I suspect that the midfield trio will be Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky. Personally I would switch Rosicky and Ramsey around which almost seems like suicide when you consider Rosicky has probably been our best player over the last month or so but with Arteta missing we need a player who can get our game started from the back, a player who

So that is that then, the bad news has been confirmed. Mikel Arteta did not suffer the rumoured fracture but ligament damage can be worse in some cases and now it is a case of resting the ankle and getting it ready for pre season as the run in has been well and truly ruled out for our Spanish midfield dictator.

Abou Diaby came through 45 minutes of a friendly game yesterday against Oman’s Olympic team. We won the game 1-0 and a few of the senior players were removed at half time.

Martinez
Jenkinson Squillaci Miquel Meade
Diaby Henderson
Ozyakup
Eisfeld Chamakh Park

Those were the players which started the game but a guess as to how they were set up. Like I have said continuously, I think our squad players need to be playing reserve football every single week to keep them up to speed, even if that takes it out of them physically.

Asking Diaby to play 45 minutes and then start against Chelsea may prove to be a step too far and too quickly. As Coquelin hasn’t returned in time after what must have been an awful hamstring tear it looks as if our options for the run in will be pretty thin in terms of depth.

I suspect that the midfield trio will be Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky. Personally I would switch Rosicky and Ramsey around which almost seems like suicide when you consider Rosicky has probably been our best player over the last month or so but with Arteta missing we need a player who can get our game started from the back, a player who knows how to find space and move the ball on quickly.

My argument for switching those two around would be that if our build up play from the back is quicker then there is more of a chance of the rest of the team playing better. Rosicky played in the Arteta role in pre season and early on in the season and he did it very well but Arsene doesn’t like to break up a working system so we shall see what happens there I guess.

Chelsea beat Barcelona 1-0 last night and I had a feeling early on during that first half that Chelsea would win the game. Having watched us so many times you can tell when we are on point and when we are not, you can often work out the pattern of an Arsenal game within 5-10 minutes.

It felt that way with Barcelona last night. They did not move the ball around as quickly as they are used to and they did not press Chelsea anywhere near how they have pressed us during every time we have played them.

They fashioned enough chances to win the game but like Arsenal on a bad day, they simply did not take their chances.

Drogba was pathetic, his rolling around the floor every time he touched the ball was absolutely ridiculous. I get the feeling that it is being a tad brushed under the carpet today. Not so sure that would be the case if he was an Arsenal player but perhaps I am being a tad paranoid. However he was in the mood last night and he looks like being in the type of form that would cause us problems. I hope he is rested for Camp Nou.

Chelsea defended like the Chelsea of old. Throwing themselves into block after block, defending in numbers and that scares me a little.

Saturdays game with Chelsea really is a must win if we are to keep our advantage for a 3rd place finish. Losing to Chelsea means that we are sucked back into the race for 4th. A little dramatic perhaps with a handful of games but it really is important not to lose.

If Chelsea defend how they did last night and we attack like we did in the second half against Wigan then simply, we will not win the game. However, if we move the ball around and defend as a team like we did against Manchester City then we have a very good chance of beating them for the second time this season.

I think a few nails will be bitten at lunchtime on Saturday.

In other news, French journalist Matt Spiro has said that Arsene Wenger is interested in Montpellier captain Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.

Spiro tweeted:

“Wenger very keen on Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. Montpellier won’t stand in their captain’s way. Good chance of transfer happening. Yanga-Mbiwa is a young athletic centre back. Can fill in both full back positions. Uncapped by France. Would cost around £8m pounds”

It certainly fits into the typical Wenger style transfer. Young, captain and versatile. While I tend to avoid transfer rumours, especially when the season hasn’t yet finished, Arsene himself said that he wanted deals done early this year so it wouldn’t be out of the realms of possibility that we could be rounding up next season’s targets already.

Right before I go, you may have missed James ‘Raul’ Stokes’ column last night called Potential transfers: The 3 areas Arsenal should strengthen Have a read.

Also check out the latest blog post (Arsenal must stand up and kick gum chewers into history + Arshavin an old or new signing?)

Back again tomorrow.