Look out for my flag! 13 October, 2006

Wahay! The internationals are finally over and it’s back to the Premiership with Watford making the short trip down to the Grove. I’ll be sitting upper tier for the first time for this game and I’m doing my bit to cover up the concrete. I have made a flag, it’s not hard to miss as it’s about 24 feet long! You can see the entire thing if you click here. It’s five flags together, 2 plain Arsenal flags, 2 England flags and one flag from the FA Cup final 2005. They’re all I’ve got really, I was considering taking the England one’s out tonight but I can’t be arsed, so they’re staying. I’ll be sitting a few rows back from it in the green quadrant above the away fans, if you see it, let me know in the comments, and any photos would be appreciated too. Below is a thumbnail of the flag, which you can click on to enlarge.

Okay, onto the game. We haven’t got a fully fit squad for the game as Eboue, The Beast and Ljungberg are out injured. Eboue’s injury looks the worse out of the three and could be out for up to four weeks; we have enough injury problems as it is but those internationals have just taken another defender away from us. Freddie’s injury picked up with Sweden isn’t as bad Eboue’s but will certainly make him miss Saturday’s and maybe Tuesday’s game. Julio Baptista didn’t go away on international duty but instead picked up a minor injury in the game against Charlton at London Colney. Again, not too serious but rules him out of the Watford game.

So it looks like the back four will have to be Hoyte at right back, Toure and Djourou in the middle, and Gallas playing left back. There is some good injury news though, Gael Clichy will be on the bench and will possibly get a run-out. Wenger doesn’t want to rush him into the first team straight away because of the injury but he sees him fit enough to take a place on the bench. I’m sure he’ll get a great reception if he does come on and I hope he’ll be starting as left back very soon.

Wenger has praised Theo Walcott for his performance for the England under 21′s mid-week and said as soon as Theo got the ball he knew he’d score:

Arsene Wenger:

“I watched it on my TV and I was very happy. On the first one I said goal immediately. His first touch was not perfect but when you see him going through, you know nobody in the world can catch him. On the second goal, he still had it all to do even when he was past the first defender. You need really top quality to finish like he did after such a long run. I always like the guy who is not scared to take on somebody. You want people to take the ball and have a go at people. To finish like Theo did there was fantastic.

Theo was ready to come on at the World Cup, but maybe he was not ready to start the games with all the pressure. However when the space opens up, it doesn’t matter if you’re 17 or 30, if you’re quick, you’re quick. He can do it for us as well. He can start for Arsenal but he must not only be good enough to start for us, he must be better than the player who starts for us. At the moment that’s where his problem lies.”

Well maybe with Ljungberg out for the game we could see Theo starting to day but I expect it to be Hleb and Rosicky on the wings and Thierry and Van Persie up front; it’s most likely that he’ll be warming the bench with Gael Clichy. I’m sure one day there won’t we a player in the world that would start ahead of Theo Walcott, pretty soon he’ll be a vital player for Arsenal and Gilberto Silva thinks he’ll get to show his full ability soon. Can’t Wait.

I’ve pretty much given my team prediction but here it is in full: Lehmann, Hoyte, Djourou, Toure, Gallas, Rosicky, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb, Henry and Van Persie. More than enough talent there to beat Watford comfortably. I’m looking for a good performance again and to be honest I expect no less than three points. You’ll have to wait a bit for the match report, I’ve got a party after the game and god knows when I’ll get back to the computer…oh the student life.

The only other bit of news not to do with the game is 2 confirmations of bids from Arsenal during the transfer window: West Ham confirmed that we made a bid for Nigel Reo-Coker on the deadline day and Kilmarnock have said we came quite close to signing Steven Naismith. It sounds as if we probably will get the lad sooner or later, it just didn’t happen this summer.

That’s it from me then, if you’re going to the game, enjoy, and don’t forget to look out for my flag. Match report to follow…one day. See ya later!