Not good news for Arsenal fans. That all important run-in is going to be that little bit more difficult as it now appears that neither Theo Walcott or Jack Wilshere will be back for the Norwich game on April 13th.
Arsene Wenger is expected to confirm today that the two English stars are struggling to regain fitness. According to the Express Wilshere has been out since the beginning of March with a foot problem and now looks like he might only make it back in time for the crucial Everton game on April 16th
The same is true for Walcott, who was injured on England duty. Arsenal gave four games in fourteen days starting with a trip to West Brom on Saturday.
Wenger will be encouraged by the fact that the side doesn’t appear to be missing the duo too greatly.
Tonight Barcelona take on PSG in the first leg of their Champions League quarter finals. One player who is unlikely to start is the club’s misfit midfielder Alex Song.
Since signing for Arsenal in the summer Sing has made very little impression at the Catalan club and was even named the second worst signing of 2012 after Real Madrid’s Luka Modric in a poll carried out by Spanish paper Marca.
There are reports though that Song’s Spanish sojourn is all but over and that the player could be heading back to the Premiership, and maybe even Arsenal.
The Express is claiming that Song could be sold for £12.7million and that Arsenal are likely to have first option on the player. Barca still owe Arsenal plenty of money not just for Song but also for Fabregas who signed the year before.
There are also lots of reports that Arsenal are looking to plunder the Bundesliga with Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski of Borussia Dortmund two of Arsene Wenger’s biggest targets. Lewandowski is the Bundesliga’s leading scorer and would significantly eat into the £70 million wear chest that Wenger has.
Now HITC is suggesting that another Borussia Dortmund player on Arsene Wenger’s radar is midfielder Marco Reus. The website hints that the deal could depend on the status of one of the club’s veterans Tomas Rosicky.
Reus told The Guardian…
“My idol was always Tomas Rosicky. He used to be phenomenal. He had such a good eye for an opening and knew where his team-mates were, and he was so quick. Rosicky had great technique and was so intelligent and mature.”
Rosicky’s opportunities have been limited this season and it has been widely rumoured that the player will make a switch to the Bundesliga in the summer. However if Rosicky could help Wenger land Reus, who is reportedly keen on a move to the Premiership, he might be staying a little longer at The Emirates. Reus is having a corking seasons with ten goals and nine assists in 27 starts.
Arsenal have also been linked with another Dortmund player in central defender Mats Hummels. There could be a seriously Germanic flavour to the London team next season.
It is no exaggeration to say that Arsenal’s entire season could swing on the result of the game at home to Reading on Saturday.
On paper is it not just a should win – but a must win too. For if Arsenal can win well – and keep some of the momentum they have from their impressive win against Bayern Munich – then they can set themselves up for the first part of a run in that should see them comfortably in the top four by the end of the month.
Drop points and it will take an enormous job to get the team to believe that they can outpace Spurs, let along Chelsea.
Reading should be an easy three pointer for the side. They have already beaten the Berkshire side twice this season once in the league (a comfortable 5-2) and then again in a very memorable Carling Cup game. However Reading are in a bitter relegation battle and with new manager Nigel Adkins to spur them on the game looks trickier than it did a few weeks back.
Arsenal should still be able to field a strong team bolstered by the return from injury of both Podolski and Sagna.
Their problem could be scoring . Olivier Giroud hasn’t scored a Premiership goal since January, so there is added pressure on him and also Podolski, to help maintain Arsenal’s upward momentum.
On the positive side Santi Cazorla has been in fine form recently and with Podolski back and Wilshere sidelined he is likely to start in the centre of the midfield – arguably his most influential position.
Win on Saturday and Arsenal then face four other games which they should be able to gain plenty of points. The trickiest is the first – away at West Brom – but that really ought to a game in which Arsenal start as favourites. Then The Gunners entertain Norwich and Everton at the Emirates before traveling to Craven Cottage to meet Fulham.
Twelve points out of fifteen would probably see the Gunners back in the top four. Fifteen points is a very real possibility and if Arsenal can put a winning run together you would have to fancy them to hang on to a Champions League place.
At the end of the month the visitors to The Emirates are Manchester United, who in theory could be Champions by then. It is of course a game given extra spice by the return of one Robin Van Persie.
