Fridays always have the potential to bring better news on the injury front, what with Wenger's press conference, and there was certainly plenty of good news today.

From a list that that seemed earlier on this week to be mushrooming out of control, things now look a bit more normal, don't they?

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My head! My head!

My good friend's wedding is tomorrow so this will be a very early match preview of our trip to Sunderland. As it has been known for the past few days, RVP and Gibbs both will miss the game after yet another injury return for an Arsenal player from an international break.

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Arsene Wenger had some good news.

"After being assessed by the Arsenal medical staff, the club can confirm that Kieran Gibbs has sustained severe bruising to the bones and soft tissue of his right foot."

There is no fracture of the metatarsal as feared at first. Gibbs injury is short term and he should ready to face the highly anticipated Chelsea showdown.

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Eduardo's most common move, the ankle breaker
This is the most obvious Funny Feeling Friday selection in history - but the selection completely fits the award for the week - an unpopular, out of form, or underrated player who we think will perform over the next few weeks.
Couldn't be more obvious: it's Eduardo (7. Click to continue reading...

As you know, we complain about injuries, even though a lot of other clubs (Liverpool, Chelsea) have plenty of injury problems of their own. But we now have fully eleven players injured, and crying doesn't help, so why not have a little fun with it?

Our 11 players could be configured into a lineup:

Fabianski

Traore-Djourou-Clichy

Denilson

Walcott-Wilshere-Diaby-Vela

Bendtner-van Persie

An unconventional formation, sure.

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By 1970's GoonerJust when we thought it couldn't get any worse it has. First it was Bendtner out with a groin problem then van Persie with his ankle and now it's Gibbs that's got injured while on international duty. Add to these Denilson, Clichy, Diaby, Vela, Wilshere,Djourou, Fabiansky and Walcott and you can make another very useful first 11! Click to continue reading...

That's when Robin van Persie says he will be back, and just in case it's my chimney he selects then there will be a great big cushion in the grate to make sure he gets a soft landing!

I will miss our Robin, big time! For so many season's he has had a niggle here or there, but finally this year it seemed as if the boy wonder was going to send us all a bit crazy.

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I really really feel for Robin van Persie. The geezer is in the form of his life, has been injury-free for a long time and then BAM! This happens.
A torn fucking ankle ligament.
I'm no doctor so I have no idea how long these type of injuries last. I've googled it and there are various time scales but I'd say it is safe to rule him out for a while. Click to continue reading...

So it looks like we have been hurt by the international break once again with van Persie being stretchered off against Italy in a friendly with a pretty serious injury, reports have said he has either cracked his ankle or torn ankle ligaments but I'm told that he has broken his metatarsal.

After having a relatively injury free period over the past year his luck with injuries has taken a turn for the worse again and you have to feel for the guy, he looked in real pain when he was being taken off and I just hope beyond hope the injury isnt as bad as first feared, we should have Theo coming back along with Vela to soften the blow but van Persie has been enjoying the best form of his career this season.

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Friday has arrived, only one day to get through until we play again.

I am just glad November 5th is now over for another year – I don't like Fireworks!!

Sadly though, nowadays November 5th seems to go on for about a week, so I anticipate more tonight and over the weekend
Few odd bits of gossip around late yesterday evening and early today.

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Its Carling Cup time! The trophy that no big club wants to win, but if they win it they'll be happy to gloat about it anyway. Visions of Mourinho celebrating back in 2007 when they beat us in the final still make me sick.

Rafa's red revolution received a massive boost when they humiliated Utd on Sunday.

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Wenger got the team wrong last night. But first, it's important to recognise a couple of things.
Firstly, a draw away in Europe is never a bad result. We had six points on the board, now we have seven. So despite Alkmaar's last minute equaliser we're sure to go through. Which is more than can be said for Liverpool. Click to continue reading...

Lineups are in, and I was right about everyone except for keeper:

Arsenal: Starters: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Eboue, Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Arshavin, van Persie. Subs: Almunia, Silvestre, Gibbs, Ramsey, Wilshere, Vela, Merida.

AZ: Starters: Romero, Moreno, Moisander, Poulsen, Jaliens, Schaars, Mendes da Silva, Martens, Holman, Dembele, El Hamdaoui.

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Remember Reyes or Cygan?

The European journey continues tonight for Arsenal against the champions of Dutch Eredivise, AZ Alkmaar. This is the first of back-to-back fixtures against the Ronald Koeman's team. Koeman who was at Arsenal's 6-2 thrashing of Blackburn, said that he saw some weakness in Arsenal's game during that game and will look to exploit it.

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Credit:Mexsport Mexico 4-1 El Salvador ESTO's front page said "Gracias", to Javier Aguirre, to Cuauhtémoc Blanco, to all the Mexican national team, and I think all of Mexico feels the same way. Javier Aguirre is Mexico's Mr. Fix-It. He turned around the looming disaster in the Mexican national team after the Sánchez and Eriksson eras left the side on the verge of the playoffs, incorporated young players like Vela and dos Santos into the lineup, and brought back the old soldier Blanco. Click to continue reading...

Internationals breaks rarely make for interesting viewing. Even this one, which concludes the group stages in Europe, only has a few games that actually mean anything, and won't be half as exciting as the playoffs that follow. Those, of course, are being seeded at the last minute because FIFA panicked at the possibility of two of the big guns facing each other and causing one to miss the showpiece.

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Well, the international matches are almost upon us. The official site has a full round-up of all Gunners who will be participating in internationals this weekend here. No fewer than 20 Arsenal players are listed on international rosters for tomorrow's matches.

There's no point in covering every match, but some of the highlights:

Clichy, Diaby, Gallas, and Sagna look to get France into at least a playoff match for the World Cup in what should be a romp against Faroe Islands and a mid-week home match against Austria.

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Well, last night was a whole lot more fun than Saturday wasn't it? Until about the 60th minute when that old familiar feeling started to creep in and no matter how hard you fought it, the thought 'this has 1-0 Olympiakos written all over it' started battering around your head. Well, it did in mine at least.

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Mannone Eboue Gallas Vermaelen Clichy Fabregas Song Diaby Rosicky van Persie Arshavin Subs: Szczesny, Sagna, Senderos, Gibbs, Ramsey, Eduardo, Vela Click to continue reading...

The Carling Cup draw has been made, and we'll be facing Liverpool for the first time since the unlikely pairing of Aliadiere and Baptista led us to a remarkable 6-3 triumph at Anfield in January 2007.

Some may be disappointed that the kids have to face such a big side so early in the competition, but I'm not.

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The Game

Having lost their last two away games in the Premiership, Arsene Wenger's side will be looking to end the away negative run as they face Roy Hodgson's Fulham. And, with Chelsea losing away at Wigan, simply put, the Gunners cannot blow such a golden chance to close the gap at the top.

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The Game

Having lost their last two away games in the Premiership, Arsene Wenger's side will be looking to end the away negative run as they face Roy Hodgson's Fulham. And, with Chelsea losing away at Wigan, simply put, the Gunners cannot blow such a golden chance to close the gap at the top.

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Confirmed Starting XI Mannone Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy Fabregas Song Diaby Bendtner van Persie Arshavin Subs: Szczesny, Silvestre, Gibbs, Eboue, Rosicky, Ramsey, Vela. Click to continue reading...

Nope, not the Gunnersaurus, the little man next to him, Andrey Arshavin. He offers another dimension to the team and is one of those players that when you see their name on the team-sheet you are either very wary of them, or excited to be alongside them. Of course, depending on what side you are on.

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I didn't manage to catch much of the 2-0 victory over West Brom the other night, but regardless of the circumstances, the win was an excellent result with a team that was young even by Carling Cup standards. Make no mistake, West Brom are a decent side, and on top form after dishing out a drubbing to Boro at the weekend.

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Cruz Azul advanced the the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals on Wednesday night, beating Columbus 2-0 at Crew Stadium. Pablo Zeballos scored in the 14th and Alejandro Vela followed in the 39th. Cruz Azul keeper Yosgart Gutiérrez made five saves for the shutout. "We did enough to merit the win," Cruz Azul coach Enrique Meza said. Click to continue reading...

The CONCACAF Champions League continued its group stage on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 with three matches. The Columbus Crew v Cruz Azul, Comunicaciones v W Connection, and Toluca v Jabloteh. Here are recaps of all the matches along with video highlights.

Cruz Azul beats Columbus Crew 2-0 Video Highlights

Mexican side Cruz Azul remained first in their group and clinched a spot to the knockout stage with a 2-0 win at Columbus on Wednesday.

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You can also read this post at http://gunnerstoday.wordpress.com where I'll be blogging permanently soon. Check it out, it looks much better don't you think?
It is now I think well over 5 years since Arsene started using the youth in this competition. Yesterday the trend continued with 8 teenagers. Click to continue reading...

The goal scoring heroes, Vela and Watt

 It is now I think well over 5 years since Arsene started using the youth in this competition. Yesterday the trend continued with 8 teenagers. We can safely that is significantly higher to be singled out so precisely. Of course if you really want to be picky, then as I mentioned before in my previous post, you can count Senderos as a young un as well.

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I know it's the Carling Cup, but, you know, it's Arsenal, and maybe you're looking for an excuse to waste time at work. That's what I'm here for.

Arsenal: Starters: Szczesny, Gilbert, Silvestre, Senderos, Gibbs, Wilshere, Coquelin, Ramsey, Traore, Watt, Sunu Bench: Shea, Bartley, Eastmond, Randall, Barazite, Frimpong, Vela

West Brom: Starters: Kiely, Barnett, Zuiverloon, Olsson, Jara, Thomas, Teixiera, Korren, Dorrans, Moore, Cox Bench: Carson, Meite, Martis, Mulunbu, Bednar, Reid, Woods

Interesting that Vela starts on the bench.

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Bendtner celebrating a goal against Sheffield United last year

I know most Gooners don't give a damn about this cup. Until Wenger selected the superkids, we were largely indifferent. But tell me you didn't care when we finished runners up in 2007 and I'll say you are lying.

Of course I care.

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Apologies for the lateness of this post. I mean it is very late, kick off is in like 20 minutes, so I am sorry about that. Please don't hate me.
I know most Gooners don't give a damn about this cup. Until Wenger selected the superkids, we were largely indifferent. But tell me you didn't care when we finished runners up in 2007 and I'll say you are lying. Click to continue reading...

Hello all. It's been a bloody month since I last posted, and I'm quite ashamed of it actually. Sometimes, when you write every day, you just get burnt out and feel like what you write isn't that interesting anymore and just don't really get in the mood to write very much. That's what happened to me, and I feel like I'm not doing my job as an Arsenal blogger when I go that long without writing. Click to continue reading...

Wigan and West Brom at the Emirates, Fulham away from home, Olympiakos, Blackburn and Birmingham again at home and then AZ away, seven games which in my opinion can say a lot about how our season can unfold this year.

When you put Arsenal alongside those seven aforementioned clubs, you only think about one possible outcome: a win.

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Wigan and West Brom at the Emirates, Fulham away from home, Olympiakos, Blackburn and Birmingham again at home and then AZ away, seven games which in my opinion can say a lot about how our season can unfold this year.

When you put Arsenal alongside those seven aforementioned clubs, you only think about one possible outcome: a win.

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