Team Injuries
Weekend 15/01
Bould - bruised knee
Boa Morte - knee
Seaman - shoulder ligament
Hughes - groin inflammation - needs a scan
Ljungberg - abdomen
Suspensions
Vieira - 3 games from 11 January
Vivas - five yellows - 1 game from 11 January
Arsenal have not lost at home for 21games
Arsenal are currenly third in the Mail 's Entertainment League
OPTA Leagues
David Seaman 3rd - 55
Lee Dixon -7th - 567
Nicolas Anelka - 7th -592
Most fouled
The NoW says Ray Parlour is the fifth most fouled player in the Premiership (on fouls for). He's been fouled 43 times prior to Preston. Ginola is top at 52.
Statistics - (Premiership games up to Villa, from Carling OPTA)
Matches -16
Goals -15
Average goals/game -0.94
Shots - 218
% on target - 48
%goals/shots 7
goals against - 7
Average goals against/game -0.44
Tackles - 552
Tackles won - 70%
Fouls - 181
Yellows - 28
Red - 3
Petit's record (prior to Leeds)
Shots on target 6
key passes 14
tackles won 71%
interceptions/blocks 21
Winterburn's record (prior to Leeds)
Key passes -3
successful tackles - 47
tackles won - 65
interceptions in air 45
Players in OPTA's top ten leagues
NoW:Goalkeepers: Seaman - 3rd - 53
Defenders:Dixon - 9th -468
Strikers: Anelka 6th - 539
Anelka's record (prior to Villa)
Attempts on target - 28
Attempts off target -30
Assists - 1
Key passes - 8
Tackles - 28
Arsenal are currently 10th in the MoS European League:
Played 27
Won 11
Drawn 11
Lost 5
For 31
Against 20
Points 54.3
Forest game
Vieira is out with a suspension; Boa Morte is injured. Tony Adams comes in for Bould.
Bart-Williams, Chettle, Rogers and Van Hooijdonk all have injuries but fitness tests will see who will play. Bonalair or Gray could come in for the suspended Stone.
Ron Atkinson is flying in from the Carribean to "give a team talk as if Forest are Champions."
De Boers go
The De Boer twins have gone to Barcelona for £13.6m.
One paper reported this week that. " Frank De Boer had gone to Barcelona, but his twin brother Frank was staying in Amsterdam."
Dublin - best buy
Premiership bosses have voted Dion Dublin the best buy in an LMA poll.
Yorke and Desailly also figured.
Pennant a Garrincha
Arsene Wenger says Pennant the 15 year old winger could be the new Garrincha - the flying Brazilian winger whose nickname was little-bird.
His message to the 15 year-old is keep your head down, work hard and I'll see you in the first team."
Pennant is featured on "On the Ball" Saturday, showing off his skills with a ball against a garage door.
Kanu - this week?
MoS suggests that the Kanu-Arsenal transfer is on for £4m.
Kanu is quoted as saying that the players he knows here - ie Bergkamp and Overmars - all ex-Ajax are "an important reason behind my desire to move there [England]"
His agent says the finishing touches are being put on a deal.
Dani - boy
The Express on Sunday meanwhile says Arsene Wenger admits he's very interested in Dani - the Mallorca striker.
However according to AW, he is one of "15 strikers we are interested in at the moment."
The Spanish transfer window closes on Friday.
Thanks to: Myles Palmer, Gary Jacob, Bob Bateman , Adrian Barker, Gary Cohen, and Paul B
Press - at a glance 17-18 Jan
Strangely quiet news days.
Martin Keown won most of the Man of the Match awards in the Sundays in the 0-1 away win at Forest. The NoW said," surely there isn't a better defender in England. "Tony Adams wasn't far behind.
Ron Atkinson, who wanted to boost the combined age of the Arsenal back four and get in the Guinness Book of Records, by climbing into the Arsenal dug-out, then said he manages Arsenal.
Huh:"I have managed Arsenal. Every time one of my teams play Arsenal, I manage them." (Yes, Ron)
There's some good editorials, particularly in the Sun which says Dennis Bergkamp is back to his best, looks sharp, and could be the trump card in the title race.
Another points out that even on a pudding basin of a pitch, Arsenal's class shone through and should have had three or four goals on the counter attack.
Matt Jansen is having talks with Blackburn, after Crystal Palace agreed a £4.5m offer, according to the S.Express.
And will the Fowler rumour stop coming back? Houllier has lined up French striker Camara. Sources are quoted as saying Liverpool have stuck at a £35,000 week contract - final take-it or leave it offer for the property owning tycoon with houses both north and south of the border. The Monday press say they think he'll sign up for Liverpool. in a £7.5m deal plus a testimonial. Fowler makes positive noises about Livepool' s future.
