Some Wednesday bits and pieces

This morning I wrote the title of the blog before I wrote the first words of the blog. I almost never do this. What a peek behind the curtain I’ve given you to help you pass the time during this Interlull.

The ‘process’ is always write first then think of a title. The only exception to this is a blog the morning after a game where I will write the scoreline first, but even then I wait to finish writing before I complete it. For example, the bit in italics will usually come late unless it’s blindingly obvious what it should be.

Arsenal 7-6 Liverpool: Havertz strikes late to take all three points 

or

Chelsea 0-5 Arsenal: Jesus finds his shooting boots at last

Today felt very much like a bits and pieces today. I don’t know if the above is a bit or a piece. It’s so hard to discern really. As the old saying goes, ‘One man’s piece is another man’s bit’, so I’ll just leave it up to you to decide. There’s no need to introduce something else to this topsy-turvy world to get vexed about.

I saw on Instagram that Arsenal posted some footage of Martin Odegaard at the training ground, using the Gravitron2000 to bear some of the weight as he ran on the treadmill. Clearly this is a positive development, but we’ll have to wait and see how close he is to a return. The fact he’s using that machine suggests there’s still considerable caution being applied, but it’s worth considering we don’t know exactly when that footage was taken. It could have been yesterday, it could have been last week – since when more progress might have been made.

Given how much Mikel Arteta likes to keep things in-house and under his hat when it comes to fitness, I have to assume that things are really going well for Odegaard in his recovery. If there were any risk, nothing would be posted, so it’s a little boost for everyone to see him making his way back to full fitness. We don’t know yet what the time-frame is for his return, but I do wonder if the Liverpool game might be the target. We’ll find out in due course.

There are some other injury worries to take into account during this break. I’ve seen it reported that Kai Havertz knee problem isn’t too serious, I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that, while these couple of weeks will hopefully give Ben White and Jurrien Timber time to recover from the knocks they’ve picked up of late. There was also a slight return, if we can call it that, for Takehiro Tomiyasu when he came on late in the win over Southampton.

It might sound harsh, but there were times when I had almost forgotten about him, so I’m really hoping he can maintain some fitness. That line between unlucky with injuries and injury prone is often a fine one, and unfortunately for him, I think he’s just gone over the wrong side of it, which is a real shame. I think he’s a fantastic player, his versatility across the back-line provides such incredible depth in every position – but of course it’s only depth when he’s fit.

What’s clear is that every time Arteta speaks about him as a player, he does so in glowing terms, and that tells you plenty. With a lot of football to play due to a hectic schedule, his presence in the squad would be very useful, so fingers crossed he has a run of fitness and availability because it can only be good for us if he does.

For Arsenal fans of a certain generation who love Liam Brady and love music, here’s something to watch out for. One of our Patreon members is a volunteer with Dublin not-for-profit radio station Near FM. This Friday between 9.30pm and 11.30pm, he’ll be playing a selection of music chosen by Liam, based on his time in 1970s London and international duty for Ireland with some memories from him in there too.

You can listen live at https://nearfm.ie/ – and it’ll be on playback from Saturday, in case you can’t catch it live. One for your bookmarks.

Right, those are all the bits and/or pieces I have for you this morning. Have a great Wednesday folks.