The North Bank – “It’s got va-va-voom” (An Arsenal blog)

Thankfully the exceptionally dull international week is over and all that remains to be seen is whether or not our players that were away on international duty have picked up any injuries while away with their national teams.

One player set to miss the weekend’s game against Bolton is Theo Walcott who was injured in the Switzerland vs England game. At first it was feared that he may be out for a while, but it seems that it is just bruising and that he may be in contention for the end of next week, fingers crossed.

Theo’s partner in injury crime, RvP, now looks set to be out until at least mid-October. It’s frustrating for us fans to see Robin get injured so much, so it must be infuriating for the player himself. I read somewhere, possibly the ever reliable Twitter…, that RvP has only managed a maximum of fourteen consecutives games for us before breaking down with some injury or another. It’s a shame, but it is up to the club to have enough strength in depth to deal with his annual absences because it isn’t as if his injuries are a surprise, they are an inevitability. I think the next time Robin gets injured, we should just double whatever recovery time the club announce and expect that to be the earliest possible return date for him. I’d be willing to wager that we won’t see him playing this side of November.

Squillaci played the full game for our reserves this week and it is good to see him get a bit of playing time under his belt before being included in the first team’s match day squad. He played alongside Djourou in central defense and it’s good to see Djourou get some playing time and fitness too. Fingers crossed the latter won’t be struck down by the highly contagious RvP Syndrome.

Also set to begin his road to full fitness is Samir Nasri, who is set to return to training in the coming days. Good news.

Reports suggest that Mark Schwarzer will quit Fulham on a Bosman next summer. I will not be impressed if he signs for us. Regardless of whether he is free or not, he will be 38yrs old next summer and we really should have a better goalkeeping transfer option than a 38yr old that has never played at a top club.

Wellington Silva is set to join us on a permanent basis in January, when he will be 18yrs old. It’s a shame he isn’t here now as we currently need all of the forwards that we can get. Though, at 18, it will be a while before we see the best of him and it will take him time to adapt to English football. The player himself had this to say:

“The experience in London was perfect. I can now dream of playing in the Premier League and I don’t think it will be hard for me to adapt. Mr Wenger has spoken with me and has helped me with my work and training. I am really looking forward to this challenge. It’s a great opportunity for me in my career.”

That’s about all for today. At least we can now all forget the internationals and start looking forward to our game against Bolton this weekend.

There is a lull in the typhoon rain now, so I’d best be getting myself home. Take it easy.