In short, it’s been a time where I’ve been swamped by work and other commitments to leave me completely unable to find the time or summon up the energy to blog. It’s hard enough getting up at absurd hours to watch Arsenal (and I haven’t missed a single match), but to then find the time to write about it is a skill I have to give Andy from ArsenalFCBlog full credit for – it ain’t easy.

But that’s just excuse making. Those with any backbone would ask what am I going to do about it? In short, Third-Gen will, for the umpteenth time, have to reinvent itself and provide something shorter, sweeter, and more to the point than it has before.

I seriously, seriously love The Arsenal, as much as the next Gooner. I would hope this blog’s inactivity wouldn’t cast that in doubt – there’re far more fans who watch, rather than write, afterall.

So what changes can you expect? Simply put, the blog seems better designed for regular posting, but not frequent posting. Three times a week, rather than once a day.

I very much feel that nothing must be changed with regards to Third-Gen’s match reports, as to me the effort put into them was obvious enough, and many readers shared their appreciation.

Guest blogs will continue to fill the void, and articles inbetween match days will be more succinct opinion on concerns surrounding Arsenal.

Goals and assists will remain on the page (and will be updated soon), as will the Hype Metre. But there will be a simplification of other odds and sods that will streamline the clutter (or the ‘lived-in look’, as some have called it) and make my job a little bit easier.

A huge apology for my absence. What is more than handy compensation is that this season, for Arsenal, has been anything but boring. And you can expect an article tomorrow on the story of 2010, from my biographical perspective.

Finally, many thanks to the likes of SKAGooner, Jamie Sanderson and Martin Cafferty who have regularly checked up on where the hell I am and for just being champions in general.

Now it’s my turn to win back your favour.

PS: Nasri rules.

If you were realistic before going into this game, you knew that there was pretty much only one likely result yesterday, and it wasn’t in favour of Arsenal.

Arsenal succumed to a physically imposing Stoke City who sensed a chance for an ‘upset’ and duly took it. Arsenal did not cover themselves in glory at all – all three of their goals, from the highlights I’ve seen, looked defendable – but with an average age of 2 years and 9 months spread across the squad, you get what you pay for.

I know there will be some mightily pissed at this result, seeing the cup as a definite target the club could win, and certainly an easier one than the Premiership or Champions League.

But Wenger simply could never win this argument. And given what we have ahead of us, I think, he did the right thing. He sent in players he genuinely believes in, but they just could not deliver the goods.

We can go on about who’s not good enough to wear the shirt – Vela, I’m looking at you – but it’s worth considering that Liverpool and Manchester United went out to rubbish sides with their first choice line-ups.

Arseblogger makes the point that it’s down to the side to put this result well behind them in time for our trip to Villa Park. A repeat of the hangover after our 4-0 pasting at Old Trafford in 2008 will not do at all.

Discussions must remain solely on that game. With our league form, we can win it. Perhaps, in a bizzare way, it’s more winnable than the FA Cup, given how many easy fixtures the bankrolled likes of Chelea and Man City are handed.

We have a mountain to climb, and the FA Cup is a distraction now put aside for this season.

One day we will have a squad capable of taking on multiple campaigns, where the FA Cup can be given its proper dues.

But when running on tight resources, you prioritise. It’s a new, harsh reality of modern football.

Thoughts on the upcoming fixtures, and perenial underperformers Vela and Theo Walcott, tomorrow.

But feel free to leave your opinions in the comments.

Given our well-documented Satan’s Run of Fixtures coming up, we all know the need to rotate the side going into our away match against Stoke.

No-one, of course, rotates a side quite like Arsenal do. We should be seeing something very close to a Carling Cup side tonight, with many youngsters making the starting line-up, as well as the return of a prodigal old head.

Sol Campbell, fitness permitting, should make his ’second debut’ for Arsenal after leaving the club in controversial circumstances three years ago. He returns with something to prove and also something to be thankful for – and hopefully we see a rejuvenated, if somewhat wider, Campbell today.

