We Need To Talk Abou Diaby

First off, it looks as though Chamakh and Djourou are going to be shipped off to new teams. Djourou appears to have a loan deal with Hannover set up. There are alot of people who would perhaps rather see him sold but I still think he has something to offer but here's hoping the deal includes Hannover paying his wages. Chamakh on the other hand appears on the verge of being sold to West Ham, according to the BBC.
It seems an odd purchase by West Ham, as you would imagine he would compete for the same position as Andy Carrol. It's good news for both Arsenal FC and Chamakh though as we are no longer spending thousands a week for him to warm the bench and he needn't leave London. Good luck to them both.

With news that Andre Santos and Abou Diaby have both returned to training, would I be correct in saying we have a fully fit, injury free and unafflicted squad? It really is hard to believe. So much so that I think it is quite likely that there is one injured member of the squad just pretending to be fit so as not to spoil the momentous occasion. Assuming nobody is pretending however, Le Boss must surely be delighted to be starting the new year, on the back of a very busy few weeks of football, with a full squad of players to choose from. Our christmas schedule was admittedly less busy than others thanks to the diligent London tube drivers. I have a theory that all the tube drivers are gooners and wanted the day off to watch the match and in doing so, effectivley had the match called off. It's like a modern day Shakespearean tragedy.

So... A fully fit squad? Yes. That includes everyone? Yes. Even Diaby? Yes, even Diaby. It seems every time our beloved Abou is let out of the physio's room, he spends a progressively shorter time outside before he is covered back up in duct tape and returned to the physio for the perpetual three week stint. His injury which came early this season was particularly frustrating because we had lost a player who was in such fine form, but mostly because both staff and player were speaking about his return to fitness with such confidence that they appeared to believe he was over his injuries. Clearly he was not.

Despite his awful fitness track record, I have hope that Diaby can make a successful return to fitness and feature for the rest of the season this time round. The reason being that he is returning to the team under quite different circumstances compared to earlier this season. Back in August we saw Diaby return to a midfield that was missing the young Jack Wilshere. Both Diaby and Wilshere are both excellent at dragging the ball up the pitch from box to box and with Jack injured it was quite clear that Diaby was given alot more game time than would probably have been recommended. That Diaby ended up back on the physio's table was not very surprising.

Pictures by Ronnie Macdonald

Wenger has never seemed shy at throwing players back into the thick of things upon returning from injury, just look at Wilshere this season who has played almost every game he could after being out of action for over a year. It is difficult to tell whether this is some kind of strategy, along the lines of reinstating a strict routine in an effort to trump muscle frailties, or just a result of having such a limited squad. I can't help but think it's the latter.

The difference this time around for Diaby is that with Jack playing well and there being a fully fit midfield (let alone team), Wenger can surely ease him back into the team slowly like I'm sure he wanted to a few months ago. If things progress well we may even be able to have some squad rotation. Oh God, squad rotation... what a treat that would be. I'm not talking about that rotation where you can swap the player you really want to be playing for somone who will do while the other gets a rest. I'm talking about that sweet sweet squad rotation that comes as a result of having difficulty in choosing what the actual best eleven is.

Here's hoping that everything goes well for his return because there is no doubt his creamy presence would have us floating back up the table. I think I subconsciously rate our players by how calm they make me feel when they are on the ball... and when Diaby is on the ball life is good.

Till tomorrow, goonies.

The Goonatic