I wonder if Wenger would have been more patient with Vermaelen had Djourou been fit at the start of the campaign. Obviously Wenger has made the right choice by throwing the wonderful Belgian head first into this Arsenal team

Earlier post than usual, I am away from the laptop at lunchtime.

Today will be a Ryan Shawcross, referee’s, football association, dumb pundit free day. Well at least I will try to make it just that. No promises though.

I was listening to Johan Djourou talking to Arsenal TV last night and I’m very pleased to hear that he is coming through his own injury nightmare very well. He is currently working on his knee, building up its strength then he will begin running before he takes part in training.

Excellent news.

I like Johan Djourou for many reasons and have admired him for some time now. I remember listening to an interview from him last season and he really struck me as a real genuine nice guy, down to earth and humorous. I remember a game a few years back when Johan Djourou played his first games for the first team. Djourou 19 and Senderos 21 at the time started a Premier League (Premiership as it was called then) game due to injuries to our then first choice center backs.

I remember at the time thinking that Johan was the more complete player, technically superior to his older countryman and more composed in situations.

With natural development doing its natural thing, he has looked like a real good, solid defender. He came in for Kolo Toure last season due to injury and loss of form from our former favourite and he was fantastic. Absolutely superb. We stopped conceding goals from high balls because he was dominant in the air and equally adept on the deck.

I was not a happy chappy when Toure returned to the first team as I thought Djourou deserved his place alongside Gallas but Wenger chose to stick with experience.

I wonder if Wenger would have been more patient with Vermaelen had Djourou been fit at the start of the campaign. Obviously Wenger has made the right choice by throwing the wonderful Belgian head first into this Arsenal team but with Djourou pushing on the door, he could have been higher up the pecking order.

With William Gallas no spring chicken and Campbell approaching the winter end of a chicken [puzzled expression] it looks at this stage that Djourou could be the next one off the production line to make his mark in the first team, if not next season then perhaps the season after or whenever William Gallas does decide to end his time at Arsenal.

I have no doubts that Djourou will overcome his injury problems and will ‘do a Song’ or ‘do a Diaby’ take that next step up in development and produce consistently on the big stage.

Djourou a natural defensive midfielder by trade could do a job in the ‘Song’ role but it is down to Wenger to decide if he would use him there as back up or if he would keep Djourou to one position.

Burnley is next on the agenda and without Ramsey available to partner Cesc I am wondering what is going through Wenger’s mind. We are still awaiting injury news on Abou but does anyone know if Denilson is currently fit? He wasn’t on the bench at Stoke and I do not remember hearing about any injury with him.

I love the idea of Cesc, Rosicky with Song behind them. That would not always be ideal for trips away from the Emirates but at home to struggling Burnley who have been playing pretty open football so far. It was unfortunate that Rosicky had to come on last Saturday due to the circumstances but his introduction improved the team in an attacking sense. He plays in the creative midfield role for his country and always links up well with friend and captain Cesc Fabregas.

I know it is early but what about this as an attacking line up for Burnley to try and deal with.

Perhaps a little bit of defensive balance is missing from that line up, it would be more likely that Nasri would play ahead of Eduardo if Walcott is on the other side.

UPDATE:

I have just reached internet connection and news that Abou Diaby will be resuming full training which is great news. Therefore Rosicky is unlikely to partner Cesc after all. I have also remembered that Alex Song will be suspended for the weekend game so really I should just delete the above but what fun is that?

Andrey Arshavin is expected to return to the squad so we should be looking pretty well stocked (for us)

Interesting comments from Arsene regarding Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo.

Wenger said:

“We were interested in Melo during the summer, We watched him in Brazil’s international at the Emirates, against Italy [in February 2009], when he had an outstanding game. Then he went to Juventus and that team has struggled and certainly he has not had the season that everyone predicted he would. We still think he is a very talented player and with Gilberto Silva, Brazil have a very useful pair in midfield. We are still looking at Melo.”

All very strange if you ask me. Even if you are not asking me, it is still strange.

Song has taken huge strides, Diaby has done the same. Denilson is a regular squad member and has the usual scope for improvement. Rosicky and Nasri can both play creative roles in the midfield and behind them we have a wealth of quality youngsters coming through like Eastmond, Coquelin, Frimpong and many others.

Another point, why would he state that we are watching him if he wanted to buy him? Since when do we work in that way? We don’t, Wenger never has.

It is all very irrelevant anyway, we are in March and transfer do not take place in March so I am not actually sure why I am thinking or writing about it.

On that note I shall disappear for today. Oh and thank you all for the comments regarding fouls on Arsenal players, I shall search for some time to compile a video at some point.

Back tomorrow.

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