Your match by match verdicts as South African and English Premier Leagues kick-off

So Arsenal have lost Samir Nasri (£22m to Manchester City) and Cesc Fabregas (£35m to some club in Catalunia) but apparently Jadson, the 27-year-old Brazilian from Shakhtar Donetsk, is arriving for £12m. Given Gervinho's arrival for a similar fee last month, that makes a cool profit of around £13m for Arsene Wenger.

But he's not a banker, he's a football manager. And Arsenal are without a trophy for six years. Perhaps the only way that will change will be a brief foray in to the London for a quick bit of silverware looting as our slightly doctored picture shows.

English experts are saying Manchester United will win the Premier League again this season, with big-spending rivals Manchester City runners-up. Chelsea in third, with Liverpool edging Arsenal for the fourth Champions League spot. That leaves Spurs in sixth, possibly Aston Villa seventh. Relegation looms for promoted pair Swansea and Queens Park Rangers plus perrenial strugglers Wigan, though Wolves may howl too. Norwich, up as champions, should survive.

In South Africa, so much depends on those two big European striker signings. Will Benni McCarthy roll back the years (and confound West Ham fans) at Orlando Pirates? Can Bernard Parker thrive in a Kaizer Chiefs zebra shirt? I think both will do okay if fit.

That puts Chiefs and Pirates in the top two with Mamelodi Sundowns and Ajax Cape Town completing the top four. Ajax without Thulani Serero may struggle to stay ahead of Supersports United and Gavin Hunt's new-look outfit. Jomo Sono's Cosmos will go straight back down with Platinum Stars, backed by the Bafokeng mining millions, the surprise package.

But for a match by match verdict, have a squint at this... then get down to the betting shop:

English Premier League

Saturday

Blackburn 2 Wolves 0 (Arsenal regret not signing Samba)

Fulham 2 Aston Villa 2 (Darren Bent both goals for Villa)

Liverpool 3 Sunderland 2 (Gyan can't do it alone, King Kenny magic)

QPR 0 Bolton 0 (Yawn)

Tottenham v Everton (postponed, riots stopped play)

Wigan 1 Norwich 2 (Canaries singing)

Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0 (Wenger offers to resign)

Sunday

Stoke 0, Chelsea 3 (Torres hat-trick)

West Brom 1, Manchester United 1 (Rooney injured, Fergie fuming)

Monday:

Manchester City 6, Swansea 0 (Welsh rabbits in the spotlight)

South African Premier League
Tonight

Santos 1 Moroka Swallows 2 (Ingesund revival continues)

Black Leopards 0 Orlando Pirates 1 (McCarthy comes on for ten minutes)

Saturday

Free State Stars 2 SuperSport United 2 (Gavin Hunt’s new boys settling)

Platinum Stars 1 Ajax Cape Town 2 (But they miss Serero)

Golden Arrows 1 Bloem Celtic 2 (Arrows off target)

Kaizer Chiefs 4 Jomo Cosmos 2 (Majoro the hero, not Parker)

Sunday

Mamelodi Sundowns 3 AmaZulu 1 (Killer Mphela on the loose)

Maritzburg Utd 0 Bidvest Wits 0 (Yawn)

That's it. I'll put the Crystal ball away.

Arsenal Will Sell Fabregas but Will Wenger Spend the Cash? Erm... No!

Sir Chips Keswick and Lord Harris of Peckham. Oh, and American “sports tycoon” Stan Kroenke, South African-born chief executive Ivan Gazidis, a very old double-barrelled Etonian chairman Peter Hill-Wood and his right-handman Ken Friar.

These are the men who will decide, over the next fortnight, whether a 24-year-old called Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas i Soler will return to his Catalan roots at the Nou Camp in Barcelona this summer. The European champions have offered £27m, apparently Arsenal want something closer to £35m.

According to the BBC tonight, a “senior Arsenal official” says: "The offer was made formally in writing to our chief executive [Ivan Gazidis], and we said no straight away."

Asked if an improved offer might be successful, the BBC source said: "Possibly yes, and if it's enough then I expect we'll have to sell."

And long-suffering Arsenal fans, trophyless since Patrick Vieira’s shoot-out FA Cup final winner against Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium on May 21 2005, are powerless to do anything barring a Syrian/Egyptian/Libyan/Bahraini/Yemeni etc etc style uprising against the lack of democracy in football.

Even Arsene Wenger, ailing spiritual leader of the largely peaceful Gooner Popular Front, appears powerless to stop the sale of the lad eased out of the Barca camp as a 16-year-old.

Instead he will have to rely on the precocious but precarious talents of Jack Wilshere, the 19-year-old who is as quick with his tantrums and new contract demands (he was offered a new five-year deal yesterday) as he is with his defence-splitting passes.

