One year on and another FA Cup later...

A lot has happened since I last posted on the blog.

In fact a whole season has passed us by and Arsenal lifted their second FA Cup in a row.

I'm in the working world now as a reporter, my hours all over the place and I'm in training for my job too, so finding the time to write on here at the end of the day has been a struggle.

But what better time to start than now the summer has officially started...and there are transfer rumours galore.

In fact Arsenal are on the verge of announcing the signing of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Having seen Wojciech Szczesny go from a potentially top quality keeper to a man so far from that now, I am firmly behind signing Cech, despite his best years behind him.

He is still a quality keeper and I'd be happy with either him or David Ospina wearing the no.1 jersey. The amount of experience he brings is incredible. In fact he'd be the only player in the squad to hold a Premier League medal.

Petr Cech. Credit: John Dobbo

Elsewhere, if you believe the (quite often rubbish) transfer news the papers come out with, you will have heard Jack Wilshere is off to Manchester City.

Wilshere is rumoured to be considering his future with Arsenal which I do understand.

He's a player who will not be playing week in week out at the Emirates Stadium partly because of the injuries he picks up and because of the amount of competition there is.

A lot of non-Arsenal fans do not rate him but were quick to applaud his recent goals for England which we've seen him do once or twice for Arsenal.

He may not quite have lived up to the hype but he's an exciting player who shows world-class abilities. It would be foolish to let him go. 

Manchester City are linked to everyone though and there seems to be more in the Raheem Sterling chat.

He's another player we were said to be monitoring but I'm glad nothing has materialised there. Let City have him. Whether or not the Blues are really that interested in Wilshere, it is known they need a squad of more home-grown players.

I've heard we are offering Jack a five-year contract worth £100,000 a week. For that much, let's hope he is on the pitch a little more than he is off it for one reason or another.

Yaya Sanogo finally scores his first Arsenal goals against Benfica in Emirates Cup

Arsenal looked in control against a rather lacklustre Benfica side, as Arsenal fans got to see the players for the first time since last season.

Yaya Sanogo grabbed four goals, including a first half hat-trick to steal the show, while Alexis Sanchez and Calum Chambers made their first Arsenal appearances.

The roar of the crowd as Sanchez came on in the second half was deafening. It is quite clear what the signing of the former Barcelona winger means to the us Arsenal fans, who have a lot of optimism for the season ahead. That is something which is very much different to this time last year, but we going into the new season as F.A Cup holders and hoping to see the same kind of football as we showed in the first half of last season.

I settled into my seat, up above the goal at the clock end of the Emirates just as the first game of the afternoon, Monaco v Valencia, kicked off. That was a fairly entertaining game but I was eagerly waiting for Arsenal v Benfica of course, but I didn't expect to see Sanogo so on form.

The French forward looked his usual self early on but we were ecstatic when Aaron Ramsey turned his man, darted down the pitch, and passed the ball into the path of Sanogo to back heel the ball into the net. His dance moves showed how happy he was too.

He pushed on from there but nobody expected him to get another three goals before being substituted late on for Chuba Akpom.

Joel Campbell also made his first Arsenal start after returning from Olympiakos on loan and featuring for Costa Rica at the World Cup. His goal was well taken, drilling home a volley, and Wenger has said he has first team plans for the 22-year-old.

The performance of right-back Hector Bellerin mustn't go unnoticed as we were taken back by his star man performance. He looked more than comfortable on the ball, confident on taking players on, and did nothing wrong all game. He may even give Debuchy a little competition this season if he carries on in the same way.

Admittedly, this is only pre-season and there were mistakes here and there. Monreal looked dodgy at centre-back, and I'm not overly keen on him at left-back either, while Kieran Gibbs often found himself out of position, but on the whole, it was a very promising performance, and a great opportunity to see most of the squad ahead of the new season.

Day two of the Emirates Cup is played today with Arsenal playing AS Monaco at 4.20pm (GMT), after the conclusion of Benfica v Valencia.

Emirates Stadium

Has Wenger learned from past mistakes? Arsenal look to do summer transfers early

It appears as if Arsene Wenger has listened to his critics and has maybe learned from his own past mistakes.

Arsenal have completed the signings of four players this summer, with another signing likely before the season starts.

In seasons gone by Wenger has left signing players to the last moments of the transfer window i.e Mikel Arteta and Mesut Ozil. The obvious problem here is that players need time to gel and get to know their team mates.

Now, with the start of the season still a couple of weeks away, we have filled in the vacant right-back position with the likes of Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers, invested in world class attacking winger Alexis Sanchez, and brought in back up to Szczesny in David Ospina.

