Psg Want Gallas after contract setback.

Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has told fans they can count on skipper Cesc Fabregas, despite constant transfer speculation back in Spain.

The 21-year-old has again seen his name touted by presidential hopefuls at boyhood club Barcelona.

Almunia admits such goings-on in his homeland are bizarre.

He said: "The presidents and people at clubs talk too much. They are in the press much more than they should be.

"In England, I have never seen the directors in the press and so it is strange for me."

Almunia knows Fabregas' importance at Emirates Stadium.

He said: "Nobody has any doubt that Cesc gives everything to the game. He makes tackles and fights - this is the only thing that the people can expect from him."

Almunia added: "For the supporters, Cesc is a symbol of the club. For the people, he is the best.

"I have no doubts that he loves the club and Arsenal in general.

"If he has to go, and I don't know anything, he will be very sad."

Derby County boss Nigel Clough is reported to be closing in on a loan deal that will take Arsenal youngster Gilles Sunu to Pride Park until the end of the season.

The 18-year-old is French but of Togolese descent and is highly regarded by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

Sunu made his debut for the Gunners in the League Cup tie against West Brom, and has appeared as a substitute in the Champions League against Olympiakos.

Sunu began his career at the renowned Chatearoux Academy and was snapped up by Wenger in 2007 on a four year contract.

Whilst Wenger has high hopes that Sunu will develop into a first team player of some repute, just like so many of his young Guns, he also recognises the need for Sunu to sample senior football.

Clough said of his pursuit of Sunu: "We are still working and waiting to hear from Arsenal on that one. But we would certainly like him in if we could, and if we could get him on before Saturday then even better."

Meanwhile, the Rams boss has targeted six more wins to guarantee Derby’s safety after their morale-boosting with against Newcastle.

Ten points from the last 15 available has moved Derby up to 15th in the table but they remain just four points above the relegation zone.

Clough said: "We're starting to see the benefit of having most of our best players available at the same time but there's a long way to go.

"It's like the season is starting here for us and we've got 16 important league games to come and we've got to win six of them. We think 18 points will make us safe and the priority is to get there as soon as we can."

“1-0 to the Arsenal” used to ring around Highbury in the days of George Graham and his practical pragmatism.

So after a week in which every man and his dog, and Michael Ballack, had chipped in on the Wenger debate, lamenting the Arsenal managers inability to adapt to his opponent, not play a ground strokes game, not try to pass it into the net and not have a plan B, it was fitting that this old ditty should be heard around the Emirates as Arsene Wenger finally grafted out an ugly win.

The game itself, was, unfortunately, dire. - Second half was very entertaining, loads of sportsmanship.

Both Arsenal and Liverpool, two great English institutions, had seemingly conspired to see who could play the least like a professional football team in the first half. A couple of chances for Nicklas Bendtner went begging as he first lacked the pace to break clear, and then sliced woefully over. In the second things improved, although David N’Gog and Tomas Rosicky somehow managed to both fail to get a shot in when clean through on goal in quick succession, the latter involving a comically amateur case of miscontrol but the first requiring a brilliant last man challenge from William Gallas.

In the end it was a goal George Graham would’ve been immensely proud of that separated the teams as Rosicky put in a luscious ball for Adou Diaby to charge in like an early Tony Adams and thunder a header into the net before stumbling and falling to the ground, like a slightly later version of Tony Adams.

Ryan Babel almost got Liverpool level instantly but Almunia saved the Gunners with a finger tip save from the Dutchman’s 25 yard effort. In the last minute one of Steven Gerrard or Dirk Kuyt won a free kick for falling over on the edge of the Arsenal box only for Cesc Fabregas to deflect the goal bound shot away with his elbow whilst seemingly scratching his head.

The ref didn’t notice and the whistle blew, much to the ire of Gerrard and co, and Fabregas slinked off like John Terry in a newsagents on a Sunday.

LOL that is funny , but whoever wrote it was silly.

And also cant spell abou

BAdly written eh.

I think the game was pretty great second half..

Much prefer seeing them shake hands laughing and helping eachother up than going in for hard tackles leaving someone in pain and just walking off saying i got the ball.

Svens left county

Thoguht he might.

