Manchester United have agreed a deal to sign Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie, the club announced on Wednesday night.
Dutch international striker Robin van Persie has turned down a new contract at Arsenal, signaling his likely departure from the English Premier League side.
Montpellier's France international striker Olivier Giroud has agreed to join English Premier League club Arsenal.
updated: Tue Jun 26 2012 08:04:00
Real Madrid's star player sits down for a 1 on 1 chat with CNN World Sport's Pedro Pinto.
Following Man City's dramatic triumph, here are several thoughts from the end of the EPL season.
LONDON -- It¹s January 2008, and David Beckham, chasing appearance number 100 for England, has been given permission by the L.A. Galaxy to join the Arsenal squad for training. After a session with the first-team, he waits to join the reserves for some extra practice. As he approaches the squad, one player shouts out, "Hey, what¹s your name? Are you here on trial or what?" Beckham laughs and says, "I'm David and I'm just here for a kick-around." The player who asked the question was only 17, and his name was Wojciech Szczesny.
Five things we learned in Premier League action Saturday:
Arsenal's attempts to cement a place in next season's Champions League were thwarted on Monday as Wigan claimed a notable 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium in the English Premier League.
Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes scored as Manchester United beat 10-man Queens Park Rangers 2-0 Sunday to strengthen their grip on the English Premier League title with six matches to play.
A last minute Thomas Vermaelen goal gave Arsenal a vital 2-1 Premier League home win over Newcastle on Monday, a result that closes the gap on third-placed Tottenham to just a single point.
AC Milan withstood a brave comeback from Arsenal to advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League Tuesday despite a 3-0 defeat in the second leg at the Emirates.
Five things we learned in Barclays Premier League action Saturday:
The chief executive of English Premier League club Arsenal has urged the team's supporters to get behind under-fire coach Arsene Wenger.
Five things we learned in Barclays Premier League and Carling Cup action Sunday:
England winger Theo Walcott scored twice as Arsenal fight back from going two goals behind to sensationally thrash north London rivals Tottenham 5-2, a result that lifts Arsene Wenger's side back into fourth place in the Premier League table.
AC Milan are all but through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League after thrashing Arsenal 4-0 at the San Siro on Wednesday.
"The system rewards the audacious away from home." So says the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, hoping to bag a goal or two at the San Siro and set up a slightly more relaxed return leg in north London (where Milan failed to score against Tottenham Hotspur last year). Milan's last home Champions League game was a see-sawing 2-3 defeat to Barcelona, while Arsenal's previous travels took them to Greece, where Olympiacos took advantage of a weakened side. This time Wenger will have added audacity in the shape of Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry, while Milan have Alexandre Pato and Kevin Prince-Boateng back from injury.
Five things we learned from Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League:
LOS ANGELES -- Greetings from Southern California, where I opted to spend some time with the U.S. women's team this week as it prepares for the Olympic qualifying tournament later this month in Vancouver. (We have MLS Draft coverage elsewhere on SI.com, so don't worry.) I decided to open up the mailbag this week for questions on Alex Morgan, Clint Dempsey, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and a number of other topics. Let's dive in:
One mosquito-addled evening in the Arctic Circle, I met a Laplander in an Arsenal shirt who -- on seeing the Arsenal sticker on my suitcase -- told me that he'd once bought golf clubs in London from a man who'd sold golf clubs to Dennis Bergkamp.
Thierry Henry made a sensational scoring return for English club Arsenal as his goal sealed a 1-0 win over Leeds United in the third round of the FA Cup.
Thierry Henry has assured New York Red Bulls fans that his return to English soccer club Arsenal will not interfere with his American commitments.
Two goals in the last five minutes gave Fulham a 2-1 Premier League home win over Arsenal on Monday to continue the recent run of shock results in England's top division.
Ten Ligue 1 players who could move in the January transfer window:
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Thierry Henry is on the verge of a return to the club on a two-month loan deal from MLS side New York Red Bulls.
updated: Mon Dec 19 2011 12:49:00
CNN's Pedro Pinto talks to Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny about the Euro 2012 finals in his native Poland.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has conceded the London club's bid to win a first English Premier League title since 2004 is over following Sunday's 1-0 defeat at table-topping Manchester City.
Manchester City retained their leadership of the English Premier League as a David Silva goal settled a high-class clash against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium Sunday.
Five things we learned from the weekend's action in the Barclays Premier League.
Five things we learned from Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League.
