Welcome to the 14th year of Arsenal News Review. Happy New Year to all readers.
Arsenal have let Reserves striker Jay Simpson, 19, stay at Millwall until the end of the season.
Meanwhile Fran Merida is set to join Spanish second division outfit, Real Sociedad.
The Sun quotes a source as saying: “This is definitely just a temporary switch as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger thinks very highly of Fran. It was decided that it was the best thing to help the kid’s development for him to go on loan for six months.
“But Fran will be coming back at the end of the season and he’s confident he will stake a claim for a first-team place next season.”
Meanwhile, the Mirror says myopic David Moyes has contacted Arsenal about Lassana Diarra. It follows Man City’s recent interest to go alongside Portsmouth and Spurs. Wenger is urging him to stay and fight for his place, but it is believed he won’t stand in the Frenchman’s way if he really wants thinks the grass is greener. It would be bad for team morale, if nothing else.
Stories in the Mail and Telegraph saying Arsenal will buy a striker and central defender appear wide of the mark. They said van Persie will be out three more weeks. But Wenger said yesterday it was 10 days before he will ‘be competitive’. And re-iterated he is buying no-one.
And even a replacement keeper if Lehmann goes, is not on the cards. Wenger says he has ultimate faith in Fabianski.
So Arsene is relying on his squad, which is seen in the slight shuffle for today’s game. In comes Justin Hoyte for Sagna (rested), and back comes Eboue and Walcott. Gilberto is rested after illness.
West Ham who have won this fixture on the last two occasions have injury doubts over Parker, and Solano, but their provisional squad is: Green, Wright, Neill, Upson, Ferdinand, Spector, McCartney, Noble, Mullins, Pantsil, Ashton, Cole, Camara, Ljungberg, Parker, Solano, Bowyer, Etherington, Faubert, Reid
Amidst all this talk of transfer window frenzy, there’s an interesting letter in the Sunday Times, from Alan Thompson, Manchester, which puts a little perspective on matters.
“The first 30 minutes of the Carling Cup quarter-final between Arsenal’s second string and Blackburn Rovers involved a style of play rarely seen on these shores.
“Arsenal, keeping the ball mainly on the ground, passed and moved with such pace that Blackburn struggled to get close enough to attempt a tackle, let alone win possession. Come on Arsene, that’s not football, well not as we know it anyway.”