This weekend could see the debut of Mikael Silvestre who has finally overcome a muscle injury. The former Manchester United defender is likely to be benched for the clash against newly-promoted Hull, although he may start ahead of either Kolo Toure or William Gallas if Arsene chooses to rest one of his first-choice defensive pairing. Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie are both fresh after being rested for a week, although England star Theo did make a cameo off the bench. Both players should star the match against against The Tigers. Gael Clichy is also available after recovering from a shin injury,suffered at the hands of Bolton’s Kevin Davies last weekend. Alexandre Song faces a late fitness test to after the Cameroonian suffered a hip injury during the 6-0 victory over Sheffield United.
Samir Nasri is yet to recover from a knee injury suffered while training with France. It is unknown how long it will be until Nasri is back, but with the injury being described as “short term”, it shouldn’t be long until the wonderkid is back for Arsenal. Abou Diaby is still recovering from his thigh injury and wont be ready for another week or two. Amaury Bischoff is also unavailable – the midfielder is yet to recover from a groin injury suffered a year ago whilst playing in the reserves for Werder Bremen.
Arsene Wenger spoke this week to Arsenal.com about Tomas Rosicky’s injury:
“I believe that all the checks we made are reassuring, but it’s difficult to say,” said the Frenchman. “It’s an inflammation that’s going on in his leg that has to settle, to calm down.”
“We are a little bit speechless on that at the moment because we feel it is all going well. It is a problem of re-coordinating his muscle with the exercises he does.
“There’s nothing really that harms his future, but, as well nobody can tell me on the 10th of December he will play.
“He can be on the 31st of December, he can be on the 10th of November, nobody knows with him. In the next two months he should be back but what date, nobody knows.”
As reported on Oh To Be A Gooner earlier this month, Eduardo continues to recover well from his broken leg and could be back as early as November.
No match preview today, but you can check out out here, courtesy of The Beeb. The full Arsenal squad for the match is: Almunia, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Fabregas, Denilson, Walcott, Adebayor, van Persie, Fabianski, Song, Djourou, Vela, Bendtner, Wilshere, Eboue, Silvestre. I suspect we’ll line up something like this:
van Persie – Adebayor
Eboue – Denilson – Fabregas – Walcott
Clichy – Gallas – Toure – Sagna
Almunia
I’d love to see Carlos Vela get a run on the left instead of Eboue but the Ivorian looks more likely to get the nod.
We should stuff them but ‘ull are performing well above expectations so far this season. 2-0 is my prediction, with Adebayor and Fabregas getting on the scoresheet. Up the Arse!