So there’s the chance to go top of the table tonight as we play Bolton for the second time in a matter of days. I know, it’s a bit like having the worst diarrhea ever, getting rid of it, then waking up a day later to rush to the toilet to unleash a torrent of murky brown sludge into the bowl, but there’s not much you can do. You have to just grin and bear it whilst clutching the sides going ‘It burns! It burns!’.
Team news we know all about. The returns of Denilson and Walcott are timely. The Brazilian will probably go straight into the team at the expense of Craig Eastmond while the manager will have to decide between Walcott, Rosicky and Carlos Vela for the final place in the front three. He wasn’t very good on Sunday but I’d be inclined to go with Rosicky again. I suppose the manager has to decide if he’s healthy enough to play twice in three days having quite deliberately used him sparingly since his return from injury (when he hasn’t been out injured again, of course).
Speaking of injuries the boss if more focussed on getting the injured players back than new signings. I think we might have heard that one before, right? He says:
We have so many players out that our talks are more focused on ‘when is he back, when he is back?’ and it looks like any player we can get back is like a transfer because we have not seen some players this season, like Walcott, like Bendtner.
I’m beginning to wonder if Arsene has some kind of cash based Muchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy. He doesn’t want to spend money so he deliberately injures our players by putting bone and muscle disintegrators into their food and then when everyone says ‘You have to buy a player or two, Arsene. We’ve only three fit ones’, he stops, brings them back then tells us they’re like new signings. It’s the only possible explanation.
I see where he’s coming from, don’t get me wrong. There’s no reason why Walcott should be anything other than fresh as a daisy. He’s hardly played any football at all in the last 12 months but at the same time we have no assurance that he’s not going to fall over, damage his shoulder or his rib or his hip or, perhaps, his coccyx, and spend another period on the sidelines. The same goes for pretty much all our players and even though the boss says they have looked at ‘absolutely everything’ to try and find out why so many players get crocked there’s been no solution yet.
I have to say even with the return of Walcott and Bendnter and the likes of Ramsey, Nasri and Song absent through injury and awayness, I think we could still do with bringing somebody in. I don’t want to harp on about it but it’s a lot to expect Bendtner to come back and get up to speed straight away. Neither he nor Walcott are prolific goalscorers anyway. The big Dane though does allow us to play a slightly different way and is the archetypal centre-forward – big, strong and with a touch like a spastic moose. I kid. Kinda, but you know what I mean.
On the plus side you have to doff your cap at the players who have remained relatively injury free and to be right in there with a chance to go top is good stuff indeed. Arsene says:
We have won nothing yet. But we have won some credibility. However, that is not enough. We want more but at least we are in a position to fight for it and have a go. I have the confidence that my team will give absolutely everything. I trust their hunger, I trust their appetite and I trust their spirit, knowing of course that there is a long way to go.
And perhaps the fact that there’s a long way to go and that we’ve run out of treatment tables might make his mind up about a new player coming in. He has ruled out a bid for Croatian Mario Mandzukic while rumours of a loan bid for Klaas Jan Huntelaar seem to be entirely invented by the newspapers based on the fact we have been looking for a striker. There are but 11 days left of the transfer window and I have to admit at this point, having listened to the manager say he wanted to get any business done ‘quickly’, I’m beginning to think the chequebook is closed. Let’s see though.
Confusion reigns over Philippe Senderos. Yesterday he said he was honoured to be linked with Celtic, in his interview on ATVO Arsene said there had indeed been contact from the Scottish club, but now Tony Mowbray says there’s nothing doing. The Mail says Genoa are interested in him but there’s no more detail than that.
Lukasz Fabianksi, who must go home after every game weeping at the injustice of having to sit on the bench while Almunia plays, says he’s positive and ‘fighting’ for a first team place. Which is the right attitude to have, although quite what Almunia has to do to lose his place is beyond me. I hope we don’t find out the hard way.
Cesc Fabregas says last season robbed him of his passion for the game. Between his bad injury and us playing like blind, one-legged, wart covered hunchbacks he found it tough going. Fear not, however, as this season he clearly found his passion (I’m told it was under his bed beneath a pile of Roy of the Rovers comics) and he says:
Before my injury, I took it all far too personally. Now I just think, well, what are you going to do? I don’t allow it to get to me. I’m always making jokes, having fun, all day long. More and more I’m realising that life is to be enjoyed.
And what liberation is has provided his football. The whole ‘eat, drink and be merry’ outlook is clearly most compatible with football, metaphorically speaking of course, and long may it last.
Sol Campbell may make his comeback against Stoke in the FA Cup, which would allow Gallas and Vermaelen a well deserved rest, and The Telegraph reports he’s after Portsmouth who have failed to pay him image rights and bonus money due to him under the terms of his contract. And while I’m all for people being paid the money they’re owed, believe me, it’d be a bit cheeky if he’s charging them interest as the article suggests.
Don’t forget the competition to win an Andrei Arshavin canvas from Modern Canvas Art. The question can be found on yesterday’s blog and you have until midnight tonight (GMT) to get your answer in. The RNG will do its thing tomorrow and I’ll announce the winner then.
And later on I’ll be doing a Live Blog thingy for the Bolton game. It’ll probably take the form of a text commentary for the game, so if you’re streamless or working or whatever, it might be handy for you. It’s a bit experimental at this stage so I’m not 100% sure how it’s going to work. There is the scope for comments from people ‘following’ it so I’ll play that by ear. Check back later on, there’ll be a new post on the blog and it should go live at around 7.15pm.
Till then, have a good day. Cheers.
