I don’t like to see Van Persie wide left. I understand that Arsene wants to match his opposition and not get overrun in midfield but it takes alot of our attacking threat away

I don’t usually feel this way about a match against Manchester United. Normally there is excitement and anxiousness. This time around I feel a little flat and even a bit of fear about the upcoming game this afternoon.

If we were level on points with a good run of form behind us then my thoughts and feelings would be very different.

A fresh Ronaldo and Rooney along with a easy midweek victory against Roma will see Manchester United going into this game in very good shape. It is not quite the same for us. We have alot of tired bodies and minds out there and will feel very deflated after the injustice at Anfield.

Football is not always black and white we certainly know that. If there is one team that can go to Old Trafford and win by out playing probably the best all round team in England right now is us.

Theo Walcott has had a whole load of praise heaped on him after his cameo performance against Liverpool in the Champions League. Sven even called him the English Maradona which of course is ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, Theo provides something in our squad that we do not currently have and only he could have created Adebayor’s assist but there is a long way to go for the young winger / striker.

I have witnessed Walcott making the wrong decisions during matches alot this season. He needs to learn when to play it simple and when to run at defenders. Quite often he ends up running at the fullback and falling over. I also think that Theo can be a little obvious in his attempt to beat the left back as Eboue also is. In my personal opinion Eboue has better build up play but Walcott has much better end product. A combination of the both would see a pretty good player. I would continue to use Theo Walcott as an impact substitute where defences are not as organised and compact.

Hopefully Theo can develop his all round game more from now until the start of the new season.

I expect Eboue to continue on the right with Gilberto replacing the injured Flamini. Van Persie will probably start alongside Adebayor or wide left with Hleb playing either off Adebayor or wide.

I expect the line up to be:

I don’t like to see Van Persie wide left. I understand that Arsene wants to match his opposition and not get overrun in midfield but it takes alot of our attacking threat away from our side and makes Van Persie alot less threatening.

Is this a long term plan of Wenger’s? If everyone is fit (Rosicky, Van Persie, Eduardo etc) will he continue to play strikers out wide to match the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and other European giants?

I personally would rather see Van Persie floating deep of his strike partner and drop into midfield when we lose the ball. Yes, he is not as defensive minded as say Hleb but at least we have him in a central area.

If he wanted to play Van Persie in a wider area then I would rather he played from the right as he does for his country and switch Hleb on the left with Cesc breaking from midfield to support Adebayor. Anyway, it is down to the boss to get this right as we are sure to see this next season.

Prediction: Manchester United 2 Arsenal 0 – I hate being negative but I cannot see anything other than a Manchester victory. (My predictions have been wrong for the last few months so this is my plan *ahem*)

Arsene has come out and spoken about his transfer policy and his plan to bring in one experienced player, I will speak about this in another article next week.

Enjoy the game.