It looks as if Koscielny will still be out of action this weekend. Wilshere has more of a chance but that kick he took to his thigh may see him miss out yet again. I can't really see Wilshere participating against Blackburn bearing in mind we have Bayern Munich mid week. It's more positive on the Vermaelen front he seems to be more likely to take part and should be in the squad. I expect we'll start with something like: SZCZ, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Monreal, Ramsey, Diaby, Rosicky, Alex OC, Gervinho, Giroud.
I'm not going to lie I don't know much about the Blackburn squad. The obvious threats are Jordan Rhodes and David Goodwillie but I'm sure the side contain others. Kazim-Richards I'm sure can still give defences problems and there's no doubt this team will no roll over. That said they're a division below us and I fully expect us to beat them, but the team will have to earn the victory. Should Rosicky start I think we'll have plenty of strength going forward. He drives the team forward and takes players with him. He's a player I really like and when he gets firing, he scores and gets assists.
If Wenger does name a team similar to the one I named up there then it will present some players with chances to impress. Gervinho has just returned from the ACoN and he will have to go out and try to prove that he has got what it takes to compete for a place in this team.
This is a game that I think we should win. But as always with Arsenal we like to make things hard for ourselves and of course these gambles with the team in the past have failed. A win would give us some real momentum going into the Munich game midweek. COYG!
Prediction: Arsenal 3-1 Blackburn
