We got both. A 6-0 victory over newly promoted Blackpool might not completely impress the pundits, but the team needed this. Plenty of goals and the time to bed in to fast passing and free attacking football was the perfect tonic to allow the players to re-accquaint themselves with our style of play.

Theo, however, was fantastic. His first hat-trick for Arsenal, 3 fantastic goals. He looks a very different player to the one we saw last season. A summer of rest and no injuries have done him wonders. He looked much stronger yesterday, he made a few turns with defenders at his back which I expected him to go down or be muscled off the ball, but not yesterday, he rode each challenge out and kept running, kept making those passes and taking those shots. A brilliant performance and he deserved the match ball. I hope this is the first of many goals this season. Arshavin should be worried if both players form continues to be immeasurably different.

But Theo was not the only highlight of the day; Tomas Rosicky completed 90 minutes (which is very rare since his injury) but not only that, he also was outstanding too, his play was like the pre-injury Rosicky and was a welcome sight on the pitch again. I hope he too can continue in this form. Chamakh also looked good, he needed and wanted a goal so badly that we thought it wasn’t going to come off, but his headed goal was well taken and I suspect we will see many more of those as the season progresses, also his workrate was good to see.

Arshavin also played better, he put more effort in and took his penalty well. He looked fitter than last week, and looked to care more about the game. Song played at centre back, he did quite well but his best position is further up the park in the defensive midfield role – despite what some were calling for for him to be installed as a permanent centre back. Diaby also played a decent game, his goal a highlight, but again he was invisible for long periods of play.

Blackpool were unlucky to have the penalty awarded against them, the foul was outside the box, but it WAS a red card. Last man means red. To say it killed the game is unfair on Arsenal. Yes it meant Blackpool were less adventurous but we could still play. But you have to credit Ian Holloway for setting his team up to play football, not just sit back and defend, he must take credit for that but I worry that the way the league is he will have to change his tactics to a more negative style if they want to survive their first term in the Premier League. Their fans also deserve a mention, plenty of noise before during and after the game, even if their song of choice was the same the Phil Brown picks for karaoke.

A good result, some nice goals, a confidence boost. Cesc got a good reception when he came on, as did van Persie. But neither really looked completely sharp during their late cameo. Almunia did give a wave to the North Bank before he left the pitch, was that a goodbye? Next week we face Blackburn, a different prospect, but one we will no doubt clear with relative ease provided we ignore their neanderthal looks and tactics.

I can’t wait.

Cesc, Alex Song and Johan Djourou will all be in the squad; I expect Song is probably a definite starter in that list. I am not sure on the other two. Van Persie could step up from the bench and feature from the off, but with the opposition we face I wouldn’t be too upset to see him enter the fray later on. But it will be interesting to see how he links up with Chamakh.

Some disappointing news yesterday, Emmanuel Frimpong suffered a cruciate ligament injury in training and will be out for up to 9 months. A shame to see, but I don’t really think he was going to play a major role this season.

Jay Simpson has also left the club, joining Hull City. He never really had a chance in the first team, perhaps he didn’t fit with Arsene’s plans. But you have to wish him the best of luck with his new club.

Samir Nasri is of course injured and Laurent Koscielny is banned following his sending off last week at Anfield.

Tomorrow should be a 3 point banker, but then again I remember thinking that when Hull first visited the mrats and we all remember what happened there…… I think Blackpool will be buoyed by their opening day win away at Wigan, and we will have to be careful not to take the 3 points for granted. But we should run out winners in this one, perhaps a 3-1 victory as I don’t think we have yet found our free scoring ways of the like we saw at the beginning of last term. I hope Cesc gets a decent reception from the fans as well.

The club has asked fans to get in early tomorrow, 2.40pm to be exact as there will be an unveiling of the clock and the “new” stand names. It will be good to sing “we’re the north bank Highbury”. Enjoy the game wherever you are watching.

Oh, and I pity the fool who signs for Sp*rs.

In day to day life I am a well mannered young man. My parents are probably quite proud of how they raised me, I am polite, considerate and hold down a respectable job. However for certain 2 hour periods between August and May I shed this persona and become a foul mouthed angry man. I’m not sure what it is but as soon as the whistle goes to start the game something changes, perhaps Derren Brown hypnotised me to do this when a whistle blows. I shout at the ref, call him a c*nt if he does things wrong, I give abuse to the opposition, I get worked up when passes go astray or shots miss the target. I recall last season against Barcelona, one of the girls who sits behind me asking “I hope you don’t kiss your mother with that mouth of yours”, perhaps I had uttered c*nt too many times that night? After the game my legs are usually sore from the tension of standing and my shoulders hurt too. I get so worked up about Arsenal, day to day they are pretty important to me but for those 90 minutes they are the most important thing in my life – nothing else matters. It’s great to have this back!

The Emirates Cup kicks off today with us playing AC Milan; Cesc and van Persie are missing due to World Cup commitments and Diaby, Denilson, Song and Bendtner are all injured (already). I suspect the absences in the middle will allow the younger players to get more of a game than they would have expected, I would hope Jack Wilshere gets to shine again as he has done in the other pre-season games up until now. This season could be a big one for him and I hope he gets his chances. I will be watching today’s game at home with a mate, but tomorrow will be at the stadium – sat in club level for a change. I wanted to see what it’s like and there will be a smaller queue at the bars I would imagine.

