I had almost forgotten that William Gallas was captain until he opened his mouth to inform everyone that the reason he’s frowning in the dressing room isn’t because he hates everybody but because he’s frustrated with his injury. Hmmm, who cares? When the team is doing so well and there’s not a negative to be found in sight Gallas has to blurt out something that is completely unwarranted and completely out of the context of the team. His “miserable attitude” is the last thing that should be coming from a captain – injured or not. Does he think Toure will steal his job? If he does, he’s mistaken because Wenger’s not the type to switch captains mid-season. But do consider this, Arsenal are doing very well under Toure and say tomorrow Gallas comes back and we happen to lose a couple games, even the most casual observer might point to Gallas as perhaps being the reason. I think Gallas is just really afraid that his return might jinx the team’s success and he’ll end up taking some blame.

A story from a yesterday where Man Utd Bati boys Carlos Tevez and Patrice Evra think they have what it takes to thwart Arsenal. They’re saying they’ll beat us even though they admit we’re a better team than last year. Somebody remind these pricks who did the double over them last year. Looking forward to November 3rd more than ever. Man Utd have six 1-0 wins where they’ve been completely outplayed for a considerable portion of the game only to have been bailed out by an unlikely goal, the crossbar or some really bad refereeing. Wankers.

Old Boy Thierry Henry’s saying we’ve got a chance to do the double through the Prem and Champions League. Nice of him to say that but you know he just formed that opinion recently, otherwise why on earth would he leave the club? I’m telling you, deep down he’s regretting the decision, he’s been playing on the left wing in Barcelona (Monaco anyone?) and is finding the game quite different. While we’re on the subject of foreign players, how about the story of Kaka wanting to play in the Premiership at some point, is there a player that would look better in an Arsenal shirt than him? But Wenger’s eyes aren’t on Kaka, they’re on Robert Green.

Captain Toure has labeled Flamini as the Gattuso of Arsenal. Even though I think Gattuso is a diver and a drama queen, the comparison is justified because Flamini has been playing like a rabid pitbull this season.

Euro 2008 qualifiers means there’s no match this weekend. International football is so boring. Eduardo’s fit to play for Croatia and Cesc wants to win. Just to keep things fresh, here’s what Emirates Stadium looks like from Google Maps, they still haven’t updated the imagery from two years ago.

That’s all folks, grab the feed.

I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked that I erroneously trusted this Sun article’s claim that Gilberto would captain Arsenal this season. Turns out Gilberto might be out till September and it’s..sigh…William Gallas that will be the captain with both Toure and Gilberto as vice-captains. Crazy Lens will also play a part in captaining the team so there’s no shortage of leadership. Now these are the four players on the team where leadership might come from but why Gallas was chosen is a mystery. Arsene Wenger’s not making much sense to me.

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It’s the calm before the storm. The Fulham game looms large – we need to grab all nine points in August to avoid falling behind even an inch. Both Blackburn and Manchester City are winnable games that can build some confidence in the team going into September’s busy schedule which has four Premiership fixtures and likely Champions League group games. The preseason has gone as well as it could possibly go and positive talk is all around the camp, it would be a damn shame to let it all slip against Fulham. Plus, I am in no mood to be 5 points back at the end of August. But there’s some good news already, we’re getting help from Arsenal fan Nyron Nosworthy who is extra motivated to beat the scum.

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Lukas Fabianski’s a confident little fucker, he says he’s expecting competition for the starting job. No shit, eh? Apparently training with Lehmann is pretty intense – I can well imagine, the man is a psycho – but he’s enjoying the competition. Lukas hopes to have the starting job but knows Lehmann’s going to get it:

“We will see what the near future will bring. I know that it won’t be easy to become a first-choice keeper but it never was easy and I expect some tough competition. I know that Lehmann is in a better position than me but it doesn’t worry me at all.”

Something tells me we shouldn’t be discounting Almunia who has looked sharp so far albeit in preseason. Take comfort in knowing that William Gallas would love to be Arsenal captain given the chance. The man who has shown the knack of opening his mouth at the most inopportune of time says:

“I am 30 years old and I want to have more responsibilities both for my club and for the national team. I am attracted to the idea of giving advice to the youngsters, to leading a group.

That’s great to hear from a veteran player but I don’t think anybody wants to see Gallas as captain no matter how much faith he’s showing in the team. I’d much rather have Toure or Gilberto wearing the armband since they’ll have more poise and character if things start to go south. Anybody can be captain when things are going great, it’s when you lose at home to West Ham and get kicked out of the Champions League that the true value of a captain is seen. Giving the captaincy to Gallas would be like letting the grumpy male steward fly the plane just because the pilot feels sorry for him.

More confident talk coming from Robin van Persie yesterday, same old “we can win the league” stuff. Nice to hear but nothing exciting. He’s saying there’s no pressure to fill the goal scoring void left by Henry and that he just needs to “play good football”. I like humble people who know the value of team but I’d much rather him come out and say, “I want to be top scorer and will do so within the context of the team because I am that good”. That would make everybody feel a lot better, don’t you agree? I mean we all know he has to play good football and let the chips fall where they may, but having the desire of being top scorer can’t be that bad.

Kerrea Gilbert is off to Southend on a six month loan deal after being on loan to Cardiff last year. At least he’s going to get consistent playing time. The Gunnerblog’s got some lessons learned from the Emirates Cup while Arsenole is really happy Reyes is gone. We’re playing Lazio on Thursday, if my P2P doesn’t crap out, I hope to post highlights. So check back and get the feed, it’s harmless.