Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie has written off his sides chances of silverware next season by insisting that the Gunners have failed to learn from their past mistakes.

Arsene Wenger's men were serious title contenders for much of the season and reached the Carling Cup final at Wembley, however, after an atypical collapse to the season, the Gunners ended the season potless thus failing to end their six year trophy drought.

After speculation arose that Steve McClaren was hot favourite for the Aston Villa job midweek, it now seems that the former Middlesbrough boss is now out of the running after initial talks broke-down last minute with the Birmingham outfit.

Whatever led to those talks breaking down may have a worrying knock-on effect for Villa fans as McClaren may have held the key to keeping one of their star performers, Stewart Downing, at the club.

In the 2010/11 season, Arsenal scored 72 goals in the Premier League, 21 goals in the Champions League, 12 goals in the FA Cup and 14 goals in the Carling Cup. That is a lot to choose from for a terribly indecisive person as myself. The list I came up with is subjective, but in general I kept in mind quality of the goal and its significance.

While an English Premier League club during the 2010/11 season, Birmingham City FC got their first major trophy in 48 years when it beat Arsenal to win the Carling Cup. However, poor league results saw the team relegated to the English Football League Championship on the last day of the season. As the Brummies look for [.

Stoke vs Tottenham Highlights 7-6 Penalties Video League Cup 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Stoke vs Tottenham Highlights 7-6 Penalties Video League Cup 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Stoke vs Tottenham 2011 ( Stoke City v Spurs 2011) Score and result:- Stoke vs Tottenham 0-0 ( Stoke City win 7-6 on penalties) Britannia Stadium- 20 September 2011, Carling Cup Stoke City prevail [.

Stoke vs Tottenham Highlights 7-6 Penalties Video League Cup 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Stoke vs Tottenham Highlights 7-6 Penalties Video League Cup 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Stoke vs Tottenham 2011 ( Stoke City v Spurs 2011) Score and result:- Stoke vs Tottenham 0-0 ( Stoke City win 7-6 on penalties) Britannia Stadium- 20 September 2011, Carling Cup Stoke City prevail [.

It's the End of Season Awards, everyone! Like with most things related to Arsenal, there's no actual trophy, and the results are meaningless, but hey, it's some good ol' fun! Feel free to discuss the winners and make up your own categories. Drum roll, please:

Best XI (based on play over course of entire season):

Fabianski

Sagna-Koscielny-Djourou-Clichy

Song-Wilshere

Theo-Fabregas-Nasri

van Persie

Bench: Szczesny, Gibbs, Eboue, Ramsey, Arshavin, Bendtner, Chamakh

Player of the Year: Samir Nasri
See: Player-by-Player Season Review

Runner-Up: Robin van Persie (Editor's Choice)

Goal of the Year: Arshavin v Barcelona
See: Top Ten Goals of the Season

Runner-Up: Nasri's goals against Fulham

Most Pleasant Surprise: Jack Wilshere

Runner-Up: Wojciech Szczesny

Biggest Disappointment: Cesc Fabregas

Runner-Up: Abou Diaby

Best Newcomer: Laurent Koscielny

Runner-Up: Marouane Chamakh

Worst Goalkeeping Cock-Up: Almunia v West Brom (Away)

West Brom -vs- Arsenal (2:2)
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Like a Hammer to the groin West Ham forward Victor Obinna saw red during last night's Carling Leg semi-final first-leg victory over Birmingham City. The Nigerian petulantly flicked his foot up behind him to give Sebastian Larsson a swift kick to the crown jewels. Fortunately for the loanee, his side went on to win the [.

This Rafael red card vs Tottenham reduced Manchester United to ten men in the final minutes of their game at White Hart Lane on January 16, 2011. United however managed to hold firm to claim a point. Tottenham 0-0 Manchester United- 16th January 2011. The Rafael sending off was not a direct red for the [.

The final of the Champions League at Wembley Stadium is almost upon us. The iconic twin towers of the old Wembley may be gone but the arch of the latest, rejuvenated and reinvigorated Wembley Stadium is all set to become just as famous.

Saturday 28th May 2011 will the biggest day in the new stadiums life to date.

