Kroenke Onboard !!!

I had been gone a while and I come back to see a shocker of a headline .. Not that its bad .. its just unexpected .. Stan Kroenke has been invited to be a part of the Arsenal board in order to stall a hostile takeover from the fatbastard .. Well thats the case if you believe the Sunday Telegraph .. This was a development out of the meeting with Kroenke on Wednesday. This has been a complete turn around from the attitude that the board had from the moment Kroenke had bought shares from iTV .. but this comes around when Kroenke has become an important player in the tussle for power between the Arsenal board and the Fat Bastard ... I think its a good move and better late than never .. lets just wait up for more on this news .. till then, just take it with a pinch of salt ..

Thursday Roundup at Arsenal

Carlos Vela wants to tread the same way that Cesc did and aims to become a star at the Emirates stadium. The 18 year old, who is on loan at Osasuna, is aiming to develop and to become a regular player for The Gunners, but believes he could be offered the chance to remain in Spain for a longer spell. Vela interviewed with SetantaSports (yea the yellow boys)...

“My objective is to be a world icon like Cesc Fabregas, to learn thanks to Arsene Wenger, and to impose myself at Emirates Stadium. We have talked with Arsene Wenger, our relationship is good. I don’t know if he wants to watch me play in La Liga and then make me return to Arsenal, just ask him."

When asked if he planned to extend his stay in Spain rather than returning to Arsenal, he responded: "I live day by day. Today I am just focused on doing well for Osasuna. I want to do well in order to benefit from the chance I am given to play in La Liga. I don’t know if I am going to stay for more than one season. I am learning English and I think that I can speak it right now.”

Hope he becomes a household name at Arsenal, just what he dreams of !!

Theo Walcott has revealed the secret behind Arsenal's stunning start to the season - bonding over dinner: "We've had a meals with all the players, wives and girlfriends. We never did that last season but it shows how good team spirit is."

I think it was time they started eating dinner rather than throwing it away at some nincoomps .. but then a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do ... way to go young gunners !!

In squad news, Jens Lehmann and William Gallas are likely to be back in full training by the time Arsenal kick off against Sunderland on Sunday however neither are expected to feature. Lehmann returned to the training field on Thursday morning and Gallas is expected to follow suit the following day. Likewise, Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and Alex Song (calf) are no longer injured but not yet fit. The five players who were doubtful for the midweek game at Steaua came through unscathed. Therefore, the only player in need of the physio team is Eduardo (ankle).

“Lehmann came back into full training today,” Arsène Wenger told Arsenal TV Online on Thursday afternoon. "Gallas should be in full training tomorrow. Rosicky and Song as well. Physically they are all better. But all of them will be short to be considered for Sunday. The only one completely out though is Eduardo."

Stand Kroenke met up with the board of directors on Wednesday when he flew into London and descended upon the Emirates stadium for the first time. The board and the fat bastard are in a tussle over who controls Arsenal in the long run and Kroenke with his 12.2 % being in the thick of the action. Stan Kroenke is understood to have informed the Arsenal board during a meeting in London that he will abide by the terms of its agreement preventing major share sales.

The US billionaire was at the Emirates Stadium between 10am and 3.30pm on Wednesday and was introduced to Arsenal's directors before conducting a tour of the ground and the Highbury Square property development. High on the agenda were talks about the commercial partnership between the club and Kroenke's Colorado Rapids. Although Kroenke is not believed to be willing to commit as a signatory to the agreement - which the director- shareholders hope to extend for 12 months beyond its expiry in April - it is understood he has informed them that he intends to remain a shareholder for at least that long. Arsenal yesterday described the meeting as "positive".

All i can say is that the battle's getting tense out there, with what looks like a 3 way battle (sort of) for deciding whom shall control the Arsenal. All i want is Fat Bastard not having total control of the club. Rest everything is fine by me ..

Highlights : Arsenal 1 - 0 Steaua Bucharest

Sorry for the delay ... got caught up with some stuff ... here's the highlights .. njoi ..

