Last Friday:
Arsène Wenger at his pre-match press conference on the team news for Cardiff…speaking towww.arsenal.com
“No, nothing is different from Marseille really. We have no injuries. Of course we have some little concerns. People were a little bit rested like Arteta, but they are all available now. Kieran Gibbs was sick but he has already recovered yesterday. He is now back in the squad.”
On Podolski’s progress…“It will be three weeks until we could see him in the team”.
On Oxlade-Chamberlain…“It will be the New Year for him.”
The prawn sandwich brigade is under attack,
“Arsenal FC sues sponsor in packed lunches row”.
The club is suing one of it’s sponsors for £375,000 in a row over packed lunches. Capstone Management, it is alleged, ceased making contractual payments after guests in their private box were not allowed to eat sandwiches that they had brought in. Capstone denies the claim stating “the hospitality was deliberately compromised”. Oh dear! All is not well in the upper tier!
Saturday:
George Graham celebrated his 69th birthday today.
Here’s a question for all knowledgeable AAers, who is this member of Arsene Wenger’s staff? A former captain of Yugoslavia, a centre half fluent in nine languages and a whistle blower in the Marseille match fixing scandal of 1993/95. A dark period in French football history that caused our manager, then in charge at Monaco, much pain.
The odds for today’s game:- home win 9/2 against, draw 3/1 against and away win 13/8 on.
Sunday:
Two goals from Aaron Ramsey another from sleeves rolled up Flamini, two super assists from Mesut Ozil, a couple of excellent saves from TPIG, a clean sheet and three more points. What more could any true Gunner want?
One incident in the game was worth a mention, Ollie’s “offside” moment, our striker stopped his run on goal when he wrongly assumed that a pass he was chasing had clipped Ozil on the way, only Mesut really knows, but the linesman thought not and the chance had gone. The lesson to be learned? Always play to the whistle!
Other results went our way to some extent, of our main rivals both ‘Pool and Man U dropped points, as did the also-rans from the wrong end of Seven Sisters Road. Chelsea won while not looking all that good and City kept up the pressure with a routine home win over Swansea.
Happy birthday to
Emiliano Viviano 28 today.
Monday:
Proof today of the growing influence and popularity of our French No.12, Britain’s top baby name for 2013 is Oliver, the anglicized version of Giroud’s moniker Olivier. How’s that for fame?
On this day
2nd December 2003 at the tender age of just 16 years and 212 days Cesc Fabregas became Arsenal’s youngest ever goal scorer when he tapped in the fifth goal in a 5 – 1 rout of Wolverhampton Wanderers to dump them out of the League Cup. Prophetically his shirt number that day was 57, which just happened to be the number of goals he would score before his £35 million departure to Barcelona eight years later.
A Congolese midfielder, 26 year old Youssouf Mulumbu of West Brom claimed that he had been approached by Arsenal and could ask for a transfer in January. He’s currently suspended after amassing five yellow cards. I can’t see us buying another African player, they seem to disappear all too quickly to the African Cup of Nations and then either get injured, lose their form or their passports.
Tuesday:
Not much in the way of proper Arsenal news, but one item in The Daily Express seemed pretty definite; “Arsenal sign Spain starlet Alvaro Morata on six-month loan deal” was the headline. The 21 year old striker is currently bench warming at Real Madrid, he has come off the bench nine times this season, scoring two goals, and is considered one of the hottest prospects in Spanish football having scored 11 goals in 12 games for the Under-21 side. Anything in it? We’ll just have to wait and see.
A couple of snippets from the Manager’s news conference: Sagna ruled out of the Hull game with a slight hamstring problem, Jenkinson the likely replacement. Podolski to resume normal training after the Hull game and will need a another week before being considered for selection.
Wednesday:
Speaking ahead of the Hull game Arsène Wenger said
“During this busy period when you are in a position we are in, every game decides our future a little bit,” he went on “What is at stake is how can we bring the quality of our concentration and focus into every game. The more you play the more that is difficult”. “That is why I try to rotate a little bit and keep that freshness in the team”.
Arsène also took a swipe at BBC pundits Hansen and Shearer,
“Sometimes I watch it (Match of the Day), sometimes not,” Wenger said. “I have enough experience to analyse what we do and how well we play. I don’t need someone else to tell me. I’m not upset by that at all”. “Sometimes it’s just someone saying their opinion without an argument on something that makes sense” “Often he doesn’t sustain his opinion by some work he has done to support that argument”. “When I arrived here people explained I couldn’t win the title as I’m foreign. Everybody has their own logic. I just think you win the title through your quality”.
