every time he speaks or pens his thoughts. Here are some of his recent nuggets of wisdom as told to Arsenal Player,

After the two defeats to Milan and Sunderland, everyone was like 'this is going to be a tough couple of weeks' because we had games against Spurs, Liverpool, Milan and an international week and then Newcastle.

In darker moments, when all rationale and clarity has gone AWOL and I've struggled to find cohesion, it's difficult to see the positives when concentrating solely on the negatives. If Monsieur Wenger has time, or even instructs a member of his staff to read the myriad of Arsenal Blogs, I hope 'ArsenalArsenal' is right up there as 'A must read.

In darker moments, when all rationale and clarity has gone AWOL and I've struggled to find cohesion, it's difficult to see the positives when concentrating solely on the negatives. If Monsieur Wenger has time, or even instructs a member of his staff to read the myriad of Arsenal Blogs, I hope 'ArsenalArsenal' is right up there as 'A must read.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has plenty reasons to be a happy man at the moment. Besides the fact that the team is on a fantastic run at the moment and has managed some impressive games and some incredible comebacks, the Gunners seem to be on the way to getting fully fit as well. Left-back [...]

Arsenal left it late to beat Newcastle 2-1 at the Emirates yesterday and come within a point of rivals Tottenham. Tottenham have seen their amazing form take a nose dive to leave them barely hanging on in third place.

With the match deep into extra time, It seemed like the game would end in a draw, however, Thomas Vermaelen's 94 minute goal ensured that Wenger side picked up all the points on offer.

Wow! What a finish. What a feeling. Arsene, as usual, summed it up with an insightful nugget,

...the pleasure is even more intense when you win in the final minute of the game where you have given everything.

There is something about scoring the winner so, so late in the game.

There has been plenty of news this past week following Arsenals impressive win over AC Milan.

We were so close to pulling off what before the match started seemed like an almost impossible task of scoring five goals without a goal from Milan in order to progress into the last eight.

The first half was edge of the chair excitement I have not seen Arsenal play as well as that all season, it was truly fantastic, and on that kind of form they could beat any team in the world.

Morning all, a quick Saturday round-up for you.

Aside from the team news, which we'll touch on later or in tomorrow's blog (or Monday's blog), the first thing Arsene was asked at the press conference yesterday was whether or not a deal had been done for Lukasz Podolski.

Naturally, Arsene gave it the old, "When we sign a player we will tell you" stuff, said that a deal hadn't been done, cautioned people that even though a deal can be very close it doesn't take much to turn very close into very far away, and generally gave nothing away.