Arsene Wenger has received a lovely slice of injury news ahead of the weekend, revealing that both Gallas and Toure will be fit to return for the trip to Upton Park. Meanwhile, he also brought us an update on Sagna and Eduardo, who is apparently in line for an unlikely return to competitive action next month….
So Arsenal’s defence will be back to almost full strength against West Ham. Toure has recovered from a shoulder ligament injury and skipper Gallas is back from a hamstring injury. Both are likely to slot straight back into the side with Silvestre set to drop to the bench, while Song will either switch to right back or join a whole list of players competing for a midfield start. More on that in a bit.
Wenger also revealed that Sagna was close to a return but would have to wait for the local Derby with Spurs on Wednesday for his comeback.
As for Eduardo, remarkably he is “three weeks away from playing competitive football” according to Wenger. If that’s the case then we can expect to see him back in first team reckoning by mid December at the latest. That will clearly put stress on the starting role of Van Persie and render Bendtner even more of a peripheral figure, used only to rest Adebayor on the odd occasion.
As for the Arsenal midifeld; that’s really beginning to pile up with options for the Arsenal boss. Song will likely come into the reckoning for a start in the central role while the likes of Eboue, Nasri, Walcott, Diaby and maybe Denilson, will compete for two starting roles out wide. That’s potential rotation hell for fantasy managers.