Preston - sell out
Thursday 17 Dec: The D.Star reports all tickets for the FA Cup tie at Preston, 4 January have sold out.
Arsenal fourth: DB10 fifth
World Soccer poll covering 30 countries, reveals Arsenal as the fourth best team and Dennis Bergkamp as the fifth best player.
Arsene Winner, won the best manager at 28.3% of the votes, ahead of Aime Jacquet.
Transfer talk
Alleged Arsenal target Ibrahim Ba looks set to join Newcastle, following the departure of Keith Gillespie.
In the D.Express it says Inter Milan are lining up Alan Shearer for £18.5m.
Wembley doubt
The D. Express says that the £103m sale of Wembley to the FA and associated bodies is under doubt, following some directors saying it is undervalued.
Arsenal have expressed an interest in the stadium.
Platt flak
Most papers report a storm about the appointment of David Platt as technical director of Sampadoria.
Some coaches say he should have a Serie A coaching badge, but Sampadoria seem to have got round that one by appointing Giorgio Veneri, who has a badge, as coach.
ANR understands that Arsenal still hold Platt's player registration.
Platt to Samp?
Wed: Most papers say David Platt will become manager of Sampadoria in the next 24 hours.
Talks on 18 team Premiership
News of the World suggests talks might go ahead next year.
With the changes to the Champions League format and the new UEFA Cup, some Premiership teams have indicated they want the Premiership reduced, along with withdrawal from the Worthington Cup.
Dennis Bergkamp is quoted as saying he'd back an 18 team league.
Ferdinand option tested
People: It posits that Man U are interested in Rio Ferdinand for £14m.
It is reported that Arsenal have first option clause on Ferdinand, resulting from the sale of Ian Wright to West Ham.
This has been denied in press reports by Harry Redknapp. Interesting.
DB10 wins BBC award
Sports Personality awards - best goal of World Cup against Argentina.
Premier League offers to help Arsenal
To find a sponsor. Not the only one apparently.
Arsenal 6-1 for title
Third favourite now after Manchester United and Chelsea.
Thanks to: Myles Palmer, Gary Jacob, Bob Bateman and Adrian Barker
Kanu on
Sat:ANR understands the deal taking Kanu to Highbury is ON.
Estonian on trial
Times: Estonian international striker (30 caps) Andres Oper is in trial at Arsenal.
Oper, 21, plays for double winners Flora Tallinn, and has 15 goals in 22 this season.
Oper was recently on trial at Metz, under Wenger's mate Joel Muller.
Wenger: " No top three finish"
Most press: Arsene Wenger said Arsenal at the moment are unlikely to finish in the top three.
He says the current likely winners look like Chelsea, Man U and Villa.
Kidology? He says not - more mathematics.
Seaman and others out for Leeds
Most press: Dave Seaman damaged a shoulder in training and looks set to miss the Leeds match.
Hughes, Adams, Parlour and Winterburn are all reported out (see right, down). Manninger and Vivas step in.
Radebe and Batty look to be out for Leeds.
Hughes
The D.Mirror says Arsenal are 'set to launch a bid' for WBA striker Lee Hughes.
It alleges Arsenal have watched Hughes 14 times and have made an inquiry, suggesting at his age he'd be open to a long contract. Glasgow Rangers are interested too.
Hughes is set to win a £20,000 Mazda if he bags 27 goals before Christmas.
Platt problems
The Italian FA have banned Platt from the bench, advising Sampadoria to give him the youth team while he gets Italian coaching qualifications.
The Times suggests he could come back as a player - interesting because we understand Arsenal still have his registration - (transfer fee?), or it may escalate to a Bosman type dispute over restrictive practices, vis a vis European Commission countries.
It transpired Arsene Wenger wrote a letter of recommendation for Platt.
Richards
The D.Telegraph says Arsenal may be interested in Wolves transfer listed centre back Dean Richards, who is set to leave at the end of the season.
Arsenal sign African
Sun Fri 18: Arsenal have signed African teenager, Eric Obinna, after a trial, according to the paper.
He is part of the deal whereby Arsenal have first refusal on any of St Etienne's top young stars.
Obinna has gone back to St Etienne, and is set to return at a later date to 'fight for a place in the first team'.
Kan u come, or Kan't you?
Disagreement as to whether Kanu is coming to Highbury or not - from papers in the same stable.
The D.Star quotes Kanu's agent Vincenzo Morabito who says he can't see the deal going ahead, because of the log-jam over loyalty payments. While the D.Express says that Kanu ' has lowered his personal demands and the deal can go ahead.
There appears to be a problem though with a buy-back clause in the contract which Inter want.
Wembley raises its head again
Doubts about whether the FA will buy Wembley have surfaced after the stadium is being linked with a £200m plus deal with investment company, ENIC.
This has lead to suggestions in the D.Express of...." Arsenal making Wembley their permanent home."
The Express, in another section though points out that Arsenal will find it difficult to buy Wembley, while David Dein is on FA Committees.
Jansen link?
The D.Mail seems to think Arsenal and Spurs are in a head-to head over Palace star Matt Jansen.
It reports that Blackburn have had a £4m bid rejected and that Arsenal and Spurs are prepared to go to £7m (?).
The piece says Jansen favours Arsenal.
Overmars says more depth needed
Marc Overmars tells the Mirror he doesn't think Arsenal have enough strength in depth.
He says Arsenal should have replaced Ian Wright when he left, and that Man U have a stronger bench.
He adds that this lack of depth accounts for the Champions League exit.
..as Dixon explains Villa
"We gave the ball away too much," says the Mancunian, in the Mirror.
And Platt is plastered everywhere
Massive coverage on ex-Arsenal's David Platt who according to the Mirror has taken the title "Supervisor of all Sampadoria teams".
