There were no shocks when Arsenal named its 25-man squad for the first half of the EPL season and there was a couple of surprises.

All clubs had to submit a squad of up to 25 players containing no more than 17 players who do not qualify as homegrown. Homegrown players are classed as players who “irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday”.

U21 players (born on or after January 1 1989) do not have to count towards the 25-man squads. Changes to the squads can be made in January.

Arsenal named seven ‘homegrown’ players as part of their 20-man squad. Those players are: Nicklas Bendtner, Denilson, Johan Djourou, Cesc Fabregas, Vito Mannone, Gael Clichy and Alex Song.

Fabregas qualifies as a home grown player because he he has been trained by Arsenal for more than three years before the age of 21.

Official squads
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Andrey Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner, Marouane Chamakh, Gael Clichy, Denilson, Abou Diaby, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboue, Lukasz Fabianski, Cesc Fabregas, Laurent Koscielny, Vito Mannone, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Alexandre Song, Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen, Sebastien Squillaci.

Aston Villa: Brad Friedel; Brad Guzan; James Collins; Carlos Cuellar; Curtis Davies; Habib Beye; Richard Dunne; Eric Lichaj; Stephen Warnock; Luke Young; Stewart Downing; Jonathan Hogg; Stephen Ireland; Isaiah Osbourne; Stiliyan Petrov; Nigel Reo-Coker; Moustapha Salifou; Steve Sidwell; Ashley Young; Gabriel Agbonlahor; John Carew; Emile Heskey.

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Stephen Carr, David Murphy, Lee Bowyer, Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Sebastian Larsson, Craig Gardner, Kevin Phillips, Cameron Jerome, Garry O’Connor, Barry Ferguson, Colin Doyle, Matt Derbyshire, Scott Dann, James McFadden, Michel, Keith Fahy, Nikola Zigic, Stuart Parnaby, Alexander Hleb, Jean Beausejour, Ben Foster, Martin Jiranek, James O’Shea.

Blackburn: Paul Robinson, Martin Olsson, Chris Samba, Gael Givet, Ryan Nelsen, Brett Emerton, David Dunn, Nikola Kalinic, El-Hadji Diouf, Vince Grella, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Mark Bunn, Steven Nzonzi, Keith Andrews, Michel Salgado, Jason Brown, Frank Fielding, Pascal Chimbonda, Mame Biram Diouf, Jason Roberts, Benjani.

Blackpool: Charlie Adam, Alex John-Baptiste, Chris Basham, Stephen Crainey, Malaury Martin, Daniel Coid, Ishmael Demontagnac, Neal Eardley, Robert Edwards, Jaso Euell, Ian Evatt, Matthew Gilks, Elliot Grandin, Marlon Harewood, Dekel Keinan, Brett Ormerod, Keith Southern, Ludovic Sylvestre, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Luke Varney, David Vaughan, DJ Campbell, David Carney.

Bolton: Robbie Blake, Adam Bogdan, Gary Cahill, Tamir Cohen, Kevin Davies, Mark Davies, Sean Davis, Johan Elmander, Ricardo Gardner, Stuart Holden, Jussi Jaaskalainen, Ivan Klasnic, Zat Knight, Chung Yong-lee, Fabrice Muamba, Andy O’Brien, Joey O’Brien, Martin Petrov, Sam Ricketts, Paul Robinson, Jlloyd Samuel, Gretar Steinsson, Matt Taylor, Al Al-Habsi.

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Yossi Benayoun, Didier Drogba, John Mikel Obi, Florent Malouda, Jose Bosingwa, Yury Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira, Salomon Kalou, Ross Turnbull, John Terry, Alex, Nicolas Anelka, Henrique Hilario, Daniel Sturridge, Patrick van Aanholt, Jeffrey Bruma, Gael Kakuta, Fabio Borini, Josh McEachran.

Everton: Tim Howard, Mikel Arteta, Jan Mucha, Steven Pienaar, Iain Turner, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Tony Hibbert, Phil Neville, Seamus Coleman, Tim Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Louis Saha, Sylvain Distin, James Vaughan, John Heitinga, Victor Anichebe, Leigton Baines, Yakubu, Marouane Fellaini, Jermaine Beckford, Leon Osman.

