The rumour mill has been in full effect. Goalkeepers are standing in an orderly queue outside Ashburton Grove with their silver pens ready to sign on the dotted line to be Arsene’s new goalkeeper. The latest seems to be Bolton’s Al Habsi who is on loan at Wigan and he had a man of the match performance at the Emirates earlier this season. First Ajax’s Maarten Stekelenburg threw his hat into the ring, Pepe Reina was supposedly the subject

Happy Friday to you out there,

Emotional day yesterday wasn’t it? I read so many fantastic pieces around the blogs about David Rocastle and for once it felt like everyone was on the same page, lovely to see I must say.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that Premier League football is back on the menu tomorrow and it looks as if we will be pretty strong with only two players that you would ideally change, the rest should be available for selection. If you told me at the start of the season that with nine games remaining we had only two absentees from our first team then I would have bitten off your hand or perhaps I could be a bit more civilised and just accept that option, no need for violence and all that.

I was watching Sky Sports first thing this morning and Andrey Arshavin was speaking about the title race. I am not quite sure where all the ‘The title race favours us’ headlines has come from. Well, ok perhaps I already know the answer to that but it is still annoying all the same.

He did say what pretty much all of us are saying. We would rather be in all competitions but we know that with nine games left it is now down to our performances from now on and if we are to win the major prize this year then we have to fix up and look sharp. Well, perhaps a Russian version of that.

I do love Arshavin’s little Arshavin chuckle and that is what he did when he mentioned speaking to Avram Grant about taking some points off Manchester United on Saturday lunchtime. That would be quite good, I am hopeful.

As I said yesterday on Twitter, I think it may well be wishful thinking but I have a good feeling about the Hammers taking on the Mancs. They are in far better shape now than they were when we beat them 3-0 at Upton Park back in January. Who knows, fingers crossed.

Arsene Wenger was doing his utmost to take the pressure away from his players in his pre match interview on the official site. He said that he wants the team to be a little more light hearted in their approach. I understand what he is saying, he wants the team to play with more freedom but it wouldn’t hurt if the players channeled the pressure into commitment and aggressive football.

You could see the nerves in the first half at the Hawthorns and I am sure Arsene had that start in mind when he spoke about being more light hearted. Whatever the mentality of the players was against Chelsea at the Emirates then I think bottling that up and then taking a swig of that bottle for the last nine games would be ideal. We need to reach that level again and Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates would be a good place to start.

I will make a season ending prediction (not that I get any predictions right) If we find that high energy pressing game and quick interchanging football before we drop anymore points then we will win the league, if we drop anymore points playing like we did in the first half at West Brom then I think the title will be difficult. Come on boys, take charge of this run in. Pretty please with cherries on top.

The rumour mill has been in full effect. Goalkeepers are standing in an orderly queue outside Ashburton Grove with their silver pens ready to sign on the dotted line to be Arsene’s new goalkeeper. The latest seems to be Bolton’s Al Habsi who is on loan at Wigan who had a man of the match performance at the Emirates earlier this season. Before that, Ajax’s Maarten Stekelenburg threw his hat into the ring, Pepe Reina was supposedly the subject of a big money bid from Wenger in the summer and now Gigi Buffon’s agent is making noises of his client being available for a move to by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.

The thing is we already have at least two quality goalkeepers. I do not imagine for one moment that Wojciech Szczesny would go from performing at a very high level to being relegated to the bench as 2nd or 3rd choice. Lukas Fabianski (Newcastle mistake aside) was fantastic and consistent before his shoulder injury. If we are to invest money on external players then I would rather we looked at other positions than goalkeeper or center back for that matter.

Arsene had his pre match press conference today and I have been waiting for that before putting this article up but to be honest there is nothing new to speak of really. Arsene defended Jack’s want to play for the England under 21s but also said that the FA should consider looking after a player like Jack Wilshere.

Arsene did confirm that Manuel Almunia will start in goal on the weekend and hopefully he can put in a good showing. He certainly needs to after his error in our last game. Jens is not yet ready to step into the Premier League so Almunia has a chance to wipe the slate clean and put in his best performances from now until the end of the season. It would be good for all concerned if he could end his Arsenal career on a high. How about a last minute penalty save against Manchester United to give us all three points and to all but hand the title to Arsenal? I’d buy an Almunia shirt for that.

Oh and how could I forget. Massive scandal going on at Arsenal. ‘Arsenal player has baby shock’ I have never heard anything like it. For some strange reason this has been turned into big news but I suppose it comes with the territory.

Congratulations young Jack. Perhaps being Daddy Wilshere can ground you a little and keep you away from Taxi drivers.

The match preview may be up a little early tomorrow as I am off to the Arseblog 5asides to take away the Green’s crown. This year will be the year of the Blues. We got to the final after playing some great stuff but lack of finishing and not being clinical when it was needed counted against us. Sound Familiar?
Anyway, enjoy your Friday.

Disclaimer: The Arsenal away kit kind of blue not the Chelsea type, just wanted to clarify that.