FOOTBALL CLUB WORLD

Bolton defeated Arsenal 2-1 and frustrated the Gunners' dreams of a title for this season. Wenger's squad completed their third game without a victory, and now they have no chance to reach leaders Manchester United.

Tamir Cohen scored a dramatic goal in the last minutes of the match, and that was the end of the story for Arsenal this season. Chelsea's win over West Ham helped Ancelotti's team reach the second place of the table.

It's fair to mention that the result could have been even more tragic for Arsenal, since Bolton's striker Kevin Davies missed a penalty shoot.

"I am the one to blame" said Wenger after the game. "Our team didn't have the experience to react at the most important moments, and that's entirely my fault."

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger said that the second place in the Premier League is a success, and according to him, the team did a great effort to win as many games as they could this season.

This comes after being target of criticism, especially for not winning a title since 2005. The current season was promising, but losses to Birmingham in the FA Cup and to Barcelona in the Champions League were just too much for the fans.

Barcelona beat Arsenal with a stunning 4-1 score (agg. 6-3) basically because of a player from another planet, even another dimension: Lionel Messi. The game took place at the Camp Nou, where the South American striker took his team stright to the semifinals.

Arsenal netted the opener with Bendtner but the Argentinian genious was the man of the match scoring all four goals of his team.

Barcelona advanced to the semifinal stage of the Champions League, where Inter Milan wait to prove they have enough talent to stop the Messi-mania.

As for Arsenal, the Gunners now have to think in the Premier League, a competition where the leaders are Chelsea and Manchester United.

As we know, for most soccer players now, the tag 'a dream move' is increasingly becoming a cliche; a statement made just to endear themselves with fans at their new clubs.

However, as far as Andrei Arshavin is concerned, his deadline-busting transfer from Zenit St Petersburg to Arsenal is indeed beyond his wildest dreams.

Indeed, so much so that the Russian star did everything he could to make sure the deal remained a possibility.

Case in point: at the time severe snow threatened to cripple the London transport system on transfer deadline day, he jetted into London first thing in the morning on a private plane and camped himself in a Hertfordshire hotel, just a stone's throw away from Arsenal's London Colney training ground.

And at the time the reported £15 million ($31.5m) deal was on the brink of collapse after an impasse over financial terms, Arshavin offered to take a pay-cut to ease through the deal.

What's more: he also reportedly agreed to pay 'compensation' to Zenit for leaving the Russian champions.

As you can tell, the talented 27-year-old really wanted to join Arsenal. Desperate even.

'Arsenal are one of the leading football clubs in the world, with a group of fantastic young players and a great manager,' declared Arshavin after his move was confirmed by the Premier League on Tuesday - almost 24 hours after the transfer deadline.

'I am looking forward to making the Arsenal supporters happy and helping this great club victory trophies.

'I am so happy to be an Arsenal player, it was my dream.'

One suspects that he really means it. Arsenal supporters will be heartened by Arshavin's show of determination, commitment and sincerity throughout this protracted transfer sage.

No fan likes it better at the time a soccer player appears to be devoting his life to the club.

All Arshavin needs to do is to replicate these qualities on the pitch, and he'll do alright.

Chances are he will. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has made no secret of his admiration of the Russian playmaker.

The feeling is mutual, it seems.

Arshavin, one of the leading stars at Euro08, revealed the prospect of playing under Wenger played a big part in his decision to move to Arsenal.

'I moved because I like the Arsenal style, Arsene Wenger as a manager and I like some of their players,' Arshavin said.

'Every time I talked to Arsene, he said: 'I want you to come to Arsenal'. He had confidence in me.'

But it wasn't Arsenal who made the first move, though.

After his personal success at Euro08, Arshavin - who has 15 goals from 41 caps for Russia - was flooded with enquiries from major European clubs.

Barcelona came calling, but the Spanish champions' 15 million euros ($30m) bid was turned down by Zenit.

Arsenal's north London rivals Tottenham, too, made a bid worth £16m.

It was again rejected by Zenit, prompting Arshavin to blast his club for pricing him out of the market with an exorbitant £22m price-tag.

When Arsenal started their pursuit at the start of the year, their advances were thwarted at every turn by Zenit.

Barbaric

Incensed, Arshavin described Zenit as 'barbaric' and vowed never to play for them again.

Negotiations went back and forth over the course of January and finally, the drawn-out deal was done.

It was tough work, admitted Arshavin, but it was worth it.

'It was a very tough time for me, but now it doesn't matter because I am a Gunner. It is great,' said the 2006 Russian soccer player of the Year.

Arshavin will be cup-tied for the Champions League, but his goals and creative play will be needed to propel Arsenal beyond fourth place in the Premiership to secure automatic Champions League qualification next season.

Even though Arsenal's title bid is all but decimated and the League Cup exit still smarting, the new Arsenal No. 23 has his eyes set on silverware this season.

