Preview - Norwich vs Arsenal

Regular action returns after the totally boring two-week international break.It's been hard not having normal Arsenal action to look forward to every four days.

On the injury front, it seems Gibbs will be out for a further 4-5 weeks and Jenkinson has a mysterious stress fracture. That means we are a bit short in both full back positions.The regular eleven are largely injury free, so i expect a familiar line-up at Carrow Road tomorrow.

Norwich, well i don't really know much about them but they outplayed Liverpool for about twenty minutes a couple of weeks ago. They are a decent side obviously. Arsene Wenger will have to keep his charges focused for this one as we dropped a lot of points against the promoted teams last season.

I expect the team to line up this way barring any last minute injuries -

Defence - Chesney continues in goal of course. At left back we have just Santos, so he plays obviously.I expect Wenger to field Mert and Verm as his center backs. Norwich would like to use set pieces to distabilize the gunners so Mertesacker's aerial dominance will be needed. Johan should get a game at right back.

Midfield - Song, Arteta and Ramsey should continue their good partnership.

Attack - I expect Arsene to go for pace and guile on both flanks with the man of the monent,Robin leading the line, that means Gervinho on the left and Theo on the right.

Prediction - I will go for a 3-1 scoreline to Arsenal with Robin Van Persie (2) and Gervinho scoring.

Arsenal is defending better - TR7

Tomas Rosicky believes Arsenal’s resurgence in the Premier League is down to the squad’s defensive discipline.

Arsène Wenger’s side have conceded just six goals in their last seven matches in all competitions, keeping a clean sheet in their most recent fixtures against West Brom and Marseille.

Arsenal travel to Carrow Road to face Norwich on Saturday as they look to continue the run that has fired them back into top-four contention. And Rosicky says the squad is keen to get back to domestic duties.

“We are looking forward to the next month because we are back on track again and have some positive results behind us,” he told Arsenal Player.

“Sometimes when new faces come in you need time to gel and I think the last month was much better from us. We were good defensively and much more compact. I think we will show that in the coming months as well.

“I wouldn't say just the midfield, it's the whole squad as a unit that have defended better,” he added. “I wouldn't pick out one particular part, it's the whole team that has gelled together. Hopefully we can continue to do that.”

Arsenal slowly finding thier rythm/ United, Chelsea and Liverpool drop points

It was always going to be a test of Arsenals collective attitude and confidence as a team. Stoke City isn't Arsenals favourite opponents due to thier direct and very physical approach. Arsenal started brightly, knocking the ball around with ease while Stock defended deep. It was always going to be a question of nerves and how creative and persistent the home team could be. The breakthrough came in the 27th minute when Ramsey sent a lovely weighted chip over the Stock defence, Gervinho chested down and blasted a left footed effort past Begovic. We were cruising.

But if thier is a lesson we have learned over the years, it is not to trust a one goal lead by Arsenal. Complacency soon set in. Begovic sent a ball forward and Crouch was fouled and from the resulting free kick the equalised. Chamakh was having a horrible game and was replaced in the second half by Robin. Arshavin came on for the wasteful Walcott. From then on it was all Arsenal. Gervinho popped up on both flanks to set up two for Robin.3-1 and 3 points well earned.

Elsewhere The Red Mancs were battered by thier so-called noisy neighbours. Chelsea fell to QPR with Drogba and Bosingwa seeing red. Overall it was a good weekend for Arsenal. Next weekend we play away to Chelsea. Hoping to see The Ox and Park play against Bolton in the carling cup.

Silly Season.

It's officially the silly season once more. The period when the rumuor mill goes into overdrive with stories that are essentially rumuors.So far, we have had only few significant transfer activity with Manchester United splashing the cash on Phil Jones and Ashley Young on a combined fee of 36.5 million pounds,with the spanish keeper David De Gea set to follow. Liverpool also forked out about 16 million pounds for Henderson who is still unproven and flopped at the on-going Uefa under-21 championships.Meanwhile, Arsenal fans are going crazy over the clubs seeming non-activity on the transfer front so far.

However, it's been reported that Arsene Wenger had a bid accepted for Blackburn Rovers england u-21 captain, Phil Jones before he made a last minute u-turn to join Man United. Ricky Alvarez, Gervinho, Alex Oxlade Chamberlaine are all close to signing with Arsenal with Samba and/or Cahiil still a possibility. I will have more updates in the coming days.

JOE COLE TO SIGN FOR ARSENAL

The Mirror and The Daily Mail exclusively reported that the in-form England midfielder is set to join the Gooners after the World Cup. Contract talks have stalled in recent weeks between Chelsea and the skilled midfielder. Joe Cole wanted 130kp/week to be at par with Chelsea’s 2nd highest earning stars like Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba. However, the Blues management was not keen on the amount as they are set to introduce a strict wage cap as the days of overzealous spending are over. With the new UEFA financial fair play rules set to kick in by the 2011/2012 season, the club wants to start cutting their coat according to their cloth.
It is understood that J.Cole is keen to stay in London as his Wife has a new kid and isn’t disposed to a move up north (Manchester) and sees Arsenal as a good choice. Joe Cole’s agent and Arsenal officials are believed to have met and agreed a deal in principle to join the club after the World Cup. He is reportedly set to earn about 90-100kp/week as there would not be a transfer fee for him. It is believed that Arsene is willing to pay that much as Joe Cole will be a bargain signing and would not stunt the developments of Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere who are seen as the long term replacements of Cesc Fabregas.
The Daily Star had previously reported that a deal had been agreed. The media then blew the story out of the waters as they see Peter Hill-Wood’s close ties to The Daily Star as lending credence to the story. Would Joe Cole fit-in at Arsenal? That is a question for another day.

The Cesc Fabregas Saga

It's no longer news that Barca want to sign Cesc Fabbregas.What is news is the manner in which they have gone about it.They have expertly employed the might of both the Catalan/Spanish and rumour-loving English media to get thier man.Before now we have'nt heard any official statements from Arsenal untill yesterday.The statment from the club's official website reads:Arsenal Football Club have today released the following statement about Cesc Fabregas:

"Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is under contract with the Club until the summer of 2015. He is a highly-valued member of the team and part of our future plans.

"We have followed recent speculation linking Cesc with a move away from the Club but as there has never been any official approach for him, only two informal exchanges, in which we made it abundantly clear that we have no interest in transferring Cesc, we have refrained from publicly passing comment. However, yesterday evening we received an offer from Barcelona for Cesc and in response, we immediately and resolutely told them once again that we have no intention of selling our captain.

"To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word."

We shall see where this leads in the coming days.Rumours have it that Joe Cole has signed for Arsenal on a 3 year deal worth 110kpnds/week.