Freddie is staying, but Lauren is being allowed to leave 12 January, 2007

Arsene Wenger has told us that Freddie Ljungberg is going nowhere and is an important part of the squad. It was thought he might be off this month but the manager has assured he’s staying at Arsenal. It’s good news for the fans but there was some bad news posted on arsenal.com today. They’ve announced that Lauren will be allowed to go. It’s extremely sad news and now once the club have said this I don’t see him staying. If he doesn’t move this month then it’ll be in the summer but I think we’ve seen the last of Lauren in the Arsenal shirt. This is the saddest piece of news we’ve had for a long time and I’m gutted that he’s off. Arsene says that we have too many players now in that position and that’s why he’s allowed to go. It’s stupid because Eboue and Hoyte are nowhere near as good as Lauren. There’s nothing I can really say or do though, I’d rather just leave it until the day of his departure comes.

I’ll move on as swiftly as possible from that and Jeremie Aliadiere has confirmed that’s he’s hanging about at Arsenal for a bit longer. A lot of people thought he might be off this month but Jem has said he’s always wanted to succeed here. He’s had a couple of games this season due to injuries but if he improves on Tuesday night he could really give another selection headache for Wenger. I think he’s a great back up striker and can do a job when asked.

Tomorrow afternoon we play Blackburn many people are backing us to lose this one: It’s Blackburn, away, 5.15, PremPlus…all the signs say we’ll go home with no points. However coming off the back of two wins at Anfield we should be high on confidence. I’m not going as it’s my brother’s birthday but I shall find somewhere to follow the game on Sky PPV. It’s hard for me to guess what the team might be because we’ve got a couple of players who played well on Tuesday who don’t usually get into the first team. Anyway I think it’ll be Lehmann, Hoyte, Toure, Senderos and Clichy. Almunia, Djourou and Traore played well at Anfield but I feel they’ll be replaced for this Premiership tie. Eboue is injured so Justin Hoyte will come in instead of Lauren because, well, you know. Then in midfield I’m guessing it’ll be Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto and Rosicky. Then up front it gets a bit trickier. Henry’s been back for a few games so I can pretty much guarantee he’ll start, but it’s a question of who’ll partner him? Baptista certainly deserves it after a strong performance on Tuesday with 4 goals and if he’s ever going to start upfront this’ll be his moment. Also Adebayor is back from injury and Van Persie is raring to go. I thing Wenger will go with Henry and Van Persie as the two strikers but personally I think The Beast should partner Henry.

We’ve got a good squad to select from; apart from Ljungberg, Eboue and Lauren everyone’s ready for selection. It’s quite likely Arsene will pick the team I have above but it would be nice to see Baptista. Whoever he picks though they will be a top class player and good enough to do the job. Last time we played Blackburn we thrashed ‘em 6-2, it wasn’t really a fair reflection on the game to be honest but we still managed 6 goals. I don’t think things will be such a walkover up at Ewood Park but I’m confident we’ll beat them again. Before Liverpool I was thinking to myself if I go into the Blackburn game expecting to lose anything we get is a bonus, however after our performances on Merseyside I’ve changed my mind.

Blackburn have been one of our bogey teams recently but I’m hoping tomorrow we put all that behind us. It’ll be an interesting game to watch and hopefully a happy one too. I’ll get a match report up here asap. Happy Weekend Gooners.