Arsene Wenger has given an update on the battle-weary legs of his Arsenal squad as they prepare for tomorrow afternoon’s clash with Manchester City, the club’s third game in six days.
Speaking to assembled media at London Colney this morning, the boss said his players were feeling ‘alright’ after draining games against Everton and Napoli, however, Bacary Sagna – who’d been tipped to return – will undergo a fitness test later today on his troublesome hamstring later today.
“Yesterday the players came in, everybody felt alright,” said the boss. “We have doubts about Sagna. He has a test today.”
It’s expected that Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere will come into the starting line-up having been on the bench in Naples, while Theo Walcott will be chomping at the bit for a first start since returning from his abdominal problem.
“It took Walcott a while to get back to full power but he is looking stronger this week,” continued the boss.
Lukas Podolski, who has been involved in first team training for a week, looks set to miss out this weekend though with the boss claiming the German is still ‘short’ of fitness.
Let’s turn over this bunch of over paid sky blue thunder cunts. That is all.
i love the word ‘thundercunt’. sums up nasri
Is Lateer the word for a guy who’s always come late?
Come on Sagna’s hamstring, we need u
One of our most important hamstrings.
tie da string!
String-Emil?
It might be tied: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/bacary-sagna-new-arsenal-contract-2923231
Well it’s a novel idea, and if horse placenta worked for van skunksie it’s worth a go.
What’s a bit of sperm between friends anyway?
RVP’s chocolate leg is playing up. He is out for a “Month” which means they wont see him till april. So he wont be there for their mid table celebration…
Fantastic news, Hope we get our Sagna Bac for Saturday
Oh no, it would be very difficult without Sagna. So fingers crossed he will make it.
Hope Sagna passes his fitness test going to need him for this one. That way Theo can start the match need some of that blistering pace to keep there full backs a bit deeper. Big game needed from Ozil.
I think our right side with Sagna and Theo could be the key to beating city
Sagna is essential I feel… Got a feeling Podolski will play a part and score!
Poldi won’t be risked. he’s only had under a week training coming back from injury!
walcott needs to start! we need that pace + it frees ozil in d central area to do his magic
Hope Sagna makes it. This is the one game where we need our best defenders.
Anyone else feel there’s something fishy with Poldi’s situation? Sorry to be a downer ahead of a massive game but his non involvement is giving me a little bit Heebie Jeebies
Poldi gets injured.
Poldi goes back to training to build back fitness.
Poldi not yet fully fit.
I don’t see how that’s fishy. Even if it was though, what’s the use in worrying about it? Yes, it’d be nice to have that thunderous left foot of his back on the pitch again but until it happens, try not to be too heebie jeebied about a situation you have no control over.
Go gunners. Victory all the ways
City is a team that could really exploit a weakness in defense. Come on Bac!
Podolski is cut from the highest cloth, I hope he is back soon. He still has to reach his potential.
Win win win
Come on Arsenal.
Had to get down voted some day I suppose. Well, up the Arsenal!
arsenal must win
If only Sagna could play tomorrow I will be so confident we’ll get a result in City . Podolski on the bench will also be a plus !
Thought we played well there last year. If it weren’t for some woeful finishing from Gervinho, we would have won. In the end, Kos saved us a point. But City do tend to open up the game which might suit us. They’re potent up front and boy would I have loved Negredo at our club. Would have been the perfect compliment to Giroud. Whatever the case, think if we play without the proverbial cliched “handbrake” this game is going to be good. I don’t think City are as disciplined as Everton or Dortmund, so we keep it tight I think… Read more »
Nobody valued Walcott as much when he was fit. Walcott does bring something different to the table, but without Sagna I’d rather prefer Wilshere on the right.
I can see your point. One of the arguments against Walcott was that he doesn’t have a footballing brain. Ridiculous, he was our topscorer last season. That in itself proves that he brings something to the game. Only argument that I could slightly understand is that he doesn’t defend too much. I thought he did that just fine post-Munich. I do hope that if Jenkinson gets the nod and Feo does start that he realises that he needs to cover Jenkinson. Jenkinson is decent but still learning. City won’t forget that. Walcott’s pace will be effective defensively as well as… Read more »
It’s called the Joe Cole effect. When they’re playing, they split opinion, they’re called wasteful, blah blah. When they’re injured, their stock rises and rises until suddenly, right before they come back into the team, they are a world beater. The truth is somewhere in between and while I want Walcott to come back as much as the next guy, I know he’s isn’t going to solve all our problems by himself.
