Arsene Wenger was more relieved than over-the-moon after Arsenal's late winner against Aston Villa yesterday. Wenger admitted that he knew it would be a diificult game at Villa Park as it always has been historically. He said: "You go to City and then to Villa and I have to give fantastic credit to my players, [.

A shaky performance, but we won. So, Yay?

An early pelanty goal from Robin van Persie, taking his tally to 34 goals in the calendar year, and a late goal from Yossi Benayoun (from a header, no less) secured a nervous, underperforming, but ultimately crucial midweek win at Villa Park today.

Here we go. A disappointing week for many fantasy managers as the leading candidates in the Boxing Day fixtures failed to produce. Manchester United win 5-0 but neither Wayne Rooney nor Nani registered a single goal or assist. That's ridiculous. ... Continue reading →

Four games in the next 13 days should give Arsenal sufficient opportunity to bounce back from the recent disheartening defeat against the League leaders. Given the state of injuries in defence though, Arsene will have to take things game by game. There isn't much room left for tinkering, particularly at the back.

Now that we're at the halfway mark, it becomes the duty of Arsenal bloggers to write about how things have gone up to this point in the season, and how things are likely headed in the future. Since opinions are probably even more diverse than ever this year, I thought it would be fun to write two completely different midseason reviews.

Honestly, despite my reputation as the Negative Nancy blogger, I thought we'd snatch a winner all the way up to the final whistle. Not only did we control possession, chances, corner kicks, free kicks, etc, but we also played the final 20-ish minutes (including added time) with a man advantage.

Sometimes one huffs and puffs, one huffs and puffs some more, but the house just won't blow down and that's just what happened against Wolves today. There may be an element down to slight weaknesses in our squad, Rosicky and Benayoun are very similar to each other and both started today, but I have to say the main problems today were Wayne Hennessey, bad luck and poor finishing (probably in that

Arsenal missed the chance to go fourth in the Premier League as they were denied by a series of saves from Wayne Hennessey when being held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners, without a defeat to Wolves since 1979, were looking to capitalise on a draw between Chelsea and Fulham on Boxing Day and took the lead after only eight minutes whenGervinho beat the offside trap to score his fourth goal of the season.

Yossi Benayoun has admitted that he was 'surprised' at being chosen as Arsenal captain...
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The Arsenal midfielder Yossi Benayoun was one of the few players to come out of the game against Olympiakos with any credit, and he believes that if he makes full use of the chances that Arsene Wenger gives him then he will win a regular starting spot in the end. The Israeli international is just [..

The Arsenal midfielder Yossi Benayoun was one of the few players to come out of the game against Olympiakos with any credit, and he believes that if he makes full use of the chances that Arsene Wenger gives him then he will win a regular starting spot in the end. The Israeli international is just [..

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"Making the Arsenal" – is available on Amazon, Arsenal on line, the Woolwich Arsenal site and in the Arsenal store.

By Walter Broeckx

This is the final part of my review of players who joined Arsenal in the summer.

Keisuke Honda's agent has denied claims that Liverpool or Arsenal are pursuing the player.
CSKA Moscow's attacking midfielder was heavily linked with a move to England in the summer transfer window, with both Kenny Dalglish and Arsene Wenger reported to be admirers of the 25-year-old.
However, agent Kees Ploegsma has moved quickly to deny the speculation, insisting there has been no contact over a possible move away from Russia.

Four games in the next 13 days should give Arsenal sufficient opportunity to bounce back from the recent disheartening defeat against the League leaders. Given the state of injuries in defence though, Arsene will have to take things game by game. There isn't much room left for tinkering, particularly at the back.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa 1-2 Highlights 2011 Video Marc Albrighton 20,000th Premier League Goal Van Persie Benayoun is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Arsenal vs Aston Villa 1-2 Highlights 2011 Video Marc Albrighton 20,000th Premier League Goal Van Persie Benayoun is a post from Soccer Blogger.

