It’s rare that you hear games at the top of the table being described as ‘6 pointers’, but when put to him at Friday’s press conference that today’s clash with Everton was one of those, Arsene Wenger agreed.
As it stands they’re four points behind us but with a game in hand. Win today, win their remaining games, and Everton are in the Champions League next season. It’s easy to see how motivated they’re going to be for this one, and they come into this fixture with some real momentum behind them.
However, it’s not as easy as it sounds. The Toffees still have to play both Manchester clubs before the season is out, and how typical would it be for Moyes’ nightmare season to take a jump forward at the expense of his old club? And if you look at the 15 points Everton have taken recently, they’ve come against teams you would expect them to beat (West Ham, Cardiff, Swansea *cough*, Newcastle and Fulham).
It’s not to downplay the task at hand today, nor the quality of Everton because we know from two games already this season that they’re an excellent side, but I don’t quite see this game as make or break as it’s being made out. Obviously we want to win because that puts some distance between us and them, but I don’t think not winning is the end of our top four hopes either.
In terms of today’s team I don’t think it will be, or really can be, much different to the one we put out against Man City. However, away from home I suspect Lukas Podolski will have to content himself with a place on the bench. I think we’ll see Flamini and Arteta central again, and perhaps Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain deployed as part of the front three (maybe on the right side). Santi Cazorla could come central with Rosicky out wide, but there’s some room for the manager to play around with exactly how we line up.
But what’s at the forefront of my mind this morning isn’t necessarily the line-up but how we react in a game away from home, when the kick-off is relatively early (although not Kryptonite O’Clock), and when there’s a serious amount of pressure and expectation on us to perform. We know only too well how things have gone in games like this in the very recent past, and if you were Roberto Martinez you’d be sending your team out to start the game as well as possible, knowing an early setback for Arsenal could well shatter confidence as it did elsewhere.
The discussion about how things went that wrong at Anfield and Stamford Bridge has been done to death and there’s no real clarity on why. A combination of preparation, tactics, team selection and pressure created woeful performances and we were duly punished. For those who take comfort that those defeats came against the best teams in the league probably don’t want to hear that at this level any repeat of such a performance against any team in the league is likely to end in defeat, so we really do have to be in this game from the very start.
Everton came to our place back in December and I think it’s still the best display I’ve seen from an opposition team this season. The heavy defeats were more down to our own ineptitude than being unable to cope with the brilliance of the team we were playing, but that day Everton were excellent. It’s a game we probably should have won, scoring so late, but their equaliser, like their performance, was fantastic.
The 4-1 FA Cup looks more emphatic on paper, but that was another very close game and the scoreline was given some nice gloss with two quick goals inside the last 10 minutes. I don’t think it was representative of the qualities of the two teams, and from what we’ve seen this campaign, we’re pretty evenly matched when it comes right down to it.
From our point of view we’ve got a boost with Aaron Ramsey back in the squad, and having that little bit extra on the bench might well is a bit of a comfort. We don’t have much that can change the game in general, but both Podolski and Ramsey can do it that if required.
And if Everton are confident, and rightly so, then our second half against Man City should certainly have provided us with a boost going into this game. Behind at the break, we found a bit of that inner-Arsenal we all hope the team has, and got ourselves level. Indeed, but for a clip of Joe Hart’s heel, it was a game we could have taken three points from. There’s no doubt it’s been a difficult period for us, but we’re more than capable of getting what we need from this game.
Three points would, I think, go a long way to securing the top four spot. Our run-in is a lot less taxing than Everton’s and it would also be the ideal preparation for next weekend’s cup semi-final. Regardless of the opposition in that game, we don’t want a week of hearing about how we have to respond and put things right. Less firefighting required, and that has to start with a professional performance today.
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Time for some bacon, a dog walk, then the game. Come on you reds.
