The preview is back – and I’ve certainly picked a good game for it. Arsenal versus United. « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

And with the arrival of Manchester United to the Emirates, so to there is the slightly less heralded return of myself to the exalted company of the Untold bloggers. Fortunately Tony hadn’t put me on probation for crimes against sportswriting, in actual fact I had to put my blogging commitments on pause with university workload increasing drastically around the exam period. I had actually hoped to be back in place for the Swansea game as my exams were over in the days before that – had I been, I can’t imagine I would have anticipated that result correctly – but I got a call from a prospective employer and exam preparation which had just begun to tail off was replaced with interview preparation, and so I could only return this weekend, for the United game. Off to Scotland I trekked again, and as for the first interview, some of the very pleasant people who interviewed me were quite keen for a chat about football, which was nice. You can’t go wrong  when the first question is your opinion on Thierry Henry’s return to the Arsenal! We did even get around to talking about some serious stuff too, so not all was lost.

Anyway, the small matter of the United game. Both sides are pretty hard hit by injuries for this game, we ourselves have the well-documented defensive injuries. Arteta was a big loss against Swansea, we certainly suffered a loss in the fluency of our passing and our recycling of the ball compared to when he was present for previous games. Both Henry and Vermaelen may be available, though neither are necessarily expected to be fully fit in time for Sunday. Those closer to returns, such as Gibbs and Coquelin, will find Sunday is coming just too soon for their involvement.  United are similarly limited, with quite a few of their own absentees. Whilst information Ferguson gives out in press conferences is notoriously unreliable, key men Vidic and Fletcher are out for the long term, while various offensive players are laid up.

Taking all that into account, I’m expecting something along the lines of:

Szcznesy

Djourou Koscielny Mertesacker Miquel

Song Ramsey

Rosicky

Walcott Van Persie Arshavin

Such a line up isn’t perfect, but an injury-stricken squad is always going to be a matter of patching up and getting eleven men out. Vermaelen is a big, big miss: he’s defensively solid and great going forward, even from left back. Miquel didn’t have the best of games versus Swansea but being pragmatic, he’s a twenty year old centreback playing out of position, and overall I don’t think he’s a bad player, his inexperience –especially in an unfamiliar position – ultimately shone through in his positioning and cost us once or twice. Cutting and running however is not the Arsenal way, and I expect we’ll stick with him in this game.

The centrebacks will be the available senior pair of Koscielny and Mertesacker. The Frenchman was the subject of significant five pint lauding in the pub on Friday night from me, chatting to my Sunday league goalkeeper. He’s turning into an absolutely cracking player, despite arriving as an unheralded textbook Wenger signing, and has gone the way of Vermaelen, whereby he’s quietly gone about his business and slowly the pundits have taken notice.

Further forward, the midfield isn’t the best balanced I’ve ever seen: against Swansea we struggled without someone truly comfortable in that “Wilshere” (recently, Arteta) role of keeping the midfield ticking over. When Wenger had more options in midfield, he preferred to play Ramsey as the most advanced midfielder, giving the Welshman the responsibility for getting forward. Ramsey works hard too, so he’s OK defensively, but his game isn’t as suited to a more passive role, “keeping the game ticking over” style, reliant more on anticipating the danger. However needs must, and the Welshman is the best option for that position. No doubt he’ll have learned from his mistakes in the Swansea game and his performance in an unfamiliar role will be improved.

The other change I would make is to bring Tomas Rosicky into the advanced midfield role, in place of Benayoun who played there during the Swansea game.  Rosicky has looked good when he has played this season, so in general I have no problem with giving him the responsibility to be the team’s creative fulcrum in a game of this magnitude.

Out wide there won’t be any real surprises. Gervinho’s absence means Arshavin comes in – what a chance to resurrect his Arsenal career over the next couple of weeks the Russian has – while on the other flank Theo Walcott will take up position. Wayne Rooney said recently that this game “wasn’t  matter of Rooney versus Van Persie” which of course is true. It’s a shame it isn’t though, as Rooney versus Van Persie is only going to end in our favour! The Dutchman will be key if we are going to get a good result out of this game, given an injury-hit defence.

This is a tough game to call, and as with many games this season, I’m going out on a limb making predictions without our trusty RefWatch, but I’d love a tidy 2-1 to the Arsenal. Whether a weakened defence and a slightly unbalanced midfield can grab such a great result remains to be seen, but fortune favours the brave, so let’s hope! Enjoy the game Gunners!