Barcelona v Arsenal - match preview and line-up

Arsenal line-up:

Subs: Almunia, Squillaci, Eboue, Denilson, Arshavin, Bendtner, Chamakh

After a disappointing result on Saturday (albeit with the aid of some pretty crappy officiating by the referee and linesmen) it is important that Arsenal come back with a good performance against Barca tonight.

It wasn't so much the incorrect offside decision and the not-given penalty against Sunderland that annoyed me as they were both difficult decisions. It was all the other poor decisions that annoyed me most, like the one where Nasri was fouled and referee gave a free-kick to Sunderland and booked Samir, or the so-called 'foul throw'. The ref seemed to have a knack of giving poor decisions in Sunderland's favour at just the right time to break up our momentum. How much longer do we have to keep getting punished by referees for Fabregas allegedly calling one of them a chat? Anyway, I'm over it now, so let's move on. [Deep breath]

The big surprise is that Rosicky starts tonight instead of Arshavin. I guess a tough match (in more ways than one) against Sunderland.

It's great that Fabregas is back - it could be the difference between victory and defeat. It's a shame about Song though. However, I would take Diaby over Denilson as his replacement every time. I'm not one of these people who boos or slags off our own players and Denilson is a decent squad player but Diaby is just so much better than him in my opinion, if he's fully match sharp (which, unfortunately, he rarely seems to be). I'll be a lot more confident if I see his rather than Denilson's name announced on the team sheet. And for those who don't rate Diaby, remember how you used to criticise Song so vociferously? How about now?

The other big question mark over tonight's team was who would play up front, and it's brilliant news that van Persie will start. It will give everyone a big boost and, although both Chamakh and Bendtner are decent players, having RvP up front could make all the difference in a tough match like this.

I think that Arsene Wenger was right in saying that unless van Persie is at least 99.5% fit, he should not be risked. Even if we loose to Barcelona tonight we are still in the hunt for the Premier League and the FA Cup, so it's important that van Persie is able to take part in as many of those as possible. And even if we beat Barca we still have a few tough matches to win before we lift the Champions League trophy, so we shouldn't put all our eggs in one metaphorical trophy basket.

This is one of those big matches that can go either way and it's a fool who tries to predict the outcome, but we are in with a chance after winning the first leg at Ashburton Grove. What's important though is that we put in a good performance even if we are defeated, for the benefit of team morale and confidence. I'm concerned that if we loose this match heavily it might affect our whole season, though I'm not expecting that to happen.

On a final note, I would like to send this message to Barcelona: Barca DNA stands for Barcelona-Do-Not-Approach. So stop tapping up our captain. W***ers!

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Barcelona v Arsenal - match preview and line-up

Arsenal v Sunderland - probable line-up and match preview

Fixtures are coming thick and fast at the moment. I worked out that if we play all the possible fixtures we could possibly playbetween now and the end of the season (including a replay against ManUre in the FA Cup and getting to the FA Cup and Champions League finals) we would be playing twice a week every week for the whole of the rest of the season without break.

Despite the upcoming match against Barcelona on Tuesday however, I expect Arsene Wenger to name a strong team against Sunderland. Song, Fabregas, Walcott and van Persie are all out as well as long-term absentees Fabianski and Vermaelen. I'm a lot less worried about Song being out if Diaby is playing in his place than if Denilson is in the team, so hopefully that will be the case today.

Arsene Wenger's most difficult selection decision will be whether to play Nasri on the right and Rosicky in the Fabregas role or play Rosicky in the Fab role and Nasri on the right. I think he will go with the former, but it's a close call. I changed ny mind several times while writing this article. Anyway, we shall see. The good news though is that (like Arshavin) Rosicky, Bendtner and Chamakh seem to be coming back to form as the season reaches the critical squeeky-bum time. Hell, even the Spanish waiter had a good game on Wednesday.

The other good news is that Aaron Ramsey is in the Arsenal squad for the first time since he had his leg broken by Shawcross over a year ago. He is sure to get a great reception if he comes on.

