Diaby the man Wenger is banking on?

Henry's absence for the Bolton game was certainly not a blessing in disguise as I suggested. It was me trying to make the most of the situation and put a positive spin on it.

His re-appearance against Fulham was hardly inspiring as we slumped to a second defeat, which was a third consecutive away defeat in a row. Worryingly we only slightly woke up after conceding a couple of abysmal goals (from a defensive point of view).

We outplayed Tottenham on Saturday with the help of a couple of dodgy penalties, (the first goal was onside I thought) although we did deserve the win as they deserved nothing with what was in truth an inept performance.

Henry is now out for up to 6 weeks and surely Baptista will be given a game up front sooner rather than later as Adebayor cannot play all the games over the Christmas period.

Wenger has said that he will not buy during the January transfer window and that he is happy with the current squad. I can see the benefit of doing this as he is proving his belief in his team by telling them they are good enough.

If that is the case then we still need to address the balance of the midfield in terms of strength and tackling ability. As Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Flamini and Rosicky away from home is too weak.

I believe Wenger sees Diaby as the long term successor to Vieira in terms of being a hard tackler and setting up counter attacks. His long legged play and all action style will add some much needed steel and dynamism to at present a somewhat methodical midfield. He and Walcott can make an impact in the next 12 months and give our side a real boost with some pace and power.

Diaby and Fabregas could cover a hell of a lot of ground and would allow us to switch back to a 4-4-2 with Hleb / Walcott and Rosicky / Ljungberg on the wings.

This would allow Baptista, Van Persie, Adebayor and Henry to play as forwards with Baptista also being able to play alongside Fabregas / Diaby in a 5 man midfield away from home in Europe and against bigger teams in the league.