When I saw the starting line-ups, my initial reaction was that this was going to be a very tough game that will demand a special performance from the Gunners if they were to qualify. After the final whistle, I doubt anyone will argue that it wasn't an exceptional effort from an interesting collection of young and experienced footballers in red and white.

Football chants are the metaphoric glue that bonds fans together in banter. For some players these are songs praising their talent, for others, well, it's best not to go there. Unfortunately there are some offensive corkers we had to leave out, but the ones we left in are equally class.

Arsenal centre forward Robin Van Persie has produced a string of consistent and impressive goal scoring displays this season, something which have been previously been missing from his game.

When the Dutchman arrived from Feyenoord in a £2.75 million move he was originally a left sided midfielder.

Form, as they say, is temporary. Class is permanent.

According to the form books, Barcelona are pretty good at the moment. And Chelsea have had a decent run over the last few years. Manchester United have had a great 20 years and we all know about the Liverpool heyday in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Arsenal's record since they lost the Carling Cup final against Birmingham is incredibly poor and yesterday's defeat against Aston Villa means that they will probably end fourth in the English Premier League. Speaking after the 1-2 ...

The title race is looking like a genuine four-horse race for next season with any one of Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchesters City and United in with a shout of the title.

In this article, I look at why they fell short- or in the case of United, won the league- and what is needed this summer for a successful challenge in the forthcoming season.

Carlos Vela not allowed to leave Arsenal. Why? by Peter Rooke The young Mexican Carlos Vela (maybe not so young nowadays) has spent many years at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, and he has has played many games in the Carling Cup and FA Cup games, but despite some absolutely brilliant performances, Wenger has totally refused [.

We have a frightening Top 25 for you this week. At least it's frightening for a few. Levante, for example, who lost its first match of the season in the Primera División, which dropped it from first to third in the table and, consequently, dropped it from number two in the rankings to number eleven.

Chasing after his former self, not the opponent

Carling Cup returns to the menu as the victors of tonight's game will seal their path into the semi final of this competition. It won't be so easy to win this year's competitions, well, compared to our run last season. Apart from Manchester City, there's still Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool still in this competition.

Chasing after his former self, not the opponent

Carling Cup returns to the menu as the victors of tonight's game will seal their path into the semi final of this competition. It won't be so easy to win this year's competitions, well, compared to our run last season. Apart from Manchester City, there's still Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool still in this competition.

Carling Cup slapstick Manchester United debutant Ezekiel Fryers had a decent match against Crystal Palace after coming on as a sub for Fabio. Alas, that will be overshadowed firstly by the fact that Palace pulled off a big upset to beat United and secondly by the bizarre incidents in the video above.

Carling Cup slapstick Manchester United debutant Ezekiel Fryers had a decent match against Crystal Palace after coming on as a sub for Fabio. Alas, that will be overshadowed firstly by the fact that Palace pulled off a big upset to beat United and secondly by the bizarre incidents in the video above.

I just glanced at the upcoming fixtures list and was pleasantly surprised by the remaining games in January. I knew there were Cup ties with Leeds and Ipswich followed by a game against West Ham but hadn't realized the next two games after that were at home against Wigan and Ipswich.

In effect, out of the next five games, three are against Championship sides and two against relegation candidates.

Much like the game against Leeds, I'm in the dark about the football prowess of Arsenal's opponents in the Carling Cup semi-finals. Add the fact that I haven't had much time in the last couple of days to even search for highlights involving their games and you get an apologetically ignorant blogger attempting a match preview based on some general observations.

Carling Cup calamity A goalkeeper would usually know he is at fault if he was beaten by a cleanly struck Carlton Cole effort, given his form this season. When a scuffed Cole strike beats you, you know something has gone horribly wrong. Birmingham City keeper Ben Foster picked a horrible time to play a game [.

Carling Cup calamity A goalkeeper would usually know he is at fault if he was beaten by a cleanly struck Carlton Cole effort, given his form this season. When a scuffed Cole strike beats you, you know something has gone horribly wrong. Birmingham City keeper Ben Foster picked a horrible time to play a game [.

JustArsenal can reveal the squad to face Ipswich later tonight is: Szczesny, Shea, Koscielny, Gibbs, Miquel, Song, Sagna, Djourou, Eboue, Clichy, Arshavin, Denilson, Wilshere, Bendtner, van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Chamakh. A strong squad has been named to face Ipswich tonight with Miguel named as defensive cover and James Shea once again taking his place up on the [.