I'm quietly confident ahead of the match. I don't think it will be easy, but if we can't beat Sunderland on our own ground then we don't deserve to win the league. Then again, the same could be said of West Brom.

You're probably sick of hearing it by now, but if we win we will go within a point of ManUre after their defeat at Chelsea (ha, ha). Come on Arsenal!

Incidentally, the tactics board above is a photo of Arsene Wenger's actual tactics board in the home dressing room from when I went on the stadium tour a couple of years ago. I can thoroughly recommend it if you haven't been on it yet.

Probable Arsenal line-up:

                  Szczesny

Sagna Djourou Koscielny Clichy

              Diaby Wilshere

     Bendtner Nasri Arshavin

                 Chamakh

Subs: Almunia, Squillaci, Eboue, Gibbs, Denilson, Ramsey, Rosicky

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Arsenal v Sunderland - probable line-up and match preview

Arsenal v Stoke preview and a monumental c***-up

Picture courtesy Ronnie MacDonald

It goes without saying that tonight's match against Stoke is crucial. Pretty much all our matches are crucial at the moment but ManUre have some very difficult fixtures coming up (including away matches at Chelsea and Liverpool) and we have a very good chance of at least closing the gap on them. The result should be a foregone conclusion but we all know how Arsenal have a knack of making it hard for themselves.

With that in mind, I expect Arsene Wenger to pick a pretty strong line-up despite the upcoming Carling Cup final at the weekend. Unfortunately Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny have picked up slight knocks but apart from that (and long-term absentee Vermaelen) I expect Arsene Wenger to pick his strongest team. However, it is also possible that he might rest one or two with Arshavin, Denilson, Gibbs and Eboue being strong contenders to start.

The much maligned Sebastien Squillaci will come in at the back and Chamakh will probably get the nod over Bendtner in place of RvP.

Tonight will be a good test for Chesney as we know that Stoke like to hoof high balls into the box.

Arsenal probable starting line-up

                  Szczesny

Sagna, Squillaci, Djourou, Clichy

              Song, Wilshire

      Walcott, Fabregas, Nasri

                  Chamakh

Subs: Almunia, Eboue, Gibbs, Denilson, Rosicky, Arshavin, Bendtner

Fixtures correction

It seems that I may have made a bit of a cock up. It was bound to happen. In my last post a couple of days ago, I suggested (in a desperate attempt to find a silver lining in the fixtures cloud) that a draw against Leyton Orient was a good result because it would mean we would now have to replay Orient on Sat 12 March (the weekend after the second leg of the Barca match) instead of ManUre and we could therefore play our 'B' team instead of the first team.

However, I was making quite a big (and incorrect) assumption and the match with Orient has been scheduled for Wednesday 2 March, meaning that we will still play ManUre on Sat 12 March. D'oh!

To be fair to the FA and Premier League they are now running out of free dates to schedule our fixtures - it seems they had not envisaged that any team could still be in all four competitions at this stage (which I'm taking as a compliment).

This all means that our next few fixtures are as follows:

Wed 23 February: Stoke City (H) [Barclays Premier League]
Sun 27 February: Birmingham City (N) [Carling Cup]
Wed 2 March: Leyton Orient (H) [FA Cup]
Sat 5 March: Sunderland (A) [Barclays Premier League]
Tue 8 March: Barcelona (A) [UEFA Champions League]
Sat 12 March: Man Utd (A) [FA Cup]

However, In a final desperate attempt to find a silver lining in the fixtures, I should point out that ManUre play Chelsea and Liverpool (both away) in the week leading up to the match against us and a potentially difficult Champions League match against Marseilles immediately after playing us. So it's not all bad.

Fingers crossed for tonight!

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Arsenal v Stoke preview and a monumental c***-up

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers - expected lineups

Picture courtesy Tambako the Jaguar

I'm hoping that things might get back to normal this weekend with a comfortable win at home to Wolves on Saturday.

After last weeks incredible match against Newcastle we had a brief diversion provided by the interlull where both Wilshere and Walcott performed well and incredibly it seems that all our players came back in one piece, bar Rosicky who picked up a knock.