We’ll need him and Silvestre up for this one, as Stoke will come with their physical approach and while our tid-bit first teamers have improved no end in giving a bit back to the thugs of the game, our younger, even tid-bittier players have a lot to learn in that department.

Big boys like Jay Emmanuel-Thomas will have to impose themselves, but ultimately they will only have a hope of winning a tough fixture by playing the game they know best.

Stoke are favourites on their own ground, and by all rights not many will seriously expect us to come away with something here. But talk of throwing the game is simply not fair to the manager, who is caught in a no-win situation of priotising the league over a cup that is there to win.

Despite that, it would suit Arsenal’s fixture list to have a result in this match, be it a win or loss for Arsenal, rather than a draw that would result in a replayed fixture. Even if that is at the Emirates, the added match would stretch this squad towards a tipping point, injury-wise. We’ll have to see what happens.

If it’s not obvious already, I expect a core of experience at the back flanked by Traore and Coquelin, with Fabianski deputising between the sticks. It’s a good opportunity for the Pole to put more pressure on Almunia – Lukasz has put in some confident performances when called upon and looks a different player since his famous blunders of last season.

I’m predicting a mobile midfield fowarded by a pacey front line – on paper, we pose a quick and raw threat, but our inexperience could cost us.

Annoyingly, I won’t be able to watch the game after ITV so kindly re-arranged the fixtures for television viewership. How ironic. An early-morning start at work means I cannot endure limiting my sleep to less than 2 hours for the Arsenal, which, poetically, means a wracked-with-nerves, tossing-and-turning effort for shut-eye. So half an hour more than the alternative.

Nevertheless, I trust the away support will give of their best as always and, with just that tiny bit of luck, Arsenal could still walk away from this match with progression in the cup secured. All one can do is support the side and bank on our side’s strengths.

More tomorrow – let’s just hope it’s not a draw!

You can follow TheSKAGooner on his twitter feed, @TheSKAGooner, as well as catch his comments on a number of Arsenal blogs.

In the meantime, why not subscribe to the following Third-Gen syndications:

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If you’ll kindly indulge me for a moment, I’d like to mention that the Kansas State men’s basketball team defeated the University of Texas basketball team last night 71-62. Big deal, right? Read on, fellow Gooners…

I graduated from Kansas State quite a while ago. I’m an equally fervent supporter of KState athletics as I am a diehard Gooner. Kansas State was ranked 10th in the nation going into last nights game. Texas was the number 1 ranked team in the country – and we beat them soundly.

It was an ugly game. Physical. A lot of ‘hack and slash’. One local reporter went so far as to say the game had “all the finesse of a tractor pull.” With Kansas being a very agricultural state here in the US, the analogy was appropriate.

But in that ugly game was a sense of beauty for a very young team in Kansas State coming against very large odds to beat the best team in the country. It was, as we like to call things here, a ‘lunch pail’ win. Not pretty, not flashy, but tough, gritty and full of heart.

If this sounds any bit familiar it’s because this season Arsenal are finally learning how to win the lunch pail games -and oh, what a beautiful thing that is.

In American football we often have commentators refer to a specific type of player as a “lunch pail guy.” He’s tough, he might not be the most athletic guy on the field, but he performs. He does the dirty work and his efforts are always critical to the team winning.

Arsenal play arguably the most beautiful football on the planet and certainly the most beautiful in the Premiership. We have Captain Fabulous, we have Eduardo, we have Arshavin, van Persie and Theo.

We have such a wealth of attacking options, when healthy, that it’s almost unfair.

Witness the pounding we put on Everton to open the season, the 3-0 drubbing we handed to the Sp*ds, the 6-2 embarrassment we shoved down the throats of Blackburn – when the engine is going, it’s beyond anything the rest of the football world can match.

But wither Theo? Wither van Persie? Bendtner, Rosicky and Cesc? Where are the players so integral to those monster scores and the 4-3-3 formation that had opened up our offense earlier this season? We’re still running that formation.

We’re still getting the goals, to the tune of leading the league in scoring and potentially on pace to break the century mark. How is this possible with so many pieces missing?

