Theo Walcott says it would be a great boost for Arsenal if Thierry Henry were to ever return to the club as a coach.

Walcott has made no secret of his admiration for Arsenal's all-time leading goalscorer, and now wears his legendary number 14 on his shirt.

And the England international has hopes that Henry could make a return to the set-up at the Emirates, much in the way that other legends such as Sol Campbell and Robért Píres have done this year.

Walcott said: "I will always look up to him and you never know, one day he might return to Arsenal. You have all these past players coming back. It would be fantastic for young players coming through to learn from him. It would be great for the club."

The 21-year-old added that if he were to achieve 'half' of what Henry did in his time at Arsenal, he would be proud, and wants to start by reaching 20 goals for the team this season.

He explained: "If I do half what he did it is a great achievement, but I want to be my own player and want to learn from the best.

"My target this season is between 15 and 20 goals. I will play anywhere for Arsenal but it is nice that the manager has different hopes for me as I feel I am a striker."

"Арсенал" - "Ньюкасл", Премьер Лига, 11 тур

Начало встречи: 7 октября 16:30 по московскому времени

Стадион: "Эмирейтс"

Судья: Майк Дин

Ориентировочные составы:

"Арсенал": Фабиански - Санья, Косьелни, Скиллачи, Клиши - Сонг, Уилшир, Фабрегас - Уолкотт, Шамах, Насри.

"Ньюкасл": Крул - Симпсон, Колоччини, Уильямсон, Энрике - Тиоте, Бартон, Нолан, Гутьеррес - Амеоби, Кэрролл.

Травмированные

"Арсенал": Альмуния (локоть), Диаби (лодыжка), Фримпонг и Гиббс (оба - колено), Вермален (ахилл).

"Ньюкасл": Бен Арфа (нога), Бест (лодыжка), Кэмпбелл (бедро), Гослинг (колено), Харпер и Тэйлор (оба - плечо).

Занимательные факты

- "Арсенал" выиграл последние три домашних матча против "Ньюкасла" во всех турнирах с одинаковым счётом - 3:0.

- "Сороки" выиграли лишь одну из последних 15 игр в Премьер Лиге против "канониров".

- "Ньюкасл" в последних 7 выездных матчах против "Арсенала" во всех турнирах смог забить лишь однажды - в игре 2006 года, когда "сороки" сыграл вничью 1:1.

- Только "Манчестер Юнайтед" забил столько же мячей головой, что и "Ньюкасл" в этом сезоне Премьер Лиги (6 штук).

- Энди Кэрролл и Кевин Нолан вдвоём забили 12 из 19 мячей "Ньюкасла" в нынешнем сезоне чемпионата.

- Кевин Нолан занимает одно из первых мест в списке лучших бомбардиров этого сезона Премьер Лиги (7 голов).

- "Канониры" забивали в последние 10 минут в 9 из последних 11 матчей чемпионата на "Эмирейтс".

- Сеск Фабрегас создаёт в среднем 4.4 голевых шанса за 90 минут в нынешнем розыгрыше Премьер Лиги, больше, чем кто-либо.

- Никто в Премьер Лиге не наносит столько ударов за игру, сколько Энди Кэрролл (в среднем 3.7 выстрела в этом сезоне).

- "Сороки" сыграют на "Эмирейтс", имея две победы подряд в этом розыгрыше Премьер Лиги. Последний раз, когда "Ньюкасл" выиграл 3 матча кряду, случился в апреле 2008 года.

- "Арсенал" нанёс больше всего ударов в створ ворот, чем кто-либо в этом сезоне Премьер Лиги (70).

- "Канониры" надеются сыграть свой третий "сухой" матч подряд в Премьер Лиге впервые за почти 2 года. С января по февраль 2009 "канониры" сыграли 4 игры без пропущенных мячей кряду.

- Самир Насри забил 4 гола в последних 4 матчах на "Эмирейтс".

Лучшие бомбардиры команд

"Арсенал": Самир Насри и Тео Уолкотт (7 мячей во всех соревнованиях, из них 4 - в чемпионате), Маруан Шамах (6 голов, из них половина - в чемпионате).

"Ньюкасл": Кевин Нолан (7 голов, все в чемпионате), Шола Амеоби (6 мячей, из них половина в чемпионате).

Турнирное положение команд на данный момент

"Арсенал": 2 место, 10 матчей, 6 побед, 2 ничьих, 2 поражения, разница мячей 22-10.

"Ньюкасл": 7 место, 10 матчей, 4 победы, 2 ничьих, 4 поражения, разница мячей 19-14.

История встреч между командами

166 матчей, 65 побед "Арсенала", 36 ничьих и 65 побед "Ньюкасла".

Самая результативная встреча между командами: "Арсенал" 5:3 "Ньюкасл" в сезоне 1976-1977.

Самая крупная победа "Арсенала": 5-0 дома в сезоне 2000-2001.

