The pain of yesterday's mauling is likely to linger for a while. I still can't think straight and it's impossible to digest that we could be so naïve, almost idiotic. This isn't a new feeling either. We have been outplayed in the big matches with mind numbing regularity in the recent past. It's as if all of us deserve shock treatment every few months for being mentally challenged enough to support the Arsenal.

In form Bellamy will stay at Manchester City
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, last January in the Premier League we were treated to a handful of major transfers. I mean, some massive, massive moves: Arshavin, Heskey, Given, Beattie, Defoe, Bellamy, etc. all moved clubs...
So, who will make the move in 2010?

How long was Didier Drogba on the ball during Chelsea's victory over Arsenal? 50 seconds? And yet he was the most influential player of the match.
Carlo Ancelotti has arrived and we should be impressed.
Searching to close the gap at the top of the table on Chelsea, Arsenal entered Sunday's match versus Chelsea seeking a convincing victory, but they ended as the losing side of a convincing 3-0 victory.

As i was looking at Arseblog today, the uber-blog for all Gooners, I couldn't help noticing that one of our very own (very) small time bloggers was grimacing back at me. For whilst Arsene takes the applause in front of the Clock End (it looks like the last game at Highbury, but not quite sure) Another Arsenal Blog's very own "Obsinho" can be seen gurning back at us - he's far right in the picture

Wenger considers move for Spanish International teenager.

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Wenger has also lined up the unsettled Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic in his crosshairs, with a view to bringing the youngest player ever to score for Barcelona (17 years and 51 days, since you asked so nicely) in as cover for the injured striker Robin van Persie.

Or rather, for a change, who do you want to start

10 out of the 18 making it to Greece to play against Olympiacos are teenagers. Days like these don't come along that often, if at all, so they should make the most of this opportunity.

Of course unlike the Carling Cup, the result will not matter as we have already claimed the top position in our group.

"I did not see the manager..."

After Arsenal's 'kids' lost 3-0 to Man City in the League Cup quarter final, Arsene Wenger stormed off down the tunnel at Eastlands without – shock, horror! – shaking hands with Mark Hughes.

This is the perfect ammo for the tabloids to have a xenophobic pop at "rude, ungracious Wenger", and while the Gunners' gaffer should have risen above Sparky's aggressive touchline behaviour, I can understand his frustration at being beaten by the team that poached Adebyor and Toure from under his nose.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger provided his usual injury update ahead of this Saturday's game at the Emirates and some bad news were given as Theo Walcott is out injured and will miss the game, even ...

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger provided his usual injury update ahead of this Saturday's game at the Emirates and some bad news were given as Theo Walcott is out injured and will miss the game, even ...

Well, good morning to you all. I would say it's marvelous to be back but I'm struggling to see what's so great about cold and damp and grey Dublin as opposed to the warm and bright and sunny of Barcelona. Nevertheless, here I am, my Arseblog DNA more or less intact.

Before we go anywhere I have to say a big thanks to the 'holic who filled in so capably in my absence.

Well, we knew it was going to be a young team for tonight's game and Arsenal announced the squad yesterday which includes 10 teenagers, 3 toddlers, 2 embryos, 1 sperm and Sylvester. The full list is here.

With the amount of injuries we have the manager really didn't have much choice but I suppose it does add a bit of interest to what is, effectively, a nothing game.

Before I start - this is not a rant, nor is it a critical analysis of our youth system or our manager. I think we have the best manager in the world and also the best youth set-up in the world, but and it is a big but, as in everything in life there are flaws, and this post is about a certain flaw- AKA Theo Walcott.

It's Man City in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup tonight, a chance to put behind us the weekend just gone and the trip to Eastlands earlier in the season. On a run of seven straight draws, City will be fielding a strong lineup for this one, in the knowledge that silverware is now an expectation, so it is a tough ask for the young side we are likely to field.

Some news to read as you reflect on boot-to-the-head brain damage. (And on why this was only a yellow card offense.) (Dirty Tackle) Is Sepp Blatter's Beckham man-crush keeping England's World Cup bid alive? (England World Cup Blog) A withering dissection of Arsene's critique of the Chelsea match (Avoiding the Drop) Well, at least they stayed [.

How long was Didier Drogba on the ball during Chelsea's victory over Arsenal? 50 seconds? And yet he was the most influential player of the match.
Carlo Ancelotti has arrived and we should be impressed.
Searching to close the gap at the top of the table on Chelsea, Arsenal entered Sunday's match versus Chelsea seeking a convincing victory, but they ended as the losing side of a convincing 3-0 victory.

Hello all, and welcome to the not unsurprising news that our spiritual leader has succumbed to the lure of Barcelona. Not entirely surprising, given his previous with the city. It was only a matter of time before he answered the call. I expect his Friday night will be spent chatting to the Barcelona players in their favourite restaurant come nightclub, CDLC.

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Arsene Wenger made sure Tony Pulis was the recipient of a lingering handshake. It was left to Arshavin to stoke the embers. The little Russian turned it on. Scoring one and creating countless other chances including Aaron Ramsey's second half goal.

