By Ian Grant
PLAYERS
Fredrik Ljungberg is in the Swedish squad called up to face England at Old Trafford on 10 November.
The Times said:”The magnificent Vieira, pulling off the impossible then fluffing the elementary, epitomised Arsenal.”
On the absence of Thierry Henry this week, Wenger said:”I am anxious that Thierry is not burnt out before the end of the season. I am going to make sure he does not get over-tired from too much football. I am looking after him.”
Henry’s five goals in the competition have made him second top scorer in the Champions League behind Bayern Munich’s Giovane Elber. Henry is Arsenal’s leading European scorer with sixteen.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst said:”It’s been very busy for me in the last month, coming to a new club and finding a new house, and my wife had a baby boy three weeks ago. It’s all been very hectic, but now everything is settled at home. The coach [Wenger] has been very patient, and told me I’ve been getting stronger and stronger.”
Dave Seaman, in the short term has been offered a new one-year extension with a further one-year option [on his pony tail].
Dennis Bergkamp said:”This is my best chance of playing in a Champions League Final [in Glasgow]. The Champions League Final is the only big European one I haven’t played in and I have my eye on this one.”
TEAM
Arsenal (22) are second in the yellow card league this season behind Derby (28). They also share the most reds with Middlesbrough, Chelsea, Leicester and Southampton.
David O’Leary said:”I am a great lover of Arsenal, but they should have pushed United more in recent seasons.”
Glenn Hoddle, prior to the Boro match said that Arsenal would be easier opposition than Steve McClaren’s team.
WENGER
“My contract at Arsenal will be sorted out very soon,” Wenger told the press this week.
Wenger also said:”I cannot agree with Ferguson. They are two great strikers but, for me, Thierry is top, top class.”
On managerial sackings, Wenger said:”If managers know they face the sack after one or two bad results, then they will no longer care about working on what makes a club strong, which is the youth team players.”
TRANSFERS/ RUMOURS
According to the Sunday Mirror, Arsenal are preparing a £5m bid for Blackburn’s David Dunn. Meanwhile it says that Leicester want Matthew Upson.
Arsenal have been to see him many times recently’ said Rosenborg spokesman on the Norwegian side’s goalkeeper Arni Gautur Arason.
Arsenal youth player, Steve Sidwell, has gone to Brentford on loan.
OLD BOYS
Nicolas Anelka was seen at The End, Holborn, complete with trademark floppy hat in the early hours of Sunday. He was on his own.
The Mirror says former Arsenal keeper John Lukic will take over as the club’s goalkeeping coach for two years after Bob Wilson retires next summer, but Seaman will get the job in the longer term.
LADIES
The Arsenal Ladies had better luck against Sunderland last weekend. They won 8-1 with Ellen Maggs hitting a hat-trick, in the Premier League Cup.
A Ladies transfer rumour: Fulham have approached Arsenal’s Emma Byrne.
MISCELLANEOUS
A pendant signed by the Arsenal squad, is one of the items at auction in Loughborough. Chloe Kendall’s family are aiming to raise £5,000 to install a multi-sensory room at the home of the the five-year-old, who was born with cerebral palsy.
It has emerged that unmarked police cars in Copenhagen on the night of the UEFA final against Galatasaray, had hidden cameras in wing mirrors, linked back to a central database, so ringleaders could be identified. The system is made by Screen.
Arsenal haven’t won a league match at Sunderland since 1967.
Just 15,000 people tuned into the Panathinaikos v Arsenal match on ITV Sport pay-per-view. One industry analyst said: “It would have been cheaper for ITV Sport to fly the Arsenal fans to Greece than to broadcast the match.”
And: Last season’s FA Cup final between Arsenal and Liverpool was watched by that game’s lowest television audience in 19 years.
“They have forgotten Australia is no longer some sort of penal colony subservient to a decaying feudal empire.”
Soccer Australia chief executive Ian Holmes on Arsenal and other clubs’ attitude towards the friendly with France.
According to the Star, the influx of wine drinking foreign players has changed English drinking patterns with an increase of wine consumption amongst the 23-30 yer-old males.
A teenage Arsenal supporter whose dying wish was to see his favourite team play at Highbury is to have his ashes buried there. Nick Jago, 19, had planned to make the dream trip to see his team play at home to Blackburn Rovers last month, but fell ill and died.