Happy Thursday, all. It’s so close to the weekend! But even that seems a little uninspiring without any Arsenal football to look forward to…most of the latest news is surrounding Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad announcement, and the divorce of Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool FC. Surprisingly little has been said of the talks held at Arsene Wenger’s home yesterday between Ivan Gazidis and Arsene Wenger, and Robin Van Persie, presumably about his future at the club. In fact, a few papers are saying that because an agreement wasn’t announced (AFTER ONE, REPEAT, ONE DAY OF TALKS) it surely means that he won’t be back with the club.

Many are speculating that a solution won’t be reached until after the Euros, which is a fair hypothesis, but to jump all the way to he’s leaving because a deal wasn’t reached/announced today, is going out on an awfully, awfully thin branch in this writer’s opinion. While the longer this goes, the more frustrating it will be, and the more nervous I’ll get, I feel confident as of now that Robin will be with us next year. Beyond that may be a different story, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, eh?

Theo, Ox In Hodgson’s Euro Squad

As I mentioned before, The England squad for Euro 2012 was officially announced yesterday and the two Arsenal players that are in it, are Theo Walcott (Expected) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Relatively less expected). Unsurprisingly, all the talk has been about the latter’s inclusion, as the promising youngster will potentially make his first ever England appearance in the world’s second most significant international tournament. The Ox is absolutely delighted with being selected and is looking forward to “learning from all the experienced players” at the tournament. I sincerely hope he means those on the other countries’ squads, and not the likes of John Terry and Frank Lampard…

Roy Hodgson hailed the youngster as an exciting player and cited the home leg of the Milan Champions League tie as a game that convinced him of the Arsenal man’s ability. As an American, I don’t care too much about the England squad or how they do at this summer’s tournament. But I wouldn’t at all mind Theo and the Ox roaring through the tournament and using it as a springboard to some excellent from next season. I’ll be hoping for that, and that they both make it through without and injuries, wounds, or those infamous “niggles.”

Anyway, that’ll be all for today. If you just can’t wait for more Arsenal news, go ahead and give me a follow on Twitter @DPtoGo. Either way, until next time, cheers.

Oh, and one more thing – a bit of a P.S., if you will – any time you get frustrated with the RVP hoopla, just remember: at least we aren’t Liverpool.

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Greetings, all. Your favorite American, Daniel, here. I’m feelin’ pretty effing great right now after our Sunday so I’m going to ignore all of the negative rumours this morning. All of them are the bogus “RVP to City/Juve/Madrid/Barcelona/Every other club in Europe not named Arsenal” “rumours” anyway, so you aren’t missing anything. Anyway, we’ll start with some more positive, and hopefully more realistic, van Persie news…

Robin will begin talks with Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis Wednesday morning at Arsene’s house, reports David Ornstein of BBC. I’m looking this from a positive point of view, but that probably is a direct result of that Sunday-induced high I’m still riding, as t is unlikely that a final decision will be made as, “it is unlikely that a final decision will be made” before Robin must join the rest of the Holland squad for Euro 2012, which is the very next day. Apparently Robin is okay with playing the tournament before reaching a decision regarding his club future. (GROAN.) Ornstein reports that Arsenal will offer van Persie a deal that will be for four years and will break our infamous current wage structure. Laurent “Lolo” Koscielny believes that our captain will be back, saying, ”He will be here next season. He was a fantastic captain, he was so important for us. He will be here scoring goals for us next season.” I sure hope he’s right.

The Rest. It Ain’t Much

Elsewhere, Arsenal.com has conducted an interview with our newest Gunner, Lukas Podolski. You should definitely check it out. Lukas has some very positive things to say, as he’s very confident of his future with Arsenal.

I’m not sure this is even news any more, but our (least) favorite Dane, Nicklas Bendtner, is OFFICIALLY not staying with Sunderland next season. According to The Mirror, Bendtner missed the team bus – though they don’t give any other details – and was also pulled over by a police officer for erratic driving. Reeeally couldn’t care less about Bendtner any more, but maybe some of you do, and you’re really all that matter.

