Vermaelen return to give Arsenal defence timely boost

There is a welcome story today reporting that Arsenal captain and central defender Thomas Vermaelen could soon return for the club after spending the last few months out with an injury! Vermaelen failed to feature in pre-season having suffered an injury during his holiday break, but now the defender is finally building his fitness back up and the Daily Star claims he is set to return to training. The central defender said: “The West Brom game is a few weeks away yet and hopefully I will be closer to a return. I can’t put a date on my comeback. But I am really happy with how things are going so far.” So it looks as if Vermaelen and the club will be aiming to introduce the Belgium international back to club football with a Capital One Cup game against West Brom later this month and I think it will be a good chance for the 27 year old to get back into football. It will also allow Wenger to give a well earned rest to our current players. Vermaelen hasn’t been involved with Arsenal on the pitch for a long time now, despite being club captain. Injuries have scuppered his chances but in-between the two injuries he endured a period of bad form which ultimately led to Arsene Wenger dropping him from the side. Arsenal have now settled with Mertesacker and Koscielny as our main defensive partnership and it seems to be working well, with the defence looking a lot tighter in the last few weeks of this season (Villa aside) and the end of last season. But I know for a fact everyone still wants to see Vermaelen make his return for Arsenal because before the captaincy was awarded to the Belgian international, he was a real powerhouse and excellent defender for the club. He was a solid rock and some people saw the Tony Adams type character in him; however it’s all gone downhill for him. Hopefully Vermaelen can recover well and be ready for that Capital One Cup game and although I don’t expect Wenger to break the mould we have in defence for the majority of the time, it will be nice to have a recognised central defender on the bench at least!