Spanish media circus gets annoying after a while.. Retaliation anyone?!

Marca and AS the Barca and Real Madrid biased papers are going into overdrive with their unfounded speculation about Arsenal players.

Arsene Wenger is in Madrid attempting to offload Jose Antonio Reyes and possibly sign up a couple of the Barca youth team to go with Fabregas and Merida so he can create a total footballing side of Barcelona youth players.

However it is ACTUALLY because he is signing up for Madrid and taking Cesc with him and also selling Henry to Barcelona at the same time as swapping Hleb and Rosicky and Adebayor and Ljungberg for a couple of inbred lepers.

It is all such a load of bollocks and the accountability is zero. Make up a scandalous story, sell a paper and it's job done. Why the rest of the media re-circulate this crap is beyond me - surely you realise there is fuck all credibility in getting snippets from 2 year old interviews and attempting to use them as support for a story you have already decided to make up!

You cunts!

So I say that all the Arsenal blogs toe the line and attempt to start some shit about Eto'o or fucking Robinho and say that your brother's dog walkers yoga teachers bloody uncle said he knows someone that said it's a dead cert and we can all go along with it..

So I call on you Arseblogger, Goodplaya, East Lower, Gunnerblog et al and start stirring up some shit!!

Why a shrewd summer signing can make us great again

Arsenal drew 0-0 with Pompey.. Match reports here, here and here.

Basically this game was our entire season compressed into 90 agonisingly wasteful minutes.

Julio Baptista was the main culprit and missed a penalty as well as a couple of free headers which you can't do if you want to compete for the title. Baptista has well and truly blown it and despite showing some improvement in recent weeks and a good attitude he is on his way back to Madrid.

I can't see Reyes coming back although he was pretty immense for Madrid the other night, but he is as Arseblogger says, a fairweather footballer for sure.

New faces is excatly what's needed and with Henry and Van Persie coming back and Bendtner and Walcott looking to fulfill their obvious potential we have all the firepower needed to convert our chances into goals.

We do however need more width and a genuinely classy wide player to offer more balance to the side when we play 4-4-2. That player could be Ribery or Babel or even Malouda but I don't think we will be bringing in more than one major signing. We might also sign an experienced squad player and a couple of 16 or 17 year old 'starlets'.

The sales of Ljungberg, Aliadiere, Flamini, Reyes and Almunia will raise £12 - £15m along with whatever the board deem fit in terms of a budget, which can be used for new faces.

Now is the time for the silly season and let's clear a few rumours up here and now;

Henry is staying.
Gilberto is staying.
Eto'o is not coming.
Huntelaar is not coming.

We will sign someone you have never heard of.

Overall the squad is not far off where we need it to be, we need a bit more balance and to start scoring first more but we are on the verge of getting it right. The return of key players and a shrewd summer signing can invigorate a squad which has all the potnential to make us a great side again.

Arsenal have improved since Christmas and last year

Last year we lost 11 games in the Premiership.

This year we have lost 8 (so far).

Last year we finished with 67 points and 4th.

This year we have 66 points with 2 games to play and the possibility of finishing 3rd.

Last year we had Henry firing and a fit squad (in midfield and up front at least).

This year we have had to move into a new stadium and have had a whole host of injuries to deal with.

Since Christmas Arsenal's League record looks like this;

P15 W9 D3 L3 Pts 30

That form would equate to 78pts next season - in 1997/98 we won the title with 78pts. That has largely been achieved without Henry (top scorer in every season he has had at the club and 3 times player of the year), Van Persie, Walcott, Rosicky and less so Gallas.

The fact that we have dominated most of thise matches (apart from Liverpool away) and missed a host of chances means that with a bit of luck and more clinical finishing which I am hopeful Henry and Van Persie or even Eto'o (I know dream on!) might bring we can take another step forward.

There is no doubt in my mind that we are heading in the right direction and when the injured players return we will be title contenders.

Whether that is next season or the season afer is the real question.

A timely reminder of the potential of the team is that Cesc Fabregas turned 20 on Friday. This team is very young and has definately improved over the course of the season - how much? We will have to wait and see.

Admittedly all in all we haven't hit the heights that we all hoped for at the start of the season and the European campaigns of Liverpool, Chelsea and more so Liverpool have left us feeling a bit sick. However we have a good chance to see how far we have come as we entertain Chelsea on Sunday.

Wenger has never beaten a Mourinho Chelsea side, now would be a great time to do it so we can go into next season with some real belief.

Come on you Gunners!