Look, £35m for Fabregas is good business. But will Arsenal truly benefit from his long-mooted departure? Chief Executive Gazidis, born in Johannesburg on September 13, 1964, told Arsenal’s Supporters Trust earlier this month that failing on four fronts again this season (let’s not mention the Carling Cup final defeat against Birmingham City) was “not a disaster” and insisted: “I know how you feel.”

Yeah. Sure. Gazidis. Born in Joburg. Left for England aged four. An Oxford blue. Worked in the USA. As north London true Gooner as Sir Chips and his pal Lord Harris of Peckham. Or the toff Hill-Wood. They know how Arsenal fans feel, paying out of their noses for a seat in the plush but pricey Emirates Stadium, eating expensive plastic hot dogs with memories of trophy-winning winters at Highbury long forgotten. George Graham, Bertie Mee? Where are you now?

Watching Arsenal play the best football in the country but failing – largely due to a significant lack of spending – to compete with Manchester United or Chelsea year after bloody year. Last I saw, Arsenal were the 32nd biggest spenders in England since the Premier League kicked off in 1992. The top-four finishing Gunners are regularly in the relegation zone on spending. Economics suggest they should be languishing mid-table in the Championship.

But now, finally, it seems Fabregas will go. Samir Nasri is being courted by Manchester United, Gael Clichy could go to Liverpool. With those big-name departures, Wenger SHOULD get a £50m summer sale bonus to add to the alleged £60m Gazidis and his junta have set aside for new players.

So perhaps this year, Wenger won’t have to unretire 41-year-old goalkeeper Jens Lehmann after meeting him while commentating on German television. Sir Chips and his pals should make the move for Shay Given, the former Newcastle goalkeeper currently kicking his heels behind Joe Hart at Manchester City. Three years after Wenger first talked about a £12m bid for the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper.

And what about those centre-backs? Johann Djourou improved markedly last season after the departures of Sol Campbell and William Gallas, but with Laurent Koscielny failing to fill in for the long-term injury to Thomas Vermaelen, £12m Chris Samba of Blackburn might be just the tonic. Or Gary Cahill, the no-nonsense defender Bolton seem so eager to sell. Mind you, spending £17m on an England international has never been one of Arsenal’s strongpoints.

Wenger said on July 29 (that’s LAST YEAR): “I believe we need to sign at least four centre backs because we have some other players who can fill in this position but overall we are still on the search." Instead, he got hold of Sebastien Squillaci – yet another less-than-intimidating central defender - and hoped for the best.

In the midfield, the pathetic Brazilian Denilson is making wantaway noises and offering himself for sale on auction site eBay. Alex Song, ever-effective as a defender but questionable as a play-maker, must soldier on. Like captain Fabregas, Nasri’s departure appears imminent too.

There is talk of Barca’s 20-year-old Italian born dynamo Thiago Alcantara coming the other way in the Fab deal, or Ricardo Alvarez, the Argentinian from Velez Sarsfield, coming soon. But they’re only rumours.

Up front, Wenger perseveres with not-so-great Dane Nicklas Bendtner and the disappointing 2010 signing Marouane Chamakh next to Dutchman Robin van Persie, who finished last season with a flourish, while Theo Walcott continues to frighten defences with his searing burst of pace and sorry lack of product.

There’s talk of Lille’s Gervinho arriving for £10million. The dread-locked Ivory Coast striker is making all the right noises – just as Chamakh did last summer – but is he really better than Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor, released so easily to Manchester City two seasons ago?

Michel Seydoux, president of the French double-winners, said yesterday: “We know that Gervinho is keen on Arsenal. There has been simple contact, but we have not received a concrete offer yet."

So hey, long-suffering Gooners, let’s not hold our breath. We’ve talked this summer about Gervinho, Alvarez, Alcantara, Karim Benzema, Cahill, Douglas Costa, Juan Mata, West Brom’s sharp-shooter Peter Odemwingie, Samba, Arturo Vidal.

But so far, Arsenal’s summer spending consists of Finland’s English-born Carl Jenkinson from Charlton Athletic. He’s 19 and played just nine times for the Addicks. The fee? Around £1m, “paid in stages”. Now that’s big spending!

Oh, and three youngsters called Benik Afobe, Chuks Aneke and Oguzhan Ozyakup have pledged their long-term futures to Arsenal according to the club website. Woohoo.

Gazidis again: “It is very clear we had some shortcomings and in this close season we are going to see some turnover of players. Some new signings will be coming in and some of our existing squad will be going out. As Arsene has said, it will be a busy close season for the club.”

