Gooner Talk

Arsene Wenger’s Young guns face Sheffield United in the Carling Cup this Tuesday, with the youngsters and squad players expected to get a full 90 minutes. That means Nicklas Bendtner and Carlos Vela will most likely partner each other on the night. We saw their frightening partnership in pre-season against Burgenland, Stuttgart and Ajax and they will look to continue that form Tuesday night.

Who ever saw pre-season will know that Bendtner and Vela have a great vision of each others game, with Bendtner dropping off to win headers and playing the ball in behind for the runs that the Mexican makes.

Personally, I think Bendtner can play alongside any striker at Arsenal like he proved he can play with Adebayor on Saturday at Bolton. But I think Bendtner combines the most with Carlos Vela, I feel the two can terrorise defences in the Carling Cup with the ” Big man, Little man ” combination and this partnership could end up winning us the trophy.

Predicted Line-Up:

Fabianski

G.Hoyte – Djourou – Silvestre – Gibbs

Wilshere – Ramsey – Randall – Merida

Bendtner – Vela

So what do you think people, are you looking forward to seeing the two in competitive action for the first time since that pre-season form, or would you prefer a different strikeforce?  Give your views over at Nicklas Bendtner News – the number one blog for all things Bendtner!

Arsenal took on a tough Bolton side at the Reebok this afternoon looking to extend their points in the Premier League table.

Arsene Wenger left Robin van Persie and England ace Theo Walcott on the bench for the trip to the Reebok Stadium.

Nicklas Bendtner was handed a start to partner Emmanuel Adebayor up front and Emmanuel Eboue was restored to the line-up as Wenger made two changes to the side that drew with Dynamo Kiev.

Bolton Starting XI:

Jaaskelainen
Steinsson – Shittu – A O’Brien – Samuel
J O’Brien – Smolarek – Muamba – Nolan – Gardner
Davies

Arsenal Starting XI:

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Eboue – Fabregas – Song – Denilson
Adebayor – Bendtner

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Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboue have been handed starts by Arsene Wenger as the Gunners’ take on Bolton later this evening.

Dutch forward Robin van Persie has been dropped to the bench, while Theo Walcott is also replaced despite putting in a energetic performance against Dynamo Kiev during midweek.

Other than those changes, the team is exactly the same that drew with Kiev on Wednesday.

Confirmed Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Eboue – Fabregas – Song – Denilson
Adebayor – Bendtner

Stay tuned to Gooner Talk for all the post-match news, views and of course match report.

Arsene Wenger’s first ever game in charge of Arsenal was a 2-0 win against Blackburn at Ewood Park; the same scoreline would be welcomed with opened arms if it was to occur tomorrow.

Blackburn have registered one league win in five seasons against the Gunners side, and lost eight of the 10 fixtures. Morten Gamst Pedersen scored in the only victory; 1-0 on 25 February 2006 at Ewood Park.

Match Facts

If Emmanuel Adebayor scored tomorrow, he is a hat-trick shy of 50 goals for Arsenal.

If selected, Ivorian defender Kolo Toure will be making his 200th Premier League appearance – all for the Gunners.

Also if selected, Theo Walcott will be making his 100th club career appearance (Southampton and Arsenal).

Team News:

Arsenal will assess the fitness of midfielder Samir Nasri (knee) ahead of the trip to Blackburn.

England hat-trick hero Theo Walcott could be rested to the bench on Saturday, but recent signing Mikael Silvestre (thigh) remains a doubt.

Striker Carlos Vela looks set to be given more recovery time following a late return from international duty with Mexico, while Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Abou Diaby (thigh), Amaury Bischoff (groin) and striker Eduardo (leg) remain in recovery.

Predicted Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Song – Nasri
Adebayor – van Persie

Match Prediction: Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Arsenal

Leave your views and predictions of tomorrows game in the comments section below.

Arsenal forwards Nicklas Bendtner and Robin van Persie have sustained injuries whilst on International duty for their respective countries.

Danish striker Bendtner has sprained his ankle, and Denmark national team Doctor Soren Kaalund believes it’s too earlier to predict how long the 21-year-old will be out for.

“He has sprained his left ankle, and it affects the outer ligaments. There is nothing broken, but the ankle is closed. Now we have to see how he reacts to the damage the next day time, and therefore the extent of the damage will only become clear to us over the next 24 hours” Kaalund told Sporten.dk

Robin van Persie also sat out Holland’s training session in Noordwijk because of a foot injury.

Holland coach Bert van Marwijk will lead his team into his first competitive game in charge next Wednesday when they face Macedonia in a World Cup qualifier.

Before that match, they face Australia in a friendly on Saturday, although Van Persie is expected to be fit.

Arsenal bounced back from last weekends Premier League defeat to Fulham with a superb win over Steve McClaren’s FC Twente.

Nicklas Bendtner started ahead of below-par Emmanuel Adebayor while Kolo Toure was dropped to the bench mainly thanks to Johan Djourou’s previous performances in the side.

Arsenal Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Djourou – Gallas – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Bendtner – van Persie

FC Twente Starting XI

Mihaylov
Wielaert – Tiote –  Douglas – Braafheid
Denneboom – Heubach – Brama – Janssen
Elia - Huysegems

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With just one game into the new Premier League campaign, International friendlies already become the main talking point of the week with several Arsenal players starring for their respective countries.

Here at Gooner Talk, we look to bring you the latest updates and results on how the Arsenal players are doing for their countries with a brief summary of how they got on.

The following players were in action tonight:

Theo Walcott – England v Czech Republic
Nicklas Bendtner – Denmark v Spain
Johan Djourou – Switzerland v Cyprus
Robin van Persie – Russia v Netherlands

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