 |
| Merry Christmas! |
Good evening (or early morning) Arsenal fans. Here's hoping you all had a good Christmas if you observe that holiday. And if you don't, I'm sure you got the day off of work anyway, which is always a plus. Tomorrow is our match against the Hammies, marking the second match of five that we play within thirteen days (if that makes any sense. What I'm trying to point out is that there is a lot of games in a short period of time). So Boxing Day greets us with a London Derby. (I want you all to know that when I first became an Arsenal fan, I thought Boxing Day meant that you Brits watched a lot of Boxing matches the day after Christmas. True story).Anyway, West Ham are one spot away from the absolute bottom of the table, but as Wenger warns us, they are capable of unexpected performances:
"We know that West Ham have made surprising results. They have won twice at Tottenham this season now and can be a tough opponent"
Of course, we can't believe that Big Sam will just chew his gum and roll over for us. He's looking to take a leaf out of Chelsea's book:
"Arsenal had a very tactical game (against Chelsea). We could do with locking them out like Chelsea did.
"We got tumbled over twice by them last year, particularly at the Emirates, so we'll protect ourselves on Arsenal's abilities and then try to exploit their weaknesses."
What that means to me is that we can expect more of the same from Monday. Except West Ham does not have the talent that Chelsea have, so look for them to play with more, erm, passion. I'm expecting hard tackles, elbows, shirt-pulling and "strategic" fouling. Lots of kicks in the midfield. Let's hope we have a decent ref for the match.
I'm looking for Arsene to do some rotation tomorrow. With Mikel possibly nursing his swollen ankle, Flamini could make an appearance along with Bendtner. Olivier battled hard and did not convert the few chances given him on Monday, so a rest on the bench against another physical team could be warranted. Will Theo make another start? As I stated last post, his impact is minimal when playing against teams who do not allow space behind them. On the other hand, he does offer fresher than fresh legs. But so do Poldolski and Santi who hasn't played since Napoli on the 11th. Wilshere is still suspended, so Ramsey may have to play other 90 minutes.
As for the center backs, a partnership of Koz and Vermie does make me shudder, but Per has not had a break in an eon. He is the constant of constants, but he at some point he needs a rest.
We know that Le Prof doesn't like to make more than three changes or so at a time, so I will say that Bendy, Flamini, and Santi will start. Check in for the post-match report to see how right I am.
In other news, John Cross of the Mirror has been busy this Christmas Day writing a bunch of articles and posting them on Twitter. The two most interesting I found were:
Unsettled Sagna ready to listen to offers in January. Sign him up Arsenal #afc http://t.co/Llpx561GOT
— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) December 25, 2013
This news about Sagna grieves me so. I can't say I'm surprised that he's feeling unsettled. If things were all good, he'd have signed an extension long ago. He's been such a great asset for Arsenal and taken a beating for us. I know he's 31 and Arsenal don't like to offer long-term contracts to older players, but he is so physically robust and can fill a center back role as well - I think it's good business for the club to invest in him. Seriously, this dude bleeds the red and white.
The other article posted dealt in transfer news. I don't usually give transfer news any substance until the window actually opens, but since Cross is the Arsenal reporter for the paper, I assume he's got some insider knowledge. I can't admit getting that excited over a 20 year-old striker from the Belgium league, but considering it's January, bigger fish may not be available to fry. He does have 13 goals in 20 matches, so maybe there is something there than can be useful. I have included a compilation I found on YouTube for your perusal.
I guess that's it for now. I'm fully expecting three points with minimal physical damage to our boys. Have a good one Gooners!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave a Comment, Handsome!