Tellingly though, he added: “We have a young squad and we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Chances are Arsenal’s board, that cunning blend of foreign financiers and toffs, will spend as little as they can and hope for another year of big profit, presumably to pay off the Emirates Stadium. But that’s a tired excuse. If Fabregas goes, it’s time to spend big. Everyone knows it. Except Sir Chips and his fishy friends.

Who the hell is Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter)? See www.nealcollins.co.uk.

It's Make Or Break For Arsenal As Partizan Belgrade and Man United Loom

Suddenly, it all comes down to this. One fateful week which could well decide Arsenal’s fate after six barren trophy-free years.

On Wednesday night, with their English rivals Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs already qualified, Arsene Wenger’s men must end a run of two successive Champions League defeats by beating Partizan Belgrade at the Emirates to assure their progress to the knock-out stages.

Then it’s off to Manchester United as the Premier League’s top two battle it out for supremacy on Monday night.a

Two defeats, and Wenger will be tearing what’s left of his hair out with impatient fans calling for the German-speaking Frenchman to go. Two wins and all will be rosy for the scarlet-clad Gunners, Wenger will be safe and the bottle-throwing tantrums will subside.

Amid the gloom of Thomas Vermaelen announcing he was out until the end of the year, Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna, he of the beaded hair, volunteered as the Gooner spokesman in this, the week of all weeks for his team.

One of the safest full-backs in the Premier League, Sagna – capped 29 times by France but of Senegalese descent – argues quite rightly: "We do not want the season to be over at the end of December. Win these two games and we will give even more power to the team.

"It’s about time we won these big games. Against Chelsea, we dropped points, at home we have dropped so many points. At United, we want to play our game and win.

"Going top of the League was great on Saturday. But we need to be more focussed. We have to win at home. We have to keep looking forward."

Fellow Frenchman Samir Nasri has emerged as Arsenal’s unlikely hero with the pivotal Spaniard Cesc Fabregas injured. His two goals put paid to Fulham’s challenge on Saturday and Sagna, 27, recognises his importance: “Sami is now showing his best and has more to show,. We only beat Fulham because of him, He is a really good guy and fits in well with everyone on the pitch. He gives us a good balance.”

Balance is all very well. Sagna arrived in North London in 2007 and hasn’t had a sniff of a trophy since he arrived. Memories of Arsene Wenger’s three early title triumphs have faded. It’s time the Gunners stopped firing blanks.

Nasri, 23, says: “Before I felt too much pressure to score, I wanted it too much maybe. Now I don't worry as much. I'm more at ease in the game and I'm not just looking for goals, I'm looking to work for the team. I think I'm more mature in my football game. I think more with my head.”

“When I'm in front of a goalkeeper I am more relaxed now.”

He’ll need to be relaxed in front of goal at Old Trafford on Monday. A lot depends on it.

Who the hell is Neal Collins? See nealcollins.co.uk or nealcol on twitter. Currently in Ngwenya, overlooking the Crocodile River and Kruger National Park. You should see this place.

Breaking news: Mike Ashley, the Newcastle chairman, sacks manager Chris Hughton. I guess everyone knows Ashley, from Maidenhead in Berkshire, is a Spurs fan? What a fool that man is!

Arsenal 1, Barcelona 2. A lesson in Theology for the mighty Catalans.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic ended his ten-game goal-drought against English clubs at the Emirates Stadium last night.

But sub Theo Walcott led a dramatic fightback to put Arsenal right back in the tie after an hour of Barcelona magic.

Ibrahimovic, the Swede with a Bosnian mum and a Croatian dad, needed just 23 seconds after the break to give the Catalans the lead they deserved.

And 13 minutes later he added a second to all but end the need for a return leg at the Nou Camp next week.

But Walcott emerged with a goal to keep hope alive - and tormented Barca with his pace. With time running out, Arsenal produced yet another late goal - a Cesc Fabregas penalty - to equalise with five minutes left.

Walcott said: "It's been very frustrating for me not to start. I just wanted the chance to show what I could do. We've had a lot of disappointments this season, but the fans help us lift ourselves. If you look back on the game, they had a lot of the ball, I think 2-2 was a good result in the end."

Too right Theo. Arsene Wenger will be praying for a miracle of epic Red Sea-parting proportions over there.

He lost William Gallas 40 minutes into his long-awaited return to action, Andrei Arshavin was also injured and Fabregas misses out on his longed-for return to Barcelona after one of three first half yellow cards suffered at the hands of the over-fussy referee.

Arsenal's Premier League hopes will be hit too - Fabregas injured himself hitting the penalty too hard and limped through the last five minutes with no replacements left - he was only cleared to play minutes before the kick-off last night.

With both Barcelona centre-backs ruled out for the Nou Camp too, Wenger said afterwards: "My only regret is that we gave two soft goals away. I had to leave Cesc on, he wanted to stay on."