So how many points do you think Arsenal win take from the next five games?
It seems like it has been ages since Arsene Wenger’s last pre-match news conferences, but he has just finished his latest with updates on the fitness of Wilshere and Walcott and some stirring words for the Arsenal faithful.
Firstly the good news – Jack Wilshere is on his way back.
Wenger confirmed that the player’s ankle injury will keep him out of the squad but not for much longer.
Wenger said
“Regarding Jack? I think two weeks on Sunday. Not the next game, but the game after.”
Theo Walcott will also miss the Reading game (as will Abou Diaby and Kieran Gibbs) but Wenger isn’t annoyed with England for the pelvic injury the winger sustained while training with the national side.
He said
“Walcott is an accident that could have happened here.”
And Wenger is still confident that Arsenal can finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season
He said: “We’ve got nine games to go – five at home and four away. The form we showed against Bayern was very good. We have a chance to finish in the top four.
“We have the experience of a few years and a special desire to do it together. It’s a good opportunity for us. We want to grab this chance. If we are consistent we will do it. We’re not focused on Tottenham, but the way we want to play.”
Arsenal’s number one target, Stevan Jovetic, has been advised by one of his Fiorentina team mates to head to the Premiership.
But The Sun reports that defender Stefan Savic thinks that the 23 year old should join his old club Man City rather than Arsenal.
And this in spite of the fact that Savic had a difficult time at The Etihad where he failed to secure a first team place.
Savic, said “Jovetic is one of my closest friends and I would recommend City to him.
“They are a rising team, one of the best clubs in Europe. They will win trophies and be in the Champions League every year.”
“It was hard for me there because I came straight from the Serbian league. I won a league title but knew I had to play regularly to improve, so I left — it was my decision.
“It is different for Stevan. He has five years’ experience and could play straight away with Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez.”
Jovetic is one of a number of big name strikers that City are pursuing. The club has also been linked with Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao.
The player reports that the club are going head to head with Liverpool for the services of the player and that Wenger’s chief scout Steve Rowley has been very impressed by what he has seen of the player this season.
Arsenal face a struggle to secure Williams though with Liverpool, managed by Swansea’s ex-boss Brendan Rodgers still favourite to land the player’s signature.
The Mail says
Sources close to Swansea’s skipper claim the Wales international will find it difficult to turn down the chance of a move to a more high-profile club this summer.
The paper also suggest that the club will continue to chase Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina. His move may be partially funded by the exits of Gervinho to Galatasaray and Andrey Arshavin to FK Khazar Lankaran.
Finally it seems that Andre Santos is happy in Brazil and may end up staying.
This one should be taken with a pinch of salt, but if true…
According to website webaslan.com, which has been picked up by The Express, Turkish side Galatasaray are ready to offer £12m for Arsenal misfit Gervinho. That is over a £1 million more than Arsenal paid for him back in 2011.
At Galatasaray Gervinho would team up with Ivorians Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Eboue. Maybe the team’s management think that the player could replicate his excellent international form if surrounded by his fellow countrymen.
So should Arsene Wenger cash in? Gervinho has never really set The Emirates alight and besides wouldn’t that money be useful in the hunt for Stevan Jovetic, David Villa etc?
It appears that after a winter window in which a deal seemed imminent but then fell through that Liverpool are once again keen on re-capturing Blackpol’s Tom Ince.
According to The Mirror the club, who were put off by the £6million fee the Championship club placed on Ince, have now tabled a £4 million bid which they hope will get their man.
Ince has been in excellent form for the seasiders this year and was awarded the Football League’s Young Player of the Year trophy, last week.
Ince has aspirations to play in the Premiership, but is clearly picking his time. He told the Mirror
“My dream is to play at the top level and to achieve my ambitions, but it’s all about timing and patience, so when you get to the top you are ready to go and not jumping too soon.”
Meanwhile Liverpool have also been linked with Barcelona’s teenager Sergi Canos. Barca are apparently trying to tie the player down to a new long term contract, but Liverpool think they might be able to offer the right winger a better deal.
So what did you make of Stevan Jovetic last night then? It was a game of two halves for the Montenegrin striker. In the first half he was sloppy when passing, wandered into offside positions and troubled the England central defending pair very little.
