The One and Only Arsenal Blog (except for the other 150!)
I am really not too sure about the Arsenal transfer rumour to be honest, especially if the talk about the young French midfielder Francis Coquelin being back in training and close to an Arsenal return are true.
But Metro are reporting that Arsene Wenger has not finished strengthening the Gunners in midfield this month and is planning to make the Southampton and Kenya star Victor Wanyama the second Arsenal signing of the January transfer window.
If the latest Arsenal transfer rumours doing the rounds are not just hot air, then it could be that the current Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta could soon be leaving the club and going to join his former team mates Alex Song and the on loan right back Carl Jenkinson, as Metro is reporting that our Premier League rivals West Ham are keen to take the Spaniard during the January transfer window.
There isn’t much left that can be said except that Arsenal had 73% possession to West Broms 27%. Arsenal had 11 shots to West Broms 5, and the Gunners still managed to throw the game, mostly thanks to a nightmare from our poor captain Mikel Arteta, who wasn’t even on the field for long!
Anyway here are the Player Ratings….
Cech 6.5
Can’t really fault him for the goals and he didn’t even have a bad game!
Bellerin 5
Worst game ever for Arsenal. Maybe he hasn’t completely recovered yet…
Koscielny 5.5
Another one not really on the ball. Join the club!
We already knew that Arsene Wenger would be making at least two changes to the Arsenal starting line up from Saturday´s win over Stoke City, as he told us that Aaron Ramsey and Hector Bellerin were staying at home for a rest ahead of the Chelsea clash.
But with less than three days between games, those will not be the only changes made. Mathieu Debuchy will come in for Bellerin and I would be amazed if Kieran Gibbs did not replace Monreal on the other flank as well. As Ramsey has been playing on the right, he could be replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain but I think he will bring in Giroud and push Walcott out wide instead.
When Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta signed an extension, it may have come as a surprise to a section of the supporters. Not that the Spanish midfielder is unpopular with the fans but because this may have signaled Arsene Wenger’s intent on signing a new defensive midfielder.
With the captain extending his stay at the club by another year, it more or less put curtains on the hopes of any new defensive midfielder signings. Well, at least, temporarily till the point Wenger comes out with a concrete bid for any one.
With the young product of the Arsenal academy Francis Coquelin surprising all of us, except Arsene Wenger apparently, by showing that he has got what it takes to star for Arsenal in central midfield and provide the work rate, energy and tough tackling that you need to thrive in the Premier League, we all wondered whether that was it for Arsenal in that position.
And when Wenger also brought in the 17-year old Polish prospect Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw, said to have the potential to become a player like our former captain Patrick Vieira, it seemed that the Gunners had the deep lying central midfield role sewed up for years to come.
With Arsenal having been hit by the bad news about the club captain Mikel Arteta suffering a setback to his recovery from an ankle injury, Arsene Wenger’s need to use the January transfer window to strengthen the Arsenal squad in this area was made even more clear.
It was widely reported that the Frenchman was already looking to sign a player to cover us there, so you would think that the boss was even more determined. But at the same time, we have seen the emergence of Francis Coquelin who was recalled from a loan spell with Championship club Charlton and has been getting better and looking more composed at the heart of Arsenal’s midfield ever since.
The Czech midfielder Thomas Rosicky has only recently started playing for the Arsenal first team this season, but he has already shown his quality with some top performances and an important goal against QPR. Thomas may be 34 years old but Mikel Arteta believes that he is extremely under-rated and has been ever since Mikel first joined the club three and a half seasons ago.
“Within a week of joining Arsenal, watching Tomas train and having him play alongside me, I knew he was one of the most underrated players,” Arteta said in the official website. “It’s hard to find players like Tomas who can be that clever and do things so simply and lively on the pitch.
There have consistently been regular Arsenal transfer rumours linking the Gunners with the Celtic star Virgil Van Dijk. Our interest was first noted when we made a last-minute bid for the Dutchman this summer, but the Scottish giants turned Wenger down as they had no time to find a suitable replacement.
I am sure in the intervening months the Hoops have had more than ample opportunity to source a cheaper alternative, and the Glasgow club are not averse to taking money of Premier League clubs if given the opportunity, so I believe this is the reason these rumours simply won’t go away.
I cannot believe that Arsene Wenger has not decided to recall the French midfielder Francis Coquelin to Arsenal. Instead, the manager has allowed the 23-year old midfielder to stay with the Championship club Charlton for another month.
I know that Coquelin has only made one appearance for the Gunners so far this season, when he filled in at left back in the Capital One Cup defeat to Southampton and I agreed with sending him on loan in the first place. It will give the versatile Frenchman some valuable competitive football and some experience of the rough and tumble of English football, but we might need him.