News Roundup: Clichy & Silvestre Fit

Hey there. Just three main news points I want to cover today, and the first is the one from the title. According to Arsenal.com, it appears as though Clichy's shin will have hopefully have healed enough to play. Here's what Arsene Wenger said today:

“I am really pleased that Gael is available. He had a training session today for the first time and he should develop well in the next 48 hours.”

Sounds promising enough. Le Boss has also revealed that Silvestre will be fit for Saturday as well as Van Persie and Walcott, who picked up small knocks. However, Alex Song took a real beating to the hip on Tuesday and may not be fit for Hull this weekend; it all rests on a fitness test later today. So with Clichy a minor doubt, we may see Silvestre's debut in an Arsenal shirt Saturday.

In the second piece of news is that "Fab 4" Cesc Fabregas has been talking about both Jack Wilshere and Tuesday's match. Here's what he had to say:

"I do not think Jack needs any advice because his family are taking care of him and his head is in the right place," said Fabregas of Wilshere's mental toughness (a phrase invented by Arsene Wenger of course).
"If it went the other way and you could see things were not going right, then maybe you could say something to him. But we are not worried about Jack because he has got the qualities and the head to do it."
About Tuesday's match, he said:
"It was sensational. Everyone played their part and were fantastic. There were 56,000 fans at the stadium and they were really entertained.
"It does not surprise me or the rest of the team because we play with them in training every day and we know what they can do. Of course you are excited to see them play together in a real game, but you are not surprised by their quality.
"I hope this can turn out to be the greatest generation. There is definitely the potential in this side to do that because we are so young, even the players already playing in the first team - Denilson, (Alex] Song, I am only 21, Gael Clichy looks 30 and he is only 24. We all hope we can all keep progressing. With this manager, you know if you play well you will be in the team, so it is up to us to do it."

Your right, Cesc, this very well could be the greatest generation. Just look at our potential strike force (see yesterday's post) to see an example of all the potential this side has.

Finally, Arsene Wenger has talked about something that I have been noticing but trying to keep to myself for fear of jinxing our current form. He said of the defense,

“We have defended very well. It has not been noticed yet but we’ve only conceded those two goals from two corners. In open play we are quite solid. That, for me, is a good response and a good explanation for the team attitude in the squad.
“What makes me happy at the moment is that we have a good combination of defensive balance and offensive efficiency,” said the Frenchman. “Sometimes when you work on defending better you lose a number of goals. But at the moment we are combining the two and it means when everyone puts the effort in we still can be very dangerous going forward.”

I have noticed this as well and if you look at the record this season, of the three goals in all competition, two were (as Wenger said) from corners, and the other was a penalty. So we have not yet conceded a goal in open play. I hope this trend continues.

Last season we conceded 31 goals, the largest amount of anyone in the big four. Arsene said numerous times that this was one of the main reasons for our inability to win the title last season, a point which I don't think any of us gooners will disagree with. However so far this season we have been excellent. Now before we get carried away it's important to remember that we haven't been handed any major challenges yet this season save perhaps Dynamo Kyiv (for whatever reason). So it's too early to tell if this good defending will become a habit this season, but if it does, I'm quite confident that we will walk away with the title come May. Defense wins championships, and when you combine it with a deadly offense such as we have, you are almost guaranteed to win trophies.

Here's hoping that our defensive form continues and we are able to walk away with the title,

Fab 4