International football doesn't normally excite me. But my football initiation was through the 1994 World Cup and this tournament has a special spot in my heart. I am looking forward to South Africa 2010, even at the risk of irritating Arsene

The draw was held last Friday and I believe most of you will have seen that by now.

The Carling Cup campaign might be over but the youth experiment continues. I don't know about others, but I really enjoy these games. The expectations from these games are not really low but different. Once you take out the importance of the result from a game, the sheer pleasure from the football increase manifold.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger provided his first injury update ahead of the crucial game, at Anfield, against Liverpool. Emmanuel Eboue, Tomas Rosicky and Nicklas Bendtner are sure absentees but all other players should be fit to ...

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger provided his first injury update ahead of the crucial game, at Anfield, against Liverpool. Emmanuel Eboue, Tomas Rosicky and Nicklas Bendtner are sure absentees but all other players should be fit to ...

Earlier in the day I was listening to Arsene's pre-match press conference. It was moving ahead as usual with discussions about injuries, title hopes, top four places and such trivial things. One hack then shifted the focus to something more sizeable.

Journalist: Fabregas has said that the club needs a big physical presence up front, do you agree?

Big Story

Arsène Wenger

In what would be yet a huge step forward in the further commodification of football, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is planning to sue the Dutch Football Confederation (KNVB) for compensation related to injuries sustained to Holland and Arsenal forward Robin van Persie during a Holland/Italy friendly last month.

Sorry about the lateness of today's blog - blame Eddie Izzard. See, now I say that and you automatically think that I went to his gig last night, headed out afterwards and have only just managed to waken myself. Well, you'd be wrong. It is because he was shit.

The plan was to head to concert, come home, throw the blog together high on the laughter I'd been immersed in for the previous few hours, head to bed and then go to work this morning safe in the knowledge that my blog was sorted.

The two latest Soccerlens podcasts [1, 2] have seen Clarkey & Spraggy trying to tickle your funny bone with their suggestions for the film remakes they'd like to see football folk in.

It's been a hit-and-miss feature so far, so we're asking you to put the dynamic duo out of their misery and come up with some genuinely funny offerings.

The Sunday turnaround is still fresh in my mind. It's been a while since we won against a "big" team, away from home, after conceding a lead. I guess the last one was at Stamford Bridge over a year ago. That win didn't turn out to be very significant at the end of the season. Will this one be any different?

Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas gave the north London side the lead at Burnley, only to see Graham Alexander score an equalizer from the spot. The draw hampers Arsenal's title hopes and Arsene Wenger's side had enough opportunities to take all three points.

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After the win at the weekend you would have thought the team would be bursting with confidence. This proved not to be the case as not for the first time this season we seemed to think our opposition would roll over and let us play. Burnley have created a fortress at Turf Moor and the players must have realised it was no push over.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger provided his first injury update ahead of next Saturday's game at the Emirates against Hull City. Speaking on Cesc Fabregas, the Frenchman declared that it's too early to understand how serious ...

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger provided his first injury update ahead of next Saturday's game at the Emirates against Hull City. Speaking on Cesc Fabregas, the Frenchman declared that it's too early to understand how serious ...

I was quite frustrated after the Burnley result as you must have noticed from my review. But I didn't say the title hopes were over and if you are a regular reader you will have noticed that I am extremely pro-Arsene and have always talked about keeping the faith.

Over the last couple of days I have read some articles and comments talking about how our hopes are over and many of our players are completely useless.

Arsenal have drawn FC Porto in the last 16 of the Champions League with Gunners' boss Arsene Wenger dubbing it a 'feasible' tie. Wenger's side met Porto in the group stage of last season's competition winning 4-0 at home but losing 2-0 in Portugal. However, this season Arsenal get to play the first leg away from [.

Life has not been fun for Mick McCarthy since he decided to play a reserve squad against Man United the other day. He's got Wolves fans demanding a refund, Arsene Wenger moaning more than usual, and Sir Alex defending his decision (when the opposing manager defends your dumb decision he's basically saying thank you for being a dope).

I have been thinking about this ever since our trip to Anfield. In his post match interview after Liverpool, Arsene said,

I believe first of all Liverpool played very well in that period and we played with a handbrake because of our fear. That fear was of not winning the big games because we lost against Chelsea and Manchester United.

On Monday, it was announced that Stan Kroenke had purchased another 25 shares in Arsenal Football Club for £212,500, bringing him within 17 shares of being forced to launch a takeover bid. Of course, it must be stressed that even the seemingly apocalyptic figure of 29.99% does not mean anything is going to happen.

Morning Roadsters, today is a big day for our Premiership title hopes as we take on Aston Villa. This batch of Brummies are beginning to be our main rivals from nether regions of the league, replacing the Scousers and the Spuds. Although, it wouldn't upset me too much.... in fact, come to think about it, I would love it if we won the Premiership and Villa came runners up.

Aston Villa came to the Emirates with genuine belief and pretentions of completing the top four grand slam. They must return a defeated and deflated side after being put in their place by an outstanding Arsenal performance. I have not seen the Arsenal team play better than that this season.

The main reason I felt this was our best effort was down to the solidity of the defense.

UPDATE: According to Arsenal's official website, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger denied making any attempt to sign Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy. Wenger said,

"I like the player ... But I have not done anything on that front .