Betting odds on the game; Home win 5/1 on, draw 11/2 against, away win 14/1 against.
Thursday:
All doom and gloom this morning, North Easterly gales, exceptionally high tides and warnings of coastal flooding for the North Norfolk coast. But who cares? Two goals, a clean sheet and three more lovely points. Add to that, the rarest of rare events, a goal by Nicklas Bendtner!!
On http://www.arsenal.com Arsène Wenger was asked about the Dane; On whether playing Bendtner was a gamble…
“Look, [it is a gamble] if a guy has not played for a long time, and his last performance was not convincing against Chelsea, but he has worked hard in training and deserved a chance.” On Bendtner proving people wrong…
“We know that when he has the mind of the game, he has the qualities. I believe tonight he had a good game.”
On Bendtner’s future…
“At the moment we are not as far as that. He has the stature, he has good technical quality, he has quite good pace. Look, we had him as a boy of 15 or 16 and I made him sign a long contract twice so that means I always believed in his qualities.”
Oh! I forgot to mention;
Gunners maintain four point lead at the top!!
That’s all for now folks.
Norfolk Gooner
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Motning all, thanks for your weekly dose of Friday goodness Norfolk (and Chance).
The answer to your question is Boro Primorac, I think.
NG. They get better every week.
Love the birthdays and the ‘Oliver’.
Good morning Chary, I think the “Norfolk and chance” applies to the Spuds and their top six finish hopes.
Yup! Boro Primorac is the man in question.
Morning BR and thank you.
Same as with “Bob Hope and ..” NG ha ha.
Motning all. Friday is here again, and so is NG’s roundup. Lovely stuff. Time to digest all now, and back later. 😀 😀 😀
I agree with what BR says that Norfolk’s round ups get better every week.
And I am now learning new things: I didn’t know that Boro Primorac was the whistle blower in the Marseille match fixing scandal.
Nine languages….wow!
Great stuff Norfolk. I like the way you dig out Arsenal news that has gone under the radar of most of us ….. I’m really shocked about the prawn sandwiches 😆
Blimey Norfolk
It must be all those brisk walks that keeps you so alert. I thought I kept myself up to speed. Clearly not.
I want more dirt on the unrest in the “upper tier” 🙂
Personally, I reckon there’s far more to that story than anyone’s letting on right now.
I’m fairly positive there were hookers involved. That’s what goes on up there.
Oh dear, it looks like Flamini is out injured, groin/pelvis injury. 😦
Scroll down to us, we have 7 injured at the moment, although one of those(Sagna) is denoted by “late fit test” :
http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php
Hello from Dublin.
A song needed for a new star:
Ozil, Ozil, Ozil, Ozil
He glides, he scores
Just because he can
(To the tune of Dolly Parton’s JOLENE)
What do you think?
Gunner Unleashed.
Good idea Liam.
Really enjoying the Friday round-ups NG. Thanks for keeping them coming.
On the theme of a song for Özil. To the tune of the Wizard of Oz
We’ve come to see the wizard, The Wonderful Wizard Öz-il
We hear he is a whiz of a wiz, if ever a wiz there was
If ever, oh ever a wiz there was, The Wizard Öz-il is one because, because, because, because, because, because
Because of the wonderful things he does
We’ve come to see the wizard, The Wonderful Wizard Öz-il
Loving the Ozil songs, keep them coming, guys!!!! 😀 😀
On Flamster, any idea how long he is away for? If it is a week, I am not so worried, except that potentially Rambo may be overworked. But the DM pairing of Arteta and Rambo should work fine. If this is longer, given that this is the busy part of the season, it is a problem, I think.
Most importantly, Rambo is the most creative MF at the moment, I think, even if Ozil if perhaps more influential. Unfortunately, I cannot see a way he gets some rest!!!! 😦
According to reports he pulled his groin on Wednesday and he has scans today to see the extent of it; fingers crossed it’s nothing much Arnie.
Micky, The walks are an essential part of my life, as is the pub lunch at the end of each one. Today’s was a nice three miles around the Heydon estate, lovely cold, 4c, sunny morning, pint of Adnam’s Ghost Ship and delicious pheasant stew in The Earle Arms. It was a real struggle to leave my seat in front of the woodburning stove in the bar but I had to get back to the news search 😀
Wonderful read as always NG. It’s nice the way all the weeks feel like good weeks at the moment…
LB – I really enjoyed your report yesterday (especially as I only saw the last 15 minutes of the game).