But in the second half, with the arrival of Dejan Damjanoviche dropped deeper, got more possession, ran more at the English defence and created several goal scoring opportunities.
Did he remind you of anyone? RVP perhaps? You get the feeling that he would link up very well with Santi Cazorla with Olivier Giroud as the option as the main striker.
‘Reportedly in advanced talks over a move to sign Fiorentina striker Stevan Jovetic the first Gunners signing of what may well prove to be a very busy summer for the North London side.
Though the La Viola attacker is said to have a host of prospective suitors Arsenal are said to be the favourites to sign Jovetic, with Arsene Wenger looking to bring in the forward to help beef up his strike-force.’
Arsenal can clearly afford him and the money on offer is reputedly £90,000 per week. Like a lot of Montenegrins Jovetic is a big fan of the Premiership and is seemingly very keen to play in England.
What could,possibly go wrong?
Well Arsenal could very easily be gazumped with Man City the favourites to make Jovetic a better offer. But then again the Blues are apparently chasing a number of high profile players including Falcao and Cavani. Jovetic knows that he is Wenger’s number one target.
“If he has to leave, then make it for a real top club. Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United fit that bill, but Arsenal are not better than Fiorentina.”
Which in many ways is a fair point, especially if Arsenal don’t qualify for the Champions League.
There’s also the possibility of a move within Italy too.
It is clear that Jovetic is the man who could ignite Arsenal’s season next year. The club’s lack of firewpower especially when compared with United who have Rooney and Wellbeck (arguably England’s best players last night) alongside RVP is woeful.
Well, possibly not if you aren’t English, but if you are lucky enough to be have been born or live in this wonderful country how are you feeling about tonight’s crucial game with Montenegro.
Is it a must watch because you want to cheer the team onto World Cup qualification?
Or is a must watch because you want to get a really close look at Arsenal’s number one summer striking target Stevan Jovetic?
Over the past few days I have read several Arsenal bloggers who have nothing but distaste for the international games, they see them as an unwelcome side shown that detracts from the real business of the Premiership and Champions League. Some even suggest that we would be better off without internationals.
So what do you think?
Personally I am rather torn. On one level I can sympathise with English men and women who hate international football. Over the years we have seen a generation after generation of England mega stars underachieve in the international game. While rival countries always seem to pull a top performance or two out of the bag (well, at least once every eight years) England invariably seem to stumble though competitions before finally succumbing in rather predictable penalty shoot outs.
England will never ever challenge for anything – even though given the quality of the players in the team they really should. Arsenal might not have won a trophy for eight years now but, until this season anyhow, the team was always in the mix for them.
Then there are issues with the current crop of England internationals. Most Gunners have little love for the older England players – namely Rio Ferdiand, Frank Lampard, John Terry and especially Ashley Cole, and as for the youngsters – who really cares about them? Some come across as being uninterested in wearing an England short and are just going through the motions before they get back to the serious business of club football, utterly oblivious to how much the national game means to some people.
I also wonder if many of the fans that are most passionate about England are supporters of smaller clubs. While the football they see on a weekly basis isn’t that great with, England they get to support a team with some real class – well sometimes anyhow. Someone once likened it to the club team being their wife while England are their bit on the side – more glamorous, exciting and unpredictable. I am not sure I approve of the analogy, but I kind of know what they meant by it.
However I also remember the elation of the two tournaments where England made the semi final in 1990 and 1996. In particular the 90 World Cup was an intoxicating occasion packed with excitement, drama and wonderful, very personal stories. It helped that the players were very likeable too. And as for 1996, from the penalty redemption of Stuart Pearce through to the Gazza inspired destruction of the Scots, it was a wonderful roller coaster ride. If you weren’t around remember how great you felt during The Olympics and times that by ten. The country was having an amazing party.
The Olympics has shown that this country can do a spot of patriotism and play nicely at the same time, so wouldn’t it be great if the England football team could inspire the same feelings?
So I am hoping for a serious demolition of Montenegro tonight. And I don’t care who plays brilliantly and whether they play for United, City or even the Spuds. And if Robin Van Persie wants to pick up an injury while playing for Holland – just like he used to in the old days – well that’s fine by me too.
