Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Above all, you hope it is going to be a game. Unless we’re slaughtering them of course. Tomorrow I will meet every Spurs fan I know, on the train, at work, all day. Above all, you hope it’s a game. There’s nothing worse than a pitying Spurs fan. Why does it means so much? Don’t know, it just does.

I hope that today the players know it to. If we got another display like the AC Milan game, their lack of will would bite hard.

But enough of the Jaws-like mood music, what of the game? Yesterday Chelsea found a bit of rhythm whilst Bolton got lost. Newcastle let Wolves back in for a draw and have no goal difference at all. So position-wise we will stay fifth whatever. Well not quite, but if we win five-nil or lose fourteen-nil it will be a memorable game indeed. But never mind position, this is going be a tight race and quite apart from it being the Derby, we need three pointsto stay in touch with Chelsea.

Three questions on team selection I think: Gibbs or Vermaelen, Rosicky or Ramsey, Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain? The first two will come down to fitness and I expect we will see Vermaelen at leftback and Rosicky in with Arteta and Song. The third choice? Walcott on experience, or AOC for more enthusiasm and variety? Then there’s the question of who will help Sagna more with Bale? Personally I’d go for AOC.

______ Szczesny _____
Sagna _ DJ _ Kos _ Verm
_______ Song _______
___ Arteta __Rosicky __
AOC ___ RVP _ Gervinho

Not long to wait! Come on you Gunners!

No big surprises in the Arsenal squad that travelled to Milan.

Goalkeepers
Lukasz Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny
Defenders
Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen
Midfield
Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Alex Song
Forwards
Andrey Arshavin, Thierry Henry, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott

Yesterday Arsene Wenger spent a lot of time saying nothing decisive about whether Gibbs will start. On the one hand it’s the natural thing to do but on the other it would be the San Siro for first game back etc.

But he did also talk about Vermaelen being more natural in a central role. He hasn’t taken Miquel to Milan, so if it isn’t Gibbs or Vermaelen then Sagna or Coquelin are is going to have to play wrong-footed if you see what I mean. I suspect that Arsene Wenger does know what he’s going to do but is happy to keep Milan guessing about any area of uncertainty he can get away with. I think Gibbs will start.

If Milan have weaknesses they are generally reckoned to be a lack of pace and width. If the plan really is to get after Milan from the start then that’s got to be an argument for both Gibbs and Oxlade-Chamberlain getting a start.

It would be good to see Arsenal with two genuine fullbacks again. That isn’t a criticism of all the players who’ve been plugging the gap: Coquelin, Djourou, Koscielny, Miquel and Vermaelen. But none of them are really fullbacks and it’s had a noticeable affect the way Arsenal get forward.

I hope we’ll see Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain making surging runs into the box. I know that Blackburn and AC Milan don’t belong in the same sentence, but the pace and width we employed in that game showed how we can make the players we’ve got more dangerous.

I think that a confident and determined Arsenal can come away from tonight with an away goal and a result.

Come on you Gunners!

Well that feels a lot better of course, though the toothless Bolton game still does my head in.  Look where we could be!  Anyway, back to the good news.

After a run of Sunday games we were first up for a change with a lunchtime kick-off. Our rivals are all still to play.  What a game it was.  Same squad as Bolton but Coquelin and Rosicky started rather than Sagna and Ramsey.  Sensible changes.  Ramsey has looked jaded of late and Sagna is coming back from a long lay-off.  On Wednesday of course the whole team looked jaded.  Not yesterday.

In less than two minutes Walcott set up Van Persie for a tap-in.  Confidence flooding all around.  Arsenal in control, on a stroll, not going to blow this one!  But then Koscielny pulls down Modeste just outside the box.  Pedersen’s freekick was inch perfect and Blackburn were level.  Surely we weren’t going to blow it again?

Despite getting level, Blackburn just didn’t seem to have it in them to take advantage.  So Walcott and Van Persie went and did exactly the same. 2:1.

That was the game for Blackburn then.  They had nothing left and the stage was set for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first Premier League goal.  Set-up by Van Persie with a fantastic pass onto a clever run from Chamberlain.  With composure he took three touches to collect the ball, get some room and then score.  3:1

As Arsene Wenger said after the game, Chamberlain has made a very rapid transition from youth player to confident first-teamer.  I’m not always a big fan of Mark Lawrenson’s punditry, but he was spot-on last night about AOC: what marks him out already is that he has a bit of everything.

