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

This weekend sees us take on Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday. Kick-off is at 14:00 GMT, which means 23:00 for those in Japan. The game will be screened lived on J-Sports Plus, coverage begins at 22:54. The fact that our game will finish before Chavski’s kicks-off gives us a great chance to put extra pressure on them by picking up the three points in our own game.

No doubt about it, this game is going to be a big test for the team, but at least Everton will be without the suspended Fellaini, who’s height and pointy elbows would have caused us some trouble. One player that still has the potential to cause us a lot of problems from set pieces is Cahill and we will need to make sure to keep a close eye on him and not allow him any free headers.

Injury news ahead of the game is that nobody picked up an injury against Wolves, so we should have largely the same squad as we had for that game, with the possible exception of a return to the match day squad for Gibbs.

The starting eleven is likely to be Fabianski, Sagna, Squillaci, Djourou, Clichy, Fabregas, Song, Wilshere, Nasri, Arshavin and Chamakh.

In the manager’s weekly interview it was interesting to see his response to whether or not he will dip into the transfer market in January should Vermaelen’s injury rule him out for the season. he said that he couldn’t deny that buying someone would be a possibility as we would only have three experienced centre halves were that to be the case. What was more interesting was the fact that he said that he hasn’t yet totally given up on Vermaelen returning to fitness, which seems to indicate that it does indeed look likely that he will be out for a long stretch. There was a lack of conviction in his statement. The manager said that the scan looks okay but they cannot really understand exactly why Vermaelen is feeling pain. Time for a new and improved medical team? I think that Vermaelen could be out for the season. If so, it’ll be one of Cahill or Jones in January, who would you prefer? I’d go for Cahill.

Diaby came through the first of his series of fitness tests okay and his ankle has responded well. Fingers crossed he will come through the rest of the tests okay and that he won’t be out with yet another long term injury.

As hinted at here a few days ago, Szczesny has signed a new long-term contract. My sources have told me that it is a five year deal, as also revealed here a few days ago. The new deal has already been confirmed by the club.

On Paddy Power you will get odds of 23/10 on a draw and 6/5 on an Arsenal win. If Walcott scores the last goal, all losing 1st/last goalscorer, correct score and scorecast singles bets will be refunded. Considering our propensity for conceding a goal to a teams first shot on target, you can get Everton/Arsenal (half-time/full-time) at 22/1.

That’s all I have time for today. Here’s hoping for some slip-ups by ManUre, ManShitty, Liverpool and Tottenham tomorrow.

Take it easy. I’m off to tinker with the innards of this site.