I'll be extremely happy if we play the attractive football we play not the tippy tippy. Not so concerned with trophies which are a bonus. Would love to be known as the Harlem Globetroters of football.

Hmmm regarding Ball the average working wage back then was about 30 quid a week and Alan would maybe have got 200 pounds ... seven times as much and he was one of the best .

Average yearly wage in England today for most nurses , welders , mechanics , office staff seems around 25 grand per year

Walcott gets SIX TIMES THAT IN A WEEK ......That's my point .
No matter important the player I don't think the club should be held to ransom ..sets a dangerous precedent .

Mrs Kiwi said to me when Charlie George left " I suppose you'll be supporting Derby now " . Get real woman

I'm for the club ....... not Arsene , Stan , Alexis , Mesut , Thierry , Dennis

If we had "a team of Jenkinsons "... sobeit .... there are plenty of little folk around quite happily supporting Leyton Orient , Maidstone , Milton Keyes , Swindon and I bet they have more than their fair share of Jenkinsons.

I only moan about lack of effort / style of play ...... not results .

Youngest son has got my old HQ .... making a fair job of painting and panelbeating .

Looks cool but when he eventually finishes it pulls up at the lights and someone says a la American Graffiti
..."what you got in there boy " and you reply 202 ...doesn't really cut it .

Keep thinking I should buy him a 350 Chev crate motor .

Well I've never noticed a lack of effort from Jenkinson. Quality maybe, but effort - a big firm no as I think he's beyond criticism in that respect.

Totally agree. Makes me laugh when I read that we should "pay them
What they want" as it "shows ambition". No it just shows the game is shafted and pretty uncouth.

I now go to football for a laugh, no more. I didn't even know we were playing stoke until Thursday, such is my interest now. Having said that, I'm enjoying it much more now I feel sightly removed from it all.

Football is great again for me now due to this.

Kaba Diarrhea, Fartin Keown and Fanny Jeffarse get my vote. Presumably Krappa as sponsors?

Is that a variation on that other New Zealand pastime, sheep-shagging?

I agree pretty much with that. Whatever we offer in salaries, fact is there are several clubs who will always go further, so we may as well set our policy and stick with it. It is not as if we are paying peanuts - how much money does a footballer need to live? Thankfully we are not Chelsea, City, United etc. and I don't want us to be. As good as they are, Özil and Sanchez haven't won us a big trophy yet, so if they want to go, farewell with a smile, and find some fresh guys who are happy to play for us. One thing for sure, Arsenal will still exist long after Özil and Sanchez have gone.

Yes, I get that with my Dartford guys. How rarely is the top level of football uplifting these days? We sit second in the table and top of our ECL group but all the talk is about how it should be so much better. In an age of austerity hugely overpaid men and their hangers-on wanting more. As Mick and the boys use to say, no satisfaction. By way of contrast I went to see Richard Ashcroft last night and was blown away by his inspirational show - thousands of people leaving with a smile on their faces. Music is power, top level football for the powerful. I just hope our club can at least help keep a sense of proportion while others spoil it.

327 is also a nice number. When I was younger I had the HQ SS with a 253 V8 and I dropped a 308 into it. Had a great rumble to it. The power in the HSV - it is 2008 build 317 motor- is amazing and mind blowing. Just to show you never really change I was at the lights the other day and someone snuck up my inside and I thought 6 cyc maybe with a little work. He looks at me waiting the lights to turn green and probably thinks sad old b******.

He guns it on green and I just couldn't help myself and really gave it some gas. My wife goes 'what are you doing' as she gets thrown back in he seat and the only reply I could come up with is 'you think I am going to get beaten by some *%^@ box like that'. Left him trailing in the distance. Up to the next lights old mate just decides to change into my lane behind me. Would love to know what he said to his mates.

I will mature one day.

Media saying that Ramsey is going to play today with Coqulin, and Özil hope their wrong, got to be Xhaka.

Surely he has to play Pedro as opposed to Walcott or Ox?

