Arsene Wenger’s regular Thursday chit-chat on the official Arsenal site has revealed that the likes of Alex Song, Johan Djourou and Denilson will come back into his thinking for the teamsheet against Blackpool. The Gunners boss remains enigmatic when it comes to the selection of Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie however.
Johan Djourou seems likely to slot in alongside Thomas Vermaelen to fill the void left by the suspension of Laurent Koscielny after his red at Anfield on Sunday. The likes of Song and Denilson meanwhile may have to settle for seats on the bench, although much depends on the role handed to Fabregas. Right now it his chances of starting, along with Van Persie, remain cloudy after Wenger again stressed the need to ease them back following their World Cup exertions…
“I need to make up my mind who I integrate in the squad. But there is no major problem for anybody really….But at the same time we do not want to rush it. To have a good season you need a good preparation so we want to especially build up Cesc and Van Persie well. They came back on August 5 and you need three to four weeks preparation if you want to do well in the Premier League.”
That appears to indicate that Wenger will remain cautious with the pair and, given the opposition, we could well see them both start the match on the bench to be kept in reserve in case Holloway’s men look like springing an even bigger upset than their win over Wigan.
Both Fabregas and Van Persie are currently ranked second and third in our current Captain poll, the Arsenal skipper trailing Drogba but under 100 votes. It will interesting to see how Wenger’s words this afternoon impact on that margin over the next 24 hours.
We will of course expect more from Wenger in his press conference tomorrow. Whether he’ll be more revealing on Fabregas and Van Persie seems doubtful.