Arsenal Target Hands in a Transfer Request

With a host of meaningless international friendlies on tonight I'm glad that I'll be playing football myself and spared the torture of watching the games and hoping beyond hope that all the Arsenal players return fit and raring to go for Sunday's trip to Amfield.

As it stands, our squad is not in very good shape as we still haven't signed the goalkeeper or centre back that are desperately needed and we have a list of players either absent or injured that would challenge last season's injury crisis at its worst almost. There were eight players unavailable to play last Saturday and I would include five of them in my ideal starting 11.

The boss has already said that the chances of our best two players—Cesc and RVP—playing are minimal, and Ramsey won't be back before November at least. Song hasn't kicked a ball in any of the preseason friendlies and Arshavin will probably play and captain his country tonight, despite the fact that he couldn't play for us last Saturday.

Normally, you would expect Diaby and Denilson to be available to cover any midfielders that are out, but neither of them have played a game in preseason either. It means that we could possibly see both Wilshere and Frimpong play from the start and it's an awful lot to expect from them.

Wilshere has played a fair few games for Bolton on loan in the Premier League, but Frimpong hasn't got any experience at all. So far he has played in virtually all of our six preseason friendlies and performed reasonably, but those games are a mile away from a trip to Anfield to face a Liverpool team looking to impress their new manager and improve upon their poor showing last season.

There would be a chance that Wilshere could slot into the midfield alongside Cesc or Nasri if they have Song behind them to act as an enforcer, but to expect Frimpong and Wilshere to play together in our midfield is asking too much of them in my opinion, and more than a little unfair on them.

Frimpong will probably go on to be an excellent player, but he is not ready to play such a crucial role in such a tough game yet. I have no doubt that Wilshere will be a star of the future, but he also needs to be given a fair crack of the whip and not have too many expectations on his shoulders.

It all points to the fact that we need experienced cover for Song as well as the other two obvious signings that are needed and that Frimpong would probably benefit from a season on loan at a lower league club. With the transfer window less than three weeks away from closing, our need is growing ever more desperate and I'm very worried at this stage that we will sign none of them.

One player we are supposed to have been chasing all summer long looks like he might be getting a little closer to joining us as Mark Schwarzer has apparently put in a transfer request at Fulham. He wouldn't be my first choice of all the goalkeepers we have been linked with but he's certainly better than our current choices, and he wouldn't stand in the way of Szczesny long term.

I spoke of possibly making a move for Brad Friedel yesterday and there were stories of him possibly going to Fulham, but the player himself says there is no truth in those rumours. Maybe the thought of Fulham possibly signing Friedel has made Schwarzer hand in his transfer request or maybe it's his wish to join us; I don't know, but given a choice I would prefer Friedel.

Of our current goalkeepers, the one that I see as the worst candidate for the job is Fabianski and he has spoken of his desire to take the keeper's jersey and he thinks he's ready to do just that. Obviously, he has to say these things as confidence is a huge part of goalkeeping, but when you see the genuine fear in his eyes on the pitch when a high ball comes into the box you know he's not ready.

There's another rumour today that the Spuds are trying to sign Gallas as he's a free agent and they need another centre back. It's amazing how many Premier League teams are in need of centre backs at the moment and there doesn't seem to be enough to go around.

Chelsea have just sold Carvalho to Real Madrid so I expect they will be in the market for a replacement too. He did very well during his six years there but I always disliked him as I saw him as one of the worst cheats I have ever witnessed in football. I could never understand how he always got away with wrestling opponents to the ground in his own box at set pieces, but he did.

I put the video of Eduardo's first goal for Shaktar up a couple of days ago and the player has now said that he hopes Arsenal don't get Shaktar in the Champions League as he would not like to have to play against us. His conduct has always been a credit to him and he will always have a place in my heart along with the vast majority of Arsenal fans, I'm sure.

Kyle Bartley has joined Sheffield United on loan for the season after spending some time there last season and impressing. He's very much seen as a centre back for the future and he hopes to use his time in Sheffield to impress before coming back to fight for a place in our team.

With Nacer Barazite trialing for Rangers in a 2-1 friendly defeat to Glentoran last night, it looks like he is on his way out of the club too.

Finally for today, there's the small matter of my fantasy league and the fact that it now has over 400 teams in it, which means that there will be trophies for the first three teams. If you want to sign up the link is here and the code to join my league is 33954-12064 after you have set up a team. 

I'm running the league this season with a little help from 11Gunners and I'd like to thank them for their help in promoting my blog and the fantasy league too.

If you do sign up, please take the time to join a friend's head to head league in which he needs only 20 teams. With only a few days left to go I said I'd give him a hand and the code for his league is 576173-163660.

I'm also running a results prediction league on "I know the score" which is a part of the Fantasy Premier league site. Here's the link to sign up and make your predictions and the code to join my league is  FBE3B-ZGP if anybody would like to try their hand at it.

Here's a look at what Wilshere is capable of.

See You Tomorrow.