A look through the squad as it stands...

So here she is...the current list of players that are listed as members of Arsenal's first team.

Number	Position	Name	Number	Position	Name
1	G	Manuel Almunia	4	M	Cesc Fábregas
21	G	Lukasz Fabianski	35	M	Emmanuel Frimpong
24	G	Vito Mannone	46	M	Henri Lansbury
13	G	Wojciech Szczęsny	8	M	Samir Nasri
20	D	Johan Djourou	16	M	Aaron Ramsey
28	D	Kieran Gibbs	7	M	Tomas Rosicky
??	D	Carl Jenkinson	17	M	Alex Song
6	D	Laurent Koscielny	19	M	Jack Wilshere
3	D	Bacary Sagna	33	F	Benik Afobe
18	D	Sebastien Squillaci	52	F	Nicklas Bendtner
30	D	Armand Traore	29	F	Marouane Chamakh
5	D	Thomas Vermaelen	42	F	Ryo Miyaichi
2	M	Abou Diaby	10	F	Robin Van Persie
23	M	Andrei Arshavin	11	F	Carlos Vela
40	M	Craig Eastmond	??	F	Gervinho
27	M	Emmanuel Eboué	14	F	Theo Walcott

A quick glance down the list (I promise the never ending Twitter transfer gossip will still be there when you look back) and you'll notice quite a few names we can safely assume won't be with the team throughout the long season ahead. Let's do that, shall we...let's see just how impressive Wenger's "already big" squad really is.

For starters, let's take off the players that seemingly have Wenger's stamp of approval to move on: Almunia, Eboue and Bendner. There, didn't that feel good to part ways with our beloved 99th minute hero...sorry, that was petty. Now, let's go ahead and give you rumor-mongers something to latch onto and assume that Henri Lansbury and Armand Traore will be moving along as well. Our list that began with 28 outfield players and 4 goalies has already shrunk to 24/3 and we're just getting started.

It genuinely saddens me *sheds token tear into Fabregas shirt* to come to the realization that Cesc will be playing with that spiky-haired wanker down in Barcelona next season. So let's just rip the bandaid off and remove the captain from the list. While you're all griping about how unfair Barca's tapping up of our player has been, I'll take the liberty of removing Craig Eastmond too.

Come here Çexy Çescy

That now leaves the mighty Arse with a paltry 22 outfielders and still 3 goalies...but wait...it gets better. As with any season at the Emirates, you have to factor in the odd injury that will linger from August right on through the holidays (while never escalating beyond a "few weeks out") and of course, the random visa struggle. We can fill those quotas with non other than Messrs Walcott, Diaby and Miyaichi...thanks gentlemen!

As we now sit almost a fortnight away from a new season, one in which there are countless reasons why Arsenal need a strong start, our squad has a massive 19 players and 3 goalies that can be called upon?!?! Within those 19 -- 2 are coming off significant injuries (TV & Frimpong), 3 have never played in the Premier League (Jenkinson, Afobe & Gervinho) and 1 more that doesn't really want to be here (Nasri).

Now, I'm no footballing genius or anything, but I do know that history has a nasty habit of repeating itself if left unchecked. And so as I look back over our new list of 19/3 that we have to start the season, I can't help but notice that we've done NOTHING to shore up our defensive frailties. Further, what happens when this paper thin squad is further hit by the injuries? Don't worry about it I say [dripping with sarcasm], Arsene can call upon his veritable who's who of internationals from the bench -- Vela, Chamakh & Rosicky.

And that about sums up my rant for the night. I apologize for all the negativity, I promise I'll put a few pints of the black down before the Newcastle game and come up with another post about why it's so obviously Arsenal's year to end the trophy drought. Until then...there's always Twitter!