Arsenal v Man utd Half time update

Today is our first "Real" test of the season and I am surprisingly confident ahead of our trip to old trafford.

I know of course, I am bias to my beloved Gooners but I believe our recent performances and new found hunger this season may win the day. Of course I am not foolish enough to be writing utd off but I believe their losses of Tevez and Ronaldo could be the key to us overcoming the red devils this season. Rooney has now come to the fold even more and will have to fill the void left by the summer departures in Manchester. There is no denying Rooney is a class act so taming him today is crucial if we are to get a victory.
There was no Cesc Fabregas today bt apart from that we had our first team squad available.

Manuel Almunia
Bacary Sagna
William Gallas
Thomas Vermaelen
Gael Clichy
Denilson
Alex Song
Andrey Arshavin
Abou Diaby
Emmanuel Eboue
Robin Van Persie

Subs: Eduardo
Mikael Silvestre
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Kieran Gibbs
Nicklas Bendtner
Vito Mannone


Both teams started like for like with Fergie deciding to parallel Wengers decision of a 3 man midfield. The start was a good one with both teams setting a good pace in the opening minutes. Rooney as expected looked sprightly along with Arshavin and Eboue who looked to get forward early on. Both teams threatened but didn't produce a good chance on goal and each goalkeeper had little to do until the 9th minute. Rooney flighted a good pass to fletcher in the box but he blazed high from a very good opportunity.

United then produced a passage of possession which did at moments look to threaten the back four but Gallas, vermaelen and Clichy all hampered multiple Utd efforts to et the lead. The next real chance for the gunners came on the 24th minute when Robin van persie had the time to setup a left footed shot in the box but was deflected for a corner. From that corner another chance arose with Arshavin going close to side footing a shot through a wall of utd players in the top corner but just skewed it narrowly over.

The game did start to become littered with misplayed passes on both sides and as a result both sides looked to break and catch the other off guard but the score looked to remain deadlocked until till the second half. How wrong I was because on the 39th minute Arshain picked up a loose ball and rifled a shot outside the box which Ben foster could only deflect in the roof of the net, and what a goal it was!

Manchester united were determined not to go in behind and they had a good chance to equalise with vidic in the congested box but his chance was rapidly cleared away. One player of special mention has to be William Gallas who was fantastic in the first 45mins not putting a foot wrong and taking Rooney out of the game. We go in 1-0 at half time and well deserved.

Read More

Arsenal v Celtic Second half report

The second half definitely started better than the first and Van persie had a good chance to put the tie to bed already 2 minutes in but slotted wide. Another chance was put wide from Denilson soon after when his shot outside the bx flashed just wide of artur Boruc's far side.

The pressure piled on Celtic and they did become ragged allowing the game to open up in Arsenal favour. On the 53rd minute we had another good chance with Fabregas outside the box who only managed to flash his shot wide of the post, but arsenal started to control more of the play and started to look more and more dangerous with every attack. Nicklas Bendtner also had a glancing shot but he couldn't put it on target.

The tired legs started to show as the half waned on and as a result the game became more and more stretched which allowed us to see alot more of the ball than we did in the first half. Despite numerous buildups the game was starting to become a little sow and certain players looked tired. Wenger did freshen things up on the 69th minute with Diaby coming on for the ineffective Arshavin. The effect was immediate as Diaby opened up his legs towards the Celtic box and found Clichy who's low driven cross was inadvertently put in his own net by Caldwell. The script seemed to be going the right way and surely the two away goals was enough to see Arsenal through.
Suprisingly we had scored two goals that were not typical of us which is a good thing. Last season we tried to score the perfect goal but bring on the dirty ones, I hope we don't use up all the dirty goal quota too soon though.

Read More

Arsenal 6 vs 1 everton Full time report

Arsenal wasted no time adding to everton's misery in the first half when the gooners added a fourth only 2mins and 15 seconds after the whistle. Captain Cesc Fabregas found himself on the end of a cutting Robin Van persie pass and slotted home to add to the ever expanding scoreline.

The game tempo seemed to slow down during the second half and Arsene Wenger made his first substitution of the season bringing on Eboue for an impressive Nicklas Bendtner. The change seemed to invorigate Arsenal again and a direct throw from Manuel Almunia found fabregas who ran most of the field and blasted his shot to the left of the Everton goal for his second and our 5th! I bet our critics will re-evaluate our title credentials after this performance. We had been brilliant in all positions today and especially our so called problem positions CB and DMF. Vermaelen today was quality and proved his aerial power by his debut goal in the first half, Song today was outstanding as well. He totally dominated the centre of the park and his passing, awareness and tackling were very impressive denying a host of everton chances all game.