Explosive pace to lose opponents, head up early to read the game, intelligent runs, strength to stay on the ball under pressure, composure to finish.

We all rolled our eyes in the summer didn’t we?  There goes Arsenal blowing a thick wad on a teenager when we need maturity.  Well we were right but so was he! Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a major signing for Arsenal.  He’s currently leading our match poll.

Today the pace and movement of Ox and Walcott either side of the sublime Van Persie looked unstoppable.  OK, so we can’t play Blackburn every week, but it looked fresh and dangerous.  Running into the box scares the hell out of defenders good and bad.

Blackburn were dead now but not content to let Arsenal to do all the burying!  A desperate two-footed lunge from Givet on Van Persie earned him a straight red.  All this and the second half still to come.

The second half was more one-way traffic.  Arteta collected a loose ball from a corner and forced a goal through a deflection.  4:1

Then a great run from Walcott sets up AOC for his second.  5:1.

Another hat-trick for Robin Van Persie.  Very similar to the first two, but this time the pass came from Coquelin.  You could call them all tap-ins, but that takes something away from Van Persie.  He has that talent to check and dart that loses his markers and gives him space to receive the ball and score.  6:1

Now the most curious bit of the game.  We’re 6:1 up and RVP, without whom our season etc etc, has already suffered a couple of crunching tackles.  He can surely come off can’t he?  No he can’t!

Sagna, Henry and Benayoun come on, but Van Persie stays put.  Just how big a cushion is needed to let Park Ju-Young give Van Persie a early finish?  Clearly Arsene Wenger doesn’t rate him highly, but really, just how bad can he be?  If a five goal lead against ten isn’t safe enough, there have to be other players in the squad who can sit on the bench don’t there?

Anyway, the game was nearly done.  It just had enough in it to let Henry play one-two with Van Persie and score number seven.  Bit of a lucky defection true, but he worked hard to win the ball and get there so he deserved the goal.  7:1, majestic, emphatic, about time!

Now we can relax and watch our rivals play later.  Dream results would be losses for Chelsea and Newcastle against Man Utd and Aston Villa respectively.  Both possibilities!  Then tomorrow Tottenham play Liverpool.

So potential to improve our standing having finally got it right yesterday.  All good.

So, Thomas Eisfeld then?  Haven’t a clue to be honest.  I mean, we’d all learned up about Mario Gotze and it turns out we’re buying the other teenage attacking midfielder from Dortmund.  The one who isn’t tipped by all the big past stars of German football and isn’t called Super Mario.  Poor kid!

Not sure how much we’ll see of him this season.   He has played no first team games for Borussia Dortmund and Arsene Wenger has said that there will be a period of adaptation.  So I doubt that he will feature much before the autumn.  Which is a pity because the bad news of the day was confirmation that Jack Wilshere is unlikely to feature before next season as well.  So Gotze would have been just the job.

But the truth is that no ‘big name’ was likely to come in this January.  People can witter on all they like about Arsenal having plenty in the bank and that Arsenal have to buy, but you can only buy if people want to come.  What big star would commit to Arsenal in January when we are six points off a Champions League spot?  This may be unfamiliar territory for younger fans, but it’s where we are and we will only change it on the pitch with the player we have.

The news about Jack Wilshere is quite a blow as we could do with more midfield cover as the season goes on.  Arteta and Ramsey have both done a great job but Ramsey is looking a bit jaded and Arteta didn’t have the best of fitness records before joining Arsenal.  Rosicky is doing a great job at the moment bit you don’t see him starting many consecutive games.

Which brings us on to the team to face Bolton tonight.  Bolton are fourth from bottom but we haven’t let such things get in the way of an embarrassing slip-up before.  Laurent Koscielny is right to warn against any complacency.

Last night, Chelsea were kind enough to leave a couple of points in Swansea, so we need seize the opportunity.  Arteta, and Henry are apparently both good to start, but it is less likely for Sagna.  There are no additional injuries from the Villa game.

Our current league form is, of course, dire with three losses on the trot.  Bolton on the other hand have had a good month with victories over Everton and Liverpool and progress on the cup.  Losing at Old Trafford was their only problem in January.

So a strong team choice is order to ensure we get back to winning ways.  Only two real choices to makes I guess, Sagna v Coquelin/Djourou and Ox v Arshavin.  Bolton are not particularly pacey on the left so Djourou would be ok, but I would prefer Coquelin.  As for the other choice, Arsene Wenger has talked of a cautious development of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s career so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arshavin start with the younger player back on Saturday at Bolton.

