With Financial Fair Play rules coming into effect, the Gunners must be careful with wages and expenditure. Having a player earning a huge wage but not playing will eat into Arsene Wenger’s transfer kitty, and reduce the club’s odds of getting back into title contention with bwinbetting.com. The release of the afore-mentioned players will save a considerable amount of money in salaries over the course of the 2013-14 campaign.

Arshavin is the biggest name of the three departing players, and has had an up-and-down time in England. Gunners fans will always remember the four goals he scored in the 4-4 draw against Liverpool at Anfield, and at times in his early Arsenal days he showed glimpses of magic. The problem was that these glimpses were on rare occasion, and towards the end of his time at the club he lost all confidence and ability to influence a game.

Squillaci arrived at the club in 2010 as a France international and with a good reputation in his homeland, but injuries and inconsistent form prevented him from having a consistent run in the team. A total of 23 Premier League appearances in three seasons is a poor return on the investment for the defender.

Denilson is another that showcased promise, and has been at the club since 2006. Still only 25, the Brazilian is talented and able, but is not at the required quality if the north Londoners want to stage a fight for the Premier League title.

Although the impetus will be on who the club bring in, there are others that need to go. Marouane Chamakh, Nicklas Bendtner, Park Chu-Young, Johan Djourou and Andre Santos are all players who have failed to make an impact at the club, and must be sold to cut the wage bill, and allow others to replace them. There are also question marks over Emmanuel Frimpong, Ryo Miyaichi, Lukasz Fabianski, Francis Coquelin and Gervinho.

Arsene Wenger‘s cautious approach in the transfer market can frustrate at times, however he must now be more ruthless with his own squad. If he gets rid of players that are not helping the club, a budget to pay top players good wages will become available.

United have beaten the Gunners in the last three encounters between the sides, however Arsenal are 5/4 to win with Ladbrokes this time round. A win would be a real confidence boost for the side heading into the final three games of the season, and ensure that Arsenal have their top-four chances firmly in their own hands.

Before the weekend’s fixtures the Gunners sit a point ahead of Chelsea and two above Spurs, but have played a game more. The other two London sides play against each other at Stamford Bridge in the game in hand, which could be good for Arsenal. The Gunners’ remaining fixtures are against QPR, Wigan and Newcastle, and Wenger’s men will look to pick up maximum points to hold onto third place.

Sunday’s fixture will see Robin van Persie return to the Emirates for the first time since moving to United in the summer, and regardless of the players sentiments the Arsenal rearguard will need to be at their best to foil the Dutch forward.

The north London side will hope that United take their foot of the pedal slightly given that they claimed the Premier League title against Aston Villa earlier in the week, however Sir Alex Ferguson will most likely field a strong side.

Tottenham travel to Wigan on Saturday, while Chelsea host Swansea on Sunday; there is every chance that both top-four contenders could add three extra points to their tallies over the weekend.

The race for the top four is set to go right down to the wire, however Arsenal will look to pick up three points against United this weekend to take a massive step towards Champions League qualification.

It has, it goes without saying, been a tough week for us Arsenal fans.

Whether a pessimist, optimist or realist ye be (or a pirate), Saturday’s FA Cup loss to Blackburn — a team I had completely forgotten has been relegated to the Championship (!) — was a shocker.

Aside from being knocked out of the last competition that we could realistically win — the Champions League seems so unlikely — the thing that really hurt was that we failed to learn from the Bradford lesson. It makes claims by Monsieur Wenger of improvement and learning, things we cling to as a team that seems trapped in perpetual transition, seem rather silly.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I do think statements that the manager treated the competition with disrespect by resting Santi, Theo and Jack others were wide of the mark though. This was a team that should have won and with Bayern Munich just around the corner it was a fair decision to rest certain players. Yet the defeat means Wenger and his team move into tonight’s clash with the German juggernaut beaten down, low on confidence and with a media shit-storm invading their personal space.

Cautiously optimistic

Despite this, I’m cautiously optimistic about our chances. Perhaps not over two legs but certainly this evening. I’m feeling an overwhelming sense of déjà vu from two years ago, when we produced a magnificent performance to defeat Barcelona in our finest night at the Emirates, before falling short in the return leg. If you’re a betting man then that would be my tip to you.

With Laurent Koscielny reportedly injured and none of our left-backs available our defence is likely to be rather patched-up. Not Aaron-Ramsey-at-right-back patched-up but still a little bit creative. Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Sagna and Jenkinson will all play but our final combination remains a mystery. Will Giroud start? What about Podolski?

Two players who will be vital to our overall performance are Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta. Both are experts at maintaining control under intense pressure and their influence will likely be the difference between us getting a firm grip on the game or being outplayed.

