Arsenal News: Squillaci Signs, Champions League Draw, Eduardo Returns

There's quite a lot to talk about today, so I suppose I should get going as quickly as possible and try to keep things as concise as I can. First up is the news that we have finally signed Sebastien Squillaci from Sevilla, and it probably means that our defensive purchases for this transfer window have been completed. With any luck, there's still some business on the goalkeeping front to come, but I'm not too sure at this stage at all.

The boss said that we needed a centre back of quality and experience and at the right price and he fit the bill. He said he is a real defender as he's good in one on ones, good in the air and can score goals from set pieces too. The boss thinks he will be very well suited to the English game and I hope he is right. Curiously enough, it wasn't announced on the club site yesterday but it was on the club's Facebook page.

He won't be available for tomorrow's trip to Blackburn but he will be free to play for us in the Champions league as he didn't play for Sevilla in their defeat against Braga. The boss also said that he won't rule out signing a goalkeeper but that we are not in a position to sign anybody.

He also said we have four great goalkeepers and it is important to give them confidence before the next match. If we do sign a keeper it will be after that game, and I can only hope it happens as my opinion of both Almunia and Fabianski is that they are far from great keepers.

Ahead of that trip to Blackburn the boss spoke of the different styles of football that teams adopt and he says he has no problem with teams playing to their strengths as long as they adhere to the laws of the game. He spoke of the treatment handed out to the Spuds keeper last Saturday by Stoke, but he must be mistaken as he thought it was Shawcross and we all know he's not that type of player.

His point about players deliberately targeting the goalkeeper from set pieces and not going for the ball at all is absolutely right, but we are seen as soft by the opposition and referees when we complain of it during matches.

When a player has his back to the ball and challenges a goalkeeper or defender, it should be a free out as he has no intention of playing the ball but all too often the referees allow it to happen. You can be sure that Blackburn will target Almunia tomorrow and if we concede a goal from it we will be called whiners by their fans and the majority of idiots  pundits in the media.

The boss also said that Denilson is available again for that game, but it's hard to see where he would fit into the match day squad, never mind the team. With an international break coming up it's time for Cesc and RVP to start a game and Song to move to his favoured position in midfield.

It means that three places have to be found for them in our six midfield and forward places and a few players will be disappointed at being left out. I'll deal with all of that in tomorrow's preview.

Yesterday afternoon we learned who our opponents will be in group H of this season's Champions league. We were drawn with Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga, and Partizan Belgrade, and although it's not an easy group it could have been worse as well. The trips to eastern Europe aren't the greatest because of the distances that have to be traveled but at least the fixture list has been fairly good to us. 

Our first game is at home to Braga on Wednesday September 15, followed by a trip to Belgrade on Tuesday September 28. Then we have the double-header against Shakhtar starting at home on Tuesday October 19 and finishing with the away game on Wednesday November 3. We play Braga away on November 23 before we finish at home to Partizan on December 8.

During that time we have some tough league games directly after our Champions League games, but we were lucky enough in how they worked out.

Our first tough league game in that run is away to Chelsea but at least it comes on a Sunday which is five days after our trip to Belgrade. When we travel to Man City the game is again on a Sunday and it's five days after the home game against Shakhtar and finally the trip to "Manure" will be three or four days after our final Champions league group game which is at home to Partizan.

Considering how difficult those league games are, we were relatively lucky that the fixtures fell the way they did and it gives us every chance to make the best of a hard run in the league during that time.

For me the best thing about the draw was the fact that Shakhtar Donetsk are in our group, which means that Eduardo will be coming back to the Emirates. The fans have a place for him in their hearts and they will be delighted to get a chance to say goodbye to him on the night. Hopefully we won't regret selling him and he won't score in either game.

When he left he said he wouldn't like to play against us, but things like that always seem to happen in football. I said yesterday that I had a sneaky suspicion that we would get Shakhtar and that was proved to be right. 

I know a lot of fans feel that Eduardo would have become an Arsenal legend if he hadn't suffered that horrific injury against Birmingham two and a half years ago, but despite some promising performances he never really recovered from it mentally and the only option open to him was to move and try to rebuild his career elsewhere.

It wasn't helped by the media reaction to the penalty he got against Celtic in the Champions League last season, either. 

Back to the Champions League draw and on the face of it a lot of people seem to think we have a relatively easy group, but I'm not so sure. Shakhtar are no mugs and they won the UEFA Cup a couple of seasons ago. They have a lot of Brazilians in their team and they play a very attractive brand of football that isn't too dissimilar to our own.

Braga may be seen as a soft touch by many, but they managed to put Sevilla out in the last qualifying round with wins at home and away. In the round before that they beat Celtic, although looking at the current Celtic team I think the majority of Championship teams in England would manage that too. 

Finally, we have Partizan Belgrade, and of all the lowest ranked teams they are one of the toughest draws. It won't be easy trying to get a result over there as they will have a very noisy crowd right behind them. I expect both them and Braga to play good football too and it should make for some very good games in our group.

That's it for today except to say that I now have a Facebook page for "Cesc Is God" and I will have my blog available there every day along with lots of photos of Cesc and Arsenal. I will also be adding videos of Cesc and some famous games and moments from Arsenal's past, so feel free to check it out.

If you have any suggestions on how I can improve the page feel free to tell me either here or on the page itself. Last but not least I will be posting again tonight with my weekly Premier League predictions and again I would appreciate any feed back on them.

Here's a look at Eduardo's fantastic goal against Burnley in the FA Cup in 2009.

See You Tomorrow