Other than long-term absentees such as Nasri and Vermaelen, the only other slight concerns we have are van Persie, Djourou and Song. Van Persie should be back after missing international duty due to illness. Both Djourou and Song face fitness tests but Arsene Wenger is hopeful they will be available. Denilson is also back after missing the match against Newcastle, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief there.

The big unknown is whether Arsene intends to rest any players ahead of the match against Barcelona, but he has emphasised in the importance of this game in his press conference, so we can expect a strong line up, but one or two may be rested.

Wolves are expected to be unchanged from the team that beat ManUre (ha, ha!) last week at Molyneaux but Stephen Hunt may return to the squad on the bench. (as an aside, I couldn't remember Hunt's first name so I just Google 'wolves hunt' - needless to say, I didn't get what I was expecting!)

This is a must win match. The Wolves are at the door.

Predicted team lineups

Arsenal

                Szczesny

Sagna Djourou Koscielny Clichy

             Song  Wilshere

Walcott    Fabregas    Arshavin

                van Persie

Subs: Almunia, Eboue, Gibbs, Squillaci, Denilson, Bendtner, Chamakh

Wolves

Hennessey, Stearman, Zubar, Elokobi, Berra, Henry, Jarvis, O'Hara, Milijas, Hammill, Doyle

Subs: Ward, Hahnemann, Ebanks-Blake, Craddock, Edwards, Foley, Fletcher

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Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers - expected lineups

Manchester United v Arsenal match preview - Fab two face fitness tests



Picture courtesy gordonflood.com

 Tonight's match against ManUre isn't a title decider but it will give us a huge psychological boost if we can win it.

Interesting team news - the Fab two, Cesc Fabregas and Lukasz Fabianski, face late fitness tests. I suspect that Fabregas will be on the bench and Fabianski will be fit enough to play. If Fabianski doesn't make it, we face the possibility of Wojciech Szczesny making his debut. I've been hoping that he would get his chance for some time, but I'm sure this would be the best match for it to happen. Better that than Almunia though.

Elsewhere, the usual suspects Diaby and Djourou are unlikely to be fit, so it will be Koscielny at centreback and either Wilshere or Denilson in midfield. Van Persie or Rosicky will most likely play in Cesc's position if he isn't fit.

As usual, several of the ManUre players have come out with what are obviously pre-planned comments to put out whatever message Alex Ferguson wishes to get across to the Arsenal players, his own players or the referee.

Darren Fletcher tried to influence the ref by insisting that he is not a dirty player. Definitely, not in any way whatsoever, honest governer:

"I don't think I'm a dirty player, I know I'm not a dirty player. I go to win the ball and sometimes you give away fouls doing that, but it's not malicious. It's all part of the British game. The referees here use a lot of common sense and they know when players are generally trying to win the ball and those going out to hurt people."

Thing is, no-one is suggesting that Fletcher deliberately set out to injure Arsenal players in the match against them at the Theatre of Wet Dreams last season - just that he cynically set out to distrupt Arsenal's rhythm by constantly fouling them and didn't get punished by the referee. Note the reference to "it's all part of the British game'' as well. Just another way of saying "They don't like it up 'em" or "we need to get amongst them", and almost as cynical as his tackling.

Meanwhile, Patrice Evra has said that Arsenal are just a feeder club and will never win anything. His comments seem either designed to play on the Arsenal players' insecurities or to wind them up. On this occasion I'm not sure it will work. Arsenal seem to have developed a bit of a mental block when it comes to playing the top teams and I believe this the main obsticle to us us from winning the league this season. However, I think we just need is a that bit luck in those games to give us more belief. Once we've beaten ManUre and Chel$ki that should give us the confidence.

If Evra had said this twelve months ago, I think a lot of Arsenal players would have thought to themselves: "yes, he's right, we do lack physical presence and a killer instinct", but I believe most people within the club now realise that this is no longer as true as it was and Arsene Wenger should use the comments to motivate his team.
We had a good result a few weeks ago against Man Citeh, but against Chel$ki it was the same old story - outplaying them but ending up losing because we weren't clinical enough in their area or solid enough in our own. If we'd had more confidence, we might have taken some of the chances that came our way or been more assured at the back.

