Sagna back for Man Utd game! Vermaelen “If this group can stick together for a long time, we can grow & get better & better, which you have seen over the past few weeks and months. If you can do that for the next few years we’ll win things!” Szczesny "The fixtures come thick and fast and players get tired and these kinds of results can happen! Henry is still quality!” Banfield “there are Arsenal players all across the EPL 2 at Fulham 3 at QPR!”

• Thomas Vermaelen is convinced that Arsenal will achieve success over the coming years if they keep their current squad of players together. 

The Gunners have made an impressive surge up the table since September and the Belgian defender believes the best is yet to come.

“If you can stick together for a long time as a group, then you can grow and get better and better, which you have seen over the past few weeks and months. If you can do that for the next few years, that would only be good,” Vermaelen said.

“Nowadays in football it is not easy to keep a group together and be with the same players for the next few years, but I hope we can manage that.” 

Vermaelen signed a new contract with the Club in October and has underlined his commitment to the cause with a string of excellent displays. 

“I will always give 100 per cent on the pitch. I don’t know if I will play well or not, but I will always give 100 per cent, try to defend as well as I can and try to lead this team to success,” he said.

• Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny feels this week's Premier League shocks shouldn't come as a surprise.

The Gunners were stunned late on by Fulham this week.

"The fixtures come thick and fast and players get tired and these kinds of results can happen," Szczesny said. "We were hoping to take advantage of that but we failed to do so.

"It was very confusing [against Fulham] because for 85 minutes I thought we defended really well with 11 men and they never really looked like scoring. Then when we had the ten men they put a lot of pressure on us and they looked very dangerous.

"We played 48 hours before and we went down to ten men and so there were probably some tired legs. I think we should still have kept the concentration, kept the focus and we would have been fine. We are disappointed with the result but hopefully we can recover as soon as possible."

• Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny says new teammate Thierry Henry hasn't lost it.

Henry has joined Arsenal on a two-month loan deal from New York Red Bulls.

"He's quality," Szczesny said. "He's still a great finisher and he's very clever, he's very intelligent.

"As well as that he's a great figure to have in the dressing room. He helps all the young players off the pitch as well as on the pitch.

"It's good to have him there and hopefully everything will be confirmed and done as soon as possible because we need him."

•         Arsenal have been forced to ditch plans to play Thierry Henry today.

Boss Arsene Wenger wanted Henry to feature in a Premier Reserve League match with Sunderland this afternoon in a bid to improve his match fitness.

But the Gunners and Henry's representatives have still yet to receive paperwork from New York Red Bulls regarding the two-month loan agreement.

So Henry, 34, is set to make his debut from the bench against Leeds in the FA Cup third round at the Emirates on Monday.

There are no other reserve fixtures scheduled before then. The Frenchman's last match action was for New York on November 3.

• Arsenal reserves coach Neil Banfield is keen to see more of his youngsters win promotion to the first team.

The New Year is traditionally a time of change, but Banfield is hoping for more of the same in 2012 after seeing a host of players make the step up into Arsène Wenger’s squad over the past 12 months.

“Getting players into the first-team squad is what my job is all about,” Banfield said. “I hope we see a continuation of how things have been going.

“We have seen the likes of Manny [Frimpong], Jack [Wilshere] and Wojciech [Szczesny] coming through, so hopefully we can continue producing players for the Arsenal first team.

“Also, if you look at the Fulham match, two players in their team – Stevie Sidwell and Philippe Senderos – used to be here, while in the previous game, against QPR, Armand Traore, Matthew Connolly and Jay Bothroyd were playing.

“There’s a sprinkling of players in the Premier League [who started at Arsenal]. Our aim first and foremost is to get them into our first team, but if not then we want to give them a good career.”

• Promising talent Gedion Zelalem is looking to represent the USA national team and not Germany according to his father.

The 14-year old, who is set to join Arsenal’s youth academy when he turns 16, is a German citizen of Ethiopian descent who has lived in the States for more than five years and has recently trained with both the German and US U15 teams.

But his father says that he is likely to pledge his allegiance to the US as he is more comfortable in the system.

“Everything is open,” said his father, who initially hoped his son would represent Germany.

“It was a good experience in Germany. They said they want to invite him again, but he has more of a chance for the US. He is more comfortable with the US, he has a lot of friends here.”