It was great for Arsenal fans to see Super Jack Wilshere back playing in the first team again this season. The 21-year old was obviously as glad as we were to get over his injury after what seemed like an eternity on the sidelines. Jack has put in some great performances for the Gunners, but he knows he has not been at his brilliant best, although he is sure we will see that next season.
Wenger can lead us through a league in turmoil by DG
While everyone knows that Arsene Wenger is now comfortably the longest serving current Premier League manager, I wonder if you all realise just how far ahead he is of the pack? It was revealed yesterday that Tony Pulis is leaving Stoke after 7 years in charge.
The fans and former players of Arsenal will all have been pleased about the way the Gunners fought back from a seemingly impossible situation to clinch fourth place in the Premier League, qualifying for the Champions League and finishing above our north London rivals again.
As the dust settles, though, and we start to take stock, there are certainly concerns.
Well done Arsenal. Now the serious work begins... by FD
As the dust settles on another Premier League campaign, Arsenal fans can look back on a satisfying final third of the season. While it may have been a little strange watching the celebrations of the Arsenal players at winning fourth place, with memories of the Invincibles still etched in our minds, we shouldn't begrudge them their plaudits.
There was very little to play for in most of the games yesterday, which is why the Arsenal v Newcastle game and the Tottenham v Sunderland game were shown simultaneously on Sky sports. The papers and football websites have been building up the tension between the two north London rivals and saying just how important fourth place in the Premier League was.
There has been much talk of Arsenal's record amount of funds in the transfer kitty this summer, but with the current squad ending the season with a brilliant ten-game unbeaten run Wenger seemed to hint that there is not much need for reinforcements to be brought in.
"In the last three months, I believe we have been remarkably consistent.
Obviously Chelsea are extremely happy that they have won yet another European trophy this season, despite the fact that they were only in the Europa League after being knocked out of the Champions League in the Group Stages.
Wenger thinks that this should not happen, and the teams that are given another chance in the Europa League are basically being "rewarded for failure".
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.
It certainly gives the Arsenal players something to think about as we approach one of the most important final days of the Premier League in years, at least as far as the three teams involved are concerned. After City snatching the title from United in the most dramatic fashion last year, this year will be all about the battle for third and fourth place.
Arsenal have been in a three way tussle with Chelsea and Tottenham for what seems like ages now. There has never been such a close run race for the final two Champions League places and it is all going down to the wire. Chelsea are definitely in the top four, although the Gunners could go above them into third.
Six Reasons Why Arsenal Can Dominate English Football Next Season by FD
Recent years have been frustrating for followers of Arsenal. The trophy drought has been bad enough, but we've also had to endure the regular exodus of our best players and the apparent reluctance of the powers-that-be to compete with the other top clubs on an equal footing.
Arsene Wenger has had a fair bit to say recently about the short term thinking displayed by a lot of football clubs these days, while trying to end the speculation about his own future as the Arsenal manager. We know that the Frenchman is a man of principles and will stick to them, although the Arsenal fans wish he would be a bit more flexible sometimes.
So we now face the final game of the season, and Arsene Wenger knows that Arsenal simply need to win at Newcastle to confirm our place in the Top Four for the 17th season in a row. But which team is Wenger going to pick?
There are certain to be changes from last week's nervous home win over Wigan, as the Spaniard Mikel Arteta is nigh on a certain casualty.
Next season could be an extremely important, even pivotal, one for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. If the Gunners finish the campaign with no trophies and way off the top spot in the Premier League again, it could be all change. The Professor will be at the end of his contract and will probably not get another.
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.
Why All The Surprise At Wenger's "Hair-Dryer" Outburst? by FD
There's been a lot of media talk since Arsenal's victory over Wigan at the Emirates on Tuesday about the apparent rocket Arsene Wenger delivered to his under-performing players during the half-time interval. Theo Walcott was quoted in the Guardian as saying: "We got a rocket,"
It was looking increasingly likely earlier this year that Arsenal were going to continue the unwanted recent tradition of selling the club captain in the summer. In 2011 it was Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona, followed last summer by Robin van Persie to Manchester United. The rumours and speculation about the current captain, Thomas Vermaelen, have died down recently and, from his own words, it appears that he will still be at the club next season.
When I first heard the rumour about Wayne Rooney and his possible transfer to Arsenal from Manchester United, I laughed it off as one of the more ridiculous rumours in recent times. It was right up there with the idea that Nicklas Bendtner would go to Juventus and pick up a title winning medal.
A few things have made me think again, however, even though the deal still seems unlikely for a number of reasons.
Arsenal could possibly make the most of the uncertainty and confusion at Manchester City to beat the oil rich club to one of the transfer targets we have in common. The Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanich has been linked Tottenham as well, but if the Gunners can continue the fantastic recent run and grab six points off Wigan and Newcastle, we will have the lure of Champions League football and will be a much more attractive proposition to potential signings.
The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger thinks that he has now achieved a good balance in the Arsenal team, and if they can carry their (already nine-game) unbeaten run through to the beginning of next season, they will definitely be challenging for the title.
He said: "Last year we made 70 points and finished third.
