JET was once again brushing past the opposition with both skill and strength. His third was a delightful clipped curling effort beyond the outstretched dive of the keeper. Reserve level looks a little silly for Jay right now. With so many forward players ahead of him in the first team right now, the logical thing seems like sending him on loan, perhaps that will happen but maybe it would happen after our Carling Cup game with Newcastle United

I have well and truly woken up on the wrong side of bed today, it doesn’t matter how much sleep I seem to have, I tend to wake up feeling like I haven’t slept a wink and what makes matters worse this Saturday afternoon, is that I do not have an Arsenal match to look forward to. Ah well, I guess I am just going to have to watch the Spuds feel some more effects of post CL trauma.

Much of the news today is about Cesc Fabregas and his comments following on from Arsene’s AGM thoughts. Arsene had hoped that Cesc would stay for another few years and that he was confident that he could keep hold of our prize asset.

Cesc has confirmed his commitment to Arsenal and has outlined his desire to win trophies at Arsenal. However that of course doesn’t mean that his long term future will be at Arsenal, he could well be talking short term but in October that talk is irrelevant. You can be sure that Barcelona will come back knocking on the Arsenal door in the summer, especially given the fact that Xavi has serious injury problems but right now, there is no point worrying about what may or may not happen. What is important is that Cesc and his team mates can gain more points than any other team in the division which could have an impact on the future.

Gael Clichy is obsessed with the need to win trophies.

He said: “When you play for a club like Arsenal, you don’t lack the mentality. You are a winner. To be at the top level, whether it’s NBA, NFL or whatever, you are a winner.

“If we play for Arsenal instead of another club in another country with smaller teams, it’s because we have the winning mentality. After, it is other things that make the difference.”

It is great to hear that from the players but ultimately this can only be shown on the pitch. I am sure that the players often talk to the media about being ready, about it being our time for psychological reasons. Instead of the players trying to convince themselves they need to have that certainty that they know they are the best. The 2003/04 side had that and they backed that up on the pitch. It is a catch-22 situation. Once the players have won a trophy then they will be convinced that they can do it, in the meantime they are still hoping that their quality is enough to finish top of the pile.

Clichy did also bring up the subject of injuries and his comments sound remarkably similar to what I and many Gooners have cursed about over the last few weeks.

He said: “You don’t want to hide behind this but come on. At Chelsea, we missed (Robin) Van Persie, (Cesc) Fabregas, (Theo) Walcott, who was on fire, and (Thomas) Vermaelen.

“Take off (Didier) Drogba, (Frank) Lampard, (Florent) Malouda and (John) Terry from Chelsea and it’s a different story. The fact is we’ve been without some massive players and it’s quite difficult to cope. Football is sometimes not just as simple as ‘you are the best team so you are going to win’.”

What is remarkable is the coverage given to Chelsea’s ‘injury crisis’ when they dropped points at Aston Villa. They missed Lampard, Drogba as well as a few squad players and poor Chelsea are in a crisis. Unfortunately when it comes to Arsenal injuries, perceptions are somewhat different.

Even with the quality we have had out for long spells so far, I think we have done pretty well. West Brom aside of course. The result hasn’t always gone our way but we have played well in most of our games so far I would say, give or take a 45 minutes here and there.

We should see a pretty strong squad in the game tomorrow. The only ones knocking around the treatment room seem to be.

Van Persie, Ramsey, Vermaelen and Almunia

Which really isn’t too bad is it? Well for us. You would rather our best forward and best central defender wouldn’t be the ones out but those numbers are very well acceptable for us. Although it would be crisis talk again for Chelsea if they were to be without

Drogba, Benayoun, Terry and Cech

I was browsing around newsnow as you do and I came across a link on 101 Great Goals, it had Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’ hat trick for the reserves. I had completely forgotten about that with all the attention on our game against Birmingham and then Eduardo coming back to the Emirates,

JET was once again brushing past the opposition with both skill and strength. His third was a delightful clipped curling effort beyond the outstretched dive of the keeper. Reserve level looks a little silly for Jay right now. With so many forward players ahead of him in the first team right now, the logical thing seems like sending him on loan, perhaps that will happen but maybe it would happen after our Carling Cup game with Newcastle United.

Perhaps a loan move to Bolton would be the answer, as much as I cannot stand that despicable lot, it certainly did Wilshere the world of good and could allow Emmanuel-Thomas the extra step forward need to push him into the first team squad more often.

The rumours have been that JET does not apply himself perhaps the way a youngster at Arsenal should. If that is the case then Jay wouldn’t do himself any harm taking home some individual match tapes, well DVD’s on Chamakh.

Chamakh is the new bench mark for application for a central striker. If JET put into games what Chamakh does then the world could really be his oyster card.

If not a loan to Bolton then I would quite like to see him at West Brom, that could be quite fun if he was given game time to shine.

I mentioned in yesterdays comments that even with two major central defenders missing, we have looked pretty solid at the back with Johan Djourou and Sebastien Squillaci. We could well have had to be playing with Silvestre and Campbell (on and off) if this was the last campaign.

Wenger has been praising Squillaci, labelling him a leader and a talker. He could well remain in the team when Tommy V finally returns, although I am sure we would have had another injury in that area by then. We need to keep our key spinal players fit. Vermaelen and Squillaci have never played together so that just shows you how long Tommy has been out for.

Ok, time to get out the house and get some fresh air. Back tomorrow with some pre match thoughts and predictions.