Arsenal FC @ Emirates All Gunner fans fall in

[The Monkees]

The Gunners got-off to a great start.
They thrashed Everton 6-1.

[Naka_Timo]

Hope they on form all the way till the end of the season.

[kiko]

Arsenal are reportedly weighing up a move for Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.

The Dutch international has made 32 league appearances - netting five times - since joining the Madridistas last summer.

However, following the expensive acquisitions of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso, Real are open to offers for Dutch quintet Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Roysten Drenthe and Ruud van Nistelrooy, while Klaas-Jan Huntleaar has already departed for AC Milan.

A move appears inevitable for the 26-year-old, after he was not handed a squad number ahead of the new season.

And although the midfielder - who has been capped 69 times by his country - has been linked with moves to Hamburg, Ajax, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Aston Villa, it is Arsenal who are set to make a €7 million offer, according to the Mail on Sunday.

While the report adds that Van der Vaart is keen to complete a switch to the Premier League, should the opportunity arise.

“I really want to come to England,” he said.

“There are a number of clubs with offers where I can go in Germany, Spain and Italy.

“I want to go to the Premier League and I know where I want to play.”

[darkafac]

tonight is the champions league qualifier.. hope we can pull through for the 1st leg though we got some injury probs..

[suaveguy28]

would prefer to have Wesley Sneijder or Arjen Robben but robben is injury prone.

Therefore sneijder is a better bet for me. but i think we really need a better striker V.presie is still not a out and out striker.

[fullofrubbish]

Originally Posted by kiko

Arsenal are reportedly weighing up a move for Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.

The Dutch international has made 32 league appearances - netting five times - since joining the Madridistas last summer.

“I want to go to the Premier League and I know where I want to play.”

Shoo ... Shoo ...

[kiko]

A deflection and an own goal helped Arsenal overcome Celtic in Glasgow to leave the Gunners with one foot in the Champions League group stages.

Arsenal took the lead two minutes before the break when William Gallas inadvertently diverted a Cesc Fabregas free-kick past Artur Boruc, and Gary Caldwell put through his own net in the 71st minute.

Only Barcelona and Dinamo Moscow, in the previous round, had beaten Celtic in the previous 36 European matches at Parkhead.

But Arsene Wenger's side enjoyed a comfortable second half to leave them in a commanding position ahead of next week's play-off second leg.

Barcelona have also lost at Celtic Park during that run, along with the likes of Juventus, AC Milan and Manchester United, but Celtic failed to put their latest visitors under serious pressure.

Although both sides had enjoyed comfortable away wins in their opening league wins on Saturday, Celtic manager Tony Mowbray opted for radical alterations to his frontline while Arsenal were unchanged following their 6-1 win at Everton.

Mowbray dropped Scott McDonald and Marc-Antoine Fortune and played Aiden McGeady up front alongside Georgios Samaras, who scored the stoppage-time winner against Dinamo Moscow in Russia in the previous round.

Scott Brown came into right midfield while Caldwell returned after missing Saturday's 3-1 victory at Aberdeen through suspension.

Arsenal looked more comfortable in possession from the start, finding space in front of Celtic's back four.

Andrey Arshavin was causing problems when he drifted in from his position on the left of Arsenal's three-man attack, and Fabregas and Denilson were always looking to break forward from midfield.

Arsenal were playing the ball through Celtic and it needed a last-ditch block by Caldwell on Robin van Persie to stop the Gunners profiting from one such move, with the offside flag raised before Arshavin fired home the rebound.

However, Celtic had a good chance to hurt Arsenal on the counter-attack when Shaun Maloney released McGeady down the left after Van Persie's free-kick was cleared.

The Republic of Ireland international rode one challenge and lofted the ball towards Brown but Thomas Vermaelen did enough to put the midfielder off.

Celtic tightened up in central midfield, although a slip by Massimo Donati allowed Arshavin the chance to run at the Celtic back four, with Boruc getting down comfortably to save his deflected effort.

Full-back Andreas Hinkel then created Celtic's best chance of the half when he burst into the box and cut the ball back for Maloney.

The Arsenal defence closed him down but the ball fell for Brown, whose low shot was well saved by Manuel Almunia.

Celtic looked like they would comfortably survive until half-time but luck was against them after Caldwell was penalised for a foul on Fabregas 30 yards out.

The free-kick was rolled short to the Spaniard, whose 30-yard drive bounced off the back of Gallas and spun into the opposite corner to where Boruc was heading.

The game almost drifted beyond Celtic within a minute of the restart after Landry N'Guemo miscontrolled a simple take in the centre circle.

Arshavin carried the ball to the edge of the penalty box before slipping the ball outside to Van Persie but the Dutchman shot past the far post.

Denilson soon curled just wide from 20 yards following another Arshavin run while Fabregas dragged a left-foot shot just wide from a similar distance after Gallas had easily won a 50-50 challenge with Donati.

McGeady had dropped deeper after the interval and Mowbray made a double switch in the 56th minute with McDonald and Fortune replacing Donati and Samaras.

Celtic struggled to create chances but Gallas made another crucial interception when he cut out Fortune's low cross as McDonald waited at the far post.

Abou Diaby replaced Arshavin and immediately played a key role in Arsenal's second goal.

The substitute burst forward and set up Gael Clichy for a low cross that was turned home by the outstretched boot of Caldwell.

Only McGeady looked capable of creating anything for Celtic and most of the final 20 minutes was played out in the middle third.

