Good Friday to you all. I am slightly *boilked* I have to say and the couple of beers last night had me dreaming that Freddie Ljungberg scored two goals against Blackburn tomorrow but Robin van Persie missed a free kick which he had to take through a crowded bar. I dunno.
With a trip to Holland in the Champions League on Tuesday the boss says he’s going to rotate his squad and, after suggesting the Champions League would take priority, it could be an interesting team. Johann Djourou is ruled out with a knee injury but Philippe Senderos returns after his two match suspension.
One man who probably will start is Jeremie Aliadiere and the boss has praised his recent performances, saying:
He has made huge improvement this year. But he was always injured in the seasons before. This is the first year when he has been completely clear, and sometimes you need patience with young players.
I was amongst those who thought his future lay elsewhere but on more than one occasion in the last month or two he’s shown that he can do the business. If he can stay injury free then who knows what might happen?
I would be surprised if Freddie Ljungberg didn’t start and he has described his latest injury lay-off as ‘torture’. The goal against Bolton will have done him the power of good and he’ll be looking to build on that against Blackburn. With the emergence of Hleb as one of our most important players and the form of Tomas Rosicky there’s no room for complacency and he’ll have to perform to stay in the team.
Emmanuel Adebayor, who seems to really enjoy his football, talks about how Arsenal have improved and will be more involved in the title race next season.
Arsenal went for tea with the Queen yesterday. She was supposed to open the new stadium but had to pull out after picking up a hamstring injury so the lads went to see her. There are pictures floating around – some of them are priceless. The players drinking tea out of fine china cups and Johann Djourou’s suit has to be seen to be believed.
Now then, time for a very special Arsecast.
I’m very proud that today’s Arsecast, which is sponsored by Savile-Rogue.com, features an exclusive interview with Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood. We spoke earlier in the week and I asked him about the recent takeovers of Premiership clubs, his thoughts about them and how welcome a takeoever at Arsenal would be. We spoke about Arsene Wenger, the team, Highbury, the new stadium and some other bits and pieces too.
As well as that there’s more from Arsene Wenger Hawkins, the Man in the Bar has another player history and keep listening to find out how you can win yourself one of Savile Rogue’s great scarves.
To subscribe to the arsecast in iTunes – click here. To download this week’s arsecast directly – click here (15mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here.
So there you go, something to keep you relatively amused this Friday morning. A fuller preview of the Blackburn game, with more team news, tomorrow.
Until then!
