Pre-Fulham Odds & Ends

By: Martin | May 7th, 2010

There isn’t a tremendous amount going on in the world of Arsenal today, but there are a few things that merit commenting:

Arsene Wenger has come out and said that Spurs deserve to be in the Champions League. Specifically, he said that, “Yes of course, you are never there by coincidence. . . . When you beat Arsenal, you beat Chelsea, you beat Man City, you deserve it.” And it’s hard to argue with that.

Elsewhere, Wenger said that he was “confident” of Marouane Chamakh joining Arsenal, saying, “It is not officially done but we are confident on the boy. When all is clear we will come out and announce it.” Seems like it would take something pretty dramatic to derail the deal at this point.

Wenger also came out and said that the team owes the fans a great debt of gratitude, and that the fans supported the team like never before this season. Hopefully the players get 3 points on Sunday and can enjoy a bit of a victory lap, and show some mutual appreciation for the fans. Apparently on Monday against Blackburn, the final away match of the season, only Theo and Arshavin came over to show some appreciation to the 3,000 traveling supporters who made the hellish trip to Blackburn to watch that monstrosity of the game, which is a bit troubling.

Finally, Wenger revealed that he has never been in for Fulham center half Brede Hangeland, who was heavily linked with a move across town to Arsenal last season. He’s a very good player (better last season than this, though), but his limited mobility and ball-handling/passing skills make him a bit of a poor fit for Arsenal, and at almost 29, he’s about to hit the downside of his career. I was skeptical last summer, and at this point I would say there’s no chance he comes to Arsenal.

And er . . . that’s it. Told you it wasn’t much. Fulham preview up tomorrow. TGIF.