Aside from the usual suspects, Mario Gotze and Eden Hazard, or the likes of Lukas Podolski and Moussa Sow rumoured to join the Gunners, there is one player who is almost certain to sign a permanent deal with the club next summer. Yossi Benayoun, whose goal gave Arsenal the win against Aston Villa, is the [.

Aside from the usual suspects, Mario Gotze and Eden Hazard, or the likes of Lukas Podolski and Moussa Sow rumoured to join the Gunners, there is one player who is almost certain to sign a permanent deal with the club next summer. Yossi Benayoun, whose goal gave Arsenal the win against Aston Villa, is the [.

Last minute shopping: Rooney, Berbatov, Bellamy, Benayoun and more frantic buys

As shoppers complete panic purchases for Chrimbo, talkSPORT looks at football's late trolley dashes

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-24 10:02:00 from: Talksport

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

The Villa win – having not played that well, and right at the death, and thanks to a header (rare), and from a corner (plentiful but rarely fruitful) – was a deeply satisfying result. It's a game we may well previously have lost, but coming after the loss at Man City, it showed tremendous bouncebackability.

"The result showed the importance of the squad but also the quality of the spirit," Wenger had said after the match against Aston Villa, "That makes a difference if you have players who come on that have a real desire to help the team. "You always have a chance because teams have to fight so [...]

"The result showed the importance of the squad but also the quality of the spirit," Wenger had said after the match against Aston Villa, "That makes a difference if you have players who come on that have a real desire to help the team. "You always have a chance because teams have to fight so [...]

Well that was frustrating, but not entirely unexpected. Just before writing this post I saw a Tweet by Orbinho (follow him) that summed up a lot of what's been going on with the side over the last year or so: in Arsenal's last 15 home games in the prem, they've only scored more than one goal on 4 occasions.

Arsenal missed the chance to go fourth in the Premier League as they were denied by a series of saves from Wayne Hennessey when being held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners, without a defeat to Wolves since 1979, were looking to capitalise on a draw between Chelsea and Fulham on Boxing Day and took the lead after only eight minutes whenGervinho beat the offside trap to score his fourth goal of the season.

The second half onslaught was exhilarating but not quite enough to regain the two points that another freakish goal had taken away.

Arsene did rotate some of the players. Djourou came in for Coquelin, Rosicky for Ramsey, and Benayoun for Walcott. It was a strong team and one that should have secured the win with relative ease.

The second half onslaught was exhilarating but not quite enough to regain the two points that another freakish goal had taken away.

Arsene did rotate some of the players. Djourou came in for Coquelin, Rosicky for Ramsey, and Benayoun for Walcott. It was a strong team and one that should have secured the win with relative ease.

The little Russian maestro Andrei Arshavin has not looked very happy playing for Arsenal every time he has appeared on the pitch this season, even though Arsene Wenger has given him numerous chances to make an impact off the bench, and according to the Metro he has dropped behind Yossi Benayoun and Thomas Rosicky in [.

Match report video By the numbers

Looking back on yesterday's game in the cold light of day there's still frustration and disappointment, to a fair degree, but I can't really find any real issue with how we played, how we went about the game and the effort we put in.

I know there are people this morning who will bemoan our finishing and say we should have scored considering the chances we fashioned.

Well, what an incredibly frustrating ninety minutes that was. Upbeat start, good goal, cavalier flicks, lucky equaliser, chances, chances, CHANCES, saves, saves, more ruddy saves and Wolves rode their luck to a first point against Arsenal in the Premier League era. You couldn't fault the team's effort, apart from a slight easing off in the first half, and I agree with Arsene when he says that we would have won this game 19 times out of 20.

By Ref Reviewer 04

Ref Attwell came over to do the game between Arsenal and Wolves. What was his score in this game?

Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment points weight 3 OTHER Jarvis Benayoun C Push 1 1 7 OTHER Rosicky Hunt C I had the impression Rosicky played the ball [.