As Arsenal head towards the business end of the season, their manager Arsene Wenger has said that the Gunners should be optimistic about their chances.

The North Londoners will face Sunderland on Saturday at the Stadium of Light, with their aim being to keep pace with their city rivals Chelsea.

photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Real Salt Lake are looking to the future just as much as they are hoping to win an MLS Cup title in 2012.

Real Salt Lake announced four moves on Thursday, including the re-signings of Fabian Espindola and Ned Grabavoy.

Less than a week after bringing American Edson Buddle back to Los Angeles, the team has bolstered the roster further by unveiling two Brazilians.

Earlier this week, the Galaxy officially announced that the club had reached an agreement with Brazilian club São Paulo FC, allowing midfielder Juninho to return on loan for the 2012 season.

News today that 19 year-old Newcastle central midfielder Haris Vuckic will be joining Cardiff City on an initial one month loan deal tomorrow. 6'3″ Haris Vuckic in action against West Brom earlier this season Haris is one of Newcastle's brightest young talents, and he joined the club in January of 2009, and has made 12 appearances so [.

STARTERS
Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America reports sad news that Harry Keough of the USA World Cup team that beat England in 1950 has passed away.
dN
Vancouver & Seattle faced off in a "friendly" yesterday: 10 yellow cards and 1 red card. Oof!
dN
Another week, another huge day for the LA Galaxy as they sign a new loan deal with Sao Paolo for the services of central midfielder Juninho, one of the unsung heroes of their great 2011 season.

Their Words "Juninho is not going to be utilized at São Paulo per the coach's decision and the club is accepting the loan deal for Juninho's return to Los Angeles to play for the Galaxy," Sao Paulo spokesperson Felipe Espindola. Other Sources Is salary space an issue for Galaxy? Who knows? - from Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney: The great unknown is, of course, allocation money.

Thierry Henry's short return to Arsenal apparently has been considered very useful for club's manager, Arsene Wenger, as he is currently hoping that Henry's loan could be extended for another two weeks.

Wenger revealed that the veteran striker brought plenty positive attitudes for the other players as they listen and learn lots of things from the Gunners' legend, something that obviously helped the tactician's job in improving his team's performance.

The silence has finally been broken and we finally know what all the secrecy was about. Jose Adolfo Valencia will be having knee surgery to repair damage cartilage in his left knee. The biggest reason this took so long to take care of was the fact that Santa Fe and Portland reworked the loan deal that brought Valencia to Portland as it is still unclear when and where the injury occurred.

YOU try keeping them apart. Image: AFP PHOTO/ IAN KINGTON.

Don't feel bad that you missed all the transfer news because you're such important people. We too were engaged in frantic busy work (sleeping, shopping, drinking or a horrifying and painful combination of all three) when the window slammed shut at 23.

After watching two of last year's biggest signings walk this winter, the Revolution have reportedly addressed its paper-thin forward corps by signing Colombian striker Jose "Pepe" Moreno via loan from Once Caldas (Colombia).

The 30-year-old forward, who scored eight goals in 20 games for Once Caldas in 2011, is expected to help fill the crater-sized hole created by the departures of Milton Caraglio and Rajko Lekic.

Tottenham yesterday saw both Roman Pavlyuchenko and Steven Pienaar leave White Hart Lane for Lokomotiv Moscow and Everton respectfully. Both moves do not come as a surprise, in fact if anything, they were both overdue.

After having been linked with a move away from Tottenham for quite some time, Pavyluchenko finally made the switch to Lokomotiv for a reported £8 million.

A few months ago, everything was going swimmingly for City. All they seemingly had to do was to show up for win after lopsided win. But then there was a gradual slide in theor fortunes. At the end of January their season is but a litany of thwarted ambitions. Out of the Champions League in December and by last week, the Carling Cup and the FA Cup, their accelerated program to win the Premiership title seems to have hit a wall and in danger of being snatched by those other pesky Mancunians and the upstart Spurs.

Following the conclusion of a loan deal to send full-back Vedran Corluka to Bayer Leverkusen for the remainder of the season, Tottenham Hotspur are set to live up to their expectations of making significant moves at the eleventh hour.

The 25-year old Corluka's work ethic has been consistently praised by Spurs boss Harry Redknapp but the Croatia international's playing time was limited this season by the emergence of youngster Kyle Walker.

