There's been loads of speculation, naturally, about him leaving since the Chelsea debacle last summer. Real Madrid and Barcelona have, inevitably, put themselves in the frame along with Jose Mourinho's Premiership champions. But when asked this week if he would be leaving, Cole said,

"I'm staying. Who said I was leaving?"

"There has been a lot of speculation about me leaving but I've not thought about it."

After what happened before, it's hard to completely swallow the 'not thought about it' part. He may have been duped into meeting Chelsea, but it was only possible because he was looking into his options. Still, all that really matters is the 'I'm staying' bit.

Some Arsenal fans were so angry over the tapping-up that they'd have been happy to see Cole leave. That's a ridiculous over-reaction. He's a world class defender, an Arsenal supporter, and as he himself has admitted, probably not the sharpest tool in the box. He made a mistake and he's been punished for it, and although he was looking at his options, I've never seen anything to make me think that leaving ever became his preferred option.

While Mathieu Flamini has been tremendous filling in at left back this season, including some 'man of the match' standard performances, he doesn't carry quite the attacking threat that Cole or Gael Clichy does. And with those 2 coming back from injury, it looks like we could start next season with an embarassment of riches at full back. Of course, we thought we did at the start of this season, and then the positions were decimated by injury. That's not likely to happen again, touch wood.

Assuming that Lauren and Kerrea Gilbert also return, we'll have a similarly strong trio at right back. While I can't see anyone keeping Cole out of the left sided position if he's fit, the right is less clear. If Emmanuel Eboue hangs onto the position, as seems likely, perhaps it's at right back that we'll be making a sale this summer. Arsenal may feel it's time to cash in on Lauren.

We could also have Justin Hoyte back in the squad, following his year-long loan to relegated Sunderland where it sounds like he's done pretty well. Hoyte can play on either side of defence, and has played at centre back too. Hoyte says that he's got no regrets about the season, despite watching Arsenal get to the Champs League final while he watched from the foot of the Premiership table. He probably would have played too, I'm sure he'd have been tried at left back a good players earlier than Flamini was!

With Hoyte back and able to play on either wing, our cover in the full back positions will be even better than it was at the start of this season: having discovered Flamini and Gilbert, and Eboue having blossomed in style. Could be too good in fact, it'd be shame to see Flamini not playing, and Gilbert in particular could do with getting more playing time at this stage of his career. So it wouldn't be at all surprising to see a little pruning, even if just another season-long loan for Gilbert or maybe Hoyte again.

Hoyte can't play in the Arsenal game on Monday because of loan conditions. Ashley Cole is in the squad and likely to be used at some point at least, in fact I wouldn't be surprised to see him and Gael both used, one in midfield and one in defence. They both played 90 minutes of a reserve game last week, swapping positions at half time.