Yes the press - front and back - is crawling with allegations about the transfer of Jermaine Pennant to Arsenal. But I don't have any source documents, and if the story is wrong, don't fancy getting sued.
Nevertheless, Arsenal have issued a statement saysing they are going to carry out an investigation along with the FA, in the dealings between Mark Curtis and Sky Andrew.
The S.Express claims that Liam Brady was annoyed about not being consulted over Jermaine Pennant's interview on On the Ball.
Another paper claims Kanu is on £27,000/week.
Kenny Dalglish comes out with the most sensible remark that Patrick Vieira gets more yellow cards than most because he makes so many tackles, and he says that even fair tackles are given yellows these days.
Meanwhile, there's a survey in the Independent on Sunday saying giant killings in the Cup are becoming a rarity. There's half the amount of giant killings in the Nineties, than the Eighties; and no gk's for three years during the existence of Premiership [ My God, what a clumsy sentence].
What it does point out is the gulf between top and bottom is widening.
Press - at a glance 16 Jan
There's quite a few mixed reports about Kanu - particularly the subtext - with the Evening Standard saying Arsenal have put a down payment of £500,000 and will take Kanu at the end of the season, to the D.Mail - £150,000 now and the rest depending on the number of games, to the majority who go with the full blown £4.5m. Even the length of contract is reported differently from 4-6 years.
Some papers report that Arsenal have asked for a work permit from the Department of Employment. AW is quoted as saying he doesn't think this will be a problem, given that he's a fully fledged international. Even the press is mixed about where he flew off to, with some saying Milan, some saying Amsterdam, and some saying he'll be back in two weeks, others four.
Nontheless he'll need to build up his fitness.
It emerged that ex-Ajax colleague Marc Overmars had an influence in "selling" Arsenal to Kanu. Seven clubs around Europe, including Chelsea were interested in him.
AW said he's more an Alan Smith type hold-up player, as opposed to an Ian Wright. And with that, the sort of non-arrogant team player who gets on well with others, not an "I'm here, look at me type" . He can also play the 'in the hole' role of creative midfielder in DB10's absence. [Wenger sees him dovetailing with Anelka and Bergkamp]. He passes intelligently and can score goals too.
One paper remarks that Marc Overmars will be relieved that he can now play as an out and out winger. MO says:"I think he'll be successful here."
Roy Hodgson, who had him for a few weeks in Milan said :"he's a wonderful talent."
Wenger also said he would not rule out signing Matt Jansen ( which for Wenger is unusual) which could mean a deal is very much on the cards.
Some papers report Arsenal are red hot favourites now that Newcastle have pulled out . But Blackburn, Everton (£6m), West Ham and Aston Villa are all mentioned by various papers to be in the hunt. Some papers say he's definitely being sold, with a Palace spokesman saying:'we are in talks with several clubs."
Jansen, as AW says, can play as a support striker or out wide - and is a different player to the 6.ft 4" Kanu.
Press - at a glance 15 Jan
Transfer merry-go-round today as Arsenal get £500,000 from John Hartson's transfer from West Ham to Wimbledon, according to the D.Express.
The D.Mail says that Premiership funds for televising matches on Sky TV were diverted to Arsenal as payment, and that a problem with paying £5000 back to Arsenal set the transfer to Wimbledon in motion. The blow up with Berkovic may have been an additional factor in the transfer.
Some will question why West Ham have made a sell on value - on the surface at least of £3.8m in under two seasons. But Hartson would have been a squad player at Highbury, and his value is likely not to have been as high if they sold him now.
According to the Guardian, Kanu failed his knee exam yesterday, but Arsenal still may buy him. All other press say a a decision is being made today. Kanu played with Overmars at Ajax, and has been African Footballer of the Year. Strangely he's followed Dennis Bergkamp's route from Ajax to Arsenal via Inter, if indeed he finally arrives.
The fee seems to hover between £5m and £4.5m.
Peter Shreeves is likely to be in charge of Forest when they play Arsenal tomorrow, says The Times. Arsenal welcome back Dennis Bergkamp, Tony Adams and Nigel Winterburn from injury.
Press - at a glance 13-14 Jan
Kanu's here at last then, for £5m as a permanent buy - but has to undergo a medical this morning.
Interesting line is from the Express which says he hasn't had a cartilage op yet - he only needs keyhole surgery and will be out or three weeks. Bu the others says his op was successful?
The Islington Gazette posits that Arsenal could well announce plans for a 60,000 seat stadium at Kings Cross is the next few weeks.
