Ok, well let’s start with some bad news, get it out of the way.
Theo Walcott has injured his knee, just walking back from training, and could be set for a bit of a lay off. Initial reports, which were hopefully quite scaremongeriffic, suggested he’d be out for the rest of the season. On the official site Arsene Wenger said it might be a cartilage injury which would be three weeks out, then another two weeks before he can play again, bringing him to the start of May.
Which would be more or less the rest of the season. However, I’m told by a good source it appears to be less severe than they first thought so fingers crossed on that. It’d be a blow if he were to miss a few weeks and with important fixtures piling up between now and the end of the season we need as many hands on deck as possible.
Obviously he misses today’s game against Newcastle but the good news is that Eduardo is back in the squad and will travel.
It’s an important game, as they all are at this stage. A win would allow us to open up a three point lead over Aston Villa who play Liverpool tomorrow. Newcastle are scrapping for their lives and despite their poor league position do have some quality players who we have to keep an eye on.
But if we show the same kind of application and spirit that we did against Hull, the same quality we did against Blackburn, then I think we’ll win. Kick off is 5.30.
The draw for the Champions League quarter finals and semi-finals took place yesterday. We got Villarreal in the quarters. The first leg takes place on April 7th in Spain. The way the draw is set up that the winner of our quarter-final will play the winner of the Manchester United v Porto quarter-final.
Obviously we’ve got a bit of history with Villarreal. We went through the final from El Madrigal when Jens Lehmann brilliantly saved Riquelme’s penalty and I got to look down Mrs Blogs’ top. There’s an Arsenal connection too. Pascal Cygan is part of their team and, of course, Robert Pires has enjoyed some great seasons in Spain since joining Villarreal in 2006.
We have to keep him quiet because he is a guy who can make a difference. I still have him on the phone many times – recently. He is playing very well, he was born in 1973, he is 36 in 2009 and he is still playing so that shows you what a fantastic player he is.
He rarely plays 90 minutes these days and I think that when he left Arsenal it was the right time for him to do so, but he’s such an incredible player. Definitely one of my favourite Arsenal players of all time and a top bloke on top of it all.
He’ll get a warm reception from the travelling fans in the first leg and from the home crowd in the second but after that it’s down to us to stop him from contributing. He’s out to win the game for his club, as any good professional would, past loyalties count for nothing during the games.
I’m not going to get ahead of myself by talking about matches after the quarter-final but somebody should stick this up in the Arsenal dressing room. I know it’s tabloid stuff but all the same seeing that every day would motivate the ever loving shite out of me.
Beyond that not a lot happening this morning. I’ve got another weekend of shovelling stuff and trying to make the garden not look like a ploughed field so I’ll leave you to it.
Up the Arse today! More tomorrow.
