There was some team news today ahead of tomorrow’s 2nd leg against Porto and I’m afraid it’s not good news:

“Cesc is ruled out for tomorrow’s game. He has a hamstring problem and we could not even take a gamble with him. I was hoping [he would recover] after the game because we were cautious with him. He was not adamant about coming out of the team but still he has damaged his hamstring and we cannot take a gamble on him.

However we have gained Sol Campbell back in the squad and Alex Song too, who was suspended against Burnley.”

Le Boss said Gallas wont be back either and, “he has no chance for the Hull game as well.”. Campbell is back though after resting this weekend so I’m not too worried about our defence.

It’s a massive blow to lose Fabregas though, it always is, but I think Arsene has made the right decision. There is no need to risk his at this vital stage of the season, he’s so important to us
and we would be gutted if we risked him tomorrow and then had him out for three weeks with a full hamstring problem. We’re right in this title fight and these remaining games are all vitally important. I don’t think we’re prioritizing the League over Europe, we’re just not taking the risk of putting Fabregas out for a stretch of games when he could just miss this one.

Nasri had a good game on Saturday and I believe he will slot in like-for-like in place of Fabregas. He has mainly been playing wide in our front line but Arsene has praised his versatility. He’s a visionary like Fabregas and I believe he can do his job tomorrow night without problems.

With Song available we should have a strong enough midfield even without our captain. I will fully preview the game tomorrow afternoon.

Wenger said today in the pre-match conference that we haven’t practiced penalties despite the strong possibility of a shoot out tomorrow evening. He says that penalties missed in training can cause uncertainties in players minds on the night. I see his way of thinking but I’m glad we have practiced penalties before; the manager says we usually practice penalties in training anyway.

I’ll save the rest of the talk for tomorrow. It’s a massive game and it’s going to be a tough test. We’re 24 hours away from either being knocked out or dreaming of Champions League glory once again.

For now I’ll leave you with this video of Chamakh’s goal for Bordeaux last night. Not great quality but you get the idea. I’m a bit excited about this guy’s arrival in the summer but I don’t know what to expect from him yet.

Thanks for reading.