It seems that we have stepped up our chase of Andrei Arshavin with Ivan Glazidis set to fly out and complete the deal with Zenit, it seems they want £12 million and we are only offering £10 mil, i think we will have him by this time next week.

Zenit have invited our officials out there as a sign that they want to do business with us, its a sign to us, and to Andei Arshavin. A Zenit spokesperson has said,

“Zenit have invited Arsenal officials to St Petersburg next Tuesday, This is to show that Zenit do want to find an option which will be acceptable for everyone.”

I think that Glazidis has pulled a fast one here, he has used Alisher Usmanov to his advantage, being the leading shareholder in the club and using his ties with Zenit and Gazprom he has probably persuaded Zenit to do a deal at a lower price. Glazidis may have seen the link between the two and urged Usmanov to do his bit for the club he owns a large stake of. It would be clever thinking from the new CEO.

Now onto the Hull game, i want revenge, every Gooner wants revenge so lets hope we get it. Id love to pummel that scrawny necked ostrich lookalike Phil Brown’s team into the ground, they humiliated us now we want to do the same.

But i have a feeling that it will be a very tough call if we even get the three points…

They have just signed Manucho from the Mancs on loan, and he is brilliant in the air. That threat will not go away, though he is probably short of match fitness so hopefully he won’t be there all day. I think we will need to use width against a big defence, its too much to ask Vela to start the game but i expect him to feature with Nasri starting on the left, Eboue on the right with Denilson and Song in the center. We need to stretch their defence because they have a tall defence and will not think twice about parking the proverbial bus.

I think we will draw today for what its worth, we are still lacking that cutting edge and with an added areal threat to our defence in the shape of Manucho we could well find ourself’s drawing 1-1.

There are unsubstantiated rumours flying around that Mathew Upson is having a medical today, the more i hear il bring right to you so keep an eye out for any updates.

I will post links to the game in the comments section, feel free to have your say on Matty upson, Usmanov’s involvement in the deal with Arshavin and the team for Hull.

More tomorrow Goons