Fulham: Mark Schwarzer, David Stockdale, John Pantsil, Fredrik Stoor, Aaron Hughes, Rafik Halliche, Chris Baird, Brede Hangeland, Carlos Salcido, Stephen Kelly, Zoltan Gera, Clinton Dempsey, Bjorn Helge Riise, Dickson Etuhu, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Danny Murphy, Jonathan Greening, Simon Davies, Damien Duff, Andrew Johnson, Diomansy Kamara, Moussa Dembele, Bobby Zamora, David Elm, Eddie Johnson.

Liverpool: Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Stephen Darby, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Brad Jones, Paul Konchesky, Jay Spearing, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Ryan Babel, Milan Jovanovic, Dirk Kuyt, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Lucas Leiva, Raul Meireles, Christian Poulsen, Pepe Reina, Maxi Rodriguez, Martin Skrtel, Fernando Torres

Manchester City: Shay Given, Joe Hart, Stuart Taylor, Jerome Boateng, Wayne Bridge, Aleksander Kolarov, Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott, Shaleum Logan, Micah Richards, Kolo Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong, Adam Johnson, Michael Johnson, James Milner, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Patrick Vieira, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jo, Roque Santa Cruz, Carlos Tevez.

Manchester United: Ben Amos, Darren Fletcher, Tomasz Kuszczak, Darron Gibson, Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Park Ji-Sung, Jonathan Evans, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Antonio Valencia, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, John O’Shea, Javier Hernandez, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney.

Newcastle: Sol Campbell, Steven Taylor, Shola Ameobi, Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie, Peter Lovenkrands, Jose Enrique, Alan Smith, Leon Best, Fabricio Coloccini, Jonas Gutierrez, Steve Harper, Kevin Nolan, Wayne Routledge, Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Mike Williamson, Xisco, Fraser Forster, Tim Krul, James Perch, Cheik Tiote, Hatem ben Arfa.

Stoke: Asmir Begovic, Danny Collins, Rory Delap, Salif Diao, Matthew Etherington, Abdoulaye Faye, Ricardo Fuller, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Danny Higginbotham, Robert Huth, Kenwyne Jones, Carlo Nash, Jermaine Pennant, Danny Pugh, Ryan Shawcross, Thomas Sorensen, Tuncay Sanli, Ryan Shotton, Tom Soares, Michael Tonge, Jonathan Walters, Glenn Whelan, Dean Whitehead, Andy Wilkinson, Marc Wilson.

Sunderland: Marcos Angeleri, Phil Bardsley, Darren Bent, Titus Bramble, Fraizer Campbell, Trevor Carson, Lee Cattermole, Paulo Da Silva, Ahmed El Mohamady, Anton Ferdinand, Craig Gordon, Asamoah Gyan, David Healy, Steed Malbranque, George McCartney, John Mensah, Simon Mignolet, Nedum Onuoha, Andy Reid, Kieran Richardson, Crisitjan Riveros, Michael Turner, Robbie Weir, Boudewijn Zenden.

Tottenham: Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Sebastian Bassong, David Bentley, Vedran Corluka, Peter Crouch, Carlo Cudicini, Heurelho Gomes, Michael Dawson, Jermain Defoe, William Gallas, Tom Huddlestone, Alan Hutton, Jermaine Jenas, Younes Kaboul, Robbie Keane, Ledley King, Niko Kranjcar, Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric, Kyle Naughton, Jamie O’Hara, Wilson Palacios, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Stipe Pletikosa, Rafael van der Vaart.

West Brom: Giles Barnes; Roman Bednar; Chris Brunt; Scott Carson; Marek Cech; Simon Cox; Graham Dorrans; Marc-Antoine Fortune; Pablo Ibanez; Gonzalo Jara; Dean Kiely; Abdoulaye Meite; Ishmael Miller; James Morrison; Youssouf Mulumbu; Boaz Myhill; Peter Odemwingie; Jonas Olsson; Steven Reid; Paul Scharner; Nicky Shorey; Gabriel Tamas; Somen Tchoyi; Jerome Thomas; Gianni Zuiverloon.

West Ham: Ruud Boffin, Robert Green, Tal Ben Haim, Manuel da Costa, Danny Gabbidon, Herita Ilunga, Lars Jacobsen, Winston Reid, Jonathan Spector, Matthew Upson, Luis Boa Morte, Valon Behrami, Jack Collison, Kieron Dyer, Julien Faubert, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Radoslav Kovac, Mark Noble, Scott Parker, Pablo Barrera, Carlton Cole, Zavon Hines, Benni McCarthy, Victor Obinna, Frederic Piquionne.

