Arsenal’s midfield anchorman Alex Song will be available for the Gunners’ next two games before he departs for the African Cup of Nations with his country Cameroon.

The 22-year-old is set to jet off for training on January 5th, meaning he will be able to play in Wednesday’s game at Portsmouth and the FA Cup clash with West Ham next weekend.

However, Song’s fellow Arsenal team-mate Emmanuel Eboue will fly out this evening while other Premier League Ivory Coast stars such as Kolo Toure and Chelsea stars Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou will depart for Angola tomorrow afternoon as their campaign starts earlier than Cameroon’s.

This is a big boost for Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger as skipper Cesc Fabregas looks almost certain to miss the Pompey game after sustaining a hamstring injury during the 3-0 win over Aston Villa.

Arsenal expect their worst fears to be confirmed today when skipper Cesc Fabregas undergoes a scan to determine the extent of the damage to his injured hamstring.

Arsene Wenger was forced to turn to Fabregas in Sunday's meeting with Aston Villa with the scoreline goalless.

Coming off the bench in the second half Fabregas produced a stunning 27-minute cameo, scoring twice before being forced off with a suspected recurrence of the injury which had keep him out for nigh on a fortnight.

Arsenal are now facing up to the prospect of losing their influential skipper for a further three weeks meaning he will miss Wednesday's trip to Portsmouth, the FA Cup third round tie against West Ham, and the two league encounters against Bolton which sandwich Everton's visit to the Emirates.

If all goes according to plan, Fabregas should be available to play in the FA Cup fourth round on January 23rd providing Arsenal make it that far.

Crucially Fabregas should be back to face Aston Villa and Manchester United in the Barclays Premier League at the end of next month.

Defender Thomas Vermaelen could not hide his amazement at the impact Fabregas made against Villa, but insisted Arsenal have a deep enough squad to cope with his absence even though midfielder Denison is also out of the Portsmouth game with a back problem.
'I have never seen a player come on before and have such an immediate impact,' said Vermaelen. 'Before he came on I think we were the better team, but we didn't create too many chances. When he came on the pitch we controlled the game more and create some more chances.

'Cesc gives passes, a good line of defence and he is really dangerous. He has a great vision on the pitch.

'He is the best midfield player I have played with. He is really smart. In training it is really difficult to defend against him. You'd think he has eyes in the back of his head because he sees everything.

'He is very important for us. But if he is injured we have to do it without him. I think we have other midfielders who can fill that position.'

At least Arsene Wenger has been boosted by the news that the hugely improved Alex Song will not be required for African Cup of Nations duty with Cameroon until January 4 meaning he will be available to play against Portsmouth and West Ham.

With many believing Arsenal will sign a new striker to replace Robin van Persie, manager Arsene Wenger caught everyone by surprise by declaring that he may decide to sign a midfielder so as to have a proper backup for Denilson and captain Cesc Fabregas.

The Frenchman said:

"I’ve said we will keep our eyes open and if a good opportunity turns up we will do it. But at the moment I haven’t got any.

I will have to look maybe as well at midfielders and how big the damage is. If we lose Denilson and Fabregas we will be short there. I don’t know yet."