An easy 3-0 win over Genclerbirligi (who?) where the Turkish side managed to hold Arsenal for the first 30 minutes or so but after that the expected domination began. Can’t read too much into a 3-0 win against an unheard of side but at least the preseason’s off on the right foot.

You could literally see the rust wearing off the players as the game went on, especially RVP who looked sluggish at the start but began to settle down and had some nice cracks at goal. Bacary Sagna and Eduardo Da Silva (I will never call him Dudu) made their debuts, Sagna seemed pretty shot-happy letting it go from quite far out a couple times, he’ll learn thats not how things are done soon.

EDS is an exciting player to watch, he’ll do the unnecessary step-overs thing but it’s also evident the man has the talent to attack the goal - something he did a few times only to find nobody at the end of his crosses. Anyway, enough talk, here are the goals.

Robin van Persie scores on a nice run and pass from Theo Walcott at 45 minutes:

Theo Walcott scores early in the second half:

Robin van Persie scores another after being setup by Adebayor. The combo we’ll rely on all season click:

Update: found this WMV highlight clip here.

According to Sky Sports which is quoting the Spanish press, Arsenal have agreed to terms on a loan deal which would bring Argentine forward Angel Di Maria and Brazilian forward Pedro Silva to Salamanca and into the Gunners’ fold. It’s all very confusing with work permits and all but this looks to be a typical Arsene Wenger move: get them while they’re young.

I’ve seen Angel Di Maria play in the U-20 World Cup and the kid obviously has some talent. Here’s a highlight clip which shows that:

Although Di Maria is the more polished player, the report claims that it’s Silva that has already been on trial with the Gunners and is ready for a move to North London. But it’s a good bet that both will be at Salamanca next season since a) there’s not enough playing time to go around with the big club and b) they seem to have work permit issues and are ready to spend the season in Spain.