Blackburn away: the Untold Arsenal preview « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does

By Phil Gregory

Here we are again, Blackburn away. Fresh off the blower asking the box office why my tickets haven’t arrived yet (they were very helpful to be fair) we’re straight into the match preview.

Arsène’s started up with the pre-match mind games, though he’s directed them at the referee. In speaking about the anti-football teams’ approach in assaulting goalkeepers, he’s looking to focus the referee’s mind on the issue so that when the game comes around, the referee deals with it appropriately.

Some would say it’s not his place to influence the referee and they may have a point, but I’d argue that if the referee isn’t observing the laws of the game, then Wenger has every right to bring his focus back to the book.

Looking at the rulebook, let’s not forget it is an offence to both hold an opponent (despite what Peter Walton and Nemanja Vidic may have thought last weekend) and impede the progress of an opponent. We saw both those offences clear as day on a few occasions in this fixture last season, but many Arsenal fans decided to settle on the “Fabianksi is terrible” line of argument instead of having a look at why he could only flap at the crosses (the poor bloke couldn’t even get near them thanks to some Blackburn oaf having illegally moved to block him off).

Unfortunately, this sort of nonsense is “part of the English game” and so fouls that would be stonewall fouls if they occurred out of the area (or stonewall arrests if they occurred in the view of a copper outside a pub on a Saturday night) go unpunished inside the box.

Hopefully Arsène Wenger’s comments will bring a little more sanity to the situation, but I’d go and put my money on us conceding from a set piece thanks to some foul not given right now if they took the bet at my local bookies.

Anyway, moving on and the news isn’t too bad (for us) on the injury front. The longer-term absentees of Bendtner, Frimpong, Ramsey and Nasri are all out, but thanks to our squad depth, none of those losses leaves us with a gaping hole in the squad. With Cesc making his return against Blackpool last weekend, and both of his deputies out, it seems likely we’ll see the Spaniard start his first game of the season along with Robin Van Persie.

Much has been made of a shift back to 442, but it’s all taking Wenger’s comments out of context really. When Robin came on versus Blackpool, Chamakh was put out wide right which works fine. Bendtner did well in the role at the start of last season. A big, tall player out in that role has a huge size advantage over the average fullback and offers a direct option on the counter attack.

One big misconception is that “he’s out on the wing” but he’s really not. He’s not being asked to hug the touchline like a traditional winger, he’s playing in the inside channel (as an inside forward). His fullback can offer an option on the overlap, while he can drive into the box in between the fullback and the left sided centreback (assuming he plays on the right).

This creates space. If the fullback follows him, our fullback has acres of space to measure a cross in while if the centreback moves to close him down, it creates space in the middle for Robin. It’ll be a fluid set-up, with Robin doing some time out wide and Chamakh in the middle but the theory at the heart of the tactic is sound. Drag players out of position, create space and exploit it.

Onto the team then.

Almunia

Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Clichy

Song

Fabregas Diaby

Walcott Van Persie Chamakh

Most of the team picks itself. Almunia continues in net (and again I implore Arsenal fans to get behind him) while the back four that played at Anfield is seemingly our first choice, though the France international Squillaci may have other ideas.

Song returns to the holding role after a stint at the back, while Cesc resumes the playmaker role. Abou Diaby is one player who has looked good so far this season, and he’ll need to keep it up with intense competition for the final centre-midfield slot once everyone is back fit. Denilson, Ramsey, Nasri and Rosicky will all have claims to the position leaving Wenger with a nice problem to have to deal with later on in the season.

Finally up top, I’ve gone for Chamakh on the left as I don’t see Theo being dropped in his current, clinical form. Whether Theo will make as big an impact remains to be seen, as Blackburn will sit much deeper and he won’t have the same space. However he can always get away from a player, and as long as he puts away his chances I’ll be happy.

Theo and Chamakh playing wide quite clearly leaves Arshavin out of the starting line-up. The little Russian has been taking some unfair stick recently. His performances haven’t matched his level set at the beginning of  2009 but it’s fairly well documented that he’s playing with injury. With our depth of options in the forward positions, it could be wise to take him out of the firing line and do whatever needs to be done to help him return to form and fitness.

The bench should be strong, with the likes of Denilson likely to get some minutes if we are comfortable. Rosicky, Eboue, Vela, Wilshere amongst others will give us excellent options off the bench.

Prediction time. We all know what we’re going to get from Blackburn, but that team I’ve put out there has enough size and strength to dish it right back out, and has the advantage of being able to play some fantastic football too. I’m not fussed about performances here, I just want a tricky game out of the way and three points in the bag. 3-1 to the Arsenal, though I think we’ll grab the two goal cushion quite late on.

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