A-Project: The Sunderland-Arsenal Pre-match News

Welcome to another week of Barclays Premier League. Our focus will be of course on the Arsenal. Anyway, the Gunners will be facing Sunderland on Saturday at the Stadium of Light in the day's late kick-off.

The Arsenal's past two visits to the stadium of Light ended with defeats, putting Arsene Wenger's men under pressure to win this time around. However, the 6-0 thrashing of Braga at the Emirates Stadium have lifted spirits and expectations to register a win at sunderland for this season. Below are some pre-match newsprior to the Sunderland game.

Pre-match Talking Points

Bruce and Ferdinand: Wenger is THAT good

To change things for a start, let's start with some Bruce talk from the Sunderland camp. The English manager has talked about how good Wenger is, as if Wenger is (could be) his best pal or something. Bruce's respect for wenger has been reported openly as the two have had past dealings in terms of player transfers (both permanent and loans). Remember Wilson Palacios, Pennant, Larsson etc.? Anyway, this is what he said:

"He’s done a fabulous job, the way his teams play. Arsenal have always got this bit of class about them and it epitomises in him. He’s up there with the best there’s been.

You have to say repeatedly without the money of the other big clubs to keep Arsenal where they are and the way they play you can only take your hat off to him."

His central defender Anton Ferdinand also heaped praise on our French tactician, saying:

"I speak to quite a few of the boys at Arsenal, who I know from my time in London, and they have nothing but good words to say about him, about the way he is as a person, the way he is as a coach, as a manager, everything. They haven't got a bad word to say about him. For me, you cannot question Mr Wenger's credentials and the players he buys, the way he does his business. You can't beat that, and it shows in the way they play football. They play football the way football should be played."

Ok, enough of the lovey dovey stuff. Sunderland are going to give us a big test for sure. No complacency there, guys.


Wenger: Everywhere we go we try to win

Sunderland will be one of the five post-Champions League BPL games away from home for the Gunners. Indeed, it'll be a tough job for Wenger's boys (men) to shift their focus straight away from their European games. Wenger said:

"Everywhere we go we try to win. It could be a good game and we'll be determined.

It's important for our season as well that we're capable of going from Champions League to the Premier League. From Wednesday night to Saturday afternoon is short but we can rotate a little bit."

Wenger also took the chance to emphasise his team's quality and spirit which would be crucial for the Arsenal to achieve greater things and perhaps a few trophies. That is why he maintained that the team must not rest their laurels and keep pushing defending champions Chelsea all the way if it's possible. He said:

"Chelsea have maximum points. They are still flying from last year. We know we must not give them any ground that is why Saturday is vital for us. If we maintain this sort of form on a longer term then I know we can takeover at the top."

Very true.

The Injury Room Visit...

We have another addition to the injury room this week as Diaby has been ruled out for roughly a week after suffering some pain in his ankle due to Robinson's crunching tackle last Saturday. Vermaelen is still on the sidelines but both Diaby and the Belgian defender will be penciled for the West Brom game.

Van Persie and Walcott are still nursing their respective injuries for a few more weeks before returning. However, long term absentees Bendtner and Ramsey remain, well, long term occupants of the injury room. Other than that, "we are ok" as Wenger will put it.


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A-Project: The Final Thoughts (Arsenal-Bolton)

Welcome to the final Arsenal-Bolton post-match blog entry, The Final Thoughts. Another week has started and Champions League football is finally back! Well, we'll leave that to another day. This time around, we have another round of interesting points to talk about in this section. Scroll down for more.

The Positives

Extremely creative midfield the key...
The French tactician started the game with a creative midfield/attacking force of Fabregas, Rosicky and Arshavin. Song and Wilshere played slightly deeper roles but were still able to create chances from the middle of the park. As Bolton utilised a high line (probably due to the absence of Walcott's pace), Fabregas and Rosicky managed to carve out 3 to 4 defence-splitting through balls which weren't taken well on most ocassions by guilty party Arshavin, but Vela though did finish off a classy 24-pass move. Check out the video below.



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The return of Cescy football...
How Cescy? 3 assists in 4 goals scored by the Gunners. Superb ain't it? He made Koscielny's goal by bringing down Wilshere's cross perfectly. Then he sent in a quality cross which was headed in by Chamakha. Then he made the 23rd pass in the 24-pass goal by sending Vela THE killer ball. It is indeed the return of Cesc Fabregas especially after the summer-long Cesc-to-Barca saga. I don't see why he has to go back to Barca in the short term. Arsenal can provide almost everything that Barca can. Hmmm...

