Tottenham are ready to make a summer move for Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou, according to The Daily Mail.
The Ivory Coast international is a free agent at the end of the season due to an expiring contract, and the White Hart Lane club are ready to try to sign the African attacker on a Bosman ruling.
Kalou has largely been a bit-part player in the Blues set-up this season, but has been given a lease of life by Roberto Di Matteo, and is featuring more regularly in fixtures in Europe and the Premier League of late.
Chelsea are said to be keen to offer Kalou a new deal, and will re-open talks with the player’s representatives next week over a possible extension.
Italian giants AC Milan are also believed to be keeping an eye on the situation, and are ready to make a move to sign Kalou if contract talks with Chelsea fail.
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Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is confident injured duo Steven Gerrard and Pepe Reina will be fit in time for the start of the new season.The pair have not travelled with the rest of the squad to China for the first leg of the club’s pre-season tour of Asia.
Gerrard is still recovering from surgery to heal a groin injury that ended his season in March and goalkeeper Reina is not yet ready to return to football after a double hernia operation last month.
Speaking at a press conference in Guangzhou as his side prepare for their first friendly on Wednesday, Dalglish said he was confident both would be fit to kick off Liverpool’s English Premier League campaign against Sunderland on August 13.
“Steven is injured at the moment and that’s why he’s not here with us,” Dalglish said.
“He has made a fantastic recovery from his operation towards the end of last season.”
“He just needs to get the final couple of niggles out of the way and then he will be fit for the start of the season against Sunderland.”
“I know people are disappointed he isn’t here with us but the disappointment would be far greater if he couldn’t play the first game.”
“That is why he has stayed at home, to rest and to have the best chance of being fit for the start of the season.”
“The same situation applies to Pepe – he had a double hernia operation in June.”
“He isn’t fit and so had to stay at home. He should be ready for the start of the season.”
A truly terrible week for the gunners, blowing a two goal lead to lose to their north London rivals followed by defeat in Portugal to Braga. A result which leaves their qualification to the last 16 from a group that was originally perceived as a formality now far from certain, going into the final group game. Talk of the title returning to Arsenal for the first time since 2004 have also quietened.
This week at FFC we have seen a variety of blogs which has included; A sign of football’s moral and financial depravity, Chamack vs Bendtner and a few Arsenal stars from yesteryear appearing in The Premier League DREAM team of all time?
We also have a look at Arsenal’s best stories on the web.
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Hallå Underbar – Christian’s lady puts Premiership WAGS in the shade
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Should Arsenal fans be overly concerned by his exit?
FIVE things we learnt from Arsenal today
Is this the Premier League team from HELL?
Will Morimoto swoop really provide the missing piece for Arsenal?
Arsenal FC – A Ferrari chassis powered by a Ford engine
Time for an Arsenal clearout?
The Nicklas Bendtner Poser
The Premier League DREAM team of all-time?
Who provides the backbone in Arsenal’s Ultimate XI?
A sign of football’s moral and financial depravity
Chamakh vs Bendtner
Are football fans slowly being shafted?
Why SOME Arsenal fans need to put away the pitchfork
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Click here to see the Best ARSENAL BLOGS around the Web this week
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£17 Million for two teenagers, how silly is that? – Highbury House
A poor team in a poorer league – Online Gooner
The Good, The Bad & The Downright Ugly – A Cultured Left Foot
Cesc crocked, Good, now we can get on with our game!! – Highbury House
In response to Ranting Morons – Online Gooner
The Invincibles Would Have Gone TWO Seasons Unbeaten These Days! – Wrighty7
Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta has stated that he is ready for the derby fixture against Manchester United, and admits that his side are lucky to have the chance to get back in the title race.
With Roberto Mancini’s men trailing the champions by three points, the sides meet at the Etihad Stadium on Monday in a crunch clash.
The Argentina international has admitted that his side are looking forward to the game, and must go into the fixture without fear.
“To be honest, after the Arsenal defeat I thought our chance was probably gone,” he told The Sun.
“We’ve been five points clear before so we know how it feels.
