Gooner Talk

Arsenal, and especially Arsene Wenger, continue with their quest to win the UEFA Champions League and prove themselves as being one of the best teams in Europe. They qualified with ease against Twente, winning 6-0 on aggregate, and they will feel confident they can come out of this group and earn a place in the last 16.

Arsenal lost 1-0 at Fulham in only their 2nd game of the season, but have bounced back with 3 consecutive wins in a row. They have managed to keep clean sheets in all of their games this season except the one against Fulham and will be extra buoyed by their impressive 0-4 win at Blackburn on Saturday in a game they dominated and deserved to win by the scoreline it ended.

Samir Nasri and Mikael Silvestre will both miss this game through injury. Other than those 2 players, Arsenal have a full squad travelling to the Ukraine.

Key Fact:

Arsenal have met Dynamo Kiev twice previously in this competition but this was back in the days when Rebrov and Shevchenko were still tearing apart defences across Europe. During this time Arsenal lost 2 times in the Ukraine to Kiev.

Predicted Starting XI

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

Match Prediction: Dynamo Kyiv 1-2 Arsenal

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

Arsene Wenger’s first ever game in charge of Arsenal was a 2-0 win against Blackburn at Ewood Park; the same scoreline would be welcomed with opened arms if it was to occur tomorrow.

Blackburn have registered one league win in five seasons against the Gunners side, and lost eight of the 10 fixtures. Morten Gamst Pedersen scored in the only victory; 1-0 on 25 February 2006 at Ewood Park.

Match Facts

If Emmanuel Adebayor scored tomorrow, he is a hat-trick shy of 50 goals for Arsenal.

If selected, Ivorian defender Kolo Toure will be making his 200th Premier League appearance – all for the Gunners.

Also if selected, Theo Walcott will be making his 100th club career appearance (Southampton and Arsenal).

Team News:

Arsenal will assess the fitness of midfielder Samir Nasri (knee) ahead of the trip to Blackburn.

England hat-trick hero Theo Walcott could be rested to the bench on Saturday, but recent signing Mikael Silvestre (thigh) remains a doubt.

Striker Carlos Vela looks set to be given more recovery time following a late return from international duty with Mexico, while Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Abou Diaby (thigh), Amaury Bischoff (groin) and striker Eduardo (leg) remain in recovery.

Predicted Starting XI

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

Match Prediction: Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Arsenal

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

Unbeaten Newcastle travel to the Emirates this weekend after a midweek Carling Cup extra-time win over Coventry. Confidence is growing on Tyneside with Kevin Keegan’s new signings making a big impression.

However, they should face an Arsenal side determined to get back on track in front of their own fans after a surprising 1-0 defeat at Fulham last weekend. Luckily for them, their recent home record against the Magpies is particularly strong.

Newcastle have recorded just one League win over the Gunners in the last 13 encounters. This run includes 7 defeats and 5 draws. However, the Gunners haven’t had it all their own way in recent League clashes as 3 of the last 4 matches have ended in draws.

Despite this, the Toon haven’t enjoyed too many trips to the red side of North London in recent times. They’ve lost 5 and drawn 1 of their last 6 visits whilst their last win was back in 2001. Shay Given is the only Newcastle survivor from that 3-1 win whilst none of the present Arsenal squad were involved. That win was the Magpies only away win against the Gunners in the last 11 years.

Arsenal Team News

Cesc Fabregas makes a welcome return into the starting line-up after his midweek exploits against FC Twente. Kolo Toure and Theo Walcott look set to brush off slight knocks sustained earlier in the week.

New signing Mikael Silvestre will not feature because of a thigh muscle strain, while Philippe Senderos has completed his move to AC Milan on loan.

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

Match Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle Utd

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

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.

Craven Cottage has traditionally been a successful hunting ground for Wenger’s Arsenal, but a Fulham side boasting several new signings looked to bounce back from their opening day defeat by Hull.

Arsenal on the other hand, looked to continue from where they left off against West Brom with another 3 points hopefully going their way.

Fulham Starting XI

Schwarzer
Paintsil – Hughes – Hangeland – Kallio
Bullard - Davies - Murphy – Gera
Zamora – Seol

Arsenal Starting XI

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

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New Arsenal signing Mikael Silvestre has been praised by Gunners’ legend Frank McLintock who believes it’s a good bit of business done by Arsene Wenger.

The 31-year-old completed his £750,000 move last night and signed a 2-year deal and become another member of Arsenal’s almost all-French backline.

And McLintock, who skippered the club to the Double in 1971, insisted:

“Silvestre will be a very, very good signing for us.

“I never even thought about him but he is just the type of player we need. He has bags of experience and won’t cost a lot as he is 31.

“Being French, he’ll have no trouble settling in.”

Mikael is set to train with his new team-mates for the first time this morning and could make his debut against Fulham if Kolo Toure isn’t fit.