Rub your eyes, Arsenal fans, pinch yourself and splash your face with cold water, then read the headline again. Is it still the same? Yes, and it is not April 1st, so what on Earth is going on? Maybe whoever wrote this story originally had shaky hands from the night before, or his dog barked as he was typing and he hit an extra zero, because 100 million euros is silly money for anybody, never mind Remy Cabella.
What can we expect from the upcoming transfer window by NP
So we are nearing the end of another season and as usual a host of players, a.k.a. "Starlets" are already "being monitored by", "close to signing for" or "would love to play for" Arsenal. Most of them are homegrown stories by websites trying to increase their pay-per-click revenues or agents looking to place the players on the transfer market.
After Arsenal secured fourth place with the 1-0 win over Newcastle United and a chance of Champions League football next season, Arsene Wenger hailed his "special" players. In particular, he praised their mental strength as they overturned a seven-point gap from Tottenham Hotspur. The resilience showed in the team's performances as they went nine league games unbeaten, and swapped their usual swashbuckling style for a more pragmatic approach.
There is a belief in football that you should not change a winning team and that is what Arsenal have had for the last three games. Arsene Wenger had suggested that Olivier Giroud would return after his suspension and that Mikel Arteta would not be able to play due to his calf problem, but that seems to have been intended to keep the Newcastle manager Alan Pardew and his players guessing right to the last minute.
Arsenal head up north tomorrow needing a win to secure a top four finish, while Newcastle have nothing much to play for, although this and other results could see them finish anywhere from 10th to 17th. Alan Pardew will try to upset Arsene Wenger and Arsenal and give the home fans something to cheer about.
It has been very impressive the way Arsenal have handled the pressure on them this season. From a morale sapping defeat to the hated spuds, Arsenal were left seven points adrift and it seemed like this would be the year Tottenham finally finished above us.
Maybe we should thank AVB, because the spuds' croaky voiced manager's gloating claims of a downward spiral for Arsenal had the opposite effect and we are now back in the driving seat.
Olivier Giroud is almost certain to be back in the Arsenal starting line up tomorrow and he will want to end the season on a high. At times this season he has struggled, especially in the first half, but the French international is now a key part of the team and one of the first men on the team sheet when he is available.
Arsene Wenger has not announced his Arsenal team sheet for the crucial last game of the season yet, but it does no take a genius to work out that Olivier Giroud will come straight back into the starting XI to face Newcastle United. The big French international was sent off against Fulham and the FA rejected the Gunners appeal, even though it was clear from the replays that he had got the ball and slipped.
Sharing is caring; Arsenal's high scoring forwards by DG
If I were to ask you which Premier League team has four players that have scored more than 10 league goals this season, which would you guess? Man Utd only have two – RVP and Rooney. Man City? Two – Dzeko and Aguero. Chelsea actually manage three, but only if we include Demba Ba's goals for Newcastle in the first half of the season.
Arsene Wenger has a few decisions to make in his selection for the Arsenal team that travels north to St. James' Park on Sunday in the hope of beating Newcastle United and ensuring a top four finish, at least. The Prof will not want to change too much with the Gunners being on a fabulous run, especially with last night's goal-fest against Wigan.
Should Wenger Pick Giroud For The Newcastle Match? by FD
So, what was all the fuss about? Last night a confident and assured Arsenal team swept aside a weary Wigan and kept the qualification for a Champions League place firmly in our own hands.
It proved to be a match too far for Saturday's FA Cup winners and perennial escape artists, who now have to face up to life outside the Premier League.
There was great deal of excitement and expectation amongst Arsenal fans around this time last year, because we heard that Arsene Wenger had secured the transfer of the German international Lukas Podolski from Cologne. The 27-year old has enjoyed a pretty good first season with the Gunners, but there have been concerns over his fitness and rumours of a problem between him and Wenger.
There was a great deal of concern among Arsenal fans at the start of the season, and it was perfectly undertandable after losing Robin van Persie to Manchester United. The Dutch striker had scored 37 goals in the previous season and that is a big hole to fill. However, those fears have been allayed somewhat over the course of the season, with Theo Walcott scoring on Saturday bringing up the club's milestone of 100 and his own personal one of 20 goals this season.
The former Arsenal and England striker Alan `smudger` Smith has been writing about his memories of the Gunners and his thoughts on the current Arsenal team. Smith left Arsenal shortly before Arsene Wenger took over in 1996, but he has always followed the Gunners and has suggested that the Frenchman is at a pivotal period in his Arsenal reign and could maybe do with being a little more flexible in his methods.
"Arsenal will sorely miss Olivier Giroud for Tuesday's visit of Wigan Athletic". Tell me this, what's wrong with that statement? First and foremost, when did we become so reliant on Giroud? For large parts of the first half of the season, many fans believed Giroud was not up to scratch and wasn't capable of leading the line for Arsenal.
If you were drinking a cup of tea when you saw this headline, I apologise. Wipe your screen down and read on, because Arsenal's French international striker has suggested that he has been better that the Gunners scoring legend Thierry Henry and the `beast` Didier Drogba.
Arsenal have got one more game to go without the big front man Olivier Giroud. The French international will be available to play in the last game of the season against Newcastle United at St. James' Park, or whatever the hell it is called these days. It is as inevitable as death and taxes that Giroud will come straight back into the starting line up, because we have seen how much the Gunners have become set up to playing off him.
I think I would perhaps be enjoying this fourth-place run-in a bit more if Arsenal were a little less in the wanting zone. I'm finding it hard to prefer this new-found gritty football ('unremarkable' as the Independent have it, though they also admired our ruthlessness) over its free-flowing predecessor.