Alex sings THE Song again...
Enough said. I'm a huge fan of Alex Song. Biased? A bit I guess. Since the Fulham game in 2006 when he was substituted by Wenger during half time for a tremendously poor performance (and I bet he still remember it), this man here has come off leaps and bounds. His movement, ball control and etc. Wow. Against a slightly physical Bolton, he has shown extremely high maturity, even higher than last season, in terms of defending, protecting the ball and even attacking it. He said he would score in the game and he did in the end, which probably was a good thing for Alex.

Wenger hits the 1000-goal mark...
1001 goals. It's quite a magnificent achievement. It has been 14 years since Wenger first arrived at the Arsenal. It's good to recall the wonderful moments in the Wenger era. And my first season with the Gunners left an extremely awesome experience with the guys winning the Premier League and breaking the unbeaten-run record at 49 matches. Yes, season 2003/04 and 2004/05 that is. The current team has also come a long way since the departure of Patrick Vieira. Here's to Wenger with the hope of greater things to come.

The Average Fellas

Debut partnership with interesting outcome...
Squillaci made his Arsenal bow in a competitive match, starting alongside Wenger's other new signing of this season Koscielny. The partnership was shaky in short periods but overall it was solid. The typical nervy moments were there to see as this partnership was only like 1.5 hours old. However, I saw a few slightly worrying signs especially regarding Squillaci. The 30 year old seems to lack the pace and love to mark opponents tightly to the point of marking a Bolton player till the opponents' half. Maybe I'm just over-reacting.

Having said that, he was pretty good in the air and his awareness and determination were top-notch. There was one ocassion where the ball eluded him but he ensured that the ball did not reach the Bolton players by side-stepping the ball in quick succession even when he was already losing balance. Nothing much to say about Koscielny though as he was his usual self apart from the odd mistake that he made which led to Bolton's only goal.

Chamakh needs to learn how to finish off chances better...
Yup. He has scored 2 goals in the past 2 games. But those were headers. Call me fickle, but he definitely needs to improve his goalscoring touch. In the 2nd half, he was provided with a superb ball by the Arsenal captain but he didn't take it well. The conclusion is that he needs to score more goals from open play and be less wasteful. Other than that, Chamakh is superb.

The Poor One

"Hasty" Arshavin losing the edge...
I think the knives are now trying to find a scapegoat. The Russian knew it and even talked about it on his official website. On a personal note, I believe that he needs to up his game fast. The manager has given him numerous games to prove himself but he still couldn't deliver what the fans wanted, which is the consistent brilliance of Andrey Arshavin. He can be brilliant in a flash, but he seems to be anonymous for large periods in a game, which is quite worrying. However, there is definitely more to come from Arshavin. Just keep the faith.


In the End

Great day for football. 4-1. Cahill's red card didn't change the game much in my opinion. Nervy performance in defence though is still something that Wenger can do much to improve on. With confidence riding high at the Emirates, the team must show even greater desire to win a long-awaited trophy for the deserving Arsenal fans for sure. Next up, Braga in the Champions League!

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A-Project: The Arsenal-Bolton Post-match Review

The Arsenal welcomed another Lancashire side, Bolton Wanderers after beating Blackburn 2-1 at Ewood Park two weeks ago. With a perfect record against owen Coyle's side last season, Arsene Wenger would want to repeat that record this season but was still wary with Bolton's threat as coyle's team has adopted the passing style which he brought from Burnley.

With most of Allardyce's signings are still at Bolton, the "thuggery" tactics can probably still be seen in this side. The same question would always be whether wenger's team can cope with the physical side and the newly added passing style of Bolton Wanderers. owen Coyle would have another agenda in his mind, plotting the downfall of the home side by capitalising on the Arsenal's defensive weakness.

Final Score...

With van Persie, Walcott and Vermaelen out, there was a starting berth in defence for wenger's final signing of the season, Sebastien Squillaci who pulled through a reserve game during midweek unscathed. The Frenchman also made a few notable changes, with fullbacks Gibbs and Eboue replacing Clichy and Sagna due to the busy schedule in the coming months. Rosicky took Walcott's place while Nasri and Vela only managed to complete the bench.

First Half

The visitors started the first half well with good passing which on ocassions have threatened the home side's defence. But the first real chance came within minutes of the first half when Rosicky sent Arshavin through with a superb defence-splitting pass which ended with Arshavin shooting the ball towards the Bolton keeper.

The Arsenal then slowly settled into the match. At the 24th minute, Koscielny scored his first Arsenal goal after a goal mouth scramble. The move began from a corner taken by Fabregas which eluded everyone on the far post. song took the ball and passed it to Wilshere, who then sent in a cross to Bolton's right side. Fabregas hit a low cross into the centre where Koscielny was at, encouraging the French defender to hit the ball into the net. with the Gunners' opener, the home side grew in confidence as it was very evident in terms of the team's superb passing.