Fulltime Update: Arsenal 1 - 0 Steaua Bucharest

Arsenal 1
van Persie 70'

Steaua Bucharest 0

Bookings:
Arsenal: Adebayor 15'
Steaua Bucharest: Marin 18', Rada 32'

A bullet of a strike and some desperate defending at times took Arsenal through another victory in the Champions League group stage. The Gunners now have 6 points from 2 games and are at the top of the group. More on this game and highlights to follow soon....

My MoTM: Alex Hleb

Squad News: Arsenal vs. Steaua Bucharest

Alex Hleb, along with Adebayor, Flamini, and Diaby, has travelled to Romania along with the squad where Arsenal play Steaua Bucharest in the group stage of Champions League. All of them face a fitness test before the game.

"Alex Hleb will travel," confirmed Wenger before flying out to Romania. "We tested him for a check on his bone and a decision will be made tomorrow over whether he will play or not. Emmanuel Adebayor will travel but we will make a decision on him as well. It looks a little less good than it did. Mathieu Flamini has a knock on his groin. Abou Diaby has a knock on his ankle so we need to check on them.

William Gallas, Eduardo, Alex Song, Jens Lehmann and Tomas Rosicky are all still out.

Arsenal squad to face Steaua Bucharest:

24 Manuel ALMUNIA
21 Lukasz FABIANSKI
25 Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
11 Robin VAN PERSIE
26 Nicklas BENDTNER
13 Alexander HLEB
32 Theo WALCOTT
02 Abou DIABY
15 DENILSON
08 Lassana DIARRA
27 Emmanuel EBOUE
04 Cesc FABREGAS
16 Mathieu FLAMINI
19 GILBERTO
06 Philippe SENDEROS
31 Justin HOYTE
03 Bacary SAGNA
05 Kolo TOURE
22 Gael CLICHY

Sunday Roundup at Arsenal

Keith Edelman believes that Arsenal is not seeing an imminent takeover from Alisher Usmanov, who's been on a stock buying spree lately. In an interview with BBC, he stated that Usmanov is not really interested in a takeover but seeing this more of an investment, where he can make "lots" of money in the future. Yeah right !! I believe it !! An Honest bloke, isn't he that Usmanov ??

In other news, Arsene Wenger was ecstatic about the continuous growth of his side as a team and at the same time was riling about Hleb's injury due to a Mark Noble challenge. More from the press conference at here.

Arsene Wenger also declared that Champions league is quite an overrated phenomenon and his main aim this season was to bag the Premier Leagues from the Mancs.

“It is overrated,” said Wenger about the Champions League. It is a cup, it is not a championship - how many games do you need to win? If it was a European championship over 38 games, then it would be different and you can say the team who wins that is really the best in Europe. Were Milan the best team in Europe last season? I’m not convinced.”

Wenger has stated winning a league is harder than winning a cup. I think it is harder to win The Premier League than the Champions League because you do not have to win as many games to be crowned champions of Europe,” he said.

“I want to achieve it because I want this club to win it but for my ego it is less important. I judge a manager on what he has achieved on his whole career; not on this one trophy. I am not saying I wasn’t interested in that glory 10 years ago, but I am much less now. When you are very young you want to win it to say, 'I am the best'. But when you have more experience you know you can be the best one day and less good the next, it is all a game.”

Nevertheless, the Frenchman thinks his team are well equipped to win the Champions League this season - "I am confident because the nucleus of this team has already reached the final,” he finished.

On the other hand, Alan Curbishley praised the Gunners for their sturdy performance at Upton Park which saw they win at the ground after 7 (yeah i know, 7 !!) years. Curbishley conceded that his side paid for conceding early against a top quality team.

"When a side like Arsenal get their noses in front away from home, they're set up to be a very difficult side to play," he explained. "But Arsenal are a top-four team and you need a few things to go for you - and you certainly don't need to go one down after 10 minutes. We competed as well as we could and we're disappointed we couldn't get back in it. If we had, it would have been anyone's match but Arsenal defended very well and got bodies in the way."

I guess thats it for now .. Looking forward to see us play at Steaua Bucharest on Tuesday.

Highlights: Arsenal 1 - 0 West Ham United (Full)

There you go ... Njoi !!