I was going to use today’s post to give my opinion on some of the comments that were made on yesterday’s blog. Unfortunately though, I simply don’t have the time so I’m going to make sure I speak a little bit about it in tomorrow’s post. What I will do quickly is just thank everyone for voicing their thoughts – there were some lovely comments and it sparked quite a bit of conversation. Excellent stuff.

Today though it’s just a short wrap-up of the news floating around while most of the Arsenal boys are off galavanting on international duty. As is usually the case when international games are on there’s not a lot going on and Arsene Wenger is a bit annoyed about not having his players around. Which is fair enough, really.

The only other bit of news worth going into are some comments made by Chelsea captain John Terry about Arsenal’s title chances. Unlike the entire English media and a fair portion of the Arsenal supporters Terry has refused to write off our boys and stated that he still rates them as firm title contenders. In his own words:

“I still consider Arsenal a contender, you should never write off the big sides. They have the players to do it and they will put a run together. We still have to play them at home and away and anything can happen.”

It’s a fair comment really and a surprisingly gracious one at a time where a man like him might instead choose to stick the knife in. It is interesting to consider that if Arsenal did beat Chelsea home and away (a long shot, mind you) they would gain six points on the current leaders. However, the problem remains that our side are struggling for consistency and aren’t taking maximum points agains the smaller clubs in the league. Until the manager and the players start to do that then the title will remain a pipe dream.

That’s it for today in a very short blog so I’ll turn your attention to the latest weekly edition of The Gooner Gazette. This week sees Arsenal’s young guns top the ‘Good Week’ recipients while Robin van Persie is featured in the ‘Bad Week’. There are wrap-ups of the win over Wigan (*cheer*) and the loss against Villa (*tear*) and a few more Things We Learnt This Week.

Click here to read it.

Enjoy and remember that if you want to receive daily posts and indeed The Gooner Gazette emailed straight into your inbox you can subscribe here. Until tomorrow, keep smiling.

Have your say on John Terry or The Gooner Gazette by leaving a comment.

It’s a bit of change-up in intensity tonight as the Arsenal ‘young guns’ get their chance to play against Wigan in the Carling Cup.

After the exhausting spectacle that was Arsenal v Manchester the tie is a welcome break for the first team and, I’m sure, the supporters. A young Arsenal side (is that an understatement?) crushed Sheffield United (is THAT an understatement?) in the previous Carling Cup fixture with Carlos Vela running riot in a 6-0 win.

The manager has stated that the side which starts this match will be 90% of the one that started against Sheffield. For those of you that can’t remember, that team looked like this (4-4-2):

Lukasz Fabianski – Gavin Hoyte, Alex Song, Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs - Jack Wilshere, Fran Merida, Aaron Ramsey, Mark Randall - Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner

Given the necessity of having Nicklas Bendtner available for the game against Aston Villa I’m quite confident that he will not be playing any part against Wigan. Instead, the likelihood is that the manager will look to summer signing Amaury Bischoff to play in the hole behind Carlos Vela as he has recently done for the reserve team. It will be exciting to see how he goes against Wigan if given the chance.

There’s not much point in trying to predict what will happen tonight, these games are simply a good opportunity for the young players to prove their worth and the supporters (and Arsenal bloggers) to simply enjoy the games without analysing things too much. In saying that I’ll be keeping an eye on a number of players to see how they perform, particularly the ‘experienced’ heads Fabianski, Song and Djourou.

That’s about it for today so I’ll just mention a couple of things about the latest issue of The Gooner Gazette. Regular readers will know this has been going for a while – in fits and starts, I must admit – but I came to a very important decision today. From here on in, The Gooner Gazette is going to available every Tuesday as a weekly feature, instead of the monthly format I had previously attempted to maintain. As a result, it’s a little bit shorter than the older editions but going forward I think this punchier format is going to work well.

This week’s edition sees Samir Nasri featured amongst others in Good Week Bad Week, a wrap-up of the Fenerbahce and Manchester United games and Three Things We Learnt This Week amongst other things. To check out the latest issue simply click here or on the cover photo featuring Cesc Fabregas in this post. You can check out older issues of The Gooner Gazette here.

Enjoy the Gazette, enjoy the match and as always, be sure to let me know your thoughts on all things Arsenal by leaving a comment. Cheers.

Have your say on The Gooner Gazette or Arsenal v Wigan by leaving a comment.

Hello all.

I have to be incredibly speedy today because somehow I’ve found myself at an internet cafe at Byron Bay and I have very limited time. I’ll just do a quick news round-up and get onto the good bit, the return of The Gooner Gazette.

Here goes.

One of the heroes from the other night, Nicklas Bendtner, has been talking about the other hero, Carlos Vela. He mentions what a great player looked when he first joined Arsenal at 16 and also comments on the strong partership the pair seem to be forming.

Vela, meanwhile, has stated that being a good young talent is no guarantee of long-term success. Which, when you think about it, is perfectly true. In reality though, I think he’s just being humble – which is a good thing and shows he’s got his head screwed on straight.

Arsene Wenger has spoken about the team meeting memo that turned up in the press recently, stating that it is something he has done with his players many times and he is well proud of it. Good for him. I’m proud of it too.

He also said that he will be careful to nurture Jack Wilshere carefully. Which is smart considering he’s only 16. It’s the least you would expect.

And that’s that. Onto the good bit now.

The Gooner Gazette has returned. Those who are long-time readers of the blog will know that I started up a online magazine called The Gooner Gazette to provide a monthly round-up of all things Arsenal. It was meant to be a sort of memento or reminder of the month that had passed. Unfortunately, it was simply too much work to run both the blog and the magazine – so I canned it.

But now I’ve brought it back in a new form, with a new purpose of providing the readers of the blog the opportunity to contribute. Quite simply I can’t write the whole thing every month and I’m looking for regular readers of the blog who love Arsenal and enjoy writing to take up the chance to contribute to this blog.

The September issue of The Gooner Gazette can be found here, or by clicking the magazine cover – featuring William Gallas – on the right. Have a read and let me know what you think, and if you’re interested in contributing and writing or ideas to the magazine in the future contact me at admin(at)arsenalfcblog(dot)com.

Cheers everyone, look forward to speaking to you soon.

Have your say on Bendtner, Vela or The Gooner Gazette by leaving a comment.