Tonight sees the arrival of back-to-back UEFA Cup winners Sevilla to the Emirates, which promises to be a fantastic spectacle.

Arsenal are in excellent form, unbeaten yet this season and have won six of their opening seven games. Sevilla on the other hand have had to cope with the shocking death of 22 year old Antonio Puerta which has inspired them to three 4-1 wins over Recreativo Huelva, AEK Athens and Getafe already this season.

I’ve managed to see Sevilla a few times during their UEFA Cup run as well as in La Liga last season and they are an impressive team, and probably along with Valencia are the threat against Barcelona and Real Madrid for the Spanish title.

The biggest news for Arsenal fans is whether Gilberto will start at the back alongside Toure, or if Arsene will bring back Senderos who has just come back from injury. The boss said he’ll decide today but as long as Senderos is match fit then you would have thought it was a straightforward choice, considering how Gilberto struggled being out of position on Saturday.

Ex-Spurs striker Freddie Kanoute has pointed out that they must stop Cesc tonight, which obviously makes sense with the form he’s in. You can see Sevilla targeting out Cesc for some special treatment so hopefully he can get through it and influence the game in our favour.

Fabregas is understandably ‘wary’ of Sevilla, who as well as being a quality side have extra motivation because of the tragic passing of Puerta, and Arsene also warned of the quality Sevilla have.

Tonight will see the battle of two top drawer sides, and it could honestly go either way.

It will be Arsenal’s biggest test yet this season, and will be good indicator of how far the young players have come this season.

For me, a win or a draw is more important for momentum more than anything else.

You would think that Arsenal and Sevilla would progress from Group H, so even if Arsenal did lose tonight it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

With our excellent start to the season, a win tonight would give us the best possible start to this years campaign and would be fantastic going into our next 3 Premier League games against Derby, Newcastle and West Ham – which if we managed to win would really turn up the heat.

But I’m confident Arsenal will continue their excellent form and take 3 points at home against Sevilla.

Just don’t ask me what the score will be!

Well I’ve always said that the first 10 games of the new season will show us what Arsenal can do this year. We’ve played 6 already and won 5 of them, and the one game we did draw should have been won – except for a bad Jens Lehmann howler.

But the next 5 games are huge.

We play all of the matches this month in London and therefore we don’t have to travel (much) so this is the perfect time for Arsenal to really push forward and get a decent run going.

If Arsenal are unbeaten going into October then I could not be happier because it would show the new resilience this current squad seem to have.

That would be the perfect start to the season.

We’ve heard several players comment on how the team is together and won’t be bullied anymore.

This is the time to show it.

And the test continues on Saturday against Spurs at White Hart Lane.

Many people are thinking this game is a forgone conclusion but if football has taught us anything it’s that when you write off a team that’s when they are at their most dangerous.

And Tottenham are in total disarray.

They sacked Martin Jol, failed to bring in Ramos from Sevilla and then said they didn’t sack Jol after all! Then there were the stories of Berbatov leaving for United, Robbie Keane’s tantrum after being replaced by Defoe against Fulham and the late goals conceded to throw away the 3 points at Craven Cottage.

Then there’s their current form this season.

Spurs sit in 14th place, with 4 points. They have played one more game than us this season and have only beaten Derby, and drew to Fulham.

And then there’s our record in the North London derbies.

We have not lost against Spurs since 1999 which ended 2-1 at White Hart Lane.

Despite all this, Arsenal would be stupid to under-estimate Spurs and forgive me for being a little cautious come Saturday afternoon.

Facts & Trivia:

• Arsenal remain unbeaten against Spurs in the last eighteen encounters. This includes 14 Premiership, 1 FA Cup and 2 Carling Cup matches.
• Bobby Pires and Alan Sunderland share the most goals in an Arsenal shirt in North London derbies, with 8 a piece.
• From the 155 games between Arsenal and Spurs; Arsenal have currently won 65, drawn 41 and lost 49.
• David O’Leary holds the record for most North London derbies played, with 35 appearances.
• While only 4 players have ever moved from Arsenal to Spurs, the number of Spurs players moving to Arsenal currently stands at 9.
• Arsenal have clinched the title twice at White Hart Lane, in 1971 and also in 2004, when Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires scored to help Arsenal to the 2-2 draw they needed.
• Vieira and Pires were also involved – and scored – in the highest ever North London Derby, when Arsenal won 5-4 at White Hart Lane in the 2004/2005 season.

P.S. The match doesn’t seem to be on Sky or Setanta so does anyone know where I can actually watch this game? (Edit: I’m in the UK)

Well Arsene Wenger has announced that Jens Lehmann is ‘injured’ and will be missing for at least two weeks with an achillies problem. You wonder about the timing of this ‘injury’ and I suspect that it’s the same sort of injury Thierry Henry had at the end of last season. There has been a lot of talk about Lehmann’s costly mistakes of late but Arsene has spoken out and said that Jens is still a top quality goalkeeper.

It’s pretty convenient how Lehmann has become injured following shocking mistakes at Fulham and Blackburn, and a few people thought he should have done better at the near post against Lampard in midweek.

I thought that highly-rated Fabianski might be given a shot but with Arsene’s pecking order it will be Manuel Almunia who fills in for the German. The boss is confident that Almunia can handle the responsibility and admitted it was close in deciding a number one this season. Personally if Lehmann is fully-fit and on top of his game then there really is no contest – but sadly that isn’t the case.

