Blackburn Preview – Eboue & Flamini out 22 December, 2006

Tomorrow we face Blackburn at Ashburton Grove and it was announced yesterday we have a few injury troubles. Emmanuel Eboue picked up an ankle injury against Portsmouth and has not recovered in time, you’d think Lauren might play but Arsene has chosen not to rush Ralphy back and Justin Hoyte will play right back. Flamini is also an option to replace Eboue but he it looks like he will also be out with a shoulder injury. Gallas has still not recovered even though he was expected back about two weeks ago, it looks as if it’ll be another fortnight before we see the Frenchman. Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg are both still out and we’re looking at seeing them back in the new year.

Here’s what Arsene said yesterday about our injury situation:

“Eboue came off with an ankle injury in our last game against Portsmouth. We thought it would be a matter of days but he will certainly be out on Saturday against Blackburn. It will be Justin Hoyte who plays. There was a small injury to Mathieu Flamini that meant he could not travel to Liverpool. So I don’t know whether I will have him in the squad or not on Saturday. There is no way back yet for William Gallas, he’ll be one or two weeks more. It is difficult to set a time on Thierry Henry. Freddie Ljungberg’s hamstring injury was 21 days so it is two more weeks from now.”

Quite a few big names there but we can cope without. Eboue was a bit of a shock but I’m glad is putting his confidence in Hoyte rather than rushing Lauren back. The team pretty much picks itself but this is how I’d like to see us start tomorrow:

Adebayor must start after proving how influential he is to this team last week, don’t know what was going on with Aliadiere starting last week but I hope he’s resting on the bench tomorrow. I’d be surprised if the team was anything other than that, the only reason would be if Arsene was to rest any of them, hopefully he’s learned his lesson last week and at Wigan that he cannot afford to. It would be nice to see Lauren get a run out, he’d get a fantastic reception and I’m sure everyone is keen to see how he has recovered.

Rosicky is back and Lauren is pretty much back, now Abou Diaby is setting his sights on joining them. Arsene has said that he’ll “come back to full training at the beginning of January” and he’ll be “playing games at the end of January.” Can’t wait for Abou to get back and continue his mission to fill Vieira’s boots, hopefully the injury won’t have altered his playing style or commitment long-term.

Recently we’ve been linked with Wigan’s left back Leighton Baines. I doubt the story has any truth behind it as Wenger has come out many times saying Gael Clichy will be the successor to Ashley Cole. However Wigan are worried and so they should be, Baines is a good player and is an important member in the England under 21′s. Paul Jewell has said that £4million is nowhere near enough to take him away from the JJB. I don’t think we have got eyes on him anyway and we’re got better players in Clichy and Traore. Speaking of Gael Clichy, he’s been saying he and his Arsenal team mates need to concentrate over this Christmas period.

If you can remember, a while back Arsenal were linked with Ghana midfielder Stephen Appiah, well last summer Wenger made an offer to bring him to the club. Many fans were unhappy with our lack of transfers this year but at least Arsene tried to bring in some real talent to the club. Appiah decided to stay at Fenerbahce but he’s revealed he got some interesting offers in the transfer window:

“At the start of the season I received offers to move. Among them were clubs as important as Barcelona and Arsenal. I had to say to all of them that, no, I preferred to stay at Fenerbahce. Barca and Arsenal made me very attractive offers.”

Fair play, if he wants to stay then we can force him to come, at least Arsene tried to get him though.

It’s Jesus‘ birthday on Monday, he may have been dead over two thousand years but the media have been linking us with a move for the winger. Anyway, it’s not Jesus’ birthday yet, it’s mine; so I’m off to enjoy my day. Thanks for reading Gooners, and guess what…a match report to come.