“But United losing against Wigan and dropping points against Everton shows that in football you have to believe because you never know.
“If we have another chance for the title it is because we deserve it. We kept going and we will continue to do that and see what happens.
“We know how important this game is. United are the team we want to beat — especially because it gives us a chance to go back to the top of the table.
“For the race for the title, it’s very important. That’s why it is probably one of the biggest derbies ever.
“We need to be strong mentally, focus on what we do and give it our all. We’ve got the talent and the quality — we’ve got everything.
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“But the mentality and the attitude for that game has to be more then 100 per cent. If we put everything into it, with the quality we have got it can make a difference,” he concludes.
Samir Nasri has refused to commit his future to Arsenal amid rumoured interest from English Premier League rivals Manchester United.Nasri has one year left on his contract at the Emirates but can force his way out of north London early if he opts not to sign a new deal.
In that event, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will be forced to cash in on the midfielder in the July transfer window or risk losing him on a free transfer the following year.
With no shortage of suitors – he has reportedly attracted interest from United, Manchester City and Real Madrid – Nasri is in no rush to decide on his future.
The France international, who will line up with Les Bleus in friendlies against Ukraine on Monday and Poland on Thursday, said all contract discussions were off until after those matches.
“I don’t know if I will sign a new contract,” Nasri told TF1’s Telefoot in France.
“Anyway, the discussions are ongoing. For the moment, I don’t think about this. We will speak about it after the match with Poland.”
”Do I want to go to Man United? First, we should see if it’s real and if it is concrete.”
Wenger could be in for a busy transfer window, with Cesc Fabregas and Andrey Arshavin also expected to attract interest from rival clubs.
As certain players continue to perform week in and week out, others begin to find themselves more and more on the sidelines. This is the case with a number of players earning their wages at Tottenham. This is not because they are bad players – they just can’t keep up with the likes of Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale – and let’s face it, few can. I’ve singled out four players for whom I think it’s time to move on. These are good players who I think could re-ignite their career at new clubs. Furthermore, their sale will add funds to Harry Redknapp’s transfer kitty as he hunts for the signature of two further ‘world-class’ players to help Spurs compete for trophies.
One such player who hasn’t made the impact that he may have hoped for is Niko Kranjcar. He joined Spurs for £2 million in 2009 and has only played sporadically since then. Newcastle United, Everton and Liverpool are all thought to be after the Croatians signature, which is valued by Spurs at £7 million. If Spurs move on Kranjcar for this kind of money it will be a piece of very good business. It’s unlikely that Newcastle and Everton will shell out that kind of money and Liverpool’s spending is being monitored very heavily right now. If Kranjcar engineers a move to Liverpool then he may find himself in a similar position to the one he’s currently in at Spurs. If Tottenham are willing to come down on their price, then moving Kranjcar onto Everton or Newcastle would be the best option for everybody involved.
Robbie Keane is another who has struggled to get game-time this season. The same state of affairs saw Keane shipped off to Celtic last season, where he was a success, winning the Celtic Fan’s Player of the Year Award. This season it’s likely that Keane’s plight will see him moved on for good. Juventus are thought to be monitoring Keane’s circumstances with interest. At one stage Keane looked set to be a real Spurs legend, so it’s a little sad to see him go, but it feels as though the time is right. Despite being 30 years old, you still feel as though he could do a job in Serie A.
Despite a good start to his Spurs career, David Bentley’s form soon faultered and he saw himself drop down the pecking order. Bentley cost Tottenham £15 million in July 2008 when purchased from Blackburn. It’s unlikely that Tottenham would be able to recoup this money in his sale. But with Aaron Lennon and Luka Modric both keeping him out, it’s time for him to seek football elsewhere. A move back to old club Blackburn Rovers could be on the cards, and if Spurs can get about £7-8 million out of the sale, they’ll have done a good piece of business.
