A mixed bag of news now that the Club comes to the fore again. It stated off badly and got progressively better over the past couple of days. The international ‘week’ over and the usual slew of injuries comes back to haunt Arsene ahead of the visit of managerless Bolton. Philippe Senderos’ back injury will apparently keep him out for two weeks. It is an old injury recurring on his part and one that might is fortunately mitigated by the apparent return of William Gallas but it keeps the pressure on the incumbent centre-backs, knowing that the cover should they be injured or suspended comes in the form of ‘converted’ central midfielders. With Ivory Coast qualifying for the African Cup of Nations, this apparent lack of cover is further highlighted with Toure missing up to ten games. Even with Djourou returning, it puts pressure on the squad, requiring Gallas and Senderos to remain fit throughout that period. For that reason, it makes it even less likely that Gilberto will move in January as some of the recent speculation has suggested.
Of more concern though is the news that RvP is out for up to a month. This means he misses the matches against Liverpool, Manchester United and quite possibly, Chelsea. It is a blow in that he had found goalscoring form in the past month yet it presents us with a chance to see what Eduardo is ‘made of’. I cannot see that Nicklas Bendtner and Adebayor will start games, unless the situation is forced upon Arsene, given that the Croatian has been scoring internationally and seems to be more complimentary in style of play than the Dane. For the away games though, it would seem that a return to the early season 4-5-1 might resuface with the return to fitness of Rosicky in midfield.
It was an unsurprisingly peaceful AGM yesterday with the media fires being doused by the acquiescence of R&W to the Board’s policy of ‘no dividends’ and also their tacit support of the lockdown agreement being extended. For the stability of the club off the pitch, it is good news in that it quells speculation about the intentions of R&W in the short term yet nobody said that Usmanov was looking for a ‘quick kill’; his plan no doubt envisaged this eventuality and so the likelihood is that he will be hanging around for some time yet, especially given the price he has paid for some of his shareholding.
Back to the squad. Lots of movement around the fringes, rumoured and real. Denilson has a new contract and The Mirror has speculated that Arsene may be recalling Carlos Vela from loan in January once his Spanish Passport materialises. Wenger also appeased a media-invented clamour for English players to be in the majority at some point in the future by commenting that
I feel we have produced some good work from the behind as well, with good young players. We have good first year scholars, and it is a good young English generation. It is very promising and very good. We hope that in a few years we will have some very strong English players who can of course be a good mixture with players from abroad
A bit of a brief post as the ‘lurgy’ is still raging through me at the moment. Thankfully the weekend is upon us and the proper stuff re-commences. ’til Tomorrow.