Just as the game seemed to draw to a close, Arsenal were determined to add to the scoreline and they did on the 89th minute. Andrey Arshavin twisted his way in the everton box and as his shot hit the woodwork Eduardo had a tap in for his first goal in the premier league since his leg break. The cleansheet was not be added to the performance when Pienaar's saved shot from almunia bounced straight to Saha to tap in the consolation. What a performance and what a statement of intent for the other title hpefulls.

Read More

Arsenal v Everton Half time update

Hooray, it's the first game of the new season and today we have a good challenge in Everton. It's been an exciting time waiting for the new season and the late kickoff makes it even more anticipated. Anyway here was the opening lineup of the season.

Manuel Almunia
Bacary Sagna
William Gallas
Thomas Vermaelen
Gael Clichy
Alex Song
Denilson
Cesc Fabregas
Andrey Arshavin
Nicklas Bendtner
Robin Van Persie

Subs: Eduardo
Aaron Ramsey
Mikael Silvestre
Vito Mannone
Emmanuel Eboue
Kieran Gibbs
Fran Merida


The opening game was not as explosive as may have been thought between two very competitive teams both looking for an opening day win to kickstart the new campaign. The opening minutes were pretty uneventful with both teams having moments of possession. The deadlock was broken emphatically on the 26th when Bendtner's good work at the edge of the box setup Denilson to curl a perfect shot into the the top corner of Howard's goal. Everton did threaten however, and on the 33rd minute Denilson came to the rescue again from an Everton freekick to clear a Fellaini header of the line. Arsenal did ride the pressure and added a second on the 37th minute with Thomas Vermaelen latching on to a beautifully lofted free kick with a towering header into the box to getting a memorable debut goal.
Arsenal were rampant after the second goal and the third was added on the 40minute mark. Another freekick opportunity outside the box allowed fabregas to find Gallas in the box who cooly headed past Howard to complete a first half destruction of Everton. (Who said we can't do set plays?)

If we keep the three goal advantage we will finish top of the league from day one!

Read More

Arsenal vs Rangers Full time Report

There was only two changes coming at the beginning of the second half with both being in defence, with Denilson and Traore replacing Gallas and Clichy.

Unlike the start, the second half lacked the speed and effectiveness that was displayed at the opening of the game as Arsenal were contained to half chances. This stayed the same until Arsene Wenger made more changes to try and reinvigorate the Arsenal team. Goalscorer Eduardo was replaced by youth prospect Sanchez Watt and Nicklas Bendtner made his first appearence in the game at the expense of the briliant Andrei Arshavin. The substitutes seemd to be working well and the attcking pressure paid off when Aaron Ramsey dinked a beautiful pass to Jack Wilshere who cooly blasted the ball in the top corner for his second of the game.

Immediately after the goal Wenger made further chances by introducing Tomas Rosicky for captain Cesc Fabregas on the 73rd minute. Wilshere had a chance to make get his Hat trick but was rewarded with the Man of the Match award two days in a row helping the gooners lift the emirates cup for the 2nd time in 3 years.

Read More

Arsenal vs Rangers Half Time update

Arsenal started their last Emirates cup game this year in the knowledge that a draw against Rangers would be enough to lift the Emirates cup, but a win for Rangers would send the trophy to Scotland. Today's Starting 11 was:

Almunia
Eboue
Gallas
Silvestre
Clichy
Wilshere
Fabregas
Song
Arshavin
Merida
Eduardo




Subs:

Bacary Sagna
Tomas Rosicky
Robin Van Persie
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Johan Djourou
Nicklas Bendtner
Armand Traore
Sanchez Watt
Wojciech Szczesny

Arsenal had an amazing start today already scoring in the second minute. A well placed ball in the box from Fabregas allowed Arshavin to flick back his pass to the path of Jack Wilshere who added his first goal of this year's pre season campaign setting arsenal off to a flyer. The pressure was too much for Rangers to handle and yet again they were punished by Arsenal's fluency in attack. Fran Merida found himself in alot of space in the middle of the park and slid a perfect pass to Eduardo at the edge of the box who sidefooted a beautiful shot to the left side of the Rangers goal.
The half was mostly dominated by the gooners after the two goal lead but Rangers looked to threaten from a number of set pieces that Arsenal struggled to deal with. Wilshere again had a chance to add his tally on the 40 minute mark with a cheeky chip that could only be tipped over the bar from Mcgregor. Arsenla will be very happy at the break.

Read More

Arsenal vs Athletico Madrid Full Time update

Arsenal didn't make as many substitutions as predicted at half time with Arsene Wenger introducing Jack Wilshere, Fran Merida and the only senior substitute Gael Clichy for the second half lineup.

