His eye for a pass at his age is truly fantastic and we know about the power hidden away in that left foot of his. Merida has been a player that I have been watching closely for a few years now and I hope he can stay and develop at the best club in world football for developing players

The injury squad round about is currently in full swing, with not even a hint of letting up. Fran Merida is the latest Gunner to end up on the crocked side whilst Denilson and Theo Walcott jump off unharmed.

It is a shame for Merida because that goal against Bolton would have given him a massive boost of confidence and with the Stoke City game coming up he could of or will be looking forward to some more pitch time. Fran Merida is a player who Arsene described as ‘technically perfect’ so you would assume that he hasn’t been at the right physical level as yet, either that or his tactical game or defensive attributes were not as high as they should have been. Give Merida the ball in a decisive area and he is amazing. His eye for a pass at his age is truly fantastic and we know about the power hidden away in that left foot of his. Merida has been a player that I have been watching closely for a few years now and I hope he can stay and develop at the best club in world football for developing players.

Fingers crossed that it doesn’t take him long to heal and he is back with us scoring and creating goals.

With the ‘fixtures of death’ coming up we are going to need all the options possible. We simply cannot get through such tough fixtures with the same eleven players, I expect each member of the team to give as Wenger would put it ‘absolutely everything’ into those performances. There is no point in conserving energy and not picking up points.

Back to the injury situation. Denilson should come in for Eastmond who came in for the injured Denilson who came in for Song who will come back in for Denilson who will probably scrap it out with Diaby to partner Cesc who is the best player in world football.

Come on, keep up.

‘Theo Walcott, we’ve got Theo Walcott, he’s an Englishman at Arsenal!’ repeat until fade

How good would it be for the speedster to hit the ground running (literally) Theo playing well and confident would be a very important squad member who can give us options that we do not have without him. It changes the opposition it gives our ball players more off the ball movement and it also adds goals to our goals for column. But the likelihood is that Theo will need patience. He has hardly played at all this season and we are in January, I expect to see him quite away from his best anything better than that and it will be a great surprise but he will need games because we will need him towards the final run in.

The good thing about Theo is that even when he is not playing well he can still be a very important player for us. He can have a terrible game and then suddenly Cesc could play a ball over the top and Theo will outstrip everyone run in on goal from the right and square it to a supporting player. His pace is not inconsistent and that is a positive.

He should make a cameo from the bench tomorrow to get him ready for a start against Stoke City in the FA Cup, we will find out what kind of shape he is in, after that.

The big story of the day seems to be Galindo fiasco. Apparently he is actually 20 rather than 17. Can I be honest with you for a moment? Well, I don’t really care about this story. I trust Arsenal to sort out any problem should one arise but it isn’t really a story I care much about.

Arsene has admitted that Celtic have shown interest in Philippe Senderos and he could make a move to Tony Mowbray’s side. Not really testing yourself against the very best but that could well be good for his confidence. Playing for a dominant side in that league with pretty much a promise of Champions League football.

If Wenger is talking about it then you would imagine that a deal isn’t far away. Good luck Phil, or shall I just wait until you leave because I feels like I keep saying that.

Rumour has it that former Gunner Mathieu Flamini is set to join the money bags from Manchester, now that is not surprising is it? He joined Milan because of the cash prestige and now the same could happen at City.

Manchester City are doing their best to become the new West Ham. Collecting as many old Arsenal players as possible.

Back tomorrow for some pre match fun.