Probable Arsenal line-up:

                        Fabianski

Sagna      Squillaci     Koscielny    Clichy

                Song         Wilshere

  Nasri           van Persie       Arshavin

                      Chamakh

Subs: Szczesny, Djourou, Eboue, Fabregas, Rosicky, Walcott, Bendtner

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Manchester United v Arsenal match preview - Fab two face fitness tests

Newcastle v Arsenal match preview - it's all about the squad

Picture courtesy The 'Arris'

The press are going on today about how Arsene Wenger is now taking the Carling Cup more seriously because we haven't won a trophy in five years and he's desperate, but in trust his selection policy hasn't changed.

The policy has always been to select players that didn't start the match the previous weekend and aren't likely to start the following weekend. We have on occasion in the past selected teams in the early rounds that have included none of the first team and none of the subs, but that has only been when we have been drawn against lower division opposition and as Wenger has said many times he 'picks a team that is capable of winning the match'.

The reason our Carling Cup teams are stronger now is that our squad is much strongerand we have less injuries. Assuming that our first choice eleven is as follows...

Fabianski; Sagna, Squilaci, Vermaelen, Clichy; Song, Wilshere; Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin; van Persie

...there are some impressive players who will only make the bench when everyone is fit: Almunia (I know!), Koscielny, Eboue, Diaby, Rosicky, Walcott, and Chamakh. Even more impressively, there are some very good players who won't even make the bench: Szczesny, Mannone, Djourou, Gibbs, Frimpong, Denilson, Lansbury, Ramsey, Emmanuel-Thomas, Vela and Bendtner.

It could be argued that we need to have a few injuries occasionally to keep everyone happy. Either that, or we give them a match in the Carling Cup. With that in mind, I expect tonights line-up to be:

                   Szczesny
Eboue, Djouou, Koscielny, Gibbs
              Denilson, Diaby
       Walcott, Rosicky, Vela
                   Bendtner

Arsene Wenger has been talking up Emmanual-Thomas and Henri Lansbury this week so I expect them to be on the bench. One or both may even start.

I'm calm and relaxed about tonight's match. Partly, this is due to the fact that we look like we have a strong enough team out to beat a weakened Newcastle United, but also, although it would be nice to win the Carling Cup, I won't be heart-broken if we don't. That said, it is about time we won a trophy and Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal under George Graham have all won the trophy in the pastas a stepping stone to going on to win better things.

Also, it will shut the press up about 'not won anything for five years'. Although it will probably change to 'haven't won anything bar the Carling Cup for five years' until we win something proper.

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Newcastle v Arsenal match preview - it's all about the squad

Arsenal vs. Barcelona Match Preview

Lionel Messi (courtesy prettyfriendship)

Watching Arsenal is often stressful but it's never dull, is it? As we approach the season's climax, we have more injuries than Darren Anderton on a bad day, but we're still holding in there.

Against Wolves on Saturday we won ugly again, leaving it until the very last minute of stoppage time before Nicklas Bendtner popped up with the vital goal to make it 1-0 to the Arsenal. At least we can see that this side never gives up.

Tonight it's Barcelona. Every man and his dog has come out in praise of Barca after they annihilated us for three quarters if the first leg, and rightly so. However, Barca played probably as well as they are capable of in that match and Arsenal were below-par, but we still came away with a 2-2 draw. So we have every right to hope that if Arsenal can be on their game tonight and Barca are slightly below their best, we can get the result we need. A one goal win will be enough.

Unfortunately, the Arsenal injury fairy has been at work again. The Arsenal squad has been announced and Alex Song isn't in it, while Sol Campbell and Tomas Rosicky are rated as doubtful. I know that Arsene Wenger doesn't usually play Campbell in two consecutive matches but I expect him to play tonight. The thought of Mickel Silvestre being torn a new one by Barcelona fills me with dread, and probably Arsene Wenger as well, so if there is any chance of Sol starting the match then I think he will. Plus, after this match, he has over week to recover before we play sp***s.

