My Arsenal Blog

Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger seems to have dropped the idea of bringing in Real Madrid’s Nuri Sahin, as Liverpool manager Rodgers admits the two clubs are close to a deal.

After being thought that Arsenal has all but transferred Sahin, Rodgers has confirmed yesterday the fact that the Turkish defensive midfielder could be in Liverpool in less than 24 hours.

“Hopefully in the next 24 hours we will get some confirmation on that,”

“It’s quite far along. He’s a very good footballer.”

With only M’Vila to choose from after losing the chase for Sahin, Wenger has turned his attention to another issue of the club’s. According to rumours, Theo’s unwillingness to sign a new contract has forced Wenger to go searching for a replacement, and Spanish star Jesus Navas seems to be the top target for the Frenchman.

Navas didn’t snub the rumour, but didn’t confirm him either, saying:

‘I don’t know anything about Arsenal,’

‘I’m staying calm and I am enjoying every moment here.’

Arsene Wenger has no more than 6 days to bring in the reinforcements he wants, and according to his statement at least a midfielder (probably a defensive one) and a defender will join. Who will the two be?

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wasted no time in finding out who is to blame after they were a whisker away of pulling the Champions League leg against AC Milan level.

According to the Frenchman the Premiership derby against Liverpool was the reason for the near miss. Wenger says that due to the hard tackles and unnecessary attacks from Liverpool’s players, he had absolutely no substitutes for the midfield positions and that’s what ultimately sunk the Gunners in their attempt to make history.

“I felt we suffered a bit in the second half physically because we had given a lot at Liverpool. When we tired in midfield we had no opportunities on the bench.

“The regret I have tonight is there because for the rest the players put a faultless performance, fantastic spirit, and you can only congratulate the whole team.

“It is a night when the players can be proud to play for this club. They put absolutely every effort in. You win at home 3-0 you can only say well done to the players.

“But you know when you play 180 minutes and you miss 90, it’s difficult at that level. But I am proud of their fantastic spirit tonight.”

Perhaps Wenger is right and perhaps the Gunners would have had a much better chance if Liverpool’s players wouldn’t have been so dimwitted (especially Henderson) perhaps the likes of Arteta, Benayoun and Diaby would have been available.

The Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie did the business as usual yesterday by scoring both goals in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Liverpool, but he accepts that Arsenal were not the best team on the day.

That said he is very happy to now have the advantage for the race for Fourth Place, and is looking forward to seeing Man Utd beat Tottenham today to bring Arsenal closer to Third.

“It means a lot, to score at Anfield is big because Anfield is a massive ground,” Van Persie said. “I’m proud of that, but even more proud of this win. I don’t think we really deserved it to be honest because Liverpool played better.”

“I think we are 10 points ahead of Liverpool now and we can wait to see what Spurs do tomorrow against Manchester United. It’s a big win, a massive win.”

And it will be even better if United beat the Spuds today!

It did not look very promising for Mikel Arteta was stretchered off the pitch with an oxygen mask on after his collision with Jordan Henderson in yesterdays win over Liverpool, and the Arsenal midfielder was immediately rushed off to hospital in an ambulance.

With Arsenal set to face AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday Arsene Wenger was worried that Arteta could have ended up with a fractured jaw as well as suffering from concussion.

But this morning it has been revealed that Arteta was found to be okay after tests and was quickly released from hospital, so quickly in fact that he was able to travel back to London on the Arsenal team bus after the game.

But Wenger will still have to cope with injuries sustained by Kieran Gibbs, Yossi Benayoun and Abou Diaby, who only lasted 28 minutes on his first appearance of the season and had to go off with a hamstring problem.

Arsenal already had a pretty long list of injuries before yesterday, so Wenger has got some serious thinking to do before the Milan game which is in just 48 hours time.

Arsenal’s center-back Per Mertesacker stated on his official website that his recovery is going well and that he’s likely to be ready for action soon due to some excellent technologies the doctors used for his ankle injury.

“I can report that all’s going pretty well for me, to be more precise: for my ankle,” Mertesacker wrote on his official website.

“I was able to put aside the crutches relatively quickly.

“I’m able to walk rather normally thanks to a custom-made boot and a splint that prevents the ankle from twisting. The condition has become more and more stable by the day, so I’m quite light on my feet.

“It’s only when we get to the phase of placing load on the foot that we’ll be able to see what were looking at, in terms of the length of the lay-off.”

Per got injured against Sunderland in the League match finally won by Arsenal 2-1, but for Arsene Wenger the injury was a very important one because the Frenchman might also be without Vermaelen against Liverpool.

And, God forbid, Thomas is also out for the Champions League game against Milan, in that case Miquel or Djourou would have to step in (and we all know what usually happens when Djourou’s in).

Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger declared that club midfielder Aaron Ramsey won’t be available for the weekend clash against Liverpool, so the Gunners will have to count on either Benayoun, Chamberlain, Coquelin or Rosicky to take his place in the line-up.

Wenger said: “It is too early for him, he has no chance for the weekend. He will be out for Milan as well.”

Given Ramsey’s form this season and taking into consideration the incredible form Coquelin and Chamberlain showed perhaps it’s time for Wenger to push Ramsey a bit further away from the first team line-up (or sell him in the summer) and give Coquelin a chance to show his worth.

It’s needless to say that Arsenal need midfielders brought in come the summer, but only top quality will do and the likes of Gotze and Hazard won’t be easy to motivate into joining.

and Lille’s young Belgian star Eden Hazard.

According to Liverpool’s director of football Damien Comolli many top players across Europe are interested in joining Liverpool as they are now beginning to challenge for the Premiership title and finally won their first trophy in six years when they won the Carling Cup from Cardiff.

According to a report in the Daily Mirror, the Athletic Bilbao midfielder Javi Martinez, Barcelona’s Seydou Keita
and the well-known Arsenal target Eden Hazard are all set to be targets for Kenny Dalglish this summer.

Arsenal have been trailing Hazard for a long time now and after all that fuss around the Emirates Stadium related to Hazard’s transfer it would be a horrible blow to Arsenal fans if they would get rejected by the Belgian in favour of Liverpool
.
“There’s a very positive vibe around the club across Europe.”, Damien Comolli said. “A lot players I know are very interested about joining the project because it’s a very interesting project.

“We already know that there are big players who want to join us next summer because they believe in the project.

“Everybody in Europe knows what Liverpool football club are trying to do.”

Arsenal’s fans are counting on Hazard’s transfer after his recent few statements complimenting Arsene Wenger’s team, and according to the French press he’s highly likely to join the Premiership, but his exact destination is still unknown.

Surely Hazard won’t pick Liverpool over Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger is not very happy (as usual!) with the international break that arrives at a most crucial part of Arsenal’s season (and every other team’s as well I guess).

It is bad enough that Arsenal lost Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh for a month while the African Cup of Nations was being played, but now most of the squad will be going on international duty straight after Arsenal’s brilliant win over Tottenham.

Wenger was asked if the 5-2 win would galvanize the team to come back from a 4-0 deficit to AC Milan in the Champions League seocnd leg, and he replied: “Ha! The only answer I can give is that we will try.”

“Unfortunately it’s now an international week and some of our players will play on Wednesday, Saturday we’re at Liverpool, then Tuesday against Milan. The Africa Cup of Nations just finished and I couldn’t start with Gervinho today because he’s tired, and yet he must go away now for an Ivory Coast game. It is an impossible schedule.”

So will Wenger put his very best team out against Liverpool, or save some of them for the outside chance of destroying Milan just three days later?