Wolves preview + Saturday round-up

Morning all, today could be a very interesting day as we refocus our attention on the Premier League. It's Wolves at home later on and it follows an early kick off between Man Utd and Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Arsene says he won't be resting players today but did say he would 'rotate' his squad. The doubts over Denilson and Clichy are put to bed and both of them are in the squad, whether they start or not remains to be seen. As I said yesterday I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Traore, Sylvester, Eduardo, Rosicky and Walcott all start.

The injuries in midfield mean we don't have much room for manoeuvre. Cesc is gone for the season, as is Aaron Ramsey, so unless we see someone like Merida drafted in, which I doubt, it'll be the usual suspects there. Wolves are sitting 5 points above the relegation zone at the moment but they're still not safe. Expect a serious scrap today and I suppose they'll be hoping a combination of tired legs, injured players and half an eye on the Champions League will help them get a result today.

From our point of view we've got to cope with losing Fabregas and Arshavin, not just because they're good players, but because they've scored a lot of of our goals this season. The man from East Lower points out:

It’s one thing going without Djourou, Ramsey, Gallas and Gibbs (8 goals in total this term) but to lose both Arshavin and Fabregas (30 goals) on top of van Persie (8) could well prove to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

It means that almost half of all our goals scored this season have come from players who are now injured (46 from 101), and while we are very capable of scoring goals from all across the field, the losses of Fabregas and Arshavin are big, big blows.

Others have got to take the responsibility now. My choice to replace Cesc in midfield is Samir Nasri and recently he's shown he's got an eye for goal. I don't see him being as clinical as Cesc this season but you never know. Nicklas Bendnter's got the confidence, now is the time for him to back up the words with goals. Rosicky is certainly capable, Theo too and if there's any justice in the world of football, Eduardo will find something in his legs between now and the end of the season and stick a few away.

And with goals perhaps more difficult to come by it's hugely important that we defend well. Despite how well Barcelona played for an hour the other night both their goals were easily preventable, and this goes back to the stats I produced some time back which showed that a large percentage of the goals we conceded this season (in the Premier League) were down to individual errors or just poor defending which is easy to put right. If we're going to find it tougher up top we must get tighter at the back.

Despite the changes today, despite the hard fought game in midweek and the one coming up on Tuesday, I think we should take three points. That's not to underestimate the opposition by any means, Wolves are a handier outfit than you'd think - and also possess a long throw expert like Stoke - but at home and with the crowd behind us I think this should be a home win. 

In a round-up of the other news from Arsene's press conference, he denied that Cesc had gone into the Barcelona game with a broken leg, which is pretty much what I suspected. He confirmed that William Gallas's season was more or less over from a domestic point of view but said he should make the World Cup. Incidentally, how annoying is it to hear that cunt Raymond Domenench label Arsene Wenger 'outrageous and irresponsible'?

As the boss rightly pointed out about Gallas, we pay his wages, he'd been in France doing rehab, he'd trained with the team, and as an experienced player told the manager he was ready to play. What more does Domenech want? And let's not forget the number of times he has called up Arsenal players when not fit, dragged them all over Europe and played them for 90 minutes in meaningless friendlies. He needs to shut his stupid mouth, the astrology loving geebag. He looks like he smells like a tramp's septic anus as well. I hate him.

Cesc uses his column in The Sun to talk about his broken leg, the Barcelona game and hopes we can get to the CL final so he can play again this season. Now that would be awesome. Aaron Ramsey says he's bored off his ring and misses football - which is completely understandable - and speaking of which I got an email the other day from a Norwegian chap who has made a comic strip out of the Amaury Bischoff PI sketch on Arsecast 153, the one from the week of Ramsey's injury.

Check it out here, it's all kinds of awesome, the audio is there too.

Right, here's to three points later on, an injury free day (hahaha) and a vortex to hell opening up on the centre circle in Old Trafford just as the third major brawl of the match breaks out.

Till tomorrow.