In his press conference yesterday the talk of transfers unsurprisingly came up, comments like “we can win the title without any more signings” is not the sort of thing we want to hear. A centre back is a must, and Arsene knows this but I suppose it is finding the right one. I don’t want us to start the season with only 3, because that won’t work, you just know it. Our cover at CB, Alex Song, is injured so that rules that option out. It’s pretty important to strengthen here and I will be quite worried about how we will last the season so weak in such an important position. There was also stuff about Cesc, but it was pretty much a case of we will not negotiate with Barca. Good. Moving on….. Goalkeepers were discussed, but I suspect that Mark “I love Arsene, no really I do” Hughes is unlikely to sell to us even if they do sign Green as a replacement. But we still have a  month of the transfer window to go, so I’m not getting too worried yet.

Enjoy the game if you go today, I will post updates via twitter during the afternoon. Thanks for reading.

If he signs we will only have 4 central defenders; Vermaelen – definitely up to the job, Djourou – worries about his long term fitness and capability for a full Premier League season and Koscielny – unproven at this level. Sol will be the fourth member of that quartet. He did great for us in the second half of last season, his positional brain is still there and he had some pace that I never expected to see. But will that still be there as he is one year older?

There is no doubt that he adds something to the dressing room, his experience and character are major plus points which I think as fans we cannot truly value as a lot of that part goes on behind closed doors. We need some commanding people at the back, it will be interesting to see how loud Vermaelen gets this season, we saw glimpses last year, he is no longer the new boy and Gallas is not there to give him “that look” if he dares shout a bit.

But is 4 enough? We love our injuries at Arsenal, so a few games without Vermaelen leaves me worried at the moment. The two younger players will hopefully surprise us all and be fantastic, but it is still a worry that hopefully Arsene is aware of. There is the option of Alex Song covering at CB in times of need, but he plays better slightly further up the park and he always seems to be one yellow card off a ban when we need him to fill in for a few games at center back. However if we bring in another defensive midfielder who can fill both roles like Song can then things might be a bit more comfortable for the defensive ranks.

Thanks to all those who entered the competition, and congratulations to our winner Daryl. I hope to have a few more competitions over the course of the season. Thanks for reading.

picture from arsenal.com

Above is the new home kit for the forthcoming season, it’s red with white sleeves – brilliant! There has been a lot of fan backlash following our current home kit not having fully white sleeves and you have to think that Ivan Gazidis listened to this and perhaps pointed Nike in the right direction. The players seem to like it too with Alex Song, Thomas Vermaelen and Theo Walcott all talking about how traditional it looks. I like it, it looks like my last home shirt I bought (the last O2 kit) and I pre-ordered one today from the official store. It comes out on the 27th July, but you can pre-order now to avoid the queue at the armoury on the day.

picture from arsenal.com

One thing to note in the pictures for the new kit is the number that include Cesc, perhaps the club are more confident of him staying now. I wonder if his experience of bench warming for Spain has concentrated his mind a little? Maybe, maybe not but there has been a lesser number of “Barca DNA” stories recently – perhaps the Catalans have less money than they thought? John Cross in The Mirror writes today that Cesc may stay after all following his experiences at the World Cup.

But then again when Thierry left there were pictures of him wearing the then new kit.

The transfer merry-go-round continues to gather pace, Laurent Koscielny still hasn’t completely signed but all things point to that being a mere formality. But our defensive corps took a beating yesterday as Sylvester, Gallas and Sol all saw their contracts expire. Sol was up in Glasgow looking at Celtic, but he is delaying a decision – perhaps to see what we can offer him? This morning The Sun links us to Per Mertesacker, a good signing for us and clearly an area we need to improve on following last season.

The official site reported that a player, a defender, will be signed before the end of the World Cup. I would guess it’s Laurent Koscielny from L’Orient. But time will tell.

Not much else going on in the world of Arsenal at the moment. Let’s hope the World Cup gets a bit more interesting.

So from numerous mid-season denials and confirmation he was an Arsenal player we now have Cesc telling Arsene he wants out of the club. But when you examine all that has happened this season, and some of what might happen, his decision is far from madness.

To lose Cesc will hurt Arsenal, it will hurt Arsenal fans and it will hurt Arsene. He is by far our best player and single handedly kept us in the title race at times last season. 2009/2010 was his best season in an Arsenal shirt, he scored and created around 30 goals and was admired by the footballing world, and of course coveted by his boyhood club Barcelona.

So why might he want to leave? Here are some of my thoughts behind his reason why

- Is this current squad top class? I think, aside from Cesc, we only have 4 real top class players – van Persie, Arshavin (when he tries), Vermaelen and Song. 5 players does not make a team. Whilst we have some decent squad players, each season we have fallen short recently.