So something like this:

______ Szczesny ______
Coq _ Merte _ Kos _ Verm
________ Song _______
___ Arteta __ Ramsey __
Walcott _ RVP _ Arshavin

If ever there were a game of two halves….  Amazing turnaround yesterday to go through to the fourth round against Sunderland or Middlesborough.

January has been a crap month for us with three league games lost in a row and controversy over that substitution.  Put together with the likelihood that the temporary appearance of Thierry Henry will be the only form of reinforcement it was looking even more grim by half-time yesterday.

In the first half we watched that frustrating Arsenal that shows flashes of class but then sloppily squanders them.  Signs of superiority for a while, but without taking control.  It took Villa a little while to capitalise, but you feared it was coming.  Come it did, twice.  The second was a good finish from Bent on a very tight angle, but both were poor goals to succeed.

In the second half though, Arsenal were transformed.  Eager, faster and more direct.  Don’t know what Arsene Wenger said during the break but we were a different team.  All three Arsenal goals came as a result of strong runs into the box.  A bit of luck too, but the sort of luck that doesn’t come without pressurising your opponents.

Some really rate Richard Dunne and I’ve seen him put in some solid, professional performances.  But for Arsenal’s first goal he panicked big time.  Aaron Ramsey surged into the box but had probably pushed the ball a bit further ahead than he wanted.  He was certainly only evens with Given to collect first and odds against to score.  But before either could win that race, Dunne appeared on an unstoppable slide that cleaned Ramsey out.  Penalty, no question.

Nicely taken by Van Persie.  Given guessed right and was agile as ever, but the ball was beyond him.  Van Persie sprinted back to the centre spot with the ball, Arsenal were in with a shout.

Then we were level.  Again it came from a strong run with the ball into the box and a slice of luck.  Theo Walcott jinked his way in from the right, along the line, but there was no obvious pass on.  Another jink and a hopeful stab could have come to nothing but for the hapless Hutton stabbing the ball back into Walcott’s path for a rebound into the goal.  Another piece of well earned luck.  Alan Hutton you had that coming after your last appearance against Arsenal.

Same again for the third goal.  This time Koscielny surged forward, bursting through into the box.  Darren Bent had tracked most of his long run and I guess a sort of mental momentum took over.  He went for the tackle even though he was too late and too directly behind Koscielny.  On the ground he gestured hopefully that he’d got to the ball, but no chance.  He’d gone straight through Koscielny to get there and it was another straightforward penalty decision.

Given gambled on Robin Van Persie repeating the first one and went early to his right.  Robin went the other way and we were winning.  After that we weren’t going to throw it away.  Villa did have the odd attack, but Koscielny, Mertesacker and Fabianski dealt with them all.  Mainly it was more Arsenal pressure.

Henry, Arteta and Sagna came on as late subs to keep Villa exercised.  Good to see Bacary Sagna on his way back, because to be honest Francis Coquelin had a torrid old time against Agbonlahor.  Arteta though wasn’t so badly missed last night as Tomas Rosicky played an absolute blinder.

After the game, ESPN pundit Martin Keown was talking through the highlights.  With Laurent Koscielny onscreen he said that there were some real leaders beginning to emerge in this team.  He was certainly right about Koscielny.  He is a star and he is putting some backbone into Arsenal too.  He is the clear winner in our match poll despite strong support for Rosicky and Van Persie.

So, finally some cheer to end a dismal month.  Next up this week is a double helping in the league – Bolton on Wednesday, Blackburn Saturday.  The first half Arsenal will turn both into nail-biters, won or lost on a late, lonely goal.  Second half Arsenal will take six points with ease.

Come on you Gunners.

Apart from Thierry’s winner against Leeds United, January has been a thoroughly crap month. Let’s hope we can end it with a win against Villa tomorrow. I know the league is our main focus nut when you’re in a losing rut you just need any kind of win.

A big part of our problem has been injuries of course and the news there is good and bad. Arteta, Henry and Coquelin are likely to be available and Sagna could make the bench.

The news that Jack Wilshere has suffered a set-back this week is depressing. He’s said to be gifted and I’m sure he is. It’s frustrating for us as fans, must be so much worse for him.

