Arsenal Close In on a Defensive Signing At Last, Plus Latest World Cup News

The weather in Dublin seems to have changed for the worse, and I am now faced with a half-painted house before I head back to work on Thursday.

Thankfully, I'm still due quite a few days off and as long as some good weather returns, I won't have to spend my weekends on top of a ladder.

I suppose it could be worse, because at least Arsenal aren't playing for another six or seven weeks.

In yesterday's games at the World Cup, one of Arsenal's two remaining players managed to win his way through to the quarterfinals as Robin Van Persie and The Netherlands beat Slovakia 2-1.

The Dutch may not have played too well, but they looked in control to me and only conceded the goal from a penalty with the last kick of the game.

They have an excellent attacking line up, but it would seem that they are a squad in harmony for a change, and the good of the team seems to be more important than the needs of the individual players for once.

Besides having some excellent attacking players, the Dutch also have a couple of defensive midfielders who do all the donkey work to allow Robben, Sneijder, RVP and Kuyt to get on with the important task of making and scoring goals.

According to the players themselves, they are going to get better, and they will need to for their next game, as they take on Brazil.

I know RVP wasn't particularly happy about being substituted with 10 minutes left and he showed his disappointment when he came off, but the Dutch management seem to understand it and have said that there is no problem whatsoever. 

Brazil came through comfortably enough against Chile with a 3-0 win, but I thought that Chile did themselves proud as, like Mexico the night before, they fought right to the end and never gave up at all.

So far in the six quarterfinals the losing team has given everything it has with the exception of England and that's a damning indictment on their players.

I don't think I am alone in thinking that the players just gave up and went through the motions when Germany went up 4-1.

In today's games, Paraguay play Japan first of all, and that is followed by Spain against Portugal. I'm not sure how to call the Paraguay against Japan game, but I have a funny feeling that Japan might just sneak it.

With the winners playing the winners of the Spain-Portugal game, I can't see either of them making it to the semifinals though.

The other game promises to be an absolute classic as two teams laden with talent go head to head. However I think that Portugal are going to shut up shop and hope to either sneak a goal on the break or take their chances in extra time and then penalties.

They haven't conceded a goal yet, and the only goals they did score were the seven they got against North Korea. 

On the other hand Spain are more than likely going to play their usual attacking game and it could make for a very interesting evening's football.

Spain haven't played that well so far, but if they click, they are capable of playing better than any other team at the World Cup.

I'm sure Cesc will be on the bench again, as his country continue to ignore his talents just as Barcelona would do if he signed for them. I'm predicting a very tight game with Spain possibly squeezing through.

In Arsenal news, it seems that the deal for Laurent Koscielny of Lorient is almost done and he is apparently in discussions with us at the moment over the terms and conditions. If the reports are correct, he will be an Arsenal player before the week is out.

The boss said that there would be a defensive signing very soon, and it would seem that he was right. All we need now is for him to sign a top-class goalkeeper and things will really be looking up for next season.

There are various reports that Jay Simpson will be on his way out of the club and I suppose that at his age and with the limited opportunities he has had that he probably needs to look elsewhere for first-team football.

If he does go, I hope he goes on to have a successful career and doesn't come back to knock us out of a cup competition at some stage. 

We are also linked with Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil, Youann Gourcuff, Joe Cole, Mario Balotelli and Simon Kjaer today.

We have been linked with all of these players on numerous occasions before but as our squad stands at the moment I don't expect us to sign any of them as long as Koscielny does sign this week.

With only eight teams left in the World Cup after today and contracts ending tomorrow on June 30, I expect the transfer market to pick up just a little very soon.

Due to the current economic climate, I don't expect that there will be a huge amount of activity this summer but I suppose as Man City dole out their cash there will be a knock on effect. 

Hopefully Arsenal can do their transfer dealings as soon as possible as it seems like the right time to me.

Interestingly when reading through the squad lists of the 10 teams left in the World Cup there are no "Manure" players at all and only three Chelsea players.

Those three Chelsea players are all at Portugal and there could possibly be no players from either of those two teams in the quarter finals.

Arsenal have two players still playing but if Spain lose to Portugal today that will drop to one, but Liverpool have five players still playing. 

Quite what that says about the relative strengths of those four teams I'm not sure. That's it for today.

Here's a good goal from Jay Simpson.

See You Tomorrow.