Something truly amazing is happening at The Arsenal this season and it should be very scary to the rest of the Premiership and opponents in the Champions League: Arsenal have become a lunch pail team.

None of our attackers – from Arshavin, Eduardo, Rosicky or Nasri – are playing their natural role. Yet the goals keep coming. When Almunia hoofs it the length of the pitch, Shava gets clattered endlessly up front. He never wins possession on those – but he steps in and does the dirty work. Eduardo has played out wide, which is fine when van Persie or Bendtner are in the middle to provide a target or draw attention from the defenders, allowing Eduardo to move freely into the box.

The full value of these offensive geniuses is not realized but neither Eduardo nor Arshavin have voiced a single complaint. Neither has made comments either publicly or whispered to a journo that they’re unhappy. There’s work to be done – lunch pail work that will yield no high praise from pundits and seemingly yields little praise from many an Arsenal supporter. It’s work the team needs, and it needs it from Eduardo and Arshavin, especially during the current injury hash.

Perhaps we don’t score in lots of 6 per match presently, but on the goals come nevertheless. But WHY do they come?

The 4-3-3 formation, with van Persie up front, Shava and Eduardo or Bendtner on the wing and a midfield of Cesc, Denilson and Song is perhaps the most dangerous lineup in England, perhaps Europe. But we’re fielding a patchwork formation, held together by athletic tape and Arsene Wenger’s prayers. But while our optimum lineup sees free-flowing football, the current line-up requires lunch pail work. It requires that the TEAM put in the effort, no matter where they are on the pitch or what position they’re asked to line up in.

It requires Arshavin to forgo goals and flashy assists in trade for getting battered about the pitch. It requires Cesc to grow into a goal scorer. It requires Diaby, Denilson, Craig Eastmond or whoever we can find, to fill in for Song. It requires Eduardo to take on wing duties that draw the full attention of defenders, instead of having a target man in the box to draw them off.

It requires lunch pail football.

Arsene Wenger, when interviewed for his 60th birthday, talked about being a manager and the difference between winning and losing. Winning, he said, was easy. It’s the easiest thing for a manager. Losing is harder. Playing free-flowing football, scoring 6 goals in a match is easy when you have all, or most of your optimum lineup. Winning 2-0 away to Bolton, when the team has to reach down, play a different brand of football and find goals from difficult circumstances, is hard.

Lunch pail football is hard. It’s not the norm for Arsenal. But the development to actually play lunch pail football might just be the key – the one aspect of growth for this team – that leads us to ending a 5 year trophy drought.

Three cheers for lunch pail football and the growth of The Arsenal.

Many have noted, including Le Grove and Myles Palmer, that Arsene Wenger missed training (imagine Tom Cruise missing a Scientology awards evening) the day before the Bolton match and conducted an earlier-than-usual press conference.

It coincides tastily alongside rumours of Arsenal signing Fulham defender Chris Smalling (their ‘other defender’) and whispers of signing striker extraordinaire, Eden Dzeko.

Smalling himself is a combatitive, pacy defender who could indeed be the replacement for William Gallas. But I hope that contract talks with the ex-captain are progressing, as I reckon he can still be star for the club for at least another year.

The Dzeko ‘whispers’ are nothing more than that, propagated by certain parties who’ve been wrong on these things before. But it’s simply worth mentioning because of the pants-wetting factor were it to be true. It has a snowball’s chance in hell of happening, but sometimes, you just never know.

Second string FA Cup line-up

With our good form in the league increasing the weight of the Premiership’s priority, it’s only natural that the FA Cup game this weekend is going to drop in Wenger’s estimations. This naturally has its critics, but it’s also something we just have to get used to.

Yes, we all love the FA Cup, as do the players, as does the manager. But we simply cannot risk injuring more players in an already-stretched line-up when ‘the big one’ – the league title – seems within our reach for the first time in two years.

Diaby and Sagna are already pencilled out of the fixture, and you can bet that not many of the midfield players will be risked either.

