Arsenal's Squad Strength Looking Good As Games Pile Up

The weekend is over and it's a weekend that went very well from an Arsenal perspective. We continued our unbeaten start to the season as we beat Bolton 4-1 to get our third win in our first four games. The only game we have failed to win so far was the opening day draw at Anfield and it leaves us sitting pretty in second place in the league as all the other challengers besides Chelsea continue to drop points. Chelsea may have a 100% record so far but when you look at the league table you can see that the four teams that they have beaten so far all sit proudly in the bottom five with only Everton separating them.

The pace of our season should really pick up now with midweek games coming thick and fast as well as our weekend games in the league. We have six games in 19 days before the next international break comes along to destroy any momentum we may have built up and the biggest of those games is the last one as we visit Chelsea on Sunday October 1st. Before that we have a league trip to Sunderland next Saturday evening with West Brom visiting us the Saturday after that at the regular kick off time of 3pm. Those league games are dissected by a Carling Cup trip to The Spuds and a Champions league visit to Belgrade to play Partizan.

It's going to be a very busy time for the team and it's also going to be a testing time for our squad strength. One of the most important players for us at the moment is now Chamakh as he is the only player we have available who can play the role of the pivotal striker in my opinion. I was very impressed with him on Saturday as he led the line very well, held up the ball when needed and laid it off to other players expertly. When the need arose he was able to lay the ball off to other players with his first touch and get us breaking very quickly like he did in the incident where Cahill got sent off. 

If Chamakh doesn't play the next option would seem to be Vela and while is a very skillful player I think he is completely different to Chamakh. I was glad to see him come on in Saturday's game and he took his goal very well. It was obviously a bit of a surprise to everybody that he didn't chip the keeper when he was played in by Cesc but he showed both Arshavin and Chamakh, who had missed similar opportunities earlier, exactly what to do. 

I have no doubt that the boss will play what he sees as his strongest possible side against Braga and we should see the return of Sagna and Clichy in the full back positions. If Vermaelen is fit I'm sure we will see him play too but after the knock he took on Saturday I doubt if Diaby will be available. It means that either Wilshere or Nasri will be our third midfielder and with Nasri just back from injury I reckon Wilshere will get the nod but we will see Nasri play at some stage too. 

Rosicky played very well again on Saturday and he has to retain his place in the team. I know he doesn't give us an awful lot of width on the right but he has performed so well in all the games he has played so far that he has to be kept in the side in my opinion. Despite missing an awful lot of chances on Saturday I was impressed with Arshavin as he kept trying no matter how often he missed. If he continues to play like that the goals will surely flow at some stage and two goals in four games isn't a bad return so far anyway.

The final fixture of the weekend takes place tonight when Stoke play Aston Villa and it means that I should be able to do a Fantasy football review in tomorrow's blog. My team all played on Saturday so I won't have any real interest in tonight's game but as it stands I've made up a few places as I continue my comeback after a very poor start. 

There isn't too much else to report today really unless I was to talk about Bolton's manager claiming that we got preferential treatment from the referee on Saturday or the fact that Jay Z might be joining our board. If Coyle thinks we got preferential treatment he should look at the fact that both Davies and Robinson stayed on the pitch despite the fact that any reasonable referee should have sent them off. As for Jay Z I really can't see what difference it makes to us fans but if he brings Beyonce along to some games that has to be a good thing. That's the lot for today.

See You Tomorrow.