arsenal news

26 August 2012 Last updated at 14:20 GMT Arsenal are still searching for their first goal of the season as they shared a tame goalless draw with Stoke. Santi Cazorla was again their most impressive performer and tested Asmir Begovic but others struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities. Lukas Podolski had an early effort that hit the falling Andy Wilkinson's arm, while Olivier Giroud's shot was just over as Arsenal finished strongly. Stoke's Jon Walters was also wasteful and had no power in his late shot. More to follow. Lineup, Bookings (2) & Substitutions (6) Stoke City 01 Begovic 02 Cameron 04 Huth Booked 12 Wilson 17 Shawcross 28

Getty Images Alexandre Song insists he never wanted to leave Arsenal but moved to Barcelona after becoming frustrated with the club's unwillingness to open talks over a new contract. The Cameroonian international completed a £15 million move to Catalonia earlier in August, where he joins former Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas and a galaxy of superstars. But he is adamant he would have stayed if he had been made to feel valued at the Emirates Stadium and not had his professionalism and desire to train questioned in the media by 'club sources'. "I love Arsenal, I never wanted to leave," he told the Sun . “I was ready to commit my future to the club. All I wanted were talks about a new contract but each time we were due to sit down, the club postponed it. I was fobbed off. “I wanted a new five-year contract at Arsenal. In the end I got one — at Barcelona. “I woke up and read those things in the paper and was really surprised and d

Wenger is still looking for a proper replacement for Song who left for Barcelona. M’villa and Capoue are already rumored to be in Arsenal’s radar. Now Tiote is the latest DM to join the list. Arsenal want Tiote Sources from Newcastle reports that Arsenal have already made an inquiry on the availability of the hard working midfielder. Arsenal is ready to give Tiote up to 60k pounds a week contract. Right now he is earning 40k/week. A fee of around 12-14 million pounds will definitely tempt the toons to sell him. It is expected that Arsenal will make an official bid for Tiote after their match against Stoke gets over today. What do you gooners think? Is he good enough for Arsenal? Post your comments below.

After a disappointing opening game against Sunderland last week, Arsenal will be looking to get off to winning ways when they travel to the Britannia Stadium on Sunday to face Stoke City. A trip away to Stoke is never an easy game as they love to play the physical side of football and when they have their fans behind them you can do very little to stop them from playing their game. So I believe that Arsene Wenger will take up the mentality of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ when he is selecting his starting XI. Possible Line Up I will explain my selections below. Szczesny -  He is by far our best keeper and I expect him to start every league game if fit. Coquelin -  He is a bit more robust than Jenkinson and is better equipped to deal with their forwards and wingers. Mertesacker - His height is always an asset especially against a team like Stoke. His ability to read the play in front of him and to stop the danger before it manifests is essential aswell

Photo: frenchfootballweekly.com Everton have reportedly won the race for talented teenager M'Baye Niang, signing the 17-year-old just days before the close of the summer transfer window. Niang was believed to be the subject of a failed bid from Arsenal earlier this summer, according to The Guardian , and was also thought to be a transfer target for Manchester City , Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan . But according to The Sun , David Moyes has beaten out all rivals and agreed upon a deal with the French under-21 international. The Everton chief has followed the £5.3 million capture of Kevin Mirallas by agreeing a £2 million deal for the Caen forward—leaving Arsenal empty handed for the second time in 24 hours. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was keen to sign the 17-year-old forward, as were AC Milan and Tottenham. But Moyes nipped in ahead of them and after Niang

Wenger surely will get M’Vila after this latest statement! Arsene Wenger has already admitted that he will dip once again into the transfer market, stressing that any potential player/s will have to be ‘special’, but he’s gone one step further in clearing up that Arsenal are keen on signing an actual defensive midfielder, not a deep laying midfielder such as Sahin to replace the departed Alex Song. The media have hyped up Sahin’s ‘dream’ move to the Emirates, but do Arsenal actually need the Turkish international who has not been at the top of any Gooner’s shopping list until his proposed loan move away from Madrid became public? Wenger certainly did not think so as the former Borussia Dortmund star completes his loan move to Liverpool, with the Frenchman highlighting that the Turk would not be an appropriate replacement short or long term for Song as he is a similar player to Wilshere. He is a deeper box-to-box midfielder that is not solely focused on def

Wenger hints that Arteta may play a deep defensive midfielder role this season . Arteta to play as a DM In an interview to Arsenal.com he said, “I do not need to buy an average midfielder,” “If someone top class turns up, completely defensive, we will consider it. “Even if we fail to sign any defensive midfielders, we still have cover for every midfield positions here” “When Rosicky and Jack comes back, we will be more stronger.” “And Arteta can play deeper – the kind of Pirlo role. He is equally good at both keeping the ball and also stopping opponent attacks” But i personally think that Song is more defensive naturally, but just because there were no good pass coming so much from the attacking midfielders to the strikers, he had to be going foward since he has ability to do good passes which eventually helped us. If there were lots of passes coming from Rosicky to RVP, then Song would not have gone foward so many times like he did. So i st