Pick of the Week

 Vs 

St. James Park, Newcastle

Arsenal’s trip to St. James Park, Newcastle plagued by injuries, the transfer saga of two of their most inspiring players, and of course the nightmare of last season fixture when they miraculously forfeited a four goal lead! The transfer is most likely to conclude by this weekend with Fabregas heading to Barcelona and Nasri moving to Manchester City.

Wenger’s transfer activities seem far from satisfactory, with the addition of Gervinho and young Chamberlain, the professor is yet to rectify the problem that saw him out of contention for the title race by mid-February. Their bid for defensive recruitment has already been hampered by Everton’s rejection of Jageilka’s bid; consequently they are now targeting Scott Dann. Further, with Clichy’s move to Manchester City, Kieran Gibbs's thigh injury leaves Arsenal vulnerable at left-back.

Wenger, meanwhile, hopes that Robin van Persie and Thomas Vermaelen, who suffered ankle and back injuries respectively in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Benfica on Saturday, will be fit for the season opener at Newcastle United on Saturday. Jack Wilshere, who has an ankle injury, will not play for England and consequently, neither for Newcastle, with Wenger having said last Friday that it was "difficult to set a concrete deadline on his comeback". Walcott is expected to be available for the trip to St James' Park after ankle trouble,

His counterpart, Alan Pardew will definitely miss the finesse and aggressiveness of Nolan, and the aerial threat of Carol that had traumatised Arsenal’s defence. No wonder he wants to stick to Barton giving him an additional chance at club following his Twitter outbursts. Their recent acquisition, Gabriel Obertan becomes  the fifth French-born player to arrive at St James' Park this summer, following Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba, Sylvain Marveaux and Mehdi Abeid. With Ryan Taylor and James Perch injured now, and Enrique’s transfer to Liverpool, Newcastle has its own defensive frailties.

Alan Pardew must set foot with a winning spirit since this could be the weakest Arsenal side he could ever face.

Injury list:

Newcastle United: Ryan Taylor, Ben Arfa, J. Perch, S.Harper, T kadar

Arsenal:  K. Gibbs, Van Perise, Walcott, Wilshere, Vermalen, Diaby, Eastmond.

Probable XI:

Newcastle United: (4-4-2) Krul, Williamson, Coloccini, S.taylor, Simpson, Barton, TIote, Guthrie, Gutierrez, Ameobi, Demba Ba.

Arsenal: (4-3-2-1) Schzeny, Sagna, Koscienly, Vermalen, Traore, Walcott, Ramsey, Song, Wilshere, Arshavin, Van Persie.

“Paul Lake's autobiography, I'm Not Really Here, comes out today and tells the story of one match in 1989 when City could have guaranteed promotion by beating Bournemouth at Maine Road. They were 3-0 up at half-time – party time! – and the manager, Mel Machin, told the players he was bringing in a special friend for the team talk. In came the comedian Eddie Large – shiny silver suit, sleeves rolled up – to dole out individual advice to the players … each time using a different celebrity impersonation. "Deputy Dawg ordered me to keep tight in defence," Lake recalls. "Cliff Richard advised Trevor Morley to shoot on sight, Harold Wilson told Bob Brightwell to keep it simple and Benny from Crossroads told Andy Dibble to stay awake." The game finished 3-3. Typical City, as they used to say. But no more. “ – excerpt from guardian.

I wonder what happened during the halftime team talk in the last year’s fixture...:D.