Devastating in spurts

Bayern are a top team but perhaps not in the way that most people perceive. They don’t dominate games in the same manner as a Barcelona or Real Madrid. They attack in devastating spurts, like a soldier firing off machine gun rounds before retreating to safe ground to rest and reload.

Their reaction to last season’s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea — a barely-believable result made possible by incredible German inefficiency in front of goal — was to become über-efficient, an attitude brought in by key figures at the head of the club and particularly manager Jupp Heynckes. This season they have destroyed all before them in the Bundesliga, conceding just seven goals in 22 matches. Oh, and they’ve scored 57.

These are of course unbelievable figures, yet there’s no reason for us to be scared of Bayern. If Saturday’s loss to Blackburn was symptomatic of our biggest flaw as a club these days — failing to respect and turn up against smaller opposition — it simply doesn’t apply against a ‘bigger’ team like Bayern. For better or worse, our team will turn up tonight and put in the sort of application and effort we wish they would every week.

Too chaotic

In the end there are too many variables to consider and Arsenal are too chaotic a team to feel comfortable making predictions. It should be a game that fascinates and any sort of result that keeps us in the tie for the return leg in Munich should be considered a good one.сондажи

The demands of launching my own web design business have proved too much, the ink in my pen has dried up and I’m seeking some assistance to keep this blog and the AFCB community going.

What I’m looking for:

1. Match Report Writer

The task here would be, as Terry wrote in the comments of the previous article ‘someone who can provide a match analysis each week as a trigger for the comments’. This would be a perfect task for a young and enthusiastic writer looking for regular practice and to establish a routine. Someone who has long followed the blog and understands the editorial focus would be ideal. Roughly 700 words an article is the norm here.

2. Columnists

Here the task is a little different. I’m looking for writers who wants to get a little creative, to talk about the characters that make up the Arsenal community. The column could focus on a player profile, tactics or something funny that Eboué did a few seasons ago. It should usually be positive and always insightful. There are plenty of Arsenal blogs with lots of content and this is an opportunity to have fun, to make a mark and publish something a little special.

If either of those descriptions tickle your fancy then please contact me.

Let me know a bit about yourself, any previous writing you have done and why you’d particularly love to help out. I promise to get back to everybody who takes the time to contact me.

Just as an aside, my role once the new writers come on board will be to create a well-designed, beautiful place to read about Arsenal and play the role of editor. While writing has become a little arduous for me my passion for design is increasing at a rapid rate. Hopefully this energy can rub off in a positive way again.

As always, to all the readers, thanks for sticking around and I hope we can turn what has been a disappointing month or so for this community into an opportunity for improvement at the AFCB.

Sincerely,
Andrewлак за паркет

Arsenal
Undoubtedly one of the favourites, which is reflected in their odds at the sports betting sites – generally around 11/10 or 10/11 – because they have plenty of previous experience of getting into the top four. However, this is proving to be another difficult season for Arsenal, and their chances could depend on whether they manage to retain Theo Walcott with a number of other clubs breathing down their necks.

Tottenham
Probably the other main contenders in the eyes of sports bet sites, Tottenham are currently rated around 6/5 by most of these sites to make it. They have a strong squad, seem to be settling down under new manager Andre Villas Boas and have the explosive talent of Gareth Bale in their ranks.

Everton
At around 7/2 or 9/2 at most sites, Everton offer slightly longer odds, which is probably due to having a small squad and less previous top four experience. Their chances are firmly dependent on not losing the likes of Marouane Fellaini or Leighton Baines to injury or transfer.

Liverpool
Currently in mid-table, Liverpool have odds around 7 or 8 at most sports bet sites, and it would need a very strong second half push (alongside a collapse by all three of the other teams) for the Reds to make it this year.

It can be hard to know which of these teams to wager on, but as with all types of sports betting; you will have a stronger chance of success if you learn a bit about football before starting. You can have some fun learning about the game by playing one of the football games at online casinos – like the slot Game On! – and there are also plenty of sites offering free information about form, injuries and betting odds. If you are looking for a game on the slots and wanting to get completely away from football, donít worry, there are hundreds of different slots games available which you can find at www.luckynuggetcasino.com/online-slots/. For those wishing to have a bit more control over where they place their bets then you can still find the more skill oriented games of Poker and Blackjack at the site and along with weekly offers you can get your practice in at the free tables before putting down a wager.

It’s unlikely youíll find a sports betting site that has the same availability of free bets though and so it would be a good idea to consider what we’ve said and maybe do a bit more research before parting with your cash. Or maybe you’re a fan of one of the teams involved, in which case if youíre going to stay loyal and bet on your own team then be prepared . . . you could be in for a double victory but then again you could end up lamenting a double loss!

The Gunners are bidding to make it make it four Premier League wins on the bounce following their 7-3 drubbing of Newcastle at the Emirates on Saturday.