Of the potential returnees, I think it’s Arteta we’ve missed the most. We’ve definitely lacked composure and possession whilst he’s been out so if just one of them is ready I hope it’s him. If there’s any doubt about Coquelin, I wouldn’t be disappointed to see Yennaris at fullback. He’s looked alright and it’s his position.

Last time we played Villa we won with a late Benayoun header. Since then they’ve added Keane on loan. He may not be quite the player he was, but he’s still a big threat. I think it could be a tough game.

Will Oxlade-Chamberlain get a start? I think he might just, although Arsene Wenger was on bit of a mission to fix Arshavin’s confidence yesterday. But form is the thing and managers earn their corn by being ruthless when required. So it would be good to see AOC, even if he doesn’t have the stamina for ninety minutes yet.

Course, if he can’t do ninety minutes, Arsene Wenger won’t relish repeating THAT substitution! But if Henry is fit he can be spared that option.

Maybe he’ll start them both and leave Theo sitting on the bench pondering where to pitch his contract bid.

Predicting a team line-up is difficult when so many players are on the cusp of match fitness, but how about something like this -

______ Szczesny ______
Yen _ Merte _ Kos _ Verm
_______ Song ________
__ Arteta ___ Ramsey __
Walcott __ RVP ___ AOC

Well that was depressing.  Some Arsenal fans have gone quite ballistic on blogs and twitter.  Understandable although surely losing to Fulham and Swansea were worse?

That substitution!
Anyway, let’s start with what everyone’s talking about – the substitution of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin.  Arsene Wenger says he had to come off as he was beginning to fatigue and suffer cramp.  Well this was his first Premier League start and he hasn’t played a whole lot of competitive football so maybe that’s right.  Plausible enough.  What I don’t get, and neither does anyone else, is why he was replaced with Andrey Arshavin.

OK so he didn’t have a lot of options on the bench, it was a choice between Arshavin, Benayoun or Park.  We’d just got a goal back, but we were still under pressure from a team that never gives up or they wouldn’t dare go back into the dressing room.  Neither Arshavin nor Benayoun are great defenders, they are both attacking midfielders, but the key difference is that Benayoun makes the effort.  He really looks like he cares what happens.  Admittedly Arshavin has upped his work rate over the last couple of games, but he’s never really put much in defensively and his form this season has been poor.

It was also very poor for a player to come on to booing by his club’s own supporters.  I’ve blogged elsewhere about it and those who’ve commented don’t agree, but I still think it was a crap thing to do.

So was the defeat all Arshavin’s fault?  No it wasn’t.  But he was hopeless in the lead up to Man United’s second goal and we definitely lost momentum.

The Ox has arrived
But in picking apart the decision to substitute him, let’s not lose sight of Chamberlain’s performance.  The guy was an absolute star.  OK so he may get caught out of position a bit, but this was his his first league start and he’s only eighteen.  And he was playing Manchester United.  He’s got pace and strength.  He is determined not to get muscled off the ball and he has a clear idea of what he’s going to do with it.  There’s plenty of end product along with all the effort.

It’s natural to compare him with Walcott, so everyone doing that today.  Pity for Theo that he had such an ineffectual time yesterday.  They are not identical.  AOC doesn’t have the same pace that Walcott has, but he is plenty fast enough and accelerates well.  He has more muscle and bulk than Walcott.  It took a couple of seasons for Theo to stop getting bounced off the ball by featherlite challenges.  AOC already has that resilience now and more.  If Theo wasn’t already looking over his shoulder, he should be now.  The Ox has arrived and yesterday made a convincing case for starting more often.

Three typical goals
The three goals could all be described as typical.  United’s first came with us being beaten out in the right fullback position.  It went on for most of the game, mainly with Nani beating Djourou, but this time it was Giggs eluding the covering Walcott.  In went the cross and on the far side Valencia beat Vermaelen to the ball and headed in from close range.

Our goal was a typical classy counterattack.  Koscielny calmly played the ball out of defence, Rosicky combined with AOC, who slipped the ball to Van Persie.  You didn’t fancy RVP’s chances where he was and the players in the way, but he scored, reversing the ball through a defender’s legs and across the the keeper.  It crept into the corner and Arsenal had crept back into the game.  Van Persie didn’t actually have the best of games, missing a bit of a sitter earlier.  But the goal showed why he is such an asset.  You couldn’t imagine anyone else in the squad, apart from Henry resting in the stand, who would have scored from there.