January was another interesting month at the Lamex Stadium. After an unbeaten December and with Stevenage now in the shake up for the League 1 play-offs, Graham Westley was a wanted man. GW and his team were snapped up by Preston North End after weeks of uncertainty over his future. A new era has begun at Stevenage with Gary Smith appointed as the new manager.

Newcastle will try to do a loan deal if they cannot tie up Watford's Adrian Mariappa before Tuesday's transfer deadline. Adrian Mariappa unlikely to be joining Newcastle Newcastle have not been too lucky with loan deals over the last few years, and two that immediately come to mind are Uruguayan Ignacio Gonzalez and Stephen Ireland, both [.

Much has been made in recent weeks of the Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey debate. The debate began as a casual conversation while trying to design the perfect US National Team lineup. It seemed at the time, there would be no way to pin down which player was truly better. Donovan plies his trade in Major League Soccer whereas Dempsey produces his magic in the English Premier League.

The Man City (and ex-Arsenal) striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been a godsend for Tottenham this season with nine goals that have helped Harry Redknapp's team reach the Champions League places. But Adebayor wasn't allowed to face his parent side last weekend when Man City beat Spurs 3-2, Arsene Wenger thinks that this particular loan deal [.

Judging by some tweets and information supplied by Juan David Duque, a 21 year old Colombian left winger.

Lets start with what started all he rumors.

According to Goal.com Duque tweeted about being in negotiations with the Timbers and that he would update everyone more this week, the article was posted on 1/23/12.

PSG has already pulled the plug, and it appears Inter is doing the same.

"Inter have recovered their champions and there is no need to have him or another, even if Tevez remains a great champion."

City does not want Milan's loan deal. For now it appears Argentinian want-away will remain at the Etihad where with each passing day of not playing having already cost him £9.

Reports have been coming through today that a permanent deal for Giovani dos Santos could be tied up before the weekend. There has been much speculation about Gio's future since the transfer window opened and according to Villareal's vice-president Jose Manuel Llaneza, Gio's White Hart Lane misery could soon be at and end.

Taye Taiwo has finally been officially unveiled as Queens Park Rangers' new signing this January and the player express his gratitude towards the club's manager, Mark Hughes, who reportedly was then one asking for the Nigerian international.

The six months loan deal with possible buy out clause at the end of season was actually done few days ago, but it's just got active after Taiwo received his working permit, a basic conditions for foreigners to play in the premier league.

Ooh, it's a little early for tongue, Nolan. What kind of girls do you think we are? Image: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images.

Nature abhors a vacuum, Kickettes. It isn't something we made up as a convenient opening remark for a transfer update post, it's the truth.

Don't believe us? Last week, we told you that Ludovic Obraniak had left Lille for Bordeaux, leaving a massive gap in their pretty player quotient.

Melbourne Victory announced today that they've secured 26 year old defender, Mark Milligan on a short-term loan deal from Japan's JEF United, until the end of the regular season. Milligan, who has previously represented Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets in the A-League says he is looking forward to playing in his home country once again: "The Japanese season

Stevenage are on the road again this weekend as they make a trip up to Glanford Park to face Alan Knill's Scunthorpe United. Boro are still managerless after Graham Westley's departure last Friday, but they will be confident going into the game after a run of 10 away games in all competitions without defeat.

Queens Park Rangers are set to land Nigerian international Taye Taiwo from Italian champions AC Milan within the coming days. The left back joined Milan from Marseille last summer but has struggled to make it to the first team despite not suffering from any injuries.

The finer details of Taiwo 's transfer are not clear, however what is known is that the defender will be joining QPR on a loan deal.

By FRANCO PANIZO

Facing media scrutiny and the possibility of disciplinary action, Pepe has issued an apology to Leo Messi.

Well, sort of.

A day after what appeared to be a deliberate step on Messi's hand in Real Madrid's 2-1 loss to Barcelona, Pepe told Real Madrid's website that it was an involuntary act.

The frustrating Tottenham career of Giovani do Santos could finally be coming to an end in this transfer window with reports of interest from Spain and from Bolton Wanderers boss Owen Coyle. Gio hinted at his potential again this month, albeit against Cheltenham, and after the game manager Harry Redknapp hailed his talent while giving an insight into why the player has barely featured at the Lane.

