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This newly constructed Arsenal team need wide players with stamina and athleticism. Andrey Arshavin cannot run up and down the flank for 90 minutes every three days. Since he joined in 2008, he was able to get away with misplacing passes and shooting straight at the keeper instead of finding the corners because he was still nudging through diagonal slide rule passes to runners and setting up goals. To be honest, Andrey Arshavin

The lack of natural full backs really affected our game and you could see the difference when Richards surged forward on the right for the home team. He gave them a great outlet that we simply didn't have.  They used that option to push us back especially in the first part of the first half

I would be very surprised if Arsene Wenger and the players did not think along those lines, playing for the draw will not be on the agenda come kick off. I will be very interested to see how Mancini approaches the game given the recent defeat at Chelsea, he will be more than aware of the threat posed by Theo Walcott and Gervinho on either flank. I suspect that Vincent Kompany will be responsible for looking after Robin van Persie

I still look back to our last clash with much fondness. Arsenal made me so proud in the San Siro back in 2008. We were exceptional that night, a total level above Milan. Hleb, Fabregas and Adebayor were all superb but for me Mathieu Flamini was the best player on the pitch and if it wasn't

When Thierry Henry came back to the Emirates with the New York Red Bulls, it was amazing to see how the whole team looked for Henry first no matter where they were on the pitch, to the point of looking a little silly. In Henry's last season at Arsenal, where he could hardly run, it was the same

Let me paint this picture for you, if Chelsea beat the Mancs at Stamford Bridge and then we go to Oil City and win then the gap between them and us gets reduced to six points. We all know that six points in a title race is diddly squat. I want to know how the blue Mancs would deal with Champions League exit and subsequent defeats to Chelsea and Arsenal. I would love to see a dressing room of

Nonetheless, assists aren't the only way to create chances; in most cases (excluding stoke city) it takes more than a pass and a shot to score. In this respect, Rosicky is excellent. Firstly, he has an excellent awareness of space in the final third. His uncanny ability to spot gaps between the opposition defense and midfield means he often assists the assist (similar to Hleb few years back). These 'pre-assists' are not statistics often mentioned, but the fact is, these passes are often just as important as the assists. He has made 5 'key passes' this season (a key pass is a pass that is instrumental in creating the goal but not the assist itself), joint highest at arsenal along with Ramsey (note that Ramsey had 3 times the amount of starts). A great example of this is in the video below against West Brom (jump to 0.40), where he gives the pass to van

Robin van Persie was not having a good game, he was uncharacteristically losing possession and he was not able to influence the game as he usually does. Well that was the case until 70 minutes when Song who had played a number of over hit passes in the final third, played a perfectly floated pass to van Persie who spun off his man and volleyed first time past Howard and in off the post. A world class strike from a world class

For the last few seasons, Everton have pressed us hard from the front and have not allowed our defenders and deeper midfielders time and space on the ball, the back up players have just had a tough time playing against that tactic, so it will be interesting to see how Arsene counteracts that if

For example, in a game like West Brom at home why not replace Alex Song for Francis Coquelin and keep the rest of the first team together and then for the next game bring back Song and replace Ramsey for Rosicky etc. When it comes to the big games like Chelsea away then select the best players you have in every position. This would keep the team very strong whilst giving players the required rest over the course of the season so when it comes to the home straight, players are not burnt out and we can power our way past Manchester City. Yes you read that correctly. I always expect