Ramsey to miss Champions League game with Injury

I know there are probably quite a few Arsenal fans who will be relieved to hear that Aaron Ramsey has picked up a groin strain, and will therefore miss the trip to Germany to face Schalke in the Champions League tomorrow.

One person who will not be happy, however, is Arsene Wenger. With Oxlade-Chamberlain and Diaby still keeping Rosicky company in the treatment room, Arsenal do not need to lose any more midfielders. This means that Wenger’s options are even more limited.

If Wenger did intend to give Theo Walcott a start down the middle, who will he play on the right hand side? Gervinho is out, so he would be experimenting again. Cazorla can play on either wing, but has not done so for Arsenal. If Wenger did not trust Arshavin to replace Wilshere on Saturday, he is not going to play him in Santi’s position tomorrow.

I was really hoping that Arsenal would try to use the pace of Walcott as a central striker tomorrow, and try to hit Schalke on the break. It will probably be the same 4-3-3 formation that we have been struggling with recently.

Hopefully, Jack Wilshere will have recovered from his exertions and will give us some much needed drive in midfield. He misses the visit of Fulham in the Premier league this weekend, so he might as well run himself ragged tomorrow.

Szczesny is not fit yet, and Damian Martinez cannot play in the Champions League, so James Shea is in the squad. Djourou and Chamakh will also travel, but the squad is looking thin. Surely, Wenger will not play Santos at left back tomorrow. You could almost, but not quite, forgive some bad defending if he was getting forward and creating chances, but he cannot even cross a ball.

Vermaelen had a shocker on Saturday but I think he is too worried about Santos. I think the whole team is affected, actually, and the massive gaps he is leaving are eroding the team’s confidence. I am surprised that Santos is even in the squad after the shirt debacle.

Arsenal could do with a shake up, but they just haven’t got the players available, or Wenger does not want to change things. We desperately need a good performance, but I am worried that we will not get it.

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Champions League – Arsenal are favourites but Wenger expecting some challenges

Posted on September 01, 2012 by admin

On the face of it, Arsenal’s Champions League Group of Montpellier, Olympiacos and Schalke may not look very daunting, but the fact is that an away game at any of those grounds is going to be a difficult encounter, and Arsenal will probably have to win all three home matches to ensure that they top the group.

Arsene Wenger gave his assessment of the Gunners opponents. “We will be favourites because we have the biggest experience in this group,” Wenger said on Arsenal.com. “But we know by experience that the Champions League is the Champions League. Every team is a special occasion, it is always a cup game and you want to be serious and have a good start.

“We start in Montpellier, which is a difficult place with a lot of passion. Certainly there will be a lot of psychological investment for them in this Champions League, so for us it is important of course to be highly focused.

“Many players do not know the passionate atmosphere in the south of France and will be surprised – but we have the experience.

The trip to Montpellier obviously means a quick return to his old club for Olivier Giroud, who could find it a strange experience, but Wenger is not worried about his concentration being compromised by the occasion. “I have not spoken to Giroud about it yet.” Wenger continued. “It will certainly be a special occasion for him but what is important is that the team does well. We focus on the game and Giroud does too.”

Wenger is under no illusion about the other two teams either. ‘Schalke are always strong. They are the most popular team in the league with the biggest support, a massive support,” he said. “Historically they are a massive club. Germany is a football nation, so you have no easy games.

“Olympiacos have beaten us convincingly over there and we have underestimated them a little bit in the past.

At the Emirates they gave us a tough time. We just won last season, so we know that they are a good side. They are always at the top of the table in Greece and have a big experience in the Champions League.”

Last year Olympiacos beat a weakened Arsenal side in the last game of the Group last season, but Arsenal still won the Group. This year Montpellier replaces Marseille from the French Ligue 1, while Schalke replace Borussia Dortmund from the Bundesliga. Surely Arsenal should get the same outcome this season….

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Arsenal get decent draw in Champion’s League

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Bob

Arsenal were placed in group B for this season’s Champion’s league. The team from pot two chosen for Arsenal’s group was Schalke 04 from Gelsenkirchen in Germany. They finished third in the Bundesliga last season behind Borussie Dortmund and Bayern Munich. The team from pot three was Olymiacos from Piraeus in Greece. The fourth team drawn in the group was the French champions Montpellier.

It could be better and it could be worse. None of the teams fills you with dread and there are no horrible trips to frozen grounds in Russia or Scandinavia to worry about. But we have got two teams who won their leagues in Montpellier and Olympiacos.

The good news is that both teams lost their best strikers this summer. In fact, the Gunners nearly had both of them. Olivier Giroud was Montpellier’s top hit man last seasom with 25 goals, and Kevin Mirallas was the top scorer for Olympiacos with 20 league goals. Mirallas chose Everton over the Gunners because he thought he might not get regular football at the Emirates. So all we need to do is sign Klaas Jan-Huntelaar from Schalke and we are sorted.

Schalke made it to the semi-final stage two seasons ago when they were beaten in both legs by Manchester United. Younes Belhand and Mapou Yanga-M’biwa, two players heavily linked with Arsenal this summer, play for Montpellier. Arsenal should top this group without too much difficulty.

Man United got an easy draw again, with Braga, Galatasaray and CFR Cluj. Chelsea got Shaktar Donetsk, Juventus and FC Nordsjaelland (who?) Man City got the group of death, with Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax. All four teams won their leagues last season, so it looks like the Europa league for City.