Xhaka has been playing very well but shouldn't we be able to beat Stoke with pretty much whomever, including Ramsey and Coq?

No place for Alan Ballcock?

and to think I was thinking that Everton was going to be our next hardest game.





They're losing 3-1 to Watford, 1-0 down 3-1 up Watford..............

I'm also thinking 3-0 to us. I hate thinking we're going to win as we always seem not to. Praying I'm wrong again.

Arsenal XI vs Stoke City: Čech; Gabriel, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Xhaka; Özil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott; Sanchez

I'm quite happy with Arsenal going slightly under the radar in the premiership at the moment. Chelsea are making headlines with their 8 straight wins and the 3-4-3 formation. City, pep and their poor defence are making headlines, Jose is moaning so much and making headlines every week. Also the all out attack of Klopp is taking attention away from us.

Don't jinx it !

Draxler looks like he's definitely on the move in January. His price won't be sky high unless there is a bidding war and a number of teams involved. We certainly have room for him in our squad with Sanchez playing predominantly up front now. If we go serious for him I can see other richer clubs coming in just to stop us getting him

Warrior, probably too late, I probably already jinxed it.

As for Draxler, physically I like him a lot. If he comes I'm not sure if Welbeck will stick around. I'd like him to. Having a rotation of Draxler, Giroud, Sanchez/Perez/Walcott would be nice. We are long overdue for a quality striker and although Draxler is a winger, he could be massive IF he makes the transition like Henry did (not expecting him to be Henry obviously).

In the CL, I'd like to avoid Sevilla, they are having one of their better seasons in la Liga, tucked just behind the usual suspects of Barca and RM. They are hot right now. Either of the Portuguese sides would do nicely.

If we signed him you could stick a picture of him on the ceiling above your bed.

Still no goals.

AG !

Argh another sodding injury. Mustafi off with a hamstring - going to miss him until the new year.
Stoke wasting time over every restart already.

Lee Mason is the ref today so don't expect anything resembling competence from him

Think he predated the Wenger era. But recent transfer activity has seen the addition of Daniel Ospendapenny and Silvain Wilturd. Huh... my coat? I'll take it now, thanks.

Careless to give it away like that

Bloody lee Mason. Terrible again. Penalty for stoke, it's just a coming together between Xhaka and Allen. Pathetic

Why are we so easy to give penalty decisions against?

Lee Mason strikes again. Xhaka's arms up, but he's won the ball cleanly.

Lee Mason 1 Arsenal 0

Mason won't get a grip on the time wasting either, it is over 30 seconds on every goal kick

Doesn't really matter if you win the ball cleanly with your feet if you deck the opponent with your elbow at the same time. To me that's a penalty and Xhaka is lucky to stay on the pitch, because that looked deliberate.

Theo!!!

Lovely goal

Theo !!!!!!!

What Perez can do, I can too

Bellerin and Theo back together. And a goal from the combination. Brilliant ball by Alexis. Theo's 100th club goal in his 250th game

It didn't look like a deliberate elbow to the face for me it looked like one of those where the ball goes past you and you turn and spread yourself wide to stop the guy getting past you, you know the contact is coming from the guy behind so you make sure he can't.

Walcott! We've looked dangerous since the penalty. So important to get that goal before half time.

If you know the contact is coming, don't spread your arms high and wide like Wenger on the sideline. Penalty for me, I'm afraid. Other end and the shrieks for a penalty here would be vehement and justified.

Really? Players put their arms up to form a barrier to protect the ball all the time...there was no significant movement towards the opponent, and the impetus of contact came from Joe Allen (not remotely saying its a dive I hasten to add). At the point of contact Xhaka has clean control of the ball, his body between the opponent and the ball, was not looking at his opponent, and there is no swing of the arm.

Perhaps by some version of the law it is penalty, due to carelessness endangering an opponent, but I've never seen one given in those circumstances in 30+ years. If you think its a red card, you're mad.

Just saw it again and it doesn't look like he went anywhere near his face.............................

Arsenal has to come out fighting for the win. Please don't go slow