Morning all,

let’s start with early team news ahead of Sunday’s game against United and there’s nothing good regarding Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard will miss the game, Arsene says he has ‘no chance’ of playing and the earliest we’ll be seeing him is against Aston Villa in the FA Cup.

Clearly that’s a big blow. As I said yesterday he’s kind of the glue in our midfield, keeping things ticking over, enabling us to keep possesion and we’re really going to miss him on Sunday. The obvious replacement, provided he’s not sick in any way, is Tomas Rosicky. Yossi Benayoun started against Swansea on Sunday but didn’t exactly pull up any trees. The fact that Rosicky made more successful passes in the 25 minutes he played than Benayoun did in over an hour shows how the game passed him by.

There have to be doubts about Thomas Vermaelen and Thierry Henry too. On Vermaelen the boss says:

At the moment I don’t think he will make it for Sunday. Let’s hope we have a good surprise. Let’s see how he develops. There may be a test. At the moment we just go day by day but he looks short.

And I’m sure there’s a real temptation to risk him but as important as this game is, in stature more than anything else, we’ve got to be sensible and keep him fit for as long as we can for the rest of the season. Talk of an Henry fitness test on Saturday suggests that he’s very much borderline too and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he missed out – especially when we have to consider he’s not our player, as such.

So, what was already a difficult task becomes even more so. That said, our backs were already firmly pressed up against the wall, so unless someone has moved the wall or made our backs all spongy and weird, I don’t think it necessarily changes how we approach the game. The manager wants to see a defensive improvement, saying:

The team has been very disappointed but I cannot fault the effort. If we score two goals away from home we must be capable of coming away with a point at least. That is where we want to improve and come back to our defensive stability.

I put Fulham down to the fact that on the corner we made a mistake. We made [mistakes] again at Swansea and it is important that we focus again on defending well together. That is vital going into a game against Manchester United.

And while I get where he’s coming from, and I would like to see more from the team defensively  but also think it’s unfair to castigate the back four/keeper when the underlying problems go deeper than that, I still think it’s only part of the problem. The other side of it is the fact that we’re not taking very good chances to score goals at the other end. I know you can’t score every single one, but I’m sure a bit more ruthlessness in the finishing would have made the Swansea result less painful.

Robin’s chance to make it 2-1, Arshavin’s miss from the edge of the box, Mertesacker’s miss from inside the 6 yard box. If one of those went in then it’d probably have been a different game. Of course it van Persie’s had gone neither of the other chances would have occurred due to the fact the passages of play would have been different but our lack of efficiency at the top of the pitch is exacerbating our problems at the back.

Of course there are many things affecting that efficiency. The lack of full backs, not having Arteta to help maintain possession, few goals from midfield, Walcott and Arshavin doing little of note bar a moment here and there, and nobody to take up any of the slack from Robin van Persie. Yet these are players who should be capable of more. While it’s certainly the manager’s job to get his team to ‘wake up and focus’, as he suggested post-Swansea, ultimately it’s down to those on the pitch to do the business when they’re out there.

They’re the first to admit in the post-defeat interviews. ‘We have to do better’. ‘We should do more’. And when the chips are down, as they very much are right now, we need these guys to really dig in and start doing exactly that. I know it’s not exactly insightful analysis – ‘DO MORE’ – but without that attitude, at least, we’re not going to pull ourselves out of this funk. Anyway, more on the United game tomorrow and Sunday.

In the meantime, as clamour grows for signings and signings and more signings (with some signings on top), this is a very interesting piece about our finances and the money we might, or might not, have available to us. Essential reading. And that’s not to suggest I don’t want signings, I do, but it explains things very well.

Also, Lukasz Fabiasnki, concerned about his place in the Poland squad ahead of Euro 2012, has been given permission to leave the club on loan. Perhaps only for a month at a time, but as yet there have been no offers. Seems risky to me, given what it means to our goalkeeping pecking order, but there you go.

Right then, onto this week’s Arsecast and I am joined by the man from East Lower and Tim from Arse2Mouse to discuss the wonderful week that was, our January inactivity and the game on Sunday. Internet Joe has his say, Arshavin is in there and there’s the usual waffle for your Friday enjoyment.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here (23mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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And that’s about that. Arsene’s press conference takes place at lunchtime, news throughout the day over on Arseblog News.

Till tomorrow.

Happy Friday the 13th to you.

Of course it’s only unlucky if you’re in certain parts of the world and if you believe in superstition. And the only superstition I believe in these days is the one Stevie Wonder belts out. Still, I hope your evening is filled with all the beautiful things this day brings: escaped lunatics wearing hockey masks and eviscerating people with a chainsaw. Seasons greetings!