LONDON -- Robin van Persie is sitting next to a Dutch journalist in an otherwise deserted cinema, watching images of himself as a young boy flickering on the big screen. He looks pensive, then smiles as he sees each goal: at 13, dribbling past three defenders and rounding the goalkeeper for Excelsior¹s youth team; at 15, much taller, scoring in a Rotterdam youth game in a similar way; and then, three years later, playing for the Feyenoord first team.
Five things we learned from Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League:
LONDON -- Roman Weidenfeller raised his hand one final time, to acknowledge the friendly applause from the Arsenal supporters. The Dortmund keeper and his teammates were politely clapped off the Emirates pitch after Arsenal's 2-1 win. Maybe the crowd sensed that Jürgen Klopp's young team had tried its best out there, that it had indeed "given all" as the 44-year-old manager put it. The Gunners supporters clearly enjoyed seeing such a young, committed side, eager to run and toil even when the game was long lost.
Dutch striker Robin van Persie continued his superb scoring streak this season, netting another double as Arsenal beat German champions Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the European Champions League to clinch top spot in Group F and secure qualification for the last 16.
A Robin van Persie hat-trick earned Arsenal a thrilling 5-3 win over their west London rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the English Premier League on Saturday.
When Manchester City beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 at White Hart Lane at the end of August, Manchester United did what they have been doing for half a century and eclipsed the majesty of that performance by beating Arsenal 8-2. If these had been four anonymous teams, it might perhaps have been rather easier to acknowledge what at the time was barely a puff of dust on the horizon: that it had been City's performance that had been more impressive, that the "noisy neighbors" might perhaps have arrived.
Robin van Persie scored early and late in the game to secure a 2-1 victory for his struggling Arsenal team over Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium Sunday.
Kyle Walker scored a superb second half winner as Tottenham Hotspur beat north London rivals Arsenal 2-1 at White Hart Lane Sunday for their fourth straight English Premier League victory.
Arsene Wenger was the keynote speaker at a soccer conference last year when he was asked, in a room packed with performance analysts and sporting directors from rival clubs in England and Europe, what the next innovation for coaches would be.
Five thoughts from Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League ...
updated: Fri Sep 23 2011 15:57:00
Football star Theo Walcott on his new book, being a teen star and his club Arsenal's problems this season.
For once a manager might be pleased to open the newspaper and find that his team's victory is being reported first and foremost as the opposition's loss; after a hair'em scare'em 4-3 win over Arsenal on Saturday, Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean will be glad of all the kudos and none of the forensic examination. Before kickoff, a couple of hundred supporters had marched to the ground in monsoon weather calling for him to be sacked, and the ludicrously thrilling match was the second thing to rain on their parade.
Five thoughts from Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League ...
Arsenal's sorry start to the English Premier League campaign continued Saturday with a shock 4-3 defeat at lowly Blackburn.
Is there ever such a thing as a fair result? Borussia Dortmund will probably feel aggrieved that it didn't beat Arsenal despite a welter of chances, and yet the equalizer that ensured a 1-1 draw two minutes from time was freakish, Ivan Perisic's dipping volley flying into the top corner as Kieran Gibbs headed clear a free-kick. By that stage, Arsenal had every reason to feel aggrieved, having defended securely for 75 minutes. In that sense, if both parties felt simultaneously frustrated and relieved, 1-1 probably was the right result.
Dalglish has a sip of the managerial whine
The summer transfer window in the Premier League slammed shut on Wednesday night after the usual deadline day shopping carnage. According to Deloitte, the management consultants, whose figures, it must be said, include an element of guesswork; the 20 clubs spent a total of £485 million ($786M). That is a leap of 33 percent on last summer. The total was below the £500 million ($811M) spent in the summer of 2008, but the £225 million ($365M) spent in January make this a record year. Five clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United each spent more than £50 million ($81M) and between them accounted for 66 percent of the total spend. Of course, research shows that the truest predictor of a club's success is not its transfer spending but its wage bill. In that, the three clubs that don't seem to care what wages they pay, City, United and Chelsea, have a clear edge.
Five things we learned from Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League:
In 1968, Manchester City won the league and a few days later Manchester United won the European Cup. In May, City won the FA Cup; later the same afternoon, United won the league. It was typical of the relationship between the Manchester clubs that after City had thumped one north London team 5-1 on Sunday, United went and thrashed the other one 8-2. Of more concern to the Premier League and football in general, though, is what Sunday said about the relationship between the Manchester clubs and everybody else.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger apologized to the club's fans and said he had been "hurt" after his side suffered their worst ever defeat against Manchester United on Sunday.
Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick as champions Manchester United retained their 100% English Premier League record this season with a remarkable 8-2 thumping of injury-hit Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Arsenal qualified for the group stage of the European Champions League after an impressive 2-1 victory against Italian side Udinese on Wednesday.
Manchester City's pursuit of Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri appears to be coming to an end after the two clubs agreed a fee for the French international.
Liverpool won the first heavyweight clash of the English Premier League season as an Aaron Ramsey own goal and a late strike from substitute Luis Suarez gave Kenny Dalglish's men a 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium Saturday.
Ivory Coast international Emmanuel Eboue has completed his move from Arsenal to Turkish side Galatasaray, just one day after former Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas left the club to join European champions Barcelona.
An early goal from Theo Walcott gave Arsenal a vital 1-0 victory over Udinese in the first leg of their Champions League final qualifying round tie at The Emirates.
New striker Gervinho was sent off on his Premier League debut as Arsenal drew 0-0 against Newcastle United at St James Park in their opening match of the season on Saturday.
The long-running saga of Cesc Fabregas' move from Arsenal to Barcelona is finally nearing a conclusion with the 24-year-old expected to join the European champions early next week.
The new Barclays Premier League season is upon us and the teams are jockeying for position on the starting line. Here are my thoughts on how the pack is likely to break up this season: the top six, the bottom five, and the tight bunch in the middle. The clubs are not necessarily listed in order but I'm tipping Manchester United to take the title:
Mid-August and Cesc Fabregas still hasn't left the building. He didn't leave it for Malaysia, he didn't leave it for China and he didn't leave it for Germany. Most importantly of all, he hasn't yet left it for Barcelona. Just two days until the start of the Premier League season, four days until yet another clásico is upon us, and we wait for a final resolution. The good news is that there has been progress -- this looks set to be finally over soon. Very soon.
English Premier League side Arsenal and Italian Serie A Udinese have been drawn together in the final qualifying round for the European Champions League.
The way that people are talking about Arsenal this summer, you'd think something terrible had happened at The Emirates. There is ominous talk of an "exodus" from the dressing room, dark suggestions that Arsene Wenger can no longer attract "world-class" players and, for the fifth year in a row, the nodding consensus that a top-four finish may be too much to ask for. It's a little odd because, while it's hard to ignore the fact that last season ended with all the euphoria of a Leonard Cohen poetry reading, Arsenal is hardly a club in crisis.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has said Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri will not be moving to Old Trafford.
English Premier League side Arsenal have agreed a deal to sign Ivory Coast international striker Gervinho from French champions Lille for an undisclosed fee.
Gael Clichy has become Manchester City's first signing of the transfer window after the French international defender completed his switch from Arsenal.
Samir Nasri has always known his own value, and that sense will be keener now than ever before. The midfielder, voted France's Player of the Year for 2010, has one more year left on his Arsenal contract, and is the subject of serious interest from Premier League champions Manchester United and, reportedly, Manchester City. His dilemma: should he stay or go?
Carlos Tevez scored two brilliant goals as Manchester City beat Stoke 3-0 in a re-run of the FA Cup final to leapfrog Arsenal into third place in the English Premier League.
Thoughts on the weekend's action in the Barclays Premier League:
Manchester United have one hand on the English Premier League trophy after a 2-1 win over closest rivals Chelsea at Old Trafford Sunday.
There's no doubt that all eyes are focused on Sunday's big game in the Barclays Premier League when Chelsea travels to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United.
Aaron Ramsey scored the only goal of the match in the second half as Arsenal beat leaders Manchester United at the Emirates Sunday to blow the English title race wide open.
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes Sunday's trip to Arsenal on Sunday is "the most difficult" away game of the season for the English Premier League leaders.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has shouldered the blame for his team's shortcomings this season after a 2-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers on Sunday all but ended their English Premier League title hopes.
Arsenal are all but out of the race for the English Premier League title after losing 2-1 to Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday.
New York Red Bulls striker Thierry Henry has told CNN that the atmosphere generated by fans inside the American club's stadium reminded him of the "great European nights" he experienced in his days playing soccer for Arsenal and Barcelona.
Tottenham fought back to clinch a 3-3 draw with Arsenal that further dented their north London rivals' English Premier League title hopes as another capital club, Chelsea, claimed second place on Wednesday.
Arsenal's hopes of winning the English Premier League title were dealt a severe blow as Arsene Wenger's team conceded a heartbreaking 102nd-minute equalizer in a pulsating climax to Sunday's 1-1 draw with Liverpool.
