Arsene Wenger

Arsenal go into the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan after having considered 12 goals in the last four matches. It has prompted manager Arsene Wenger to say that the team has to go back to basics in order to start defending better.

At one stage in the season, Arsenal had the best defensive record in the division. It has now been blown away after conceding the likes of six and three against Chelsea and Everton respectively. Against Everton last weekend, they were especially poor. Not only did Arsenal create a lot of opportunities, but they were also very mediocre defence.

Midfielder Mathieu Flamini was in full praise of manager Arsene Wenger ahead of the Frenchman’s 1000th game in charge of the club. Wenger will be leading his team to this milestone when they take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

He is currently the longest serving manager in European football after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Flamini has said that he has witnessed no change in Wenger from the days he has been playing for the Frenchman. Flamini first joined Arsenal in 2004, but he left the club after four years in 2008.

The Gunners would be hosting Liverpool after their embarrassing defeat at the Anfield last week. Arsene Wenger’s team was literally brought down to the knees with the fabulous display of Liverpool’s vintage football.

However Wenger seems to be quite contained with the draw against Manchester United and feels that the Merseyside horror is out of their system now and they are looking forward to host Liverpool at the Emirates for the FA Cup tie which is about to take place on Sunday. It will be a clash of the Reds on one side and there will be a battle between the Blues on the other as Chelsea look to maintain their good record in the FA Cup against Manchester City.

It’s not that Arsene Wenger is looking only for league glory this season. He wants the FA Cup trophy too and he knows that the kind of rhythm his boys are in at the minute, it’s very much possible.

In the 4th round of the tournament tomorrow, the Gunners will be up against Coventry City which is certainly not a side as good as them. The Sky Blues play in the third tier of English football and they haven’t got the resources to get better of the league table toppers, but, funny things have happened in the ongoing season. So, Arsenal must be careful.

Arsenal’s last FA Cup glory had come in 2005 when they had beaten Manchester United in the final.

Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs has said that he feels summer signing Mesut Ozil has the capability to turn the team into a bunch of winners.

Arsenal have long been regarded as a team that cannot win trophies, as they have not done so for the last eight years. Prior to that, they were extremely successful and consistent challengers to Manchester United for the title.

One of the reasons for Arsenal decline has been their reluctance to sign top quality players due to the extravagant sums of money that the demand. They finally overcome this prejudice and signed Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid for £ 42 million.
He was thus become the new record signing for the club.

The manager of Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, has lauded Jack Wilshere for putting up an impressive show against West Bromwich Albion yesterday.

Arsenal hadn’t had a great start in that game and they had gone into the half time break trailing by 0-1. But, in the 18th minute of the second half, Wilshere found the back of the net and made sure that the Gunners would not return home empty handed.

The match eventually ended in a draw and Arsenal secured 1 point to make its way back to the top of the League points table.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has assured the disgruntled Arsenal fans the club is moving with its plans to bring a top class player on board ahead of the new season. The Gunners have so far failed to lure any top class to the club over the summer transfer window, having been linked to the likes of Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain and Manchester United front man Wayne Rooney.

The club is set to formalize their £ 35 million bid for Liverpool striker Luis Suarez this week after being rebuffed with their earlier bid of £ 30 million. They also have a deal to sign the Argentine international Higuain with the personal terms agreed but Real Madrid are reluctant to budge over their asking price for the player.

Most of the football betting interest in Newcastle United next season is likely to be either on them to be one of the teams in the relegation zone, or one of those competing for the Europa League spots, as the Champions League and title are surely beyond them.

Given that they qualified for the Europa League two seasons ago, and were relegation strugglers last time out, it would seem as if their season could go either way – but do the bookmakers see them having a good or bad season this time?

Arsene Wenger has admitted that Abou Diaby’s latest injury can be career-threatening, but, he has said that Diaby should keep fighting and shouldn’t even think of giving up.

Diaby injured his knee while taking part in the training session ahead of Arsenal’s match against Reading FC. It has been confirmed that the injury is a major one and Diaby will be out for nine months. It means that he will miss the remaining part of the ongoing season and the first half of the next season.

Diaby went for the scan immediately after getting injured and according to the scan reports; his cruciate ligament has been ruptured.

This is not the first time that Diaby has got injured. His tenure at Arsenal has been full of injuries. He had joined the Gunners camp in January 2006 when he was just 19 years old. He injured his ankle towards the end of 2006-07 season and took a long time to recover from that injury. He went through three surgeries and managed to make a comeback after 8 months.

Diaby played only 5 matches for the Gunners in the last season because of injuries.

In the current season also, he was struggling with injuries. He had injured himself in the match against Chelsea in September last year and had been on the sidelines for three months.

When asked about Diaby’s injury, Wenger said, “The injury wasn’t looking that dangerous initially and I thought that he would be alright in a week or so. But, when I came to know that he would be out for 9 months, I was stunned.”

“It’s really tough for him. He is completely down at the moment, but, he should fight it out. He shouldn’t think of quitting.”

Arsene Wenger has said that he is very happy with the way Nacho Monreal played in his debut match for Arsenal against Stoke City.

Monreal has been recently signed by the Gunners. His signing was finalised on the last day of the mid season transfer window. Arsenal paid a transfer fee of 8 million Pounds for signing him from Malaga.

Monreal was included in the starting XI in his debut match and he stood up to the expectations of his manager. He looked really impressive in his very first match in the English Premier League.

Arsenal defeated Stoke in that match by 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Lukas Podolski in the 78th minute of the match.
In the post match press conference, when Wenger was asked about the performance of Monreal, he said, “He played really well. He came here yesterday and he went into the match without much practice. But, he looked in fine form.”

“He has shown that he has got the potential to play for a Premier League team. He was just a touch nervous in the first half, but, after getting into his groove, he played brilliantly in the second half. Some of his crosses were absolutely outstanding.”

“He is a quality left back and his arrival has certainly strengthened our defense. Hopefully, he would maintain his form in the rest of the matches of the season.”

When asked about the overall performance of the team against Stoke, Wenger said, “Our performance was quite decent today. But, the margin of our victory could have been bigger than this if we had cashed on the opportunities that we got in the first half. However, we got three points and that’s the most important thing.”
Arsenal is currently at no. 6 in the Premier League points table with 41 points in 25 matches.