Arsene Wenger is preparing the Arsenal team for a testing week ahead with three crucial away fixtures in eight days in three different competitions, and he is happy that now new injuries happened in last weeks win over Blackburn. He said: "Everybody should be available for Saturday and we have no new injuries that's [.

So, Monday morning, eh? After a win, eh? Tends to be quiet, eh?

That last one wasn't a question. It's true. After a win there's a lot less to talk about than after a defeat. This, my friends, is not a bad thing at all. Much as I love the chatting and the breaking up of the online discourse to tell people not to suggest such things about their opponent's mother and the like, a day when there's little to complain about (although I'm sure some will find a way), is no bad thing at all.

A first win of 2012, seven goals, a striker in the form of his life, and one of the most exciting young talents in the country. Finally a day really worth cheering about.

The emergence of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, in particular, is great news for the club. In recent times Arsene Wenger seemed to have lost his touch with bringing in exceptional young talents, with the likes of Diaby, Denilson and Walcott not fulfilling their potential, and the most exciting player, Wilshere, coming up through the club's academy.

In three short hours we face a stiff test. No, Bolton aren't that good. But for this is a test for Wenger and the boys.

We've lost three games in a row in the league for the first time since 2007. We should have drawn all three, and we could have won any of them. We're in 6th spot in the league, six points behind Chelsea and have a worse defensive record than West Brom.

Just a couple of weeks ago Arsene Wenger had a full team of players on the treatment table, but ahead of tonights game against Bolton the Arsenal injury list has reduced by half. Bacary Sagna may have only played a few minutes on Sunday, but it was a relief to see him back after three [...]

There were rumors yesterday on twitter suggesting Jack Wilshere had suffered an injury setback. Many (read: All) were hoping they were like every other rumor regarding Arsenal during a transfer rumor that never actually happen, but this one has been proven to be true.

During Wenger's press conference the news revealed the happy news:

He has had a little setback that is under investigation at the moment so I cannot give you how long he will be out for.

It's undoubtedly been a bad few weeks for the club. Speaking to a friend before the United match I suggested that the previous five weeks had been the worst I'd seen us consistently play as a team in the 15 years I've been going to Arsenal. And after the match, we remain pointless in 2012.
But I do think people have suffered from raised expectations.

Guh. Read Martin's preview to be cheered up. (He almost completely ignores our big loss. Glosses over, I guess you could say.)

Last season Ramsey scored a late goal to win this for us 1-0. Here's a picture of that goal for some inspiration:

Could history repeat itself?

Could do.

Arsenal has suffered some terrible bad luck with defensive injuries this season. We lost Sagna, Gibbs and Jenkinson all with a 17 days in October, but the loss that has hurt us most was the loss of Santos in December. Santos was an attacking full-back and gave us extra attacking options something that has been lacking in recent weeks.

Many Arsenal fans may have already given up on ever seeing Abou Diaby in an Arsenal shirt again after his continuing series of ankle problems, which started just after he arrived at the Gunners in 2006. He was apparently close to a comeback last month but Arsene Wenger announced that he had he had had [.

Slow news weeks, obviously. Still, a couple of tidbits are noteworthy. Find out which legendary French striker is held in high regard by Gibbs and why our next transfer target could be a 16 year old. More after the jump.

When Thierry Henry re-joined the Gunners at the start of the month, there were questions regarding his potential worth to the team, but also his effect on the team chemistry that has progressed leaps and bounds since the start of the season- it's obvious that this is one of the most closely-knit and cohesive Arsenal team in years.

Having last week ruminated in full on the state of our rearguard this season; this week's column will meditate on the performance further up the pitch. Taking in the oily machinery of the midfield engine room, through to the leather upholstery and walnut gear knobs up top. (Or in some cases, those big seats on the bench that look like they've been half inched from the McLaren showroom).

The Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby was hailed as the "new Patrick Vieira" when he arrived at Arsenal five years ago, but he immediately broke an ankle which it would appear has never fully healed. He has never made more than 20 appearances for the Gunners in a season, and has made more comebacks than Frank [.

