I’m afraid I will never understand some of you out there. Again, I read a lot of comments and articles which make me wonder, they make me wonder why after such an amazing International break, you guys keep on saying you hate them.

Granted, they usually return our players back with injuries but this time around we saw Philippe Senderos hitting a brace so his morale will be incredibly high, Carlos Vela enjoying some action with Mexico and – as always – not disappointing expectations, Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and Andrey Arshavin scoring as well and finally, Aaron Ramsey producing a splendid free-kick which he will hopefully replicate in the Carling Cup game against Liverpool.

So I ask, you still hate ‘em?

But anyway, to archive the last week or so, I wanted to show my gratitude to my colleagues, especially Renzo, who apparently managed to provide you guys with all goals scored by the lads, which as I said, were more than one.

Birmingham

Fighting in the relegation zone, a month without a win and with injuries piling up, Alex McLeish’s side should be an easy game for the Gunners without buts and without ifs. The only considerations to make are of course on the fitness level of our players after the previously-mentioned International break but I believe for a game like tomorrow’s, we should not worry that much.

Favourite line-up

It’s tricky this time, as a question mark is above the heads of all those involved with the National teams. I would rotate, that’s for sure, but not sure about who to rest and who to start with. I would try:

I didn’t follow the Internationals very closely so apologies if my facts are not right but I believe Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott were only involved with the Under 21 side, with Theo suffering an injury though I hope he can start. Also, I think Van Persie was not involved at all so he can start up front, alone, since Bendtner, Eduardo and Carlos Vela are all ruled out.

But anyway, the line-up is a gamble so feel free to leave a comment and correct any mistakes I may have done there.

Pre-match Interviews

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish is fully focused on his job and is not thinking of the future and a possible new contract at the club.

He said:

I’ve got my head down here at Birmingham City since the day I arrived about two years ago and it’s been really about staying in that league.

We couldn’t do it at the end of my first six months here but we came back up the first time.

Again we can talk about all these things if that (survival) is achieved. But I’m not interested. It’s not about money for me.

It’s about ambition, it’s about winning, it’s about getting these players to get tougher and stronger mentalities to help them become better players.

Arsene Wenger, ahead of the game, declared that the two defeats away at Manchester were “accidents” which don’t reflect the true quality of his squad.

Speaking to The Press Association, he said:

I think this year, more than ever, those two defeats were an accident.

There is a realization that we have the quality – it is not as if we came out of those games thinking we were not good enough, and in fact they reinforced our belief and desire.

We responded very well. I know we have the quality, so those are strong basic ingredients to do well.

The Gunning Hawk Coverage

As always, tune in for team line-ups, streaming links, half time and full time reports, post-match thoughts, video highlights and what the press is writing. And of course, do contribute if you want to by making use of the comment box available at the bottom of the post as it’s always nice to hear your opinion. And as a final note, if you want to go one step further than just leaving a comment and want to have your articles published on our website, take a look here for more information.