Morning all, it’s a new week and there’s no point looking backwards. We can sit around all day and wonder why he didn’t pick Arshavin, in particular, or Song but it’s not going to make the slightest bit of difference to anything.
We play Liverpool at Anfield tomorrow night and that’s where the focus has to be. We’ll be looking to bounce back from the Chelsea defeat in the FA Cup, while this will be their first game since going out of the Champions League to Chelsea.
They have the advantage in that they had no game this weekend and they’ve had a bit more time to get over the disappointment. They have no distractions now. The league is their only chance of silverware this season and defeat to us would more or less end their hopes so there’ll be nothing complicated about their preparation.
Meanwhile we don’t have much time to rest some legs and get our heads ready for the game. Robin van Persie says:
We have to play the game against Liverpool on Tuesday now, whether you are happy or if you are not happy. It is the Premier League and we need those points, but I am confident because we have strong characters.
Whether van Persie plays or not remains to be seen, he’s got a groin injury, but let’s hope he’s right about strong characters. As I said yesterday if there’s anybody feeling sorry for themselves after Saturday then they need to snap right out of it and get their heads straight. The guys who didn’t really perform at Wembley will be looking to make amends, I hope.
Obviously the team selection is a crucial part of that and Arsene’s got to look at the mistakes he made in his team selection at the weekend and put things right.
Kolo Toure believes the fact the Liverpool game comes so soon is a good thing, saying:
The good thing is that we only have a couple of days to get this loss off our back. We will head to Liverpool on Tuesday and look to get the three points. We just have to put all this to the back now and focus on the next game.
And he says the young players will learn from the mistakes, which is all well and good but what about the mistakes the more senior players made? They need to step up too.
One man who will no doubt be feeling the pressure is Lukasz Fabianski. As good as he was against Villarreal, he was as poor against Chelsea, but he’s got the backing of the manager, who says:
I just want to see him recover because I firmly believe he will be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He has the talent. He is brave, he is intelligent and technically he is very good. He was not at his best on Saturday but we have to accept that.
Somewhat hyperbolic from Arsene, you have to say, but it’s obvious that he’s trying to give his confidence a boost. In an ideal world Almunia would be coming back into the team but that’s not going to happen. We need Fabianski and if he feels he’s got the support of the manager then it will help him recover. As will a good performance against Liverpool. That will redeem him far more than words and fingers crossed he can do that.
He’s still very young in the life of a goalkeeper and even the most experienced ones can have bad games. Did we not see Jens Lehmann concede similar goals to Chelsea’s second during his Arsenal career? I’ve seen David Seaman beaten at his near post. So these things happen to the best. How he responds to the Chelsea performance will be a big indication of his quality, so here’s hoping he can do that.
As yet there’s no team news for tomorrow but you’d hope that we’d have Bacary Sagna back in the squad. Again I expect a bit more rotation. I think we’ll definitely see Arshavin this time, I think Nicklas Bendtner will start as well, along with Nasri and Song in midfield. Apart from those changes I don’t think we have too many other options, certainly not at back anyway as Djourou and Clichy are still out, the latter likely to miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture of a vertebra in his back.
Anyway, no doubt we’ll have more to discuss tomorrow. Till then.
