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After the defeat from Manchester United with a score of 1-0, the Arsenal Goalkeeper voiced his opinion of the dismal performance made by his team mates. With an outstanding four saves Manuel Almunia has a unique personality that is distinct from his other team mates even in the dressing room. The only thing working for the team, was Almunia’s goalkeeper gloves. Without his contribution, United would have rampaged Arsenal and the Score tally would have been a real demoraliser for the team.

Known for his honest and frank opinion he could not hold back his feelings and remarked that a number of players of Arsenal even before the start of the play were under tremendous pressure and as a result after 25 minutes of play went totally blank. Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger was clearly unhappy. The players were not able to keep the ball with them and it appeared from their body language as if they did not even know how the ball should be kept.

He also added that even in the dressing room they were very disappointed as it appeared to be a lost game. He said he was surprised and felt very bad in the manner some of the players performed as all of them were really looking forward for this game for a long time. He further remarked that there was no doubt that it was a big game and competition where pressures do play a role, but he expected the players had that requisite experience to handle such pressures.

However despite this defeat of 1-0 from Manchester United, Almunia is confident that Arsenal will overturn the situation and they are capable of doing it.

The hottest pair today in the modern day football rivalries is Arsene Wenger versus Sir Alex Ferguson. When we compare their background it differs vastly but the basic philosophy of Football for both of them is the same that is attacking and free –flowing manner of playing in the games.

On one hand Arsene Wenger has a team that outshines in aesthetics when compared with all the other rivals while the steel of Ferguson’s United cannot be matched by Arsenal that is the trade mark of all successful teams of Ferguson. It would sure be exciting to see the two super managers face off against each other in a game of Football Manager 2007, never mind in real life. Wenger has really come out of that image of that Calm and composed Frenchman who would just observe sitting at the touchline. His involvement has now become full of emotions and is one of the best passionately involved boss. However he still has not reached that stage of motivating by fist- pumping as is the case with Ferguson who is seen employing with his team.

If we consider the Combustibility factor and rate them on a scale of ten, then both the men have the capacity and the potential of reaching beyond the scale of ten. But the method employed by both of them varies to vent the fury. On one hand Ferguson takes the straight route irrespective whether it is the referees or it is the rival managers, whereas the fury of Wenger can be counted from the word “Listen” that measures his fury. It is a calculated effort directed on those whom he perceives has done wrong to his team of himself.

The success of the two can be compared by the Silverware where Manchester United have got a total score of 15 plus 4 Community/Charity Shields since the arrival of Ferguson and Arsenal score is 7 plus 4 Community/Charity Shields since the arrival of Wenger

After the possibility of the leading goal scorer Robin van Persie playing in the first leg in semi-final match of Champions League being dashed the prospects of Arsenal has become gloomy. Arsenal will take on Manchester United on Wednesday at a time when the club’s position in Barclay Premier League is off the pace and after losing to Chelsea 2-1 they are out in the FA Cup. Now Arsenal only has the European competition as their last chance to break the trend of coming out blank for the past three years. The injury of groin strain of Van Persie that rules him out in the match against Manchester United can be managed stated Arsene Wenger.

This season he has been able to score 17 goals but at Wembley he sustained injury. On Sunday at home he will not be able to play the league match against Middlesbrough as well as the Old Trafford trip. Arsene Wenger informed that he would be fit for the May 5 return leg match in North London against United but is certainly ruled out for the game on Sunday and with United.

In this season there have been number of injuries for Arsenal’s key players specifically for the up-front players. Considering all the competitions in the previous 12 games only in one single game they have not been able to score and the best was the 4-4- draw in the Premier League against Chelsea on Tuesday night at Anfield. His Nike Mercurial Vapor V FG football boots must have been magic that night, because Russian forward Andrey Arshavin was responsible for all the goal scoring and he will be part of the starting team for the match with Middlebrough.

Stamford Bridge a week back wasn’t all that the audiences had to witness. The Chelsea with four all draws toped. It seems that it was difficult for Liverpool to decide where they were going for the last night, for the leading or for the supporting actor.

Liverpool seemed to have ignored Andrei Arshavin who had 4 goals in his kitty after the audition of the Invisible Man’s character in the movie. In 1988-1989 Michael Thomas the last moment victory over Andrei Arshavin is still remembered as a bleak chapter in the history of Liverpool. Steve McMahon reminder to Anfield about the championship being only a minute away couldn’t be topped by anything. He defiantly taught Anfield a lesson. Another Arsenal takeaway never happened.

