Arsenal's Injury Problems Mount Ahead of Trip To Chelsea

We were treated to the news yesterday that not only would Cesc Fabrega and Manuel Almunia not be fit to make the short trip to Chelsea on Sunday but that they had also been joined by Kieran Gibbs who we are told will be out for a few weeks with a thigh strain.

When you add in the already injured Robin Van Persie, Niklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Thomas Vermaelen, and Emmanuel Frimpong it makes depressing reading. Abu Diaby is in the squad for Sunday, but the last I heard of him the boss said is at about 80 percent fitness and he will not start either I'm sure.

How has this situation developed yet again where we are missing ten players through injury and sitting proudly on top of the injuries league table on physioroom.com. I don't have a clue what's causing our players to drop like flies but it would appear that the club are flummoxed by it too as no solution seems to have been offered or followed.

The heart has been torn out of our team as our most influential players in defence, midfield and attack are all absent and projected return dates are merely fantastical at this stage as we know that they will more than likely be wildly wrong (with the exception of Samir Nasri).

The old adage about the spine of the team being it's strength is out the window as our spine will be completely ripped out for the trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

The most likely candidates for our captian after Cesc are RVP and Vermaelen but both of them are missing as well and it leaves us with a distinct lack of leadership on the pitch at times. Whose job is it to tell Alex Song that he has been neglecting his defensive duties in recent games and make him do that job on Sunday.

I'm sure the boss will tell him before the game but any player stupid enough to have that hairstyle needs a guiding hand on the pitch at times and I don't know who will play that role on Sunday. Almunia has filled in as captain many times but he is far from an inspirational figure and it would seem that Rosicky will more than likely be the man given the armband.

These are all reasons why we could have a very hard time of it in Sunday's game but we also have to remember that we still have Nasri and Jack Wilshere to play in midfield and Maroaune Chamakh, Andrei Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky up front.

Arshavin has being getting a very hard time recently from Arsenal fans for his lack of effort at times but for a player playing in a wide role he has five goals and five assists in eight starts and one substitute appearance and those are pretty good statistics. I think I'm going to do my best to lay off him because he is the type of player who looks disinterested at times but he still comes up with the goods on a very regular basis.

I don't think that Chelsea have any players with the creative ability of both Nasri and Wilshere and with Song hopefully sticking to his task and doing the donkey work I think that they will give Chelsea's midfield and defence a hard time.

I would love to see somebody running at John Terry with the ball and see how he reacts to it as I think the lack of Ricardo Carvalho in the team has weakened their defence and Terry is definitely past his best now.

I'll preview the game in full tomorrow but I'm sure you can see where I'm going with what I've said already. Don't forget to make any changes that are needed in your fantasy teams before the early morning deadline today. I posted my predictions for today's games in my blog last night and you can read them here. That's the lot for today.

See You Tomorrow.