It would be remiss to start this post without saying a big welcome back to Eduardo. It was an encouraging comeback, taken out after the 1st 45 as a precaution to slight tightness in his hamstring.

The big question was what would be Eduardo’s frame of mind coming back from such a horrific injury? His display last night showed glimpses of what Arsenal missed during those 10 months, he did everything with verve, no shirking from tackles, not afraid to take on defenders, and that uncanny ability to be in the right places was not lost.

Says it all, Eduardo was sorely missed at Arsenal

It was a good performance by the reserves with everyone acquitting themselves well, the stand outs were,

• Cocquelin - Played out of position at right back and showed his defensive abilities coupled with strength and skill on the attack. I was impressed by the young Frenchman during the pre-season, and more so last night.
• Merida - Touted as the next Fabregas, he has mostly been played on the right and has not been special on the wing, once moved to his preferred central position the difference was marked. His pass for Randall’s opening goal was immaculate.
• Wilshere – What can you say about Wilshere, if he continues his current trajectory he will a a superstar.

William Gallas has been back to what is expected from a player of his experience on a footballing level, but Manager Wenger is not to convinced about his mental state on a “human” level.

On the human level, what happened with William was the most difficult thing I have had to handle in my career because I have a lot of esteem for him. He was caught in a media storm, a witchhunt that isolated him to the point where it became a handicap for the team. He has refound the stability in his game.
I am not convinced that, in his mind, he has refound his stability and his joie de vivre

Gallas should be big enough to get over it, but history shows he won’t. As a footballer I wouldn’t want him to leave in January, on a human level if his attitude doesn’t change then I’m afraid the club will be left with no choice but to part company with William.

Wenger is not sure if his “gamble” on Nasri has paid off.

Samir is a mix of [Robert] Pires and [Alexander] Hleb. I told myself that signing him could prove a positive gamble. But he picked up many injuries, too many! You tell yourself that if the guy was always with us, he would bring us a lot, but for the moment he has only been there half of the games, and fits and starts are bad for high level football. The partnership with Clichy has developed, but we are still far from what can be produced because he is too often absent.

Certainly there is the potential for great things from Nasri, he’s already showed his class in the few games he has played, scoring important goals for the team. He does need to spend more time on the pitch and less in the treatment room, then again it wouldn’t be Arsenal if we didn’t have half the team in the sickroom.

Finally, does anyone know if there is some kind of sell on fee in Diarra’s contract? I can’t believe the sums mentioned in his transfer to Real Madrid.