Arsene Wenger Charged By FA, Cesc Fabregas Injury and Arsenal vs. Spuds Preview

On my journey home from work yesterday evening I was checking up on all the latest Arsenal news on Twitter and various other sites. Firstly I have to say I was a little annoyed yo read that the boss faces a charge from the FA over his reaction to the fourth official at full time on Saturday. However, soon afterwards I caught sight of a tweet from Cesc which offered us some hope that his current injury won't keep him out for too long.

FA Charge:

Let's deal with the FA charge against our boss first of all and what his options are. If he accepts the charge it means he will have a one game touchline ban and an £8,000 fine to go with it. If he chooses to contest the charge he must do so by Thursday and the case will be heard by a regulatory commission. Personally I think he should accept the charge, pay the fine, serve the ban and get the whole thing out of the way but if he feels he is right there is no way he will back down in my opinion. Various other people have brought up the reaction of David Moyes to the referee at the final whistle in Everton's 3-3 draw with "Manure" or the continued refusal of "Manure's" manager to speak to the BBC after games.

If the boss does accept the charge and the ban I wonder will he be able to serve that ban tonight in the Carling Cup game against the Spuds just like Alex Song is serving his ban for his red card against Sunderland tonight. It might be a good idea for him to do just that and put the whole matter behind him without affecting our league campaign but I don't know if that's a possibility or not.

There has also been talk of his continued criticism of referees every time "Manure" are beaten but we all know that the great "Sir" Alex Ferguson is beyond criticism from the FA and almost all branches of the media. They're all afraid of his reaction and as a result he can do as he pleases most of the time whereas our boss is nothing but helpful to the media and his reward is there for all to see.

Maybe it's time for a bit of a siege mentality to shut the media out except for all necessary communications and build some team spirit by making it us against the world. I can't see any of that happening of course as our boss is far too honourable a man to resort to those sort of tactics.

Cesc Fabregas Injury:

The news from Cesc Fabregas was obviously a lot better as he tweeted

"Good news on my injury. I have some fluid but nothing bad on the muscle. I hope I can be playing in two weeks".

I know we play Chelsea in 10 days time and if Cesc is out for two weeks it means he will probably miss that game but with our injury problems I'm just happy that it isn't something more long term. If he doesn't make that game against Chelsea I hope Arsenal have the guts to stand up to the Spanish FA and refuse to let him play for his country in the next international break.

The official site is running with the story that Cesc will be out for two to three weeks and if that is the case I don't expect him back for that Chelsea game or to play for his country either. They also say that there will be more news later in the week so we can only hope that it's slightly better and he will have a chance of making that game against Chelsea as we will need him for such a big game.

Carling Cup Preview:

On to tonight's game and the possible team for our third round Carling Cup trip to the Spuds. The boss usually plays a mixture of players who didn't start the game on the previous weekend as well as reserves and youth team players and we have done very well with that mixture in the past. Our best performance was the final appearance of 2007 but unfortunately we lost 2-1 to Chelsea that day.

The choice for goalkeeper tonight will be interesting as usually it's the third choice keeper who plays but the boss may want to give Lukasz Fabianski a game instead which would mean Wojciech Szczesny will be on the bench. In defence I think both Johann Djourou and Kirean Gibbs will play and Emmanuel Eboue is another possibility unless he is deployed in midfield. Other possibilities are Gavin Hoyte, Havard Nordtveit, Thomas Cruise,Ignasi Miquel and Cedric Evina and it's very hard to say who the boss will pick. With Thomas Vermaelen probably due back to the first team on Saturday he might also opt to play Sebastien Squillaci or Laurent Koscielny to add a bit of experience to the team.

In midfield I would be surprised if Denilson didn't play and the chances are that Craig Eastmond will get a run out too. Normally I would have said that this was an ideal game for Henri Lansbury to play in but there has been no sign of him at all in the reserves this season and I don't think he is out on loan either. Maybe he's injured and we haven't been told about it but I hope not as I would like to see him play. The other two options in midfield are Conor Henderson and Mark Randall as I doubt he will risk any other first team players with our injury list piling up so quickly in midfield now as well as up front.

The attacking trio should include Carlos Vela and Jay Emmanuel Thomas and the final player will probably be Benik Afobe although Rhys Murphy and Roarie Deacon might also hope to get a look in too. I'm dying to see JET play as he's a player who looks like he has it all and I'm hoping he will impress on such a big stage. Vela has started very well this season with three goals in less than an hour of football and he will be hoping to become our top scorer tonight by scoring again.

The Spuds have said they will rest players too as the Premier league and Champions league are their biggest priorities this season and you can't blame them if they do that. In the current physioroom.com injury league table we are on top with eight players out injured but the Spuds aren't far behind us with seven so it will be interesting to see exactly how many changes they make from last Saturday and what their strength in depth is like.

The boss has asked the Arsenal fans to show respect to William Gallas and I'm sure he will get exactly the reception he deserves from the Arsenal fans as a former player who has joined our local rivals even if they are only rivals in a geographical sense and not in a football sense.

It makes for a very interesting game and I'm sure there will be a great atmosphere at their ground. If the Spuds keep to their word and use their fringe players I think that we will have a very good chance of getting a result but with so many variables in our team it's hard to predict an outcome. As always though I will predict an Arsenal victory and I think it will be 3-2 to us with Vela and JET both getting among the goals as well.

That's the lot but I'll be back tomorrow with a review of the game and hopefully the highlights of another win for the youngsters.

See You Tomorrow.