Wigan: Chris Kirkland, Mike Pollitt, Charles N’Zogbia, Emmerson Boyce, Gary Caldwell, Ben Watson, Hendry Thomas, Ronnie Stam, Jordi Gomez, Hugo Rodallega, Mohamed Diame, Maynor Figueroa, Steve Gohouri, Daniel De Ridder, Ali Al-Habsi, Antolin Alcaraz, James McArthur, Mauro Boselli.

Wolves: Marcus Hahnemann; Wayne Hennessey; Carl Ikeme; Kevin Foley; Ronald Zubar; Richard Stearman; Jody Craddock; Christophe Berra; Steven Mouyokolo; George Elokobi; Stephen Ward; Jelle van Damme; Karl Henry; David Jones; Michael Mancienne; Dave Edwards; Greg Halford; Nenad Milijas; Adlene Guedioura; Matt Jarvis; Stephen Hunt; Kevin Doyle; Steven Fletcher; Sylvan Ebanks-Blake; Marcus Bent.

Just days after Arsenal announced that Robin van Persie will miss three to four weeks due to an ankle injury comes news that Nicklas Bendtner has reinjured his groin and is out until November.

Even with that lengthly layoff, Arsenal still made Bendtner one of their 25-man squad for the first half of the season, showing that the Arsenal medical staff do believe that he will be back in two to three months.

The transfer window closed with Arsenal making no moves, which means that Almunia is Arsenal’s number one, at least until January. One move that was made today was Armand Traore has joined Juventus on loan for the 2010/2011 season. Juventus will then have an opportunity to buy Traore next summer.

So what did Arsenal do this summer? Heading into this transfer window it was pretty clear that Arsenal needed to get better defensively (defence and goalkepper) and that Robin van Persie needed some help up front.

Defensively Arsenal brought in Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci to replace Sol Campbell, William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre. Early days, but from what I have seen so far, Koscielny and Squillaci are an improvement over the three players that left.

In the summer Arsene Wenger criticized his three goalkeepers and I was positive that Arsenal would be getting a new number one. So I am shocked that Wenger has stayed with Almunia.

Overall the Arsenal defence looks better than it was last season but the goalkeeping situation still worries me.

In midfield Arsenal made no moves, although keeping Cesc Fabregas for at least one more season is like signing a new player. Hopefully with another year of experience Fabrgas and Wilshere can continue to improve.

Up front Arsenal finally landed Marouane Chamakh to help van Persie. I like Chamakh and believe that he will be a very good player for Arsenal once he settles. With Eduardo leaving this summer, Chamakh was basically an replacement for him and a step up for the Gunners.

So overall it was a good summer. I would grade it a B. Did not get the goalkeeper we wanted, but got everything else. How would you grade Arsenal deals this transfer window?

Well that was quick. Robin van Persie injured his ankle against Blackburn and is expected to miss up to a month of action.

Van Persie reported to Holland’s camp Monday where they diagnosed the injury. The Dutch Football Association said he would be out for “at least a few weeks”. Arsenal estimate that his absence will be for between two and four weeks, depending on how quickly the swelling subsides.

There is no doubt RVP’s class as I wrote earlier today, but van Persie has been at Arsenal for six years now and has yet to make 100 league starts for the Gunners. With the arrival of Chamakh, maybe Wenger can wrap RVP is cotton balls and save him for the big league games and Champions League matches. That was Arsenal can get him for the important games as the Gunners are a much better team when van Persie is in the team.

Missed the game against Blackburn due to a family activity so was left to watch the match highlights. A full game report is here is you missed it

Couple of things that stood out watching the game. One is that Arsenal are so much more dangerous when Robin van Persie is in the lineup. The pass he made to Theo was brilliant. Two is that this is the type of game were Arsenal would have dropped points in previous years. A physical team that contests everything and throws (literally) a lot of high crosses into the box. But unlike Man City, Arsenal did not fold away from home and the fact that the Gunners got all three points is really encouraging.

Three, is was nice to see Cesc Fabregas back in the middle of the park, pulling the strings of the Arsenal attack. He makes everyone around him better and I am glad that Wenger took his time easing both van Persie and Fabregas back into action, unlike at Chelski where Terry and Lampard are already injured.

