Arsenal's New Season Looms As Cesc Helps Spain Win the World Cup

At last the World Cup is over and we can get back to reality and the upcoming football season.

It's a gloriously sunny day here in Dublin and I'm nursing a post World Cup final barbecue hangover. I was one of the few people supporting the Dutch at that barbecue but to be honest the best team won.

Howard Webb showed the rest of the world what us Arsenal fans already knew about his ability as a referee and how both van Bommel and de Jong stayed on the pitch is a mystery to all but him.

Arsenal have suffered enough from his poor refereeing in the past and the Spanish found out last night how we felt. Luckily enough for them, they managed to win the game.

It's been a poor World Cup and Spain have played nowhere near their best, in my opinion, with a distinct lack of goals from them considering all their possession.

I was going to talk about the pundits and their criticism of the Dutch tactics while praising opponents for doing the same to Arsenal players but it's already covered on Arseblog today and there's no need for me to repeat it.

I was delighted that Cesc Fabregas got on and made the goal, although he did miss a great chance earlier. In my opinion, he offered Spain something they didn't have since he played further forward than any of their other midfielders. As I have said before he makes things happen in football matches and he certainly did yesterday.

I felt sorry for Robin Van Persie as he was rarely in the game. Hopefully he will have a couple of weeks off before coming back determined to play his best with a team who actually try to play good football, unlike the Netherlands.

Cesc is probably still celebrating, even though it is the third summer in a row he hasn't had any real time off.

After Euro 2008, he played in the Confederations Cup last summer and now the World Cup this summer. I hope Arsenal don't pay the price this coming season in terms of an injury or just plain old fatigue.

Speaking after the game Cesc said the victory was for all the Arsenal players and the Arsenal fans.

He said he is an Arsenal player and proud to be one and he said he hopes RVP gets a chance to win a World Cup again as he is a great guy and a great leader. Before celebrating with his teammates, Cesc went to RVP to commiserate with him and he said that it would have been different if RVP was playing any team but Spain.

With the boss back at the club very soon, hopefully he will tie up any more transfers and we can look forward to the new season with a stronger squad than last season.

There are plenty of rumours of players coming and going but the one that interests me the most is that Atletico Madrid have offered Manuel Almunia an exit from Arsenal. If that happens we surely have to get a new keeper and I can't wait for that day. I've nothing against Almunia but he's just not good enough.

That's it for today but I'll run through the final standings in my fantasy World Cup competition tomorrow.