Sleeping in rocks. Oh yes.
Right, we’ve got the league to concentrate on with the visit of Birmingham City. Team news sees Philippe Senderos passed fit but RVP and Djourou miss out through flu and injury respectively. Theo Walcott is fit and available but we’ll see the return of the players who have been given a rest since the last league game, more or less. Gallas, Almunia, Rosicky, Hleb, Cesc, Flamini and Adebayor are all set to return and I suspect we’ll go 4-4-2 with Ade and Eduardo up top.
The game sees the return of two former Gunners. Fabrice Muamba says he has no regrets about leaving the club while Seb Larsson gives a tremendously candid interview in which I think he’s being just a bit too modest. Hopefully he won’t show it today but I think he’s a very tidy player who could have done a job for us – he’s certainly better than Eboue. I think it’s very telling that it’s generally the young foreign players who appreciate what a great football education they get at Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger says Jens Lehmann will decide this weekend about his future but he has already turned down a move to Borussia Dortmund for ‘personal reasons’. Unless there are other clubs interested in him it looks like he could well be staying. There was no real news on Lassana Diarra. In his interview with Arsenal.com yesterday the boss claimed Diarra had been sick before the Burnley game and wasn’t 100% for the Carling Cup. I have to say he didn’t look too convincing saying that.
With Nicholas Anelka having joined Chelski for £15m the boss says his biggest regret is Anelka leaving the club back in ’99. It’s such a shame he had the people around him that were more interested in making money off him than doing the right things for his football career. He definitely should have stayed at Arsenal but if he had I don’t suppose we’d have signed Henry and for all Anelka’s talent I can’t imagine he’d ever have done what Thierry did for so many years. No regrets here – and Gunnerblog makes the point the two are well suited.
But we do have striker coming into the club. Fifteen year old Luke Freeman is being pursued by most of the top clubs but it looks like he’s going to sign for us. Arsene says it’s a way to ‘buy English’ but it’s not a token signing. If we’re bringing this kid in it’s because he’s a special talent. It’s interesting to hear the boss talk about the young English players at the club, saying that the likes of Kieran Gibbs and Henri Lansbury (along with Mark Randall who is already there) would ‘certainly be in the first team squad next season’. Lansbury for England!
Speaking of our youths they played Burnley in the FA Youth Cup and won 5-1. Report from a Burnley site here – Arsenal.com report here. We’ve got holders Liverpool in the 4th round.
Manuel Almunia is still talking about playing for England. I have to say this is annoying me now. He’s barely established as our number one and he’s talking about playing for a country he shouldn’t be playing for anyway. Why isn’t he so vocal about playing for Spain? I hope Capello has more sense than to entertain this.
Theo Walcott talks to the Mirror about life at Arsenal.
Right, that’s it. Time for breakfast, then some lounging around the house, then the football. Here’s to three points later, talk to you all tomorrow.
