Is it safe?

Ahead of tomorrow's Champions League quarter final draw (and do they draw the semis as well, or is that my old brain failing me?) , we now know that Marouane Chamakh's Bordeaux and Thierry Henry's Barcelona will be joining the four teams qualified last week as well as Internazionale and CSKA Moscow in the hat. No Real Madrid, no Chelsea. Despite the presence of Barcelona and Manchester United, the draw would seem to me to be relatively open. Especially if the Catalans were to be drawn against the Manchester club - fingers crossed..

The Champions League wasn't the only excitement around last night though, as the Arseblogger revealed what he believes to be the home shirt for next season. I'm sure most of you reading this will have seen it, so I won't go on about its retro (1971) stylings. Suffice to say that if it does turn out to be the kit for next season, then I think it's going to be, um, what you might call a best seller.

Suspicions about the exact nature of William Gallas' injury continue running through my mind. What I was thinking about was the famous scene in Marathon Man where Dustin Hoffman's character is asked "Is it safe?" repeatedly, and to his obvious confusion, whilst being threatened by Lawrence Olivier's Nazi dentist/jewel smuggler. In this instance, however, what I've got is an image of Gallas strapped; face down, in the dentist chair whilst Arsène drills little holes in his calf muscle whilst asking "One year or two?"endlessly.

Which is, of course, the long way round of saying that, according to the manager, Mr Gallas is not going to be available for the next two matches. Given that the second of those matches is a return to the scene of Gallas' 2008 Birmingham megastrop, I'm sure that there are a few people not too disappointed by that news. I'm sure the boss was supposed to be meeting Gallas' agents today - it is to be hoped there was no need for dentist chairs, horses heads or anything like that and that a sensible conclusion can be reached by all parties.

So, no Gallas for Saturday, but of course Alex "Crazy Man" Song will return to his central midfield patrol in front of the defence. As I mentioned yesterday, the captain is expected to return to the team. But he will have a "final test" before that return can be confirmed. He will be joined in that test by Tomas Rosicky.

I'd like to talk about Rosicky a little bit because I wonder, now, where he fits into the team as a first choice pick. There is no doubt for me that he is a quality footballer and, personally speaking, I love watching him play. But for me, it is fairly clear that in the central midfield area, Cesc and Song pick themselves which leaves one spot available. Aaron Ramsey was obviously making an excellent claim for that spot before his injury, but - and I never thought I'd say this - the player who is most deserving of the final slot in central midfield is Abou Diaby. Now that he seems to have cleared a mental block in his head, he is turning into the player we all hoped he would be in 2006. Okay, his decision making can still be a bit suspect, with that annoying tendency to drift past two or three players like they're not there before running into a fourth, or giving the ball away with a sloppy pass but I still believe his presence in midfield gives us a nice dynamic balance there.

By the same token, up front it's not just difficult; I don't see where Rosicky gets a game up front at all. He's not a centre forward (obviously) and, for me, I would hesitate to pick him over Walcott, Arshavin or even Nasri now. And that's forgetting about Eduardo and Carlos Vela (who will also return to the squad at the weekend). I'm not saying we should sell Rosicky, he provides excellent cover around the attacking positions and can be rotated around the side, I just wonder how he sees it as he heads towards his 30th birthday. We know he is highly regarded, as he should be, by the management team - he wouldn't have been given a new contract otherwise. Is that enough for him?

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