Thursday, 24 May 2012
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Chelsea Roll Into The Grove

By 2009/11/27 1 Comment

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More than 48 hours before kick-off and I’m already feeling tense ahead of the Chelsea derby game on Sunday. Thomas Vermaelen is already trying to hedge against the worst by saying we can still win the title even if we lose on Sunday. Emmm, I don’t know about that.

Notoriously, saying a team’s championship chances will stand or fall on one game this early in the season is fraught with difficultly. Who thought we would catch up to Manchester United in 1998 being so far back in the race as late as February? I do think though that if we lose on Sunday it will make life VERY difficult for us.

That’s especially true if we continue to suffer our current long-running injury curse. This may well deprive us of William Gallas on Sunday, having already cost us both senior left-backs Gaël Clichy and Kieran Gibbs. This provides the manager with a real headache. We can but hope that Mikaël Silvestre, Philippe Senderos, Emmanuel Eboué, Armand Traoré or whoever is selected on Sunday to fill in will be up to the task. I hope so. I have my doubts. I hope I’m proved comprehensively wrong.

The return of Denilson from injury is welcome. Likewise Theo Walcott. I do worry about cover for Alex Song when he goes off to the African Cup of Nations in January in Angola though. He’ll probably miss the FA Cup Third Round, certainly Everton at home and Bolton Wanderers away in the League, the Fourth Round of the FA Cup if we progress in that tournament and Cameroon go through their group (likely, they’re drawn with Tunisia, Gabon and Zambia). If Cameroon goes through to the last four he’ll also miss Manchester United at home in the League. The same absence will apply to Emmanuel Eboué of course (Ivory Coast has Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana in its group, tougher than Cameroon’s draw), but Eboué, much as his form and attitude has improved, is not the vital cog in the wheel that Song has become.

The timing of the African Cup of Nations this season makes signing any potential cover in the transfer window difficult. We’re almost certainly going to have to rely on our current squad.

Still, that’s all for the future. Let’s concentrate on a quality performance on Sunday against Chelsea. We need to do our part in the stands too. Time to REALLY pump up the volume. Make sure you bring your scarf and your vocal chords!

Keep the faith!

Arsenal u akhbar!

vic@arsenalinsider.com

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  • John in Norfolk

    Regardless of how long Song will be missing during the ACN, Arsenal must sign a replacement for Van Persie. We cannot afford to be without a central striker for the rest of the season. Bendtner is just not good enough, Arshavin, Eduardo and Vela are in the wrong mold.

    I’m looking for a huge performance from Arshavin against Chelsea, he has been entirely mediocre so far this season and it is time that he put his disappointment at failing to qualify for the World Cup firmly behind him and started to earn his corn as an Arsenal player.

    I was initially delighted when he signed for us in January and put his lack of real success down to a lack of match fitness and the need to adjust to the pace and physicality of the Premiership. However, he never appears to be either fully fit or fully committed. With the exception of the game at Anfield, when he scored four goals, his overall performance has been disappointing to say the least.

    If we play at a high tempo on Sunday and stick to our game plan I can see no reason why we can’t beat Chelsea and I think that Walcott’s pace could be used to destroy their ageing centre backs.

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