Rosicky is more tricky. Arsene Wenger has more options on the wings. There has been quite a lot of speculation about whether Theo Walcott will start, but I think Wenger's preferred option is to have him come off the bench in the second half when Barca are tiring and run rings around them as he did in the first leg. Rosicky's injury makes the decision more difficult. If there is any doubt about his fitness, Arsene may be tempted to start with Theo, but if Tomas is passed fit (and I suspect he will be) then I thinkWenger will start with him on the left and Eboue on the right, which should make us more solid defensively. And we will need that because, despite Barca only needing a draw, I think they will want to impress their home fans, so they will come at us in force early on.

With all the injuries, the midfield three pretty much picks itself. Samir Nasri will come in to replace the revered one, Song will be replaced by Denilson, and Diaby is pretty much a cert despite his poor performance in the first leg. If we are under the cosh, expect Diaby to play a deeper role alongside Denilson, and the two wide players to drop back so that we have more of a 4-4-1-1 with Nasri playing in just behind Bendtner.

The good news is that Barcelona have a few problems of their own. At the back, they will be missing their normal centreback pairing of Carlos Puyol and Gerald Pique who are both suspended, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored both their goals in the first leg, will miss the match through injury. Like Arsenal, Barcelona have a good squad and should be able to replace the missing players with ones almost as good. Going forward, certainly, I don't think they will miss Ibrahimovic that much. Remember, that a certain Theirry Henry was only on the bench for the first leg and they also have Bojan, who came on for Ibrahimovic after he got injured at the weekend.

If there is hope for Arsenal then it is that Barca will be weaker at the back. Although Puyol and Pique looked very comfortable on the ball in the first leg, there were signs that they can be got at if they are put under pressure, and you wonder how good their replacements will be. The Barca fullbacks also struggled in the first leg when Arsenal started to put them under pressure.

So, can we do it? Undoubtedly. But it will be tough. And we may need a bit of luck to go our way. Whatever happens though, expect it to be stressful but not dull.

Come on you gooners!

Probable team:

Almunia;
Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy;
Nasri, Denilson, Diaby;
Eboue, Bendtner, Rosicky

Arsenal squad in full: Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, Nicklas Bendtner, Eduardo, Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri, Denilson, Fran Merida, Theo Walcott, Craig Eastmond, Tomas Rosicky, Armand Traore, Emmanuel Eboue, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Sol Campbell, Mikael Silvestre.

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Arsenal vs. Barcelona Match Preview

No Fabregas, No Excuse

No Fabregas, no excuse. That's what Arsene Wenger said and it's what I say.

Arsenal should win tonight. One of the reasons that Arsenal have been continually written off this season but come bouncing back each time is that while ManUre and Chelski might have better first elevens than us, Arsenal probably have the better squad, so they can always be guaranteed to put a good team out against the so called 'lesser' team regardless of the form and fitness of any particular players.

True, we had a little blip in form when Robin van Persie first got injured, but I believe that was due to the psychological blow of losing one of our most influencial players more than it was due the team to missing him on the pitch, and I think the fact that we have gone most of the season without him and not done too badly bears out that assertion.

If you look at tonight's match, we will be missing van Persie, Fabregas, Gallas, Ramsey, Gibbs and Djourou, but we will still probably have a bench that includes Sagna, Silvestre, Denilson, Rosicky, Vela and Eduardo, who would all get into most first elevens. So the players should not be allowed to use the captain's absence as and excuse.

As the first leg of this tie showed, it is indeed a funny old game and you can never tell what's going to happen once the players cross that white line onto the pitch, but this Arsenal team has enough to beat Porto comprehensively. Like Arsene Wenger, I'm backing Nicholas Bendtner to come good tonight and make up for his misses at the weekend. I hope he scores; he deserves it.

I expect tonights line-up to be:

Almunia
Eboue; Campbell; Vermaelen; Clichy
Nasri; Song; Diaby
Walcott; Bendtner; Arshavin

So, come on lads, do it for Aaron.

