From the stands: the Untold Preview. City versus our mighty Arsenal « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

By Phil Gregory

Arsenal are off to City tomorrow, and by a good stroke of luck, I am too. Through a contact, a friend has managed to secure a couple of tickets for what promises to be absolute cracker of a game. I’ll be in the City end however, so should I never post on Untold again, you can have a fair guess as to why I vanished!

This game is one that carries a few undertones, as was evident from the slightly fraught ending to our Carling Cup exit recently. Frimpong wanting to batter Nasri would be my personal highlight, and I think it’s great that the kids coming through the academy have that raw passion for the club. In regards to Nasri, we got a great deal all things considered, and I feel Gervinho is an upgrade to him on that left flank. Indeed in an article on Arsenal.com Wenger implied that had Nasri stayed, Gervinho would have taken his left sided berth with the Frenchman playing in the middle of the park, filling a Fabregas sized hole. I was never too convinced by Nasri in the middle, and I think his low assist stats implied that he was better further forward than playing others in. Ramsey is certainly growing into the role nicely, so I think we’re ok without him, all things considered.

Joleon Lescott chatted a bit about Van Persie possibly signing for City in the build up to the game. As we’re all aware, Van Persie is down to the last eighteen months of his deal. He’s in a similar situation to the likes of Walcott and Song and until recently, Vermaelen. The fact that the latter has extended his deal suggests the club is keen to get everyone signed up (as you’d expect). While the fact that the other three haven’t signed on yet isn’t a worry, the closer they get to next summer the more worrying it will be. Players like Van Persie and Walcott, who have both really come on in recent times, will likely just want to play, as the better they perform on the pitch the stronger their position at any bargaining table. That’s perfectly understandable, but any Arsenal fan with their wits about them would be concerned at the prospect of another season of transition in the event of Robin’s departure this summer. Whether that’s likely or not is debatable: he loves the club and wants to succeed here. However at his age he’s looking at his last big four year deal and will likely be wanting silverware too. If Arsenal finish the season promisingly, a pay rise to reflect his world class status might be enough. That unfortunately is only one of a few plausible possibilities, so until he signs – fingers crossed!

Those who won’t around for our game on Sunday are our the usual suspects: Wilshere had a good result on a scan but will be back no sooner than February, while Gibbs is one week away from a return. Jenkinson’s comeback has been delayed somewhat, which means we’re one injury away from a crisis at centreback heading into the busy Christmas period. That’s certainly concerning, but with Gibbs a week away he can come back in at left back, freeing Vermaelen up and giving us a bit of wiggle room at centreback.

So the squad is the same as that which played versus Everton. As a result we’ll most likely line up somewhat akin to:

Szcznesy

Djourou Mertesacker Koscielny Vermaelen

Song Arteta

Ramsey

Walcott Van Persie Gervinho.

That team is great, and you can’t say it’s not solid at the back! Away at City, I think our best approach is a possession based, counter attacking style, as would be favoured by my all-conquering Sunday football side (if I could convince them to cease defending on the halfway line…!). We’ve got the players to keep the ball in the face of their pressing, and it will allow us to work the ball around them and open them up. In this sort of game, a draw is a good result so an approach focused on being hard to beat, and aiming to grab a goal on the break is smart.

With Clichy suspended and Kolarov injured, City could either play Zabaleta at left back (he’s normally a right back) or move someone like Lescott there. Whether it’s a fairly slow centreback or a fullback playing out of position, it’s certainly something Theo Walcott will look forward to taking on. For all the talk of City’s defence, I think that is going to be the vulnerability that we seek to take advantage of. Much of their defensive record is thanks to a team ethic a la Barcelona but playing at home they’ll seek to attack us, and that’ll leave space our attackers can exploit with incisive counter attacking.

Fingers crossed anyway! City away is clearly a tough game, but if they can lose to Chelsea, we can beat them. After all, we’re the side who played Barcelona at their own game and won last year, and they’re supposed to be one of the best teams of all time. On our day, Arsenal can beat anyone. Defensive injuries area a concern, but City have a couple of problems of their own and our stand-ins have been performing admirably recently. 2-2 draw for my money. Not sure I’d be alive to see the fulltime whistle if Arsenal take the lead, stranded in the City end as I will be!

Enjoy the game wherever you are!