Striker Nicklas Bendtner is set to play his first competitive game for Arsenal in over two years on Wednesday as Arsene Wenger rotates his squad for the Capital One Cup.
The Dane last played for the Gunners in their 2-0 Premier League defeat by Liverpool in August 2011 but is likely to feature against the side he joined eight years ago in the third-round match at West Bromwich Albion.
'We have a Capital One Cup game at West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday and I will rotate the team, of course. Nicklas Bendtner has a chance to be involved,' Wenger said in an email to Arsenal fans on Monday.

 

Bendtner, who has spent loan spells at Sunderland and Italian champions Juventus since last appearing for Arsenal, has not scored for the Gunners since bagging a hat-trick in the FA Cup against Leyton Orient 30 months ago.

Wenger also confirmed that midfielder Jack Wilshere will be rested for the match at the Hawthorns to help him recover for Saturday's league game at Swansea City.

'Jack Wilshere will not play. Normally I would have rested him on Sunday and I decided to take him off because he was a bit exhausted towards the end,' said Wenger.

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John Mikel Obi is delighted at scoring his first Premier League goal for Chelsea in their 2-0 win over Fulham on Saturday. 

*Delightful… Chelsea’s Nigerian midfielder John Mikel Obi (r) celebrate with team-mate Branislav Ivanovic after he scored the second goal for Chelsea in their English Premier League football match against Fulham at Stamford Bridge. It was Mikel ‘s second goal in his eight-year stay with the Blues. Photo AFP

The 26-year-old preferred to take a collective approach by emphasizing on the team’s ability to get back to winning ways after a poor run of defeats in their last three games.

“We had lost two games in a row and the most important thing to do today was to win, we got the three points and my goal was just a bonus,” Mikel said.

Mikel however admitted his delight at scoring his first league goal after 185 games, disclosing that his teammates had already started teasing him about it.

“I am pretty happy, it has been a long time,” Mikel admitted.

“The guys have been killing me about it. It is good to get my first goal in the Premier League, I have scored in the FA Cup a couple of times.”
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Gareth Bale confirmed the worst fears of his Wales boss Chris Coleman on Sunday night when he suffered a left hamstring injury in the warm-up ruling him out of his Real Madrid home debut.
The former Tottenham midfielder is yet to play a full-game for his new side but was named in the starting line-up against Getafe only to limp back down the tunnel before the action started.
Coleman had questioned the world record signing’s fitness ahead of last weekend’s game against Villarreal suggesting he was not up to more than an appearance as a substitute.

But Real Madrid decided to start Bale giving him 60 minutes in the 2-2 draw. The Welshman had taken part in only one of Spurs pre-season games and played just 33 minutes for Wales.
Bale did not start in midweek against Galatasaray but came on for the last half hour in the 6-1 win.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti has said that Madrid had to 'take care' of their new player who pre-season was wiped out by the eight-week stand-off between Real Madrid and Spurs.
Sunday’s set-back rules him out of Wednesday’s game against Elche and leaves him doubtful for his first big city derby next week against joint leaders Atletico Madrid.

Spanish international Isco took Bale's place in Madrid's starting XI and did not disappoint, scoring his side's third goal in a come-from behind 4-1 win over Getafe.
The former Malaga star's strike was his fifth in five games and arguably the most eye-catching of the night, as he cut in from the left flank and curled the ball into the top corner.
Earlier Cristiano Ronaldo had given Real a 2-1 lead from the penalty spot after defender Pepe had levelled Getafe's fourth minute opener from Angel Lafita.

Ronaldo added some gloss to the scoreline in second-half injury-time, scoring a cheeky backheel against a Getafe side who had Michel sent off with just five minutes remaining.
The win moves Carlo Ancelotti's side up one place to third in La Liga, two points behind leaders Barcelona and in-form Atletico who have both won each of their opening five games.

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Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal had to 'dig in' to collect a 3-1 victory over Stoke City and move to the top of the Premier League table.

The final scoreline suggests the Gunners enjoyed a comfortable afternoon against the Potters, but they were made to work hard for a seventh straight success in all competitions.
Rather surprisingly, all three of their goals came from set-pieces - with summer signing Mesut Ozil having a hand in all three.

"We had to dig in because we lost our fluency. But overall, we got three points and that's positive."