The FA Cup - with a replay against Cardiff coming up on 16 Feb - is very much a possibility.

The EPL title? Mission Impossible, isn't it?

But Arshavin is not about to give up, just like how he refused to give up fighting for his dream move.

'Trust in me and Arsenal,' he assured. If your deliver your promise, Arshavin, all will.

The Gunners were held to a goalless draw at the Emirates, which meant they were unable to make up ground on fourth-placed Aston Villa, who also drew at home.

Despite having around 70% of the possession, Arsenal Football Club rarely threatened the Hammer goal.

And although Wenger sent on van Persie with 15 minutes to go, there was to be no late goal as if often the Arsenal style.

In fact, when asked whether he regretted the decision to leave the Dutchman out of his starting line-up, Wenger insisted: "No.

"When sides defend like West Ham did you normally expect to score a goal in the last 15 minutes or so and van Persie was on for the last 15 minutes.

"It was done not to get him injured.

"We have to be cautious with him and he had played every minute against Cardiff and also Everton.

"We have bad experiences at the time we pushed him to play lots of encounters."

The Dutch marksman, who is the Gunners' leading scorer with nine Premier League goals, currently has 18 months remaining on his Emirates deal.

Both parties sat down to open negotiations two months ago, but they were postponed as the club underwent a boardroom reshuffle.

Although Arsenal are reportedly just shy of matching Van Persie's £80,000-a-week demands, Wenger is confident an agreement can be reached.

"He knows how much it means to me and we will try to sort him out," said Wenger. "I'm convinced it means a lot to Robin to stay here.

"I've invested a lot of time in them (Van Persie and Theo Walcott) because I feel it is important to them and it means something to them to be at this club.

"He wants to be part of the club and, of course, we have to satisfy his demands as well. I don't think that we're far away."

Van Persie's blistering form has coincided with an injury-free spell and Wenger's main concern is not trying to rely on the 25-year-old services too heavily.

"I believe him being fit has helped him greatly. He is a player who has made an extreme improvement," he continued.

"When you consider the player who arrived here, and who he is today, it's absolutely fantastic. He has ingredients which are very important - talent and motivation.

"The danger is to overplay him at the moment because we still have to be a bit cautious with him."

According to the press, some top strikers are voting for the African award, but none are without their baggage. The popular Samuel Eto'o has been frequently linked with a Camp Nou exit, Chelsea hitman Didier Drogba has become all-too-familiar with the Stamford Bridge treatment room and Emmanuel Adebayor has fought tooth-and-nail with the Fédération Togolaise de Football over unpaid bonus monies.

However, Eto'o believes that Ade has done enough - emerging from the shadow of the departed Thierry Henry for the Gunners - to deserve the continent's top individual honour.

Eto'o expressed: "I would have loved to win this award again, but this year has been Adebayor's year. His performances for Arsenal FC and Togo throughout the year have been outstanding. He should win ahead of Drogba and I."

"Honestly, Drogba and I have been afflicted with injuries for some part of the season and it was Adebayor who was flying the African flag."

We must say that Eto'o's backing will be music to Ade's ears as he recovers from an ankle injury.

Under-fire French defender William Gallas is not looking to leave Arsenal, the player's agent confirmed on Tuesday.

Indeed, Gallas has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy after publicly making critical remarks about the team and questioning their fighting spirit and has since been linked with a move away from north London, with Paris St Germain one possible destination.

"I can say that William doesn't express himself and the English media take advantage of that," his agent Etienne Mendy told French paper Aujourd'hui Sport. "They haven't missed a chance to do that ever since his bad-mood gesture last year at Birmingham, and they envisage him leaving Arsenal. That is wrong."

As we know, Gallas was dropped from Arsenal's first team for last Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Manchester City but will be recalled to the starting XI for Tuesday night's Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev.

And Mendy predicted Gallas will come back better then ever: "He has taken the criticism and has already moved on," he added. "Anyway, William is never better than when he has his back to the wall."

The magnificent Emirates Stadium is a football field with a capacity for 60,355 spectators, and it is located in Holloway in the London Borough of Islington

The amazing construction is the home field of Arsenal Football Club since it opened in July 2006. It's important to say that it is the fifth-largest football stadium in the United Kingdom, and the third-largest stadium of any kind in London, after Wembley and Twickenham. Indeed, during the planning and construction stages, it was known as Ashburton Grove, after the road it was located on, before a naming rights deal with the airline Emirates was struck in October 2004. The construction stadium project cost £430 million, but this includes the cost of the associated infrastructure as well as the stadium itself.

It is a wonderful gem that every visitor must see in London. It has alos hosted some very important football games for the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.

We have some information about Arsenal selling Emmanuel Adebayor for €31.5m, but the striker has told the club he only wants a move to AC Milan, and will not join Barcelona.

