After breezing past Coventry, Arsene may have a few things to think about before selecting his squad for the visit of the racists from West London. Stand out performances from Walcott and of all people Arshavin may give him a few options to consider. Arshavin who seemed to do nothing bit jog and stand still managed to get a goal, win a penalty and get 3 possibly 4 assists?! He's always been a game changer or a flop really. If he is included then down a wing isn't really viable in my opinion as he doesn't track back like Poldi. Arshavin ideal role would be striker or possible CAM, where he's not relied on to get back.
Walcott played well which only reinforces my view that he should be in the team ahead of other players (Gervinho), but for some reason, whether it's to do with his ongoing contract talks who knows, Wenger just doesn't play him first choice. His performance has thrust him into contention none the less and Wenger has some decisions to make. Alex Oxlade Chamberlain also scored a screamer of a goal and will be in with a shout. Of course the most important goal was that of a certain Olivier Giroud who clipped it over the on-rushing goalkeeper. After breaking his duck and me thinking here comes the confidence he promptly had a penalty saved...make of that what you will.
Anyway this weekends game is yet another huge test for us, Chelsea are a team that personally I would have as favourites for the title this year. They were shaky against Stoke but overall their quality has seen them come this far unbeaten. Our record against Chelsea is a bit all over the shop, it's Antone's guess really. What I will say though, is they're unbeaten, we're unbeaten, but we are far from something giving. It's early in the season and both teams would probably take a draw given it now. But I do think there will be goals.
We have no new injury worries and we see the return of Vermaelen after missing out last week with a virus. This gives Wenger a tough decision out of the 3 centre backs, Mertesacker has been a different class this season, Vermaelen the same and Koscielny also played very well last week. I think we'll see him remain with Mert and TV5 for this match. I would also expect Gervinho (sigh) to start upfront after Giroud's run around midweek. The right wing is an interesting call though with Ramsey, Walcott and Alex OC all potential fits. I would expect Wenger to go with the Ox however. So here we go: Mannone, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Diaby, Arteta, Alex OC, Cazorla, Podolski, Gervinho.
As far as I know Chelsea have no injury worries either, Lampard is fit but I'm not entirely sure he'll start. Terry WILL play whilst considering whether to appeal the FA's decision. Obviously with a squad like Chelsea's all players are dangerous but Hazard, Mata and Torres would be the 3 I'd want to watch out for (yes Torres). It will make for a very interesting game to see how hard Chelsea press forward at this early stage in the season.
So all in all it's anyone's guess really. It should be an entertaining match none the less. COYG!
Prediction: Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea
I was sitting here Sunday in utter frustration after watching us dominate the first half yet, still go in trailing due to a lapse at a corner. As we pushed forward I got the feeling that it just wasn't going to happen. Santi Cazorla shot but Joe Hart saved. A corner that came in but City's man of the moment in the first half Lescott didn't clear the lines and it fell at the feet of an off balance Koscielny who let fly and rifled it into the top corner, cuing wild celebrations here and utter delirium at the Etihad as our spectacular away fans celebrated like we'd won the league.
I don't want to dwell on our easily deserved point on Sunday but there were some real stand out performances as well as some complete shockers. Let's start with the stand out ones. Mertesacker at the back was incredible and was easily MOTM, Gibbs and Jenkinson also played well. We were solid in the middle too with Cazorla spraying balls all over the pitch. Upfront it was a different story, Podolski had an off game but that's easily forgiven. Gervinho was absolutely awful, he spurred one guilt edge chance going through one on one but taking the heaviest of touches, and then blazing into the top tier from the D at the death. I can't help but feel that he will only be detrimental to our campaign this year, he's erratic and has a tendency to give the ball away at just the wrong time, or miss that match winning chance. Personally I wouldn't have him in the team.
Right Capital One Cup football tomorrow at the Emirates as we take on Coventry. As usual I would imagine Wenger will use this competition to showcase our young talent. I'm not going to attempt to guess our squad cause quite frankly I know very little of our youth team. We'll see the likes of Miquel, Eastmond, Yennaris, Watt etc. One player to definitely look out for is Thomas Eisfeld who is demon going forward, he never fails to impress me. If you're a gambling man, he'll be well fancied to grab a goal. An interesting question that I saw on twitter earlier was whether to play Giroud in a effort to get him firing. I would certainly be tempted to at least have him there as an option, but I'm not sure about starting him.
Coventry have a had a rough start to the season and are still looking for a first win of the season. They have a couple of players to keep an eye on. Their best player so far this season has been David McGoldrick on loan from Notts Forest but he's cup tied so we wont be seeing him. Gary McSheffrey has been round the block a few times and Cody McDonald can be dangerous with his most successful spell being on loan at Gillingham scoring 25 goals in 41 games.
Other than that I know very little about our opponents but I expect us to win relatively easily whatever team we put out. So lets hope for an easy game! COYG!
