Gallas to miss Stoke clash

by CARL ELDRIDGE It looks like it’s down to Tommy Vermalen and Sol Campbell to repel the Stoke invaders at the Britannia tomorrow as we try to grab a vital three points against Tony Pulis’ long-ball machine.

That’s because William Gallas has suffered what the Daily Mirror has called ‘a major injury setback’ which could threaten his place for our Premier League title push.

The red top says Gallas, 32, broke down in training on Tuesday after a recurrence of a back injury and is out of the game. And AW admits that he does not know when the French centre half will return which also puts a major question mark for the Champions League second leg with Porto in a fortnight.

AW said: “With Gallas we don’t know. Gallas has had a recurrence of his calf injury. He tried hard on Monday and Tuesday but on Tuesday he had a little problem again. We will have to assess that.”

So Sol will partner TV5 at Stoke as we try to close the gap on United and the Chavs. And the paper goes on to say we will also be without Andrey Arshavin and Abou Diaby but both are expected to return for the home fixture with Burnley on Saturday week. Fit-again Eduardo is to return to training todayand could be in the squad for Stoke.

Meanwhile, the renaissance man himself, Emannuel Eboue, has his say on the trip to the Potteries in the Times. He said “We don’t want to change our performances – we will always try to play our way. We must be patient, clever and focused on Saturday and remember that it will be very difficult for them as well as us. We lost against them before but we have to go there to win.”

Eboue says he would not be surprised if our flow is interrupted by a stream of fouls. “It is always like this and not just in this league. Even in the Champions League we play teams who always try to kick us because they know we are so quick with the ball. We are very technical and that’s why we get kicked but we must play our football,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if they kick us, we must do our thing and always believe in ourselves. Many people say Arsenal are not strong enough. They say we have got too many young players but we play our own football. We don’t like to give the ball away and want to play on the attack.

“We need to win a trophy this season for our club. It has been such a long time since we did something,” Eboue added. “To be a good family, we must win something together. For me, I don’t think Fabregas, me or William [Gallas] will leave this club. We have still got contracts with Arsenal. We are Arsenal players and I think we all want to win something together.”

Elsewhere in a slow news day for the Arsenal, the Daily Mail says Theo Walcott is on track for his first England game of an injury-hit season.  The paper says Walcott, 20, was told he is in Fabio Capello’s provisional squad and has a good chance of making the cut on the right wing, with T********’s Aaron Lennon missing the friendly against Egypt on Wednesday through injury.

Listen, Theo, most diehard Gooners I know don’t give so much as a flying hoot for England these days so swerve the game and keep fir for the Royal Arsenal!

 

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