- Will investment be made to improve the team? To add to the 5 money needs spending, Arsene wants to live within the club’s means so big ticket players are unlikely. Rumours are that Cesc asked Arsene what his transfer plans were, perhaps the answer was not one that inspired confidence and that helped with the decision to leave.

- Is Arsene staying beyond next season? Coupled with the above, what if Arsene really is thinking of not staying on. I think his principles would mean he would not want to saddle a new manager with a number of his new players and not much money in the coffers.

- The Premier League is not based purely on skill, hard challenges are very much part of the game. Cesc does not hide from a challenge, but he has seen two team-mates suffer broken legs in the last 2 years and with his recently broken leg (suffered ironically against a Spanish team) perhaps a league that is less robust and more about football is more appealing.

I also think that giving him the captaincy was more about trying to keep him at the club than seeing him as a natural leader, when he was appointed Arsene said there are “lots of leaders in the dressing room” almost ceding that Cesc was not an out and out leader. If you look at Vermaelen (granted making a new player club captain is not the best move) or Sol they lead on the pitch where as Cesc is a lot quieter at times, that is no criticism of him but more of Arsene for bestowing him with the armband.

There has been a fair bit of negative reaction from some Arsenal “fans” towards Cesc, if he moves I won’t harbour any hatred against him. I will be gutted, and 5 days of mourning will be in effect, but he has given his all for this club from an early age you cannot question that. One thing I will say though, there has to be some questioning of Arsene if Cesc does leave – is this the end of that project? The team will change fundamentally and perhaps the focus on certain trophies might have to change.

Arsenal are reportedly going to fight to keep the player, but like in a relationship when one partner wants out and the other begs them to stay things are often never as good as they were. Patrick and Thierry did not play that well in that “extra” season after they asked to leave, I would far rather have the season just gone as my lasting memory of Cesc in an Arsenal shirt rather than a mediocre one.

Today we face Fulham who have their minds hopefully on the Europa League final this Wednesday, a great achievement which should warrant Roy Hodgson manager of the year. We need at least a point to ensure 3rd place, I am confident we will get that.

A win would be a nice sign-off for the season which has drawn to a close with a big dip in form. The usual lap of honour will take place today, some blogs have called for everyone to leave at 80 minutes or to boo during the post match festivities – all bollocks I say. We have supported the players all season, and can anyone say that they all deserve to be boo’d at this juncture? Cesc, Vermaelen, Sol, Song to name a few players who have been fantastic – do they need to hear boo’s in recognition of their efforts this season? I think not. Yes there are some players who have not performed to their best, but as fans we are meant to support our team through thick and thin – however hard that can be at times.

Enjoy the game wherever you are watching.

There were also questions on Arsene’s future; he said it will be decided by how well he does and secondly if he enjoys what he is doing. There was the usual “what if another club came in for you” but this was rebuffed with the “I will honour my contract” line. I think we will get to early in 2011 before Arsene commits to any more years as manager.

There was also the transfer rumour mill, started by the suggestion of Joe Hart. The response from Arsene was “all the rumours are wrong, any name you give me (today) they are wrong” citing the market not yet being open. I will leave the transfer merry-go-round to another day as well.

On the keeper subject there was the question of Fabianski starting, Arsene said “come to the game, you will see who starts in goal”. I am worried if he does start, but I’m not sure we have any other option. In other team news Arshavin will not return for this game but should be back for Blackburn. Eduardo missed Wigan with a broken toe but will be in the squad tomorrow, Alex Song also makes a welcome return to the side.

I’m not feeling that upbeat about the game at the moment, the recent poor results combined with facing a Citeh side chasing 4th (or possibly 3rd) place means I doubt it will be a comfortable afternoon in the stands. Perhaps the Adebayor factor can distract us from the pain of recent games.

Thanks for reading.

Yesterday it was announced Alex Dimitri Song Billong will not travel, he has a groin/leg problem. Massive blow. Sol Campbell is a bit of a doubt also, two games in a short space of time might be too much. Then just before bed, following a wine fuelled evening, I thought I would check twitter before I went to bed – I wish I hadn’t. Rosicky is now rated as 50:50 for the game. The footballing injury gods are not being kind.

But so what, we can’t get all upset about it. We have to go out there and play with the players we have. We do have nothing to lose. If Barca beat us 3 or 4 nil it is hardly unexpected, they are the best football team in the world at the moment, but I would rather we didn’t get a hiding. The pressure is on them. A goal down and their fans might turn on them. They are clearly worried about Theo and his pace after he ripped them apart last week, I hope he starts tonight. Kudos to the boss for taking him along to the press conference, build up his confidence and also knock Barca’s a bit.

But we can win this, if we play like we did later in the game on Wednesday we might pull that upset. We just might do it, everyone has written us off just like they did so many times in European competition in the past. We could do this. I know I don’t have the most positive feeling about tonight but they might surprise us. Can you imagine how good that would feel?

My beers are already in the fridge, I do not have to work today or tomorrow. But tonight will no doubt take an age to come. But I am looking forward to it. Every gooner should be, you have to love that we are playing against the best team in the world tonight, no matter what the outcome might be.

COME ON YOU REDS!!!!!!!!!!