Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has conceded that Theo Walcott's season is now over, after confirming the forward is to undergo surgery this week:

The starlet came off the bench in Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Everton and his cameo at Goodison Park will be his last, courtesy of a shoulder injury that has curtailed his season.

After a bright start to his Arsenal career, Walcott has faded in the second half of the campaign and Wenger believes his shoulder complaint has been the main cause of a downturn in fortune.

"Walcott's season is over. He will have surgery on Tuesday," said Wenger. "The medical advice is to do it now.

"He was doing well until he damaged his shoulder, now he is only 50 per cent of what he was before.

"You can see that now. He was on for only 10 minutes and his shoulder popped out, you cannot play football like that."

Wenger admitted his side were jaded on their excursion to Merseyside and the Frenchman had few complaints about the result.

He concluded: "We are a bit jaded physically, and we did not make the most of our opportunities.

"The final ball was not good enough, even though we battled well to the end.

"The spirit was excellent, but we didn't create enough. The conditions were not good, but they were the same for everyone.

"We are not guaranteed to be in the top four and we want to be in there, we have a difficult programme and must not fail to be in that top four.

"We lost at Blackburn in the last minute, we lost to Eindhoven late in the game and the same against Everton as well as losing a late goal to Chelsea in the Carling Cup Final.

"What we are missing is the maturity to deal with that."

Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann admits he would prefer not to discuss his club future:

Lehmann is out of contract at Emirates Stadium at the end of the season and has been offered a new deal by Arsene Wenger.

The keeper is keen to secure a two-year extension, but Wenger's usual policy is to offer his over-30s only 12-month arrangements.

Bundesliga clubs are looking to take Lehmann back to Germany, although he has denied an interest from Hertha Berlin.

Speaking ahead of Germany's Euro 2008 qualifier with Czech Republic on Saturday, the 37-year-old concedes he is growing tired of the transfer talk.

Lehmann insists there is no deadline for him to make a decision on his future and he is currently happy to bide his time.

"I am in a situation at the moment where I have to make a decision at some point, but there is no fixed date for that to be made," said Lehmann.

"Every week a new club is linked with me, while everybody knows I am also happy at Arsenal.

"I'd rather not talk about it all."

lehmann is a good keeper and i think wenger should offer him another contract,  but his attitude to other players stinks

Fabregas: United deserve the title

LMAO^^^^^^^

tommo:

I know you don't support the gooners, neither do I. This news in the arsenal forum would be pretty hard to swallow for an Arsenal fan. It would rub salts to his already deep wounds!

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villainkrishna:

LMAO^^^^^^^

tommo:

I know you don't support the gooners, neither do I. This news in the arsenal forum would be pretty hard to swallow for an Arsenal fan. It would rub salts to his already deep wounds!

oh well, there are no arenal fans here

i would have thought it would rub salt into a chelsea fans deep wounds since they cannot win the premier league now!

^ I appreciated it, lol.

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I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that, you ***. And don't ever stand over me again sneering about fake injuries.”
Roy Keane

Arsenal Sign Another Starlet

Arsenal have struck a deal that will see French teenager Gilles Sunu move to the Grove on a four-year contract in the summer. The Gunners have won the race for the highly-rated Chateauroux striker, beating Premiership rivals Liverpool in the process. Now Sunu has turned 16, it has been confirmed that the French youth international will continue his footballing education under Arsene Wenger in North London after the two clubs came to an agreement. Arsenal are believed to being paying between 1-4million Euro's (£680,000-£2.71million) for the teenager who is hoping to become the latest French starlet to shine for The Gunners. Sunu will move to England in July and is expected to put pen-to-paper on the four-year deal when Chateauroux president Michel Denisot meets Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein in April to finally ratify the deal.

http://www.arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=58304

Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor’s international future with Togo appears in jeopardy following reports that a bonus row saw him being kicked out of the national side. Moreover, the 22-year-old also revealed that he had received death threats.

