Wenger not disappointed with the Beast

Walcott?
By Boris Mellor
December 22 2006

Arsene Wenger made it clear, when questioned at his weekly pre match press conference for Arsenal.com, that he is not disappointed with Julio Baptista.

Pushed on how can he be satisfied Arsene replied that footballers from abroad can take different amounts of time to adjust to the Premiership, but he was impressed with Baptista’s attitude and commitment. Wenger stressed that he shows great intelligence in his play.

It was a pity that Baptista and the other players in the squad had not got a chance to play at Liverpool, apart from Toure and Walcott, who had played against Portsmouth, the rest of the Carling Cup squad needed to play.

Preview

For the Blackburn game Arsene has the usual injury concerns, Gallas, Freddy, and Henry and are still not available. Diaby will start full training in the New Year.

Eboue also joins the injury list, but Flamini has recovered from his injury. But it will not be Lauren that replaces Eboue; as far as Wenger is concerned that job must be done by a match fit player; Lauren is still short of being match fit so Hoyte will play. Rosicky will also be available for selection.

So the Liverpool cancellation means the team had a rarer midweek break, however that may not prove to be a great advantage for the players returning from sickness or in need of first team football.

So far the only winning score at the Emirates has been 3-0, with 1-1 draws and one 2-2 draw to show for the rest of the results. Blackburn were doing very poorly until last weeks win at Reading, it is, perhaps, surprising to see them so close to the bottom of the table. If they won at Arsenal it would be their first back to back win in 10 games. So they sound just the team for an Arsenal Xmas present. Last week Pompey were given two, it’s a bit worrying that the closer we get to Xmas the number of gifts increase. Surely they are not about to give three goals away (joking honest)?

For Blackburn top scorer Benni McCarthy is suspended but Stephane Henchoz is back after a ban. Zurab Khizanishvili and Brett Emerton are available after injury but Aaron Mokoena is doubtful.

As for the result the only consistent thing about the Arsenal team this season is its inconsistency. True at the Emirates they have not lost to any one, there again they have hardly beat anyone either, after all Tottenham don’t count. Not hubris, but its what Spurs fan believe. They do have a point, after all they struggled to beat Southend in extra time.

So don’t forget your predictions, after all only three scores to pick from.

Oh I do hope it’s the 3-0 one – come on lads it is Xmas, can’t the Gunner’s fans have some presents too? Everyone else has had one.

Possible squads:

Arsenal : Lehmann, Hoyte, Toure, Djourou, Clichy, Walcott, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb, Adebayor, van Persie, Almunia, Rosicky, Senderos, Baptista, Flamini, Aliadiere, Song.

Blackburn: Freidel, Neill, Todd, Ooijer, Henchoz, Khizanishvili, Gray, McEveley, Emerton, Bentley, Tugay, Savage, Mokoena, Pedersen, Nonda, Derbyshire, Gallagher, Brown, Peter.