Arsene was saying that this group of players would be more likely to give a better account of themselves as they have something to prove and I guess he is right. They certainly did not look like pushovers against Manchester City last week and I expect them to give it a good go tonight. With the pressure off, hopefully the youngsters will go and express themselves without the fear of making
After our tired effort against Fulham, Arsene rested most of the troops in the midweek Carling cup game so we can expect a full squad, well at least the available players. Abou Diaby and Tomas Rosicky miss the game through injury which is a shame as they would have made our bench much stronger, those absentees may open the door for the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who impressed once again in the Carling cup. A
In our last game against Fulham, we saw a lot of tired legs and today's game is a real opportunity to rest key players. The likes of RvP, Theo, Ramsey, Arteta, Song, Santos, Mertesacker and Vermaelen would all be rested. A week's rest can do our key players a world of good so it is definitely welcomed! Wenger in his Presser said there will be a mixture of experience and youth. Experience we all know would come in the likes of Arshavin, Benayoun, Park, Chamakh, Gervinho, Koscielny and Djourou while for the youth we would see the likes of Coquelin, Frimpong, Miquel,
Those games would have taken plenty out of the players, especially Wednesday's game and with so many players currently fresh as daisies and twiddling their thumbs on the bench, I am guessing that a few will be drafted in to freshen things up a little. There is an argument that the players will get a full weeks rest after today and that is very true, a much needed rest at that but that does not cancel
The quality of the opposition and the importance of the game will probably see Wenger stick with the team that shot the Canaries from the sky at Carrow road. It could have been worse as many of our players who were involved for their countries during the international matches only played one game
All eyes turn to our central defenders as other alternatives. Johan Djourou has been given the nod at right back this season when our current first choice duo have been out but that was before Thomas Vermaelen was fit and ready for action. With the extra experience given by Mertesacker in central defence, Wenger could move Koscielny as the more positionally defensive full back, giving Santos a licence to get forward and support the attack a little more from the left. I suppose this all depends
Watching the Arsenal makes me nervous and I could do with a calming early goal. That would do wonders for my heart. I would love us to start aggressively, move the ball quickly and be clinical when in front of goal. If we do grab that first goal then I hope we do not take our foot off the pedal and we
It is important that Arsene is able to find the right balance because many players will need pulling out at vital times whilst we have many top quality players on the sidelines all in need of minutes on the pitch. There is talk of Robin being rested for this but as he recently spent a good 70 minutes on the bench against Stoke City, I do not see him being rested so quickly.
I feel rather strange about this one, strange because I have felt rather confident about the game, I have also read that many Gooners are also feeling rather bullish about this one which makes me then go the other way. We often pull something out of the proverbial bag when we least expect it but now, for a strange reason many people are expecting us to smack Chelsea into
Quite why Chu Young Park is being written off so soon is a mystery to me. Some players take longer to adjust to the Premier League and to our way of playing. Even a player like Arteta who knows the league well has had to adjust to a new set up. Eduardo was a sub for a long while before he got his