The Injury To Arsenal's Bakari Sagna Gives Emmanuel Eboue The Chance He Wants.

With the international break causing a complete and utter lack of anything worthwhile to write about, I decided to take a couple of days break from writing in the hope that I would find something to inspire me and help me through to Saturday's return of my beloved Arsenal. I shouldn't have been so stupid as to think that anything vaguely interesting would happen in that time, but I will write about the few bits and pieces that there are.

First of all, there's the injury to Bakary Sagna which caused him to miss the French victory over Romania on Saturday. It would seem that he picked up the injury against Chelsea, but he went off on international duty anyway, probably hoping that it would clear up quickly and he could play. However, as we all know, an injury to an Arsenal player is never straight forward and only gets worse. The latest prognosis is that he will be out for three weeks and Sagna himself said he will take his time before returning.

This means that Emmanuel Eboue is now the designated right back for the games against Birmingham, Shakhtar Donetsk, Man City, Newcastle and West Ham. I've always said that I think his best position is right back and despite being a utility player, I'm sure he must relish the chance to show what he can do for a run of games in that right back position. I suppose there's a chance that another player will play right back in the Carling Cup game against Newcastle just before the end of the month, but that probably depends on exactly how seriously the boss decides to take that game.

I was at the game almost two years ago when Eboue suffered the lowest point of his Arsenal career against Wigan. He came on as a sub in that game and he was absolutely awful before being substituted near the end, as sections of the Arsenal fans booed him. While I did not join in with that booing, I fully understood the frustration of the fans who did, as I have never seen a professional player play so abjectly in all my life. It got to the stage where he even tackled one of his own players and if I had been told he was trying to throw the game, I would have believed it.

Since that day, he has gradually worked his way back into the hearts of the fans with committed performances and by giving his all when he got a chance. He has now become a cult figure among some fans and has achieved a hero like status for his eccentricities. I have to say that I don't see the appeal of it myself, but I am glad that he managed to turn things around and concentrate his mind on playing football again. The supporters club I'm a member of adopted a charter to try to ensure that Arsenal players are treated negatively by the Arsenal fans at Arsenal games and it can be viewed on the supporters club site.

Personally I'm not too sure how good a full back Eboue is, as I think he gets caught out of position too often and he is very fond of ball watching. Against the lesser teams, he certainly offers a lot in terms of his attacking ability from that position but we will get a chance to judge his merits over the next few weeks and we can only hope that he manages to stay fit, unlike just about every other Arsenal player at the moment.

Arsenal's Injury Crisis:

I spoke last week about the amount of players we had injured and I said that we only need to add a centre back and a right back to them to have a full team capable of tackling any team in the Premier league. The injury to Sagna has left that team short of just one player but thankfully it would seem that those injured players are returning to the squad, slowly but surely. The most important player of all is obviously Cesc Fabregas and he will almost certainly play against Birmingham at the Emirates on Saturday.

It's impossible to tell if the amount of football he has played over the last few years is what's causing the injuries that have become so prevalent recently, but the fact that he hasn't had the last three summers off must surely be counting against him. He only turned 23 last May, but he has already played almost 300 games for club and country and it seems to be taking it's toll. I just hope that the injury he has just recovered from is his last one of the season, as our hopes rest so firmly on his shoulders.

The Return Of Club Football:

Thankfully after tonight's games, there will not be another international break for five months as the various qualifiers take a back seat to the real thing for a while. I can't wait to see Arsenal play twice a week for the next five months and to write about my thoughts on those games and everything else associated with the club without having to break off for a fortnight every month for meaningless international games.

Robert Pires:

Finally for today there are loads of photos on the club site of Robert Pires training with the Arsenal squad which are well worth checking out and there's an interview with the great man too.

See you tomorrow.