Arsenal concluded their tour of Austria on Monday with an 8-1 spanking of Austrian side Schwadorf. The match was a dramatic improvement from our performance in the previous friendly, with several players impressing.

Emmanuel Adebayor bagged a brace, as did Robin van Persie, whose second goal was quite a treat. Kolo Toure, Aliaksander Hleb, Nic Bendtner and Johann Djourou got on the scoresheet as well. Robin van Persie was my Man of the Match, some crisp passing and movement supplementing his goals.

Returning World Cup stars who’d played in the knockout stages were back, Cesc Fabregas played a half as well. The leftback position was manned by 16 year old Armand Traore who looked excellent, pure pace and he’s quite well built for his age.

The Ashley Cole saga rolls on, and I speak for most Arsenal fans when I say that we can’t wait for him to fuck off already. Any fee in the region of 16 million plus would be great business, and though I’d love to squeeze Chelsea for as much as we can, I’d rather he was sold abroad because he’s still a bloody good leftback. He did show up at Arsenal’s training ground at Colney for an hour or two, reportedly had discussions with David Dein on the transfer situation and was driven away by the whore he has for a wife. It is also rumoured that he showed up to avoid a fine worth one week’s wages.

In related news, William Gallas failed to show for his beloved Chelsea’s pre-season training in the United States, and the club says they’re going to take relevant disciplinary action against him. Things don’t look good as far as his new deal is concerned, and while his most likely destination is Italy, I wouldn’t completely discount a player plus cash deal with Chelsea for Cole as rumours suggest. Highly unlikely, though.

Jose Antonio Reyes released a third statement in as many days, this time to another paper in Spain. He says the usual stuff about Madrid being a great club and him preferring the culture and life in Spain. He says he’s content at Arsenal if nothing happens, which is fine by me. I’d rather we didn’t lose any more players this summer, and Reyes is a significant member of the squad.

As if cameo appearances by Dutch legends Johann Cryuff, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard weren’t enough, Ashburton Grove has been chosen as the host for a friendly between Brazil and Argentina. The two South American and Global football powerhouses will meet in the first international friendly at the Grove on September 2. Will be interesting to see what kind of teams the new coaches put out, and it will be a great occasion at the new stadium.

And finally, the boss has confirmed that while Lehmann’s banned for our Champions League 3rd round first leg (for his red card in the final), Thierry Henry will also be unfit for the tie and will not feature. Freddie is also out. Considering the injuries we’ve got right now, and barring any further setbacks against Alkmaar, the following looks like the likely formation we’ll employ against (most probably) Zagreb: