Could Arsenal make a shock move for 33 year old Wigan defender Emerson Boyce? by SS
Arsene Wenger would hope to get Boyce cheap and use him as cover in a variety of defensive positions and to act as an experienced leader within the defence. Bacary Sagna looks set to leave the club this summer with Russian giants Anzhi and newly crowned French champions PSG interested.
With no progress forthcoming on Bacary Sagna's contract extension at Arsenal, it is looking more and more likely that the French defender will be leaving the Emirates this summer. According to the ex-Man United star Andrei Kanchelskis, who is currently assistant manager at FC Volga in the Russian Premier League, Sagna is a target for the moneybags team Anzhi Makhachkala who could let Wenger cash in on his 30 year-old right-back.
It is normal for Arsenal fans to have two things to worry about at this part of the season. Firstly, there is the annual race to get into the Champions League places for next season, which has been tighter than ever this season and looks like it will be decided on the final day. Two wins against Wigan Athletic and Newcastle United will guarantee that we finish above Tottenham, but those wins will be far from easy.
Are any Arsenal players good enough to interest another big club? by FD
All the transfer talk at the moment is about the potential players Arsenal are looking to bring in over the summer. It seems as though there's hardly a prospect we haven't been linked with. That's all well and good – it's refreshing to be considered as one of the poachers for a change, rather than having to play our usual game-keeping role.
Since Bacary Sagna's statement last week that he is open to PSG, Monaco or any other offer this summer has made it clear that he has not entered into talks with Arsenal over a contract extension, which seems to point to the fact that he will definitely be leaving at the end of the season.
So, as Arsenal are likely to be in the market for a talented right-back, the Mail reports that the Gunners scouts have been looking around for his replacement, and the two top targets are said to be the Polish international Lukasz Piszczek, who is currently playing for Dortmund, and the Feyenoord right-back Daryl Janmaat, who has recently become a regular in the Dutch national team.
There have been many rumours linking the Arsenal right-back Bacary Sagna with a return to France this summer with the new money-bags club, Paris Saint Germain. Only last week it was reported that Arsene Wenger had persuaded the 30 year-old to stay on at the Emirates, but it seems that that is not yet true as Sagna has now revealed that he doesn't know where he will be next season.
In the wake of the departures of Robin van Persie and Alex Song from Arsenal last year, the French international Bacary Sagna was critical of the club and questioned the ambition of the board. In that, he was not alone and most of the Arsenal fans agreed with him to a certain extent. There have been rumours and speculation all season about the right back leaving the Emirates and there is, apparently, strong interest from PSG.
Sir Alex Ferguson famously spoke the words "squeaky bum time" about the nervewracking end of season games, and it certainly is for fans of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham at the moment. This is a time for the players to try and approach each game calmly and confidently and not to let the nerves affect their game.
I am not one of the Arsenal fans that think Bacary Sagna is all washed up and should never play for the Gunners again, but he did have a bit of a shocker against Manchester United last weekend and it ended up costing two valuable points. Alex Ferguson may have thought, or at least said, that his team deserved to win, but the truth is that Sagna's double mistake let them off the hook and changed the outlook of the Arsenal players.
With the stories circulating about Bacary Sagna's future, heightened by his poor performance in the draw against United at the weekend, Arsenal may be on the look out for a replacement right back this summer. If the rumours were to be true and we were on the market I do not believe there would be anyone more suitable than Micah Richards to be the man to fill the gap, especially as he is a Gooner himself.
Following what many would consider to be just one more in a long line of poor performances this season, Bacary Sagna's days at Arsenal seem to be numbered. Fans have grown impatient with his erratic displays this season, and his howler against Man Utd seems to be the nail in the coffin for many Gooners.
It will not surprise many Arsenal fans that Alex Ferguson complained that his Manchester United players did not get fair treatment from the referee at the Emirates yesterday. Fergie complained that Phil Dowd had treated the teams differently, especially when it came to giving yellow cards, but Arsene Wenger saw things differently.
