Us v Them; the Untold preview with an extra dash of salt and pepper « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
by Phil Gregory
The usual Untold match preview comes with a twist – United fan Mark Butterworth has given me his thoughts throughout (text in italics). If you want to read my interview with him on general title run-in and United, check the article that was posted on Friday afternoon.
Before launching into the preview I’d like to just mention the awful events overshadowing our FA Cup tie. Japan might be fairly distant from Old Trafford but with such a tragedy unfolding it has certainly put the game into perspective. With Wenger’s close ties to Japan no doubt it will be in his foremost thoughts and win lose or draw I’d hope both sides will be united in their support for the victims.
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Coming off the back of a controversial defeat in Barcelona, this FA Cup tie against United is seems to have assumed more importance than ever. Of course, a match against our title rivals was always going to be important psychologically during the title run-in, but now it’s our last remaining cup competition. Talk of another fruitless season seems premature while the Double is still on but for that to happen we need a result at a ground that hasn’t been a very happy hunting ground recently.
For United, long term absentees Hargreaves and Valencia are out with knee and ankle problems respectively. Wide men Park and Nani are missing for at least a few weeks, Park with hamstring trouble and Nani recovering from Carragher’s horror tackle on Sunday which left him needing stitches. Ferdinand isn’t likely to be risked after recovering from a calf strain.
The injuries are back with a vengeance for the Gunners. Fabianski’s long term shoulder problem left us with a precariously light between the sticks and with Szcznesy ruled out for six weeks the words “emergency loan” have been bandied around. Fabregas’ unhappy return to Barcelona saw him have a recurrence of a hamstring problem that has been dogging him all season, on and off. The spell on the sidelines will only lead to him missing two club games, with the international break coming at a good time for Arsenal in that respect.
After coming through the Barcelona game unscathed injury-wise, Van Persie will be available for selection. Walter’s excellent recent article gave us an update on Vermaelen and bar the Belgian’s minor setbacks the situation is much improved. Alex Song is still out which is a concern, while Theo Walcott’s ankle sprain keeps him on the sidelines
What we do know is that Wenger has said he’ll play his strongest side which to me is:
Almunia Sagna Djourou Koscielny Clichy Diaby Wilshere Rosicky
Nasri Van Persie Arshavin
Almunia comes full circle and returns between the sticks for good after injury to Szcznesy ruled the Pole out. The back four is largely unchanged from the last game and is shielded by Diaby and Wilshere. Rosicky comes into the midfield for the injured Cesc Fabregas after playing in attack against Barcelona. That was probably a tactical move (he’s a harder worker than Arshavin), but I imagine we’ll see the Russian restored to attack alongside Nasri and Van Persie. Much however will depend on whether some of the above need a breather after a tiring game on Tuesday night.
Given United’s injuries, we don’t have much flexibility with the line up. Normally against you we would play a 4-3-3 with Rooney spearheading the attack, which tends to favour our counter attacking style we like to adopt against the bigger teams. However without either first choice winger available I imagine we’ll play a fairly rigid 4-4-2. I’d also expect Fergie to play his strongest available 11: firstly because we haven’t won the FA Cup for a fair while; secondly because you’re our biggest title rivals and knocking you out of your second cup in a week would be a huge psychological blow.
Due to the unorthodox team selection, tactics are difficult to call. The key to the game, as always, will be the centre of midfield, so the lack of Fabregas on your side is a huge bonus, especially given Carrick’s recent indifferent form. The team I’ve chosen also isn’t blessed with much pace, so our game will most likely be based on strong possession, attacking using Rooney off Berbatov.
Van Der Sar Brown Vidic Smalling Evra Fletcher Carrick Scholes Giggs
Rooney Berbatov
From the Arsenal point of view, United will hopefully be fairly blunt going forwards with a lack of creativity in midfield and poor options on the flanks. We can exploit that by limiting Scholes’ ability to influence the game and then pressing them hard across the pitch. With makeshift wide players, they might not be so comfortable under that sort of pressure and it might force them into errors.
Apart from that, I’d like to see us get at their right back. A lot of United fans seem to be getting ahead of themselves in regards to Rafael’s progress (I’ve heard him called the best right back in the league – Sagna would disagree), while Wes Brown was exposed at centre back against Liverpool. Regardless of who is selected for United, I feel there is a vulnerability there to be exploited. That aside, their defence will be very solid and it’ll be a matter of controlling the midfield in order to create sufficient chances to find a way through.
The line-up above is certainly good enough to get a result against an injury-hit United coming into the game off of a small run of poor results. Their home record is nearly flawless, and while we should be wary of that we need to take an opportunity to put a dent in it. In the run up to this tie I originally would have been happy with a draw, expecting to be able to win the tie at our ground. Now however I feel there’s an opportunity to put the Barcelona defeat behind us and make United feel a little more vulnerable at Old Trafford during the league run-in. 2-1 to Arsenal for my money, but a draw wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
Mark’s going for 1-0 to United
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Man U v Arsenal – the view from Manchester
Photographic evidence that the ref in the Barca match was utterly bent