Milan have stated on numerous occasions that they would like to sign a top class centre forward ahead of next season, and it was widely accepted that Adebayor, Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba were the three main targets.

The African striker has been the player that they have been pursuing the most, and it has even been claimed that the Togolese hitman has already agreed personal terms with the San Siro outfit.

Barcelona have also been heavily linked with a move for the 24-year-old, and there have been reports in some papers this week that he was on the verge of signing for them.

But Adebayor has notified the Gunners that he has no intention of joining Barca, and will only accept a move to Milan.

Adebayor’s €100,00-a-week wage demands have left the GunnersArsenal with no other choice but to sell the striker, and the North London outfit will let him go if their asking price of €31.5m is met.

Barcelona director Marc Ingla flew into London on Friday to make a €28m bid, and although this falls just short of what Arsenal are asking for, they would prefer to sell to the Spaniards rather than Milan, who angered them when snapping up Mathieu Flamini on a free transfer.

However, Adebayor is said to have sent an email to Arsene Wenger demanding a face-to-face meeting with his manager, and forwarded a copy of this to Arsenal managing director Ken Friar and Ac Milan general manager Adriano Galliani, but not to any one from spanish FC Barcelona.

Gunners' boss, Arsene Wenger, says that de defenders bad performance is the critical factor in Arsenal's lack of success in the Champions League and Premier League.

"It is the lowest week I have had here in all this time," Wenger admitted. "We have lost the 100 metres on a photo-finish. That's what happened. It's tough to swallow because you have still made a good race and you finish empty-handed. It hurts bad, really bad. Maybe for me more as I really believed that we could do it.

"We were leading against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United, and at home against them. So we can score goals. What we could not stop is conceding goals in big games. Nine times out of 10 the guy who wins a big game is the guy who scores first, and we lost all these games after being in front. So I think we suffered more as a team defensively than offensively."

The french coach, who has set a deadline of the end of this month to settle negotiations with the midfielder Matthieu Flamini, said: "My first target is to keep the team together. If you ask me how many players I want to buy, it's not a question of numbers, it's a question of one or two quality footballers."

He ruled out signing the Valencia forward David Villa, who expressed a willingness to move to the Emirates Stadium this week. "No," he claims. "I feel up front I need to give time to [Nicklas] Bendtner and Theo Walcott because they have made big improvements. Walcott is now coming on and I have to give him an opportunity at some stage."

Furthermore, Wenger had words about Philippe Senderos: "He's in the squad. But I feel sometimes you have to give the time to refresh mentally. He is so intense, Philippe. He is genuine and dedicated and he's disappointed by his performance at Liverpool but only time can get you over that."

Wenger assured that defeat in the Champions League was worse than losing to Barcelona in the 2006 final. "Against Barcelona we played with 10 men for 70 minutes. The first time you play in a final it can happen that you lose. But to go out to Liverpool after the two games we played was very, very disappointing."

Manuel Almunia is the first goalkeeper at Arsenal, but now he is a major doubt for the home game with Reading. That could mean the experienced Lehmann might have a chance to return to the first team.

In fact, further complications to the Spaniard’s wrist complaint, which kept him out of the defeat at Manchester United last weekend, could open the door for Lehmann’s farewell match at the Emirates Stadium since his departure in the summer is almost a fore-gone conclusion after being benched for most of the season.

"Maybe Manuel Almunia will be available, I just don't know," Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger stated. "I will make a decision on Friday morning. He got injured in training on the Friday before Manchester United. It's important to say that we sent him for a scan and there was an inflammation so he could not take part of the game."

Tomas Rosicky, the talented Czech Republic player, has been out of action since January with a knee problem, and when asked about how long he will remain sidelined for, he admitted he has no idea.

"In fact, it is still the same, there is no prospect, I don't know for the present,” said Rosicky. “I have missed football badly. I have never had such a long break. Not even when I broke my arm as I could take part of the game afterwards with a bandage.

"I take it as this simply is a part of this sport, and strong individuals must cope with it. And I will cope with it. It will not stop me nor break me down. However, I have realised how much I love football" he concluded.

Arsenal young frontman Theo Walcott was injured Thursday during a friendly game against the MSL Colorado Rapids. Walcott hurt a thigh muscle in a 2-1 victory by the Arsenal reserves.

Indeed, Walcott will not accompany the Arsenal first team as it travels for a Sunday Premiership fixture against Wigan.

In fact, Arsene Wenger confirmed Walcott's injury: "Today we also lost Theo Walcott. He played against Colorado Rapids, and he got a little thigh problem."

According to reports, Robin van Persie played an hour against the Rapids and is expected to join Arsenal's full squad against Wigan.

In the loss, the Rapids' first of the preseason, forward Tom McManus played a ball through to Colin Clark in the 87th minute. And Clark struck it past keeper Lukasz Fabianski for the Rapids' only goal.

