Happy birthday Gael: what wish would you grant Clichy for the next year

Gael Clichy turns 23 today and with the left back being arguably our most consistent player over the past couple of seasons, showing exactly the kind of positive, never-say-die attitude that us supporters love.

At 23 he's still young in footballing terms, but the Frenchman admits that he feels like one of the old men in Arsene Wenger's squad, as some of his team mates are five or six years younger than him.

“Even last season I felt a bit like this,” said pensioner Clichy. “Now I feel it even more. OK I don’t really feel that old myself but when you have players like Jack [Wilshere] at 16 and Henri [Lansbury] at 17 on the pitch with you then you have to say you are old. That is it.

“So maybe I don’t feel old but I don’t feel young anymore and I have to get used to it. But at the same time, I know I still have time in my career and I hope to achieve great things.”

Remarkably, Clichy has the third highest number of appearances for Arsenal in the current squad - 146 games compared to Kolo Toure's 285 and Cesc Fabregas who is just two games away from his 200th appearance as a Gunner.

Hopefully we'll see many more hundreds of games from Clichy in an Arsenal shirt, as he's my favourite player at the club right now.

But what birthday wish would you grant Gael for the season ahead? Would it be his first Arsenal goal? Maybe you'd like to see him appointed as team captain? Or would it be a Champions League winner's medal? If you have an ideal gift solution for the left back who has everything, then let us know here using the comments section

What the papers say: Toure recovers from malaria

We're all about making your life easier here at Arsenal Addict, where our team of Addicted editors spend every spare second scrutinising news coverage to make sure you're kept up to date with what's going on at our beloved club. So if you don't have the time to trawl through the UK's national newspapers for Arsenal stories, be sure to check back here where we'll do the work for you.

The Sun - Toure gets an illness boost
KOLO TOURE has made an amazing recovery from his malaria battle.

The Mirror - Andrei Arshavin too pricey for Arsenal and Tottenham
Russian ace Andrei Arshavin risks pricing himself out of a dream move to England.

The Telegraph - Arsenal in the hunt for £1 million rated Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan will have his patience tested again after it emerged that Arsene Wenger is keen to bring Victor Moses to the Emirates Stadium.

The Daily Mail - Barcelona boss Guardiola: We could be ready to make move for Adebayor and Drogba
Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola today refused to rule out making offers for Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.

The Daily Express - FA Call Off The Posse
The Football Association are set to sanction a revolutionary new rule that will mean only team captains are permitted to talk to referees next season.

Got an opinion on any of these stories? Then share it with your fellow Addicts using our comments section

Starting 11: Which Gunners would you pick to face Burgenland?

Arsenal face little known Austrian fast food chain Burgenland on Monday night with all of the first team squad back in training as Cesc Fabregas becomes the last of the senior players to return after the summer break.

Fab 4 was given more time than his colleagues to recover from the rigours of the Euro 2008 championships - in which he collected a winner's medal, of course - but the Spanish midfield maestro has been involved in some football master classes in Uzbekistan, so he's not been completely resting during his holidays.

I'd expect a few first team players to get a run out against Burgenland, ahead of the stiffer test of Jens Lehmann's new club Stuttgart next Wednesday but leaving that aside, I'm wondering who would be your strongest team to start the game in Austria on Monday.

Discount Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo through injury and Kolo Toure through illness, but otherwise pick who you believe would be the best possible team Arsene Wenger could field at the moment - bearing in mind that with the season just three weeks away, these will be the players we'll probably be relying on when the new campaign gets under way.

Here are your choices:

Goalkeepers - Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, Vito Mannone

Defenders - Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Philippe Senderos, Johan Djourou, Gael Clichy, Havard Nordtveit, Justin Hoyte, Armand Traore

Midfielders - Emmanuel Eboue, Denilson, Cesc Fabregas, Aaron Ramsey, Samir Nasri, Abou Diaby

Strikers - Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott

For the record, here's who my team would be:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Senderos Clichy

Eboue Fabregas Nasri Diaby

Adebayor Vela

But who would your best 11 be at the moment? Share your starting line up here using our comments section