They say the best thing you can do after you fall off a horse is get straight back on again. In footballing terms it’s a good analogy.
To have another game this quickly could provide the perfect antidote to Saturday’s disappointment. In an ideal world it’d be an easier game than the Mugsmashers at Anfield but it is what it is and we have to deal with it.
All the talk has been about how we have to focus on the games ahead, the players and the manager are of one voice about this, and that’s the way it has to be. We need to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible and doing that tonight would be a big confidence boost.
The team news is that Robin van Persie is out with a groin problem, Adebayor is rested to protect a ‘tight’ hamstring, while Bacary Sagna is back in the squad although not yet certain to play, according to the manager. Eduardo should also return to the squad.
One man who will be in the team is Andrei Arshavin. Arsene’s decision to leave him out against Chelsea has been the subject of much discussion ever since. I think pretty much every Arsenal fan expected him to start the game, especially as he’d been cup-tied for the Champions League, but he didn’t and I suspect Arsene might look back on it, when he has time, and think he made a mistake.
Arshavin himself must have been upset not to start, particularly in a game against a team managed by his national coach. He doesn’t strike me as a sulker though and the perfect response tonight would be the kind of performance that says ‘Next time, Arsene, pick me’.
I think we’ll see Arshavin and Bendtner up front tonight, Nasri and Alex Song should come straight back in for Diaby and Denilson, neither of whom contributed much at Wembley. I know Cesc didn’t play particularly well but he was struggling to cope with 50% of our midfield being hapless. I think with the more dynamic Nasri on the left and Song clearly in the best form of his Arsenal career to date it will suit the captain better and I expect a big game from him tonight.
Defensively we have to be better than at the weekend. You’d hope Fabianski can bounce back and that Sylvester can do better than he did, although it’s becoming easier to see why United were so happy to let him go. Fingers crossed they can hold up because in Fernando Torres the ‘smashers have a striker capable of scoring Henryesque goals. He’ll be a real danger tonight, no question.
As I said, I think on the Arsecast, winning becomes a habit. Or not losing, at least. At the same time, it’s easy to slip into a run of poor results, and we’ve seen this team struggle earlier in the season after a poor defeat. However, in the cold light of day you can look at the Chelsea game, leaving aside our complaints about the team selection, and while the first goal was generous, if not a gift, the second one came in a lovely box with a ribbon on top and a personalised card saying ‘Dear Didier, especially for you, love Lukasz and Mikael‘.
We didn’t play well, at all, but we didn’t get turned over like chumps. So let’s take that as some kind of positive. We’re unlikely, I hope, to play that poorly again and there’s some history in this fixture. We have unhappy memories of Anfield from last season. Eight minutes away from the Champions League semi-finals, then one dodgy penalty and counter-attacking goal later and we’re out. The manager says that’s forgotten, that it’s not an issue for tonight, but I can’t imagine there isn’t any player who played in that game last year who won’t have it somewhere in the back of their mind.
And going further back in time we’ll be wearing our away kit which is, of course, modeled on the kit we wore in 1989 when we so famously won the league. I don’t think any Arsenal fan needs reminding about that night, the anniversary of which we’ll celebrate on May 26th. That night nobody gave the Arsenal team a prayer of winning the game, let alone by two goals, so it’d be nice if the current crop could replicate the result.
It’s not going to be easy though. Liverpool’s last chance of a trophy this season is the league and having gone so long without winning it they won’t be giving up the chance easily. They know that anything less than a win is more than likely going to end their chances so their motivation will be high.
Not that I expect any lack of motivation from us. The manager will know a win tonight will repair some of the damage done by the Chelsea defeat and he’ll be anxious for his team to perform and get the right result. He says:
We have to accept what happened on Saturday, to deal with it and not repeat it. Of course we are disappointed having lost in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, but we want to bounce back quickly. Winning is what we live for.
A win would open up a 10 point gap on Aston Villa and practically assure us of a top 4 finish, at least. It would also put us just 3 behind Chelsea would play their game in hand tomorrow night against Everton. With them still to play in the league it could make things very interesting. Realistically though, with the schedule we have, fourth is as far as I see us going this season.
Our record in the games against the other teams in the ‘big four’ has been good this season. Surprisingly so given the form we were in when we played them. Now that we’re going into these games with a much better run behind us, Saturday’s blip apart, it’ll be very interesting to see how we fare. They talk about us having a say in the destination of the title. Frankly I don’t care one bit about that unless it’s headed our way.
I just want us to get as many points as we can between now and the end of the season and that starts tonight.
Come on Arsenal. More tomorrow.