Ramsey and Merida would definitely have been given a chance, but injuries robbed them of that, while Rosicky will be kept on ice for Villa. Theo Walcott could get at least an appearance with the Czech’s absence.

But despite injuries potentially ‘robbing’ us of the Cup, there are a number of reasons to be positive. We will not be throwing lambs to the slaughter like we did at Man City in the League Cup. Arsenal will have plenty of experience to call upon in new signing Sol Campbell who – while not quite the player he was many years ago – won’t just wilt under Stoke’s bombardment. The big man should be well assisted by Mikael Silvestre and Armand Traore.

The deputising Fabianski will take confidence in that backline (with Coquelin possibly at RB), as will a young midfield including the likes of Eastmond, Wilshere and Emmanuel-Thomas.

Eastmond has had sporadic appearances in the first team, so should be versed enough to last at least 70 minutes, while Wilshere needs to spruce himself up as a loan target.

Jay Emmanuel Thomas offers the most interesting option and potentially Arsenal’s secret weapon with his industry, his strength and his utility.

So while you might decry Arsenal ‘throwing’ the cup again, it’s certainly better than ‘throwing’ the league by risking further injuries to first teamers.

And maybe, having said all that, our chances are still a lot better than people realise.

Arsenal showed a thrilling fillip of character to stage a mighty comeback and deny Bolton a shock win at the Emirates.

After going down criminally by two goals in 30 minutes, the Gunners fought back with a vengeance, laying waste to Bolton and ending top of the table.

Poor defending from Diaby, Rosicky and Clichy allowed Gary Cahill in to score on 7 minutes for Bolton, and while I was far from worried at that stage, a penalty on the half-hour was seriously ‘annoying’.

Almunia guessed the right way, but could only palm the ball on its way to goal. Two goals down and we had serious work to do.

I don’t know about you, but some grumpiness aside, I didn’t feel as worried as I should have been. Mark Davies, before he got banjaxed, was making all the right moves behind namesake Kevin, who in turn was giving our central defenders a torrid time.

Yet, just like our game against Standard Liege, you just knew that we could win this (and win it well) if we got that goal on the stroke of half time.

And that’s exactly what Rosicky did, with a magnificent finish at Jaaskelainen’s near post. The Czech was fed through in the centre of the park, darted towards goal and hit an early shot that decieved the keeper, and set the side up for a real assault on Bolton.

The rest of the game was a very open affair, and while it is better to shut a match down and make sure of a close result, something felt right that the way to beat Bolton was to encourage them opening up in attack.

Ironically, it was a nasty foul from Gallas that proved as much. The tackle itself will get all the headlines and Arsenal will be slammed – wrongly – for it, but Gallas caught Mark Davies badly in a 50:50 without any obvious intent to hurt the player.

Comparisons with Eduardo/Birmingham are well wide of the mark, but the referee said play on. Arsenal obliged, finding Fabregas in the box who weaved through players to equalise brilliantly.

Minutes later, Vermaelen popped up and reminded us of why we all love the guy, with a smashing round-house finish to put Arsenal in the lead.

The game carried on in its open manner, until Arshavin sealed the result – and Arsenal’s topping the table – with a neat finish in the box.