Man Utd’s winner was also sadly typical with Arshavin first tentative, then typically casual and then finally off the pace when Valencia made his run into the box to create the opportunity for Welbeck.

Temporary fullbacks and Nico Yennaris
The lack of proper fullbacks is hurting us.  Not every game, but in every game where we come up against pace.  Central defenders are not built for speed and you have to do a lot of running out wide.  Against Swansea’s Sinclair and Dyer, United’s Nani and Valencia, Djourou, Vermaelen and Miquel are struggling.  By halftime yesterday, Djourou was knackered and getting beaten time and again.  He isn’t a bad player, worth his place in the squad, but he isn’t a genuine fullback and Nani is a genuine winger.  At halftime, Arsene Wenger ended his pain by bring on Nico Yennaris.  A longstanding debate. Which is the better option, experience out of position vs youth?  Last night the answer was clear.  Yennaris didn’t shut out United completely but he was clearly the better option.  He isn’t Bacary Sagna yet, but he looks a very decent player.

Rosicky and Koscielny
This isn’t meant to be a blow by blow account, but these two have to have mention.  Tomas Rosicky had a great game.  You wouldn’t start him ahead of a fit Arteta, but he is clever, passes well, holds the ball and he cares about the result.  Koscielny also played a blinder.  To think how we scorned him in his first season!  He has great skill, reads the game well and supplies a great deal of the team’s backbone now.

Fifth
So there we are, emotionally drained, still fifth, but slightly further off the golden top four slots.  The only glimmers of the weekend were Spurs and the two rivals immediately behind losing.  We’re still in the hunt and we have players to come back.  But it got harder again this weekend.  Last night wasn’t our worst performance in January, not even our second worst.  But it still hurts in the morning.

Well that was a depressing end to the weekend!  It started so well too, with an excellent opener from Robin Van Persie after just a few minutes.  A well timed run to stay onside and a perfectly weighted pass slid in by Theo Walcott.  For a second it looked like RVP would run out of room, but he slipped it past Vorm to score.

We were on a roll.  What was that you said about Swansea’s home form?

Well, as they demonstrated next, their home reputation is well deserved and it shows why they’ve been clear of the drop-zone so far this season.  Once they got over the shock of our early goal they got their shape back and played some good fast attacking football down both sides.  Ignasi Miquel may be a good prospect as a central defender, but as a stand-in fullback he was soon struggling with Nathan Dyer.  On the other side, Djourou was coping slightly better with Sinclair but still not keeping him out.

Swansea were lucky with the penalty for the equaliser though.  Aaron Ramsey did make contact with Sinclair’s heal but only after Sinclair had crashed into his calf studs first.  It should have been a freekick to Arsenal and maybe a card for Sinclair, but that’s not how the referee saw it and so Swansea were back in the game with their tails up.

Szczesny went the right way for the penalty, but Dyer put it hard and low into the corner and scored.  Szczesny actually had a good game for a keeper conceding three.

But by then we weren’t having a good game elsewhere on the pitch and the combination of injury, sickness and the African Cup showed how shallow the squad is as Swansea completely dominated possession.

Djourou and Miquel are two players worth their place in the squad as alternate central defenders, but they are not proper fullbacks and against pacey traditional wingers it showed.  Walcott and Arshavin are not always that helpful to Sagna and Santos and the need for assistance was even greater yesterday.  Against Leeds and Swansea, Arshavin demonstrated that he has rediscovered energy, but sadly he hasn’t rediscovered form.

Benayoun ran himself ragged trying to fill midfield gaps but that has never really been his game and he wasn’t making much impact standing on for Arteta who was out with the same bug that hit Mertesacker and Rosicky earlier in the week.  Presumably Rosicky wasn’t feeling 100% as you would expect him to cover for Arteta – much better likeness than Benayoun who has a different sort of talent.  Whether Arteta’s presence would have changed the result, who knows.  There was only a goal in it.  But we were definitely missing him in the middle.

Swansea got the lead when Joe Allen dispossessed Ramsey and passed to Dyer.  Miquel was stranded well out of position and Dyer finished superbly.  After about an hour, Arsene Wenger replaced Arshavin and Benayoun with Henry and Rosicky.  For a while it looked to do the trick, more so because of Rosicky than Henry.  Straight away we were holding on to the ball longer and looking more organised.  Calm and order seemed to be restored and we got the equaliser.  Walcott surged forward and scored with a the sort of calm finish which, if he could do it consistently, would transform him into a top, top class player.

