Bendtner still 3 weeks away, Rosicky almost back but no word on Cesc 29 December, 2009

There’s another setback for Bendtner as he will miss another three weeks through injury – either that or we were mis-informed in the first place which I highly expect… I thought he was meant to be back early next month but now we can only hope he makes a return for that tricky run of games I talked about yesterday.

However Tomas Rosicky could return tomorrow night, if not West Ham on Sunday, which is positive news. Now Eboue’s left for the African Nations Cup we will not be short with the Czech’s return. Here’s what Wenger said today:

Rosicky I would say will be fit for Portsmouth or for West Ham. But Bendtner is three weeks away from returning. He had a hernia surgery and should be back from that already but he had a groin problem as well.

The groin problem looks to last longer so they [the medical staff] say to me it will be three weeks.”

We could do with Nick back now really but as long as he is three weeks and not four then I’m satisfied.

There was no update on Fabregas’ injury though which concerns me, hopefully Wenger isn’t holding back any bad news and the test just haven’t come in yet but you would’ve thought he’d know by now. Wenger did have some kind words to say on his incredible performance on Sunday. He says he hasn’t seen a much better impact that that and says he didn’t need to tell Cesc anything – he was completely focused. I love Cesc, what a legend. Lets hope that hamstring isn’t too bad.

Arsene is also pleased with Diaby’s recent performances and says the new 4-3-3 suits him well. He says it allows both he and Fabregas space to score goals coming from deep. We’ve had a great goal return from all over the pitch this season, not just from strikers and it’s mainly down to the new formation. Diaby’s been playing really well recently and we need him to keep that up, he’ll need to if he wants to get in the France squad this summer.

That midfield will get shaken up a bit when Song leaves for Africa next month but unlike a lot of other African stars he hasn’t gone yet. We’ve got the pleasure of his availability for another two games as Cameroon aren’t meeting up until the 4th. That’s great news but we’re going to have to cope without him sooner or later.

I think Denilson will be drafted in at defensive midfield when he leaves. I’ve heard some people calling for Ramsey but I think he is seen as one of the two attacking central midfielders. Denilson had a back problem against Villa this weekend but there’s no news on his injury either. I hope it’s not too bad, he’ll be out of tomorrow night’s game anyway but at least we still have Song for a bit.

OK that’s you updated for tonight. Will preview the Portsmouth game tomorrow afternoon. Until then, thanks for reading.