At this moment, the visitors have no reply and the North London side crafted out numerous chances to score the second. The first was a Rosicky shot which was wide and another one was similar to the first real chance, but Arshavin got the ball wide and shot it wide as well.

At 1-0, the visitors could simply get back into the game. And they did. As Bolton sent the ball forward into the home side's area with a long ball, Koscielny headed the ball away from Bolton's Korean winger, but not far enough. Lee Chung song chased after the ball, pulling Almunia to run after him, and then crossed the ball to Elmander who couldn't miss a header to score Bolton's equalising goal. 1-1.

The Arsenal ended the first half with extreme anxiety and were probably glad to hear the blow of the half time whistle.

Second Half

The Gunners restarted the second half with the same anxiety as they had towards the end of the first half. Bolton tried their best to capitalise on this with a few threatening moments against the Arsenal's nervy defence.

The Arsenal though also worked hard to regain their lead with Fabregas putting in a through ball for Chamakh who was in huge amount of empty spaces but the Morrocan's shot was kept away for a corner. The Gunners were able to capitalise this corner kick as the Arsenal captain crossed from the left and the ball met Chamakh's head to put the ball into the net. 2-1 up for the home side.

The main turning point and talking point of the game after referee stuart Attwell sent cahill a red card after lunging into Chamakh with a fierce tackle from behind. It was clearly a debatable sending off, but it had definitely changed the complexion of the game no matter how. With the visitors having one man down, the Arsenal midfield were in full control of the game, passing around to spot open spaces in between the visitors' area.

The game turned a little bit ugly with Bolton putting in rough challenges and tackles at times. Just ask Diaby, who was the victim of a rough and tough tackle by one of the Bolton defenders. The Frenchman, who came on for Wilshere earlier in the second half, was then substituted by Brazilian Denilson.

Approaching the 80th minute mark, Fabregas again was able to spot a running Arshavin who then brought the ball into the box. With Song running into the box as well, Arshavin fed the ball to our Cameroonian midfielder, who then managed to squeeze the ball into the net for the killer third goal, following challenges from Bolton's keeper Bodgan and defender Knight. By then, the game was firmly the Arsenal's to lose. Wenger then sent on Vela to replace Chamakh who had a good game overall.

The classic Arsenal passing and attack came. A 24-pass move, which was started by Vela, ended by vela as well after the Mexican was put through on goal and picked his spot to score the Arsenal's forth. It was the moment to behold indeed. 2nd half ended with a huge roar from the Arsenal fans as the home side have once again wrapped up another important win which, according to Wenger, couldn't have been achieved two seasons ago.

4-1 is the final result.

Do not forget to follow us tomorrow as The Arsenal Press will post our final thoughts on the game. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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A-Project: The Arsenal-Bolton Pre-match News

Holla! After a one week plus hiatus, The Arsenal Press is back in town. Well, it has been a busy week on a personal note, dealing with different assignments and tasks. To all our Muslim readers, Eid Mubarak.

It so happens that our one-week long hiatus coincided with the so-called "Interlull", well international break to be exact. No wonder the excitement and energy return this weekend when proper football makes the ultimate comeback.

The Arsenal troops will once again continue their league campaign with a game against another Lancashire side, Bolton Wanderers today at 15:00 GMT. Formerly managed by current Blackburn manager Allardyce, the current Bolton set-up is in the hands of Owen Coyle, who has more or less changed the perception of Bolton as the "team of thugs" in the league by injecting the passing element into their game.

After thrashing Blackpool 6-0 and obtaining a satisfying 2-1 victory over Blackburn in their past two games, Arsene wenger will certainly want the good form of his team to carry on in this way. However, bad news after bad news were reported during the past 10 days as injuries start to pile up. How would this game turn out to be? Catch the game later.

Meanwhile, check out some of the pre-match news in today's blog entry.

Pre-match Talking Points

Injury room check-ins for van Persie and Walcott

Again?? Ok, let's take a look again. Robin is out for approximately 5 to 6 weeks with a twisted ankle that he suffered during the Blackburn game. He was substituted before half time by Chamakh in that game and bad news was already expected by that time.

As for Walcott, he damaged his ankle on international duty while playing for England against Switzerland. Walcott is another victim of international football when he was stretchered off the pitch which might have suggested the severity of his injury.

Things got interesting though during England post-match interview when Capello suggested that Walcott could only be out for two weeks. However, the Arsenal medical team re-assessed his injury and announced that he will be out for 6 weeks.

