We’re off to Udinese, but who’s actually going? Is Hazard finally ours?

Righto then, we’ve got a match against Udinese on Wednesday evening. As we all know, it’s a vitally important match, much more so than our match against United this weekend. In fact, it’s unbelievably more important for so many reasons. We need to qualify if we want to attract top class players, we need it for the money and we need it because we don’t want to end up in the same kind of competitions as Liverpuddle and scum Spuds. Having said that, there’s a lot of confusion about who could actually play, most of the questions are around the midfield. With luck, the boss should be able to help clear up the situation in his pre-match media duties.

From what I’ve heard this morning, it seems as though Armand Traore and Johan Djourou attended training as per usual. Tomas Rosicky joined in later and Samir Nasri was also taking part. I wonder if that signals the end of a deal to City? You would think that playing a part tomorrow evening would certainly end City’s interest, given that he would be cup-tied if we were to qualify for the group stages. I know that I’ve called a money-grabbing so-and-so this summer, but that’s not much more than populist humour to be honest. In actual fact, I don’t think he’s done much wrong in terms of wanting a bigger pay deal. It’s wrong to then lie about it and say you’re moving for footballing reasons, but if he wears red and white this season, he’ll be getting my support. Although he was named in our Champions League squad, Ryo Miyaichi is set to travel with the Reserves to Wigan this afternoon in the hope of gaining that a bit of match fitness. One player who could be out until the international break is Jack Wilshere who reportedly suffered a set-back and won’t be risked by the club.

The squad news doesn’t end with the players though. As we all know, Arsene Wenger has been given an extra two match ban for breaching rules which he was told he was allowed to by a UEFA official during an initial one match ban which came about because he protested that one of his players was sent off for taking a shot one second after the whistle had gone in a big match in a stadium holding over 90,000 people, an incident that took place six months ago. Well, seems fair enough doesn’t it? Arseblog News have done an article that simplifies the situation pretty well. It seems like it was just a mis-understanding on the part of a UEFA official. As I said yesterday, the club are looking to appeal the ban, but it remains unclear as to whether Arsene Wenger will be on the touch-line for Wednesday’s match or not.

Onto other news then, Lukasz Fabianski has been talking about the departure of Cesc Fabregas, stating that the likes of Wilshere, Ramsey and Rosicky make sure they step it up so that there’s no lack of creativity following Cesc’s departure. He spoke about that as well as his own situation and more about the Be sure to view that interview and the others available. As well as that, we’ve signed someone! A midfielder!!! We’re linked with another one as well. According to the Beeb, we’re going in with £26m for Eden Hazard. Anyone heard of this guy?

One other thing, Joss Bennett from Arsenal report has been doing a bit of writing for the Ashburton Grove blog and this week he’s written about Bacary Sagna’s performance at left-back against Liddlepool. It’s worth a read if tactics and formations and statistics and all that kind of stuff interests you.

That’s it for today then, be sure to follow me @SavageGooner if you don’t already tweeps! Also, be sure to let me know whether you think £26m for Hazard is enough, or will Lille hold out for £30m? Have we left it too late? Who else should we sign?

Enjoy the rest of your day tweeps, preview will hopefully be up tomorrow.

Victoria Concordia Crescit – Victory Comes Through Harmony