Togo’s official sources claimed captain Adebayor, alongwith striker Kader Cougbadja (Jazira, UAE) and defender Nibombe Dare (RAEC Mons, Belgium) have been excluded.

Adebayor also disclosed he feared for his life and has a family to take care of.

"I am only trying to put certain things right and correct a few mistakes in Togolese football, but it appears some people do not like it.

"Now I am going to go back to Arsenal and think about my future. I have to protect my life and I have a family to look after," he said.

Adebayor scored twice in the match against Sierra Leone on Saturday as Togo moved top of Group Nine of the 2008 African Nations Cup qualifiers with a 3-1 win.

The Togo players still await being paid approximately a third of the 122,000 euros (162,000 dollars) they were promised for reaching the World Cup finals last year. The controversy had raised its head in Germany when the team threatened pulling out of football’s showpiece event

Arsenal and Germany Keeper Jens Lehmann Denies Hertha Berlin Transfer Rumours

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Arsenal & Chelsea fined £100,000

The incident happened in the closing minutes of the final Arsenal and Chelsea have each been fined £100,000 following the brawl at the end of the Carling Cup final. The clubs have also been reprimanded by the Football Association after the incident at the Millennium Stadium. The melee involved players and officials from both clubs and led to three red cards. The FA's disciplinary commission described the incident as "serious, unacceptable and damaging to the image of the game". Arsenal duo Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure and Chelsea's Mikel Jon Obi saw red after 90 minutes of the final, which Chelsea won 2-1. And the commission concluded Arsenal had been "marginally more involved in the incident, but that Chelsea had past proven cases in recent years regarding the general behaviour of their players where warnings had been issued". Both teams admitted the charge of failing to ensure their players and/or officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative and/or violent behaviour. The fines follow an FA disciplinary commission hearing. As well as receiving a three-match ban for his sending off, Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor was banned for an additional game and fined £7,500 for his reaction after being shown a red card. The striker had to be hauled off the pitch after being dismissed for aiming a punch at Chelsea's Frank Lampard. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is facing an FA disrepute hearing after he was charged with improper conduct. The charges relate to comments Wenger made after the Carling Cup final fracas. He has been asked to explain his claim "the whole system is not honest", a reference to FA disciplinary rules. Wenger also suggested the assistant whom referee Howard Webb consulted before sending off Adebayor was a "liar".

Brazilian Gilberto Admits Juventus Interest But Awaits Decision From Arsenal Before Deciding

Americans cool Arsenal stake talk

Kroenke Sports Enterprise (KSE) have "no interest or intention" of buying into Arsenal according to a spokesman for the American company. KSE began a business partnership with the Gunners in February through Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids. There have been reports KSE are keen on a financial stake in Arsenal too. But Jurgen Mainka, Rapids' director of communications, said: "There is no interest from KSE in buying any shares of Arsenal or any Premier League club." There is an increasing trend of American businessmen linking up with English clubs. This season Liverpool and Aston Villa have been bought by American business tycoons, and Manchester United have been owned by Malcolm Glazer since 2005. Arsenal's major shareholders, including vice chairman David Dein and director Danny Fiszman, are not believed to be interested in selling up. But broadcaster ITV are thought to be open to offers for their 9.9% stake in the Gunners. The club is valued at around £404m and KSE's owner Stan Kroenke - a billionaire - was widely thought to be interested in buying shares. But Mainka added: "There certainly is no substance to these stories and rumours in the media which indeed started when we first announced our commercial relationship with Arsenal Football Club." The deal with Colorado is designed to build Arsenal's brand in the United States, while also helping to develop the MLS club. The arrangement between the two clubs includes the development of a Centre of Excellence in Colorado, the transfer of coaching ideas and the launch of the Arsenal Cup, a club tournament open to teams from all over the US.

Arsenal Midfielder Cesc Fabregas Ready to Take Break from Premiership Action to Avoid Burn-Out.