The latest setbacks for van Persie and the in-form Walcott might reduce the Arsenal's strength and drive towards claiming the Gunners' first silverware since 2005. Sigh.


Squillaci made his first Arsenal bow

Arsene Wenger's final signing of this season made his Arsenal debut in a Reserve game match against, yup, Blackburn reserves. Our reserve team won 4-3 but that wasn't too bad at all because Squillaci managed to play through the 90 minutes unscathed, partnering Djourou in the heart of defence.

His confidence and drive are high and of course, he will now anticipate for his chance to play for the Arsenal. He said in the post-match interview:

"Yes of course I'm ready to play against Bolton. But it depends on the coach and other players. If I want to play I must work hard during training."

Talking about the intensity of the English game, he has this to say:

"I played 90 minutes for the reserves and felt good physically. Little by little I am picking up the rhythm. I played the whole game and afterward I didn't feel too tired which is a good sign."

With his top-level experience at Lyon and Sevilla, much is expected from the Frenchman. oh ya, it was reported on Arsenal.com that Vermaelen will be out for the Bolton game. Squillaci is definitely in contention for the Belgian's spot in defence, probably partnering another former Ligue 1 player, Koscielny.


Coyle: No bad blood against Arsenal

Bolton manager has spoken about last season's game against The Gunners at the Emirates Stadium where the visitors lost 4-2. Former Arsenal defender Gallas was at the centre of a controversy before the Gunners equalised through Fabregas' goal.

Coyle explained Bolton's relationship with the Arsenal since then and said:

“It’s not frosty between us. I said my piece, as I always do. My responsibility is to look after Bolton Wanderers, my club, and do everything I can to make sure that happens. Sometimes people take things the wrong way but that’s the nature of the game. We all know managers will say things to look after their own clubs.”

On today's game at the Emirates Stadium, he is confident that his team would display a good, strong performance. He said:

“I believe we are a better team than we were then, so we’ll go there with confidence looking to make a real game of it.
You want to play against the best teams in the best arenas, and the Emirates affords you that chance.”

Well, we, the Arsenal look forward to another Bolton challege again.


Summer transfer deadline revisited / 2010-11 Squad Announced

The deadline day was a very quiet one for the Gunners. With expectations of having a new goalie signed before the window slammed shut, the fans were once again disappointed in the end.

On the following day, Premier League clubs were required to hand in a 25 man squad list, with these compulsory rules to be followed:

• Clubs have to declare a squad of no more than 25 players when the summer transfer window shuts, and then again at the end of the January transfer window.
• Players aged 21 and under can be selected without being registered in the 25.
• For the "homegrown players" rule, clubs have to name at least eight players in their squad of 25 players that have been registered domestically for a minimum of three seasons prior to their 21st birthday.
  

The Arsenal have announced a 20 man squad, with 7 homegrown players in it and also sent in registration of the club's young players in the Premier League which does not go against the new squad rules.

The following is the 20 man squad list:

First-Team Squad:
Manuel Almunia, Andrey Arshavin, Maroune Chamakh, Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Eboue, Lukasz Fabianski,Laurent Koscielny, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie, Sebastien Squillaci.

Home Grown:
Nicklas Bendtner, Gael Clichy, Denilson, Johan Djourou, Vito Mannone, Alexandre Song, Cesc Fabregas.


The Injury Room Visit...

We now know that van Persie (6 weeks), Walcott (6 weeks) and Vermaelen (short term) will be out. Djourou is back after playing through 90 minutes unscathed. Nasri is also in contention to play after his knee operation, which is probably the only positive injury news at the moment. Bendtner and Ramsey still remain on the side lines on a long term basis though.

There you go. Enjoy the return of proper, sexy football! For those who are celebrating the festive period, enjoy too!


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A-Project: Arsenal's Champions League fixtures Set

As reported last Friday, Arsenal will be facing Braga, FK Partizan and Shakhtar Donetsk in Group H of this season's Champions League. The fixtures have already been set and The Arsenal Press present the list of fixtures involving the Arsenal as shown below:

15 September 2010: ARSENAL vs Braga
28 September 2010: Partizan vs ARSENAL
19 October 2010: ARSENAL vs Shakhtar
03 November 2010: Shaktar vs ARSENAL
23 November 2010: Braga vs ARSENAL
08 December 2010: ARSENAL - Partizan

It could be a tough list of fixtures as the Arsenal will play in away Premier League fixtures on five occasions after playing a Champions League match. Despite that, The Arsenal Press hope that the Arsenal will go through the Group stages smoothly. The Arsenal Press will bring you updates on the Champions League. Signing off.

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