Almunia – 6.5: Could have saved the penalty, but getting a hand to one is an ask in itself. While his communication could be better, this wasn’t a bad performance by any means.
Sagna – 7: Caused trouble when Arsenal attacked, and generally didn’t seem too ill-at-ease in defence.
Gallas – 5.5: Yes, his tackle was a bad one, but it was far from intentional and came in a 50:50. Had a few good moments going forward, but throughout the match, came off worse for wear against Kevin Davies.
Vermaelen – 6.5: Extra points for a well-taken goal, but not his best performance defensively. Good to see him on the score sheet again; perhaps his next few goals will come in another purple patch.
Clichy – 6.5: Didn’t get forward as much as the Clichy of old, but battled hard for the ball and chased down lost causes. Should get better with more match practice.
Denilson – 5: Had a stinker of a first half but improved somewhat in the second. Missplaced passes and a bad tackle showed his rustiness.
Diaby – 7.5: An injury rumour is a new worry for Arsenal’s latest shining star. Is truly an essential midfielder for our side at the moment, and really came to the fore when Arsenal needed to rally after some defensive lapses.
Fabregas – 8.5: It’s miraculous someone so young can be so good. Found space regardless of Bolton’s closing-down and conducted affairs with a pernache Zidane would be proud of.
Rosicky – 7.5: Super goal to spark the revival, the Czech busied himself about the place and made a nuisance of himself for much of the match.
Arshavin – 8: Again, quiet at first, but it was telling how much busier he was when Arsenal got their act together. Lethal down the left wing, he tore the rightback to shreds and scored the goal that sent us top. Put in some good defensive work, too.
Eduardo – 6.5: Missed some sitters, but people are forgetting the immense job he’s done in the assist department. If you can’t score ‘em, provide them. He’s done that well enough.
SUBS – Eastmond – 6: Didn’t see too much of the ball in his short time on the pitch.
Vela – 6: Demonstrated his pace late on and beat his man on a bunch of breaks.
Walcott – 6: Only had injury time to put himself about, but even then was dangerous on the break. Berated Arshavin for not feeding him for a juicy chance for a fifth goal.

A game to be enjoyed for so many reasons, but let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first – our defensive effort was less than satisfactory tonight, and not just from the backline. Diaby and Rosicky had a job to do in defence as well as attack, and Denilson, on his return, didn’t cover himself in glory either.

Unrest became apparent in the Emirates crowd when two goals down, but after so many comebacks this season (Liege, West Ham, now Bolton), it’s time to show a bit more belief in this side. The character they demonstrated despite some adversity from their own fans, and the results it produces, could be seriously augmented by more ‘come on, lads!’ and less ‘oh f—ing hell’s.

But more to the real bane of our existence – Bolton, their ogreish side, their sheer hypocrisy and overreactive manager.

No Mr Coyle, Gallas’ tackle was not ‘akin to assault.’ No, it was not intentional, and the fact that commentators would not shut up about it was just infuriating. Remember the way they practically let off a certain Englishman after a certain tackle on a certain Eduardo?

It was a 50:50 tackle. Both went in hard, one came off badly. Reverse the roles, and it would be Bolton praised for ‘getting in the faces of Arsenal’.

All their whinging, their moaning, and even a whiff of tears at the merest hint of physical resistance from “they don’t like it up ‘em” Arsenal, just reeks of weakness that would make toddlers blush. It’s telling that no-one in the media recalls some Bolton thug trampling on Cesc’s neck with his knee not four days ago.

Despite all that, we simply cannot win in this argument, so that’s about as much as one can try. Who cares. “Everybody hates us, and we don’t effing care.”

Anyways, this was a performance befitting a team top of the table. It’s perhaps too much to get carried away by that when we’re still months away from May, but it is a psychological boost for this young side with so much to prove.

The real test now is Satan’s Upcoming Attractions, aka, Villa away, United at home, Chelsea away, Liverpool at home. Come through that, and boys will seem as men.

But first, there’s the matter of our repeat fixture with Bolton after a tetchy but character-filled 2-0 at the Reebok. After their hair-pulling antics, I can only ask for the same scoreline as a bare minimum, out of pure, immature spite towards the orclings.

2-0 will be enough to send Arsenal top of the league on goal difference and that should be an excellent boon going in to our fixtures from hell at the end of the month.

The squad, as always, looks thin on the ground, but we should see Denilson and Clichy come return to the squad in place of Eastmond and Traore, while Theo Walcott should make the bench.

The young English winger cannot be rushed back into action and must be used sparingly until fully ready to go. We might get distracted by the big games on the horizon but there are the ‘easy fixtures’ to finish off too, and Walcott could be a new and effective weapon against the Wigans, Fulhams and Burnleys of the world, which is important too.

The backline has an historic look to it while a midfield three of Diaby, Fabregas and Denilson should be enough to dominate the Trotters. As a result, Rosicky will have  a chance to play a more advanced role alongside Arshavin and Eduardo.