Assuming your entrails won’t be all over the pavement later on I suppose we could talk about the football for a bit. Not that there’s much happening yet. Arsene’s press conference later on will tell us a bit more about what to expect ahead of Sunday’s trip to Swansea, but it strikes me the manager only has two decisions to make – who to play at left back and whether or not to start Thierry Henry.

Djourou’s return from suspension means he’ll go back in on the right hand side, the BFG should have recovered from the lurgy which kept him out of Monday’s game, and assuming Thomas Vermaelen isn’t quite ready and won’t be risked ahead of the United game, then there’s only Ignasi Miquel to fill that gap. The Coq is out for for a few weeks with his twanged hammy so the young Spaniard should continue in there.

Up front he’s got three choices to replace Gervinho: Andrei Arshavin (most likely), Thierry Henry (a possibility) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (benchy). There must be a temptation to start Henry having seen the threat he can provide, and Swansea are going to be tough opponents. They’ve only conceded four goals at home all season.

I think he’ll go with Arshavin though. His form is poor but against Leeds there was, at least, real effort from him. Not that that in itself warrants a starting place but a) I don’t think Henry is quite fit enough to start and b) if it is a tight game you want to bring someone off the bench who can make a difference. If we struggle to break down Swansea with Henry starting it means that our options are then limited if we need a player to make a breakthrough.

For me Henry is more likely to make that impact than Arshavin, so for that reason alone I think that’s the way he’ll play it. The other thing is that The Ox certainly showed he’s got the ability to work defences and if he’s coming on to run at a guy who’s been defending for 70 minutes then he may well find the space he needs. Anyway, I’m sure the first question Arsene will be asked at today’s presser is if Thierry will start so we’ll know more later on.

Meanwhile, as Jack Wilshere’s return nears, Aaron Ramsey says he’s looking forward to playing with him:

Jack is a great player for us; he had a really good season last year. It’s only a good thing to have competition for places. We haven’t really had a chance to play together yet in the league. It will be good to have the competition.

Having that extra body in midfield will be a real boost. And it’s not like having Diaby back because with him you’re just counting down to his next injury. Having Wilshere scrapping with the three players who have really formed a good midfield understanding this season will be great news, and while people focus on what a boost Thierry Henry is giving us, I think they’re forgetting the impact a fit, hungry and completely unjaded Wilshere could have on our season.

Such is the way we play at the moment, with our midfielders interchangeable in many ways, that he could find himself further forward, a position he’s more comfortable in and one in which he excelled at youth level. Arsene spoke last season about him playing deep, in a more defensive role, and suggested it was very much part of his footballing eduction. Seeing the game in front of him will allow him to appreciate what needs to be done when he’s further up the pitch.

All we can do is hope there are no complications and knock-on injuries having been out for so long. But with Euro 2012 looming and him having missed so much football (as a player whose enthusiasm for the game is obvious) I think he’s going to be more than eager to make up for lost time.

In other news Kieran Gibbs says he could be back inside 10 days, and whatever your opinion on his brittleness, that’s got to be good news. With Sagna due back by the end of this month (at the latest) the fullback crisis looks like it could be eased.

And it’s not such good news for Wellington who has been given the boot by Levante. His time on loan there has been far from successful. This is his 2nd spell there, under different managers too, so clearly something’s not working out. If it’s his attitude or application I can’t really say but he went there to play football and hasn’t done so. He’s now at 2nd division CD Alcoyano for the rest of the reason, and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares.

Bonus reading: Tim Stillman’s latest column – Daddy took their T-birds away.

Finally for today, a quick book update: it was all set to go on sale yesterday until Paypal decided they needed all kinds of documentation/skin samples/proof of the existence of the universe etc, so having provided all that to them I’m now dependent on them to sort out my account. I am looking at alternative payment methods too but in the meantime I’ll just have to wait. Apologies for the delay but it’s out of my hands now. Will update asap.

Right then, onto this week’s Arsecast and I’m joined by Philippe Auclair to talk about Henry, the mystery of Ju Young Park, Marouane Chamakh and more. Also, with me REDaction who want your help on matchdays and beyond, have a listen for details. Also in there Internet Joe and David O’Leary along with the usual guff.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here (23mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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Ok, happy listening. Back tomorrow.

Good morning and welcome to a Friday ahead of what’s going to be a fairly quiet weekend for us. We don’t play until Monday at 7.45 (on ESPN too – wouldn’t it be ironic after weeks of not getting penalties if we got a pelanty?).