Another player frozen out by Redknapp over the last year or so is Jamie O’Hara. The 24-year-old midfielder spent the last season on loan at Avram Grant’s Portsmouth, where he impressed. It’s now thought that West Ham (now managed by Grant) are looking to add O’Hara to their squad. If West Ham can match Spur’s £6 million asking price, this would be a good move for both teams.
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QPR have come back from two goals down against Liverpool to win 3-2 at Loftus Road on Wednesday night.
After a goalless first half, Sebastian Coates and Dirk Kuyt gave the Reds a 2-0 advantage, and what looked like all three points.
However, Mark Hughes’ men fought back admirably, levelling things up through Shaun Derry and Djibril Cisse, before Jamie Mackie grabbed the winner in injury time.
Kenny Dalglish was left shell-shocked by the defeat, but gave QPR credit for their comeback.
“I think for us, we were a little mindful of opinions about how we would play after getting into the semi-finals [of the FA Cup] but I think they started fantastically well,” he told Sky Sports.
“For most of the game they controlled it, they passed it, they moved it. They scored two goals and could have been four or five up by half-time and they weren’t.
“They came out for the second half and started quite brightly again, and they went on and got two goals and out of nowhere they have got three.
“For us, we don’t really have an explanation other than to say they deserve a bit of credit for what they did.
“We should have been out of sight before it even got to that stage. It’s a difficult one to take because there was so much that was very positive about the game,” the Scot concluded.
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Liverpool remain in seventh place, whilst QPR move out of the relegation spots and up to 17th position.
A humble Pep Guardiola paid tribute to Manchester United and committed himself to Barcelona following Saturday’s emphatic Champions League win.Guardiola was on the touchline to witness one of the all-time great performances as Barca ran riot at Wembley, trouncing United 3-1 to lock up their third Champions League title in six years.
The 40-year-old, who was rumoured to be considering departing the Camp Nou should Barca win Saturday’s final, flatly denied those reports in his post-match remarks and said he was committed to seeing out his contract with the Catalan giants.
‘I will say it again, I have another year on my contract and I intend to work it out,” Guardiola told TVE.
”I feel privileged to have these players. Everyone has worked towards this. We are very happy. But I have to look inside of me. I am happy to be here as coach of these guys, but it is not an easy job.”
“We must congratulate Manchester United for the great match they have played. We are pleased because we know how hard it is to win the Champions League.”
“We had some time to prepare this encounter and I thought we played excellently tonight.”
“We went 1-0 up but we knew that with all of United’s history and stature in the game they would come back at us. In the end, though, we managed to control the match and we won very well.”
Lionel Messi, who has already attracted plaudits as the greatest player in the modern game, was hailed by his manager as the best ever after a scintillating goal in the 54th minute put Barca ahead for good.
“Lionel is the best player I have seen and probably the best I will ever see,” Guardiola said.
“He made the difference. Messi is unique, a one-off. I just hope he doesn’t get fed up. “
“When he doesn’t play well it is because something is wrong with his environment. Let’s hope he can continue playing well.”
The Barcelona coach was less sure if his side could be labelled the greatest of all time however, deferring to greats teams of the past led by the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano and Johan Cruyff.
‘I don’t know (if Barcelona are the best ever),” Guardiola said. “It is impossible to say.”
“I didn’t see the Real Madrid of Di Stefano and the Ajax of Cruyff. We try to play as well as possible.”
“I hope in the next 10 or 15 years the people will remember them and have enjoyed them.”
There’s an obvious comparison to make here: this save is very similar to Gordon Banks’ save against Pele in 1970. This was a tough call: there a so many wonderful Schmeichel moments, but this save was truly outstanding. The Dane’s save from Rapid’s Rene Wagner came in an otherwise unremarkable, straightforward 2-0 victory for United, but it remains one of his best.
This save is as good as it is bizarre. With three minutes gone at the Nou Camp, Claudio Cacapa (whom Newcastle fans should remember from a recent North-eastern stint) under pressure from Rivaldo, hit an outrageous backpass to Coupet. With the all sailing over Coupet’s head, the Frenchman managed to backtrack and head the ball onto his own crossbar. The onrushing Rivaldo powered a close-range header toward goal, but Coupet somehow got back up to produce a stunning save.
