Injury free Internationals & Super Rob returns.

International week how we love you.

This close to the weekend I am feeling an empty painful void as Premier league footie takes a break and our stars go away with their countries into a lottery of which one of our stars will snap a leg.

International week is an event I have grown to dread. We always seem to be 2 or 3 players short at the end of it and more often than not players that are starting to hit form i.e. Walcott.

However, a ray of light is starting to shine through the clouds as this time all our players are already injured. Walcott, Fabregas, Vermaelen and Van Persie will not take any part in this weeks Euro 2012 qualifiers, in fact, this time I'm looking forward to the other side of the internationals as two, possibly three of those names will be back in action when the real stuff returns. We could host Birmingham with almost a fully fit squad and I can't remember the last time that happened.

In other news, Bobby Pires has returned to the Arsenal training ground. He was released from Spanish club Villarreal in the summer. He's 36 now so I don't think we'll see a repeat of the Sol Campbell saga but it is nice to see Pires at the Colney again and his stories of success will only help our youngsters. Fans and pundits for a long time have said that no one in the Arsenal squad know how to win things, Bobby did and his experiences will be a huge benefit to everyone at the club. It's another smart move from Wenger and the former invincible can only increase the hunger in our young stars.

Another former invincible has been in the news today too. Patrick Vieira has come out and said that Arsenal Old boys Man City will not be able to win the league this year, however believes we can. It has also been suggested that he could retire at the end of this season. If he does it will be a sad day but Gooners will always remember that his best playing days were in our glorious red and wish him well.

Last thing today was actually brought up on Arsenal.com. Squillaci had the privilege of being our Captain at Stamford Bridge at the weekend in only his sixth appearance. This could possibly be a record for our club (excluding our first ever captain, obviously). Do you know of a player to captain us sooner? comment below and/or on Arsenal's website and share the knowledge. I actually think it's a shame if it is a record as our first four choices for captain were all injured but hey ho, a record's a record. Well done Squillaci.

Till tomorrow Gooners,
Goonerfish.