Arsenal need to put the draw with Wolves behind them and take all three points from the home match against QPR tomorrow, and the good news is that Theo Walcott has recovered from his illness and will be back in the team. Arsene Wenger said yesterday: "Theo is OK [after his illness] and we have [...]

According to TalkSport, the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is seriously considering a move for the Sao Paulo midfielder Carlos Henrique Casemiro and is willing to pay upto £10 million for the young Brazilian hotshot. The 19-year-old is a typical box-to-box midfielder. His playing style is both versatile and aggressive as he is a tough-tackling midfielder [.

Ever since the departure of Fabregas and the long-term injury to Wilshire, I have been trying to figure out how the ‘New Arsenal' will play this season. For quite a while I was convinced Arsène wanted to continue with his 4-2-3-1 formation of the previous seasons, and as such, he was trying to get Ramsey to play in the Fabregas position/role, with Song in the more traditional DM role and Arteta in the box-to-box ‘Wilshere' role which is effectively a second DM (most of the times).

Ever since the departure of Fabregas and the long-term injury to Wilshire, I have been trying to figure out how the ‘New Arsenal' will play this season. For quite a while I was convinced Arsène wanted to continue with his 4-2-3-1 formation of the previous seasons, and as such, he was trying to get Ramsey to play in the Fabregas position/role, with Song in the more traditional DM role and Arteta in the box-to-box ‘Wilshere' role which is effectively a second DM (most of the times).

The French midfielder Abou Diaby has been with Arsenal for five years now, and he came with high hopes of being the "next Patrick Vieira" but things have never gone right for him since breaking his ankle just four months after his arrival. Since then he has never managed more than 20 games in any [..

The French midfielder Abou Diaby has been with Arsenal for five years now, and he came with high hopes of being the "next Patrick Vieira" but things have never gone right for him since breaking his ankle just four months after his arrival. Since then he has never managed more than 20 games in any [..

Morning all,

let's start with early team news ahead of tomorrow's trip to Wigan and nobody who played on Tuesday is added to the sicklist, but Tomas Rosicky remains out with a thigh knack while Abou Diaby will miss 10 days with 'a slight muscular problem'.

Obviously I don't think anybody is surprised by that but Diaby now seems to be caught in an infinite loop of injury.

Arsenal 1-1 Fulham

So Arsenal's five-match league winning run comes to a close. Churlish to moan too much, given how until recently we'd not strung two league wins together for donkey's years. And overall, our recent form in all competitions remains nigh-on impeccable.

By 1970"s GoonerFor the first reason I would agree with Wenger. The team did look jaded. Tiredness was very apparent to me especially in the second half where some of the players' energy did begin to fail them. One example was Song who was replaced in midfield by Diaby and also Ramsey who was not himself yesterday.

Video highlights and reaction match report By the numbers

I guess in the context of recent results and the form we've been in yesterday was something of a disappointment. Dropping two points at home can always be criticised but post-Champions League games against well organised, tough opponents are never easy.

Morning all,

with the job well and truly done in Europe the attention can now turn back to the Premier League and tomorrow's game against Fulham. The early team news is that we don't appear to have lost anyone after the game against Dortmund. Koscielny's withdrawal was due to 'fatigue' and beyond the short and long-termers there's nothing new to report on that front, which is good to hear.

Arsenal fans will be reasonably content to see Abou Diaby return to the team LANS (Like A New Signing) the enigmatic Frenchman will probably provide further cover for the midfield behind Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey, but many Gooners will remember Diaby's infuriating inconsistency, from his red-card horror show at St.

Next year sees a Singapore team competing in the Malaysia Super League, a throwback to the times when they competed in the prestigious Malaysia Cup fondly remembered by fans of that generation.
The Singapore Lions is a team being specially built to compete north of the causeway, the season starts in January, and is being slowly, almost painfully, put together piece by piece.

