[Archived] Arsenal Preview

[RibbleValleyRover]

Holy crap a 4-4-2?

Let's hope our midfield can cope.

[imy9]

Robinson

Salgado Ryan Samba Givet

Jones Grella

MGP

EHD Kalinic Mame

[Nelsta]

i shudder when ever i hear Van Persie is playing against us, so for that i reckon 1-3 arsenal.

[Amo]

Yeah, I very much doubt it'll be a 4-4-2. Anyway, it's good to see Mame Diouf in the team, although I'm worried about Olsson's absence. There isn't a lot of pace down that left-hand side.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

The one game we decide to go 442 is against the most attack minded team in the league. A lot of pressure on Jones today.

[Balwer]

Keef the special guest on Sky Sports!

[Tom]

Surely pedersen isn't going back on the left after playing well in the centre.

And with RVP starting there goes my bets on nelsen or jones for first goal. That bugger always has his best games of the season against us

[bigbrandjohn]

Just hauled my are out of bed and I can't see it on the Fox schedule. Livesoccer tv said they were showing it. Any US mates throw any light on this ?

[Balwer]

Sky Sports thinks its:

Robbo

Salgado Samba Nelsen Givet

Grella Jones Pedersen

MD Kalinic EHD

[Mr. E]

This is a little bit of a strange line-up, not sure if Nzonzi and Olsson should have been dropped...

and yep, just as I guessed it. Van Persie and Fabregas start for their first game of the season vs Rovers. Let's put 'em back on the treatment room then.

[T4E]

Is Keef injured?

[American]

Hopefully we don't need to bring in a goal scorer off of the bench.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Is Keef injured?

Yes

[T4E]

I can't understand choosing Jones over Nzonzi or EHD over Olsson. Particularly the latter, Olsson is better going forward and defensively.

[RoversNCarolina]

Just hauled my are out of bed and I can't see it on the Fox schedule. Livesoccer tv said they were showing it. Any US mates throw any light on this ?

It is on ESPN2 today!

[slough_rover]

That front line of Arshavin, Walcott and Van Persie could absolutely destroy us. Our defence will have to be on top of their game.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

1-0 to Arsenal already and the game hasn't kicked off.

I hate seeing Van Persie's name on their starting XI.

[bigbrandjohn]

It is on ESPN2 today!

Thanks NC. I was watching vacuum cleaner ads

[yellowsubmarine]

This 4-4-2 is actually a 6-2-2 in disguise.

We are not going to win the midfield battle, as Arsenal are just gonna pass by the midfield easily.

I expect a game of long balls from us. Grella and Jones will be the 2 guards to lock up the gates of defence. MGP will be in front of them and spraying the passes left, right, center for Dioufs and Niko. The 2 Dioufs will do alot of running with Niko being the target man.

This is how we are going to score:

After 252 Arsenal passes, Fabregas tries to dribble past Grella, did so but Jones was there to follow up with a successful tackle. Passes the ball to MGP, who finds Niko with a long ball down the middle. Niko heads down to EH Diouf outside the box, sells a dummy to Vermaelen and passes the ball to the M Diouf, who is lurking on the right. M Diouf out-muscled Koscielny and rammms the ball past Aluminium into the roof of the net!

1-0 to us!

[budha]

It's our usual 4-5-1 to my eyes. Diouf x 2 on the wings, Pedersen behind Kalinic.

[Amo]

Bloody hell, we were lucky then. Some slack defending down the left to force the corner.

[slough_rover]

We look shocking at the back already!

[RoverRich]

The midfield pairing is very protective as Jones and Grella are probably the 2 most defense minded midfielders we could employ but one thing we may lack with Nzonzi is his height. His height is very useful in the box for set pieces both defending and attacking and would be another thing to annoy Wenger with. Not sure about dropping Olsson as his pace and defensive ability is useful, especially against Walcott but there are goals in this team so lets just hope it doesn't backfire.

[Amo]

Nelsen's header headed off the line.

[bigbrandjohn]

All over em.