The area I still want to see improved on is the striker role. Giroud, as I have always said, is incompetent up front, as can be Walcott. Podolski is always preferred to on the wing, however maybe Wenger has plans for him to feature in a striker role now with the arrival of Sanchez. The Chilean really will add something to our attacks and I am excited to see him play this season.

Carl Jenkinson's loan to West Ham is a good move with Debuchy and Chambers' arrivals. Debuchy will be our first choice right-back with Sagna's departure while Chambers, 19, can also play anywhere across the back and he has a lot of potential. I don't think Jenkinson is ready and this loan move is a good thing for his development.

I am off to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday to see the Arsenal v Benfica friendly as the club host its annual Emirates Cup tournament. They play Monaco on Sunday. The two days of football are a good test for the players to see where they are in their pre-season programme, with the season just two weekends away, as well as an opportunity for the players to welcome back the FA Cup holders after a busy sporting summer.

Emirates Stadium crest

Wenger's new contract is the best move for Arsenal

A lot has happened since I was last blogging, both club-wise and in my own life, as I have been moving and settling into a new job as well.

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that we won a trophy. My last post was actually off the back of our Wembley triumph over Hull...and what a day that was. It could be a little while before we do it again (here's hoping it's not nine long years again) so why shouldn't we bask in the glory of having won a piece of silverware.

More recently though is the fact that Arsene has signed a new deal which will see him at the club for a further three years. I think this is probably the best thing for the club at the moment. Nobody else is available to take us forward and so Wenger, who it is so apparent loves the club, is still the best man for the Arsenal manager's position. I have a feeling however that this may be the last contract he will sign at Arsenal and I certainly hope he can reclaim further glories over the next three years, putting us back up there as a respected club alongside the top European clubs.

With the football season closed for now, although the FIFA World Cup is just a couple of weeks away just in case you needed reminding, transfer talk is everywhere. Apparently we are closing in on deals for Di Maria and Morata both of Real Madrid. I think these are probably more rumours than any degree of truth but this isn't the first time we have been linked to these two. I've said before that we need some real pacey wingers who can pose a threat - Podolski isn't a winger and should be used centrally - but I'm not so sure about Morata who is the understudy to Benzema at the Bernabeu.

The England friendlies ahead of the World Cup have begun and England secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Peru last night. We looked good at times, and Wilshere looked bright when he came on. To be fair we were only playing Peru who are hardly setting the world alight footballing-wise so let's not not start placing our bets on an England World Cup win just yet.

Glen Johnson looked a bit sloppy at times, someone who I've heard Arsenal could consider moving in for with Sagna's departure imminent. Jenkinson has spoken out claiming he is ready to step up and be our first choice right back however he still has a lot to do for me.

Finally, and a little late due to not having blogged for a few weeks, but farewell Fabianski! After confirming after the final whistle of the FA Cup Final that that was to be his last Arsenal game I was disappointed and I'm sad to see him go, but it was to be expected. I'm glad he was chosen for the final though and he has been brilliant this season and at times throughout his seven seasons at the club. I think we all wish him well at his new club Swansea City but we'll still be trying to put some past him when Arsenal and Swansea play each other next season, that's for sure!

Anyway, here's to another three seasons with Arsene Wenger. He has one or two things to prove otherwise the fans will once again start to get on his back. How much more has he got left in him?

Arsenal 3 - 2 Hull City. Trophy drought ended at long last, but where do Arsenal go from here?

The scenes at Wembley yesterday were a joy to behold. The players looked on cloud nine and Wenger was drowned in champagne after being thrown up in the air by the squad. These are the sort of scenes Arsenal fans have been missing, plus of course seeing a trophy being lifted.

Frustratingly though the game started in Hull's favour and when they quickly went 2-0 up, Arsenal fans found themselves stunned again. The Liverpool game earlier this year came to mind.

Perhaps we were a little over confident, having had the better season and having more quality in our team but they weren't playing their game on a day where it mattered. Hull of course would have been so fired up, and it sure looked that way. Fortunately it wasn't to last...not that we knew it at this point. The plus when were 2-0 down was there was still 80 minutes left to play!

We grew into the game though we never really got into full flow. Ozil was once again disappointing alongside Giroud but I liked the look of Sanogo when he came on. He still needs to work on his decisions when running at players and when in the box but you really can't knock his desire, and he shows the potential to be a good striker so I'm hoping for more from him as well next season.

