Arsenals Pivotal Week Ahead - Make or Break Time for the Gunners

A week can be a very long time in football, and this week could be pivotal to Arsenals season as a whole.

Inside of the next eight days this young Arsenal team will travel nearly three and a half thousand miles in three away fixtures that could determine the direction of their season.

Forget all of the hype surrounding Theo Walcott and his hat-trick in the Croatia game midweek.  Wenger will need to protect him from over exposure and continue his development as a player as he indicated in his press conference on Thursday.

"People will now expect Theo to score four goals on Saturday," said Wenger. "You never get better treatment from opposition players when you are known to be dangerous."

Wenger also knows that squad rotation will be important over the three games.

"You cannot expect players who have played for their national teams to play another three games inside a week" the manager stated. "I will be able to rotate the squad as our players are very interchangeable."

The first game is away to Blackburn Rovers, followed by Dinamo Kyiv away and finally a trip to Bolton next weekend.

Arsene may be cautious with some of his returning internationals at Ewood Park on Saturday.  Carlos Vela will miss the game and Samir Nasri and Mikael Silvestre face late fitness tests and could also be unavailable until midweek. 

Away trips to Blackburn have always been a tricky proposition for Arsenal and I think this will test the side, especially after a lot of players played for their national teams in midweek World Cup Qualifiers.

Blackburn have always been a very resilient side, now rejuvenated under new manager Paul Ince, and could be a tough test for Arsenal to break down.

A lot of pundits are tipping Walcott to start on the bench but I feel if Nasri is unavailable, he may just get a start.  I wouldn't mind seeing either Aaron Ramsey or Jack Wilshere get a run out either, If not at Ewood Park, then against either Kyiv or Bolton.

As for Walcott, he and his manager need to keep wraps on the weight of expectation that will now be dumped on his shoulders both from the media and fans.  Also the extra attention he may receive from oppostion players as they become more aware of his threat.

Another Gunner to watch out for will be Robin van Persie as I feel he is starting to return to some of his best form alongside Emmanuel Adebayor up front.

If Arsenal can start the week with a good win away to Blackburn, it could set the course for a successful week and a foothold for a good season, a poor performance may produce exactly the opposite, and no Gunner wants that.

Personally I think we can win all three and set our season up nicely.

Either way, this week will be pivotal.....