A player returning from injury is like a new signing. This is something Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes in and according to midfielder Theo Walcott, it's now his turn to be like a new signing ... Click to continue reading...

I must start with the under 18's who had a good day on Saturday. What with the Hull fiasco and the sacking of Phil Brown, I lost sight of another great result for the team that will one day be our future. They beat a Milton Keynes reserves side 4-0 at home.

There's not much on the Arsenal website about the game, all it says is the kids went 11-points clear at the top of Premier Academy League Group A with a 4-0 win

Benik Afobe bagged a quick couple of goals in the first half and Chuks Aneke made it 3-0 just before the hour, substitute Josh Rees completed the scoring just before the final whistle.

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If we were this close to David Villa, we like to think we would maintain an image of calm serenity whilst looking hot as hell and surreptitiously passing him our contact deets.

However. We suspect that our true response would be rather more like that of our friends at Hola Valencia. They're just honest enough to admit it.

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If we were this close to David Villa, we like to think we would maintain an image of calm serenity whilst looking hot as hell and surreptitiously passing him our contact deets.

However. We suspect that our true response would be rather more like that of our friends at Hola Valencia. They're just honest enough to admit it.

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The injury to David Beckham has got the media speculating as to who might replace him in the England squad.

The suggested replacements have all been wide players. Adam Johnson of Manchester City has been mentioned, while Martin O'Neill has made a case for Aston Villa's Stewart Downing and Ashley Young.

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Yesterday it was confirmed that David Beckham will be out for 4-5 months following his injury sustained whilst playing for AC Milan. That surely means he won't be heading to South Africa to play in what would have been is final farewell to World Cup football.

So no Becks and with Aaron Lennon still a major doubt, it's looking quite likely that if Theo Walcott stays fit and continues playing with the attitude and desire he seems to have at the moment, surely he'll will be on the plane together with Wright-Phillips.

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Arsenal midfielder Theo Walcott is finally making his comeback into Arsene Wenger's side after a number of injuries but as one can imagine, it's not easy to make an impact after so many injuries. Quite ... Click to continue reading...

The news that David Beckham will miss the World Cup is unsurprisingly making the Monday sport headlines. A record fourth appearance at the finals by an English player would have been a fine achievement and the removal of that chance is a crushing blow for Beckham, but his torn Achilles tendon does not represent an injury disaster for England. Click to continue reading...

All Premier League games this weekend will feature a special red-coloured version of the usual official Nike T90 Ascente ball. It's all part of the Red charity campaign to fight AIDS in Africa. Serie A and La Liga will be joining the Premier League in the use of the Red ball during their weekend matches.

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The London side are fighting for their tournament lives on Tuesday. Unfortunately Arsenal will have to do it without captain and top scorer, Cesc Fabregas.

FC Porto go into London with a 2-1 lead but have lost all six trips to London in their history. However if Porto can find a goal it puts them in the drivers seat in the tie.

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Am I the only one thinking that Arsenal will find their Champions League tie against Porto extremely difficult? There's been no cup upsets in Europe's 1st tier this season, and I think we're owed one.

No William Gallas could mean that the defence is left badly exposed from set pieces with the appropriately hulking ‘Hulk' ready to test the weakened Arsenal back four.

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Reading through my daily football feeds, I noticed the Guardian proudly included notice that several of its journos got awards from the Sports Journalists' Association. Well, you know, congrats (what's with the sad faces in the photos?). Yet I am a big proponent of recognizing both good and bad in any profession—hence I tend to take more interest in the Razzies than the Oscars. Click to continue reading...

• Champions find a comfortable spot while potential Champions book Wembley
• Goodbye Landon (maybe)

There were four Premier League matches this weekend with one Monday night and another two set� for Tuesday. Damn FA Cup always causing problems! I'll apologize in advance for any supporters of Portsmouth, Birmingham City or Sunderland, those� matches take� place on Tuesday (with Bolton thrown in the Tuesday mix who were involved in a win at West Ham on Saturday) and subsequently won't be viewed for this column.

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There are only 93 days to go before the 2010 World Cup kicks off. As we get closer to the tournament, the pressure will increase for many England players as they worry whether they'll make the final squad or not.

