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After the amazing spell of wins over Liverpool, Man United, Bolton, and Tottenham, it's hard not to feel a bit deflated about the idea of tomorrow's trip to Middlesbrough. But of course, interest is maintained by the fact that it's just the kind
of game where we half expect to slip up.
Emmanuel Adebayor has been passed fit for the trip. There were doubts after he suffered a knock to his knee on in the glorious
semi-final win Wednesday.
Abou Diaby also injured a knee, twisting it in such a way as to create fears of a ligament problem that could
have become long-term. It would have been one hell of a blow
to the young Paddy-a-like just after his superb return from
a 9 month lay-off. But scans have revealed that it's just a minor thing.
Probably enough to keep him out at Boro though, especially given
that we have Cesc Fabregas, Gilberto, Mathieu Flamini and
Denilson all raring to play. Denilson stays in the squad and
Wenger says
that, "He has quickly come out and shown personality. I feel he is one of the candidates for the midfield now".
In defence, Johan Djourou is back in the squad at last, which may
mean a rest for one of Philippe Senderos or Kolo Toure. Emmanuel Eboue is
still out though so it should be Justin Hoyte and Gael Clichy in
the full-back positions.
The injuries to William Gallas, Freddie Ljungberg, Alexander Hleb,
and Julio Baptista are all said to be on the mend (on the official
injury news page), but we presume not
in time for this one. Great news on Gallas in particular, who is back
in training and at last we have some kind of new estimate for his return: "2 weeks, maybe".
Jens Lehmann returns in place of Manuel Almunia, who has been
making a strong case for inclusion ahead of the Germany number 1
in recent games. Up front it'll either be Adebayor alongside Thierry Henry, or
the latter alone in front of a midfield 5. Has Jeremie Aliadiere done enough
to get onto the bench ahead of Theo Walcott? Or even into that 5 man midfield?
Boro have veteran Aussie striker Mark Viduka returning from a
hamstring injury that saw him miss the last 2 games (the freakish
5-1 win at home to Bolton followed by a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth in
midweek). He will
presumably partner Yakuba up front. But his
goalkeeping compatriot Mark Schwarzer is still out with a
back problem. New signing Lee Dong-Gook must continue to wait
for his debut as he's not thought fit enough yet following a
knee injury. Turns out that people call him "Lee", which seems like a misse d
opportunity to me.
Massimo Macaroni has gone back to Italy, from where he's done a
Ravanelli in
slagging off his former employers.
No point moaning about Boro being a rubbish club now, is it boys?
Should have just asked someone before moving there.
Still, rubbish or not. They beat Bolton 5-1. Let's be careful up there.
Rupe adds...
Apologies to any Boro fans offended by the above, I was meaning to have a go at your former Italians rather than a dig at you. As penance I'd like to direct our readers to ComeOnBoro.com who published a superb tongue-in-cheek preview. | 
