Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Arsenal secured the bragging rights over north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur with a comprehensive victory.


Spurs held out strongly for the first 42 minutes at the Emirates Stadium but then conceded twice in less than a minute.

Robin van Persie forced home the first from close range and then Cesc Fabregas stole the ball straight from kick-off and ran clean through to slot the second just 11 seconds after the re-start.


Van Persie poached the third from close range on the hour and it could have been worse for Tottenham as Eduardo missed two golden chances after Nicklas Bendtner had gone off injured. Arsenal are now unbeaten in their last 20 meetings with their neighbours.

Arsenal chasing Torino defender Ogbonna

Torino's highly-rated defender Angelo Ogbonna is in the sights of Arsenal.

The Sun says Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is a big admirer of the Italy Under-21 star and wants to strengthen his defence when the transfer window reopens in January.

Ogbonna, 21, has been earning rave reviews in Serie B this season and is regarded as one of the best young talents in Italy.

He said: "I know exactly what I want and I am not closing the door on anything.

"My objective is to improve and reach the highest level. My first dream has been achieved and I have managed to make my professional debut.

"There will be time to see what the options are on other clubs."

News in Brief Arsenal

A review of the news from around the grounds of each Barclays Premier League club.


Arsene Wenger hopes he will be proved right to have kept Spanish teenager Fran Merida at Arsenal this season. The 19-year-old midfielder joined the Gunners from Barcelona's academy in September 2005 - a move which proved somewhat controversial and resulted in legal action taken against the player for compensation. Since then, Merida has gained experience at Real Sociedad before returning to the Gunners and making his Barclays Premier League debut. After impressing in the pre-season Emirates Cup and coming off the bench in the 4-1 win over Portsmouth, Merida hopes this can be his breakthrough campaign. Wenger, though, was close to allowing the promising youngster to have another loan spell away at Levante, only to pull the plug on the deal at the last minute. The Gunners boss believes his faith in Merida - now back at the club after helping Spain reach the knockout stages of the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt - will prove justified. "Fran had a good pre-season and after the pre-season he was away a lot with Spain. Now he is back, so I hope he can show how good he is," Wenger said. "I nearly gave him out on loan, but on the day I had to make the decision, I decided to keep him. It would have been good for him, but I felt that he has too much quality to go out. He just has football in his blood and these players always have a good chance to come through."

Arsenal stunner: Barcelona plan shock Beni Afobe bid

Arsenal risk losing their star England youth striker Beni Afobe to Barcelona.

The 'Young Guns' website reports that Barca have two scouts watching the England U17 striker in action this week. They saw him score two and make two for England as they romped past Kazakhstan, winning 6-2.

Barca are willing to offer Afobe a massive £5,500-a-week and a place in their reserve-team, Barca Atleti, which is coached by Spanish legend Luis Enrique.

With the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Fran Merida joining them from Barca in the past, Arsenal now face the real prospect of having the tables turned on them and losing hot prospect Afobe to the European champs.

Arsenal boss Wenger frustrated dropping two points

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits great frustration dropping two points after their 2-2 draw with West Ham United.

After Liverpool inflicted holders Manchester United's second loss of the season, Wenger reflected on two points dropped for his third-placed team.

"It is very frustrating," he said. "It is, of course, a major missed opportunity. In our job, you don't have this luxury.

"You need to get points when you deserve to get points and sometimes when you don't deserve to get the points. Today we never got them when we deserved them - and that means we have not made the maximum of what we should have done.

"But we have to keep the positives as we played well and are a strong team. We want to learn to finish these games off which is basically the most important lesson of the day.

"We have a great chance [for the title] this year, but you cannot repeat this kind of performance we had today and not come out with three points."

Arsenal ace Arshavin: So close to Tottenham move

Arsenal ace Andrey Arshavin admits he would have happily joined Tottenham if they had come in for him last season.

It could have been so much different if Tottenham had been able to agree a fee with Zenit St Petersburg in August last year.

Arshavin says he had talks in broken English with Spaniard Juande Ramos, telling Bobsoccer: "I was not against a move to Tottenham.

"If it was down to just me to reach an agreement, the move could have taken place."

Arsenal made check on Inter Milan ace Balotelli

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is keeping tabs on Inter Milan starlet Mario Balotelli.

The Sun says Arsenal scouts watched the Italy hitman in Inter's 5-0 win at Genoa last weekend.

Balotelli, 19, is highly regarded by Inter boss Jose Mourinho but is behind Gabriel Milito, Samuel Eto'o and David Suazo in the San Siro pecking order.

But he fits in perfectly with the profile of Wenger's young team - and it is no secret that the Frenchman wants to add another frontman to his squad.

Balotelli, on the other hand, is understood to be willing to consider a move to London to get more regular first-team action.

Arsenal's Nasri delighted with comeback performance

Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri was delighted with his playing return in Tuesday's reserves clash with Wolves.

The French international has not played this season after breaking his leg at Arsenal's pre-season training in Austria.

But he is now fully recovered and is looking to build up his fitness with a view to returning in a few weeks' time.

"I feel good," he told the club's official website.

"I was a little bit tired at the end of the first half but I am so happy to be back on the pitch. It has been three months I was injured so I am really glad to be back.

"It has been difficult but I was always looking forward for a speedy recovery. I knew it would be hard but everyone was behind me and helping me so I am okay.

"I don't know if I am ready yet for the first team. I need to play because nothing can replace the games. So I work well with [fitness coach] Tony Colbert and now after one or two games I will be ready to come back to the first team.

"It was the first serious injury I have had. But I am really happy, I had a quick recovery and everything is fine now."

Arsenal marketing chief Kinnear: Overseas tours down to Wenger

Arsenal’s UK head of marketing, Angus Kinnear, says they remain sensitive to manager Arsene Wenger's reluctance to tour overseas.

In conversation with sportspromedia.com, Kinnear says Wenger would never be forced to take his squad for a lucrative overseas jaunt.

“Arsene is focused on the football primarily,” Kinnear explains. “So the club supports his requirement and therefore the team isn’t traipsed around Asia on money-making schemes.”

He continues: “This season we negotiated [pre-season] fixtures in Hanover and Valencia – two away games which are revenue generating, where teams are paying a fee to have Arsenal. The figures for those games are dwarfed by figures if we were to be able to travel to South Africa, the Far East, the United States.

"What’s more challenging is the brand extension opportunities and the brand expansion, which is about activating that presence and activating it through membership and supporters’ clubs and retail and fan acquisition. And that’s the challenge we face at the moment: how do we grow the brand internationally, knowing that the team is unlikely to have any presence there? And that is a challenge versus Man United and Chelsea.”

Arsenal boss Wenger: My fault if we don't win trophy in two years

Arsene Wenger says he will be to blame if Arsenal fail to win a trophy in the next two seasons.

The Gunners manager is convinced he has created a team capable of winning the Champions League.

"If we don't win a trophy in the next two years, it'll be my fault," Wenger declared last night.

Arsenal boss Wenger rejected £10M-a-year Real Madrid contract

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits he turned down a fortune from Real Madrid in the summer.

The Sun says Wenger was offered £10million-a-year last summer to manage Madrid but he felt duty bound to stay with the Gunners where he earns half that amount.

He revealed: "I'd have had a much higher salary at Real. But I've earned a very good living in London.

"I dream of leaving an imprint at Arsenal and winning the Champions League."