The then-Premiership champions Arsenal had been expected to crush second tier Sheffield United at Old Trafford in this FA Cup semi, but found themselves struggling to add to Freddie Ljungberg’s 35th minute opener. With time running out, Sheffield United begin to throw men forward, and following a bit of a scramble in the area, the ball breaks to Paul Peschisolido, three yards out, with an open goal. The now-Burton Albion manager’s header was goalbound, until Seaman, showing incredible agility for a 39-year old, managed to claw it away from goal. Breathtaking.
The inclusion of this save is a little dubious, given that the ball seems to cross the line, only to be missed by the liner. It’s a save too great to ignore, though. Christian Brocchi’s shot takes a huge deflection off Ajax’s Petri Pasanen, and with the ball heading for the top corner, the Romanian stopper somehow manages to scramble across goal and claw the ball away. Not before it crosses the line, mind.
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Perhaps not quite on a par with the others, this is one of the Irishman’s finest moments. With the score at 0-0, in the days when Irish-French footballing relations were a little better, Zinedine Zidane lines up a free kick just outside the area. His strike is flying towards the top corner, but Given, cat-like, flies across his goal to palm the ball away. An excellent stop.
I’m aware that there’s plenty I’ve missed here, and as such am a moron who probably doesn’t even watch football. So, inevitable haters, what should I have included here?
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Last Saturday I watched in disbelief as Argyle scored twice in the last five minutes to gain a dramatic point against promotion chasing Southend United.
The Green’s had trudged off at half time looking disheartened and even the most optimistic of Argyle fans would have struggled to predict that they would snatch a point from the game. But something almost magical happened in the second half. Argyle’s performance was much improved and resilient. Indeed they had the better of the second half yet the Southend defence was proving tough to break down. Finally in the 86th minute a snapshot by Nick Chadwick pulled a one back for Argyle and from then on the Southend defence was quaking, the fierce Home Park crowd roared the Pilgrims on and two minutes later they had rescued a point.
This is not the first time in recent weeks that Argyle have pulled off such a recovery however. Against Burton Albion they kept going and Simon Walton scored a dramatic 89th minute winner. The following week Argyle faced more tough opposition in Crawley and trailed from the stroke of half time. Argyle rarely threatened one of the fiercest defences in the league but in the 90th minute Frenchman Maxime Blanchard equalised emphatically with an overhead kick.
Despite their lowly league position, it is obvious that team spirit in the Argyle camp is sky high, and Carl Fletcher has installed the kind of mentality that saw Norwich gain so many late points last season in the Championship – it’s not over until the final whistle.
Although these late points don’t do much at a glance for Argyle’s survival hopes, you have to look at the bigger picture. These late comebacks have been against some of the divisions promotion hopefuls, who Argyle were expected to lose heavily too. If our relegation rivals fail to take anything from their games against these sides then it is immediately a point gained on them. The other thing is that these results will be keeping the squad’s morale high, and going into some crucial games we have coming up in the next few weeks, high morale will hopefully lead the way to some more positive results.
In the coming weeks, weather permitting, Argyle face Macclesfield, Barnet, Accrington and then the most crucial game of them all, Dagenham at home. Three of those games are highly winnable for the greens. Macclesfield are in terrible form and are dropping down the league table like a stone. Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge are two of Argyle’s relegation rivals and they will look to take three points from both games anyway, but with the Green’s playing at home I am very confident of victories over these sides.
Since Fletcher took over the managerial reigns Home Park has become a bit of a fortress and Argyle have only lost twice on their own patch since Fletcher became manager. Fletcher himself has even credited the point taken against Southend to the Home Park crowd who kept the noise levels up despite being 2-0 down for most of the game.
It won’t be until we get a lot closer to the end of the season that we start to see the impact of those points that Argyle have gained. But I am sure that come the end, those points could be the difference between survival and relegation for Argyle this season.
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By Plymouth blogger Sam Barker. Check out his blog at: http://samtbarker.wordpress.com/