back into first-team action with Arsenal but insisted he
was ready to make his comeback.
The French midfielder was an unexpected inclusion in
the starting XI for Sunday's Premier League clash with
Manchester City after Mikel Arteta suffered a calf strain
in training prior to the game.
Diaby, who has struggled with injuries throughout his
Emirates Stadium career, had been out of action since
sustaining a thigh problem in the defeat by Chelsea at
the end of September.
He lasted 61 minutes of Sunday's 2-0 defeat to the
Premier League champions, with the Gunners reduced
to 10 men after just 10 minutes when Laurent
Koscielny was dismissed.
Diaby told the club's official website: "I feel good
physically. Of course I have been out for a long time so I
am not at my best, but importantly I did not get any
reaction. This is good for the future.
"I knew the day before the game that I was starting, so
I just had to prepare for that. I had been out for a long
time, so I did not expect to be on the pitch so quickly.
"But it doesn't matter, you just need to be prepared
and see how it goes."
Arsene Wenger admitted it was a 'gamble' to include
Diaby against Roberto Mancini's men, but was happy
with how the former Auxerre man coped with his
comeback.
"Diaby became stronger during the game," Wenger
said. "I feel he was like the team. He started very slowly
and became stronger in the second part of the game. I
took the gamble because I feel that it was needed. It's
good that he came through well. He will become
stronger very quickly.
"The team is desperate to do well and has quality. We
need to be conscious that we have quality and we have
to show more authority from the start in big games.
The authority comes with the confidence in your
quality."
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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