Admittedly, there was a fair amount of bad luck along the way, injuries to key players, and others falling out of form, but few Arsenal fans would have expected the team to slump to a fourth place finish in the league. After a string of decent financial results, the summer was supposed to see a number of high quality signings to bolster the Gunner’s renewed assault on the title next season.

The usual early season indicator of Arsenal’s squad comes in the form of the Emirates Cup, live on ESPN football, and the competition is now only a fortnight away. At this stage, it’s fair to say that the summer hasn’t quite gone to plan for Arsenal fans.

So far, however, all the transfer news has been focussed on keeping players who might be leaving. It seems certain that Fabregas will be sold – with Barcelona rumoured to be on the verge of making a third bid – and uncertainty continues to surround Nasri and (probably of less concern to Arsenal fans) Arshavin.

That said, the highly-rated and highly-pursued Gervinho has finally put pen to paper and looks like the kind of player who would fit perfectly into the Arsenal squad. Gibbs, meanwhile, is the perfect replacement for the already departed Clichy, and with Ramsey back fit and firing, the midfield will still be strong even without Fabregas.

In fact, when you look down Arsenal’s squad list, the strength in depth is still fantastic, and the first team should be capable of taking on anyone. If key players can stay off the physio’s bench, another year of development for the likes of Wilshire and Szczesny can only see the spine strengthen. A player like Scott Parker wouldn’t go amiss, nor would some additional first-class cover in the centre at the back.

It seems that Wenger is waiting to see what happens with Nasri and Fabregas before making any further moves in the transfer market, but such a waiting game is dangerous given that Barcelona have already declared their willingness to wait until the end of the window if necessary.

All in all, Arsenal fans have plenty of reasons for confidence coming into the new season, a little luck and some good form could see Arsenal’s squad of ‘youngsters’ finally realise their remarkable talent.

If you want to follow Arsenal’s progress in the Emirates Cup you’ll need to add ESPN to your existing Sky package, just give Sky a call, or check out the website.

In order to win at sports betting consistently you will need to overcome the edge that the bookmaker charges in order to make a living. Some offer an initial free bet as well. Assuming that he makes 5%, then in order to win you need to be successful more than half the time.

Sports betting is not as quantifiable as other forms of gambling. In roulette the precise odds of winning are known; in football, horseracing and other sports (including poker) they are not. The bookmaker will set his odds based on his assessment of the most likely outcome of the event. (There are other factors too, but that is the main one). In order to beat the bookie you need to be correct more times that he is.

It is important to realise that the bookmaker does not always win, and that there are many professional sports gamblers who consistently beat the bookmakers.

To do this it is necessary to identify value bets. Value bets are those which provide a positive cost benefit. For instance if the odds offered were 5/1, which means that if you bet £1 and won then your total return would be £6, and the actual probability of, your winning was ¼ then this would be a value bet.

The actual value of the bet is the product of the two figures. i.e. 5/1 x 1/4 = 5/4 = 1.25. If the actual odds matches the bookmakers odds then the result would be 1.0, which is termed a fair bet, and if the product came out as less than 1.00 then the bet would have negative value. If you only bet on value bets then you would be guaranteed to win in the long term, in fact you could become very rich very quickly.

The art and the science of successful sports betting are identifying value bets, but if it was easy to do then everybody would be doing it and the bookmakers would soon go out of business, but it is possible to do so if you apply yourself and continually learn more about the sport of your interest.

In a historic week for both Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, the North London club took on Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates Stadium. Arsene Wenger only made one change in the team which overcame Olympiakos with a 2-0 scoreline at the home, where Sagna returned to the starting line-up replacing Eboue. Walcott also returned to the bench for the first time this season and Vito Mannone remained in goal. Arsenal legend Thierry Henry also made a surprise appearance in front of the Gooners and was given a rousing standing ovation.

In the early minutes of the game, the home side was shell shocked by Blackburn’s opening goal after Nzonzi made a looping header over Mannone from a long ball hit by Robinson. Arsenal had to dig deep and launch numerous attacks but were made to wait until the 17th minute when Vermaelen hit a sweet left foot strike, leaving Blackburn keeper Robinson no chance at all. However, Blackburn persevered to give Arsenal another warning call when the visitors launched a counter attack, resulting in a goal deflected off Gallas.

With the home side down 2-1, Arsenal stepped up the tempo. Blackburn’s lead lasted only 2 minutes when van Persie collected a perfectly weighted pass from Fabregas, putting the ball back of the net with a powerful left foot shot. 8 minutes before the half time whistle, Arshavin scored with a left foot first time shot at the same position as van Persie after the same man, Fabregas, sent the Russian another superb pass into the box.

Second half saw more super action from Arsenal but Blackburn were the likelier team to score at the beginning. The home side were give some pressure at the back but Arsenal held on. The 4th goal from the home side came from the captain Fabregas as he stroke the ball towards the top left corner using his left foot, capping a wonderful complete performance for the Arsenal. Till then, the game was fully controlled by the Gunners who were always the likelier side to add more to their goal tally. The substitutes Walcott and Bendtner scored a right foot low shot and a thunderous shot respectively, ensuring the game ended on a high for the home side. 6-2 to the Arsenal, a repeat of the similar scoreline against the same opposition three seasons ago.

Article By – Kelvin Lye