Here we go again: Arsenal versus Olympiacos, the Untold Preview « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Phil Gregory

First of all, a quick apology. I am a terrible human being, and was actually supposed to blog in the aftermath of the Bolton game, having been up in the Clock End for it. In my absence, Walter put together a great post about the match, so I won’t rehash over old ground but just say the boys done good.

Walter couldn’t however fill in on the Catering Report, being as he does live in a different country so can’t sample the burger van as readily as I. Tony would probably hit the roof if the Catering Report fell by the side, so I’ll give me dues. Only munch hat I sampled was a fairly pricey hotdog from the burger van opposite Arsenal statement. Having not had much breakfast thanks to a decidedly ropey stomach from beers the night before, I was absolutely starving by lunchtime so went for the double hotdog in a baguette for £4.50. Unfortunately they ran out of baguettes so I just got the usual poxy bread roll, and they didn’t even offer to reduce the price with than in mind. I’ll never complain at two half decent sausages with onions, but gents, if you can’t serve the full product, you surely can’t charge full price!

Anyway, onto the small matter of the Olympiacos tie. Arsenal fortunately aren’t having to brave the Greek air traffic strikes just yet – unlike our very own Tony – and in all likelihood Greece could have gone kaput by the time of our away game in December. Sadly that’s what happens when you try and run a country that lets people retire early with big pension packages and try and fund a system through people self-certifying their income tax. Which is a bit like saying “how much of your wages would you like to keep?” and expecting people to say more than “erm… virtually all?”. Nonsensical, and the real shame is other Euro taxpayers are having to pick up the slack via the bailouts.

Anyway, I digress. Football. We’ve got a few injuries, some new whilst others are the usual suspects. Jack Wilshere came out this week with the news he’ll be out for four months, which is hardly ideal. Then you’ve got Vermaelen and Diaby who should be back fairly soon, whilst short termers Koscielny, Gervinho and Walcott are all in with a shout of playing versus Tottenham at the weekend. Djourou and Squillaci are also expected back in the next week, but too late for Tottenham.

Szcznesy

Sagna Mertesacker Song Gibbs

Frimpong Arteta

Ramsey

Park/Rosicky Van Persie Arshavin

With our lengthy list of absences, we’ve had to shuffle the defence a little bit. With about seven centre backs injured we’re limited to pairing Song with Mertesacker. That should be a reasonable enough partnership, with the main weakness being a lack of familiarity with each other as a partnership, and for Song in the centre of defence.

Clearly, that necessitates changing the midfield, with Frimpong coming in for Song. That’s a relatively like for like swap in terms of their role, and we should be alright given we’re at home. A couple of injuries up front require changes there too: Arshavin comes in on the left for Gervinho, with one of Rosicky or Park on the right. Neither of those two are naturally right sided players but they’ve got the skill set to do the job there. I suppose the likes of Chamberlain and Miyiachi could be in with a chance of a start there, but more likely we’ll go for experience and put them on the bench.

This game shouldn’t be too tricky, but as ever in the Champions League, there are few easy games. With a highly credible draw away to Dortmund, a win here would set us up very nicely for the rest of the group. I’m expecting 2-0 to the Arsenal, but with a slightly makeshift defence there could be a goal in this game for the Greeks.

Enjoy the match Gooners!