Arsenal right back Bacary Sagna has spent the majority of his career with the Gunners, after signing from Ligue 1 side Auxerre back in 2007. In those 6 years Sagna has managed to make 175 league appearances, scoring just 3 goals. In his first years he competed with Emmanuel Eboue to nail down the Right Back position, however it was quickly seen who the better player was and Sagna soon managed to make a stance and become Arsenal's regular Right Back.
When Robin van Persie made his first return to Arsenal yesterday, it was always going to be a major talking point. The Dutch striker, his new manager at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger were all expecting a hostile reception from the home fans. It could have been a lot worse, I thought, but some were surprised at the booing.
Arsenal went flying into a 1-0 lead after just 2 minutes of yesterday's game against Man United but a moment of madness from Bacary Sagna gave Robin Van Persie the chance to peg us back and set up a nervous second half.
Arsene Wenger thinks that the penalty ruined the flow of Arsenal's game.
Arsenal knew the huge importance of this game against Manchester United and may have been aware that Chelsea were beating Swansea in the earlier kick off. The players had to suffer the indignity of having to clap the former captain and turncoat Robin van Persie and his team mates on to the pitch. Wenger will have told them to use that feeling to their advantage in the game, and it could not have started much better.
Arsenal's defence isn't as bad as it's made out to be and is not the reason we are struggling by KJ
The general consensus amongst most football fans is that Arsenal are a good attacking side that are average at best at defending. That would be correct considering how over the last 5 seasons, our goals conceded at the end of each season has steadily increased:
2008/2009: 38 2009/2010: 41 2010/2011: 43 2011/2012: 49 2012/2013: 35 (with 4 games to play)
As you can see, we've conceded more and more goals as the seasons have gone by but this season seems to be the one that bucks the trend.
As the end of the season approaches, there are more and more Arsenal transfer rumours appearing, especially in the weekend papers. I did an early roundup yesterday morning and here are a few more that we didn't discuss yesterday.
First of all, newly promoted Cardiff City are said to be very keen to bring the Welsh international Aaron Ramsey back to the club, as they are setting about building a squad that is capable of surviving in the Premiership next season.
After selling Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona in 2011 and Robin Van Purse-y to Manchester United last summer, it is now being reported that Arsenal are trying to sign Swansea's Ashley Williams as a replacement for the out-going Thomas Vermaelen.
In recent weeks it has become apparent that Wenger now considers Vermaelen to be his third-choice centre-back after Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, but surely Wenger is not considering giving up on the Belgium international?
The remaining matches of the season are all set to be nail biting stuff. We need to continue to win and Tottenham and Chelsea need to lose some. Next Tuesday is a very tough match with Everton, and here are my thoughts and I just wanted to see what people think.
Arsenal's budget, who we can get and who we should get, have your say. by Rory
There has been lots of talk about who we should buy ever since this release of the 70 million budget which we are supposedly being granted for the Summer, however a lot of us seem to have forgotten that Wenger stated that this will include wages, so I have tried to have a realistic view of the money we can, but also ambitious in the players that we can sign.
The famous Arsenal fan Carl Jenkinson has admitted that during his schoolboy days he studied some old Arsenal legends like Lee Dixon, who gave him something to aspire to as he woprked his way through the levels that ended up with him being a regulat Arsenal starter.
One of his favourite right-backs was the brilliant Lee Dixon who played for Arsenal for 14 years before retiring in 2002, making 458 appearances for the Gunners.
The Gunners right-back Bacary Sagna thinks that Arsenal just have to forget how their rivals for the Top Four are doing every week and simply concentrate on winning three points in every game they play! It may sound simplistic but the fact is that it can be very off-putting when you are worried about other results.
If Bacary Sagna really wants to leave Arsenal after six seasons, there is not that much that Arsene Wenger can do to stop him, as he will be able to leave next summer on a free transfer. There is always the option of keeping the French international until then, or until the January transfer window, to allow Carl Jenkinson time to gain more experience, or to find a suitable replacement and get them settled in at the Emirates.