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Who could Arsenal get in the Champion’s League?

Champions’ League Group Stage Draw by AH

The Champions League Group Stage draw is tonight and Arsenal will be in Pot One.

There are many different clubs we could draw, some easy and some difficult from across Europe. Arsenal will draw with one club from each other pot, but we cannot draw another British club.

Although most Gooners would want the easiest possible draw, it’s good as long as the other clubs we draw are not far away from England because a trip to Russia, Denmark or Turkey will not be the best for us.

Here are the Pots which each club will be put into;

POT ONE: Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Arsenal, FC Porto & AC Milan

POT TWO: Valencia, Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, Schalke, Manchester City, Braga & Dynamo Kiev

POT THREE: Olympiakos, Ajax, Anderlecht, Juventus, Spartak Moscow, Paris Saint-Germain, Lille & Galatasaray.

POT FOUR: Celtic, Borussia Dortmund, BATE Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb, CFR Cluj, Malaga, Montpellier & Nordsjaelland.

So there is the pots and the easiest draw for us, seems to be Braga, Olympiakos and CFR Cluj.

Braga are from Portugal, Olympiakos from Grecce and CFR Cluj from Romania. That’s a nice group, that will give us some competition but we should glide through the games. Whilst the hardest draw, would be;

Valencia, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund.

That team consists of a top Spanish side as well as two league winners from last season.

It will be a tough draw whatever we get but let’s hope that we get reasonable teams that aren’t too far away from England. I predict we get a pretty tough group that will be close, my bet is that we get drawn with, Benfica, PSG and Malaga.

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Arsenal name big squad for the ‘Youth Champions League’

Arsenal Announce NextGen Squad by AH

Arsenal have announced their 32 man squad, that will take place in this season’s NextGen Competition, which is the new Europe-wide competition for Under 19's, which by rights Arsenal should do very well in considering the wealth of young talent at our disposal!

The full Arsenal 32-man squad is; Goalkeepers: Reice Charles-Cook and Josh Vickers

Defenders: Zach Fagan, Elton Monteiro, Sead Hajrovic, Leander Siemann, Martin Angha, Arinse Uade, Tom Dallison, Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill, Samir Bihmoutine, Hector Bellerin and Kyle Ebecilio

Midfielders: Nico Yennaris, Isaac Hayden, Jordan Wynter, Kris Olsson, Jon Toral, Jack Jebb, Josh Rees, Thomas Eisfeld, Serge Gnabry and Chuks Aneke

Forwards: Phillip Roberts, Nigel Neita, Alfred Mugabo, Tarum Dawkins, Anthony Jeffrey, Chuba Akpom, Austin Lipman, Zak Ansah and Benik Afobe

Benik Afobe has been included in the squad (which is massive) but as he has now been loaned out to Bolton he is very unlikely to figure. Likewise there are players like Yennaris, Gnabry, Aneke and Eisfeld who may yet be sent out on loan so perhaps Arsenal are just covering their backs by naming as many players as possible?

It’s a pretty strong Youth team and there are certainly some players to look out for during the tournament.

Some of the team may even feature in the early Capital Cup games (formally known as Carling Cup) and the early FA Cup games.

One name that is not on the list is young goalkeeper Damien Martinez. The Argentine plays in a lot of reserve matches and he seems to have cemented a place in the reserve team which is for mostly U21 players. He also spent part of last season out on loan to Oxford United, but it seems like the club has bigger plans for him this season. It’s likely that he will go out on a season-long as well if Wenger deems him fit.

Terry Burton, who will be picking the team, is looking forward to the challenge of playing against some of Europes finest youngsters in the series. He said: “It is a very good competition; the organisers have done really well,”

“It is well organised and teams field their best players within the age group.

“You’re testing yourself against the best players, against big clubs and you get different styles, different shapes and different problems to deal with.

“That’s what it’s all about; players need feedback, that’s how they learn. It should help prepare the players in a small way for European football in the future.”

Arsenal will play Athletico Bilbao, Marseille and Olympiacos in the group stages, so the ‘Young Guns’ will certainly have a tough challenge to reach the knockout stages of the competition, or perhaps they could beat Barcelona in the Final…..

Arsenal’s first fixture is on the 29th of August against Marseille, and all home matches will be played at Barnet’s Underhill Stadium. It may be worth going over and seeing some of Arsenal’s future stars in action…..

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Manchester City would win Champions League if Robin van Persie joined from Arsenal believes Kolo Toure

City had been linked with the Holland international even before he announced on Wednesday he would not be extending his contract, which has a year to run, with the Gunners.

Having played with him at Arsenal, Toure is well aware of what Van Persie can offer a side and would welcome him at City.

''Robin is a top player. I've played with him, I know him and he's a great man,'' the centre-back is reported as saying by the Manchester Evening News.

''At City we have great players and the club does what it wants in transfers.

''But for me, if Robin comes it's great because I know what he can do.

''You have to build your squad every year to do better; to win the Champions League is very difficult as we have seen.''

In confirming on his website that he would definitely not sign a new deal, then Dutch forward said it had “become clear to me that [myself, Arsène Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis] in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward”.

Van Persie’s statement has been interpreted as a blatant attempt to force a move this summer and, while Arsenal have received no bids or inquiries, the clear suspicion is that he is now actively trying to generate an auction among Europe’s leading clubs.

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