Well written NG; Arsene did troll us when he said he’ll make few changes to squad and made 5, lol. Nice bit about children names.
As for feelings about Everton game, to be honest, AFTER we beat them this weekend, I’d rather see them in top-4 than any of the other suspects like Liverpool, Spuddies or Manure (oh how the mighty have fallen, chuckle!) come the end of the season. Make him happen Martinez, it will be nice to cheer for an English team in CL that I don’t hate, for a change.
Pheasant stew, wood burning stove……….can I have some of this please?
Well done, NG.
You seem to have omitted one little news item, so perhaps I can be your scoop sleuth on this one.
Well, last Monday one of the senior players and his gorgeous wife were driving to the West End to do some shopping, but passing not far from the training ground the car developed a minor problem.
Not wanting to disappoint his wife he drove into the ground and arranged for her to have a cup of coffee in the office while he fixed the car.
Shortly after finishing her coffee and chatting to Steve Bould, she returned to the car park and saw a group of players and a couple of the female staff clustered around the car giving advice and laughing.
The legs of her husband were sticking out from under the engine bay, and he had sensibly changed into football shorts to keep his clothes clean while he fixed the problem.
Unfortunately, it was clear he was not wearing underpants and all his gear was showing to the amusement of the watching group.
She quickly bent down and stuck her hand up his shorts and tucked all of his manly bits neatly away from public view.
Standing back up she was astonished to see her husband looking back at her from the side of the bonnet.
The Arsenal maintenance man had to have stitches in his forehead.
RA, Oh! how I wish I’d seen that gem, the news item I mean, not the maintenance man’s family jewels. 😀
Good stuff RA.
An ode by GunnerN5
Avenell Road was my abode
My future passion just down the road
During WW2 I became a Gooner
If not for the war it would have been sooner
The sounds from Highbury drew me in
A life long passion about to begin
Without a penny to my name
Getting inside became a game
Between my Dad’s legs I would squeeze
Then under the turnstile on my knees
Or over the wall I would try to jump
Only to fall down on my rump
Under the clock was where I stood
Every time that I possibly could
Not a thing could keep me away
From watching my beloved Arsenal play
I’ve seen good players go, and bad ones arrive
At times it was all we could do to survive
I’ve seen the best and I’ve seen the worst
So many times I thought we were cursed
How many times were we on the brink?
Only to see our chances shrink
Our injuries have become a farce
And referees are a pain in the arse
After 66 seasons I still gleam
Every time I watch my team
Nothing could possibly take away
The amount of pride I feel today
Defy the odds? – we just may
Given the way the Arsenal play
Brilliant GN5, You deserve to be the Poet Laureate of Avenell Road.
wow, fantastic stuff, GN5
Excellent, GN5, absolutely top of the form!! 🙂
England have been drawn alongside four-time winners Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in Group D at the 2014 World Cup.
“Manaus is the place ideally to avoid,” said England manager Hodgson before the draw. “Manaus will be a difficult venue for everyone, but for northern European players it will be a little bit harder.” Following Hodgson’s comments, the mayor of Manaus, Arthur Virgilio, said England would not be welcome in the city.
Full draw
Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon; Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia; Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan; Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy. Group E : Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras; Group F: Argentina, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Iran, Nigeria; Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA; Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea.
thank you Norfolk, excellent stuff! Where do you get all the info from? You must be spending long hours researching for us! Nice 🙂
The sandwich saga is rather undignified, I hope the media won’t blow it up.
And Bendtner – has he really been with us for so long? I didn’t remember that fact, thanks again Norfolk.
Just don’t pretend you forgot even for a split second that we are top of the league 🙂
I’ve only just had a chance to read your superb post, NG.
Really excellent.
Every week seems to have so much in it, except on interlull weeks but even then. Top quality. Love the additions too.
https://twitter.com/victoriamscott/status/409042480710287360
Micky,
Something for your front room.
https://twitter.com/Perspective_pic/status/409053933576159232
Hi guys. There is some rumour. Is it true that RvP has handed in a transfer request? LOL Not surprised if it’s true. He did the same to us. After one season and win the title, Fergie left and replaced by DM. If he knew this (and what happened next), he would never have joined United. Basically you cannot leave if it looks bad and come back when it looks good.