Since I posed the question in one of the posts yesterday, I was curious to determine how much of an impact Chicharito has had in terms of points won so far this season. Clearly, his impact is more than just goals and assists. But the intangibles are obviously more difficult to really measure. For the purpose of this exercise, I just went with a simplistic approach looking solely at the goals/assists stat and figuring out how many points he has won us because he scored/assisted.

Arsenal centre back Laurent Koscielny confessed he is very happy after the Gunners reached the Carling Cup Final after easing past Ipswich on Tuesday. Speaking to Arsenal TV Online after the game, the Frenchman admitted the ...

I had a feeling Arsenal won't win the Carling Cup final. I said that before the game. I never expected Arsenal to get past Messi in the Champions League, certainly not without Walcott. And I didn't have high hopes from the FA Cup game as it was an away game to Old Trafford, a ground where Arsenal don't score too many goals.

The Gunners ended the season with relegation form – 2W,3L,6D – in the final eleven games of the season. The fact that this form came straight after a horror fortnight that saw heartbreak in all the Cup fixtures, including the Carling Cup final, means that even the most positive of Gooners are finding it hard to sustain the faith.

...And thus, that shall be the first and only time you will see me mention Oxtail-Chamberpot by his full and proper name.

In all seriousness, today both Arsenal and Southampton announced the signing of the young forward to Arsenal, where he will immediately come into the first-team and start training with them.

Joey Barton welcomes Gervinho to life in the Premier League with an embrace

Us Arsenal fans have been approaching the beginning of this new campaign with a sense of dread. On the field, the team fell of a cliff last spring in quick sucession, they handed the Carling Cup to Birmingham in the waning minutes; got eliminated from the Champions League yet again by nemesis Barcelona, and fell from within striking distance of the top of the Premier League to barely hanging on to a Champions League spot.

How many teams can miss that many first choice players and eke out a fairly comfortable win in the Champions League? I think that is the big question and one that many might have missed when entangled in observations pertaining to Arsenal's defence, which undoubtedly needs a lot more work.

As expected, Wenger rested a number of key players.

Everton vs Chelsea Carling Cup Highlights 1-2 Goals Video 2011 Sturridge Kalou Turnbull red card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Everton vs Chelsea Carling Cup Highlights 1-2 Goals Video 2011 Sturridge Kalou Turnbull red card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Everton vs Chelsea 2011 ( Everton vs Chelsea Carling Cup) ( Video Below) Final score and result:- Everton vs Chelsea 1-2 ( Louis Saha/ Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge) Goodison [.

Everton vs Chelsea Carling Cup Highlights 1-2 Goals Video 2011 Sturridge Kalou Turnbull red card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Everton vs Chelsea Carling Cup Highlights 1-2 Goals Video 2011 Sturridge Kalou Turnbull red card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Everton vs Chelsea 2011 ( Everton vs Chelsea Carling Cup) ( Video Below) Final score and result:- Everton vs Chelsea 1-2 ( Louis Saha/ Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge) Goodison [.

Kenny Dalglish has given us an update on the injury situation at Liverpool ahead of the West Brom game on Saturday.
The biggest concern is Luis Suarez who picked up a knock against Stoke in the Carling Cup but Dalglish said they will wait until the last minute to see if Suarez is fit enough to play on the weekend.

Kenny Dalglish recently criticised the Football League for the 'disgraceful' scheduling of Liverpool's Carling Cup game against Chelsea, and this week, Dalglish has taken another (well-deserved) swipe at the football authorities, arguing that the Premier League is ignoring vital rest-periods required by players after international breaks.

The Man City manager Roberto Mancini is incensed that the FA have scheduled both his team and Liverpool to play in the League Cup Quarterfinals just two days after facing each other in the Premier League, in fact he thinks that the players should have a formal protest and he personally should pick schoolkids to [.

Arsene went with a 4-4-2 in a system that was designed to give games to players rather than a clear tactical move. Mancini retained his 4-3-3 but was surprisingly defensive in his approach with Kolarov playing as a left winger, at least for half an hour!

The first half was largely uneventful with neither side really creating many chances.