Is it me or is there a momentum gathering at the Arsenal? When you consider the players we have coming back in to the squad and those on the brink of doing so, surely we are in for a humdinger of a season? Dare we mentrion a trophy?
Bendy boy and Theo are back in the frame with TV5, RVP and Aaron Ramsey all making progress too – the only downer is the sidelining of Keiran Gibbs in the Newcastle Carling Cup victory.
Theo has had his say on his return to the team. He said: “I have tried to be a lot more clinical in training. I have been out for six weeks and I just want to get game time. Hopefully I have showed people what I can do and I will try to show that again against West Ham.
“When I was injured playing for England I didn’t think it would be that bad. I thought it would be a couple of weeks out but ended up being six weeks. With injuries in the past I have been down in the dumps but I was a bit happier this time and just wanted to try to get back as soon as I could. It just flew by and I’m happy to be back playing with the lads. It’s frustrating but you can’t help injuries.
“Mine was just a freak accident. That’s in the past and hopefully I can continue to have a good season. A lot of people said not going to the World Cup was good for me. I went back and just rested. I had my first proper pre-season since joining Arsenal and it was a good boost. I feel good when I train every day.”
As we know, Welsh wonder Ramsey has not played since breaking his leg in February while RVP has been out with ankle ligament damage since August after a challenge in the win over Blackburn.
Now though AW reckons the pair are getting to the point of a recall. He said: “Van Persie and Ramsey are very close to coming back to full training now. They should be back in the group at the end of next week. Of course we should not set the same recovery time to Ramsey as Van Persie. Aaron will need a longer period to be completely match-fit for the first team. But Van Persie is not far away now.”
West Ham at home tomorrow and no real changes for us from the Mancheter City squad, with Abou Diaby (ankle) and Jack Wilshere (suspended) still missing as well as Manuel Almunia.
I’ll close with a bit of transfer speculation and this morning’s Mail says we are tracking Schalke defender Benedikt Höwedes. The paper says our target is a 22-year-old German who has been an ever present in the first team squad since making his debut at 17 and can play at full-back or centre half.
Promising…but probably untrue!
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