As Emmanuel Adebayor & Robin van Persie weren’t there for the for the strike and Robin van Persie was benched, Premier League wasn’t Arsene Wenger’s fight. Arsenal London’s focus is the red shadow looms for the coming week. Yellow was worn in the powerful breath taking opening, witnessing Arsenal defensive line with the red tide breaking. Lukasz Fabianski, the goal keeper was no clown here to wait to reconcile Wembley’s error.

10- match surge of Liverpool after the Riverside nadir and that unexplained surrender of 2-1 with wobbling 30 miles east has forged the idea of the a first championship for 19 years and the Premier League crown into reality driving the Merseysiders on.

Liverpool’s team is learning the way home despite the points dropped. Rafa Benitez’s project cannot be denied, even if they might not be there this season. Arsenal were there for most of the games, establishing that it was Arshavin’s night & football’s.

After Arsenal’s defeat of 2-1 against Chelsea on Saturday in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley, the manager of Arsenal Arsene Wenger has come out strongly over the condition of the pitch at the stadium and said that it was a disaster, laughable and an embarrassing pitch. He however added that his state of unevenness of the football pitch was not the reason for his teams defeat.

Justifying his remarks he said that it becomes very embarrassing when one sees the cost involved in the making of the stadium and even with huge amounts of money spent one is not able to get a right football pitch. For this he said somebody must be held responsible and he should be put to an explanation.
The FA has supervised five times the relaying of the turf since 2007 since the stadium was opened and the sixth time will be after the concerts of the summer season. The problem is not that the stadium members need to buy new Toro XL 320 lawnmowers, or lean how to cut the turf better, but rather that the footbal pitch was not flat. Arsene Wenger went to the extent that the pitch quality was a disaster and in fact it was not a pitch at all and seeing the amount of money that has gone into the making of the stadium it becomes a topic of laughter.

FA said that tough they had thought that the turf that was laid originally would last long enough but added that because of the pop concerts being held at the stadium it was not possible. They further added that the concerts are also a part of the original business plan of Wembley Stadium. But Wenger persisted that as per his opinion the concerts were not responsible for this state and the pitch itself was originally of inferior quality from the beginning itself.

Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry has cautioned Arsenal that they are going to have a strong fight on their hands for a place in the Champions League when the Premier League takes up again. Barry is quite adamant that his side will battle all along in form after a recent dip. Barry contends that his team will do their best to clinch the fourth spot on the table.

Conversely, Aston Villa has not won a single league match since February, concluding in a 5-0 trouncing against Liverpool prior to the international break. Gareth Barry feels that playing football with a different style will invigorate their side. He said, “The last few weeks at Villa have been very disappointing. Hopefully the break will do the whole squad good. Re-focus, get away from it for two weeks, and we can hopefully push on in the last eight games. We’re all a bit down considering where we were a few months ago – sitting third or fourth with a nice gap. But we’re only ever one game away from turning it around – we can finish this season strongly”.

According to Gareth, Villa’s constant poor form has laid a significant knocking on effect when it has come to the England call ups. This 28 year olds future hangs in balance this season after Martin O’Neill, manager of Aston Villa admitted he would let the England International leave in summer if they fail to achieve a place in the Champions League.

The moves manoeuvred off the football ground can be as significant as the ones on it. There’s a referee to keep a tab on you and you can be carded yellow/red as per your offence. But what happens when the tactics employed off the field are questionable?

In a very surprising move Arsenal completed transfer of Russian international Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St Petersburg, a good 23 hours after the transfer window was officially closed. Arsenal’s claim that they only followed Leagues clause that allowed completion of transfer even after deadline (that was affected by bad weather) under certain conditions, has not found favour with many especially Aston Villa.

A remark by certain official suggesting some issues regarding paper work has not helped Arsenal cause either. But their chief executive, Ivan Gazidis has reiterated that, “everything was done before the deadline.”

As for Andrei Arshavin, he is very excited with the £15 million transfer. The Gunners coach Arsene Wenger is also looking very positive about the induction of new no 23 by claiming, “he is a versatile player with great experience, an exciting impact player.”

Arshavin has been shining for past couple of years now. He was member of Zenith team that won Russian Premier League in 2007 and UEFA in 2008. But what really got him noticed was his performance in Euro 2008 where he was named in the Team of the Tournament.

