Thank goodness for the U21 Championships. With no World Cup or Euros, June can be a frustrating month, for starters nearly all the players and managers are on holiday so any transfer rumours are completely made up by the media, who lead you on with sensationalist headlines only to let you down when it turns out they have no concrete evidence for their stories.

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Arsenal have today released images of the new away kit for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons. Mock-up images of the new  outfit were leaked a couple of weeks ago, and were remarkably close to the official release.

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This weekend could see the debut of Mikael Silvestre who has finally overcome a muscle injury. The former Manchester United defender is likely to be benched for the clash against newly-promoted Hull, although he may start ahead of either Kolo Toure or William Gallas if Arsene chooses to rest one of his first-choice defensive pairing. Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie are both fresh after being rested for a week, although England star Theo did make a cameo off the bench. Both players should star the match against against The Tigers. Gael Clichy is also available after recovering from a shin injury,suffered at the hands of Bolton’s Kevin Davies last weekend. Alexandre Song faces a late fitness test to after the Cameroonian suffered a hip injury during the 6-0 victory over Sheffield United.

Samir Nasri is yet to recover from a knee injury suffered while training with France. It is unknown how long it will be until Nasri is back, but with the injury being described as “short term”, it shouldn’t be long until the wonderkid is back for Arsenal. Abou Diaby is still recovering from his thigh injury and wont be ready for another week or two. Amaury Bischoff is also unavailable – the midfielder is yet to recover from a groin injury suffered a year ago whilst playing in the reserves for Werder Bremen.

Arsene Wenger spoke this week to Arsenal.com about Tomas Rosicky’s injury:

“I believe that all the checks we made are reassuring, but it’s difficult to say,” said the Frenchman. “It’s an inflammation that’s going on in his leg that has to settle, to calm down.”

“We are a little bit speechless on that at the moment because we feel it is all going well. It is a problem of re-coordinating his muscle with the exercises he does.

“There’s nothing really that harms his future, but, as well nobody can tell me on the 10th of December he will play.

“He can be on the 31st of December, he can be on the 10th of November, nobody knows with him. In the next two months he should be back but what date, nobody knows.”

As reported on Oh To Be A Gooner earlier this month, Eduardo continues to recover well from his broken leg and could be back as early as November.

No match preview today, but you can check out out here, courtesy of The Beeb. The full Arsenal squad for the match is: Almunia, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Fabregas, Denilson, Walcott, Adebayor, van Persie, Fabianski, Song, Djourou, Vela, Bendtner, Wilshere, Eboue, Silvestre. I suspect we’ll line up something like this:

van Persie – Adebayor

Eboue – Denilson – Fabregas – Walcott

Clichy – Gallas – Toure – Sagna

Almunia

I’d love to see Carlos Vela get a run on the left instead of Eboue but the Ivorian looks more likely to get the nod.

We should stuff them but ‘ull are performing well above expectations so far this season. 2-0 is my prediction, with Adebayor and Fabregas getting on the scoresheet. Up the Arse!

Yesterday was the first day of pre-season training for Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor. He was not wearing the black and red of AC Milan, nor the famous Blaugrana of Barcelona but the red and white of Arsenal. After months of speculation over the striker’s future, sparked public displays of a desire to move elsewhere and demands of exhorbitant wages that can only be described as ludicrous, the man formerly dubbed “Baby Kanu” was forced to return to Colney yesterday with the rest of his Arsenal teammates.

It is not known how Adebayor was received by his teammates on his return, but one can assume that they will find it hard to place their confidence a player who is not committed to the Arsenal cause. It will be extremely difficult for the other Arsenal players to fight week-in and week-out for someone who has said this:

“Barcelona have made a good financial offer and there is also the chance to play alongside great players. Yes, I am still under contract to Arsenal but it’s up to the directors to satisfy my demands or I’ll leave.”

“But the career of a footballer is soon over. My good goals aren’t the only things I am going to enjoy at the end of it. I have to prepare for my retirement as a player, too. Even if you’re not scoring fine goals and you have money, you can enjoy a happy retirement. The time for preparing for that moment is now.”

The away end at Underhill on Saturday were damning in their judgement of the African, dubbing him “Greedybayor”. I think that’s a fair judgement, don’t you? Adebayor seems to forget that for every goal he scored last season there were at least two other chances that he really should have put away. For the amount of times he was set up by the likes of Rosicky, Hleb and Fabregas he should have had at least 50 goals last season. It was these misses that, in the end, cost us the League, Carling Cup, FA Cup and the Champions League.

What Adebayor seems to forget is that the only player who was on the sort of money that he is demanding was Thierry Henry. Thierry was the captain, the record goalscorer. He had league and cup titles coming out of his arse. Granted, Adebayor did score 30 goals last year, but Henry did that season after season and was never in the press begging for a new contract. When Thierry was given the ball you could hear everyone around Highbury taking in a great big breath of excitement, just waiting to see what magic he would perform next. Thierry Henry was the best player our great club has ever seen. Not until you get close to that, Emmanuel, will you deserve the wages that Thierry Henry was on. Fuck off to the Yids you greedy cunt. They’re known to pay over-the-odds for useless players.

Arsene Wenger has laid down a challenge to Theo Walcott to establish himself as a regular at Arsenal next season. Theo made 11 Premier League starts for the Gunners last season, and Wenger has urged Walcott to show his stuff and break into the England side next term. Go get ‘em, Theo!

Bacary Sagna is set to be fit for the start of the new Premier League season. The young Frenchman has been battling an ankle injury which he sustained after scoring against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in March. Until that injury, Sagna was an ever-present figure in the Arsenal backline last season, making 29 league appearances in his maiden season at Ashburton Grove.

Finally, William Gallas has been told to “call PSG” if he is interested in a move to the French capital. Gallas has been linked to a £5 million move back to his home town where he would join new signing Claude Makelele. I would welcome the departure of the 30-year-old Gallas – he has shown that he isn’t captain material at Arsenal and is also rather incompatible with central defensive partner Kolo Toure. Selling Gallas and bringing in an aerially-dominant defender would lift the performances of both Kolo Toure and the Arsenal team as a whole. It would also open up the door for Cesc Fabregas to take the captain’s armband. Still, Gallas will have my full support if he does end up staying.

That’s all for today. Arsenal play that Hungarian team that I can’t pronounce in a friendly tomorrow morning. The side should be a mixture of the two teams that we saw against Barnet on Saturday, hopefully with the inclusion of Carlos Vela. Until then…