As we know, the Rapids had trailed only 1-0 at the half, and the Rapids came out the gates quickly with midfielder Terry Cooke and McManus playing some beautiful one-touch passes that only a diving Fabianski could stop from tying the score in the 48th minute.

The Gunners, however, scored in the 66th minute for a 2-0 lead.

Rapids keeper Justin Hughes kept the Rapids close the entire game with key saves, including one on a breakaway in the 12th minute. But the London team scored on the ensuing corner kick.

Due to their excellent game, Arsenal FC can celebrate Christmas at the top of the standings with a victory over north London rival Tottenham on Saturday (7:45 a.m. ET).

Indeed, the Gunners only have a one-point lead over Manchester United, which hosts Everton on Sunday (6 a.m. ET). But it beat Spurs 3-1 at White Hart Lane in the league in September and hasn't lost to them in eight years.

Last season, the two teams played four times - Arsenal won one of their Premier League games with the other a draw, and the Gunners eliminated Spurs after a two-legged semifinal in the League Cup.

Actually, that semifinal game will be repeated this season after both clubs won their quarter-finals this week while ending their games with 10 men.

Tottenham manager Juande Ramos said the 2-0 win over Manchester City on Tuesday was the best display he'd seen since taking charge on Oct. 29, particularly after it lost Didier Zakora, with a red card after 21 minutes.

"I think it's a positive result and sets us up for the rest of the season," Ramos said. "We had to work extra hard after being down to 10 men to make up for having that inferior number."

We must consider that Tottenham last beat Arsenal in November 1999 when it won 2-1 in the league.

Both teams also won tough Premier League matches last weekend - Spurs ended Portsmouth's unbeaten home record and 11-match undefeated streak with a 1-0 win and Arsenal downed Chelsea by the same margin.

Saturday's encounters mark a busy period for the Premier League, with clubs playing three games within eight days by the end of 2007.

On saturday, we will see these games: Aston Villa versus Manchester City; Fulham versus Wigan; Middlesbrough versus West Ham; Liverpool versus Portsmouth; Bolton versus Birmingham; and Reading versus Sunderland.

And on Sunday, we will enjoy Chelsea game at Blackburn and Newcastle clash with Derby.

It's good to say that Arsenal leads the standings with 40 points, followed by Manchester United with 39, Chelsea with 34, Manchester City with 33 and Liverpool, Everton and Portsmouth with 30.

Just ten minutes from the kickoff, and the supporters were already screaming for a little less conversation, a little more action. In the end, Arsenal got a thrilling comeback victory over Fulham, and the fans left the Emirates Stadium with the sense of a team that didn't change from the last season.

Indeed, they stared down the barrel at a deflating defeat. Jens Lehmann gifted Fulham a first-minute goal with a comical howler, and there were less than 10 minutes remaining before a deserved equaliser arrived from a controversial penalty. The bonus of Alexander Hleb's winner came with just 12 seconds remaining. No wonder there are reports of Arsene Wenger feeling the strain.

The Arsenal coach talked of the win as "the kind of result that can change a season for a squad". His players gathered in a public post-match huddle to embrace the significance of this win. They fell behind in half of last season's home matches, but lost only one.

A setback in the opening game of the new campaign would have sorely tested their resilience and raised all kinds of uncomfortable questions about the departures of the most important star, Thierry Henry, and David Dein.

Keeper Lehmann tried to be too clever by half when Gael Clichy offered him a settling touch in the opening minute. He screwed an attempted return pass against his own knee, and the ball bounced invitingly to David Healy, who couldn't miss. and Fulham lost their goalkeeper, Antti Niemi, to a pre-match wrist injury. The local goalkeeper's embarrassment was compounded as Niemi's deputy, Tony Warner, emerged as the man of the match.

We must consider that Eduardo da Silva and Emmanuel Adebayor are both injured, and manager Wenger deployed Robin van Persie at the point of a fluid attack which searched vainly for its due rewards until Fulham tired in the closing stages.

Maybe that's why Fulham carved out their own opportunities to double the lead in the second part: Steven Davis volleyed straight at Lehmann, Carlos Bocanegra took a fresh-air shot at a close-range chance, then Clint Dempsey jabbed wide after being put clear. However, the Gunners survived their sleepy moments in defence to push home their overall superiority, and spare Lehmann's blushes.

Finally, there was a last throw of the dice feeling about the bold run from Kolo Toure that forced the equalising penalty. He beat two men in stirring fashion before being checked on the edge of the box by Bocanegra. Referee Phil Dowd pointed to the spot despite the furious Fulham protests. Toure had looked poised to score, Van Persie duly did, crashing the penalty into the roof of the net.

The fans will have a lot to think about, but they also know there is still hope, with some new players that are proving to be good enough to change Arsenal's destiny this season.