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No Fabregas, No Excuse

Arsenal vs. Stoke match preview

Today's match against Stoke was always likely to be important, but with Chelsea losing 4-2 at home to Man Citeh, it becomes even more so.

Arsene Wenger's comment after Arsenal's defeat against Chelsea in November that "Chelsea can be beaten" seems to have inspired several of Chelsea's opponents since.

There has never been much doubt in my mind that Chelsea and ManUre would drop points before the end of the season; the question was whether they would drop enough for Arsenal to catch them and whether Arsenal could hold their nerve and take advantage. We should be closer to answering the latter after this evening's match against Stoke.

Stoke away is never an easy game, but Arsenal being in the unusual position of not having played in midweek while their opponents did (and indeed played extra time) should make things a little easier. Chelsea losing will undoudbtedly put extra pressure on Arsenal's players. The question is whether they allow it to get to them or use it pressure in a positive way to drive them on.

For a change, there are no new injuries to report today (Gallas, Arshavin and Diaby are still out as well as long term absentees van Persie, Djourou and Gibbs) and we even have Eduardo coming back - expect him to be on the bench. So the selection problems for Arsene Wenge are of the nice kind: Will Ramsey keep his place ahead of Denilson, will Eboue keep his place ahead of Sagna, will Campbell come back in place of Silvestre and which two out of three will play from Nasri, Walcott and Rosicky?

The line-up I expect to see is:

Almunia
Sagna, Campbell,Vermaelen, Clichy
Fabregas, Song, Denilson
Rosicky, Bendtner, Nasri

The other option that Arsene Wenger might go with is to play Eboue, who is in great form, on the right of atack to give us a bit more defensive stability against a Stoke team who can be dangerous at home.

I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this one but I'll have a big smile on my face if we keep our nerves and come away with the three points.

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Arsenal vs. Stoke match preview

More injuries for Arsenal ahead of Porto clash

More injuries for Arsenal. Will it ever end? According to the London Evening Standard, William Gallas, Manuel Almunia, Alex Song, Eduardo and Andre Arshavin are all unavailable for tonight's Champions League match away to FC Porto in addition to long-term casualities Gibbs, Djourou and van Persie. All the injured players are also likely to miss the weekend's home Premier League match against Sunderland.

However, Arsene Wenger is refusing to allow the onging injury situation to be used as an excuse for poor perforances. "It is not a serious concern," he said, "the concern is that the players who are here perform at their best." Which is quite right.

If we are going to miss anyone, it will be Alex Song, for whom I don't believe Denilson is an adequate replacement. I'm not one of those who constantly berate Denilson, but I don't think that he is comfortable in the anchor man position and I don't think he is in very good form at the moment. I quite like the look of Craig Eastmond in that position, but I very much doubt that Arsene Wenger would be willing to risk such an inexperienced player in that position in such a key match. Diaby and Fabregas are likely to make up the remainder of the midfield.

at the back, Lukasz Fabianski, who has also been on the receiving end of some strong praise recently from Wenger, should be able to cover in goal for Manuel Almunia without any problem as long as he doesn't get too nervous, and Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell should be able to cover adequately for Gallas, despite his relative lack of match practice.

Up front, Wenger has also been singing the praises of Nicklas Bendtner, so I would expect him to start, along with two from Nasri, Rosicky and Walcott.

So I expect the starting line-up to be:

Fabianski
Sagna Campbell Vermaelen Clichy
Fabregas Denilson Diaby
Walcott Bendtner Nasri

I'm quietly confident about tonight's match. Let's hope that the players aren't too nervous and that they deliver what they are capable of.

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More injuries for Arsenal ahead of Porto clash

Biggest night of the season

At the end of the season we could look back on tonight as where it all went right or wrong. Arsenal are at home to Liverpool, Chelsea visit Everton and Man Utd go to Aston Villa. I wouldn't like to predict how any of those matches will go.

As Arsene Wenger aluded to this week, of the top teams Arsenal have the easier run in (if there is such a thing) until the end of the season, and if results go our way tonight, it is just conceivable (as crazy as it sounds) that we might go the rest of the season unbeaten and maybe even win the league. But I don't want to get my hopes up!