Arsene Wenger

Wenger was delighted to see his side show a different side to their game, with momentum now firmly behind the north London outfit.
He told Sky Sports: "We had a good first half and the second half was more digging in a little bit.
"We had to dig in because we lost our fluency, you could see that we lacked legs a bit but overall it's, of course, an important three points.
"I didn't expect to score so many headers from free-kicks against Stoke, but the delivery is very important and the deliveries were good today.

 Wenger hails winning habit

"The confidence is there and the desire is there, and that's a very strong
base. We can score goals and create chances, today in the second half we lost
our usual game but in the end we won."
Wenger was forced to tweak his starting XI prior to kick-off when Theo Walcott picked up a knock in the warm-up, with German youngster Serge Gnabry taking his place.
Pressed on what happened to the England winger, who had been struggling through illness in the build-up to the game, Wenger said: "Muscular abdominal problem, but I don't know how serious it is."

Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal had to 'dig in' to collect a 3-1 victory over Stoke City and move to the top of the Premier League table.

The final scoreline suggests the Gunners enjoyed a comfortable afternoon against the Potters, but they were made to work hard for a seventh straight success in all competitions.
Rather surprisingly, all three of their goals came from set-pieces - with summer signing Mesut Ozil having a hand in all three.

"We had to dig in because we lost our fluency. But overall, we got three points and that's positive."

Arsene Wenger

Wenger was delighted to see his side show a different side to their game, with momentum now firmly behind the north London outfit.
He told Sky Sports: "We had a good first half and the second half was more digging in a little bit.
"We had to dig in because we lost our fluency, you could see that we lacked legs a bit but overall it's, of course, an important three points.
"I didn't expect to score so many headers from free-kicks against Stoke, but the delivery is very important and the deliveries were good today.

Wenger hails winning habit

"The confidence is there and the desire is there, and that's a very strong
base. We can score goals and create chances, today in the second half we lost
our usual game but in the end we won."
Wenger was forced to tweak his starting XI prior to kick-off when Theo Walcott picked up a knock in the warm-up, with German youngster Serge Gnabry taking his place.
Pressed on what happened to the England winger, who had been struggling through illness in the build-up to the game, Wenger said: "Muscular abdominal problem, but I don't know how serious it is."

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NIGERIAN midfielder, Mikel Obi, scored his first ever English Premier League goal on Saturday as Chelsea defeated Fulham 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Mikel’s first goal came after 185 EPL appearances for Chelsea since he joined the Blues in 2006 from Lyn Oslo.

Brazilian Oscar put the home side ahead in the 52nd minute but it was Mikel, who put the game beyond the hard fighting visitors with a superb finish with six minutes to regulation time, to the admiration of club owner, Roman Abramovich.

The Nigeria international seems to have realised his attacking instinct as he had scored another classical goal in the 2013 Confederations Cup against Uruguay.

“I am very happy for my goal; it’s been a long time. I also did (score) for the national team. It’s something I always want to do but I have to put myself in the right position,” Mikel said after the match.

Another Nigerian, Sone Aluko fired a spectacular late winner for Hull City as the Tigers twice came back from behind to beat Newcastle 3-2 at St James’ Park.

Loic Remy opened the scoring from close-range in the 10th minute before Robbie Brady drove the equaliser under Tim Krul just before the half-hour.

Remy put the Magpies back in front just before the break but Ahmed Elmohamady headed an equaliser three minutes into the second half, and Aluko won it for the visitors with a superb side-footed volley from the edge of the box in the 76th minute.

Aston Villa survived conceding an early penalty and a first-half injury to their talismanic goalscorer Christian Benteke to give Paul Lambert a 1-0 win at former club Norwich.

Robert Snodgrass saw his sixth-minute spot-kick saved before the visitors lost Benteke to injury, with his replacement Libor Kosak scoring the only goal for Villa.

At Anfield, Dejan Lovren’s second-half header snatched a shock 1-0 win for Southampton at Anfield and consigned Liverpool to their first Premier League defeat of the season.

The Croatian rose highest to head home Adam Lallana’s 54th minute corner despite Steven Gerrard’s desperate attempts to prevent the ball going over the line.

Liverpool’s loss left Everton as the only unbeaten team in the top-flight this season after Leighton Baines inspired a dramatic 3-2 win over 10-man West Ham at Upton Park.

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Nigeria striker Victor Moses today Monday September 2nd joined Liverpool from Premier League rivals Chelsea on a season-long loan. The 22year old striker secured a move to Liverpool because... erm, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho doesn't think he's useful at Chelsea or wetin?

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