When Theo Walcott scored for Arsenal after 20 seconds against QPR yesterday, it was his 20th goal of the season in all competitions. That is the first time the England international has achieved that number in his ninth season as a professional footballer, and has helped the Gunners to get over the traitor van Persie.
In January, when Arsenal fans were pulling their hair out about the deafening silence from the Emirates, the Gunners were linked with every man and his dog, it seemed. A large number of the rumours concerned strikers, as Arsenal were dominating games but missing plenty of chances and both Giroud and Podolski were a little slow to adapt to the Premier League.
There is a lot of news surrounding our German striker Lukas Podolski today, both for good and bad reasons. It has almost been a year since Lukas Podolski's transfer to Arsenal was announced, with the deal being struck months before the summer transfer window and he has since become one of the more important players on our team.
Earlier in the season, when Arsenal were negotiating with Theo Walcott and his representatives about a new contract, we kept hearing that it was not about money, although he did manage to get a nice wage increase. Arsene Wenger and Walcott both said that some of the talk was about the England international's desire to play as a centre forward.
Arsenal have three more games left in the Premier League and will have to do without Olivier Giroud for the first two of those. The French international had established himself as one of the first players on the Gunners teamsheet after a few wobbles earlier in the season, but Arsene Wenger has another decision to make this weekend.
Arsenal welcome(sort of) Manchester United, who have won the English Premier League, to the Emirates today for a match that is decidedly crucial for the Gunners and perhaps a little less so for the Red Devils. Of course, along with the visit comes former Gunner and the man of the moment with a hat-trick in his very last game, Robin van Persie, who scored in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
With Arsenal facing a massive match against the newly crowned Premier League champions this weekend, Theo Walcott will be hoping to get another chance to stake his claim as a centre forward because of the suspension of the regular front man Olivier Giroud.
Walcott has revealed the Le Prof and Fergie are not quite as chalk and cheese like as some people think.
Since the huge disappointment of losing the north London derby, Arsenal have bounced back with a great run of games. One of the key factors in that has been the Gunners defensive displays, conceding just three goals in seven games. Arsene Wenger reacted to the Tottenham defeat by dropping the captain Thomas Vermaelen in favour of Laurent Koscielny, and the French centre back has grabbed his chance.
The Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud was effectively excluded from taking part in the final part of the Gunners race for the Top Four after being sent off in the dying minutes against Fulham last week.
Video evidence seemed to show that Giroud slipped as he went for the ball, and although contact was made he also clattered his studs into the leg of Stanislav Manolev.
Olivier Giroud has certainly had an interesting first season in the English Premier League since joining Arsenal from the French champions Montpellier. The French international has gone from hero to villain, and back again, a few times already. He has split opinion, not just with the Arsenal fans but with football reporters and commentators as well.
Things are getting very tight at the top of the Premier League. Arsenal have got four games left to ensure a top four finish and qualification for the Champions League next season. Arsene Wenger was dealt a blow yesterday when the FA deemed the red card and three match ban for Olivier Giroud would stand, leaving the professor with a tough decision to make.
Surprise, surprise, the FA have rejected Arsenal's appeal about the red card and three match ban dished out to Olivier Giroud against Fulham on Saturday. Although replays showed that the Frenchman slipped while going for the ball, we will now have to face Manchester United, QPR and Wigan Athletic without him.
I know Arsene Wenger wants all his players available for the closing weeks of the season, but I am honestly surprised that Arsenal have decided to appeal the sending off of Olivier Giroud in last weeks game against Fulham.
Many Arsenal fans think that he should have been dropped after that performance anyway, but this announcement on Arsenal.
You would not normally hold out much hope on the FA overturning a decision, but Arsenal have decided to appeal against the red card shown to Olivier Giroud against Fulham on Saturday. We will find out the result tomorrow, but there are reasons to hope that the decision will be overturned or, failing that, his ban will be for just one game rather than the three that is standard for violent conduct.
Arsenal were far from impressive against Fulham on Saturday, but did at least hold on for a massive three points. With both our top four rivals picking up points in tough fixtures yesterday, the next Gunners game, against Manchester United at the Emirates on Saturday, has taken on extra importance.
Who will Wenger choose as Striker against Man UTD? by Rory
Giroud's sending off against Fulham was worrying at the time; however looking to our next game (A huge game against Man Utd) the sending off of Giroud could be a benefit to Arsenal.
Giroud's record is not bad for his first season, however his conversion rate is horrendous, and when I watched him at the Emirates against Everton, it was the first time I realised a professional footballer could sky the ball way over the goal from five yards.
Could Arsenal still make use of 35-year-old Thierry Henry? The former Gunners star and winner of the most Golden Boots in Premier League history (4) is still up to his old tricks in the United States for the New York ... Continue reading →
The battle for a top four finish in the Premier League looks like it will carry on the the last day of the season. Arsenal travel to Newcastle on that day, which is never an easy place to get a result, but hopefully the Magpies will be safe from relegation by then because the Gunners may need all three points.
Judging by lots of previous comments, there are a lot of Arsenal fans who will be glad that Olivier Giroud was sent off for a lunging tackle against Manolev of Fulham. If Arsenal do not appeal the decision, or lose an appeal, then the big Frenchman will miss the next three games at a vitally important time.
Fulham 0 – 1 Arsenal, a terrible performance but a win will do by KJ
An early red card for Fulham would've given off the illusion that this would be a formality for the Arsenal but we always do it the hard way and were lucky not to lose points.
We started the game pretty decently and had the lion's share of possession.
What will posterity tell us about this game? Not, I suspect, that it was a curiously below-par performance despite an 80-minute numerical advantage. History will record it as a win. Three potentially crucial points for supremacy among the title unchallengers.
