Gooner Talk

Sunderland host Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in today’s 3:00 kick-off looking to follow the example set by Hull City last weekend.

The newly-promoted Tigers ripped up the formbook and made a mockery of the bookmakers who made them distant outsiders to take anything away from the Emirates Stadium as they left north London with a 2-1 victory.

That result has given the rest of the top-flight’s lesser lights belief that they too can compete on any given day with the top four and it’s fair to assume that Black Cats boss Roy Keane will have conveyed that to his players this week.

Injury concerns continue to hamper Keane’s plans though as he will once again be without Kenwyne Jones (knee), Teemu Tainio (shoulder), Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring) and possibly Phil Bardsley (ankle).

Arsene Wenger admitted he felt sickened by Arsenal’s ‘careless’ defeat at the hands of Hull, which also saw them relinquish their position at the top of the Premier League table to Chelsea.

However, the Frenchman was heartened by his side’s 4-0 Champions League thrashing of FC Porto on Tuesday night with Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie both bagging braces.

Domestically, Arsenal have now been beaten twice – which is just one less than the total number of losses they suffered during the entire 38 games of last year’s campaign – so Wenger knows any further slip-ups could be costly.

The Gunners remain unable to call on the services of Abou Diaby (thigh), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and Eduardo da Silva (broken ankle).

Predicted Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor – van Persie

Match Prediction: Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal

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

Leave your views and predictions of this afternoon’s game in the comments section below.

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 midfield maestro Samir Nasri has been ommitted from Arsene Wenger’s 18-man squad for the trip to Dynamo Kiev tomorrow night through injury.

The French star has failed to recover from his knee injury in time and has been left at home.

Youngster Jack Wilshere, who made his debut for the club in the Gunners’ 4-0 win over Blackburn on Saturday, has been included in his place, while forward Carlos Vela has also made the squad and could fit in on the left of midfield after impressing in that position during his loan spells with Spanish teams Salamanca and Osasuna.

Emmanuel Eboue has been deemed fit enough to play and is included while Aaron Ramsey – who set up Emmanuel Adebayor for his hat-trick at the weekend – also gets the nod along with Alex Song and Gael Clichy, who had also been struggling with a knock.

Predicted Line-Up

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Eboue – Fabregas – Denilson – Walcott
Adebayor – van Persie

Arsenal midfield maestro Cesc Fabregas is set to return from a hamstring injury as the Gunners’ play the return leg of their UEFA Champions League qualifier against FC Twente at Emirates Stadium tomorrow evening.

Switzerland international Phillipe Senderos won’t play though. The 23-year-old was today undergoing a medical with Serie A giants AC Milan.

New signing recruited from Manchester United, Mikael Silvestre, will not play due to a thigh muscle strain which will keep him out the side until mid-September.

Abou Diaby (thigh), Amaury Bischoff (groin), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and striker Eduardo (leg) remain in recovery.

Predicted Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor – Van Persie

The match kick’s off at 8.05pm tomorrow evening and is live on BBC3 and you can catch all the game build-up here on Gooner Talk with a match preview later this evening and a match report immediately after full-time tomorrow night.

With just one game into the new Premier League campaign, International friendlies already become the main talking point of the week with several Arsenal players starring for their respective countries.

Here at Gooner Talk, we look to bring you the latest updates and results on how the Arsenal players are doing for their countries with a brief summary of how they got on.

The following players were in action tonight:

Theo Walcott – England v Czech Republic
Nicklas Bendtner – Denmark v Spain
Johan Djourou – Switzerland v Cyprus
Robin van Persie – Russia v Netherlands

Read the rest of this entry »

Arsenal have secured the signature of Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre for a fee rumoured to be in the region of £750,000.

The 31-year-old has played over 249 games for the Premier League champions and has surprising swapped Manchester for north London.

Silvestre was reportedly undergoing a medical at bitter neighbours Man City last night when his agent phoned him to say that Arsenal had an interest in him.

According to The Sun, Mikaël immediately abandoned the medical and hurtled down the M1 to meet Gunners boss Wenger and discuss terms.

Speaking on his move to the club, the Frenchman said:

“I’ve spent a large part of my career at United, the last nine years, and I’ll remember that time fondly but feel I’m ready for a new challenge. Arsenal is known for playing technical and skilful football, and has a young but experienced squad. I’m really excited about this next stage of my career, hopefully playing my part in helping the Club to new successes.”

What is also surprising, is the fact that Wenger has given Silvestre a 2-year deal, going against his usual 1-year to over 30’s policy.

Not only will the signing of Silvestre bolster Arsene Wenger’s defensive options, but it should also provide experienced cover for fellow countryman Gaël Clichy.

Mikael will wear Pascal Cygan’s old number 18 shirt.