People definitely valued Walcott, but he is surely underappreciated by pundits, fans and bloggers alike. He was our biggest producer last season with 14 goals and 10 assists in 24 games!! What else do you want from a winger? And people still whine that he hasn’t reached his potential, that he’s a waster and what not; Suarez wastes more chances for frig’s sake! If you think that’s just down to his speed, who gives a shit? It’S a fricken crazy skill to run at that speed, that no one in the PL can match. Blows my mind, the most underrated… Read more »
Hamstring Hamstring sign da ting..sign da ting
“SACKWENGA”.. Oh God. Piss Morgan in disguise?
Don’t forget, we walloped this exact same city squad 3-1 in pre-season…WITHOUT Özil and Flamini. Time for an encore?
The -flam-teta- double pivote should stop they are both defensive concious and it slows down our attack and make us create less or nothing, we should only use that pivot to close down big games when we are in the lead or we get a Clinical CF who can take any few oppurtunity he gets in such games. My double pivot preference
1. Flam-Rambo
2. Ram-Teta
3. Flam-Jack
In smaller games(albeit no game is small) we can risk a Jack-Teta pivot
might I suggest dubbing it the ramini? or flamsey?
i’d rather not take the gamble on sagna, as much as this game is far too big for jenks and could hurt him. we have to ditch the short-termism of previous seasons, this year we can win the league – lets look at the bigger picture, play the long game.
How dare you come on here and be sensible. Go and have a word with yourself and then come back.
The only way the Corporal will get better is to play in these big games. While he can be shaky, he has been easily the 2nd best right back we have had since Lauren (Sagna being the best of course). Hoyte, Gilbert and Eboue still give me nightmares….
See I don’t understand people’s problem with Eboue. In my opinion; when he was our RB, before we signed Sagna, he was actually pretty good. Then we signed Sagna and Eboue was turned into a utility player and then a scapegoat.
With you completely on that one. I still miss the guy. Great at going forward, good defensively and a joy to have for team spirit.
there is a guy who feels goals from his testicles long before they are scored
can the dude tell us the latest news from his balls?
Just felt a contraction; its 1-1 at Newcastle.
can we play Verm at RB? not sure I’d put Jenks out there for this one. they will expose him all match long, sadly.
I wud put kos at right back and verm in the middle with per for this game,problem solved.
Which problem? How to make sure we ship more goals in than we have done all season?
Anticipating a big one from Walcott. His pace on the counter-attack could be massive in a game where we realistically will be under heavy pressure periodically
How about we play Monreal at right back? There are dozens of full backs in the game who can play on either side. Granted our threat down the right will be stunted but it really can’t be that bad.
Man!!it’s time upfront gets a better finisher, Walcott or podolski will do, either,
I worry about Jenkinson. He is going to be a good player for us, and while it usually takes him a minute or 2 to switch on, he is a solid squad member. We have had some jokers in the fullback slots over the years (Eboue, Traore etc), but the Corporal is solid and reliable. I worry because after reading tweets from the Napoli game, it looks like Jenkinson is becoming the new “Scapegoat” with the fans. I hope not. He is one of us, and bleeds Red White and Yellow. He should start the game against City if Sagna… Read more »
Starting 11 tomorrow definitely should be like this Szczesny Sagna(if fit) Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs Flamini Ramsey Walcott Ozil Cazorla Giroud This way we have our solid back 4 which has been great this season, along with Szczesny and Flamini just infront of it. That will then allow our player of the season so far Ramsey to play in midfield where he prefes and make charging runs like usual. Walcott just HAS to start for this game, Giroud will be isolated upfront by himself and Walcott will support him and give us another attacking threat, he will also give Ozil and… Read more »
I prefer Rosicky to Cazorla on the left wing. Santi is still missing something this season, and Rocky has been fantastic.
Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott START DA TING! START DA TING!
I think we will see Monreal over Gibbs and also Jack over Santi
later today on his troublesome hamstring later today.
In a hurry, blogs?
and i just wanna say…i fell off the toilet just now, spotting a commercial at the bottom of this comment section for…..Chelsea and Fat Lampard.
Please bring back Sagna soon!! Jenkinson aka Nervous Nerris is an absolute liability. He was the weak link on Wednesday. Man C won’t take no prisoners with the weak one. COYG!