Gooner Talk

Arsenal goal hero Robin van Persie was happy to help the Gunners over their Hull disaster with a two-goal salvo in the 4-0 drubbing over Porto.

The north Londoners were back to their free-flowing best as they secured a comprehensive victory in the Champions League yesterday evening.

And a delighted Van Persie said:

“We wanted to bounce back from the Hull game, that was the idea.

“Everybody was really disappointed after losing against Hull. But this was a good day.

“We knew we had to make it up to the fans and make it right.

“We played well and it was a deserved win.”

And despite the nature of Arsenal’s victory, the Dutch striker isn’t reading anything into last nights stunning result.

He continued:

“This is only our second game in the competition. There are still many more games to go. It’s too early to say what it means.”

In other news, Arsene Wenger is reportedly considering a move for Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

The Frenchman has been monitoring the 21-year-old over the past year but with the Championship leaders thought to be holding out for a fee of up to £10million, it is not known whether Wenger would be willing to pay such a hefty price for a number two keeper.

Manuel Almunia would more than likely hold on to the number one jersey, with Hennessey widely considered to be one for the future.

However, with two young stoppers in Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone already waiting in the wings at the club, the Gunners boss may be tempted to pull out of the running, with Everton also thought to be keeping tabs on the youngster.

Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner has won Gooner Talk’s Player of the Month award for September after his fantastic contribution in the Arsenal side.

Bendtner – who struck up a magnificent strike partnership with Mexican Carlos Vela – joined Arsenal from FC Copenhagen during the summer of 2005.

In August 2006, he moved to Birmingham City on a season-long loan, but returned to the Gunners in time for the 2007/08 campaign after impressing at St Andrews.

He scored his first league goal against arch-rivals Tottenham in December 07, and continued his impressive development for the rest of the season.

How Nicklas won the award

Nicklas started the month rested after sustaining a knock whilst on International duty for Denmark. He quickly bounced back from that and made an impact after coming on for Robin van Persie against Dynamo Kiev.

Little did he know, Bendtner’s biggest impact was to happen in the next two games. Against Bolton Wanderers, the 21-year-old capitalised on some slack defending to tap home past Jussi Jaaskelainen. Earlier on in that game, he set up Emmanuel Adebayor who subsequently smashed his shot straight onto the post.

Next up, was Sheffield United at home in the Carling Cup. Out came the young Guns and Bendtner was welcome back into the side along with strike partner Carlos Vela. The latter grabbed a hatrick while Bendtner scored a brace, the first with a placed finish outside the box, while the second was scored after a neat backheel from Aaron Ramsey.

Arsenal’s defeat to Hull City was the worst result of the season so far, and Nicklas managed to catch the eye with some decent passing and play, unfortunately the score didn’t change and the players went in disappointed after a poor days work.

Against Porto, Nicklas came on and immediately made an impact by winning a penalty. Freddy Guarin hacked down the Dane and up stepped Emmanuel Adebayor who finished with aplomb.

A fantastic month for Bendtner, and there’s surely more to come from the young Danish starlet.

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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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

Arsenal midfield maestro and Euro2008 Champ Cesc Fabregas believes he will have to raise his game after the performances of Arsenal’s young guns on Tuesday night.

Arsene Wenger used a squad with an average age of just 19 for the Carling Cup clash with Sheffield United at the Emirates, but still saw his talented men put in a masterclass display as they dismantled the Blades 6-0.

Fabregas – himself the yougest-ever player to appear in the Gunners’ first team – admits the performance left him on the edge of his seat, and believes it won’t be long before the pretenders to his crown will be knocking on the door.

“I was really excited on Tuesday – it was sensational. You can see all the players have ambition, they want to show how good they are,” the 21-year-old told The Sun.

“I cannot go to sleep as one day or other they will want to play more and more and the manager will want them to play more.

“I will have to be better and better. Wilshere, Ramsey, Merida — they all play in my position. This is great for me. I love competition.”

And Fabregas, who joined the north Londoners as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in September 2003, believes nobody is better for giving youngsters a chance than Gunners boss Wenger.

“He doesn’t care how old they are and it’s amazing. It’s why we have so many good young players. It’s the club’s policy,” said the Spaniard, who is expected to return for the club’s Premier League clash with Hull City tomorrow.

“Even if you’re 14 or 15 he always looks relaxed to you and instils confidence in you. For what he does with young players, no one compares with Wenger.”

Gooner Talk will provide all the build-up towards Saturday’s 4pm kick-off against Hull City and a match report will be posted up immediately after the full time whistle – stay locked, on the #1 site for all of Arsenal’s first team news and views.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick as Arsenal strolled to a comfortable victory over Blackburn at Ewood Park.

It was always going to be a test for Arsenal seeing as how the last performance away from home was a dire 1-0 loss to Fulham. After a stunning double win over Twente and Newcastle at the Emirates.

Nasri would not start due to a knee knock – despite travelling with the squad, but England hero Walcott would start in what would prove to be a football masterclass.

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