He will be needed in the side when Song departs but I don’t think he will get the chance to play that role unless Denilson is out injured during that time

Another cold and snowy afternoon to you from London, my fingers feel so cold that I seriously considered skipping an article today. The train is usually my place of work and it is not very warm but seeing as I am full of typical English grit I am pulling my sleeves up (yeah right!) and getting on with the job in hand. I am sure the foreign lot at Arsenal wouldn’t be up for the fight though. I mean when was the last time you saw an Arsenal player on the train with a laptop? Well that just says it all. I am sure the likes of Rooney and Gerrard are typing away like mad as we speak erm..listen er.. read or whatever it is that you are doing right now.

I seem to have drifted way off track, not even sure if I got on the track on the first place so let me start this again.

Good afternoon Gooners, let me have a quick scan through today’s news [short circuit style]

First of all the news doing the rounds is that Arsenal are set for war chest/cash injection/cash windfall/super cheque book [circle appropriate term] as Gazidis and his team attempt to renegotiate the Emirates shirt sponsorship deal. Apparently we are being sold short on the deal whilst rival clubs are generating massive figures. Basically the angle of the tabloids is that all the new cash will go into Arsene’s wallet so the newspapers can write some more made up stories about players joining the club Arsene can reinvest it all in the transfer market.

Don’t call him Silent Stan has moved even clos.. yawn. Can someone just wake me up when he reaches 30% in the meantime I don’t really need to know about every share that he manages to get his hands on.

What I am more interested in is our midfield. Alex Song will soon wave goodbye to his chums and head off for the ACN. Abou Diaby is ready to fill the boots of Song should the manager ask him to.

Diaby said:

“I’m ready for it if they ask me to do it, I have done it before. It’s good for me to be more aggressive and concentrate on the defensive side. I haven’t heard anything about it yet though. As I say, I’m happy to play anywhere.”

He will be needed in the side when Song departs but I don’t think he will get the chance to play that role unless Denilson is out injured during that time. Alex Song’s power will be replaced slightly further up the pitch in the center of midfield but I guess Wenger will stick with Denilson ahead of his back four and I do not see any reason why he cannot do the job and do it well.

Wenger will have some thinking to do ahead of the Aston Villa match on the 27th. Cesc is hoping to return to the side and was disappointed about coming off at Burnley.

Cesc said:

It is a big shame because I was feeling good in the Burnley game and these things seem to happen when I am at the top of my game,”

“I think it is three times now that it has happened and it breaks your momentum a bit. You learn to cope with it, though, and rest assured that I will be working as hard as I can over the Christmas period to be back for the game with Aston Villa.”

Our captain is key to our attacking, possession game and it will be important that he returns but at the same time the combative trio of Denilson, Song and Diaby may have to be broken up in the middle of midfield. Villa will come with a tough midfield who will want to wrestle the advantage in their favour but I have a feeling that Diaby could be used further forward in the team. Plenty of time to talk about that one in the coming days.

We now wait to see what sort of mood the FA are in, regarding Samir Nasri. They have until 6pm to make a decision, hopefully it is a favourable decision because we are already short on attacking options. It was a silly thing to do from Nasri but I do not think it warrants a three match ban, that is insane. If the referee had seen the incident then I am sure he would have only received a booking. It was hardly a stamp was it?

Hopefully we shall have Walcott feeling fitter and Rosicky close to making yet another comeback.

Right, enjoy another cold day. Back in the morrow.