[spotter542]

If Arsenal really are mired in crisis, they are doing a fine job of disguising it.

Arsene Wenger's side were supposed to be the weakest member of the Premier League's 'big four' this season, rendered vulnerable by the emergence of Manchester City, the continued progress of Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton, and the departures of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure.

Hardly a week went by in the close-season without another expert forecasting Arsenal's demise, their pessimism fuelled by Wenger's steadfast refusal to spend big in the transfer market. But, just two games into the new campaign, those predictions are looking decidedly dicey.

Everton were put in their place, emphatically so, at Goodison Park on the opening day, with Arsenal rampant in a 6-1 victory; then a supposedly treacherous trip to Celtic for the first leg of the Champions League play-off round was negotiated with the minimum of fuss, a 2-0 victory putting the Gunners firmly in control ahead of next week's return.

Cesc Fabregas has shrugged off yet more speculation linking him to Barcelona with two sublime performances, Alex Song appears to have provided an end to Wenger's search for a new defensive midfielder and Thomas Vermaelen, the centre-half signed from Ajax, has slotted in seamlessly.

Now, Portsmouth are the visitors to the Emirates stadium on Saturday for a match which should cement Arsenal's impressive start to the new campaign.

Inadvertently, the north Londoners' critics appear to have sparked them into life.

"The season is still young but we have played two important games," Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie said.

"I think we showed in both that we really want to fight for each other and if we can produce that every three or four days, we can make a big step forward.

"Maybe being written off in the media brings the players a little closer together but we will see what happens. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to make the 'enemy' cleverer than they are!

"But if you look at the first two games, we played well. Our targets are as high as last year and if we can stick together and stay together and work hard for each other, we can make it a good season."

If Arsenal's supposed problems have been grossly exaggerated, Portsmouth's have not.

The south coast club spent most of the close-season lurching from one crisis to the next, with uncertainty in the boardroom and chaos in the dressing room, which has seen a host of senior players depart including Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch.

Early season results have been predictably poor, Pompey having slid to single-goal defeats against Fulham and Birmingham, and while performances have been better than those results suggest, confidence is brittle ahead of a daunting game.

"We haven't had much rewards so far this season and no luck at all so it's not been easy," said captain Sylvain Distin, one of the players who has been continually linked with a move away from Fratton Park.

"But sooner or later the bad luck has to turn so we have to keep going and believing. We have been working hard and we are trying to rebuild after losing some players, but the spirit of the team is good."




Source : AsianBookie.Com - Asian Handicap LIVE Odds Betting

[Naka_Timo]

Hope they can win nice tonite.

[cliffy]

Calling all Arsenal fans,

Do not forget to collect $$$ from Singapore Pools tonight!

[EZLink Card]

Today's match looks exciting, looks like can go both ways. Quite a few upsets recently, hopefully this match wouldn't be another 1..

[kiko]

Arsenal moved back to the top of the Premier League table after a comfortable 4-1 win over Portsmouth at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsene Wenger made four changes from the team that conquered Everton and came away from Glasgow with a 2-0 over Celtic earlier in the week.
Abou Diaby Arsenal 2008/09 profile size
ABOU DIABY

Emmanuel Eboue came in to his preferred right-back spot in favour of the Bacary Sagna, who was on the bench along with Gael Clichy, Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner.

Eduardo started up front alongside Robin Van Persie with Abou Diaby in for Song and Kieran Gibbs for Clichy.

Diaby made his opportunity count by scoring two goals in the first 22 minutes. He put the Gunners ahead on 19 minutes when he fired home from a central position on the edge of the area after Eduardo skinned the Pompey right-back to tee the Frenchman up with a pass back from the by-line.

His second came three minutes later from slightly nearer to goal. This time it was Eboue who supplied the pull-back for Diaby to sidefoot powerfully past David James.

Arsenal pinned Pompey back for virtually the whole of the first half and James kept the deficit down with some fine saves, particularly from Van Persie.

Portsmouth halved the arrears on 36 minutes when a Niko Kranjcar corner from the right found its way to Nadir Belhadj on the left. He floated in a cross which Younes Kabul got to before Manuel Almunia and nodded home from a little over a yard out.

Arsenal lost their talisman Cesc Fabregas at half-time. That may have spurred on Portsmouth, who came close when Frederic Piquionne opened up the Gunners on the right side.

The Pompey striker failed to keep his composure and fired into the sidenetting from close range.

The Gunners went further ahead in the 51st minute with another bizarre goal from William Gallas. A cross from Van Persie was headed goalwards by Thomas Vermaelen into the path of Gallas, who sliced a shot onto his own head before it bounced past James.

The Gunners made it 4-1 on 68 minutes when Aaron Ramsey ran into the Pompey penalty area to meet a defence-splitting pass from Van Persie.

The youngster, on for Fabregas, coolly fired into the bottom left corner past the visitors keeper. James was replaced shortly afterwards by Asmir Begovic.

Portsmouth offered little but managed to restrict the Gunners to four goals, which in itself was something given the goal-scoring form that Wenger's side have hit already this season.

[Cum_Luver]

another good win by the Gunners.
let hope they can sustain this momentum and form thru the whole season.

[overmars]

Cmon you Gunners!

[gokilz]

later at 2.45am UCL qualifying 2nd leg vs celtic wohoooooo!!
we are having the advantage, its at home and we are up 2-0