In the end, he reaped what he sowed 😀
Motning All
Meta Hi,
When it comes to football, I believe every single rumour that I like the sound of. This is a sound policy 🙂
Hey Gorgeous, where for art thou? Beauty Salon?
Brilliant painting at 6:18, cheers.
Off to check todays fixtures. Anyone exciting losing?
Morning, meta.
When this broke on twitter on Tuesday, it was dismissed as nonsense, but maybe, just maybe the little boy inside has told him that he’s now missing all the fun having sold his soul to the devil for a measly £100k a week pay rise and a Premier League trophy.
Hahaha.
https://twitter.com/MufcIrishFans/status/407923615368511488
Motning, hedge backwards boy.
It looks as though wiziwig is being attacked to jam up its servers, so may not be available today.
Seriously Chas,
Next summer, shall we sent up our own spoof site to deal in “real” transfer stories. Could be Twitter. 🙂
Shitballs
Any suggestions?
Could Newcastle get something at the Cowshed?
I imagine Poyet will roll over for the spuds, Steve Bruce stylee.
The best we could hope for from Stoke is 0-0.
Blimey. Who could be losing today, well, take your pick?
Utd Toon. Sothmptn City. Stoke Chavs. Sundld Totts
It might be ok, who knows?
There are shed loads of sites though, so something will turn up
Gorgeous
Do you really believe that stuff about Managers rolling over for former clubs?
I think Spuds will win that, and push Liverpool very hard for 4th.
Utd: I am really enjoying this fall.
Doubt I’ll see a game today as need to get out. 7 hrs travelling yesterday, same tomorrow. All sitting on yer butt. Not good.
https://twitter.com/CSJDKK1/status/409155913686478848
https://twitter.com/woosweejh76/status/409129197249265664
Gone off her. Next 🙂
I don’t really, no, but there may be something subconscious at play, whereby the manager conveys a sense of the inevitability of defeat to his players.
The mancs seemed to survive on that for years under Fergie.
Thank heaven for Moist.
Nah, Ego before some weird shit Loyalty. How much does Poyet love Spurs.? More than himself? Doubt it.
I love Arsenal more than myself.
How about Adriana Lima who was on the World Cup draw pantomime?
@ chas : LOL 😀
Forget to say this before : great article NG !! And truly, I hope the best for England in WC Brazil 2014 …
Anyway keep focus Arsenal. Can’t wait to watch the match tomorrow. #VCC
Right off for some body maintenance.
See you later.
Meta, Where be you?
I think England’s draw is rather like our CL Group, exciting. I mean, they ain’t gonna win it, so might as well have some serious matches.
This is from an Arctic Alaska surfblog:
“They dropped you off on a remote, rocky island in the far north. There were no stores here, so you brought your own food. You carried a heavy gun to protect yourself from huge wild animals. The wave was a right that broke like a slab on an islet 500 yards off the coast. It was winter, and a lot of water moved through the channel. You sat on a beach and wondered if you’d be able to navigate the currents alone.”
Wow, hard core. Taking a rifle surfing.
@ Micky : Pardon me. I don’t quite understand the question. Do you mean that I will come to the stadium ? Then the answer is no. I mean I watch from TV, because currently I live in Indonesia. I wish that in the future I can buy my tickets in Emirates and meet you guys 🙂
Yeah it’s exciting and tough, I agree with you. Sometimes, England can play very good against harder opposite. Even more, WC Brazil maybe the last chance for the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, A.Cole. So I think they have an extra motivation …
no, I don’t believe R$P story, If he was to leave he would play out of his skin instead of lying on the physio table.
Na$ri will be leaving Shitty though, watch it. I haven’t seen him playing so well for a couple of seasons now.
Gorgeous – you know that DidIt and I are not going tomo 😦
no exciting fixtures today. I can smell some very predictable results
Perhaps I will have a bet on the usual suspects all winning
DidIt – are you in Devon? Very good chance of getting a knee or hip replacement on NHS and in time, ie before you die.
and last one from me, promise!
Just as well Georgeous is not Iranian 🙂
Video from Iran’s state-run television uploaded to YouTube shows Ashton at a press conference in Geneva announcing the nuclear deal, accompanied by the foreign ministers of Iran, the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany. When she moves to kiss French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and hug Germany’s Guido Westerwelle, the entire scene is blurred out. It is only after she has shaken hands with Iranian minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that the blurring ends, Iran’s privately-owned Fars news agency says.
