Gunners – Page 2 – Home Of Arsenal

Arsenal News

ARSENAL PLAN FOR CARRASCO IF MKHITARYAN DEAL FAILS

English Premier League side Arsenal FC are set to make a bid for Atletico Madrid player Yannick Carrasco should Henrikh Mkhitaryan join Manchester United this summer, according to reports.

Arsenal missed out on the Premier League yet again last season despite a long trophy drought and Coach Arsene Wenger’s continued stay was questioned like never before. Despite buying Swiss play maker Granit Xhaka, he wants Dortmund star Henrikh Mkhitaryan to join them in the summer.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is having issues with leaving his club and has even hinted at a likely transfer to Manchester United if the club finally agrees. Wenger, who has lost out in the purchase of several players in recent times, has prepared to lure Carrasco from Atletico after the player’s impressive performance in the UEFA Champions League and at the ongoing Euro 2016 tournament in France.

According to Italian journalist Emanuele Giulianelli, Arsenal are prepared to meet the release clause of the player as they hope to reach greater heights in the Premier League and Europe, despite the increased competition. There are reports that Mkhitaryan is still the top choice but it is increasingly tough as the Red Devils made an improved £28m bid for the player who has told his club he wants out.

Blog

MORATA SAYS HE WANTS £6M A YEAR DEAL TO JOIN ARSENAL

Arsenal FC are keen on landing Alvaro Morata from Juventus amidst reported interests from other clubs, leaving the player now wanting to cash in on the interests.

The summer transfer window is fast approaching with Morata already making demands. According to Express, the star player wants £6m in annual wage for any of the top club that wants his services this summer.

Arsenal and Chelsea are leading the pack to sign him in England and Real Madrid are reported to be willing to activate the buy back clause for the player when they sold him to the Italian side two years ago. The club is believed to want the striker back so they could sell to the numerous c6ed7edlubs who want his services.

Arsenal have seen moves to land a top rated striker like Edinson Cavani and Mario Gotze stalled and will be willing to get Morata. They are currently planning on making Jamie Vardy the main man in front but the Gunners move for the Leicester City have been rebuffed leaving Morata as a good alternative to add to the team.

Arsenal News

Theo Walcott has been omitted from the provisional England squad

Theo Walcott has been omitted from the provisional England squad for the Euro 2016, but this news will not come as a major surprise to the player according to Alan Smith.

Walcott has been struggling for game time at Arsenal especially in the second half of the 2015-16 season. There have been heavy rumours about Walcott being prepared to leave Arsenal in the summer with even Arsene Wenger admitting that the future of England international at the Emirates stadium was not certain. Wenger promised Walcott a role as the central striker when he was persuaded to sign a new four-year contract in 2015.

Now with only three years left on his existing deal, Arsenal are reportedly considering cashing in on the player. Walcott remains a saleable asset as he is only 27 years old. Even the player will feel confident about featuring for the England national team at a major tournament before the end of his career. Even though he has made 43 appearances for the national team since his debut in 2006, he has played in very little major tournaments. Walcott has been forced out of rage tournaments like the World Cup 2014 because of injuries. He was last seen in the Euro 2012 making an impact as a substitute.

Arsenal News

Arsene Wenger watched his team suffered a 3-3 draw

Arsene Wenger watched his team suffered a 3-3 draw with West Ham and this has effectively ended their hopes of winning the title.

It would take an astonishing collapse from Leicester City and Tottenham in order to get Arsenal back in the race for the Premier League. As another trophyless campaign beckons for the club, the Frenchman claims that his team is defending against headers left him disappointed. Andy Carroll came up with a hat-trick and he seemed unstoppable against the gunners. Like on numerous occasions in the last decade, Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead and ended up going behind.

It required a second-half goals from Laurent Koscielny in order to at least get a point from their last visit to Upton Park. After keeping a clean sheet in the last two league matches, Arsenal would have been feeling confident going into the game. Wenger sounded reasonably confident about winning the league title this position. The club have now fallen 13 points behind leaders Leicester with only six matches left for Arsenal. Leicester were able to improve their advantage after a 2-0 comfortable victory over Sunderland on Sunday. Wenger was happy with his team’s defensive recordoverall, but he claimed that headers continued to be a weak point.

Arsenal News

Mesut Ozil confident on Club to win this Title

Mesut Ozil still remains confident that Arsenal will be able to win the league title this season.

The 2015-16 campaign was seen as Arsenal’s title to lose. For much of the first half of the campaign, Arsenal were the only top team who were performing consistently. This, however, changed abruptly in the second half when Arsenal have fallen way behind leaders Leicester City. Many expected Leicester’s challenge to falter after a few months in the top, but this has not been the case. Claudio Ranieri’s men have been equally consistent in every part of the campaign.

