Morning all.
Here’s the latest team news ahead of Saturday’s Premier League game against West Bromwich Albion:
Hector Bellerin is back in full training and should start tomorrow.
Not such good news for Aaron Ramsey or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as both sit tomorrows match out but by Monday, both could be available for selection, Ramsey definitely which is great news.
Theo Walcott – according to the manager he’s doing well. In fact Arsene says he’s ahead of schedule so hopefully it won’t be long before he’s back. The same can’t be said of Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck. I’ve no idea when any of them will be back but it won’t be any time soon.
Laurent Koscielny might not play tomorrow as he’s been seriously affected by the goings on in Paris. One could see on Tuesday how upset he was and the manager plans to have a good old chat with him before deciding whether or not he’s recovered and focused. I’d imagine it’s a similar situation for Ollie and Francis Coquelin but there’s been no mention of either by Arsene.
Alexis Sanchez has Twitted that he’s fit, healthy and fully focussed for WBA so that is good news.
This is when things perhaps get a little tricky for Arsene as with our Champions League campaign on the verge of collapse, how does Arsene Wenger juggle his thin squad over the next few weeks with two ‘must win’ European fixtures sandwiched between four tasty league matches?
Does he say ‘forget Europe, let’s concentrate on the league’ or go for both?
Will he be tempted to rest a player or two tomorrow with Zagreb in mind?
Does he start Alexis, or at least leave him on him on the bench? After all, the miles he’s travelled and the minutes he’s played will hardly have done his body any favours but he’s key to our attacking unit so leaving him out would be a tough decision to make.
I’m all for the league myself and WBA, the king of draws this season will be tough to breakdown so my guess is he’ll start with our strongest eleven tomorrow barring the question mark over Koscielny. What other choice does he have with a squad not deep enough to cope with both competitions, and one which has again been hit by injuries?
Injuries which Sir Bobby reckons could dent our chances of winning the league this season:
We are in mid-November and they are doing well but what can trouble them is the number of players who are out injured.
Of course [winning the title] is possible. It’s plausible because it’s the goal of Arsene Wenger.
He wouldn’t tell you that, but if he has to choose between the Champions League and the Premier League, he will choose the league because it’s more difficult to win and he is a very competitive person.
For so long, many fans believed that Arsene Wenger always wanted to win the Champions league over the Premier League but perhaps that’s not the case. I actually hope it isn’t because we’ll never win it all the time the squad lacks depth in strength but as our players start to return from injury one by one, the league is a real possibility.
I must admit, in the back of my mind I believed that our next four domestic fixtures would present the manager with a great opportunity to give one or two a break but maybe not.
Let’s go for the league with all guns blazing, we might just win it!
TGIF – tomorrow the real footie is back….
Morning Rico. I can submit comments on the iPad but not on the iMAc.
Morning Adam and all…
I can’t comment on my laptop Adam, I’m going through the admin page…
Someone is looking at the problems but say all is fine. I’ll give it a day or two and if no change, the adverts can come off again…
Not good goings on in Mali… 🙁
Oh I am back on via the iMac now. All seems ok. Sort of. Thanks Rico. 🙂
Mines not Adam, the layout is wrong and the comments box comes and goes…
Morning all, all good here no probs to report..
Glad to hear Bt… 😉
Good post rico, not many options eh?
Not many at all Andrew. Lord help us if Coquelin, Ollie and Koscielny need to sit this one out…
I think AW hinted that doing something else is a good idea to take your mind off events. Hopefully, he meant playing for AFC!
I reckon they’ll all be ok…
Problem is back ups like Campbell and Debuchy aren’t stepping up when given the chance. Thin squad as usual, all those bodies should be dropped. Gnabry would’ve sort of covered our flanks. Hope that Reine kid is ready and another kid for CM.
I honestly thought Campbell would take his chance with both hands….
It’s dead here so I’m off for the day…
Catch up sometime tomorrow… Maybe… 😉
Maybe from Blackpool eh rico….!
Didn’t Welbeck get the winner for us against WBA last season, anyone know what he’s up to these days, silly question really, probably chatting up the nurses !
Hi Rico. With all the injuries, it makes ones heart boil. Just when you think you have enough soldiers to take you to the finish line…
Why can’t AW buy players that could see us through… one injury to Le Coq we are cooked. We just hope he has a trick under his hat.
4 years for playing under the influence of drugs ,he say’s it wasn’t him so maybe it was the club . I wonder how many others that night were a little pepped up ?
I thought they were going to test other players too?
New post up now.