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.

We at ArseShirts love design, so we were thrilled to hear of Gucci are elebrating their 90th anniversary in style, by collbarating with another of Italy's most iconic companies, Fiat.

The hughly popular Fiat 500 has been revamped by the fine people at Gucci, and on the opening week of the Milan fashion show, the two respected brands launched the Fiat 500 by Gucci. The famous Italian car boasts contemporary inteoriors while looking stylish as ever in both black or white. The end product is superb, and is the work of Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini in partnership with Fiat’s Centro Stile.

The 500 not only boasts stunning looks and excellent features, but starting from £14,565 on the road, it's also excellent value. The good stuff doesn't stop there though, you can also pick up the award-winning 0.9 litre TwinAir from as little as £15,765. Two prices that represent top value in today's competitive car market.

Fiat also understand how the modern world works, and they prove this by allowing you to order your 500 by Gucci online. The fully automated on-line sales scheme allows customers to pay a deposit, order it directly from the factory, track the car’s progress, make a final payment and even arrange special delivery of the car to their home.

The only thing you have to worry about is whether to chose black, or white? Check more pictures and make your choice over at http://www.fiat.co.uk/500bygucci

For more details and to reigster for all the latest information, check out fiat.co.uk/500bygucci. The car looks set to be an instant classic, and with the easy online options to follow and track your order, it really adds a top class element to what is a beautiful Italian classic.

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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.

Fresh from launching their brand new website, Mirrorfootball.co.uk has this week entered the mobile market with the launch of it’s new iPhone app. Now all football fans can benefit from their news and views from hard hitting columnists, including respected Arsenal fan and journalist John Cross.

The launch of the app, which will have a one-off price of £1.19, will bring the Mirror’s specialist, standalone football website to a new audience of iPhone users. Building on the success of the Mirrorfootball.co.uk website, the app allows users to personalise their homepage with a bookmark for their chosen Premier League club.

It will also offer extensive photo and video-led content, club-specific news and live match-trackers for up-to-the-minute results. As well as having instant access to a 24/7 news service and a wealth of exclusive daily opinion pieces from some of the best writers and names in the game, users will also be able to comment on articles, send them on to friends and publish to Twitter and Facebook.

Rick Gleave, Head of Interactive and Mobile, Trinity Mirror, said: “We’re really excited to be launching our Mirror Football App. It condenses Mirrorfootball.co.uk’s extensive content into what will work best for consumption on iPhone or iPod touch and it offers users a level of interactivity around video, social media, comments and wealth of content that competitors’ apps simply can’t match.”

Since 2004, UKSoccershop.com has been the number one source for authentic Arsenal football shirts, training wear and official merchandise.

You can buy the latest Arsenal home shirts, away kit and 3^rd strips, complete with official shirt printing for all your favourite Gunners stars including Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Andrei Arshavin and Robin van Persie. You can also get your own name and number printed in the official Premiership style as well as official sleeve patches for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

UKSoccershop offer fast, reliable shipping on all Arsenal shirts and have all products in stock ready for immediate delivery.

You can also find a lot of harder to find Arsenal items such as official tracksuits, polo shirts, training jerseys and warmup jackets.

UKSoccershop also provide a large number of kids items, including mini kits, official jerseys and training wear.

Click here to visit UKSoccershop.com and find your perfect Christmas gifts.

This quirky number is the first from new designer Alex Zimmermann and you can have one for under £10. We’ve got something for everybody in the shop, but if you can’t find the colour or item you want, use the ‘Create Your Own‘ section to make sure you get the perfect item. You can also customize your shirt by adding a name and number, for example ‘Walcott 14′.

If you need any help or wish to ask questions, to do with the shirts or free sports betting, feel free to contact us and we’ll help you out.

Article By – Jamie Sanderson

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