Arsenal

[Dan1983]

City - Arsenal will surely be a great game to watch as a neutral.

Agreed. Going to watch it and enjoy.

 

[suckabov]

I think we can all agree that Giroud is useless in front of goal without Walcott or another winger by his side. Right now, there are two creative attacking midfielders by his side and all Giroud can contribute with right now is link up play. Which is fine against some teams but Arsenal can't use him as a counter attacking threat. His best way to score is with those low crosses provided by a winger/fullback. Often in a counter attack.

He won't beat his defenders by sprinting onto through balls and he won't beat defenders one on one. He needs service and he's not going to get it when he's playing with attacking midfielders by his side. Unless Arsenal press really high of course.

Last game at the Etihad ended 1-1. After that followed a defeat at the Emirates. Because of a stupid red card early on.
Last time they played each other was a few weeks before the season started. Pre - season game which Arsenal won easily with 3-1. Sure, a friendly but Arsenal took advantage of the same weaknesses City are showing right now. Mainly how easily their midfield gets bypassed and how weak their back four is.

A win for Arsenal is not impossible but they should be happy with a point.

Agreed with everything. On paper, I think Arsenal would have a good chance of beating them, but what's worrying is the lack of recovery time - a little more than 48 hours since they returned home at 4am on Thursday, while City had not only one more day to recover but also rested lots of players against Bayern. I hope Özil and Giroud didn't get too tired, playing them against City is an absolute must. As for confidence, I hope the two disappointing results might actually give Arsenal a boost.
All things considered a draw would be fair. Hoping for a win of course.

As for the counter-attacking threat, Giroud AND the players currently played as wingers are a problem. Too many similar players, to few runners. Özil is great on counters, would be good if Walcott and a more mobile striker than Giroud started next to/in front of him.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Giroud
Walcott(?)-Ozil-Wilshere
Ramsey-Flamini

Or we could play Rosicky on the left and Walcott on the right, what do you guys think?

 

[pEllee]

As for the counter-attacking threat, Giroud AND the players currently played as wingers are a problem. Too many similar players, to few runners. Özil is great on counters, would be good if Walcott and a more mobile striker than Giroud started next to/in front of him.

Pretty much. Check this out, http://www.whoscored.com/Players/24444/Fixtures/Olivier-Giroud

The scoring record in the opening fixtures was great. Walcott got injured during the warm up before the game against Stoke and after that it was basically just midfielders by his side. Look at how poor his goal scoring record has been ever since. It's actually pretty impressive that Arsenal have kept on winning without a reliable goal scoring striker.

Giroud
Walcott(?)-Ozil-Wilshere
Ramsey-Flamini

Or we could play Rosicky on the left and Walcott on the right, what do you guys think?

Arteta instead of Flamini. Apart from that, I really like it. Walcott on the left would never happen though, unfortunately. Your second lineup but with Flamini on the bench is probably what it's going to look like.

________

Podolski might be back on the bench against City by the way. I'm not a big fan of him as a player but he's at least a goal scorer. Something that's needed at the moment.
Oh and hopefully Sagna is fit enough to play. He's needed.

 

[Jenks]

I think Arsenal look more dangerous when goals are coming from all over the place. Doesn't really matter who's scoring as long as they're going in.

 

[Unbiased United]

Looking forward to this too. Hope Arsenal win, but think City will.

 

[pEllee]

I think Arsenal look more dangerous when goals are coming from all over the place. Doesn't really matter who's scoring as long as they're going in.

Exactly. That's what I'm trying to say. The problem is, it's pretty bad when a box to box midfielder is the most reliable goal scorer.
Right now, most of the chances are created through some nice one-twos around the penalty area. Which is beautiful to watch when it works but that's the thing, it hardly ever works against aggressive high pressing sides. Everton took advantage of this. And let's say Arsenal do manage to create a chance then there's still a lack of good finishers in the team. Giroud is basically only capable of scoring one type of goal and that's one touch finishing after a cross.

It's a more balanced team when they've got pace on the wings. There's just too many midfielders playing at the moment.

 

[AnfieldEd]

Come on you Draw!!!!!!!!!

 

[suckabov]

Giroud
Walcott(?)-Ozil-Wilshere
Ramsey-Flamini

Or we could play Rosicky on the left and Walcott on the right, what do you guys think?

I'd play Wilshere on the left and Walcott on the right. Other than that, I'd sign it.

Apparently Sagna will be fit and from how I am reading Wenger's comments in the press conference today, I guess Walcott will start. On City's part, Demichelis will likely play with Nastastic still out. Not bad.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Wilshere was really poor on the left when he played there though, his inclination to cut inside does him no good on his right foot. With Demichelis playing we really do need Walcott to start, exploiting his lack of pace and the space behind him will be key to getting a victory.

 

[JamDav1982]

Yeah Wilshere cant play on the left.

I think he might drop Cazorla and have Ramsey on the left and Wilshere, Arteta behind Ozil in the middle.

They need a bit more bite in the CM/DM area as for me they do not have a good enough midfield defensively to cope against the top teams.

 

[Ketoth]

Right..... FT.

My verdict - City weren't better than us. We created many chances and were very unlucky. We made a lot of defensive mistakes but at the same time Atkinson and his assistant robbed us of a result. One of the City goals came shortly after a corner that should've been a goal kick as the replay showed. Another City goal came when the assistant incorrectly called offside against Monreal when we were in a good poisition to score, City countered and scored. There were other times the assistant got it wrong when it came to offsides and broke up our attacks. We should've had a penalty. Even with the defensive mistakes and chances we missed I don't think City would have beaten us without the luck of the officials today. As for mental strength, we wouldn't accept a narrow defeat, we didn't throw in the towel and we kept on attacking. We lost trying.

There are a lot of positives to take with the performance. Only sad note is Koscielny, hope he is ok because we really need him.

 

[Paganinisrvnge]

Dude, City completely outplayed you and they didn't even take half their chances. They could have won 10-3.

 

[Samuel Eto'o]

Will console myself by saying City were at home. Surely it can only get better from here.

 

[pEllee]

Hmm, strange game. So many cheap goals conceded. Lack of concentration, non existent defensive midfield, which was expected with Arteta missing. But, how come every single team apart from Hull and Everton concede so many easy goals against City?

Sure, they might be the best attacking team in the league but come on, just look at how easily their opponents lose their concentration. It happend to Spurs, to United and now to Arsenal. Very poor.