Though there is still lack of clarity on the length of the deal, what is obvious is that he won’t be part of Arsenal’s Champions League campaign this season for having played for Zenith in it already. So it might be awhile before we see Arshavin work his magic Nike Mercurial Vapor IV football shoes for Arsenal on the European stage, but Arsenal can definitely be happy that they managed to pick up such an elite player.

Andrei Arshavin has re-emerged as one of the most hotly pursued targets of Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, who seeks to strengthen his squad in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the club, which has been barren for the last four years without a major trophy to its name. Arsenal is expected to make some aggressive bidding for the player once the transfer season starts, and if betting pundits are to be believed the player can make upwards of £20m.

Zenit St Petersburg, the 27-year-old player’s present club has confirmed reports that the preliminary round of talks between the two involved clubs had taken place, and admitted that the current situation is such that the player in all likelihood would move out. Zenit coach Dick Advocaat said that he was aware of the Arsenal interest in the player, and that he was expecting the player to leave. Speaking about the player he said that, Arshavin is a class act and that he can practically play for any of the top teams of England. The coach further stated that he has already discovered a successor to the player to play for the club, in the form of Portugal forward Danny, a purchase he said was done keeping in view of the near certain exit of Arshavin.

Meanwhile, Arshavin has also confirmed his decision to join Arsenal and expressed the hope that the two teams will soon reach a pragmatic solution. All signs currently point to Arshavin lacing up his Adidas +F50.8 trainers in Holloway, but nothing has been confirmed. The transfer if goes on expected lines would be a rather interesting one as Wenger has always been reluctant to spend in the transfer window, though he has time and again stressed that he would change his mind for an exceptional talent. The only issue now is money, with Zenit valuing the player at £20m, while Wenger at the moment is ready to shell out only £15m.

The Daily Telegraph has reported that Arsenal is on the hunt for Liverpool’s Basque midfielder Xabi Alonso, and will in all likelihood approach the player’s agent in January.

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If things move on predicted lines this latest development would mean the second attempt made by the Gunners to sign the player after a failed attempt in the summer, when its bid of $20.5 million was turned down by the Liverpool bosses. The Reds’ at that time valued the player at around $25 million.

The Telegraph report further revealed a close Arsenal representative as saying that the reason behind the club’s unsuccessful bid is the unwanted delay in naming a successor to Vice-chairman David Dein, who walked out of the club under controversial circumstances. Then, this May, their managing director Keith Edelman put the club in the lurch when he also made an unceremonious exit.

In the meantime, former Major League Soccer No. 2 Ivan Gazidis has been given the reins of the club as the chief executive and will start his job on Jan 1, 2009. The appointment is a significant one and is made with the objective to find a tactful way to persuade the ever reluctant Arsenal coach, Arsene Wenger to finally spend some money and bring some quality players to the team.

The representative also expressed the hope that the new executive will instill some sense into Wenger and convince him that what the club desperately needs at the moment is someone of the class and presence of Alonso.

Alonso has been a key player in the Rafael Benitez’s managed Liverpool side that topped the championship this year. Still, Arsenal fans should hold off buying an Alonso Nike Aresenal Away jersey, as the deal is not yet finalised or official. Arsenal can also cash in on the fact that the price tag of the player would almost certainly take a dip considering that he has already in this season’s Champions League.

Liverpool has further cemented its place at the top of the Premier League when it managed to achieve a 1-1 draw with Arsenal, who played with 10 men for the better part of the match. Its cause is also helped by Manchester City’s embarrassing 2-1 defeat at the hands of last placed West Bromwich Albion.

It is however, arsenal who drew first blood with Robin van Persie firing home the first goal of the match on the 24th minute. Showing great skills he collected the ball on his chest and dribbled past two defenders to score with a powerful shot.

The celebration didn’t last long for Arsenal though as Robbie Keane, who returned to the eleven after lying on the sidelines for a long time due to poor form, scored the equaliser on the 42 minute from a long pass from Daniel Agger, and outpacing several Arsenal defenders in the process.

The score line could have been more impressive if the Reds had managed to hold onto the chances that were created. They also failed to push forward their one man advantage, when Gunners striker Emmanuel Adebayor was sent off after being shown the yellow card.

The sent off, however, was a bitter pill to swallow for Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, as he was left fuming. He said that the team stood a good chance of winning the match if they hadn’t been penalised. He also said that the decision was a wrong one and was unjust. Even so, we know everyone in their Adidas Liverpool Away Shirt was happy with the decision, as their club stays atop of the leader board in an impressive fashion.