It’s not the first time Ashton has been censored in the Islamic Republic. In 2011, conservative newspaper Hamshahri retouched a photograph of her standing next to nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, a relatively low-cut top altered to cover her up all the way to the neck.
no, I lied, one more
re that Shane Warne photo – I told you that no man (except Kelsey) looks good in a pink shirt. Proof @ 6:52. Yuk
Evonne
Not sure what you’re on about, but I’m in the Burka for Ashton Camp, and I’m not referring to this little saucy number ROLF
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/151179523537?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&limghlpsr=true&lpid=101&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=101
nothing micky, I was just checking what chance do I have of a new hip/knee in Enfield and noticed that whereas my chance is 0, you guys in Devon are doing well. I don’t know anybody else there, so I thought I would tell you 🙂 You could be more appreciative you know
Personally I think burkas are great, there are many bad hair days when I wish I had one
No post?
Why not use that space filler I sent?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/10501748/Per-Mertesacker-says-I-am-proud-to-be-part-of-the-Arsenal-tradition-ahead-of-Evertons-visit-to-Emirates-Stadium.html
Top man our BFG. A believer in tradition!!
Ah, Captain Gorgeous, back again, and are we feeling smugger than usual after our beauty session?
ps Never stop posting Beijing Ref 4Lyf stuff. Genius 🙂
Morning all
Having trouble with my internet, be back in a bit ……..
I sent a post for Tuesday, something about Rotation ahead of the Hull game. Could be used in a “what do you reckon now” kinda way.
http://arseblog.com/2013/11/a-traditional-column/
Motning to you too Raddy.
Nice article from Arseblog.
Not smugger, Micky, but better than I did before I went.
I’m having a bad hair day. Could do with a burkha.
Apologies, I didn’t notice the avatar on that last Beijing tweet.
Micky – I have a message for you – Peaches cannot get on the net. Can you rewrite the fist part of your post? Not sure what to do after…
Burkha talk reminds me of the Viz t-shirt “Equal rights for fat ugly wimin”
Really tough world cup draw for England, not sure if they can make it out of that group? USA did not fair much better as they are also in a tough one. I see that politically England are all ready off to a bad start after pissing off the Mayor of Manaus.
Hopefully a good performance from our boys tomorrow and another 3 points on the board.
“Fist part”. Haahhahahahahahahahahahahahah.
Looking forward to this one. 😆
monster!!
Kanu was only 53 when this photo was taken.
https://twitter.com/evilkagawa/status/409269800553418753
Talking of burkhas…..
https://twitter.com/History_Pics/status/409269710539456512
Evonne
No can do. Don’t keep copies. Write. Send.
Over to you, and not fussed what you add/change 🙂
Oh, and tell Peaches that Chas says she’s on Match Report duty tomorrow 🙂
Ok, revolt in the house to sort out. Taking my Daughter to crunch local derby hockey match, but she doesn’t see the point as her best mate is not selected. Love her take on sport. No Tara, no surf, now this “But Dad, Miss Ham hasn’t picked Tara, so what’s the point of going” 🙂
Great thing about watching her surf or play sport is that I always know where she is, as I can hear the singing 🙂
Later.
Hanging around as long as poss to see what emerges ha ha
Can’t help thinking that conversation is fine and some out of date re-hashed post will kill things 🙂
Damn, she’s ready. Bye.
What’s all this about a tough group for England, aren’t we capable of beating Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica? If the team are as defeatist as the FA Chairman Greg Dyke and the media then the answer is no. Surely the players have some vestiges of pride and determination, they are playing for ENGLAND, that must mean something.
It really worries me when the Chairman of the FA makes cut-throat gestures even before the team have left our shores. If that’s your attitude Dyke resign now!
Norfolk. Good morning. So are you saying that England don’t have a tough group?
Morning all, its horribly late … but….
…. New post …….
No, Jan Man, I’m saying that we shouldn’t be giving up before the tournament has started.
It’s attitudes like that of Dyke’s that stink. If the players take heed of him, then we have no chance.
Yes it’s a tough group, but surely if the player’s attitudes are right and they have some self belief then we have a chance.
I couldn’t understand why Dyke was appointed in the first place, what qualifies him to hold such a post? He f****d up at the BBC and as far as I’m concerned he f****d up again last night at the draw, with his cut-throat gesture.
Norfolk. Okay. I understand your point. Dyke did not give a good impression that’s for sure.