Prediction: Arsenal 4-0 Coventry
Afternoon, I have a busy weekend so thought I'd post now. This Sunday we face the biggest test of the season so far and possibly the hardest game we'll have in the league. We travel to City fresh off a very ugly win in Montpellier, which in all honesty we were lucky to win. City on the other hand will have had their confidence dented after leading twice in the Bernabeu only to throw it away conceding two goals in 2 minutes much to the delight of Jose Mourinho.
This is a huge game for us and although we've had a good start to the season much of how people will view us competitively this season will be judged on our performance on Sunday. On how we compete with the "big boys". There is no doubt this is a huge test for our relatively new team.
If we play like we did on Tuesday, giving the ball away sloppily and taking risks with tackles, we will get punished by a team of City's quality. We need to be at our best to really have a chance of coming away with anything. I seemed to think that we were over-complicating things on Tuesday when often the simple ball is the most effective. We were getting caught in possession time and time again and frankly we just looked tired. There will be little room for error and Sunday and all the players need to keep it tight.
Both teams will be tired after big games midweek but in a game like this the team who wants it more usually comes out on top. And our boys certainly want it. Lukas Podolski is certainly not shy in his thoughts and seems confident that we can get a result. I must admit I have been impressed with the whole team ethos this year and we do all seem to have the belief that we can do it.
Teams are total guess work really, especially as they have about 80 players to choose from. For us I think we'll see a similar line up to that we had in France. I'd like to see Koscielny step in if he's fit because I'm not entirely sure Mertesacker can deal with Aguero an other pacey strikers at their disposal. But here goes: Mannone, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Alex OC, Diaby, Arteta, Podolski, Cazorla, Gervinho. I think Arsene will decide to drop Giroud to the bench for this one and keep Gervinho in as well hes got 3 in 2. I do worry about Jenkinson down the right, he'll be given a tough time by City's wingers. But in a big game, players sometimes step up.
Our game of course, follows a hugely important match on Sunday, in terms of football more than anything. I hope it all goes without incident for the sake of relations more than anything.
So all attention turns to Sunday where we'll really test our mettle. COYG!
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal
It was ugly, we rode our luck, they should have scored more. But we took all 3 points and in football that's all that really matters. I'm not going to babble on too long about this but there are a couple of points I'd like to go over.
In the first half, we looked good and dominated until Vermaelen gave away a dubious penalty that on reflection probably was a penalty. Belhanda stepped up and cheekily chipped it right down the middle. This sparked wild celebrations from their fans and I feared the worst. But 7 minutes later we were level through a very classy Podolski goal, after he was passed in from Giroud, who frankly did basically nothing all game. His second touch opened his body up, selling the keeper a dummy and then putting it past him at the near post, a really great goal. 2 minutes later, we were ahead thanks again to Gervinho. Jenkinson who had a touch and go game (dithering a few times), went charging down the wing, as he did a few times to be fair to him, and put in a great cross for Gervinho in the middle who basically couldn't miss but nearly did! 2-1 Arsenal.
We went in at the half and I felt pretty confident that we'd kick on a kill the game off. Sadly the second half we were poor from the get go. We started and Montpellier battered our goal firing shots all over the place. When we did finally clear our lines, we looked tired physically and didn't really look like we had anything left to give. Steve Bould made the changed as the half went on with Giroud (another goaless appearance), Cazorla and Podolski coming off. Montpellier had a golden chance as the seconds ticked down when Mertesacker completely missed with a sliding tackle leaving the player with the ball about 10 yards out only to smash it straight at Mannone who did well to hold onto it. Diaby who thought the referee wanted to send him off?? made a stupid challenge in the box that I thought was a penalty only to see it waved away.
We were lucky and I'm really not sure why we looked so tired in the second half. If we play like that against city,we'll get battered on Sunday. Ah well. Until then have a good week.
Now that is much more like the Arsenal that we know and love, a convincing 6-1 win over a team that frankly we should be beating 6-1. Yes 2 of the goals were own goals but they were both made by strong attacks down the left and that hard low cross into the box that is always prone to get touched in. A gorgeous free kick from Poldi who was brilliant all game, the keeper probably should have done better but the was very well struck. A goal from Walcott which was nice to see and 2 from Gervinho who I have been very critical of recently.
Attention now turns to our first Champions League match of the season which kicks off this evening with our trip to Montpellier. Much has been made about whether or not Olivier Giroud will start after being left on the bench on Saturday which did surprise me in all honesty. I thought it would have been the perfect game for him to play but maybe Wenger had half an eye on this game. With it being his old club as well where, from what I can gather, he was idolised I think it seems almost written that he would score his first Arsenal goal today, should he start. However as Wenger has stated there is a lot of pressure on him and he might rest him to try and take some of that off of him.
