(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 1)

read on a blog today that apparently digital arsenal membership will become free in august i.e. arsenal player (or a new revamped version of it) will be free

excellent

cool

those going over, lucky b*stards... hopefully the lads start the season well for you

podolski apparently to have ankle surgery in the offseason. Arseblog has been saying for ages that he's carried a niggle for months, explains a lot of his absences. He looked sluggish at times in that last game too

Saw an interview with the big German on Premier League World (on Sky) yesterday - great to see some of the personality behind the players now and then. Catch it if you get the chance!

I reckon he'd be a real character, the BFG.

Here's our goal scorers stats:

https://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/teams/Arsenal.html

Interesting that Theo is leading the charts despite playing wide mostly. You could argue that he would score more centrally, or you could argue he's performing so well out wide you don't want to jinx it.

I've read that Madrid are selling Higuain. Now THAT would be a good summer signing for us.

Additionally how good would it be if we managed to hijack the Lewandowski sale? He'd be so good for us!

Steve Archibald tweeted that he offered him to the Yids (and Bolton) a few years ago for about 4 million but got no bites lols. And no, we have no chance.

dont think higuain brings enough in his game for me - great finisher but we need aerial ability and good hold-up play otherwise we get all tippy tappy with no outlet if things aren't working. Giroud is so good for us adding that option. If we're going to go with someone like higuain i think we'd be better off putting time into theo or poldi playing up top permanently. 

Falcao would be the ultimate for me. He's got everything. Too expensive for us though probably.  I'm not sold on Lewandoski - got a feeling he'll be one of those guys who doesn't take to the EPL all that well. Time will tell. Don't know enough about Jovetic but we seem very interested in him. 

The fabregas rumours are such a tease aren't they. I love that man.

QPR tonight, must-win of course. No changes for me - tempting to put jenkinson in but perhaps sagna's experience would be more valuable in an away game like this. Rosicky was good last week, wilshere might stay as a bench option now until his off-season surgery.  

                      Szczesny

Sagna-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs

                 Arteta-Ramsey

        Walcott-Rosicky-Cazorla

                       Podolski

Watching QPR game in 55th minute. Have we had another shot at goal since Walcotts 21 second opener? So frustrating.

cripes it's guna be just like last year innit

doesnt matter how they come now, huge 3 points

only way this is out of our hands is if chelsea beat manU tonight and lose to Spurs on Thursday. 

Two really big games from our perspective. Cupla draws would be just fine. 

Really not looking forward to playing a Wigan team fighting for their lives. Same goes for Newcastle.

well obviously...

Thanks for nothing ManU, record points total pffffffttt no where near 

If Spurs beat Chelsea on thursday morning this is out of our hands. 

Is the Chelsea game at the Lane?

stamford bridge

on form chelsea should walk it - they're playing the best out of us, them and spurs. I keep waiting for signs of fatigue, but benitez is rotating well and they always seem fresh - looking like they'll go through in 3rd after last night's win - that was massive for them. Gonna be a huge last few games... 

Nice one lad, cheers. Rafa is boss, really hope he gets them top four.

Yeah, you guys have a couple of potential banana skins in Newcastle (although they're utter sharke, even we beat them) and Wigan. You should do the job though. Just depends on that Chelsea vs. Spurs game whether that will be enough, I guess.  

The Chelsea vs Spurs game really determines whether we get fate in our own hands or not. A draw or a Chelsea win will do. I honestly don't care for 3rd, I just want to know that  by winning our last 2 games we claim fourth! That final day will be intense, I foresee a late night and lots of live streaming/channel swapping!

I didn't bother watching the QPR game in the end. Got up and watched 20 minutes. Checked the score. Went back to bed for an hour before work. By the sounds of it we're mastering quick starts followed by long periods of nothing!

if chelsea win then a draw and win will be sufficent for us, i'm a bit worried about chelsea compact schedule will get them tired and knacked for the spurs game. As for qpr game 3points is all that counts at the moment, we should really be putting teams like that away after scoring so early. Here's hoping that Wigan will knackerd next week after they play the final this weekend 

When will Theo get is good as Bale is at the moment?

keep reading about cesc's returning to arsenal mmmmm can't see it happening but would be interesting if it did

Theo's got 20 goals in all comps and 2nd only to mata in premier league assists

Decent season

yeah since you put it like that, decent indeed. i think i get annoyed by him sometimes because i think he can do more

23 points in tips comp

2 rounds to go

paul to win!

Some interesting stuff from Giroud;

“My agent spoke to them and it was approved by people at Bayern Munich,” Giroud said.

“But they wanted to wait for the Euros and Mandzukic had a great Euros. To be pursued by Bayern, it is good.

“I replaced [Robin] Van Persie and when you arrive at a big club like that, they are very demanding towards you.

“The criticism has not always been deserved, but they push you on. 17 goals and 11 assists – that is better than Henry and Drogba in their first seasons.

“This is the quality I have. I have got better with this team and this staff – it is another level. And I want to continue to improve.”

I like that he has the balls to quote his numbers and prove his point. He did have to replace van Persie, but I don't think any of us were under the illusion he'd have a 30 goal season. 17 goals and 11 assists however, is a fairly good debut.

Wigan lost this morning so their game against us will be even more intense now........

Wigan never get relegated. We never miss out on the top 4.

Something is going to give.

atleast you know that they wont be parking the bus.....was really hoping we would knock newcastle down on the last day

Puma deal for arsenal WTF i know its not offical but sounds very strange

 Just have to hope it gets invested into the team. You also better hope you don't end up sporting the hideous kits we do.

Just strange for me then LOL i thought it was between nike and adidas.......money wise it does sound great 

The one strange thing is that they used to be spurs' kit, but they aren't anymore so that's good!

Not to get over confident but could 3rd be on the cards? We're 2 points behind Chelsea and only 3 behind on GD, if we can get two wins, a win and a draw for Chelsea might be enough. Sp*rs are now thankfully relying on us to bottle it. Here's to not bottling it.

Still in our hands but to be fair, that was a good result for Spurs. I'm not sure if we would have got a draw based on our current form. Note, I said form, not current results.