Afternoon,

I guess the only negative coming out of this weekend is the tight hamstring Cesc has, his withdrawal was precautionary against Burnley but the worrying thing is that its the same hamstring that was torn earlier in the season. He didn’t train this morning.

The boss has said that if there is more than a 50% chance of his hamstring going in the game against Porto he will not play, personally I think if there is even the remotest chance of his hamstring tearing again there is no point in risking him, we can beat Porto without him. He is just too valuable a player to have missing for two or three weeks, 17 goals this season in all competitions is a remarkable total and he has at least that many assists to his name as well.

Porto will come to attack so we will not need as much craft to break them down unlike most teams that come to the Grove in the league, the most important thing that needs replacing is the sheer work-rate, Abou Diaby is a player that can score goals so him and Samir Nasri along with Song in the midfield could be very interesting – either way, we can survive without our captain tomorrow night.

If Theo Walcott plays like he did at the weekend then Porto will have a very different monster on their hands to the player they dealt with in the first leg, he terrorised Burnley and if Porto do what we expect and attack he offers so much pace on the break, we know what he can do when the game is end to end, another big performance please Theo…. remember he did it last season against Villarreal with that fantastic chip, one of those would be most welcome this time around.

Update: Cesc out of Porto game with a small chance of making the Hull game next weekend.

Days like this are always good for a bet on the football. There are some tasty odds flying about so as well as possibly qualifying for the quarter finals of the Champions League, you could pocket some cash too. Happy days!

Its good news that the only injury is Cesc, with a lot of players making their comebacks against Burnley it would not have surprised me if we had another niggle or two, I suppose confirmation of that will come in the boss’ press conference later but on first hearing, the only casualty has been Cesc.

It is the first game I’m going to be able to sit down and watch for a week or so now after work commitments keep getting in the way (and will for the foreseeable future). I just have to savor the games more I suppose!

The William Gallas contract scenario seems to be leaning on the side of him leaving the club in the summer now, on one hand its very bad news considering his brilliant form this season, on the other, it means the boss could try and solve the problem of our leaky defence that has been shipping goals despite the great form of both Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen. Roma seem to be interested in the Frenchman.

REDaction are calling for people to arrive to the Grove early tomorrow to create a hostile atmosphere. It worked last time against United – though not on the pitch.

Right, thats about it for today. More tomorrow.