Gooner Talk

Arsenal kicked-off match day two of their Champions League campaign with a tie against FC Porto of Portugal.

The Gooners inside Ashburton Grove anticipated a much improved encounter than the poor performance and 3 points dropped against Premier League newcomers Hull City last weekend.

Arsene Wenger’s ‘sweeping changes’ involved replacing Emmanuel Eboue with Samir Nasri, other than that, the team was unchanged from Saturday’s loss to Phil Brown’s Tigers.

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Arsene Wenger said he felt “physically sick” after Sunday’s shock defeat by Hull City but the Arsenal manager will be hoping to get his European campaign back on track with a win against Portuguese Champions FC Porto this evening.

The Gunners’ only previous home defeat to a newly promoted side was against West Ham in February 2006: in their next European game they recorded a famous 1-0 win at Real Madird to set them on the road to the quarter-finals and eventually the final in Paris.

France midfielder Samir Nasri returns to the squad for tonights clash with Porto.

Nasri has been out with a knee injury since late August but is available to face the Portuguese side.

Alex Song (hip) joins Tomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby, Amaury Bischoff and Eduardo in the treatment room.

Arsene Wenger has said he will make changes following the shock defeat by Hull, with Mikael Silvestre among those hoping for starts.

Predicted Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Silvestre
Eboue – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor – Bendtner

Match Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 FC Porto

Catch all the post-match reaction and player ratings here on Gooner Talk seconds after the final whistle.

Leave your views and predictions of tonights game in the comments section below.

Arsenal’s Carling Cup tie with Wigan Athletic has been pencilled in to be broadcast live on Sky Sports next month.

Arsene Wenger’s young Guns were rewarded for the mauling efforts against Sheffield United with a game which could see the likes of Egyptian frontman Amir Zaki come up versus Gavin Hoyte.

The last time both teams met in the competition was in 2005 when a memorable injury time goal by Jason Roberts secured their place in the Carling Cup final.

Last season, Arsenal fought a scrappy contest to beat the Latics 2-0 at the Emirates thanks late goals from William Gallas and Tomas Rosicky. At the JJB, Arsene Wenger’s side forged a 0-0 draw mainly due to Wigan’s stern defensive display.

Emirates Stadium will play host to the game on Tuesday 11th November.

Jack Wilshere has a pre-contract agreement with Arsenal when he signs on pro forms in January which will see him make an enormous £15,000 a week.

The 16-year-old was promoted to the first team after impressing boss Arsene Wenger during pre-season and was subsequently rewarded with the number 19 shirt.

He continued to impress in the Emirates Cup and his 15-minute cameo role against La Liga winners Real Madrid confirmed the fact that Wilshere looks the part in the Arsenal first team squad; he is now set to earn 200 times his current wage packet.

Then, the England Under-17 star scored in the Carling Cup thrashing of Sheffield United. Premier League money-bags Chelsea were immediately linked with the Stevenage-born starlet.

Wilshere will sign his first professional deal when he turns 17 on New Year’s Day. Keep up to date with all the latest news and views on Arsenal’s reserve & youth set-up over at our good friends Young Guns.

Not going to talk about the embarassing display on the pitch. We all know it was sh*t and not good enough.

Aside from the match, I am angry, really angry about the ticketing situation that saw two Hull muppets get seats in the middle of the North Bank upper yesterday.

When Hull scored, they showed themselves and it kicked off. There were only two of them, but they were obviously up for it and determined to bring a bit of Championship support into the Premiership. Obviously a few Gooners stepped in, gave them a slap and then the Stewards got them out the ground. The Stewards did a good job. The Gooners who gave them a slap did a good job. HOWEVER…

WHY WERE THEY THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Ticketing and the HUGE increase in touts outside the ground is getting worse. Half the touts had Millwall tattoos yesterday and obviously couldn’t give a f*ck who they sold to, or are maybe happy to encourage trouble in the ground.

Its a disgrace that neither the club or police are stopping this, resulting in law abiding home supporters getting into fights/trouble in the home support end as trouble makers from opposition fans take advantage of a ticket from a tout.

The person responsible for buying the original ticket (ie, the season ticket holder, or silver member or red member) should be banned. The touts need to be arrested and Arsenal season ticket holders in that area deserve an apology from the club.

If the club wants to charge premium rates for the tickets, they need to give a premium, safe, atmosphere to watch it in. With touts selling to anyone outside the ground the club cannot guarantee this.

Finally, what will happen if either Sp*rs or Manwho trouble makers decide to do the same thing this season?

Article by Robsy – Proud member of The Online Gooner Forum

Corinthians striker Detinho is the player being linked with a transfer to Arsenal after Richard Law told a Spanish newspaper that a deal is “progressing well” with a “Carlos Vela type-player”.

Brazil based scout Sandro Orlandelli has been keeping tabs on the highly-rated 19-year-old with the speedy forward reportedly keen to make a move during the January transfer window.

Bruno Ferreira Bonfim, better known as Detinho, strikes the ball with precision and calmness, not forgetting his superb finishing skills. Detinho would be a welcome addition to the squad and would cause extra competition for places upfront.

He rejected a big-money move to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia after opting to stay at ‘Todo Poderoso’ for the time being.

Greek giants Olympiacos are also on the trail of Detinho, their chief scout Niniadis has been spotted at several Corinthians games and with the possibility of linking up with fellow countrymen Dudu and Diogo, the starlet would have several options to choose from in January.

Porto got back to winning ways in the league by beating Pacos de Ferreira 2-0 Friday night with goals by Raul Meireles after a great assist from Lisandro Lopez (pictured above, right), and Hulk after being set up by man-of-the-match Meireles.

Jesualdo Ferreira decided to rest star man Lucho Gonzalez ahead of the Champions League clash against Arsenal in the middle of next week and replaced him with fellow Argentine Tomas Costa.

The start of the game saw a strong Porto with fast passes create several goal chances, and it was no surprise when Meireles opened the scoring with an emphatic finish after some excellent wing play from Lisandro.

Meireles did his best to return the favour shortly afterwards but the Argentine striker fired wastefully over the bar when put clean through by the midfielder. The first half was the story of Porto domination against a Pacos de Ferreira team lacking creativity.

In the 2nd half Pacos came out with a different attitude and created some dangerous situations, with Helton doing well to save a Ricardo effort.

Jesualdo did not like what he saw and made 2 substitutions, entering Guarin and Candeias for Sapunaru and Farias.

Later on the Porto coach replaced Lisandro with Brazilian striker Hulk, and the forward made the game safe by scoring his second goal of the season after a neat interchange with Meireles.

Arsenal will have their work cut out on Tuesday evening, as Jesualdo Ferreira’s side look to captalise on the Gunners’ defeat at Premier League newcomers Hull City, with what would be a marvellous Champions League scalp.

With thanks to Portugoal.net