By Ollie Irish

Not the most wonderful weekend for wonder goals, but I judged the pick of the bunch to be Theo Walcott’s clinical strike from a tight angle at Ewood Park:

That type of goal does seem to be a Theo specialty – he’s very good at striking the ball low and hard into the corners when cutting in from the right flank.

Honourable mentions: Fernando Torres (v West Brom), Nani (v West Ham), Dickson Etuhu (v Blackpool) and Robbie Blake (v Birmingham).

What was your favourite Prem goal of the weekend?

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Arsenal's Theo Walcott (centre) celebrates scoring their first goal of the game with teammates Robin van Persie (right) and Vassiriki Diaby

Photos: PA

EWOOD Park is a very tough place to go and win these days, so for Arsenal to do so is another sign that the “don’t like it up ‘em” line is well past its sell-by date. A couple of seasons ago, you could bully Wenger’s young team – not now, no way.

In-form Theo Walcott, who has started the new campaign with real intent, opened the scoring with a very sharp finish on 20 minutes, before Mame Biram Diouf tapped in an equaliser just seven minutes later, after good work by namesake El Hadji.

Andrey Arshavin scored the winner just after half-time, and the Gunners held out to win a big three points.

The only dampener for Arsenal was an ankle injury suffered by Robin Van Persie – you’re surprised, right? – but he’ll only be out of action for a fortnight.

                          

WE continue our review of the weekend’s Prem action with the best pics from Arsenal’s easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy win over Blackpool. Reality bit hard for Ian Holloways’s side:

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Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal

Photos: PA

Arsenal season preview

What is Arsenal’s best XI for 2010-11?

                          

By Ollie Irish

TOP LINK Top 10 World Cup flops, starring Cristiano Ronaldo – Goaly Moly

Larissa Riquelme WILL take her clothes off after all. Wouhou! – Metro

John Terry plays like a clown, dresses as a pirate – Mail

Lionel Messi bemused by Theo Walcott axe – Bleacher Report

Ronaldinho ate all the pies – The Spoiler

Dutch didn’t think they’d get this far in the World Cup – Unprofessional Foul

Roberto Mancini loses his locks – Off the Post

Howard Webb could still ref World Cup final – Guardian

Jogi Low won’t take off his lucky v-neck – The Sun

Paul the psychic octopus says Spain will beat Germany – Goaly Moly

C-Ron and his model girlfriend – Kickette

Nicklas Bendtner set to miss start of league season with groin injury – BBC

West Ham keen on Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan? – Caught Offside

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By Ollie Irish

30 – 7 = 23

Official confirmation received, finally. We now know the names of the 23 proud Englishmen who will go into battle for Fabio Capello at the 2010 World Cup finals:

GKs – Joe Hart, David James, Rob Green

DFs – Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Ledley King, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock

MFs – Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips

FWDs – Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney

Which means this lot can safely book their summer holidays:

AXED – Darren Bent, Leighton Baines, Theo Walcott, Adam Johnson, Tom Huddlestone, Michael Dawson, Scott Parker

It’s a pragmatic selection by a pragmatic manager, with Theo Walcott’s exclusion the biggest shock – though when you think about it, Walcott made it easy for Capello to drop him. Otherwise, it’s a fairly predictable 23. I would have liked to see Adam Johnson instead of SWP, but I understand why the latter was chosen. AJ is very inexperienced and without Walcott, SWP offers a bit more pace too. The downside? Ian Wright Wright Wright will be unbearable now.

What do you make of Capello’s final selection? Let’s have it…

Currys – Check out the latest offers and watch the World Cup in style with our wide selection of HD Televisions

                          

By Ollie Irish

I’d like to post up the final 23-man England squad in one article, but thanks to the ever-shambolic FA, there’s nowt but a painful drip drip drip of news and rumours. Just announce the bloody squad already! How hard can it be?

Anyway, the biggest story so far, by far, is the news that Arsenal winger Theo Walcott is NOT on the plane to South Africa. He received the bad news this morning whilst playing golf, apparently. Wonder how it affected his swing?

This must be a massive shock for Theo. Having been selected in 2006 by Sven via Arsene Wenger, you’d have put a lot of money on him progressing far enough to easily earn selection this time around, but sadly he hasn’t made anything like the progress we all hoped for. His very poor display in the first half against Japan would have convinced Capello to swing the axe.

Agree with the decision folks? As I said yesterday, I would have taken him, not because he is a good player but simply because he is capable of kicking arse on the counter-attack.

                          

By Ollie Irish

I know what most England fans think, at least based on various football forums. They think Theo Walcott is a shit footballer with loads of pace and very little else in the ‘pros’ column. The new Walcott cliche? He’s an athlete without a football brain, whatever a football brain is.

Objectively, I’d say Walcott is a good young footballer with confidence issues. He frustrates us because he was overhyped by the media at a very young age and – surprise! – he hasn’t delivered on his potential. He once scored a very good hat-trick for his country, not that long ago, and I think it’s foolish to write him off, despite some poor displays of late. I don’t believe he merits a starting role for England, because as a starter he often seems to lose his way, but he has shown his worth coming off the bench and so I would take him to the World Cup. He can be a very, very dangerous weapon on the counter-attack.

So to all those fans who say ‘What the hell does Capello see in Walcott?’, the reply is obvious: Capello sees much, much more of Walcott than we do so he’s better-placed to make the call. He’s the gaffer, we’re merely armchair gaffers.

That’s my piece. But would you take Theo to South Africa?

Vote below: