Arsenal U21s 1-1 West Brom: Diaby plays an hour

Arsenal's reserve team played today, and they drew 1-1 against West Brom's U21s. Andre Santos scored Arsenal's equalizer just before halftime, because evidently only left-backs are allowed to score for Arsenal anymore; this came after allowing a goal to WBA's Adil Nabi in the 20th minute against the run of play.

This may or may not be important to you, depending on how much credit you put into reserve team wins and losses. For me, it's "not a ton." More important is who played and how much, and we had a cameo from Bigfoot.

Abou Diaby made his return from his latest injury, starting the match and playing 65 minutes before leaving unscathed. It was a planned substitution, and by all accounts Diaby was the side's best player. Granted it's tough to get too excited about him with his injury history, but if by the grace of luck he can stay healthy for a bit, he could certainly be a help in Arsenal's midfield. He (or another player like him) is the kind of thing this team could really use.

Other first team additions to the reserves included Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (for 70 minutes), Carl Jenkinson, and Francis Coquelin. The latter two played the full ninety minutes, but with four days until Arsenal play next that shouldn't be a huge problem in terms of availability. Additionally, considering the fact that the opponent is Manchester City, hopefully neither Jenkinson nor Coquelin will be seeing too much playing time anyway. The Ox may be in line for either a start or a major role as substitute, depending on whether the manager decides to go with Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott at striker, but he also should be available.

All in all, it sounds like a productive day for the reserves, and a step forward for Diaby on his road to pseudo-temporary-recovery.