I had been calling for Rosicky and Wilshere to come on and eventually they did and you could see the impact they had on the game instantly.

I watched the game with 20,000 other fans at the Emirates Stadium who were all brilliant and the pitch invasion really showed their passion! It must have been great to have been at Wembley but the atmosphere was still really good at a half full, all Arsenal based stadium. Everyone was singing and getting up every time a chance was on the cards, hurling abuse and all the usual with eyes fixed on the screens. You'd think the game was actualy happening in front of us. The pitch invasion didn't go down too well though as they turned the TVs off until all the fans were back in their seats!

I was happy at seeing us lift the trophy though and it made for a trip well worth it. Arsenal must take something from winning this trophy and why not make the Premier League our next target? They were in the run in before injuries hit us hard this season but we need more quality in the team still.

For me that is certainly another proven striker, a new right back, back-up goalie (now Fabianski is off as well), a holding midfielder and some pace injected into the wings too with the Ox and Walcott often injured.

People asked when would Arsenal win another trophy. At time of writing this it has been 18 hours since Arsenal last won a trophy. The question now is can they build on this?

Anyway may the celebrations continue for now, and keep smiling Mr Wenger. You deserve it. On to next season!

Wembley Stadium.

Norwich v Arsenal: Warm up for the FA Cup Final as Premier League season concludes

So today marks the final day of the 2013/14 Premier League season and what a season it has been.

For Arsenal it has been a tale of two halves, after such a strong start (ignoring the opening day defeat) and then seeing us crumble under the pressure since February. We've picked ourselves up a little recently and have an FA Cup Final to look forward to next weekend, so it's not been all bad.

I definitely believe that if we didn't have the injuries to our players this season then we would be going for much more than fourth place. The players should be geared up though for today's final league game of the season, knowing they have the chance to lift a trophy for the first time in nine years on Saturday. There certainly have been promising signs from the squad this year, and Wenger now needs to see them finally prove they are a title winning side.

Keeping our main players together, securing the contract extensions of key players, and seeing a couple of new faces have only benefited us this season, but I do now feel it is time for one or two to leave once the season is well and truly done.

It seems quite obvious who will be leaving us this summer, and there are strong rumours linking us to a couple of big names which is always exciting, and I will discuss these once the season is done.

It's not all sad though that the season ends. It's exciting to see who will lift the trophy with Liverpool and City playing at the same time (channel switching between the two games will be happening!) We're involved in the FA Cup Final next weekend and of course the FIFA World Cup starts in a few weeks.

Enjoy the game and let's hope we give ourselves a good run-out ahead of the final.

Finally, thanks for following this year. I have not been able to find the time to blog so much in the last couple of months but I enjoy writing about whatever comes into my head about the club I have supported my entire life. I'll be posting once again when the season is over. Here's to next season!

Signing a quality striker is essential but we need the attacking movement to back them up

The rumours have been circulating that Loic Remy could be a new striker in the team next season. He was in the crowd at our final home game of the season against West Brom on Saturday but I admit, there isn't too much I know about the French forward.

Wenger has been insistent on playing Podolski on the wing which the German doesn't like - and he's been pretty open about. We've relied too much on Giroud this season and he isn't world class quality. Sanogo has promise and so is not yet ready to be relied on as first team striker, Walcott has been out injured since the FA Cup tie against Tottenham. I guess we've needed another striker for a while.

We enquired about Atletico's Diego Costa in January and transfer rumours were everywhere but he seems to be pretty much on his way to Chelsea when the summer arrives, although nothing has actually been confirmed as yet.

We were linked to Mario Mandzukic as well and he appears to be our top transfer target now. I'm quite excited about this potential move actually when you consider his stats. He has 18 goals in 29 games for Bayern in the Bundesliga this season, with 15 in 24 last season.

We had even been rumoured to be interested in Mario Balotelli though this has gone quiet. I would like to see us return for Julian Draxler in the summer too - he creates a lot and our attacking movement has been poor in correlation to our slump this season. We were top of the league at the start of Feb, how things change. There was the concern that we wouldn't be able to attract big names though if we didn't qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season but we secured this feat and so have no excuses.

Injuries to Ramsey, Wilshere and Ozil have contributed to the lack of attacking movement in the latter stages of the season (not forgetting Ozil's poor form). I do wonder where our season could've gone if we didn't have these kinds of knocks this year, but we have just about kept ourselves in European football and have a chance to lift the FA Cup!

I think players will have to shift if we are to bring in another midfielder like Draxler. I'll discuss who I think should be shifted out soon, as well as the other positions that may need filling too.