Theo Walcott was outstanding in that game, and a hat-trick means that he is now the top scorer for Arsenal in the league with 8.

He looks the obvious choice in the first goalscorer market given his current mood, and can be backed at a standout 6.5 with bet365.

In the anytime scorer market one player that looks a bit of value if in the starting line-up is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who cab be backed at 3.6 with Paddy Power to score against his former club.

As far as the stats are concerned, Arsenal have won 36 of the 71 league meetings between the two sides and they beat the Saints 6-1 the last time they met at the Emirates back in September.

However I can’t envisage such a wide margin victory in this as Nigel Adkins’ side did well to score three in their 3-3 draw at Stoke last Saturday on a ground where it is notoriously hard to come away with anything.

I like the look of a 2-1 or 3-1 win for Arsenal and those scorelines are priced up at 9.5 and 12 respectively with bet365.

the other bet that really appeals is for their to be over 2.5 goals at the 1.67 on offer with Betfred as Arsenal have managed to score 14 in their last 3 games.

The Gunners notched their third consecutive league win with a 1-0 victory at Wigan last weekend, and now sit in seventh place in the league.

The stats are also very good as far as this fixture is concerned, as Newcastle have won just one of their last 10 Premier League games against them (W1 D5 L4).

The last 10 meetings at Emirates Stadium have also resulted in 7 wins for Arsenal, 2 for Newcastle and a draw.

Alan Pardew’s men have have also failed to find the net on four occasions in that period whereas Arsenal have managed to at least two on five occasions.

That suggest that over 2.5 goals is a decent punt at 1.67 with Betfred, and Arsenal to win to nil at 2.5 with Paddy Power also makes plenty of appeal.

Santi Cazorla is the leading goalscorer in the league for Arsenal this season, and looks a bit of value at 8 with Paddy Power to net the opener.

He can also be backed at 2.75 with Boylesports to net anytime.

As far as the correct score market is concerned a 3-0 win for Arsene Wenger;’ men appeals most at the 10 on offer with Paddy Power as it is a scoreline they have managed in two of the last four meetings between the pair at the Emirates.

With Christmas just around the corner I wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season spent with family and friends.

Your support through 2012 — the sixth (!) year of the blog — has once again been hugely appreciated.

All the very best!

Andrew

The Gunners come into the game having won their last two in the league and were impressive in thrashing Reading 5-2 at the Madejski Stadium on Monday night.

By stark contrast, Wigan have managed to win just one of their last seven matches, suffering five defeats in that period, and have won only two of their last 18 Premier League games played in the month of December (W2 D9 L7).

The stats are also good as far as Arsene Wenger’s men are concerned
as the sides have met 14 times in the top flight with Arsenal emerging victorious on 10 occasions.

It really should be a third league win on the bounce for Arsenal, so who is going to get that all important first goal to hopefully fire them to a comfortable success?

Well it’s no surprise to see the bookies Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott favourites to break the deadlock, and they can be backed at 6 and 6.5 respectively in the first goalscorer market with bet365.

However at the odds on offer it’s Thomas Vermaelen who looks worth an each-way punt at 19 with Boylesports in the same market.

He has as scored in each of his three Premier League appearances against Wigan, netting four in total across those matches.

Another bet well worth considering is over 3.5 goals at 2.62 with Boylesports and Paddy Power as there have been 18 goals in the last four league meetings between these two sides at the DW Stadium with at least four in each encounter.

Arsenal won the corresponding fixture last season 4-0 and a repeat of that outcome looks worth a small wager at 34 with Betfred.

I would also suggest having a small saver on 4-1 which can be backed at 29 with Betfred.

The Gunners will be looking to bounce back from the their shock Capital One Cup defeat to Bradford where they put in a woeful display.

The League Two club stunned Arsene Wenger’s side on Tuesday, winning on penalties after the scores were locked at 1-1 after extra-time, a result which brought about some scathing attacks on the manager.

However before that the Gunners did put an end to a run of three league games without a win when beating West Brom 2-0 at the Emirates and this looks a great opportunity for them to bag another three points.

As far as the stats are concerned they have met Reading 10 times in all competitions and won on every occasion.

Reading have also won just one of their last 10 Premier League games at the Madejski Stadium (W1, D5 ,L4) and lost their last 5 matches in succession.

Lukas Podolski is due a goal and looks a bit of value at 6.5 with Betfred and Paddy Power in the first goalscorer market.

Another bet well worth considering is over 3.5 goals at 2.62 with Boylesports and Paddy Power as Reading have managed just one clean sheet in the league all season and the last two Premier League meetings between the pair have seen Arsenal put seven past them.

I fancy Arsenal to triumph 3-0, and that outcome is priced up at 13 with bet365 and Paddy Power.