Another chance for Aliadiere and Baptista
78 comments March 2nd, 2007
After Wednesday night’s defeat against Blackburn, it was Arsenal’s front two of Julio Baptista and Jeremie Aliadiere who came in for the most criticism. With Robin van Persie, Thierry Henry, and Emmanuel Adebayor all still out, the oft-maligned pairing will be given another chance against Reading.
You know by now that I think Baptista deserves our patience, as I feel he can deliver in the long-term. However, it goes without saying that both players are still playing for their Arsenal futures. If they can overcome that pressure and find the net tomorrow, they’ll do themselves no harm whatsoever.
They’ll be joined in the side by a hopefully rejuvenated Cesc Fabregas, and Johan Djourou is fit again after missing Wednesday’s game with an ankle problem. The list of absentees is still long though, with Adebayor, Eboue, Toure (all suspended), Henry (foot), Rosicky (groin), Diaby (ankle), Justin Hoyte (hamstring), Mathieu Flamini (foot) and Robin van Persie (foot) all out.  It’s quite possible that the likes of Henry and Rosicky will not return in time for next week’s crunch game with PSV.
So Eboue’s ban has been unsurprisingly upheld, with Manu Adebayor’s case to be reviewed on Tuesday. Futhermore, in spite of Frank Lampard’s admission that he wasn’t punched by Ade, Arsene could be in the dock for his comments about the linesman.
I admire the club for fighting this one to the bitter end, but they will never ever win. It seems the FA are determined to come down on us and us alone, and we might aswell try and get out of it with the shortest bans possible.  As it is, we’ll probably lose Wenger for a couple of games, and Ade for another one or two on top of three he already has.
Listen to the arseblog arsecast for an interesting chat with Amy Lawrence.  Till tomorrow.