As the headline suggests, to win this game, Arsenal have to be a foxy, ferocious Amazon – spear throwing, growling, one-breasted forces of nature, all the while looking fantastic while doing so.

They must be beguiling – luring the opposition into it’s realm of faux-dominance, before countering with rip-snorting breaks, pissing off the patriarchal Lancashire folks with their delusions of superiority.

And like all dominant vixens, Arsenal must finish on top. In all forms of the word.

Apologies for the break – I don’t enjoy leaving the blog on the lurch, but family commitments kept me away. Match report tomorrow, and following close behind, another guest post by TheSKAGooner.

To keep you tickled, though, check out ADifferentLeague who rate Third-Gen as the fourth best Arsenal blog around. It’s nice to know the work is appreciated – time to get that ‘regular’ rating up, though!

Here’s to a table-topping performance. Onward!

But first, to a little transfer speculation – also, if you haven’t read it already, there was some serious news in Angola involving Emmanuel Adebayor. Read the reaction to it here.

We’ve been linked rather spuriously to Sol Campbell after the big man has spent the last eon training with us after walking out on Notts County earlier in the season.

Wenger has been characteristically coy about the prospect of signing him, which I hope is a giveaway that he won’t be signing a defender who, great though he once was, has lost more than a few yards of pace since leaving Portsmouth.

Campbell’s main redeeming feature is his awesome prowess in the aerial battle. But signing a defender for this reason alone ignores the fact that Gallas and Vermaelen have been coping very well in this field and have put to bed a traditional weakness of ours. Sure, we need depth desperately in defence, but I really cannot fathom Campbell as the answer.

I said Wenger’s coy response was hopefully a giveaway into his not signing Sol. Given the man is available on a free, he’s free to choose from any suitors for his signature, and that includes us. I would warrant that Arsenal are at the front of his preferences, were we actually interested.

Whenever Arsenal had a chance to sign a big player (like Arshavin) whose signature was contested by other clubs, Wenger goes into his shell, plays mind games with the press, and no-one knows which way he’s going with it.

With Campbell, there’s no need for that. Were we to put in an offer for him, I cannot fail to see him choosing someone over us. Except maybe Spurs if his sole aim was to beat the American Samoan record for own goals scored in a match. I think it was 34? (Correction: Madagascan, and it was 149).

I would hope that we are in for better, younger, more athletic defenders than Sol. Like Vieira, his best days are long gone. His memory should remain as an awesome defender who – a walkout against West Ham aside – gave some extraordinary service to the club that will not be matched again.

To the Everton game, and I hope you’re all lighting your shrines, praying to your deities and avoiding the cracks in the pavement to ensure we actually have a game on today.

The team is as you were for the mid-week game that never was, only with Nasri on the right flank in Rosicky’s place. Cold weather makes for nervy hamstrings, and as long as Nasri is fit and in form (which he is), he should start.

Everyone else is as you were and on paper, this is a team that should see an Everton side as depleted by injury as we are. You never know in football, but there you have it.

Not too in-depth an analysis, obviously, but my mind is so numb from a lack of football that I just want to enjoy a home game without too much intellectual rigour. This might call for a beer or two but, because I’m travelling in the morning, it will be dark, lonely sobriety for me.

It does seem like ages since we last played a game. Stupid Europe and their silly cold weather. Apart from Israel, which I hear is having a heatwave. Where are all the global warming advocates when you need them?

Right. I’m off to pack some suitcases, get a bit of FIFA into my system, plug in the laptop to the telly and get some Red and White action into me. See you in the blog tomorrow!

An armed gang in Angola opened fire last night on the Togo national side’s bus, injuring four personnel and killing the driver, with players huddling under their seats for 20 minutes, avoiding the gunfire.

Premier League chiefs are already making enquiries into players’ safety, and I’m sure Arsenal are making the proper phone calls to make sure Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song are locked up safe.

