Pre-game: Aston Villa Vs Arsenal

I'm going to take credit for Arsenal's recent impressive form in the league; you might be wondering what I'm talking about but here goes; I've been on a lovely holiday out of the country; and before said holiday Arsenal were just about picking themselves up after the thumping handed down from Chelsea; while on said holiday Arsenal managed to claw themselves right to the top of the league and threw in an FA cup fight back at the hammers for good measure too. Well I'm back now and Arsenal has dropped off the top of the table and has been thrown out of the FA cup by Stoke – I’ll relocate so we can win the league.

So back to serious business; the boys play a game against Villa at Villa park; this marks the beginning of a very tough fixture list for Arsenal - that fixture computer must be really proud - but in a way it gives Arsenal the chance to assert dominance in the league; if Arsenal is top of the table after these games they would be in a very good position to go on and win the league because besides Man city they would have faced all the teams capable of winning the league.

The players available column looks even better for Arsene this time around; Gallas is back, Clichy as well, so is our favourite Belgian Vermealen and Sagna too. Ramsey made some kind of miraculous recovery to play against Stoke - I thought he was out for 3 weeks which is 6 weeks in Arsenal chronology - Bendtner has also returned to training but I doubt he'll be involved in the match - wasn't he meant to be out for 4 weeks in November. The most interesting news is that back from the African Nations cup is Emmanuel Eboue, damn did we miss him; but I'm sure we are very sad with delight to see Cameroon knocked out which means Alex Song should play against Man utd if he doesn't get injured flying back Economy class. Not sure if Diaby is back from injury; I do hope he plays against Villa because he loves to score against them, Nasri is still injured though.

The form of a few players seem to give cause to worry; Theo Walcott, what has happened to the saviour of England in shinny armour; only if he had a decent pre-season like Arsene suggested instead of prancing around for the U-21s' - there's a reason for the mantra Arsene knows you know. It's really good to see Clichy back, that traore at left back, well the less said the better.

Anyone ever heard of the reverse Pires; well that's what Eduardo is experiencing; before Pires got injured his goal scoring was good but his all-round play was astonishing after the injury... well you know the story, the reverse seems to be happening to Eduardo; I just hope he gets a big goal to lift his spirit soon.

Eastmond, now there's a good English midfielder; I hope we see more of this kid soon.

What do you think will happen at Villa? Well I'll go for an edgy 2-1 win; Theo to dominate headlines the next morning but I don't know what for.