As for the rest of the team I think we will see some level of rotation tonight as we have Man City on Sunday and we may have some players that aren't quite rested fully from Saturday. I have a feeling we might see Walcott start tonight possibly along with Ramsey who didn't feature at the weekend. Gervinho could start sitting in the CAM role behind our main striker whoever that may be, with Cazorla shifting out to the wing, or he could start in place of Giroud. He played well at the weekend and there are suggestions that we may have found a role that suits the Ivorian. For me that remains to be seen realistically, we shall see how he performs as to be honest I find him frustrating. Diaby is expected to be fit to play so we'll either see him start or I think he'll come of from the bench after his fantastic performance against Liverpool. Koscielny is another player who could start but I think we may see Mertesacker retain his position for this match and then maybe drop out at the weekend.
The big talking point amongst Arsenal fans has been goalkeepers. Now Szczesny, I'm not gonna sugar coat it, had a day to forget on Saturday and not just because of the mistake that led to the goal. He overall wasn't great. Now Arsenal have come out and said he has an ankle knock, whether that played a part in his performance is difficult to tell, but one thing that is for sure is that we are taking Mannone tonight with young keeper James Shea on the bench.
I'm not gonna predict players to watch for on their team because I know so little about them. I just know they've got off to a poor start in league currently sitting 16th. A player said the other day, if they play like they did at the weekend against Arsenal, they'll concede 8. Confidence for sure then. My line up would be: Mannone, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Jenks, Diaby, Arteta, Poldi, Cazorla, Walcott, Giroud. We'll see what Mr. Wenger goes for. COYG!
Prediction: Montpellier 0-2 Arsenal
Morning everyone, it's matchday!! The first one I've been back in England for so digging up team news and other stuff has been much easier. We're taking on Southampton today and in all honestly we should be winning games like this especially at home, but they have been firing well so far narrowly missing out on points against both Manchester clubs.
Team news coming out of Arsenal is that SZCZ is fit and ready to play and although Mannone has played well in the first 3 games I think we'll see last seasons regular return. Walcott is definitely out with an illness, Diaby faces a fitness test on a slight muscular problem but I think he'll be benched either way. Another question mark for me is Gervinho who to be blunt has been disntinctly crap so far, Alex OC could start on the wing with Cazorla in the middle and Poldi on the other wing. Giroud is yet to have scored that illusive first goal, but the omens are good for the Frenchman with Ian Wright, my hero Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry all scoring their first goals against Southampton, so lets hope he follows suite. Arsenal Team: SZCZ, Jenks, Mert, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Alex OC, Cazorla, Poldi, Giroud.
Southampton are a team I have to say I don't know a lot about having not seen them this season. But dangers players are Lambert (current top scorer with 2), Lallana another dangerous player, Schneiderlin and the new boy Gaston RamÃrez. Without Diaby in the middle we just lack a bit of power but if we can get our passing game into flow early we should be OK in the middle. By the way, a lad to watch for in their back 4 in Clyne the right back, very fast and from what I remember can pick out a good pass.
That's it, short, sweet but to the point. If we get going early I think it could be a long afternoon for the visitors but you never know with Arsenal.
Prediction: Arsenal 3-1 Southampton
Well here we are again, in that dull interlude, where football fans go a little crazy due to withdrawal symptoms. Of course we have internationals but they are boring as fuck so the rumour mill starts to churn out crap again.
Let's start, anyway, with the our first win of the season over Liverpool. It's always good to beat Liverpool at Anfield and although long gone are the days when I saw this fixture as "one of those games" that could go either way, it's still nice to get one over on them. I expected us to win and we did with some real stand out performances. It was great to see Poldi get on the score sheet with his first goal for us (and partially rescuing my fantasy league score) along with Diaby who was simply mustard, creating Lukas' goal along with other chances as we went forward. But once again Santi Cazorla was magnificent to watch, I saw him described as majestic before the game and he really is. It's a shame for him that the Spain squad is as good as it is because otherwise he'd be a regular. My dad said to me "once he scores, he'll be away", moments later he was embracing Gervinho after smashing the ball low under-ish Reina who didn't get down quick enough. A solid performance and scarily a third clean sheet in a row, maybe Steve Bould is starting to work his magic.
So, as I'm sure many of you know, the papers ran a story the other week quoting Sagna as saying something like "losing your best players, of course it affects you". Along with some talk about his contract which is set to run out in 2014. When asked whether Arsenal had contacted him over his contract he said "No, nothing". I can understand Sagna's frustration cause he reflects the mood of a lot of Arsenal fans, but I think he just needs to stop for a moment and take a look at the situation. His contract doesn't run out until 2014 and while I'd rather Arsenal just sorted it out I'm sure they will do so in their own time. As for this "ambition of the club" shit that RVP rolled out, the fans don't buy it, the club don't buy it and player shouldn't see it as an easy way out.
Moving on though, in his interview after the Liverpool game Arsene said that he was impressed with Diaby and he hoped he got through the Internationals OK. However he has picked up a muscular problem, which ruled him out of last nights game with Belarus. On the plus side Wenger isn't concerned saying he has a "small chance" of playing on Saturday which to me means he won't be playing on Saturday. Let's hope it isn't serious and he can get back to his killer form soon.
That's about it for now I'll be back with a pre-match report for the Southampton game on Friday. Until then enjoy your week!
