So the Emirates Cup kicked off with a 2-2 draw which, as you would expect in most pre-season games, had some good stuff and some bad stuff.

For me the good stuff included Gervinho who looked sharp, quick and showed some end product in the final third again. I thought Frimpong was good in midfield, obviously he's still quite raw but he's got a drive and energy about him that I like.

Morning all, another day, another step closer to our next game and one further away from Saturday's madness.

As has been quite typical this season we've been bailed out somewhat by those around us. Chelsea's £75m looked money ill-spent yesterday, at least, as Liverpool beat them 1-0 and United's 2-1 defeat to Wolves means that the damage done much less than it might have been.

Good morning and we'll start with tonight's Carling Cup game.

The manager was asked yesterday if there were going to be changes made from the team which struggled to beat Leeds on Saturday. His response was to tell the bloke from Arsenal.com to come along to the game and he'd see for himself.

Good morning to you and welcome to a brand new week.

Cup football is the order of business again as we switch our sights from FA to Carling and it'll be interesting, having seen some of the players struggle against Leeds, what exactly the manager does on Wednesday night. Will he keep faith and hope that another game so quickly will increase sharpness and see them recapture some form, or will he add a few of the 'first' team in from the start to try and get things back on track?