What with the last 19 hours of frantic face stuffing with chocolate coins, chocolate oranges, ham, turkey, bacon, eggs, sausages, parsnips and, well, stuffing, you’d be forgiven for feeling far too fat to make the effort to even turn on the telly for today’s top-5 tussle at Villa Park. Never mind actually managing to open your eyes for long enough to take in any of the action. Let alone travelling all the way to bloody Birmingham to witness our Cesc-shorn midfield in action.
Word up to the travelling Gooners today – you should be proud of yourselves. Let’s hope it’s well worth the trip.
A word of warning: a source close to Alex Song (he didn’t stay very close for very long) reports that Alex Song ate between 12 and 17 brussel sprouts all by himself at the London Colney Christmas Dinner, which means he’s likely to spend at least the first half attempting to conceal the inevitable blasts of nauseating flatulence from his team-mates (apparently Denilson HATES other people’s farts) and Sky’s microphones.
Let’s hope he can lay some potent, lingering efforts in the space in behind Sagna and Clichy. Lord knows if we play our defensive line as far up the park as we did against Liverpool, we’ll need something to keep Young and Agbonlahor away from the channels. Alex, you’re our man! Get busy.
The best news this week was that Villa’s defensive cornerstone Martin Laursen is likely to miss today’s game through injury. He’s a crucial player for Villa – an excellent defender in his own right who expertly marshals the rest of his back-line, and a real threat at set-pieces too, which we really seem to enjoy conceding goals from.
His obvious replacement, the excellent Carlos Cuellar, is also struggling, so they may be forced to start with the promising but erratic Curtis Davies and the unpromising and erratic Zat Knight. Both are very tall, but neither are especially adept on the ground, so it’s a combination which would have Van Persie (no Ade today remember) licking his slick-shaven chops.
I suspect O’Neill will realise this and risk one of his main men at the back, preferably Cuellar.
Our team: Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Djourou, Galoises, Denilson, Diaby, Nasri, Song, Van Persie, Bendtner
No guarantees from this end, however, that we won’t see a 4-5-1 against such a strong Villa midfield. The problem with that is you’d either have to play Van Persie in a withdrawn role (which would mean there would be little defensive point in having the extra man in midfield as he’d be Rob and would also mean relying on Bendtner having a blinder) or else play him up top by himself (which he’s normally pretty bad at) or else drop him (which would be madness).
Very interested to hear your thoughts on who should start today. It’s a big game – who would you pick?
Whoever’s wearing the golden cannon on their shirt today is going to have to play out of their skin. A few of them have to start playing like Top 4 players, and today would be a great day to start.
Lose, and Villa will have 6 points on us. Not insurmountable by any means (and stand fast against the Sky-eyed gloom-mongers who would doubtless prey on any such result) but certainly it would be another big blow in a week of big blows for our season. Win and we’d sneak ahead of them on goal difference. So we’ll probably draw instead.
Come on you Reds!
Tags: Alex Song, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Aston Villa, Martin Laursen, Martin O'Neill
December 26th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I hope we win, we always win these kind of MUST WIN games.
Ex – vs Man Ure, Chelsea,etc
December 26th, 2008 at 11:31 am
1 would have to really take their hats off to people who go to away games, you know the real fans. some would question ur intent to either support ur club or mate what can only be described as poor jokes, puns (never funny) and NO analysis. I have become a regular reader of your articals in some sort of morbid curiosity regarding the tosh you shall come up with next.
I always try and be constructive about my views so I will say this – maybe change the topic of your blog to something more moronic like a detailed nightly round up of Emerdale or something else the cretins watch. Give Gooners some credit we are better than this rubbish
December 26th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Going to be very tricky. On paper we shoulcd lose this one… We have already been soundly beaten at home by these boys. They have so much pace, Ashley Young in particular scares me, he has it all.
I would be quite happy with a draw considering our injuries, Bendtner, Diaby and Denilson starting does not fill me with much confidence.
Bendtner and Diaby seem to lazy/casual for my liking, Denilson although more promising is not ready yet. But nevertheless who knows with this Arsenal side we could upset the odds and somehow fashion a win ala Chelsea.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am
actual arsenal fan, thanks for your views.
always good to have a broad spectrum of opinion on here and to hear from loyal readers like yourself. in lieu of our own analysis, perhaps you could provide some of your own?
tell us your thoughts on today’s match, i’m sure they’re worth publishing.
thanks again and keep reading!
December 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I don’t see why people should worry. Whether Lausen plays or not, Arsenal will win this one 2-1. Evene in the first leg we shouldn’t have lost, but for some poor decisions in the final third of our game. I’m not worried
December 26th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
i would play this formation.
almunia
sagna-gallas-djourou-clichy
wilshere-denilson-song-nasri
rvp-bendter
firstly, wilshere because i think he would take it to ashley young, get stuck in and maybe put him off his game, coming up against someone younger than him whos not afraid of a battle. also i think hes ready to contribute in some way to our title challnge. this position could also be taken by ramsey.
secondly, as long as the rest of the midfield play as they did at ‘pool (i.e with rockets up their asses) we should be alright, as the problem in the previous villa game was a lack of speed and creativity.
thirdly, go with the two upfront because i think bendter deserves ONE more chance to prove his worth and that he deserves to be playing the first team football that he so vehemently claims he should be.
fourthly (another reason for two upfront) is that whenever we have played 5 across midfield, with the exception of fener, the team has looked congested and slow, holding possesion for long periods of the game around the halfway mark (you only need to look at the sunderland game for a decent example of this).
and FINALLY, we need to keep rvp upfront with someone else, because like you stated he doesnt do so well on his own, and because he is beginning to score goals regularly in big games, so why take him away from that.
any feedback would be much appreciated as this is the first time i have replied to a blog, after much silent observance.
December 26th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
i would hope eboue plays
hel work hard on their midfield
December 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
jack, good reasoned points.
i’d be very surprised to see young jack today. i think ramsey would still be a risk but is more likely.
you also make a good point about 4-5-1 this season which has looked clunky where in previous seasons it’s been very effective (though never as good to watch). I guess it’s just the inferior quality of our midfielders this year.
again we’d need nicklas to have a blinder, but you could free up diaby behind the striker if you played song and denilson behind him, van persie on the left and nasri on the right. or is that a silly idea?
December 26th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
i would love 2 see nasri play the cesc today,god nows he can do it. he`ve done it with les bleus and OM 2,gud luk 4 2days game a good old fashion 1 nil will b perfect.
December 26th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
i think arsenal can overcome the everly impressive villa if i was le boss i would play almunia, sagna, gallas, sillvestre, clichy, diaby, dennilson, ramsey, nasri, rvp, bentner
December 26th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
If the midfield shows up like they did at Liverpool, we have a chance.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
The game is at halftime. Diaby has been useless, he can’t hold the ball up properly and gives away possession to easily. I would like to see Wilshere come on for the last 20 minutes playing in the link-up role. Didn’t AW just say that could be his best possession in the long-term.
December 26th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
lol diaby played fantastic in the 2nd half one of the best arsenal goals this year, pity we couldnt hold on
December 26th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
whats more worrying-that we gave it back from 2-0 or that noone stood out as playing poorly and yet we were still pretty bad-suggests a very very weak team.hope wenger sticks a rocket up em
December 26th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Diaby did raise his game in the second half. Too bad Gallas has such terrible decision making in the clutch. Not one of his teammates even said a word to him after the penalty, not even Almunia, who is the main motivator on the club.
It is easy to tell nobody likes Gallas.