Wigan Preview 10 February, 2007

After a week of no news it’s all come at once. So I’ll just get straight into it.

Cesc Fabregas has won the Barclays Player of the Month Award for January. To be named the best player in the best league is something quite special and our wonder kid picks up the award for the first time. We’ve been unbeaten in 2007 and Cesc has been a big part of that, he deserves this prize and hopefully it inspires him on to better things.

We’ve entered some partnership with the Colorado Rapids. Not sure exactly what it involves but it’s a quite similar partnership to the one we’ve got with Celta Vigo. I think it’s all about widening the ‘Arsenal Brand’ and getting the folks in America to recognise us. Wenger was quick to stress it’s not a takeover and that we might benefit from up and coming players they might produce.

After the internationals in the week the talk of Arsenal’s lack of English players was brought up again. Wenger dismissed that it was his fault England are doing shit. Worth a read, Arsene is such a legend. I would like us to have more English players to be honest but if there is a better player out there who isn’t from England then obviously I’d prefer to have the better player. I think Hoyte and Walcott will be regulars for the national side one day and are already hits for the U21 side.

It was somewhat of a miracle that we came through the international period without injuries and to add to the good news Baptsita and Diaby are back in the squad for tomorrow’s game but I very much doubt either will start. Hleb and Ljungberg will be back in training early next week but there’s still no good news on William Gallas and Emmanuel Eboue. Also Phil Senderos is suspended after that red card against ‘Boro last week so Djourou will come in for him. So with that team news this is how I think we’ll shape up against Wigan tomorrow:

Last week Flamini came in for Theo on the wing and I wasn’t too impressed to be honest. Walcott might not be going through the best form at the moment but for me, he’s our best option. It only takes one game to find your form again and you never know this might be his. Baptista looked lost on the left wing against Sheffield Utd and as I said I wouldn’t really want to see Flamini on the wing either. However when Denilson played left wing in the Carling Cup against Liverpool I liked him and I wouldn’t mind seeing him there again. Whether or not Wenger feels the same is a different story.

That’s quite a strong side and I think it’s more than enough for Wigan. They’ve been poor this season, we did beat them 1-0 up at their place earlier in the season but we left it very late. I think tomorrow will be a comfortable win for Arsenal and we need the points after dropping 2 last week. The chase to catch Chelsea might be over but we can’t afford Liverpool to extend their lead.

I got tickets for Cardiff by the way; I just need to find a way to get there now. Enjoy the match tomorrow if you’re going. Happy Weekend.