Squillaci finally signs & a Californian Blackburn preview 27 August, 2010

Good morning from Hermosa Beach California, while you might be tucking into your dinner or getting ready for a Friday night out on the town it’s 9:30am here. Sorry I haven’t kept the blog updates but I am on ‘vacation’ and not a lot has happened. Every morning I’ve woken up here expecting Squillaci’s signing to be announced and every day I’ve been just as confused as the rest of you as to what’s going on. Yesterday news broke that Wenger had confirmed the signing and today I see it’s all official and up on Arsenal.com. He will wear the famous no.18 shirt, made dear to all Arsenal fans by the likes of Silvestre and Cygan.

Wenger says:

“We needed a centre-back of quality and experience if possible, and at the right price – he was all of that,” said Wenger.

“He is a real defender and is good in the one against one, good in the air, and can score goals on set-pieces as well. I believe he will be suited to the English game.”

We’ve captured him for €4 which is a bit of a steal as I expect him to come in and compete directly for a first team spot. Koscielny was a decent signing but he has nowhere near the experience and strength of Squillaci and I feel a bit more confident with him in the side. He trained with us this morning but won’t be involved tomorrow, instead he has another couple of weeks with us to settle in, as there’s an international break next week and should be fighting for a place against Bolton.

Also yesterday was the Champions League draw and I’m pretty happy with our tie of Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga and Partizan Belgrade. Aside from the distance we must travel for the away legs they we can’t really complain about that draw – we should be winning these games. It’s also nice that Eduardo will be coming home so soon, he’ll get a great reception at the Grove.

Right moving on, lets look at tomorrow’s game away at Blackburn. The team news is as follows: Denilson and Koscielny are back in the squad returning from injury and suspension respectively but I’m not expecting the Brazilian to start. He will be joined on the bench by Djourou but Cesc and Robin should be OK to start now. So with that, we could shape up something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) – Rosicky
Chamakh – van Persie – Arshavin

Picking that team made me realize we’ve got more options that I thought. We’ve also got Diaby, Wilshere, Eboue and Walcott who could easily start but I have a better feeling with the XI I’ve selected there. Theo had a great game last week but this is Blackburn, they will stop those run by taking his legs out and he might be a better option coming on late off the bench. Wilshere will be looking to keep his starting place but with Cesc’s return and Rosicky’s fine form I think he might find himself back on the bench.

Whatever happens though, we’ll field a pretty decent team and one that should be beating Blackburn. Ewood Park is a tough place to go though and we’ve struggled there a number of times in the past. However as this Arsenal team matures you hear a lot about us not allowing teams to bully us anymore. Tomorrow is the first test of this season to prove that and I’m eagerly anticipating our reaction to it.

Not only will Blackburn be rough but also they will close us down, get men behind the ball and fill the gaps. They will attempt to stop our free-flowing football, which is why we need the likes of Fabregas and Rosicky to be on top form to be able to do their stuff in the narrowest of gaps. Arshavin has also been saying this week he wants to be remembered as a magician so how about a bit of magic tomorrow then?

The game is live on Sky Sports 2 for you guys back home and on ESPN2 over here at 4:45am. Unfortunately they only have ESPN in my hotel room so at the moment it looks like I’m going to have to try watch this one over the internet.

Just before the game is the draw for the Kiddies Cup so look out for that and enjoy the game. Thanks for reading, COME ON YOU GUNNERS.