At that moment, any result was possible: win, loss or draw.  But we fell asleep at the restart and the ball was fed between Koscielny and Miquel to put Danny Graham one on one with Szczesny.  The game had been rescued and thrown again inside a minute.  After that we tried to pressurise, swapping Oxlade-Chamberlain for Mertesacker, but Swansea weren’t going to throw it away and held out to the end.

So we’ve dropped points, giving Chelsea a whole game’s cushion ahead of us.  Hard yards ahead.  We have shown that we can compete at the top, but with some key absentees we’re very vulnerable.  Get well soon Arteta, Sagna, Wilshere and Santos!  Hurry home Gervinho.

I must admit I had last night’s game down as a City win or maybe a draw. But Chelsea pulled it off late in the game with a penalty strike.

Mata had a good game for Chelsea and a dithering Clichy got himself sent off. But the key factor was the extent to which Chelsea worked to keep David Silva quiet.

So City are not invincible. What can Arsenal get out of them in Manchester next Sunday? The last trip to Manchester of course was the chaotic rout at Old Trafford. But Arsenal are a changed team since then and City are no longer unbeaten. That doesn’t mean we can’t lose, but we can go there without fear. More on this later in the week.

The transfer speculation was already at a high pitch before this week. News that Andre Santos needs surgery and a three month lay-off to correct the damage done at the pointless Olympiacos game has now pushed it even higher. Do Arsenal need to go out and buy/loan another full-back?

The current situation is far from a crisis. Djourou and Koscielny can play on the right, Vermaelen and Miquel on the left. But it isn’t ideal and another defensive injury would unsettle the balanced set-up that has helped put us back into the right bit of the league race. On the right, Sagna will clearly be out for at least another month. So how far off fitness are Jenkinson and Gibbs?

The injury news for both has not been updated recently. The Arsenal website still talks about both needing three weeks recovery in reports dated November. You would think that Jenkinson’s recovery from back injury was difficult to predict.

This leaves an awkward situation where both are scheduled to recover bang in the one month transfer window. I don’t imagine Arsene Wenger is panicking about this, but I’m sure he has his scouting team thinking about options. I wouldn’t think they’ll be considering a big ticket star player. If Arsenal go into the market it will more likely be an older player who isn’t getting the games they want any more, or someone who can’t quite get past an experienced team-mate to secure a regular place.

Arsene Wenger isn’t a big fan of the January sales. He had to be poked and prodded into the Arshavin deal. If he is thinking of splashing the cash this winter it is more likely to be on another striking option. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone arrive as a short-term solution.

A win against Everton tomorrow will put us in the top four, for two days at least until the outcome of Chelsea v Manchester City on Monday night.  That game’s a tough call.  Are Chelsea back on track with wins against Newcastle and Valencia?  Have Manchester City got something to prove after failing on the Champions League?

But first off, will we beat Everton tomorrow?  I think we can, we’re looking good on the pitch now and we don’t buckle under pressure as easily as we did last season.  Everton have only beaten clubs below them so far this season.  The biggest issue for us of course is the back four, with Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs and now Santos out of action.  The rest of the team picks itself for the key games.

Szczesny will be in goal.  Song, Arteta and Ramsey in midfield.  Walcott, Van Persie and Gervinho at the front.

At the back, Arsene Wenger must perm the best combination from: Djourou, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Koscielny and Squillaci, or promote someone less experienced into the side.  Ignasi Miquel is the most obvious player if he decides to bring someone else in.  He has played left back in a handful of games and though obviously less experienced, he hasn’t produced any major howlers.

Some have floated the idea of 17 year-old Martin Angha getting a first team start.  But I don’t think that story stands up.  He’s a right-back or even central defender really and other young players like Yennaris and Miquel have played Carling Cup games ahead of him.

But the most likely option is Thomas Vermaelen.  These are three big games ahead: Everton, City and Villa, not really opportunities to blood teenagers for their very first Premier League games.

If that is the decision, then the rest falls into place.  Koscielny must surely play in the middle with Mertesacker, leaving Djourou at right-back.

I expect to see:

______ Szczesny _____
DJ _ Merte _ Kos _ Verm
_______ Song _______
___ Arteta __ Ramsey __
Walcott _ RVP _ Gervinho

What do you think?