Ahead of that game the manager has revealed that Robin van Persie won’t play, which is only to be expected. However, hopes of selecting Gervinho and sending him to the ACN knackered were dashed after the Ivory Coast demanded all their players report for duty by the official deadline (robbing Man City of the brothers Toure for their game against United).

Hang on though, there’s good news, according to the boss who says he’ll play a strong side:

We will hopefully have Chamakh available, [Ju-Young] Park available.

Halle-fucking-lujah! I bet Leeds are verily cacking their badly fitting pants right now. If there was ever a more fearsome pair of strikers I’ve yet to come across them. And uniquely it’s Arsenal fans that have the fear.

I kid, I kid. Sort of. I guess we have to hope that whatever the reasons for the purchase of Park he shows he’s got something about him against Leeds. Perhaps if we tell him he’s playing against the UAE he’ll grab a couple of goals. He loves playing those teams. Mostly because they’re a bit crap but there you go. As for Chamakh, well, as the manager goes on to talk about transfers (more on that anon) it looks as if we should be wishing for the ACN to reinvigorate him.

The boss says he’ll play a ‘normal’ team but he doesn’t really have much choice. All the injuries at the back mean he’s got little in the way of options for this game. We’ll have to stick with Coq in one of the full back positions, I guess, maybe on the left, with Koscielny on the right and either Miquel or The Squillster in the middle.

He could, of course, bring in a kid like Yennaris too, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Midfield gives him more chance to rotate with Benayoun and Rosicky in the mix while I’ll be as disappointed as a fox if we don’t see The Ox get a start. I don’t want to build up the hype about the kid – who is clearly our only hope at salvation – but let’s give him a run against Leeds. And despite being an FA Cup game this tournament represents our best chance of a trophy this season so we need to be mindful of that.

Anyway, we can come back to that game and now for transfers. The boss was asked about any potential new signings and he said:

[Insert quote here from any of the last transfer windows when we've wanted him to buy a player but he says he's not going to buy anyone but doesn't rule out the possibility and then people say 'Ahh, that Arsene, keeping his cards close to his chest, he's giving nothing away' and then we realise that he never had any cards in the first place and there wasn't anything to give away even if he'd wanted to].

As we wait for Henry to be completed (the paperwork needs to be done by noon today for him to be eligible for the game on Monday, tick-fucking-tock chaps) the most he’d give away is that a defensive loan signing is the most likely. Vermaelen will be back for Swansea, apparently, but Gibbs and Sagna are ‘weeks’ away, Santos is out till March (at the earliest) and poor old Carl Jenkinson hasn’t even got return date after being struck down with hyperglycemic spina bifida of the anus.

So I can see how a defensive loan signing, if we can find someone, is an option but what about the goals, Arsene? All those goals we should be scoring but we’re not. And the players who aren’t scoring the goals. I mean, they’re consistent, you have to give them that, but 50% of our front-three options (Park, Chamakh and Arshavin) look about as likely to score as Iain Dowie at a supermodels party.

This is making us overly-reliant on van Persie, Walcott we dealt with yesterday, Gervinho (who I think can improve and contribute more as the season goes on) will be away blessing the rains down in Africa, and then we have 34 year old Thierry Henry. And I think it was Goodplaya who pointed out the only reason people are in any way accepting of the short-term loan signing of a player from the MLS is because of who it is. He’s likely to be better than most 34 year olds seeing out their career in America but still …

However, I am refusing to get my knickers in a twist over this. My expectations of Arsene doing anything are zero. Seriously. If I had any money I’d put most of it on us not buying another forward during this transfer window. I don’t agree with it, I think with the money we have available and how crucially important this second half of the season is on so many levels we’re a bit bonkers not to bolster our team, but what can we do about it?

If we sign someone it’ll be a pleasant and welcome surprise. If we don’t then I won’t have spent a month with my blood pressure through the roof. Maybe that says a lot, either about Arsene’s transfer policy or the faith he has in the players he has, but there you go. There’s not too much point going crazy over something you just can’t influence.

Right then, more on our no transfers throughout the month, now it’s time for this week’s Arsecast. Joining me to discuss the last week and any potential January transfers is John Cross from the Mirror. Also in there Amaury Bischoff PI, Internet Joe and the usual waffle.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here (23mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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Right you are then, have yourselves a good Friday. News throughout the day over on Arseblog News.

Till tomorrow.

So, Thierry’s return has now gone from possible to probable, the number 12 shirt is set to be handed to him and now we just have to wait and see if he can do the business.

On today’s Arsecast, my esteemed colleague from Gunnerblog makes the very good point that there’s never been a footballer (Beckham apart, perhaps) quite so conscious of their own image as Thierry Henry. He was there to see a statue of himself unveiled, let’s not forget, and if he felt there was any danger of him not being up to the job I think he’d quite easily turn down Arsene’s approach.

