Good morning all and a happy Friday to you. This week seems to have really dragged, no midweek football after a weekend defeat isn’t necessarily a good thing.
All the focus now will be on Chelsea though. Arsene’s press briefings will take place today, no doubt the United game will be rehashed but I’m not sure there’s much left to say about that, regardless of the questions he’ll be asked today. The early team news is out and it’s not particularly inspiring. Eduardo’s ‘small, small, small’ hamstring problem is big enough to keep him out of the game which is a bit of a loss. With his Brazilian skin and big brown eyes, we could have slapped a bit of lippy on him and sent him out dressed as Vanessa to distract John Terry.
In seriousness though, it’s no real surprise but still a disappointment. Carlos Vela also misses out with an unspecified injury, which could be an ankle or knee depending on who is giving out to me when I suggest he’s been left out due to other reasons. The only other question mark is over Abou Diaby who is still not in full training but is a ‘maybe’ for Sunday. I’d be surprised to see him, I have to say. He picks up this calf injury quite regularly and it’s normally 3-4 weeks before we see him again. The manager might risk him, thinking he needs to boost his midfield, but then faces the prospect of losing him for longer when he could prove useful during the run-in. The solution, perhaps, is to get players that don’t break as easily as your average Toyota, but that’s an argument for another day.
The reality is that with no Diaby his options to change things around in midfield are limited. Will he drop Denilson and play the still raw Ramsey against Chelsea’s experience? Perhaps move Rosicky or Nasri in there alongside Cesc. And will last season’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea have any bearing on his choice of keeper? Hopefully we’ll get a better idea after all his talking later on. That he’s cancelled the players days off and had them in for extra training is good. I like that.
Former manager George Graham expresses some concerns about this current Arsenal side, the lack of physicality in particular, but he reckons we’re in with a shout on Sunday, saying:
Everyone assumes that Arsenal could just be overpowered on Sunday but there are definite weaknesses in the Chelsea defence which they could exploit. Even a draw would be a great result for Arsenal and I really think they can get that. With 13 games to go after that, Arsenal could go on another long run against the weaker teams, while I think Chelsea and United will both drop more points.
I think that is the straw to which we are all clutching at the moment, but for me everything’s very simple now: defeat against Chelsea on Sunday would spell the end of our title chances. A draw I can live with but that has got to be followed up with three points against Liverpool at home. Two massive games coming up, and let’s hope we’ve got what it takes to come through these massive games better than the last two massive games.
And while we’re all still feeling a bit sorry for ourselves in light of the United game on Sunday, which is perfectly normal and understandable, it’s worth having a read of the ‘holic today who brings a measure of experience and perspective to things.
In today’s Sun a story about Nice striker Loic Remy. His agent says we’re interested in him for next season. So that’ll be him and Chamakh as Arsene’s revolutionary new 2-3-5 formation takes shape. Good job we don’t need a striker now though.
Right, in terms of news that’s about it so on with this week’s Arsecast. Joining me to discuss United and Chelsea and all the related guff is Goodplaya. As well as that we have an update from Andrei Arshavin, The Man in the Bar gives us a sneak preview of his new concept album and there’s the usual waffle in between all that with, perhaps, the odd mention of the Chelsea captain ahead of Sunday’s game.
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Have a good ‘un folks, more tomorrow.
