Arsenal's Clock Returns and Four Preseason Friendlies Announced

The weekend is well and truly here now and I can forget about work for a couple of days at least.

After playing indoor football last night I am a little tired this morning, but there's no rest for the wicked as we're having a few friends over for a barbecue and a drink or two later. It probably means that Sunday's blog will be a little late and might not make too much sense either but there's nothing unusual there I suppose.

I have been leading with my reviews and previews of the World Cup recently but I'm getting a lot more hits when I don't, so I think I'll get straight into the Arsenal news instead.

The first days sales of the new strip were double those of its predecessor on day one on the official online store. It shows that the fans obviously like it and are happy to have their white sleeves back again. As I said yesterday, I'm not sure if I'll be buying a jersey that is for one season only.

Three youngsters have signed professional terms at the club as Roarie Deacon, Nico Yennaris, and Daniel Boateng are all rewarded for the part they played in the youth team's FA Premier Academy league success last season. I hope they all go on to make a big impression at the club and we see them in the first team in the future.

Over on my good friend Lady Arse's blog there's a picture of the Arsenal clock back in it's rightful position at the top of Ashburton Grove, surveying everything below it. It was an iconic part of Highbury and it's great to see its return. I'm already looking forward to my next trip to the stadium to catch a glimpse of it.

The club have confirmed four preseason reserve fixtures against Crawley Town, Welling United, Dagenham and Redbridge, and AFC Wimbledon. The games are to be played on July 20, 24, 28, and August 7, respectively, and they are all away from home. The Arsenal team to turn out in each of them will be an Arsenal XI as the first team squad will be out of the country on each of those dates.

According to reports in the media, Barcelona are about to make another bid for Cesc, but it won't be too much more than the last bid as money is a little tight for them at the moment. They have just sold Yaya Toure to Man City for a reported €28 million or possibly £30 million, depending on what you read.

If you were to put a value on Cesc it would certainly be more than twice the value of Yaya and any other offer would be derisory. Not that we're going to sell Cesc to them anyway, or that they're going to make a proper offer either.

The theory that has been suggested in a few places is that they're actually feigning interest to keep their fans happy. I know I made that suggestion a few weeks ago but I wasn't the first to make it and I won't be the last, either.

In the World Cup yesterday, my prediction came true as the Netherlands beat Brazil 2-1 after coming back from 1-0 down at halftime. As I've been supporting them from the start I'm hoping they can beat Uruguay in the semifinal and get a winners medal for RVP.

Uruguay beat Ghana on penalties in a game that finished very dramatically. Ghana missed a penalty with the last kick of the game after Suarez had handled on the line to prevent a goal and he was then sent off.

I wanted Ghana to win and I thought they deserved it, but football can be a very cruel game sometimes. I'm not sure how I feel about Suarez as he basically cheated to keep his team in the game and he was ultimately successful, despite being sent off.

In today's first game we will see Argentina play Germany in the afternoon game and it has the makings of possibly the best game of the tournament so far. Later tonight, we will see Spain play Paraguay, although I doubt if Cesc will see much game time again. I predict a 2-0 win for Spain and possibly Argentina beating Germany by the odd goal. That's it for today.

Here's a nice tribute to Liam Brady. Most of it is of his time at Arsenal although his goal for Ireland that beat Brazil 1-0 is a particular highlight for me as I was at the game.

See You Tomorrow.