In his pre-match press conference ahead of our match against Swansea this afternoon Arsène Wenger reported the following team news:

Kieran Gibbs & Theo Walcott

“They are available for Saturday.”

André Santos

“He is not completely match fit, but is in the squad.”

Thomas Rosicky

“He has a chance to be available for Tuesday night, he has a knee injury. He got a kick during the internationals.”

Ryo Miyaichi

“He will very quickly knock at the door. At the moment he is injured and is just coming back – he should join in again on Monday or Tuesday.”

Long-term absentees:

“We have the players with long-term injuries out like Wilshere and Diaby of course; then we have players suspended like Gervinho, Song and Jenkinson as well; we have an injury from the internationals in Rosicky and finally Vermaelen, who had surgery on Monday and will be out for a month.”

It is also worth noting that Park Chu Young is still waiting for his work permit and is therefore unavailable. I am unsure whether he will be able to play against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

 Predicted team line-up:

For a full analysis ahead of the match against swansea click here to view our match preview.

Szczesny to start in goal as per usual.

Laurent Koscielny will most probably partner Per Mertesacker in the wake of Thomas Vermaelen’s injury. Sagna has recovered from his illness (he played the full 90 minute for France mid-week) and as Wenger said above Kieran Gibbs has recovered from his injury.

Alex Song is suspended, so Emmanuel Frimpong should start as our defensive midfielder. With Jack Wilshere and Thomas Rosicky both injured, I would imagine that Aaron Ramsey will partner Mikel Arteta in midfield with Benayoun on the bench.

Walcott has fully recovered from the injuries that he picked up on international duty and will be included in the usual front 3 (with Arshavin and RvP).