So that’ll have to do until tomorrow, ladies and gents. Go ahead and give me a follow on Twitter @DPtoGo and until next time, take ‘er easy. Cheers.

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Greetings, all; T.G.I.F., eh? The importance of this weekend cannot be understated. It will not only determine our final place in the league, as well as our Champions League fate for next season, but it could very much have a monumental impact on the long-term future of the club due to its financial ramifications. But everyone knows that already, so let’s get into the the latest Arsenal news, shall? We start off with a bit I think you’ll get a kick out of…

If you’ll recall, the last time Arsenal and Spurs were were competing for a Champions League spot on the last day of the season, our far inferior nemeses had a bit of trouble with some lasagne…(or was we Americans say, lasagna) You all know the story, but yesterday it got a bit better. If that were possible. Our very own, already a legend of a manager, Arsene Wenger poked a bit of fun at our jealous neighbours and their 2006 digestive dilemma. In his presser yesterday, Arsene stated that the club will “eat their own food” in an attempt to avoid the same sickness that derailed Spurs champions league hopes those six years ago. Heh, heh. How great is that? Arsene, regardless of how you feel about his performance these last few years, has been a remarkable manager for Arsenal Football Club and has done remarkable things here. But all of those pale in comparison to teasing the worst team in North London just a few days before one of the most important weekends in each club’s recent history.

The Sun is using this comical bit as one of their back page stories, as you’ll see you below and you can read the The Daily Star’s piece on it here.

Arsenal Says Goodbye to One Legened, Promotes Another

Yesterday, it was officially announced that Pat Rice will be retiring as Arsene Wenger’s right-hand man at the end of the season after 44 years of service to the club. 44 years. As @TheSquidBoyLike pointed out, that’s longer than Dennis Bergkamp – and everyone else that’s less than 44 years old – has been alive. Pat Rice is as much a legend as one could possibly and he’ll always be remembered and loved by not only the club’s supporters, but by the club itself as well. Arsene said it best yesterday: ”Thank you Pat, we’ll miss you and all of us wish you and your family the best of health and happiness for the future.” Hear, hear.

It was also announced yesterday, that Steve Bould would be the one to step in to Pat Rice’s old position. This was the hire pretty much everyone’s been expecting for quite sometime now. If you don’t already feel that he’s a good appointment, here’s Arsene’s argument (in video) for why he was the best choice, courtesy of The Sun.

Wenger Denies M’Vila Interest; Juve Ain’t For Robin; And Shinji Kagaw: Arsenal Target?

As you saw in that video, Arsene denied any deal, contact, interest, and even possible future interest for Yann M’Vila. So, knowing Arsene, that probably means a deal and contract are entirely agreed upon and will be announced shortly. He doesn’t exactly have a record of being honest with this stuff, does he? I can’t say I have an earthly clue what’s going on on the transfer front, but I think all of the different stories coming from every which way about this means we shouldn’t count the M’Vila egg before it hatches, if you will.

In what is surely to be my least favourite Arsenal transfer saga, we have a “development” on the van Persie story, as The Express say he is set to reject an offer from Italian champions Juventus. If you guys are like me, you already knew that if Robin was to leave this summer, it wasn’t going to be to Turin. So let’s move on…

Arsenal are now in for Borussia Dortmund’s Japanese midfield maestro Shinji Kagawa, according to The Mirror, The Express, and The Sun. But Arsene said we aren’t interested in any one at the moment, so surely this can’t be true.

I’ll send you off with some funnies -as long as you’re not an ardent England supporter…- from The Sun front page, via Nick Sutton. Only 3,000 England fans have bought tickets for Euro 2012. And you Brits says we Americans aren’t real football fans…

That’ll have to do for now, Gooners. If you just can’t wait until tomorrow for more, then you should give me a follow on Twitter @DptoGo. Until next then, cheers.

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