Самая крупная победа "Ньюкасла": 7-0 дома в сезоне 1925-1926.

Слова соперников

Капитан Кевин Нолан: "В чемпионате нет лёгких матчей - особенно против "Арсенала". Мы едем в Лондон с определённым планом игры. Надеюсь, он сработает так же хорошо, как в нашем предыдущем матче (против "Сандерленда" 5:1). У нас есть уверенность в том, что мы способны добыть положительный результат. Думаю, мы должны "Арсеналу". (Когда играли против них в Кубке Лиги, совсем недавно) пропустили неудачный гол, затем не сложились некоторые вещи. Так что мы намерены исправить ситуацию".

Котировки букмекеров

    * Победа "Арсенала": 1.29
    * Ничья: 6
    * Победа "Ньюкасла": 13

Manager Arsène Wenger admits that he is worried over the recovery of midfielder Abou Diaby, the Frenchman suffering from a troublesome ankle injury.

Diaby suffered the injury in a reckless challenge by Paul Robinson in the match against Bolton Wanderers.

Diaby has actually played for the club since then, but in actual fact has struggled for full match fitness.

And Wenger is hoping that Diaby will not require surgery, but is not ruling that option out.

Speaking to the media at his Friday press conference, Wenger said: "Diaby is very worrying, yes.

"We hope [he will] not [need surgery] but there is a little piece of bone in his ankle. We hope it will settle down. But at the moment he's not on the pitch.

"He's not been the same since the incident with Robinson.

"Before he was completely fantastic. He has played since then but was never completely himself."

Diaby has suffered a number of ankle injuries during the course of his career with the club, each gotten worse with the first one against Sunderland which put him out of action for a prolonged period of time.a[/spoiler[ pspoiler=Wenger: Why Walcott has improved]Manager Arsène Wenger has hailed the improvement in striker Theo Walcott, scoring 8 goals in 14 games already this season.

And the Frenchman believes that the high goals tally is in part down to Walcott's better judgement in the final third of the field, resulting in better timings of his runs.

Walcott scored twice against Newcastle United in the Carling Cup, and then scored a brilliant breakaway goal against Shakhtar Donetsk, though the game resulted in a 2-1 defeat.

Wenger explained: "I believe his finishing has improved a lot because the timing of his runs are much better.

"I believe like everybody else we were not at our best on Wednesday night but overall I believe he has improved everywhere - in his finishing, even much more because that's what he prefers to do, you know? I think there is a lot more to come from him.

"The defeat against Shakhtar is a big lesson for us because I felt when you are in a big game like we were and you are 1-0 up and you lose the game, it is always down to this kind of factor.

"Our urgency, our defensive urgency was not good enough. From up front to the back, defensively we were not good enough. That is the thing we have to correct.

"In the second half we tried to come back into the game but it was late."

Today the Daily Mail are claiming that we are in the driving seat to secure Ibrahim Afellay of PSV Eindhoven, a player that from what I know Arsenal have been tracking for years.

For once I do think the Daily Mail may be onto something, Afellay is out of contract at the end of the season and is drumming up some big interest – just a few weeks ago there were a lot of rumours flying around about him having some sort of verbal agreement with Barcelona to sign a pre-contract in January, but as time has worn on it doesn’t look like that is the case.

There has also been substantial interest from a number of Premier League sides, including Man United – so it is fair to say that he is a man in demand. Right now I don’t think that he is a player that Arsenal would go out of their way to sign, of course the more interest there is in his signature the larger the ’sign on fee’ is going to be, which going by the amount that we paid to Chamakh, is a lump sum that gets more significant every year. His agent will make sure he gets his dues.

Now, before you read this next bit I must write this disclaimer of sorts: It is built on limited knowledge and an educated guess…

The reason I think Arsenal hold the interest in Afellay as seriously as they do, (they track and monitor a ton of players), might be because of the scenario surrounding Andrey Arshavin and his contract – there has been no significant movement on that front for months on end now and whilst I am sure the relevant parties will reconvene and come to some sort of arrangement the rumours of him being unsettled in North London refuse to go away.

Looking at his age now too, (about to break the thirties barrier), it is another issue that Arsene will have to address with Arshavin – will he offer him just the one year or whack on a couple more to keep his value slightly higher?

It is clear to see why Arsenal have been following the 25 year old, he could fill in Arshavin’s spot just fine, and whilst he doesn’t really seem to be a goalscorer, he still has space to improve at his age. It is something worth considering.

In the Daily Mail article, the reporter claims Arsenal tabled a £7.5 million bid for Afellay in the summer – that is not true.

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At the time of writing I have just heard there are some revelations about Arsene Wenger’s private life in The Sun newspaper, why exposing something about his private life when he hasn’t once courted press attention is considered in the public interest I will never know.

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More thoughts on the game tomorrow, I am down at the Emirates for the first time in a month or so and really can’t wait to get back into it.

Til then…