Last August Melbourne Victory Chairman Anthony Di Pietro stated that the Club would be releasing Ricardinho at the conclusion of his loan deal from Parana Clube on December 31, 2011. At the time Victory were clearing the way for Harry Kewell and needed to free up the International Marquee spot which Ricardinho occupied.

As much as I still cannot conceive the fact we conceded three goals to a team down a man for 7000 minutes, turns out the same happened to St. Mirren on the weekend!

But they conceded five!

Here's the scoring sheet:

Hearts 5-2 St Mirren

• Zaliukas 1
• Skacel 23
• Skacel 64
• Skacel 68
• Sutton 90

• McGowan (pen) 13
• Thompson 19

So, yes, Saturday sucked for us.

Everton have risen to the top of likeliest destination for National Team players in the Premier League, bringing in Ingolstadt forward Edson Buddle for a week-long trial. USA goalkeepers Tim Howard and Marcus Hahnemann already play for the club, with Landon Donovan joining them on an MLS off-season loan deal.

It's all too easy to point the finger when a striker isn't finding the net but you can be sure that the newspapers won't shy away from targeting criticism towards a misfiring centre forward. Step forward the Guardian who are aiming a lot of flak in the direction of Emmanuel Adebayor.

The report suggests that the Togolese has simply ‘gone off the boil' and part of the story states,

‘Gradually, Adebayor's form has dipped – he has scored once in the past seven league matches – and even though he found the net against Wolves only to have the goal disallowed for a debatable offside, this was perhaps his most ineffective game of the season as he continually found himself in the wrong place and the wrong time.

Is Henrique on his way to Queens Park Rangers?

Check out more of Brazil's talented youngsters here

São Paulo's 21-year-old forward, Henrique, is reported to be close to signing a loan deal with Premier League club Queen Park Rangers. The initial deal is thought to be at around the €500,000 mark rising to €6million if QPR decide to make the transfer permanent.

Saturday Aston Villa - Everton 12pm - Fox Soccer Potentially a chance to see LA Galaxy teammates Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane face each other at Premier League level, with Keane signing a loan deal with Villa. Assuming Brad Guzan stays in goal for the home team, this is another battle of the American goalkeepers for Tim Howard.

Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie believes that club legend Thierry Henry's decision to join his beloved club for a second time shows how brave he is.

The Frenchman recently put pen to paper on a short term loan deal with the Gunners and scored the winner in the 1-0 FA Cup defeat of Leeds United on his second debut at the Emirates.

Carlos Tevez is not headed to Milan.

Talks between Manchester City and AC Milan suddenly broke down after Alexander Pato refused a move to Paris-St. Germain. Milan needed the 20-25 million pound transfer fee from the Brazilian international's move to have any chance of raising the necessary cash.

Happy Thursday, everyone. Joe the Curmudgeon here, holding down the fort today as Dear Leader El Brucio is in Kansas City for the MLS SuperDraft and probably cleaning Oklahoma Joe's out of every last scrap of meat... Just a bit of news for today...
MLS SUPERDRAFT
...And with the First Pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, Impact Montréal select Andrew Wenger D/F from Duke.

I can confirm: the short loan deal with buy option to send George John to West Ham is now signed and sealed. The official announcement is forthcoming.And now I must hurry off before I miss my own game.- Greg Seltzer

By Chris Wright

Thirteen years after coming this close you should see how close I'm holding my fingers right now to joining Villa from Wolves (a financial snag saw him toddle off to Coventry instead) in 1999, Robbie Keane has finally made the move to Villa Park on a two-month loan deal from LA Galaxy.

Remember when Brad Friedel made those comments about Landon Donovan? Well, today is the day Donovan can make his former teammate eat those words.

Donovan and Friedel are set to square off on Wednesday afternoon when Everton visits Tottenham in a game American fans have been salivating over ever since Donovan agreed to a loan deal with Everton.

Guardian: Football transfer rumours: Andy Carroll back to Newcastle?

Today's fluff is covered in a deep layer of cinder The Mill bought a toaster last winter. At the time it seemed like the bees knees, all shining dials and levers, promising crisp, crunchy slices of breakfast goodness and boasting the capacity to adequately service a thick teacake or hefty muffin.