Much flak about his grade C UEFA coaching badge, but the D.Telegraph points out that he'll progress to UEFA's grade B and A in the future.
To get round the problem, the title of coach has been give to Giorgio Veneri, who previously managed Serie C side Prato.
The D.Telegraph says Platt was armed with introductions to different coaching set ups by Arsene Wenger.
Gunners odds - pushing out
The Guardian's Horse Whispers points out that in August Arsenal were 9/2.
Now Victor Chandler puts them at 6/1, while Ladbrokes say 11/2 to retain the title.
Scandinavian striker: Rushfeldt?
ANR excl:Former Celtic coach Wim Jansen was over to see Spurs v Man United and Wimbledon v Liverpool.
He is saying privately that Arsenal have been in negotiations for the last week to sign a Scandinavian striker. [Hope it is Siggy Rushfeldt of Rosenborg BK, who have just been knocked out of the Champions League.
Rushfeldt was 26 on the 11th of this month and can head the ball!
He scored 80 in 120 for Tromso, and 48 in 48 for RBK. He also has 8 caps for Norway. (MP)
What the spell checker threw up
Regular readers of ANR over the last three and a half years [on ArseWeb, it averaged 6000 hits/week or 300,000/yr], may have gotten used to the odd typo in the copy.
That is because to scan the papers and put summaries on to the web before dashing off to work in the morning meant that niceties like spell checks had to be dispensed with.
Incidentally that's why links were also kept to a minimum.
However, today is different... and the checker says that Matt Jansen should possibly be Malt Guinness, but it is less kind to Wim Jansen, suggesting he might be Wimp Guinness.
It seems to have its geography screwed up with Lee Dixon the Mancunian, which it says could possibly be Lee Dijon, the Manchurian, and then suggests cheekily it could be Lee Diction (no surprise there) but it does offer, an albeit polluted version in Lee Dioxin [the carcinogen].
More apt is Keith Glimpse, [always best to look up when crossing] the new Blackbird winger. It originally said Blackberry swinger, but I censored that.
And it doesn't reckon much to Siggy Rushfeldt's chances on the Highbury diet, if he comes - re-naming him Piggy.
But there again he could find a lot more happiness than one of his previous clubs (Tromso) - Torso, or was that Trauma, or perhaps both.
And finally, it doesn't like bureaucracies. It calls UEFA - OAF and the FA - FAQ [no he isn't leaving just yet].
Team Injuries
Week-end 19/11
Seaman - shoulder ligament
Parlour - knee
Hughes - hip
Winterburn - hamstring
Adams - back and back Late January/February, although could start training this week
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
Players in OPTA's top ten leagues
Goalkeepers: Seaman - 3rd - 62
Defenders:Winterburn - 10th -439
Strikers: Anelka 5th - 509
Anelka's record
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 22
Won 8
Drawn 10
Lost 4
For 22
Against 15
Points 34
They are ahead of Juventus, Barcelona and Ajax. But behind Chelsea, Man U, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
Arsenal are currently fourth in the MoS Entertainment League, after Man U, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
Arsenal have used 31 substitutes in matches this season. (Independent)
An at a glance view of the press - Sun 13/Mon 14
Aston Villa 3 Arsenal 2
Was it the long gap at half time which disrupted Arsenal? Or the change to 4-3-3 from a 5-3-2 and Collymore?
Suspect the latter.
Arsene Wenger says Arsenal aren't title cointenders on that performance.
Still if Adams and Winterburn had played - and Petit, would Villa have scored three.
Still it is the worst Arsenal run for five years, says one paper.
Only one paper focuses on matchwinner Dublin (MoM in Sun and Mail) and Arsenal's refusal to enter the bidding at the price, due to his age.
The positive factor to take-away was that Dennis Bergkamp looked far sharper.
Sunday
General thrust of articles in Sundays is that Arsenal have a chance to re-establish themselves with the majority of key injured players back.
Wenger makes the point that Arsenal are only a point worse off than this time last season - the time of the seminal Blackburn home defeat.
Wenger says in the Independent on Sunday that DB10 needs that " last inch of accuracy which is so important to him".
He also reveals that he thinks Paul Merson is a great player, but that his best role was just behind the striker (s) and that role was Dennis Bergkamp's. He adds that Merson can destroy a defence with one pass, but so too can Dennis, and he didn't want to upset the balance of the team.
Fowler: ANR has heard that Liverpool's Peter Robinson has denied that Fowler is on his way to Arsenal. Gerard Houllier yesterday said Fowler is playing the next game, and is coming back into full fitness.
But on the plus side, the MoS runs a story that Liverpool have or are about to sign a pre-contract agreement with Erik Meijer, the 6.4" (no, he's no midget) Bayer Leverkusen striker.
The Sunday Times runs a really good article on Fred Lunjgberg, by Ian Hawkey.
As we had heard, due to the Swedish season Fred has only had six days off since last January.
He was briefed about Arsenal by Stefan Schwartz who he rooms with in Swedish internationals, and is a close neighbour of Marc Overmars.
Wenger had watched him for several months, and in pre contract talks, Fred said he liked to play the ball on the ground, move it quickly; that his favourite position was central midfield in a 4-4-2, or just behind the forwards and strikers.
He said he was surprised at the pace of the Premiership, and is learning to move the ball [even] quicker.
The NoW runs a story about the relationship between Martin Keown and Tony Adams.
That arises from Martin Keown's syndicated column.
The thrust is that in the early days Adams allegedly preferred playing with Bould; but now the relationship is fine. (Storm in a T-Cup.)
In relation to the above, Arsene Wenger says it is the spirit of the older Arsenal players which is going to be hard to replace.