It was a day of mixed news for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who welcomes back five players ahead of the Blackpool game but loses one of the most impressive figures of pre-season.

Alex Song (calf), Johan Djourou (hamstring), Denilson (abdominal) and World Cup Finalists Cesc Fabregas Robin van Persie are all back for Saturday’s home game, although according to the Frenchman not all of them will be involved from the first minute. However, young midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong will be sidelined for at least six months as he becomes the latest Arsenal player to suffer a long-term injury.

Wenger also said how missing Samir Nasri is a big blow both for the Gunners and the French National team as he declared how the 23-year old had a very good pre-season and was ready to make an impact.

Arsenal will host Blackpool in their second Premiership game of the season after their 1-1 away draw against Liverpool. And as he said during the World Cup Finals, the Frenchman again confirmed how players who featured in the tournament need at least four weeks to recover completely meaning that Fabregas and van Persie will maybe feature only in the second half.

Ahead of this weekend’s game, Wenger said:

Quote:

All are available – at different levels [of fitness]. I need to make up my mind who I integrate in the squad. But there is no major problem for anybody really. Denilson has not played since April 14 and not played one minute of a game [in pre-season]. He still needs to work. All the others are quite available – at least to be on the bench. But at the same time we do not want to rush it. To have a good season you need a good preparation so we want to especially build up Cesc and Van Persie well. They came back on August 5 and you need three to four weeks preparation if you want to do well in the Premier League. Samir’s injury is a blow for us and a blow for France as well. He was continuing his natural progression and had a very good pre-season. But we have had another blow with Emmanuel Frimpong. He has done his cruciate in training. That is a massive blow. A cartilage is three to four weeks but a cruciate like that one Frimpong did yesterday is six to nine months. I rate him highly and I still have a lot of faith in him but we will miss him for six to nine months.