Unlike the end of the first half, Arsenal started the half very brightly and dominated with their counterattacking prowess but couldn't get past the very impressive Asenjo saving clear goal chances from both Aaron Ramsey and Merida. The lack of finished product forced Arsene Wenger to introduce his three big guns on 66 minutes Arshavin, Fabregas and Eduardo.
The game started to slow down near the end with Jack Wilshere probably the most threatening of the Arsenal players to try and make a breakthrough, twice jinking his way through the Valencia box only for his end product to be blocked.

Shortly afterwards though it was Valencia that almost scored when Mannone made a meal of a Maxi Rodriguez shot which he almost palmed into the goal from his inital block. The deadlock was soon to be broken when Andrei Arshavin got on the end of a Cesc Fabregas chip in the box which he volleyed in the bottom left corner of Asenjo's goal. The celebrations caught Arsenal out and almost instantly Athletico equalised when German Pacheco intercepted a poor pass to slot cooly past Mannone.

At this time it looked like Arsenal would only scrape a draw but Andrei Arshavin made sure that wouldn't happen. On the 90 minute mark He latched onto a short back header, skipped past the keeper and slid the ball home from a ridiculously tight angle to win the game 2-1.

Read More

Arsenal 1 vs 0 Hannover

Cesc Fabregas stuck early to round off the Gunners mini-Euro tour with another win.
The skipper's ninth minute goal was enough to see off the challenge of Hanover 96 despite this proving the toughest test for Arsene Wenger's young side so far.

The confirmation of Kolo Toure's departure to Man City, didn't throw Arsenal off their stride and they played their usual brand of neat, attractive football.





Robin van Persie was the provider for Fabregas, who latched on to his reverse pass to sidestep the goalkeeper Robert Enke and tuck away a finish.

Andrey Arshavin could have doubled the advantage but was thwarted by Enke, and Van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner also came close as the visitors controlled proceedings throughout.

Wenger was literally given an armchair chair ride - from a real armchair pitch side - to watch the action from in Hanover's impressive AMD Arena.

Arsenal's are now looking to regain the Emirates Cup this weekend.

Source: The sun

Read More

Arsenal 5 vs 0 Szombathelyi GOALS VIDEO

Here are the goals from tonights 5-0 win over szombathelyi, enjoy!



1-0 Bendtner



2-0 Eduardo



3-0 Eduardo



4-0 Bendtner



5-0 Van Persie (penalty)

Read More

Arsenal vs Szombathelyi FULL TIME result

Arsene Wenger unsurprisingly made a number of changes to the first half lineup introducing Van Persie, Arshavin and Vermaelen the most notable of the substitutions.

The second half play was much more dynamic for Arsenal with a number of good build up plays and eloquent passing but the gunners failed to increase their lead until Bendtner was tripped in the box by the oncoming keeper which allowed Van persie to rocket an unstoppable penalty in the roof of the net. All in all Arsene Wenger should be pretty happy with this result especially with the strikers all getting on the scoresheet today but most notably of all Eduardo's two goals will give him a huge boost.

Read More

Arsenal vs Szombathelyi - HALF TIME score update

The Gunners started their third pre season game against hungarian side szombathelyi this evening with a strong squad, including a start for returning striker Eduardo the most notable of the Arsenal appearances.

The Arsenal team that started was as follows:

Starting 11:

Vito Mannoe
Emmanuel Eboue
Armand Traore
Kolo Toure
Johan Djourou
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Alex Song
Jack Wilshere
Eduardo
Nicklas Bendtner

Subs:

Wojciech Szczesny
Bacary Sagna
Mikael Silvestre
Thomas Vermaelen
William Gallas
Philippe Senderos
Robin Van Persie
Andrey Arshavin


The gunners didn't start the game too well, having to withstand a number of good Szombathelyi attacks and almost scoring thanks to a vito mannone mistake. The building Arsenal pressure was becoming too much for the hungarians to handle and the deadlock was broken on 18 minutes when Armand Traore made himself enough space on the left wing to deliver a perfect cross for Bendtner to head into the far post of the szombathelyi net. The pain was to continue for the home side when the Arsenal midfield intercepted a counter attack allowing Niklas Bendtner to find Eduardo at the edge of the box who rifled a well placed shot to the far post of the oncoming keeper to make it 2-0.

More goals were still come before the break as first Eduardo converted his first free kick effort of the game to the bottom left corner of the goal and Bendtner added a second to his tally only three minutes later when he rounded Rozsa Daniel for Arsenal's fourth, bring on the second half!

Read More