Still no new news on the Mark Schwarzer transfer saga that has dragged on all summer. It looks like Shay Given’s is heading to Fulham on loan (I would rather have Given than Schwarzer) and when that happens Fulham will let Schwarzer go to Arsenal. With the transfer window closing tomorrow night this will be a late transfer deal,

The Carling Cup draw was made on Saturday and Arsenal get Spurs at White Hart Lane. Game is scheduled for 21 or 22 September. The last time we met Spurs in the Carling Cup was 2008 when Spurs won 5-1 so I am hoping that Wenger’s young guns can exact some revenge.

Jack Wilshere made headlines off the field this weekend as he was arrested in the early hours of Sunday following a “fracas”. Wilshere was arrested but released on bail and is “unlikely” to face charges. It’s unusual to see a Arsenal player make the tabloid headlines.

Arsenal has just announced the schedule for its Champions League group games. The part that jumps out at me is that the Gunners play Chelsea, Man City and Man United all away the weekend after a Champions League game. That is going to impact the selection choices or Wenger.

Match Day 1
Arsenal v SC Braga
Wednesday 15th September 2010
(Sunderland away the following weekend)

Match Day 2
FK Partizan v Arsenal
Tuesday 28th September 2010
(Chelsea away follows this)

Match Day 3
Arsenal v FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Tuesday 19th October 2010
(Man City away follows this)

Match Day 4
FC Shakhtar Donetsk v Arsenal
Wednesday 3rd November 2010

Match Day 5
SC Braga v Arsenal
Tuesday 23rd November 2010
(Aston Villa away)

Match Day 6
Arsenal v FK Partizan
Wednesday 8th December 2010
(Man United away)

Arsenal missed a lot of the big guns in today’s Champions League draw. As the top seed in Group H Arsenal will play Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga and Partizan. Could be some tricky away games for Arsenal but I still expect them to qualify as group winners.

Arsenal’s Opponents:
Shakhtar Donetsk
Stadium: Shakhtyor Stadium (51,504)
Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk qualified directly for the Group Stage and are already seven games into their domestic league season. Former Arsenal striker Eduardo has scored twice in three appearances for Shakhtar.

Sporting Braga
Stadium: AXA Stadium (30,154)
Sporting Braga came second in the Portuguese Liga last season and defeated Sevilla 5-3 on aggregate in their play-off match to reach the Group Stage.

Partizan Belgrade
Stadium: Partizan Stadium (32,710)
Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade qualified for the Group Stage after defeating Anderlecht on penalties in their play-off. Both legs had ended 2-2. It is their first appearance in the Champions League for seven years.

What do you think of the draw?

As expected Arsenal will be a first seed in Thursday’s Champions League draw in Monaco. That means that they could potentially draw Real Madrid in the draw. A perfect draw, from an opponents and travel standpoint, would be Werder Bremen, Rangers and Auxurre.

Here are the seedings:

With the soon to be completed signing of defender Sebastien Squillaci, Arsene Wenger has addressed all of Arsenal’s off-season needs except one: Goalkeeper. So where are the Gunners on finding a new number one?

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Arsenal are prepared to double their offer to Fulham for Mark Schwarzer. That would put the revised bid at around £4million.

If the Schwarzer deal does not go through Arsenal have been linked with Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg who played for Holland in the World Cup. Stekelenburg is 28 which makes him almost ten years younger than Schwarzer.

Then there are the Shay Given’s rumors. Yes he wants away from Man City, but I cannot see City selling him to a title contender.

Who do you think will be the Arsenal number 1 when the transfer window closes?

Veteran French defender Sebastien Squillaci is in London and will undergo a medical at Arsenal today as his transfer from Sevilla nears completion.

A statement on the Sevilla website read: “A transfer deal has been agreed, subject to the player passing a medical.” That transfer fee is expected to be around £6.5m for the 30-year-old.

The Spanish club also said Squillaci had asked to be left out of last week’s Champions League play-off against Braga to avoid being cup-tied.

I like the signing for a couple of reasons. One is that we have been saying all summer that Arsenal needed to sign two center-halfs. With Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny Arsenal have done that. Two is that Squillaci is 30. He is a proven talent who played in the Champions League Final while at Monaco. He gives Arsenal experience at the back and that is something that they need.