Gooner Talk

Former Arsenal defender Gilles Grimandi could be on the verge of becoming the club’s next assistant manager.

The 40-year-old, who is currently employed as the Gunners’ French-based scout, revealed at the start of the season that he had begun his relevant coaching badges with a view to managing in the near future.

Arsenal’s current #2 to Arsene Wenger is Pat Rice, who has been rumoured to leave his post at the end of the season.

Grimandi was one of Wenger’s first signings at Arsenal, joining from the manager’s former club Monaco in June 1997 for £2.5m. He left Highbury in 2002 for a very brief spell at the Colorado Rapids before returning to France.

He played 84 matches for Arsenal in midfield, right-back and centre-half and won the Double in 1998 and again in 2002.

Goalkeeping hotshot Wojciech Szczesny looks likely to start against Stoke City on Saturday, giving the Pole another chance to stake his claim for their Arsenal number one jersey.

20-year-old Szczesny, who was a surprise starter at Old Trafford, admitted he was relishing his time in the spotlight and looked forward to taking his upcoming chances in goal.

“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I felt some kind of pressure before the game but I didn’t feel nervous at all. Overall I enjoyed it, apart from the result.

“I’m the reserve keeper and I have to take every chance I get. This was a massive chance for me, to make my debut at Old Trafford and I thought it went pretty well. Unfortunately it didn’t help us to get any points. But this is my big chance and I intend to take it.”

Yorkshire-born Howard Webb will referee Monday’s Clash of the Titans between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Webb, who famously refereed the summer’s Champions League and FIFA World Cup finals’, has been involved in a number of controversies during recent seasons, many of which, coincidentally enough, have occurred on United’s home ground.

Those incidents have also led many Red Devils fans to question Webb’s partiality.

However, a statistic in Arsenal’s favour is that the last time they lost a Premier League game with Webb as the referee was at Old Trafford in April 2008 – winning six of nine matches officiated by him since then.

Manchester United left back Patrice Evra has launched another scathing attack on Arsenal ahead of Monday’s crucial Premier League clash between the two heavyweights at Old Trafford.

The French international, who has previously dubbed Arsene Wenger’s team as “babies” and ”shameful“, suggested that “nobody will remember them in 10 years time” due to the recent lack of silverware in the Emirates Stadium trophy cabinet. 

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Arsenal scored two late goals to edge past Serbian side Partizan Belgrade to book their place in the knock out stages of the Champions League.

Robin van Persie scored the opener from the penalty spot after he was taken down by Marko Jovanovic, before highly-rated striker Cleo netted the equaliser early on in the second half to silence the home crowd.

An inspired substitution from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger saw Theo Walcott come on and score, before Samir Nasri wrapped up the win. The Gunners were reduced to 10 men five minutes from the end after Bacary Sagna was sent off for a foul committed as last man.

Arsenal have now scored more goals at home in the Group stages of the Champions League than any other team in the competitions history.

Shakhtar Donetsk beat Braga 2-0 to win the group with 13 points, one more than Wenger’s men, meaning Arsenal could face one of the following teams in the Champions League last 16 next February.

Teams Arsenal could face in the last 16:

Bayern Munich
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Schalke

Controversial talkSPORT host Adrian Durham stated that Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin “shouldn’t be welcome back into England” after taking part in Russia’s successful bid to host the FIFA 2018 World Cup.

Arshavin, who will be 37 by the time Russia hold the event, was present at FIFA’s HQ in Zurich along with several other Russian dignitaries for the well-awaited announcement.

Despite Arshavin looking extremely dignified after the announcement, Durham used the 29-year-old as a scapegoat for England’s bid failure and encouraged his listeners to “boo” Arshavin when he returns to club duty for Arsenal.

“Arshavin shouldn’t be welcomed back into England after what he did to us,” Durham said on his daily ‘Drive Time’ show.

The oil-rich nation of Qatar were the other selected country to host the 2022 World Cup, making it the smallest nation and first Middle Eastern country to participate in the tournament.