It's time to go Gallas + Porto Preview

We face Porto tonight at the Emirates and its also a chance to put to rest any demons we may have been carrying around since Saturdays brilliant encounter with Hull. It will by no means be a walk in the park as they are a tough nut to crack and it is going to be a real test of character for
us.

Anyhow, we'll start with the team news first and the highlight of which is that Samir Nasri is back into squad and will be vying for a start. The rest of the squad remains unchanged although Le Boss has intimated that the squad will be rotated. Whilst many of us would be led to believe that this is out of punishment for the outstanding displays on Saturday le boss made it very clear that it was not the issue. He said:

"Punishment? No, you know sometimes you make changes because you consider the other team, you consider the balance of your team, sometimes because one player is not at his best. If a player or two do not play tomorrow it is not a punishment, it is just because of a rotation in the side. You cannot play every single game with the same 11 players."

Le boss has made it crystal clear why the rotation is being taken into effect but I personally believe that he need not hide behind this & just drop those that deserve it however fragile their unwarranted ego's may be. In any case, some big decisions need to be made in terms of who stays and who goes and the biggest decisions need to be made in that of the defence and the striking departments. Arsene needs to ask himself wether he wants to continue playing the highly erratic, lethargic and offside prone Adebayor and RVP or is it high time the hardworking and highly deserving duo of Bendtner or Vela be brought into the mix? If we look at the defence then 95% of the gooners would like to see Gallas dropped in favor of Djourou but as always it will be Kolo Toure who would be the most likely to be dropped.

The game, as I have mentioned earlier is not going to be a walk in the park and tonight is an game we must absolutely win otherwise we'd find qualification into the group stages a little too daunting.

Moving on, William Gallas has pointed out his ambitions for the season ahead whilst speaking to the official website after the Hull defeat and had this to say:

"We have to try to stay in the fourth position. It's very difficult to accept."

This is very ambitious indeed, finish 4th without any trophy is exactly what is required. I have never heard of a more ambitious captain and people like him have certainly put to rest former captains like Patrick Vieira and Tony Adams to shame.

I seriously feel that Arsene needs to get rid of Gallas asap. The centre of defence is becoming a major problem and even so early into the season we have conceded too many goals off set pieces and defensive errors for comfort.

We really miss a strong presence at the back, like Tony Adams or Sol Campbell and in Gallas or Toure, we don't always have that. Why doesn't Arsene Wenger see this? When it comes to Gallas to being out-muscled in the box from set pieces, it's happening far too regularly. If you look at the other top teams in the Premier League, namely Liverpool, Manchester United etc one can see got the commanding centre halves who will not allow you any space to score off against, whatever the situation maybe.

Arsene Wenger after the Hull defeat even came out and said:

"I believe that we have more a size problem than quality in our defending problem. Our centre backs are not very tall. I don't know what we can do. It's not only centre backs who defend. As a team we are a bit short."

I find this statement, "I don't know what we can do" a little hypocritical of Arsene. This isn't something that happened 5 minutes before the Hull game but has been eminently apparent for a long time now. We've had Gallas and Toure our first choice centre backs for quite some time and something could have so easily been done in the summer about this obvious lack of size.

The problem is that William Gallas cannot be dropped. Why you ask? Well its largely due to the fact that Arsene Wenger has made him club captain and not only stuck with him but also made the promise of playing regular games at centre back. What a magnanimous mistake this now looks in retrospect.

However, we must concentrate on the task that lies ahead and hope that Mr. Gallas can keep his act together and not concede any stupid goals as usual.

Here's hoping for all 3 points.

Come on you Gunneerrrssssssssss!!!!