Quite how Arsenal survived a torrid first half without conceding nobody knows, except perhaps the magnificent Manuel Almunia. With a fussy referee blowing every touch, Arsenal simply never got into their stride. That they escaped with a draw is testament to their new-found ability to dig in.

Instead of seeing the Gunners pushing the ball around in neat triangles against hapless Hulls and Sunderlands, it was the home side who were left chasing shadows by the Spanish and European champions.

In the first 20 minutes, with Messi and Ibrahimovic running riot, the much-derided Manuel Almunia made five superb saves. After 17 minutes, Arsenal were finally allowed their first attack.

Never have I seen Arsenal outplayed like that at home, not in 35 sometimes very mediocre years. By the time Samir Nasri had Arsenal's first shot in the 22nd minute, the Catalans had enjoyed 12 attempts, six on target.

Almunia, blamed for Kevin Phillips' late equaliser for Birmingham on Saturday, received support from watching former Arsenal No1 Jens Lehmann. He said: "Almunia made saves like I haven't seen any goalkeeper make this season."

But having scrambled to half-time with the problems mounting, Ibrahimovic needed less than half a minute to put Barca ahead after the interval, beating the off-side trap to find the far corner of Almunia's net.

It was inevitable. By then, Arshavin had been booked and limped off injured for Emmanuel Eboue. Alex Song, Arsenal's best midfielder, was also booked - and then moved to centre-back when Gallas was carried off with a recurrence of his calf problem.

And on came Denilson, the inneffectual Brazilian, to replace Song, the rock in midfield.

The writing was on the wall. It just needed Ibrahimovich to read it.

And he did. Brilliantly.

The first was a break and finish from a narrow angle. The second, in the 58th minute, saw him narrowly escaping the off-side trap again to lash the ball into the roof of the net and emphatically end this tie as a contest long before the return to Spain.

Between those two hammer blows, Nicklas Bendtner, way out of his depth in this company, managed a solid header which briefly troubled Valdez. But for Arsenal that was as good as it got until the arrival of sub Walcott, Arsenal's only English player on the night, down the right.

I sent an ironic message to a fellow Gooner James Goldman on Facebook deriding the greyhound's hopeless arrival. But after a brief, searing run, he popped up again... and squeezed one in. Hope at last.

Even with Henry, Arsenal's top scorer, warming up for Barca, the atmosphere changed. The Emirates was abuzz. A Fabregas free-kick flew high. An equaliser was in the air. Walcott's pace was seriously upsetting the Spanish cool. The magnicently disappointing Messi was absent.

It had to come. Arsenal, habitual scorers of last-gasp goals of late, surged forward. Walcott troubling them. In it comes... and Fabregas goes down under the challenge of Careless Carles Puyol. Penalty from Mr Fussy! Fab steps up and makes it 2-2 with five minutes to play.

He ended up limping to the finish with no subs left... but nearly got on the end of yet another Walcott cross. What a night - what a draw.

Barcelona will return to Spain full of confidence - but at least they'll know they've been in a battle. And for a long time, even that looked unlikely.

See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqck5JuZtuc

Tonight my son Charlie, 13 tomorrow, with his views on Arsenal... and you can see a video of his Bucks Cup basketball final win this week

Arsenal had an excellent performance today with a 2-0 win over West Ham. There was an awful decision by referee Martin Atkinson when the challenge by the Arsenal centre half, Tomas Vermaelen on Hammers’ striker Guillermo Franco.
This happened when West Ham smacked a hit-and-hope punt down the pitch, the ball was still in the air and the two players where hustling for the ball and Franco just inside the box got out muscled off it and went down. Referee Atkinson immediately awarded a harsh penalty. Then Vermaelen got irrationally sent off.
After the sending off of Thomas Vermaelen, at half time, Arsene Wenger demanded to talk too the ref. The ref then insisted on talking too Arsene Wenger in private.
But Arsenal, on a run of five successive wins since those defeats against Manchester United and Chelsea, didn’t falter. After Denilson’s early goal, Manuel Almunia saved Diamante’s penalty and Cesc Fabregas made the game safe from the spot after Matthew Upson handled.
Arsenal have gained themselves first place with a one point lead over Manchester United – who face Liverpool tomorrow – and Chelsea – who play Blackburn - with seven games left in the season.
There were a couple off great performances today, one was Emmanuel Eboue was played instead of Bacary Sagna. Eboue, who has 12 brothers and sisters back home in the Ivory Coast, had a great game by attacking down the right wing and always giving an option for Samir Nasri. He may not be the best player in the world but in the last couple of games, the 26-year-old has been extraordinary.