Arsenal's Eduardo Set to Leave Club

Afternoon all. Apologies for the lack of articles lately, but my PC decided to pack up just after the Barnet game on Saturday. Seems to be back working for the moment, so let's hope I can type this out before it breaks down again. *crosses fingers*

First up is that match last weekend. It's always tempting to assume that these pre-season matches have more significance than is actually the case. The mere fact that everyone looked pretty sharp (even Arshavin), and that no-one got injured, is the best that we can expect realistically.

Yes, it was nice to see the boys in action again, and that new home kit looked spectacularly good, but at the end of the day we were only playing Barnet. So trying to work out how this team will line out at Anfield, just from watching Saturday's game, is just guesswork.

What WAS more important than the match though, was the manager's comments afterwards. He addressed the two main talking points quite clearly, those being Cesc's future and our goalkeepers. What was apparent was that nothing really had changed concerning those subjects.

Cesc still isn't for sale (good) and he doesn't have a No.1 keeper (not so good). It appears as if Cesc's transfer to Barcelona is now dead, at least until next year, which is good news indeed. The goalkeeping situation though needs to be sorted out as soon as possible though. 

If he doesn't believe that the keepers we have at the moment are good enough, then it's imperative that he brings someone in that is. But if he thinks that either Fabianski or Szczesny are up to the job, then now is the time to see if that's the case. All the top clubs in Europe have world-class keepers now, and for us not to have someone of that calibur is a serious handicap.

Hopefully Arsene is working to sort this out. *crosses fingers and toes*

One player who won't be in Arsene's plans for next season though is Eduardo. It appears that a £6m deal to sell him to Shaktar Donestk is all but done, and I have two very different thoughts concerning this move:

First, this is just a crying shame. Eddie was one of the best finishers I've ever seen. He would make the trickiest shots look ridiculously easy. He was one of those players who you knew that given one opportunity, he would score...and then IT happened.

Despite the fact that IT happened almost two and a half years ago, he still hasn't fully recovered. His leg may have healed, but his mind will always be scarred by that day.

However, despite my total belief that he will recover his old form, I think it's the right decision to sell him. Even if he can get back to 100%, there's nowhere in our 4-2-3-1 tactics where he can play.

He's a old-fashioned fox in the box who needs someone alongside him to do all the dirty work. And when we signed him, he had Adebayor to do that. But now that we only play one up front, with Van Persie, Bendtner and now Chamakh all able to play that position, Eddie just wouldn't get a look in.

It may sound harsh, but sometimes it's in both the club and player's interest for that said player to move on. What Eddie needs now is to be playing 1st team football on a regular basis, as far away from Birmingham as possible. That can't be done at Arsenal. Let's just hope that we draw Shaktar in Europe next season, so that Eddie can get the send-off he deserves in front of 60,000 thankful fans.

Before I go, due to popular demand (heh) I've set up a Fantasy League for the upcoming season, the winner of which will receive the prestigious Outside The Box Cup! It's free to enter, so if you think you have what it takes to win such an illustious competition, then create your team HERE . Once you've done that, go to join a private league and enter the code 8646-33709. Good luck!