I must say I always enjoy it when a German club comes to town. They invariably bring loads of fans, make lots of noise and have a cracking time. Marseille and Arsenal might still be in the driving seats in this group, but Dortmund's win on Matchday 4* means they are very much back in it, and if that fact hasn't been drummed into the team throughout this week in training then I'm a goalscoring Dutchman.

Let's begin this morning with team news ahead of tonight's game against Borussia Dortmund.

Just to maintain the balance of the universe, Abou Diaby's return to the squad comes as Tomas Rosicky drops out, having picked up a 'small thigh strain' in training. Diaby hasn't played yet this season having undergone surgery on his ankle in the summer and I suspect he'll start from the bench.

Ahead of the game that could seal the Gunners' progression from the group stages, Arsène Wenger offered very little bad news regarding the Arsenal squad for the Borussia Dortmund encounter on Wednesday evening. While Tomas Rosicky will be disappointed to be unable to face his former side with "a small thigh strain", Abou Diaby's recovery [.

Abou Diaby has been included in Arsenal's squad for tomorrow night's Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund.

The French midfielder, who's yet to play a game this season, replaces Tomas Rosicky who misses the match against his old club after picking up a thigh injury.

In this afternoon's pre-match press conference, Arsene Wenger expressed his delight over the return of the 25-year old midfielder.

We're finally back to some league action again after the two week hiatus. I guess in England they'd call that a fortnight. Anyway, we're off to the east coast of England to take on Norwich at Carrow Road in an early morning (North American time) tilt.
Before I get to the official preview, let's check in on some injury notes.

Ok, here we go again!

We'll start this morning with some team news ahead of the Norwich game and there's bad news for two young full backs. Kieran Gibbs has a hernia and Arsene explains:

He looks like he will be out for between four and five weeks. At first he had an abdominal strain, certainly caused by the fact that he had a hernia already.

I was speaking to an old friend recently, who is also a fan of the Arsenal, and he was pleading the case for us to sign Gary Cahill in the January window. An idea which he seems to share with many of his fellow Gooners (or so it seems looking at blog world!), and this got me thinking about the current squad and the strengthening options open to Arsène come January 1st.

I am far from the best person to write a scouting report on Olympique de Marseille, but no one else is volunteering. (Add comments if you have any thoughts.)

Match: Champions League Group Phase Away to the Arsenal

Result: 0-0

Standings after this 4th match
1.

Facts and figures ahead of the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium.

TEAM NEWS

Arsenal are without Carl Jenkinson due to a knee injury sustained against Marseille so, withBacary Sagna a long-term absentee, Johan Djourou could start at right-back.

Well, this is strange. This poor blog has been so neglected in recent weeks that even sitting down to write feels a little alien. What have I missed? Well, in the time that I have been away, we lost to Spurs, had a two week international break in which I barely looked at Arsenal news (why would you, when everyone is so damn negative?

Unibet make Arsenal 1.45 (5/11) to beat Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium today while the Black Cats are available at 8.0 (7/1) and the draw is a 4.25 (13/4) chance.

Last season Sunderland managed to grind out a 0-0 result, and this time around you can get an industry best price of 15 (14/10) with Unibet on that happening again.

Unibet make Arsenal 1.45 (5/11) to beat Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday while the Black Cats are available at 8.0 (7/1) and the draw is a 4.25 (13/4) chance.

Last year Sunderland managed to grind out a 0-0 result, and this time around you can get an industry best price of 15 (14/10) with Unibet on that happening again.

The internationals have been put to bed and it is now back to the Premier League and Sunderland at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon. Here is all the latest news on the injury situation and who is and who isn't available, and for once things are looking up in the treatment room. Abou Diaby is [...]

It's been another fortnight of stewing over Arsenal's weaknesses. The previous international break came right after the pounding at Old Trafford; this one came after the derby defeat. On each occasion the fortnight off has been seen as something of a blessed relief a time to lick our wounds and work on the basics.