Among those on the Togo bus was ex-Arsenal forward and fans’ pantomime figure, Emmanuel Adebayor. And already, I’ve seen some quite unsavoury things said on Facebook and Twitter, hinting towards the Adebayor-chant being adapted crudely with the words “shoot him some more.”

Let me be the first to say that if any such chant is even murmured at the Emirates on April 24 relating to this terrible incident, I will be embarrassed to be an Arsenal fan. This is not me jumping on my high horse come April to look cool and aloof – this is me stating my position from the off.

This is a human tragedy, not a sick football joke. Knee slides, touting yourself to ‘bigger’ clubs, shirt burning and all the other football ire pales into insignificance compared to the bigger, nastier parts of life out there.

So please – if the vocal reception as expected for Adebayor is going to be riotous at the Emirates in April – stick to the football. Not the tragedy.

Here’s hoping the Togo team and its players can recover from an horrific incident.

Everton preview to come later. Keep it civil in the meantime.

DISCLAIMER: This is all said assuming the game is not in fact snowed out. A distinct possibility.

This is it. This is that mythical game in hand we’ve had since the second game of the season. That game where we simply assume we have 3 points in the bank over our competitors, debit simply to be accrued at a later date.

Ordinarily, Bolton at home might be a three-point banker, but another banana skin peels out in the form of Owen Coyle of Burnley fame. The ex-Clarets manager did a phenomenal job in that part of England and any club would be lifted by his arrival.

Unfortunately, it had to be pikey little Bolton. Seriously, how miffed would you feel if you were a Burnley fan? Under Coyle, the club were going places, they were playing good stuff, they were just flat-out likeable. Including Coyle.

Now, as manager of Bolton (with previous alumni including Gary Megson and Sam Allardyce), he transforms into a hideous, ghoulish spectre that must be destroyed.

That destruction will hopefully come with a lively, if somewhat stretched, Arsenal side, including Arshavin and Denilson returning to the first team.

The defence again picks itself, with Traore continuing down the left in place of Silvestre who deputised in the FA Cup. I’ve been critical of Traore in the past, but he is gradually becoming a good left back who, while not above Clichy or Gibbs in the pecking order, has developed his qualities since that horror-show against Chelsea.

Rosicky has had two substitute appearances since making his return and, fingers crossed, he should be fit for a starting place against Bolton. A front three of the Czech, Arshavin and Eduardo should have enough mobility to keep Bolton’s defence busy.

Denilson will hopefully be fit enough to take Song’s place in defensive midfield, while Diaby and Ramsey can hopefully continue their great form in the centre of the park.

The players will know how crucially important this fixture is (aren’t they all?) and everyone will want to see a performance befitting the occasion. The manager has huge belief in the club’s title chances, and so do the fans. That better be reflected in the Emirates’ volume.

So I’m asking – no, demanding – we see all the players done the lycra, the underwear-on-top-of-pants, the capes, the clubs and the caveman chest hair, and absolutely wallop Bolton to send a real message.

Something like this, perhaps:

Given we’re playing them in two matches’ time, it would be good to demoralise them as much as possible.

Meanwhile, well-timed contract talks with William Gallas should be taking place ASAP, and reading between the lines, Wenger’s coy words suggest he’s going to break the one-year-renewal rule he has for over-30s. Gallas has made an herculean effort to turn around his Arsenal career this season, and his partnership with Vermaelen has been well publicised.

Wenger was effusive in his praise for the ex-captain:

“For a striker over 32 you can give only a year, but for a defender, we’ll see. I don’t know. William has been amazing the whole season. I have big respect for what he has done. I will meet his agents this month.”

Arsenal must secure him for as long as they can, perhaps to his retirement, so as to impart his incredible street-wise knowledge to the likes of Djourou, Bartley and Nordtveit.

In other news, test results on Nicklas Bendtner’s injuries could determine our January transfer activity, while Carlton Cole pops up as a possible transfer target once more.

Right, I’m off to work, then back home to watch our lycra-hugging caveman-chesthair-sporting gladiators put Bolton to the triceratops horn.

COME ON ARSENAL.