An Islington Council official told ANR that Arsenal are exploring various business options; have not put in a planning application to expand Highbury, and implied not much, if any progress was being made on the Environmental Impact Assessment [made necessary by the change to the original EIA Directive].
Comment is dominated by Mr Wenger's address to a football forum in Cannes ( well football is show-biz these days).
The Evening Standard reports that Wenger believes managers are answerable to a broad church ( or as Labour likes to call it - stakeholders) including owners, fans and players.
He says the Arsenal experience has turned him from a laid back person into a winning animal. He says there's a win at all costs culture, now in football.
He says he gets a buzz about of melding widely different talents into one team.
And that divorce terms between managers and clubs should be known in advance.
Looks like Winterburn and Adams could be fit for Saturday's Forest match after coming through unscathed at Northampton in a Reserves match., which atracted a reported crown of around 5000.
And Steve Bould will not require a cartilage operation - bad bruising, following a clash with Redknapp.
A decision whether Steve Bould's or Nigel Winterburn's contracts will be up - or extended another year will be made at the end of January. [ANR's guess is that they'll be extended, given that a couple of well placed sources say that this could well be Tony Adams' last playing season].
The Matt Jansen to Arsenal story could well be a result of a slow football news day. As a correspondent to this site points out, if Arsenal are in for £5m, why have they not shown any interest in him before for a lesser fee.
But there again, the clean Surrey living, left sided, quick footed, born again Christian is the right age and could possibly be an answer to the stiker problem. He's certainly been looked at by the Arsenal coaching staff.
Press at a glance 10-11Jan
A hotch potch this week-end.
The NoW reckons Robbie Fowler will sign a new contract at Liverpool, while the S.Mirror suggests he'll go to Rangers for £10m. The Monday press say he'll definitely sign a new contract at Liverpool. Capital Radio said that there are growing rumours about Fowler going to Arsenal, but they said it was virtually certain that Weah would come to Highbury a couple of season's back.
Arsene Wenger confirmed that Arsenal are looking at around 15 strikers, including Dani, see left. [not all to sign at once - mind].
Lot of reflection on Jermaine Pennant - the new 15 year-old Arsenal winger - including "lost childhood" and his Dad., who says going to Arsenal will be good for his discipline. [At least someone thinks Arsenal are OK in the discipline stakes]. Apparently Jermaine wasn't being stretched at County and skipped training sessions from time to time etc; Reasonable feature in the EoS.
Talking of discipline leading Arsenal players have allegedly faxed a letter of complaint to Gordon Taylor over his comments about discipline and docking points. Martin Keown who is the PFA rep was in charge.
Meanwhile, to emphasise the whole Arsenal-discipline debate is hype driven, Arsenal were not among the clubs warned about their disciplinary problems by the FA. Chelsea, Blackburn and Everton were, on their yellows record.
And to put some objective fact into the debate- Arsenal are currently ninth (best) in the disciplinary league overall with five reds, 36 yellows, 252 fouls, and a partridge in a pear tree, near Lancaster Gate.
By a strange co-incidence also, Patrick Vieira is ninth in the Premiership Dirty Dozen League with one red, 4 yellows, 42 fouls and 72 points overall.
Meanwhile Arsene Wenger pours cold water on Sepp Blatter's idea of a bienniel World Cup - no surprise there.
Meanwhile FIFA have made noises about infra-red systems on goal-lines to see whether the ball had crosses the line, or not. [Shame it is not ultra-violet, otherwise David Seaman could come out of matches looking really dapper with a super-tan to go with the tache].
However, they are less keen on video evidence over incidents - they want to keep the human element; they say that video evidence isn't foolproof and that it could undermine the referees authority overall.
And talking off looks, Emmanuel Petit's life off the pitch seems to be attracting a lot of comment. The Express on Sunday says that he's teamed up with a French designer by the name of JITROI to open a shop in Sloane Street. "Everything I wear will be available from the shop" - including, as the paper points out white leather gear. [Leather /rubber Arsenal kit? - whatever next?]..well...The NoW claims he's lost his World Cup medal - but that it doesn't bother him.
Interesting comments on the Liverpool game from Rob Shepherd, EoS, who says that Anelka is too young and inexperienced to lead the line. And that Petit and Vieira played much deeper than ususal on Saturday - to counter the speed of counter attack - with the result that Arsenal were less of a force up front. Emmanuel Petit was voted MoM by the D Mirror and D Mail.
What do you think of the above stories?. This site is part funded by a small contribution from the author's Highbury & Islington Express column, so comments, news etc; are very welcome.