Everton are a better side than their league position suggests. If, like Arsenal, they hadn't suffered a catastrophic injury crisis in the first half of the season, they would at least be competing for a place in the Euro Cup (or whatever it is they call the UEFA now) and maybe even for fourth place. (In fact, I've said it before but it is to Arsene Wenger's credit that Arsenal are even competing to be league champions this season when you look at what has happened to the other two teams who have suffered a similar amount of injuries, Everton and West Ham.) I would back Everton to beat most teams but what I'm concerned about is that Everton sometimes fail to perform against the so called bigger teams, as they did against Liverpool's 10 men at the weekend.

Aston Villa have already beaten ManUre this season and will fancy their chances again. ManUre, and Wayne Rooney in particular, are on fire at the moment (I wish!), but on the plus side Emile Heskey is doubtful for the match and if he doesn't play, Villa may be forced to play a forward who can actually score goals, so they may be in with a chance.

Arsenal's record at home against Liverpool has been good in recent years, if they can overcome the disappointment of two defeats against the aforemention ManUre and Chelski, and a disappointing draw against Villa, they should be able to beat Liverpool.

Let's hope they don't disappoint.

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Biggest night of the season

Man Utd vs. Arsenal match preview

I'm nervous about today's match against ManUre, but not as nervous as I might be.

Things are so tight at the top of the league at the moment and we are definitely entering squeeky bum time as [spit] Sir Alex Ferguson might say. However, although a win today will be a big boost, it won't guarantee that we win the league and similarly a loss will be a big blow but it won't mean that we aren't going to win the title.

That sounds like I'm building us up for a loss, and to some extent I am, but I believe this is a match that can easily go either way, won by a moment of brilliance, a moment of madness (like Diaby's own goal last time), or more likely a dodgy referring decision or three in ManUre's favour like we've seen so many times in the past, so I'm just bracing myself in case the worst case scenario happens.

I might be a bit more confident (or less) about the result when I've seen the respective line-ups for the match. Most importantly, we need Alex Song to be playing in front of the back four. He brings a stability to that position that Denilson can't match and I feel a lot better when he's playing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these people who don't rate Denilson, but I think he's better in a more advanced position. I'm just not confident when he's playing in front of the back four. In fact, I'd perhaps rather Craig Eastmond playing in that position if Song isn't available. Eastmond is still young and inexperienced and will have the odd bad match, but from what I've seen of him so far he looks to have a lot of potential. I think the chances of Eastmond being picked to start today's match though are pretty much zero.

At the back, I think Sol Campbell looked pretty good when he came on against Villa (one notable incident apart) and I believe he can do a good job against ManUre, but against the very tricky Wayne Rooney I would just be that little bit more confient if we have the more pacey and in form Vermaelen back, as long as he's fit enough to play. Please let it be so!

Up front, Eduardo has been off-form this season since the much publicised diving incident but has looked much better in recent weeks and in the last couple of matches Arsene Wenger has trusted him to play the central striker's role, so he obviously agrees with me. Eduardo is doubtful though for today's match after going off injured against Villa. However, I think that Nicolas Bendtner could have a big influence on today's match if Wenger gives him a chance, even if only from the bench. Like Sol Campbell, he looked good when he came on against Villa. He didn't get any goalscoring chances but he looked very sharp, he held the ball up well and he passed it around well. And those are all things with not really seen on a consistent basis from our main striking position since RVP got injured. Bendy has been making some pretty bold statements in the press this week about his ability and how he hopes to cement his place in the side while RVP is unavailable. He has come in for a fair bit of stick from Arsenal fans in the past and now is the time to prove that he can deliver on the pitch what he has promised off it. I'm not sure how fit he is though having been out for quite a while.

Update: Eduardo is definitely out. I hope that Arsene Wenger picks Bendtner in the centre but I'm afraid he might go with a front three of Nasri, Ashavin and Rosicky, with Arshavin being given the central role, which should at least make us a bit stronger defensively.

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Man Utd vs. Arsenal match preview