Afternoon All…
And it’s a BIG BIG game tomorrow… WBA vs Arsenal… And it’s so essential for us to get back to winning ways after a few draws and losses in our recent games. The Barcelona away game and the Man United away game are two games and two competitions we must forget about now and for us, it’s all about the Premier League.
Newly promoted West Brom came to the Emirates, got the ball down on the floor and played football against us – not many teams do that – and it worked for them – they beat us 3-2 and yes, it was a shocker, but it was one of the few times a team has come to the Emirates and deserved to win. No bad tactics, no grudges held…. but revenge would be sweet.
It’s not going to be easy, by any means – they’ve loaned Carlos Vela from us for the rest of the season – and the boy looks like he is trying to prove himself, and has scored two vital goals for them since his arrival. He’s not had an amazing amount of game time, but he is get the cameo appearances from the bench and it’ll be good for him – of course, he is not allowed to play as Premier League rules dictate.
So, let’s go straight over to team news… and injury news… and yesterday Arsene revealed that Thomas Vermaelen would miss the rest of the season… (like we didn’t already know that!)…
“For Thomas Vermaelen the season is over. In fairness he has not played since September, I never expected him to be fit before the end of the season. He is not out on the field yet and it is impossible [for him to play] after six months without competition. I am confident he will have a full recovery but for this season we cannot rely on him.”
With Walcott, Cesc, Song and Djourou also out, it’s going to be a
So, back to the team news, of who can actually play…
Almunia
Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Clichy
Wilshere – Denilson
Nasri – Diaby – Arshavin
Van Persie
With a bench of Lehmann, Miquel, Eboue, Gibbs, Rosicky, Bendtner and Chamakh
This is the line up that I see Arsene playing… mine would be quite different – I’d whack in Miquel instead of Squillaci – he looks like he’s better, seems to be more proactive around the pitch, better vision – and certainly outshone his partner when paired together. I’d also put in Ramsey and Chamakh instead of Diaby and Denilson. Wilshere and Ramsey just ahead of the back four and then Van Persie in the Cesc role, with Chamakh up front… Why? Well, Van Persie is a creator and therefore, why is he our furthest man forward? He drops deep to collect the ball, but then there is no one in front of him. So let him dictate the attacking play (as captain) and give him options…
My XI to play tomorrow would be:
Almunia
Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Clichy
Wilshere – Ramsey
Nasri – Van Persie – Arshavin
Chamakh
Ramsey is a little gem in midfield and the sooner we play him, the better he’ll get – we could do with him in the run-in to the title… that’s for sure… Denilson has put in some decent performances since being dropped, but Diaby hasn’t – well, he hasn’t been dropped – he needs to be…
Come on you Gunners, let’s get one over the Baggies and get our season back on track!
Before I go… a quick one for you – the Champions League draw was made earlier today and it felt really strange not being in there and seeing Sp*rs in their. But hey ho, what can you do…. for those of you that still maintain an interest… here’s the quarter finals.
Sp*rs vs Real Madrid
Barcelona vs Shaktar
Inter vs Schalke
Chelsea vs United
The two stand out ties are Sp*rs vs Madrid and the all English quarter, Chelsea vs United…
Let’s hope this competition keeps United distracted from the league, and let’s hope Real Madrid do one over our North London rivals…
Til tomorrow…