Before he scored the first two goals in Real Madrid's 4-0 Champions League win over Tottenham Hotspur last week, Emmanuel Adebayor did what he does before every game. He thought of all the people that had written him off. It's not a short list. It starts with the friends of his parents back in Kodjoviakope, a Togolese town on the border of Ghana, who said he should not play soccerl, includes coaches at Metz and Monaco who criticized his attitude, and takes in senior figures at Arsenal and Manchester City, with whom he has not always seen eye-to-eye.
Wayne Rooney's second-half hat-trick helped Manchester United move seven points clear in the English Premier League on Saturday as title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea were both held to draws.
Manchester United moved five points clear in the English Premier League after snatching a 1-0 win against Bolton on Saturday despite having a player sent off.
Ex-Germany international Jens Lehmann is set to make a sensational return to English club Arsenal ten months after announcing his retirement from soccer.
In May 1998, Sunderland lost on penalties to Charlton Athletic in the Championship playoff final. Peter Reid's side had ended the season on 90 points, the highest total not to be promoted automatically, and had three times held the lead in the final only to draw 4-4. It could have been a devastating defeat, the sort that sends a team spinning into gloom, cursing its luck and wondering whether destiny will always be against it. A few minutes after the final whistle, though, the center forward Niall Quinn was interviewed on the pitch. He was magnificently uplifting, acknowledging the setback and calling on everybody connected with the club to use the disappointment as a spur to promotion the following season. Sunderland could have sulked; instead it came out that August bristling with purpose and racked up a record 105 points, beating every other team in the division at least once to win the title by 17 clear points.
A Wayne Rooney inspired Manchester United beat arch-rivals Arsenal 2-0 at Old Trafford Saturday to reach the semifinals of the English FA Cup.
Tactical observations from Champions League action this week:
Arsene Wenger told Pep Guardiola to congratulate Massimo Busacca, but the Barcelona coach was more interested in congratulating his players. The Swiss referee might have been important during Barcelona's 3-1 victory against Arsenal in a Champions League match Tuesday at the Camp Nou. He might even have been decisive. But Guardiola preferred to believe it was his players who were the difference. The trouble is, on their own, they might not have been. With Busacca, they won the match, eliminated Arsenal and advanced to the quarterfinals; without him, we will never know if they would have done so. The doubts will not go away. Nor will the anger and the accusations.
Lionel Messi returned to haunt Arsenal as his two goals helped Barcelona into the quarterfinals of the Champions League after a 3-1 win in Spain.
Last time Arsenal visited Camp Nou, it was on the receiving end of a 4-1 beating. This time Barcelona needs only to win 1-0, and Javier Mascherano told reporters this week that he and his teammates will play to win by as many as they can. Arsenal, though, has the incentive of a 2-1 advantage from the first leg to defend and captain Cesc Fabregas "90 percent" likely to make the trip.
Dutch striker Robin van Persie has returned to the Arsenal squad for their European Champions League clash against Barcelona on Tuesday.
Mathieu Flamini owes his AC Milan captain Gennaro Gattuso a debt of gratitude. So outrageous was Gattuso's behavior in the first leg of Milan's 0-1 Champions League Round of 16 tie against Tottenham Hotspur -- when he first slapped and then head-butted the visitors' assistant coach Joe Jordan, for which he landed a five-match ban -- that Flamini¹s own moment of madness was mentioned only in passing.
Arsenal were held to a frustrating goalless home draw by Sunderland in the English Premier League Saturday as they missed the chance to close to within a point of leaders Manchester United.
Thoughts on the weekend's action in the Barclays Premier League:
Birmingham City upset Arsenal 2-1 to win the English League Cup at Wembley Sunday, ending a 48-year wait for a major trophy.
Arsenal closed to within a point of leaders Manchester United with a 1-0 win over Stoke at the Emirates Wednesday night.
Expectation took such a hard beating this week that at one point, concerned neighbors Custom and Destiny must have thought about calling the police. It wouldn't have taken them long to track down the assailants to North London, where Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have each emerged from the first leg of their Champions League matches with a massively against-the-odds lead over Barcelona and AC Milan respectively. Key in both victories was the fact that both teams packed a punch in central midfield.
Observations from Champions League action involving English clubs this week:
Two late goals from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin gave Arsenal a 2-1 win over Spanish champions Barcelona in their last 16, first leg tie at the Emirates Wednesday night.
It's a sign of how far Alex Song has come in his career that the kid who was once excited to meet France's one-cap wonder Frederic Nee in the Bastia changing-room, can now laugh at the prospect of facing the most prolific strike-force in Europe in the Champions League Round of 16 next week.
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