As a result, the unlikely team from Leicester find themselves with a five-point advantage over second placed Tottenham with only seven matches left in the season. Arsenal are a further four points behind in the title race. Even then, Ozil says that the club remain aware that they should take advantage of any points dropped by their rivals. This has been a fantastic season on a personal level for the German midfielder. He is on course to creating a new record of assists in the Premier League. Former Arsenal star Thierry Henry holds the record for making 20 assists in a campaign while Ozil is only two short of this figure.

Arsenal News

Paul Merson has come down hard on Arsene Wenger

Paul Merson has come down hard on Arsene Wenger saying that he has got to win the Premiership at any cost to earn the right to stay in his job.

According to Merson, in case the Gunners fail to become the Champions, it would be hard for Wenger to make a justification to the supporters as to why he didn’t go for the new signings at all last summer.

Merson is also of the opinion that it’s no big deal for a manager to guide Arsenal to top 4 as the squad is good enough to do it itself. There is no astuteness on the part of Wenger in making that happen.

Speaking on television, the Englishman, who played for the Gunners for a long time, from the mid eighties to the late nineties, said, “Arsene Wenger shouldn’t remain in charge if the weaker rivals beat Arsenal to the title.”

“I mean ahead of the season, you come and say there are no signings needed and then, you can’t go past a couple of weaker oppositions to the title. You would just not be able to justify that.”

Arsenal News

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan says that he has not yet made a decision on his future

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan says that he has not yet made a decision on his future, which has raised speculation that he could leave the club when his contract expires in 2017.

Gundogan is one of the important assets for Dortmund, who have been on a decline in recent years. Even when Jurgen Klopp was the manager of the club, a number of top players left Dortmund on a free transfer in order to join arch rivals like Bayern Munich. Along with Marco Reus,Gundogan’s key towards building the next great Dortmund team. At 25 years of age, he has the capability to be the part of the spine for at least a decade.

The great times with the German appears to be coming to an end, as he states that he has not yet made up his mind on signing a new contract with Dortmund. This would likely mean a sale in the summer since the club would not want to lose another player on a free transfer. It was only recently that they succumbed to the loss of Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich in similar circumstances.Gundogan was persuaded to sign a new two-year contract only in 2017. The lack of a lengthy deal has been a major reason behind the speculation.

Arsenal News

Arsene Wenger claimed that it was the perfect display from his players

Arsene Wenger claimed that it was the perfect display from his players after they managed to do the unimaginable by qualifying for the Champions League last 16 by the skin of their teeth.

Arsenal looked seemingly out of the group stages just after they suffered two back-to-back defeats at the start of the campaign. These two defeats looked even worse when considering that title favourites Bayern Munich were the opponents in the next two games. Arsenal were not expected to even get a point against the German team in these two games. A huge lifeline came in the form of a shock win over Bayern at the Emirates stadium.

This coupled with other results going their way meant that Arsenal went into the last group game still with a chance to qualify for the last 16. Olympiakos, meanwhile, had the simple task of holding onto even a draw. Arsenal had to win by two or more goals in order to stand any chance of qualification. They comfortably achieved this target with goals from Olivier Giroud being a crucial factor. The Frenchman scored a hat-trick just at the time when it mattered the most for the gunners, who will now look towards the knockout round.

Arsenal News

Arsene Wenger believes if his team manages to get better of Bayern Munich for the second time

Arsene Wenger believes if his team manages to get better of Bayern Munich for the second time in the ongoing season, they would send a strong message to the Football fraternity that they’re growing into a really strong side.

Arsenal defeated Bayern Munich by 2-0 in a Champions League affair at home the previous month.

Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil got onto the score sheet in that game, and it is this form by Ozil that has led to him being strongly tipped for a move to Barcelona by the Transfer Rumours website.

That win, however, was not enough for the Gunners to be able to move up from the last position in Group F. They are still there with only 3 points in their kitty in as many games.

However, their position can improve significantly if they manage to repeat that Emirates feat at Allianz Arena on the coming Wednesday.

Ahead of that potential cracker, Wenger was quoted saying to the media, “Bayern is and always has been a tough team to beat. They are strong in all departments, but, if we sneak past them this time around too, it would be a message to everybody out there that the Gunners are making strides.”

Arsenal News

Celtic go into the midweek match against Kilmarnock

Celtic go into the midweek match against Kilmarnock knowing that they can extend their lead in the Scottish Premier League to a very healthy eight points with the victory.

Currently, their lead over Aberdeen is only five points although the opposition have played a game more. Despite this comfortable position, Celtic boss Ronny Deila says that it would be unwise to dismiss Aberdeen out of the title race just yet. The club are on course to winning a treble this campaign. Apart from the league title, Celtic also have their focus on the Scottish cup. They will be up against Inverness in the semi-finals of the competition.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has been trying to use mind games in the last few days. He was first to suggest that Celtic are almost certainties for the title despite his team closing the gap to 5 points. Since there are only two matches left for Celtic, they can seal the title with at least one win from the two matches. Their final game of the league campaign sees them take on Dundee United away from home. Celtic have already sealed the League Cup and this took a lot of pressure of a from manager Ronny Deila, who is at Celtic in his first season.