Some good news for Arsenal fans about their talismanic midfielder Jack Wilshere, he might not be back in the Arsenal squad yet, but he is back on Twitter.
Wilshere quit Twitter nine months ago after he was pestered by trolls to the point where he had to call in the police.
Before the incident Wilshere was generous with his tweets, and was very supportive of charities like The Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. It is great to have him back.
There have been some mixed messages coming out of The Emirates in the last couple of weeks about the future of The Gunners’ striker Lukas Podolski.
The player, who hasn’t quite shown the form that his manager would have expected him to this season, is now rumoured to be a target for Italian giants Juventus.
Podolski has denied that he is going anywhere, but there is still a doubt over how and where he will fit into the Arsenal team next year especially if the Gunners fail to secure Champions League football.
One possible option to replace him is highlighted by the Metro this morning. Apparently Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo is once again expressing his desire to play in the Premier League and that has alerted Arsene Wenger.
Negredo has had an excellent season scoring 15 goals in 26 league games and Wenger is rumoured to have sent scouts to keep tabs on the player.
As for the Premiership Negredo says
‘It is a league that I like and sooner or later I will play in it. President Jose Maria del Nido received some offers in January, but decided not to consider them. We’ll see what is going to happen in the future.’
Arsenal are looking for another striker to share the load with Giroud, but if Negredo does sign at least one news source is claiming that Podolski will be on his way.
With that £70 million war chest Arsene Wenger certainly has plenty of options this summer. Arsenal have been linked with several Man City players could pick up a bargain or two if QPR go down or may choose to nab a player (or more) from Atletico Madrid.
Aston Villa’s 15 year old Danny Crowley, whose swashbuckling style of play has been compared to Jack Wilshere, is interesting the Arsenal scouting team – and to be fair Manchester City’s management too.
Arsenal has also been monitoring the form of 18 year old Chelsea defender, Natahaniel Chalobah, who is currently on loan at Watford.
So Chelsea fans – do you fancy having the Special One back at the club? A number of papers are reporting this morning that Jose Mourinho not only knows where his next job will be, but that it will be at one of his former clubs.
The Real Madrid manager is expected to leave the Bernabeu at the end of the season and it seems now that Chelsea or Inter is his favoured destination.
In an interview with Maxifoot Mourinho said
“I have an adventurous spirit and I do not know what will happen next season. It is not easy to choose a new destination, having worked in England, Portugal, Italy and Spain.
“Maybe I could go somewhere where I have been before. Beware of surprises.”
Meanwhile one manager who says that he has no contact with thew club is Chelsea old boy Gianfranco Zola.
He told the Mail on Sunday
“No-one from Chelsea has spoken to me. I am respectful for what Watford have done for me and I am focusing on getting the job done here.
“I really don’t know what is around the corner for me, but whatever happens to me is all down to this experience because I have to prove myself as a manager. I am enjoying what we doing at Watford, enjoying and learning.”
Tomorrow night Arsenal and England fans will get a chance to see how Fiorentina striker, Stevan Jovetic, will cope with Premiership defenders as his Montenegrin team faces England in a World Cup qualifying game.
The player, who is apparently Arsenal’s number one striking target, has also been making positive noises about a move from Serie A to the Premiership.
In response to a question about how he is being stalked by a number of English clubs Jovetic reoplied
“It sure is nice when you are interesting big clubs like Arsenal and Manchester City.
“It feels good because the English game currently has probably the strongest league in the world.
“I’m very comfortable in Italy but the Premier League is at the top of the football world – and perhaps the best.
“We will see what happens in the future.”
So that’s cause for optimism, for Arsene Wenger. However the The Express warns that if Arsenal want to land their man they will need to stump up more money that they have ever spent on a player. The paper suggests that Juventus and both Milan clubs are keen on the player and the bidding may start at £25 million and head northwards.
Meanwhile Caught Offside has an update on a player who has been linked with Arsenal for some time. Kevin Strootman of PSV, a defensively minded midfielder who also has a habit of scoring, has said that he is mulling over a transfer.
He said
“Every transfer window there are clubs interested. But a club must speak to me first.”
From:Arsenal update: David Villa - it is us or Spurs?