The big question now is what exactly does Henry’s signing signify. Is it a very short-term option completed at the start of the month to give Arsene time during January to explore other striking options? Or is it simply a case that he needs cover for the ACN – which will claim Gervinho and Chamakh – and Henry is that cover? I would hope it’s the former but then I’ve learned down the years that what I hope and what Arsene does are generally two very different things.

The boss is looking to delay the departure of Gervinho and Chamakh until after the FA Cup game against Leeds on December 9th, saying:

They have normally, legally, to turn up 14 days before, that means the 7th. We will ask for delays for both of them, at least until the Leeds game.

Hopefully we can get an arrangement for that. They will miss the first two days of the preparation but on the other hand they are both fit to start the competition. Hopefully we can get an agreement.

All we can do then is hope Gervinho comes back fit and that Chamakh, somehow, rediscovers something approaching the form he showed when he first arrived at the club. I won’t hold my breath over the latter but stranger things have happened. And if the Henry signing is just temporary then we’ve got to hope that the Moroccan can contribute something in the latter half of the season. There’s still a lot of newspaper chatter about how the boss is looking at other forward options but I suspect January could be a long, long month if we get too focused on that.

The other issue is full backs, and the lack thereof. Last week Arsene said he might bring somebody in on loan, but he seems to have changed his approach a bit now, saying:

There are difficult decisions to make because we are short in the full-back positions.  But you think, ‘do you really want to buy a full back for three or four years?’

When you have four out and two close to coming back. I think no, because we have people who can do the job during this period.

And I understand that completely. A permanent signing is pretty much out of the question on either side of the pitch so the only option is a loan. Yet when the best name we’ve seen linked to us during the last few weeks is Wayne Bridge you have to ask if the quality of player we need is available on loan. I’m sure if we really, really looked we could find somebody to do a job, but not somebody who would instantly make us much better.

I recognise that our attacking play is suffering somewhat from the lack of specialist full backs but as long as we have Mertesacker and Koscielny fit for the centre of defence, can we find a loan signing better than Vermaelen at left back, for example? I’d rather have the Belgian in the middle but sometimes you’ve got to use the full extent of your squad and we’re not the only team that does it. Man United play Valencia at right back, even Michael Carrick played centre-half for them recently, so it’s not as if this is unique to us.

That said, if somebody can point us towards a full back who is available on loan – therefore out of favour at his current club (either because of age, form, managerial indifference or some other reason) – who could come in and slot into this Arsenal side straight away then I’d be more than open to taking them for a month or so. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

And that’s where it gets difficult. I’m pretty sure, like us, Arsene wants that player because we do have an issue at full back at the moment, but who is it? I don’t know, genuinely, but I do know it’s not Wayne Bridge – and if the option is him or get through with what we have then I’d go with what we have every day of the week. Not every problem can be solved with a signing although the manager has to look at the reliability of some of his players.

He talks a lot about having a big squad but that big squad isn’t as big when you have guys like Diaby and like Gibbs who spend more time injured than not. At some point he has to make a decision about them yet if we look at some of his previous we know it takes a lot for his patience to run out. There’s a certain Dutchman playing up front who, if Arsene had listened to some sections of the fanbase down the years, would have been moved on because of his tendency to spend so much time banjaxed in one way or another. I know Diaby’s case is somewhat different, his problems are chronic and all stem from that Dan Smith tackle, but bar a pivotal moment in their on-pitch career it takes a lot for Arsene to give up a player he’s got faith in.

Anyway, it all points to January being a bit quieter than we might like but I would hope that there have been lessons learned from the summer. If we do want players let’s go get them, be proactive and do it as soon as we possibly can. It’s one thing to muddle through an injury crisis, making use of the full squad, but it’d be another thing entirely to ignore the fact that as a squad we’re crying out for augmentation in the striking department. And whatever impact Thierry Henry has it can only be short-term.

With a massive fight on our hands for a top four finish I hope we go get a player who can boost the squad the same way Arshavin did (except for longer) or Reyes did (except for longer) etc. Over to you Arsene and Ivan.

Right then, time for this week’s Arsecast. As it’s still the festive period it’s a bit of a lazy one, a round-table job with Gunnerblog, Goodplaya and Goonerholic making up the G-mungous panel. On the agenda, Wolves, Thierry, full backs, January purchases and more.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here (25mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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And that’s about that. Arsene’s got a press conference this morning so breaking news and other bits and pieces throughout the day on Arseblog News.

Till tomorrow.