Opening day sees Emirates Stadium welcome Aston Villa

With fixtures released earlier today, Aston Villa will be the first Premier League team to visit the Emirates Stadium in the 2013/14 season. Spurs follow-up just two weeks later in what promises to be yet another fiery encounter. Full fixture list below:

August

Sat 18 | Aston Villa | H

Sat 24 | Fulham | A

Sat 31 | Tottenham Hotspur | H

September

Sat 14 | Sunderland | A

Sat 21 | Stoke City | H

Sat 28 | Swansea City | A

October

Sat 5 | West Bromwich Albion | A

Sat 19 | Norwich City | H

Sat 26 | Crystal Palace | A

November

Sat 2 | Liverpool | H

Sat 9 | Manchester United | A

Sat 23 | Southampton | H

Sat 30 | Cardiff City | A

December

Tue 3 | Hull City | H

Sat 7 | Everton | H

Sat 14 | Manchester City | A

Sat 21 | Chelsea | H

Thur 26 | West Ham United | A

Sat 28 | Newcastle United | A

January

Wed 1 | Cardiff City | H

Sat 11 | Aston Villa | A

Sat 18 | Fulham | H

Tue 28 | Southampton | A

February

Sat 1 | Crystal Palace | H

Sat 8 | Liverpool | A

Tue 11 | Manchester United | H

Sat 22 | Sunderland | H

March

Sat 1 | Stoke City | A

Sat 8 | Swansea City | H

Sat 15 | Tottenham Hotspur | A

Sat 22 | Chelsea | A

Sat 29 | Manchester City | H

April

Sat 5 | Everton | A

Sat 12 | West Ham United | H

Sat 19 | Hull City | A

Sat 26 | Newcastle United | H

May

Sat 3 | West Bromwich Albion | H

Sun 11 | Norwich City | A

Wenger ranked 29th in managerial league table

In a league table of managers, BBC Sport has released rankings of how managers are performing this season.

Ferguson has taken the top spot with a points-per game total of 2.48. Wenger ranks much differently, with 1.64 points-per-game ranking him just 29th; a poor show from the Arsenal boss.

#1 – Alex Ferguson

#4 – Roberto Mancini

#8 – Roberto Di Matteo

#19 – Andre Villas-Boas

#22 – Rafael Benitez

#23 – David Moyes

#29 – Arsene Wenger

The full table can be accessed on the BBC Sport website.

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A wanted man – David Villa

Arsenal target David Villa seems to be in high demand after reports now suggest Manchester City are in for the Barcelona striker with Balotelli now heading to the San Siro to join up with AC Milan.

Whilst the playing style of Arsenal would much better suit Villa, the opportunity to win trophies at City would outweigh the decision, not to mention the bottomless pit of money offered at the Manchester side.

Villa’s experience could offer a lot to a struggling Arsenal of recent. His goalscoring ability too, would be of much need to bolster an already impressive attacking display of talent; think strength in-depth (the vital ingredient to success).

Whether Barcelona are ready to part with Villa and whether Wenger and the board are ready to part with cash is yet to be seen, but hope can remain for now in the Arsenal camp.

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Target: Mapou Yanga-M’Biwa

Montpellier central defender, Mapou Yanga-M’Biwa, was scheduled last night to have a medical at Newcastle – only he didn’t turn up. This puts more speculation into the story, one with gaining momentum.

If he wasn’t at Newcastle, where was he? With a late offer from Wenger, it is believed the Montpellier man has delayed any more progress with Newcastle to start proceedings with Arsenal.

Giroud’s previous association with Montpellier and M’Biwa could become a turning point, with the Frenchman keen to link up with his fellow compatriot once again.

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Transfer hustlin’ and bustlin’

In a month where most are fighting to keep their warmth, Arsenal fans are slowly warming themselves to the possibilities of signings given that Wenger has recently stated Arsenal are now in a position to ‘spend big’.

The coup of Walcott signing a contract extension is an extremely positive move for Arsenal, both on and off the pitch. Perhaps his signing marks an end of an era of continuously selling our best players, and are now ready to compete in the market  for big business.

Edinson Cavani would be that big money signing. The Napoli star striker has been linked with a move to Arsenal for numerous weeks now, with Wenger commenting that he ‘likes Cavani as a player.’ With a £45m buy-out clause in his contract, the possibilities of Arsenal more than doubling their transfer record seems to be ludicrous. Indeed it is.

I highly doubt that Wenger would be willing to part with £45m, given his preferred movement is to buy quality players on the cheap. However, the market has expanded a lot since the old times of classic Wenger signings such as Viera and Henry. Realistically thinking, would Wenger want to spend that much? Recent signing Giroud looks to be settling in and may have more to offer, and Walcott has signed a new contract with the intensions of playing upfront. Does Wenger then need a new striker? Well, yes and no.

Firstly, it’s all about strengh in-depth. To win in the modern world of football means having a well rounded squad, bench included. Look at Manchester City, United and Chelsea’s bench and the huge talent they can afford to have sitting there as back-ups. Secondly, no: with Walcott having more opportunities to play in a strikers role and Oxlade-Chamberlain paving a way into midfield, it creates a space on the right-wing. This leads us to Zaha… Where this conversation ends, we won’t speculate.

Which leads to asking why Wenger has announced his liking of Cavani. It is, mostly, speculation from the media and simply a coy answer from Wenger. It’s fuel for the media and for the fans, to keep us busy. But realistically, it’s a ploy from Arsene; diverting our attention away from his real targets. This is why there is no hope of Arsenal signing Cavani, albeit we would love for it to happen.

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Walcott puts pen to paper

Arsenal have today announced the contract extension of Theo Walcott after months of contract talk.

The past few months have been frustrating ones with talks of Walcott moving to Premier League opposition, following in the footsteps of Nasri and Van Persie. Walcott’s extension marks an important turn in Arsenal’s future with the core of now comprising of British players; combining with the likes of Wilshere, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain. This is now the future of Arsenal.

Walcott has said “I am very happy to have signed a new contract here at Arsenal. Thanks to everyone for their continued support, especially the manager, everyone at the club and most importantly the fans. I have made it clear from the start that I wanted to stay at Arsenal so I am pleased we have agreed a deal that everyone is happy with. What’s important now is for the team to realise its potential and win trophies.”

An important capture before an important match against Chelsea in the Premier League run in.

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