Last time we see all 3 on the pitch at the same time?

Haven't written in a while, therefore this will be more of a short summation on things that have happened in the past week. No place better to start than with the players.

Emmanuel Frimpong will be out for the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury.

Arsenal smashed Blackburn Rovers on the weekend. Scoring several goals, dominating the match and appearing genuinely impressive for the first time in a long time Arsenal looked like Arsenal used to look like. In the eyes of Arsenal fans Arsenal played like Arsenal should always be playing. In the eyes of neutrals Arsenal got their old swagger back.

How long have we been hoping for a result like this? We said for a long time that somebody will get a hiding from Arsenal sooner or later and today Blackburn – together with a handful of wasted bin bags, filled with nothing but hot air were taken to the Bin-Bangers.

How long have we been hoping for a result like this? We said for a long time that somebody will get a hiding from Arsenal sooner or later and today Blackburn – together with a handful of wasted bin bags, filled with nothing but hot air were taken to the Bin-Bangers.

Fine margins

February and all we've collected from 2012 is a solitary point in the league. Unfortunately for a club the size of Arsenal and the ambitions that we harbour, that is not good enough. 7th is where we are right now in terms of the league standings and hopes of staying with the top pack and clinching that vital Champions League position is not mathematically out of grab.

Match Report Video By the numbers

I know for many people the word they might use to sum up this Arsenal season would be stronger, much stronger, than 'frustrating', but that's what seems to fit for me this morning.

On Tuesday night Chelsea, our main rivals for 4th spot, dropped two points against Swansea.

Arsenal starlet Francis Coquelin has hailed the locker room impact of legendary on-loan striker Thierry Henry, insisting that the veteran does not need to be on the pitch all the time to offer his leadership.

Henry's two-month spell at the Emirates began with a bang as his decisive goal knocked Leeds United out of the FA Cup but the Frenchman has since been sidelined with injury concerns.

Still warm and cuddly after Sunday but a midweek trip to a freezing Lancashire is not what was wanted, particularly to a Lancashire team who are in the process of turning their season around.

The recent beatings of both Liverpool teams is evidence of Bolton's turnaround. Add in the Cup win over Swansea and we can see tonight's game will be a challenge.

Still warm and cuddly after Sunday but a midweek trip to a freezing Lancashire is not what was wanted, particularly to a Lancashire team who are in the process of turning their season around.

The recent beatings of both Liverpool teams is evidence of Bolton's turnaround. Add in the Cup win over Swansea and we can see tonight's game will be a challenge.

Just a couple of weeks ago Arsene Wenger had a full team of players on the treatment table, but ahead of tonights game against Bolton the Arsenal injury list has reduced by half. Bacary Sagna may have only played a few minutes on Sunday, but it was a relief to see him back after three [...]

Just a couple of weeks ago Arsene Wenger had a full team of players on the treatment table, but ahead of tonights game against Bolton the Arsenal injury list has reduced by half. Bacary Sagna may have only played a few minutes on Sunday, but it was a relief to see him back after three [...]

Written by fatgingergooner

With 3 defeats in the last 4 games and an unconvincing win against Leeds in the last round of the FA Cup, Arsenal fans were feeling far from optimistic ahead of this 4th round clash against Aston Villa.

Rumour had it that the Gunners injury list was starting to ease, and so it proved with Sagna, Henry and Arteta all named on the bench and also the young Frenchman Coquelin was deputising at right back.

Written by fatgingergooner

With 3 defeats in the last 4 games and an unconvincing win against Leeds in the last round of the FA Cup, Arsenal fans were feeling far from optimistic ahead of this 4th round clash against Aston Villa.

Rumour had it that the Gunners injury list was starting to ease, and so it proved with Sagna, Henry and Arteta all named on the bench and also the young Frenchman Coquelin was deputising at right back.

It seems that things are looking a bit brighter for Arsene Wenger with news that a few Arsenal players are back in contention after recovering from injury. Kieran Gibbs is not back yet, but Wenger is very happy to know that Bacary Sagna's return will mean that the Gunners have at least one true full-back [.

There is a glimmer of hope amidst the sea of negativity that Arsenal have been swimming in recently. Some players are close to making their return after serious injuries. Of course, as we have seen with Wilshere recently and with others in the past, getting hopes up when it comes to injuries and Arsenal is not a smart choice.

Aston Villa

Position 11th, 6-9-7 (27 points, -3 goal differential)

Away Record: 3-6-2, -1 goal differential

Recent Form: DWLDW

Last Meeting: Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2 (December 21, 2011)

Back in action tomorrow (remember when we used to play matches on Saturday) as we square off against Aston Villa in the FA Cup 4th round match.

The long substitution

It's finally confirmed, the news that we did not want to hear. That Jack Wilshere has had a setback and would not be available in the date that we initially had hoped he would be back for. AC Milan's games were touted as his return period but that will now have to be extended.

The Arsenal youngster Nicolas Yennaris was thrown in at the deep end on his League debut for the Gunners when he replaced Johann Djourou against Man United last weekend. He was tasked with keeping Nani at bay, and he certainly did a better job that Djourou. Although Arsenal lost, Yennaris was more than happy with [.

I don't know if you've noticed, but January has been pretty awful so far. We've lost all three of our league games, and we've gone back to our old habit of throwing away leads. United swept us aside with an ease that was almost saddening, given how massive the games between the two clubs used to be.

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has refused to get carried away with suggestions that the club won't qualify for the Champions League next season, pointing to the forthcoming return of midfielder Jack Wilshere and right-back Bacary Sagna as a major boost.

The Gunners trail fourth-place Chelsea by five points and third-place Tottenham Hotspur by another five, leaving Arsene Wenger's side with much work to do in the four months ahead.

