Joe Fitzpatrick 
If the visit of Sunderland highlighted Arsenal's over-reliance on Robin van Persie's finishing ability last season, then the trip to Stoke on Sunday afternoon could well leave us all sorely lamenting the Alex Song-shaped hole in the heart of our midfield. Say what you like about Song, but there is no doubt that he was our most combative central midfielder, and if Arsenal are not going to replace the Cameroonian international with someone like Yann M'vila before August 31st, then games against the Stoke Citys of this world could prove to be very difficult viewing indeed for us Gooners.
At the time of writing, Arsenal look to be 99% certain of signing Nuri Sahin on loan from José Mourinho's Real Madrid in a deal that I thought would never happen because of the somewhat frosty relationship between Arsène Wenger and the Portuguese coach but, according to the latest information available online, the deal looks as though it is going to be announced very shortly. Sahin is a fantastic prospect and will certainly add creativity and another goal-scoring threat from midfield, but I find it very strange that Wenger has yet to add a goalkeeper, a defensive midfielder or a versatile defender to a squad that conceded 49 goals in the league last season.
Alex Dimitri Song Billong was not only our most combative central midfielder, he was also a decent option at centre-half when necessary, and Arsenal are unquestionably weaker defensively without him in their squad. Song will probably be a bit-part player during his first season or two at Barcelona, but I can't help but feel that the competition for places in the Barcelona starting eleven and his close friendship with Cesc Fabregas will bring the best out of him in the longer term.
I was always of the opinion that Song and Walcott should have been playing understudy to more experienced footballers while they learned their trade at Arsenal, as the fight for first-team opportunities, as opposed to a guaranteed starting-spot, would have forced them to iron out the deficiencies in their respective games or else find themselves collecting an impressive collection of splinters in their backsides. I find it very sad that we are losing yet another player before he has reached his peak years as a footballer with no direct replacement on the horizon, and I'm praying that Arsène will bring M'Vila in.
It looks as though Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby will start in central midfield against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, but I'm certain that the vast majority of you would prefer to see Alex Song in place of the frustrating perma-crock Abou Diaby, because there is always the chance that the Frenchman will either break down after 20 minutes or do something stupid like score an own-goal or get himself sent off when we are 4-0 up.
Song may not have been Patrick Vieira or Emmanuel Petit, but he was the best that we had in that position, and the lack of competition for his place in the team eventually led him to believe that he was better than he actually was, and (if you believe some of the stories in the tabloids) possibly even too good for the club that made him a household name. Some of you will be thinking that £15million for Alex Song represents an astute piece of business for Arsenal, but I would only agree with you if that money is spent on recruiting a destructive midfielder to complement our abundance of creativity.
Mikel Arteta may well be able to hold the fort for the time being, but I think he is wasted in that position and one look at his injury record for Everton would make relying on him to stay fit for the whole season a stupid move on Wenger's part. The other "internal solution" to the defensive midfield option is of course Tomas Vermaelen, but that would mean Per Mertesacker partnering Laurent Koscielny and I'm not convinced by the ponderous displays of the German international by any stretch of the imagination.
The good news is that we should have enough firepower to outscore Stoke City with Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud all eager to score their first competitive goals for the club, and Giroud's height and much-lauded aerial abilities will surely be useful to us in both halves of the pitch on Sunday. We should be looking for Walcott and Gervinho to produce better performances than they did against Sunderland, because Podolski and Giroud aren't renowned for creating their own chances, and to expect Cazorla to carry the team when he has only just arrived is simply ludicrous. Speaking of Santi Carzola, it will be interesting to see how the 5ft 6ins Spaniard reacts to the tough tackling of Tony Pulis' men, because I don't think he will have experienced anything similar in La Liga and I'm not expecting him to win much in the air either!
That’s all for now, fellow Gooners, I'm going for a 2-1 away win, but I will not be holding my breath, because we have drawn one and lost two of our last six matches against the Potters, keeping only a single clean sheet - and that was when we still had Robin van Persie and Alex Song to call upon.