Arsene Wenger raised a few eyebrows with his Arsenal team selection against Reading. The main issues were the decision to leave Lukas Podolski and Carl Jenkinson on the bench, playing Cazorla on the left of the front three and Tomas Rosicky as the central attacking midfielder. With Walcott injured, Gervinho got the nod ahead of Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Arsenal vs Reading preview, match line up and score prediction by KJ
It's been a long two weeks since the Arsenal last played and it was probably the worst time to get the international break. Arsenal were back to winning ways with back to back wins against Bayern Munich and Swansea.
When Arsenal host Premier League strugglers Reading at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, it appears that Arsene Wenger will have more selection problems than we thought. The Gunners have five players unlikely to be available for the game, which might actually make the manager's job easier for him.
Who should Arsenal get, Angel Rangel or Sebastian Corchia? by KJ
The rumours of a new right back are becoming more frequent as the summer transfer window draws closer. Arsenal have, according to the media, been extensively scouting the top leagues in Europe to find a replacement to the inevitable departure of long term Arsenal right back, Bacary Sagna (who looks likely to join PSG).
Amazingly, having just turned 24-years old, Theo Walcott is one of the Arsenal old guard. He joined the club in January 2006, only one week after Abou Diaby and over a year before Bacary Sagna. Walcott has played more games than either of the French internationals, though, and so could be seen as the longest serving Gunner in the current team.
A very common question amongst Arsenal fans is why the hugely talented German international with over 100 caps, Lukas Podolski, does not play more regularly. The question of why he does not get a chance in the centre forward position is an equally popular subject, but I will not go into that at the minute.
Throughout the season, questions are always raised about what our best team is. It constantly changes because of a player's form, attitude and possible injuries. However, at the moment, Arsene Wenger has the problem of several players not having a place nailed down in the team.
Providing there are no further injuries in training we are just two weeks away from having a fully fit squad. Its highly important that we have strength and depth in our squad into the run up to the end of the season, with every game being played like it's a cup final.
Arsene Wenger has given an update on the availability of the Arsenal players for the crunch second leg tie against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena tomorrow. There is good news and bad. As expected, Bacary Sagna has not recovered in time from hi9s knee problem, so young Carl Jenkinson will start in his firth European game of the season.
We all know that Arsene Wenger loves to talk about anything and everything to the press on a regular basis, but he seems to not actually be telling us the whole truth when it comes down to Arsenal's injury problems.
If you look at Arsenal.com the "Team News" section has only recently had Abou Diaby (obviously) and Kieran Gibbs (as usual) as well as Bacary Sagna, and all three "updates" are from two weeks ago and all three players were expected to return by now, but we have been told nothing since by Wenger or the club.
Arsene Wenger was the butt of lots of sniping comments from football journalists and rival fans when he said that he viewed getting Arsenal into the Champions League every season as like winning a trophy. I can understand why in a way, especially since the Gunners have not lifted a real piece of silverware since 2005, but the Champion's League IS a massive prize and one that every team and player wants to be in.
I'm sure the only thing going through the mind of all Arsenal fans right now is the second leg of the Champion's League game against Bayern on Wednesday. In the first leg Bayern completely outplayed us at our own home ground, so it is completely understandable why some fans are feeling pessimistic about our visit to Munich on Wednesday.
It is getting nearer the time when Arsenal need to make a firm decision about the right back situation. It seems that Bacary Sagna is not happy with the new contract on offer at the Emirates, and so the club must consider whether to sell him this summer or lose him the following year on a free transfer.
It appears that Arsenal fans will soon see whether the board are serious about pushing the club forward and competing for major honours. We have been told for years that success was just around the corner, as soon as the Stadium debts were clear then the Gunners would be in great shape and would start competing with the big hitters in the transfer market and for trophies and titles.
We have arrived at the breathless finale, and it could go anywhere. Same as last year, then.
The Wigan game was no doubt fantastic for the neutral ebbing and flowing like the tides but it was hard work for the partisan until the triple-goal salvo. But here we are again and I have no idea what I think, if I'm honest.