I know that Cesc Fabregas is no longer an Arsenal player, but if he signed for Manchester United this summer, it would feel as bad to me, personally, as if they were signing him from us. The 26-year old Spanish international will be parading the Spanish La Liga trophy through the streets of Barcelona today after Real Madrid could only manage a draw on Saturday to hand the title to the Catalan club.
There have been many rumours that Arsenal's Arsene Wenger is the next manager to be lined up by the new French moneybags team Paris St. Germain, but he has thoroughly denied the possibility, and likens not honouring his contract to acting like a thief!
Arsene Wenger will be the longest serving manager in the Premier League next season, assuming that the Arsenal board and owner do not surprise everyone by sacking him. Alex Ferguson has been at Manchester United for over 26 years, while the man who will replace him at Old Trafford next season, David Moyes, is currently the third longest serving manager with over ten years at Everton.
The tension and rivalry between Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson reached critical mass when Arsenal travelled to Manchester United hoping to extend their unbeaten Premier League run to 50 games. It was an extremely bad tempered affair which Mike Riley refereed poorly, awarding Wayne Rooney a penalty for a Sol Campbell foul that never was and letting the United players, especially the horse faced striker Ruud van Nistelrooy get away with some shocking tackles.
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.
There has been a lot of talk about the former Gunners returning to Arsenal from Barcelona, especially since the Spanish champions in waiting were destroyed by Bayern Munich home and away and sent tumbling out of the Champions League. The Spanish media is awash with stories about rebuilding at the Nou Camp, with wholesale movement of players in and out of the club.
There are worrying reports coming from behind the scenes at Arsenal involving possible summer signings, and that is before the transfer window has even opened. Apparently Arsene Wenger is keen on securing the signature of his long term target Loic Remy, while other club officials feel the target should be Wilfried Bony.
The Cameroonian midfielder Alexander Song, has been the subject of many reports in Spain saying that he was unhappy with the amount of playing time he is getting at Barcelona, and would be keen to return to Arsenal to regain his regular place in the team.
But the player himself has now denied any such wish, and although he respectfully says that Arsenal are a very good team, they just don't quite measure up to Barcelona in the world rankings, and we can't really disagree with that right now can we?
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 don't know about the rest of the Arsenal fans, but this weekend was torture for me. If the Americans are looking for any new techniques to replace waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay, they ought to try it. Having watched Southampton dominate Spurs and miss chances only for Bale to pop up with yet another late winner, the Gunners then made me grind my teeth for an hour when we should have been home and dry against QPR.
If Arsenal finish 5th....what should happen? by NS
I'm a glass half full kind of chap (honestly!) and I feel we still have a good chance of making top 4, but what if we fail?
Wenger has, to his credit, always got us in the top 4. It does seem that the club's priorities have changed from winning titles to getting top Four (Wenger trophy!
Arsene Wenger had warned his Arsenal players to expect a good performance from QPR after they were relegated last week and he was certainly proved right. He felt that his Gunners handled it well, though, and they got the result which was hugely important. After being awful for most of the season, QPR gave it a real go, especially in the second half.
Arsenal will be trying their best to give Julio Cesar a thoroughly miserable time today. The 33-year old Brazilian keeper has been one of the rare plus points for the relegated team this season, often keeping them in matches with great reflex saves and his command of his penalty area.
Harry Redknapp is well aware that Premier League teams will be looking at some of his better players and knows that some of them will not be keen on trying to fight their way out of the championship.
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.
Arsenal have a big run of games ahead as the chase for the Champions League places hots up. We face QPR today, Wigan on Tuesday week, and then the nail-biting away game at Newcastle on the last day of the season. All of these are very winnable games, with Wigan having only won two of their last six games, Newcastle have won just once and today's opponents QPR are winless in their last six.
There has been a lot of talk this week, and at various times throughout the season, about Arsene Wenger and whether he should stay in charge of Arsenal. The talk this week was started when it was reported that he may be heading to the Qatari owned Paris Saint-Germain. The super rich leaders of the French league seem to be connected with just about every big transfer rumour, so we should not be surprised, but Wenger and officials at Arsenal have made clear that it will not happen, at least not this year.
Arsene Wenger usually keeps his Arsenal team selection close to his chest, so it was a bit of a surprise yesterday when he issued a statement that clearly intimated that he would be playing the German international striker Lukas Podolski as the centre forward in the absence of Olivier Giroud. The tall French front man has two more games of his three match ban to go before he can return for the final day trip to Newcastle United, so Wenger was asked whether he had confidence that Podolski could fill in successfully.
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.
The latest rumour in the Arsenal goalkeeper situation by SS
There is an Arsenal transfer rumour that Arsene Wenger could be ready to make a surprise bid for Reading's Alex McCarthy who has earned his first ever call up to the England squad this week. McCarthy would not become the top goalkeeper at the club but would instead be used as emergency cover and loaned out to other clubs with a recall option, similar to the arrangement Fulham have with David Stockdale.
Arsene Wenger watched his side finally come good in the second half against Wigan last night, but he thinks the game was much closer than Arsenal's winning margin suggests. He said after the game: "We had a quick start and a strong start for the first 20 minutes. We were really dominating and after that we became a bit conservative and pushed forward less and allowed Wigan back in the game.
