Premonitions, Predictions

The biggest Arsenal-related news today will probably involve the France v Ireland World Cup qualifier.

(Only a week til the end of the Interlull...)

Sagna and Gallas are likely to start, so we can look forward to fielding a makeshift backline at Sunderland once Stephen Hunt and co. have had a pop at them. The squad also features Diaby, undoubtedly the talisman of France's midfield. With the likes of Henry, Anelka and Lassana Diarra, the French team is considerably stronger than Ireland on paper, but I have a feeling that the Irish could pull it off, particularly with the first leg at home.

Aaron Ramsey will be pulling the strings against Scotland, while Cesc will be up against it in Spain's friendly against Argentina. Hopefully del Bosque will give him a breather in the Austria match - there's absolutely no need in starting him, especially as it would be the perfect match to try out the back-ups. If he plays in both games, we'll be the ones who will have to rest him.

Henri Lansbury has been called up as a replacement for the England Under 21s as a replacement after Michael Johnson and Jack Rodwell dropped out, but he's unlikely to play against Portugal. Gibbsy wil have the opporunity to give Capello something to think about; no doubt after a couple weeks of him filling in for Clichy, Stephen Warnock will be out of the picture. England should win this one comfortably.

There's not much else to talk about, other than Joan Laporta taking the opportunity to hit on Cesc now that he's back in the country for a few days. On the Dot Com, Mikael Silvestre seems pretty busy with TV Online interviews and Fantasy Battle predictions. I can only imagine that the opportunity to get closer to the likes of Silvestre during international breaks will be making Manuel Almunia desperate to change Capello's mind before the turn of the year.

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