Sorry about the title, but I can't resist a good pun if possible. Misleading as it might be, I must stress that I am not saying Johan Djourou deserves any credit for his performance against Manchester United.

However, for all the criticism surrounding Arsene Wenger for his choice to remove Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain just as he'd made our equaliser and was at the centre of everything good we were doing, a rather more bold move by the boss has gone largely ignored: replacing the more experienced Djourou, terrible as he was, for Premier League debutant Nico Yennaris, a move that proved more successful than bringing on Andrey Arshavin later.

First off, I accept that this is a pretty unfair comparison.

To rank any Arsenal team from any era against the most feted group of Gunners ever to have worn the sacred cannon is clearly destined to be a mismatch.

It's a bit like comparing Dan Brown with Charles Dickens, or Boyzone with the Beatles.

Arsenal has suffered some terrible bad luck with defensive injuries this season. We lost Sagna, Gibbs and Jenkinson all with a 17 days in October, but the loss that has hurt us most was the loss of Santos in December. Santos was an attacking full-back and gave us extra attacking options something that has been lacking in recent weeks.

If it had not been for such a difficult start to the season, Arsenal would now be fighting for the title.

And, that includes the loss of points against Wolves at home (unfortunate) and Fulham away (well deserved). The last few games have been disappointing, but Arsenal have gathered 29 points in their last 13 games and during the process it was able to pre-qualify for the CL against a very good Udinese, and win their CL-group against strong opposition with style and dominance.

The Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna has been out since the early-season loss to Tottenham and he has now revealed that he is close to rejoining the squad, but will only be able to come back if he leaves the screws in his leg that were put in to help his bones knit together. "I was [...]

The Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna has been out since the early-season loss to Tottenham and he has now revealed that he is close to rejoining the squad, but will only be able to come back if he leaves the screws in his leg that were put in to help his bones knit together. "I was [...]

Lineups are in. We're rolling out pretty much the same lineup we used two days ago. Hopefully there's enough gas in the tank. Sagna is making a surprise return to the bench, so that's a good sign. I hope he's not back too soon. Anyway, join along for the live blogging action.

Fulham Arsenal Liveblog

Arsenal need to put the draw with Wolves behind them and take all three points from the home match against QPR tomorrow, and the good news is that Theo Walcott has recovered from his illness and will be back in the team. Arsene Wenger said yesterday: "Theo is OK [after his illness] and we have [...]

You'll have a great laugh watching this Christmas video featuring Arsenal's Szczesny, Walcott, Sagna and... the Gunnersaurus! Someone explain what Sagna is supposed to be again? Whatever the case, you've gotta love these hombres!

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According to todays Metro Arsenal have rejoined the race to sign Gary Cahill after suffering yet another defensive injury against Manchester City yesterday. Johann Djourou will be out for at least three weeks, and he joins the other full-backs Bacary Sagna and Andre Santos on the treatment table, with Santos expected to be unavailable for [.

For a long long time I have said that I would love Arsene Wenger to play Thomas Vermaelen at left-back.
In fact, when blowing the candles out on my (ahem) 18th birthday cake last year I wished that the Belgian would become a regular there.
I have always felt that Arsenal would be so much more solid at the back with him playing there.

At the end of Saturday's game, SZCZ fell to his knees and kissed Robin's boot. Whilst it's a manoeuvre many other gooners would probably replicate at the moment, a better one would have been to cover Robin's entire body in cotton wool.
We are not a one-man side. We have one of the best goalkeepers in European football.

Nice gear Arsenal star Jack Wilshere has taken to Twitter to out Bacary Sagna as the owner of this horrendous cardigan. The offending/offensive piece of gear was suspended from the ceiling of Arsenal's dressing room presumably at their London Colney training ground while Wilshere engaged his Twitter followers in a game of Guess [.

Winning is a habit, however, occasionally competitions have to be prioritised and anyone slating the team selection for the Olympiacos game needs to understand that.

Football is down to money, and whilst the Champions League may bring in more money than the majority of football clubs could ever dream of having, one away tie with the group already won can afford to be treated as an insignificant game.

Emmauel Eboue was a cult hero for the Gooners. Naturally, it was shocking to hear of the news that he had left the club for Galatasaray. Arsene Wenger was no slouch either, signing Carl Jenkinson in response to the Ivorian's departure. As the experienced Eboue had proven to be an able deputy to the fantastic [.

This wasn't the kind of game that I wanted to watch at midnight after an immensely enjoyable day with friends and their families who are visiting us for the holidays. And I get no joy in typing this report at quarter past two in the night but writing can also be cathartic at times and that's just what I am hoping to achieve.

The past few months have been a roller-coaster for Arsenal fans. After only seven games of the current campaign they had notched a mere two wins and had been on the back of some truly embarrassing results. When you look at the league table and see Arsenal lurking outside the relegation places it is obvious something is wrong and of course the fans look for someone to blame.

The only fit first team fullback left

With everyone safe and sound back at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger conducted his pre match press conference today. The topics which he covered can be seen here. As with any presser, the more important topics usually covers who's out and who's back in the squad.

Ok, here we go again!

We'll start this morning with some team news ahead of the Norwich game and there's bad news for two young full backs. Kieran Gibbs has a hernia and Arsene explains:

He looks like he will be out for between four and five weeks. At first he had an abdominal strain, certainly caused by the fact that he had a hernia already.

It feels right and proper to take some time in the Interlull (arseblog TM) to slag off our rivals. Unbelievably we have to include the N17 bottom feeders this season as they prove themselves to be genuine contenders. How could this be? It is unnatural, a twist of the correct order, an aberration and a perversion of all that is right and proper.