All that notts county jibber jabber seemed to ambitious to be true


bet kasper schmeicel will leave next. gotta be on quite a large wage

Ratings – Arsenal:

Manuel Almunia: 7

Emmanuel Eboue: 6

William Gallas: 8

Thomas Vermaelen: 7

Gael Clichy: 6.5

Cesc Fabregas: 7

Alex Song: 7

Abou Diaby: 7.5

Samir Nasri: 5

Nicklas Bendtner: 6.5

Andrey Arshavin: 6

Subs

Tomaz Rosicky: 6

Theo Walcott: 5

Bacary Sagna: 6

Liverpool Ratings:

Pepe Reina: 6

Jamie Carragher: 5

Martin Skrtel: 7

Daniel Agger: 6

Emiliano Insua: 5

Lucas: 6

Javier Mascherano: 6

Dirk Kuyt: 5

Steven Gerrard: 6

Maxi Rodriguez: 5

David Ngog: 5

Subs:

Philippe Degen: 5

Ryan Babel: 6


Who the hell wrote this?
What a bloody moron, its from the same report written by the same person as the other one.

Diaby better than fabregas? and Clichy was amazing.

Vermaelen was better than gallas, other than the tackle gallas made..

As the Spanish media continues to publish report after report tying the Arsenal midfield maestro to a summer transfer to Barcelona on a five-year contract, Cesc Fabregas has finally issued his own, albeit brief, comments on the matter.

Echoing comments issued by his father to Radio Kanal, the player hoped to dispel any notion of a deal in place in a statement published by Club Call. "They [Barca] have denied it and I have denied it. I just want to focus on Arsenal, I think Arsenal Football Club is above all else - every single player in its history, the fans, the club, and myself. I think we deserve a little more respect."

Fabregas is a former Barcelona youth player, leaving the youth ranks to sign for Arsenal because of what the player and his family believed to be limited options of breaking into the Blaugrana first team. Since breaking into the starting line-up in London, the player has steadily improved into one of the world's best midfielders and is a fixture in Vicente del Bosque's Spanish national team. In Spain, the media has long been anticipating the player's return to Spanish soil. Thus, it seems unlikely that the player's comments will keep the press at bay as the Iberian peninsula continues to obsess over the visionary Gunner.


Finally Issued a statement?? he says it every other week

Yeah its gunna get better but they need to give it time..

Im sure it will be a championship team soon enough.

Arsenal had started the day nine points adrift and seemingly no longer genuine contenders following successive defeats to Manchester United and, on Sunday, Chelsea.

However, the deficit was narrowed to six points after Abou Diaby's header earned the three points against Liverpool, United drew 1-1 at Aston Villa and leaders Chelsea lost 2-1 at Everton.

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"I believe we will fight until the last second of the season, and that's what we want to continue to do," said Wenger.

"We believe we have a chance and you could see again that Chelsea lost, Manchester United dropped points, so it is open for everybody."

Wenger, though, warned more hard work lay ahead and is focusing only on the immediate future.

"It can change quickly, but for us it is more important for us to focus on winning our next game than speaking about the title because we had a big shock in our last two games," he added.

The victory may have not been a vintage performance by his young side, but it reinforced Wenger's faith following a difficult couple of weeks.

The Arsenal manager added: "Nobody realises what it is to play Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool on the trot - physically and mentally it is very demanding, especially with two massive disappointments.

"We have shown good togetherness, good discipline and then we got that little goal which makes a massive result for us."

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was left fuming, claiming his side should have had a stoppage-time penalty when Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas appeared to handle the ball from a Steven Gerrard free-kick.

Referee Howard Webb waved away Liverpool's appeals, and television replays appeared to suggest there was doubt whether the hand was in the box.

Wenger denied Liverpool should have had a penalty, saying: "It was a controversial situation.

"The free-kick against us was harsh. Steven Gerrard didn't deserve the free-kick he got and afterwards Cesc Fabregas maybe touched the ball with his hand, but it shouldn't have been a free-kick."

One sour note for Wenger was that Russian midfielder Andrey Arshavin limped off with a hamstring injury and Samir Nasri was substituted with a head injury which left him nauseous.

Both will be assessed ahead of the Champions League trip to Porto next week, which will be the Gunners' next match as they are no longer in the FA Cup.

Baz Savage

Majid Bougherra linked with barcelona lol!!!!!!!

LOL yeah i just saw that..


And

Harry Redknapp: "Ashley cole is the best left back in the world"

Well he probably is, even though I don't watch him much

I'm bias but I think Evra is the best left back:), Cole is good, Clichy is alright.

Right backs I think Daniel Alves;).

Official Chelsea team to play Cardiff
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...up/8506485.stm

Hilario
Ferreira Alex Carvalho Zhirkov
Lampard Mikel Ballack
Sturridge J.Cole Drogba


we're gonna die :bawling::bawling::bawling::bawling::bawling:

i would rather watch that then bloody pompey southampton

it's on the FA website ;)

to watch?

yes that's how i'm watching it.
right here: http://thefa.com/fatv

ew @ the garry monk shirt on soccer am

linvoy primus

what a great player