Some people love Almunia and some people hate him. I’m still undecided, even though he’s been at the club over 3 years and seen a decent amount of playing time. I suppose I’m still gutted about the time I travelled all the way to Manchester for the Carling Cup game only for him to let in a pathetic shot after 30 seconds. Man, that was a long trip home!

But as you may or may not have already seen (via Arseblog) that Almunia did win the Arsenal Crossbar Challenge so you can’t say he doesn’t deserve his place in the team!

Unfortunately Willie G will be out for some time and Kolo will captain the side if (and it looks likely) that Gilberto will not take part in the Man City game. I never thought I would say this but Willie has impressed me already this season and we’ll miss his drive – we really could have done with him in the second half against Blackburn.

Meanwhile the manager has said his future will be sorted out ‘soon’ and dismissed talk that delays had anything to do with David Dein. Arsene has always been laid back about signing on the dotted line but is a man of his word so I would be shocked if he did anything other than extend his future.

And of course tomorrow afternoon, we meet Sven’s men who are flying at the top of the league after beating West Ham, Derby and Manchester United. Whatever you want to say about Sven, winning the first 3 games of the season is impressive and Man City are the only team in the league that still have a 100% record. Most people think we will easily beat them but they haven’t conceded a goal yet with Dunne and Richards in fantastic form so I can see tomorrow being a frustration afternoon – especially with Arsenal’s knack of wasting opportunities in front of goal.

On the plus side it looks like Adebayor will start and at least he isn’t scared of shooting.

And hopefully Gilberto will start because Arsenal have problems keeping clean sheets without him.

The smart money would be on 0-0 tomorrow but hopefully Arsenal can grab a goal and nick it 2-1 against a supremely confident Manchester City.

No more blunders please!

Video Link: Arsenal Crossbar Challenge – French TV (YouTube – 3:02)
Download Link: Click Here (Rapidshare – 26MB)

Well Sunday marks our final home game of the season.

It’s been another one of those transitional seasons and while most fans will be disappointed there is plenty to look forward to next season.

Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie should be back, who when fully fit will be like two new signings. Scoring has been a major problem this season and without our two highest scorers for much of the campaign you can’t blame us for struggling.

But at least we’ve secured 4th place and have the chance to play in the Champions League again.

And with Liverpool against AC Milan in this years Champions League Final, are the omens good for yet another Barcelona and Arsenal Final next season?

We can always hope!

But onto the game on Sunday, and we see the reigning Champions visit the Emirates for what should be an interesting encounter.

Ideally, Manchester City will beat United in the derby so that Sunday’s match has an even great significance.

Then it will be even sweeter if we get a result against Chelsea.

Arsene Wenger expects Arsenal fans to show Cashley Cole ‘respect’ if he plays which I suppose is the diplomatic thing to say. Personally I hope he gets the abuse he deserves but with Wayne Bridge being the better left back then it wouldn’t at all surprise me if he plays instead of Cuntface. And funnily enough that’s what Wenger expects.

The early team news is that Tomas Rosicky is only 50/50 for the game, while Freddie is definitely out with a hamstring problem. That means it will probably be Hleb and Baptista in midfield with Adebayor alone up front. Baptista has been hot and cold this season but he does offer a threat in the air which could trouble Chelsea, especially if Carvalho is still out.

I’m personally really looking forward to the game and despite the fact that Chelsea have been poor and looked tired recently against Newcastle, Bolton and Liverpool you would expect them to raise their game against us. What better way to make things better by beating Arsenal in their own back yard?

Despite that though, I’m confident we can beat Chelsea and cap of a miserable week for the Russians.

The curse of leaving Arsenal has struck again as Jose Antonio Reyes looks like he is no longer wanted at Real Madrid. Now he doesn’t want to return to Arsenal and is looking to move back to Sevilla in the summer – funny how that because Sevilla are top of the Spanish League he wants to go there! This guy is more of a mercenary than Lucas Neill!

But would Reyes be worth a place in the Arsenal squad next season?

I will admit that I thought we could have done with his energy at times this season and whatever you say about him he’ll put his foot in and run for the cause. Not many people will agree with me but I thought Reyes was a decent player for Arsenal.

Arsene looks to be having one of those seasons as he is facing a disrepute hearing from the FA for telling it how it is with the crap officials in Cardiff. And Wenger’s best mate Raymond Domenech has continued the war of words, say that he has a clear conscience and it must be know Henry has played for Arsenal 3 days after playing for France.

Er… isn’t that because he plays for and is under contract at Arsenal? Surely you’re not blaming Wenger for not resting Henry because he played for France days before an Arsenal game? Thierry Henry is an ARSENAL player and resting one of our best players isn’t the best way to win a football match!

But then again wasn’t Domenech the guy who was criticised for treating Makalele like a slave?

Anyway, we play Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday in what should be an interesting game. Kolo is back after his suspension and should partner Gallas in the centre, although Eboue and Clichy are out with injuries so Wenger will have to re-shuffle the back four.

Adebayor, Henry and Van Persie are out so it looks like the forward line of Baptista and Aliadiere will start and hopefully they will start to remember where the goal is.

In more positive news, Rosicky and Hleb look to be fit again so we should have more penetration in the final third – especially with the fact Rosicky actually shoots from distance!

Predictions?

Hopefully we’ve finally managed to get our shooting boots on so I can see Arsenal winning 2-1. Everton will probably score at home, and probably from a set-piece.