Arsenal at Old Trafford – the Untold Preview « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
By Phil Gregory
You know the negativity surrounding Arsenal is getting a little silly when your Everton-supporting boss bets you £10 that they will finish above Arsenal this season. Now, I know we’ve lost a few players this summer, but for a club who’s only summer signing is a contract extension for Phil Neville, well… At least I’m going to be £10 richer come May.
Much more importantly, Arsenal put in a cracking performance versus Udinese. Yes, we struggled in the first half but whatever they gave us in the first 45 minutes we dished back with interest in the second half. That result took us into the group stage draw, which turned out to be fairly tricky, with pots two and three yielding decent sides and us getting the strongest pot four side, according to Wenger. That said, trips to Germany, Greece and France are hardly deepest darkest Ukraine or Russia, so every cloud has a silver lining. Manchester United may have had their usual easy draw of Blyth Spartans and the semi-pro side of a Romanian monastery but such is life.
And then of course there is the small matter of a trip to Old Trafford, with a depleted squad. Frimpong and Song are both suspended, as is Gervinho. After coming back from injury in the Udinese tie, Djourou and Rosicky are fit to play part at Old Trafford. Vermaelen faces a fitness test but is expected to be fine, while the signs are looking positive after the Frenchman ha a positive fitness test. Bendtner is out with a minor ankle injury, whilst Gibbs has been ruled out and Squillaci is not expected to be involved.
Jack Wilshere has been sent to an ankle specialist, and there seems to be an element of confusion around his injury. Let’s hope the parallels to Vermaelen’s injury last season stop there!
Szcznesy
Jenkinson Koscielny Vermaelen Sagna
Ramsey Lansbury
Rosicky
Walcott Van Persie Arshavin
It’s a very depleted Arsenal side that travel up to Old Trafford. Fortunately we have caught a break with the likely inclusion of Koscielny, who I think is a fantastic player and a small doubt around Vermaelen doesn’t look like keeping him out. With Gibb’s continued absence, Sagna stays out on the left and Jenkinson continues on the right.
The midfield is the tricky one. Jokingly, I posted on a friend’s Facebook after Song’s ban that they would be travelling up there with Frimpong-Ramsey-Rosicky , but now that line-up looks almost luxurious, given the presence of a holding midfielder! With our two defensively minded midfielders banned, the balance of the midfield isn’t great and we’re forced to ask some players to do a job they wouldn’t normally do. I’ve gone for Ramsey and Lansbury to play a deeper role in midfield, but neither are holding midfielders. It’s a hell of an ask for the two youngsters, but for me it looks the best of a very limited range of options. Apart from that, you’re looking at something from leftfield like a defender holding the midfield, but I don’t see it happening personally.
Up front Van Persie leads the line, with Walcott on the right and Arshavin on the left. Walcott caused Udinese a few problems and has started the season well but Arshavin has struggled and didn’t offer much against Liverpool. Hopefully he’ll pick the very best of moments to raise his game: you’d never bet against Arshavin to pull something out of nothing.
This tie is always going to be a tough one. United looked good against Spurs, but it was a depleted Spurs side with a very lightweight midfield that was brushed aside, let’s not forget. It’s easy to see Manchester United spend big in the summer, rack up a three nil win and hail them as being outstanding, but many seem to be forgetting the game versus West Brom that they won via a very fortunate late goal.
Indeed United have a few injuries themselves, with question marks around some of their main men in defence. I won’t dig into who’s expected to be fit as Ferguson tends to give out a lot of disinformation, but suffice to say they are likely to be playing a couple of the young defenders, certainly at rightback.
The ankle-biter Fletcher is in the squad after a virus – the poor mite – but probably won’t start in what is likely to be a fast-paced, intense game of football. Reports on Howard Webb’s availability for the Red Devils has just been confirmed via the excellent RefWatch.
My main cause for optimism is that in terms of creativity, I think our midfield isn’t actually too shabby, and will do a good job of keeping possession against this United side, especially given that they are shorn of Fletcher. Defensively we are hugely lacking in the middle, but our back four is fairly solid and I’ll always have confidence when we can put both Vermaelen and Koscielny together in defence. That said, it is a depleted side, and our midfield will need to play out of their skins defensively if our back four isn’t to be exposed fairly regularly.
Sadly I’ll be stuck at work during this shift, though the boss has agreed to let me wear my colours whilst serving in the pub. Hopefully we do alright otherwise I’ll be in for a ribbing. As for the scoreline… right now I’d take a 1-1 draw.
Refwatch: we think it is Howard Webb, and the PGMOL web site is gone