Based on their experience and what the players can offer on the pitch, here is my prediction for the final England 23-man roster:

GOALKEEPERS: David James, Joe Hart, Robert Green

DEFENDERS: Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Leighton Baines (or Ashley Cole, if fully recovered from injury), Joleon Lescott, Matthew Upson, Glen Johnson, Wes Brown

MIDFIELDERS: David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Aaron Lennon (or Shaun Wright-Phillips, if Lennon doesn't fully recover from injury), Ashley Young, Michael Carrick, James Milner

FORWARDS: Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, Emile Heskey, Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole

AVAILABLE FOR CALL-UP IN CASE OF LAST MINUTE INJURIES: Gabriel Agbonlahor, Stewart Downing, Stephen Warnock, Joe Cole, Theo Walcott, Paul Robinson

As far as my prediction goes, I believe Carlton Cole would add a little bit of magic up front for England when he has an opportunity to come on as a substitute.

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Yeah, Theo's performance for England vs Egypt was a little underwhelming. But based on the highlights I saw of Arsenal 3-1 Burnley, the young man still has plenty to offer the England team at World Cup 2010.

Walcott delivered some dangerous crosses from the right flank, crosses that a better striker than Nicklas Bendtner probably would have buried.

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Well, it wasn't quite the romp or performance that people were hoping for but at the final whistle the three points belonged to Arsenal and that was the main thing.

We started very brightly and could have gone ahead early when Cesc found Nicklas Bendtner with a clever pass but Burnley got back just in time and the chance went begging.

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"I just don't think he's got a football brain and he's going to have problems. Let's be honest, good defenders would catch him offside every time. I just don't know whether he studies the game, learns the game, or what.

Chris Waddle (March 2nd)

"I believe he has not only a football brain but he has a brain"

Arsene Wenger (March 5th)

<Laughing last> "Ha Ha Ha"

Theo Walcott (March 7th)

�

Whose opinions are you more likely to take; a man who has proven time and again that he is a scary and possibly the best judge of young talent in the world, or a man who has a problem with a penalty (whether he is taking them or talking them)?

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What a great result for the ladies, sticking ten goals passed their local rivals! The win takes them into their fifth consecutive final of the London FA Women's Senior Cup. It was at Spurs as well, so no the win was even sweeter.
The goal scorers were: Lander (3), Littlejohn (3), Bruton (2), Ludlow, Davison.

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Right then. I've got to touch on a couple of things this morning before we move on.

Tony Pulis claims that 300 Arsenal fans emailed messages of support to Ryan Shawcross. I mean, I could talk about how every Arsenal fan I have spoken to this last week think Shawcross is a horrible clogging cunt and doesn't merit the slightest bit of backing, least of all from Arsenal fans, but I don't think I need to.

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It's all gone a bit quiet this morning. As the initial furore from the Ramsey incident dies down I suspect we have arrived at the eye of the storm.

The internationals have provided a bit of a distraction but Arsene gets his players back today, the England team leave our training ground and the focus will turn to Burnley on Saturday.

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England starting XI: Green, Brown, Upson, Terry, Baines, Walcott, Lampard Barry, Gerrard, Rooney, Defoe.

Presumably, they'll line up something like this:

Green
Brown Upson Terry Baines
Walcott Lampard Barry Gerrard
Rooney Defoe

Robert Green in goal, which I'm not going to complain about.

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As Rob mentioned earlier, the England vs Egypt friendly is more important than your average friendly. It's the first game since the John Terry fiasco for example, and we'll all be watching to see how he performs sans elasticated armband. There's the left back situation too. Ashley Cole is currently injured and Wayne Bridge has removed himself from the equation, so Everton's Leighton Baines and Aston Villa's Stephen Warnock both have a shot to booking themselves a World Cup ticket.

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Fabio Capello has named his 24 man England squad to play Egypt this Wednesday, March 3rd at Wembley. Is is as follows:

David James, Robert Green, Joe Hart; Wes Brown, James Milner, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Joleon Lescott, Ryan Shawcross, Leighton Baines, Stephen Warnock; David Beckham, Theo Walcott, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Michael Carrick, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stewart Downing; Emile Heskey, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, Carlton Cole.

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Don't know about anyone else, but it seems along long time since we played our last game of football, since Cesc slotted home his penalty to secure us three points against Sunderland.

