The absent William Gallas was a larger part of the story behind Arsenal's 3-0 weekend defeat at Manchester City than any of the players actually on the field. Now Gallas, suspended from both the captaincy and the City game by manager Arsene Wenger after he criticized Arsenal's young players, will return to the side for Tuesday's Champions league match at home to Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine. But Cesc Fabregas has been named the team's new captain.
Gallas trained with the team Sunday, and although he regrets that his comments unsettled the team, write David Hytner and Dominic Fifield in The Guardian, "he does not want to make personal apologies to the players that he offended, particularly to Robin van Persie."
The Times reported that Wenger announced Monday: "William will play against Kiev, but the captain of the team will be Fabregas. I do not think I have to especially explain why I make the decisions, but it is a permanent thing."
Earlier, Wenger had said that "the most important thing for us is to keep strong, united, focused and not panic. We haven't lost our football in three days so therefore, let's go and win our next game. That is difficult, I don't deny that, but there's no need to be desperate as well." The defeat at Manchester City "was a flattering victory for them [City], and we have had worse weeks than this."
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