Well hello people,

This is the last blog from me for a few weeks, on account of my impending nuptials that will be taking place tomorrow. So I’ll be leaving you in the capable hands of Ben. He’ll be flying solo for a few weeks and I’m sure is looking forward to the experience of having to conjure a few hundred words every day on, well, pretty much nothing for most of the time.

Yesterday evening was a Euro 2012 free zone, as all of the quarter finalists took much-needed rest before the next stage of matches kicks off tonight with Portugal Vs Czech Republic. Personally, I think we’ll see a semi final of Portugal vs Germany and Spain Vs Italy, followed by another Spain vs Germany final in a couple of weeks. I can’t see England overcoming Italy but I guess stranger things have happened. After all, John Terry is in the team, and after I learnt that the footballing gods don’t care how much of a reprehensible character you are, you can still win trophies against the run of play, perhaps he will be lifting his third trophy of the season soon.

We also heard from Sepp Blatter via Twitter, who called on goal line technology to be a ‘necessity’ in these tournaments. There were a few people who rolled their eyes that this announcement was being made after England had benefitted from a wrong decision, but ultimately if it means that a technology that the whole world has called on for years gets passed, I’m sure we can sweep aside some of the conspiracy theories and the ‘they don’t like us, we don’t care’ mentality that the nation is feeling right now.

The only Arsenal-related action that could take place tonight will be if Tomas Rosicky is fit to face Portugal tonight. Tomas is the Czech’s talisman and so they will be quite keen to see him play today. Much like my blog a couple of days ago, I’d urge caution with this from an Arsenal perspective, but I don’t expect to get that from international team – they’d be more than happy to run Rosicky into the ground providing he can make the next round of international matches in September/October time this year.

Not a lot really happening at the moment. Even the transfer talk seems to be relatively quiet. We’re only linked with one solitary player today. One! It’s like the footballing equivalent of a tumbleweed rolling through Twitter. All of the ITKs will have the shakes and will need the occasional injection of random names thrown towards Arsenal’s direction to keep them satisfied. I’ll duly oblige – I’ve heard we’re interested in none other than Sebastian Frey, Patrick Kluivert and Hatem Trabelsi. Rumours are that the next Fifa 13 game will feature Frey in an Arsenal short on the front cover. I know, I know, consign your excitement to the deepest darkest recesses of your mind.

I think even the media are getting bored with the ‘M’Villa to Arsenal’ stories and the ‘Giroud deal done: Exclusive!’ articles as even they have been a bit quiet. We have been linked with Hatem Ben Arfa, but once again like the Thomas Vermaelen story, I just can’t see it happening. Ben Arfa seems happy at Newcastle, they have him on a long-term contract and if the rumuoured fee is close to the £21million that has been quoted is true, then there is no way Arsene is going to dip into his pocket and take budget away from his growing ice-cream/confectionary empire he is building. He’s a good player, has looked great at times for Newcastle, but is the most one-footed player I’ve seen. He’s a good dribbler, but I’m just not sure he’s better than some of the options we already have to play in that attacking midfielder/front three positions, so I don’t think that one has too many legs to be honest.

That’s it from me for now. Have a good few weeks and I’ll catch you on the other side.

Adios!