Thankfully today the boys are back in action and we should all be able to see it on a proper screen rather than a stream somewhere.

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After Theo Walcott, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also believes that the Gunners can lift both the Premiership and Champions League this season. Arsenal are six points from leaders Chelsea and need to recover from a ... Click to continue reading...

Slowly making his return to football after injury, many are asking whether England's Theo Walcott will fly to South Africa with the National team this summer. Team-mate Emmanuel Eboue believes the 20-year old can do ...

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Remember this? We haven't seen that Theo Walcott in a while. He's only made 5 starts in the league this season and has fallen to a large number of injuries. Now he's been left out of the U-21 England squad, which means two things. The first being that Wenger is happy, because he doesn't want Walcott in both the U-21 side and the senior side, and obviously he wants his players at the top level.

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When Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott left the comparative backwaters of Southampton for the fierce rivalry of North London, the hype surrounding the two youngsters was immense, and with good reason.

At just 14, Nike had agreed a sponsorship deal with Walcott, and at the tender age of 16 years and 143 days he came on as a sub for the Saints against Wolves in a Championship match.

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Yesterday Arsenal confirmed that promising youngster Benik Afobe had signed his first professional contract with the club.

Benik Afobe was on the radar of Barcelona last year and it was reported that he was ready to pack his back and head off to the sunny shores of Spain. Sensible lad though has realised where its best to get a chance in the life of football.

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Arsenal midfielder Theo Walcott was speaking after the Sunderland game on the title hopes of the Gunners and also on a personal level. According to the youngster, six points from Chelsea are not much and ... Click to continue reading...

Arsenal 2 Sunderland 0
It is probably worth remarking now that whilst the three points dropped at the Stadium of Light did not seem that bad at the time - Sunderland were in a great run of form - it now appears to be a very costly result.
Having beaten Liverpool and Sunderland, Chelsea's lead has been cut to six points. Click to continue reading...

It is, my friends, a very quiet Monday indeed. A routine, uneventful win over Sunderland does not provide much in the way of talking points, which is quite fine, unless you have to write a blog of some kind. So excuse me if I have to scour the bottom of the barrel today.

There's a bit of talk about Theo Walcott and the World Cup, with England U21s set to name a squad for some game against some cunts that nobody cares about.

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Arsenal kept up the pace today on Manchester United and Chelsea, with a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal dominated early on and the first real chance fell to are featured player Nicklas Bendtner, who after taking a touch blasted it goalwards George Mccartney blocked it onto the bar to keep the score blank.

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Football is finally back for the Mighty Arsenal and thank goodness for that!

Here is the eighteen man squad who by now would have safely landed on Portuguese soil, had a good nights sleep and are busy getting themselves ready for their day ahead. Ok, not so much day, but tonight.

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photo credit: Crystian Cruz

1) Didi's Return

Didier Drogba has always had the skills to be the best player in the Premier League, but last year the Chelsea star certainly didn't have the fitness.� Drogba sat out nearly the entire 2008/2009 season and watched Chelsea teammate Nicolas Anelka go on to win the Golden Boot.

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Morning folks, it's difficult to know what to write about this morning. Subjects I'm pretty much choosing to ignore are:

Michael Ballack - Firstly because he's a big, woolly headed Chelsea prick, but secondly because what he's had to say about Arsene Wenger is hard to defend. Don't want to go there.

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Fabio Capello dealt with John Terry as quickly as� his former skipper� apparently lasts in the sack. The tabloid scrum will eventually be forgotten, much like Vanessa Perroncel, once the Three Lions start playing in South Africa this summer. Crisis averted? Probably. Yet Capello has another problem on the horizon even if this one has nothing to do with how faithful one of his first-choice centre-halves is.

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England manager Fabio Capello has warned England's young prospects that they need to play regularly to have a chance to represent their nation in South Africa. Capello has warned Arsenal's Jack Wilshire, Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott that they need to play if they are to have an opportunity to be .. Click to continue reading...

A better performance than United, the losing margin still the same. We wanted a response from the team and I suppose we got it, spending large parts of the game in the Chelsea half but over the 90 minutes the difference was Chelsea have a striker who is dangerous and efficient and we ... well ... we didn't have a striker at all.

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