OM vs Arsenal Preview

Champions League football is back after what seemed an eternity. Both Manchester clubs secured wins today [curses!] and we are up against a good OM side tomorrow evening for an away game, before we welcome Stoke to the Emirates in the weekend. We should look to seal three points in France to build on the performance against Sunderland and string together some performances to boost some confidence and climb towards the top 4.

This fixture is vital as we trail Marseille in the group by two points. Wenger, banned from the first two group matches, will be back. Arsenal haven't failed to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League in the last 12 years. Winning away would put us in a very good position in the group, without too many complications.

Arsenal and Marseille are set to face each other for the first time in European competition. Both clubs are performing lukewarm in the respective leagues, but have been playing much better in Europe.

Group Standings :
OM are 2 points ahead of us in the CL group.

OM Facts :

* Unbeaten in the champions league, having [surprisingly] thrashed Dortmund 3-0 last and a tough away victory against Olympiacos. Only Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are unbeaten, apart from OM [I think].
* In the league, they are unbeaten in their last 5 games (but won only twice) after being runners-up in Ligue 1 last season.
* OM and Real Madrid are yet to concede in CL this season.
* In 10 games in the Ligue 1 this season, Marseille has only won once, they have drawn six, and have lost three.


Line Ups :

OM was without creative outlet Mathieu Valbuena in a goalless draw at Toulouse at the weekend; however he is likely to return to the line-up. In-form striker Loic Remy should be joined by Andre Ayew in attack. Lucho Gonzalez is set to take his place in a three man central midfield. In all, OM have a strong team on paper.

Jenkinsson will need all the support he can get from Walcott ahead of him. He will be thoroughly tested. Santos looks reassured in LB. Fun fact: We have no other full backs in the squad and Djourou is the only other defender [not counting Song]. Otherwise, the defense looks fine and Per and Koscielny should have good games. Koscielny and Gervinho have prior experience of playing in France, which might come in handy.

I expect Rosicky to start over Ramsey after his performance against Sunderland but Arteta (and Theo) needs to sort his act out fast. I also think Arshavin will have some part to play somewhere in the match. All said and done, RvP will be our talisman.

Conclusion:

This match is not going to be a walk in the park and we will have to play as a unit. Song will have to do a good job of protecting the defense and the defense will have to play without any blunders. A clean sheet and a 1-0 victory would still do more wonders to our confidence than a 3-2 win or a draw.

The plan should be to get a couple of early goals, substitute Coquelin in for Gervinho/Walcott at 60 minutes and then play a 4-4-2 to protect the lead. Then again, I am not the boss and this is Arsenal.

^^ Post updated..

Nice preview Sri.

Think we will see some changes tomorrow though. Expecting Arshavin and possibly Benayoun to come in, they both did well at the weekend.

Rosicky starting twice in 4 days might be too much to expect these days.

guarantee you ramsey starts. even with the supposed light hamstring injury. probably a good thing though because the only time he's played well this year is in CL games

I really do hope to see Park tomorrow. He's played against Marseille a few time whilst at Monaco- now surely that must count towards something?!

I agree, I haven't been too impressed with Ramsey and Arteta thus far. Nearly KO'd my best pal when he said Ramsey is better than Wilshere.

Must win game nontheless.

SUPERCARTTS wrote:I really do hope to see Park tomorrow. He's played against Marseille a few time whilst at Monaco- now surely that must count towards something?!

I agree, I haven't been too impressed with Ramsey and Arteta thus far. Nearly KO'd my best pal when he said Ramsey is better than Wilshere.

Must win game nontheless.

Park isn't in the squad mate. Didn't you see the squad earlier on Arsenal.com?

Park, Frimpong, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gibbs not in squad.

SUPERCARTTS wrote:I really do hope to see Park tomorrow. He's played against Marseille a few time whilst at Monaco- now surely that must count towards something?!

I agree, I haven't been too impressed with Ramsey and Arteta thus far. Nearly KO'd my best pal when he said Ramsey is better than Wilshere.

Must win game nontheless.

Park didn't go with the team

My bad.

I'm getting really annoyed with the whole Park debacle. It's getting beyond stupid now!

We have stoke @ home on Sunday- HE BETTER FOOKING PLAY!!!!!!!!!!

Some stats:

Park Ju-Young scored twice against Marseille in three seasons with Monaco!


Gervinho played seven league games against Marseille with Le Mans FC (two seasons from 2007/08) and LOSC Lille Métropole (two seasons from 2009/10) and failed to score, although he was twice on the winning side with Lille.

Cheers, Sam. Well there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.

Park is in hot form for S.Korea. He scores all kinds of goal; in the air and on the floor. And he measure an impressive 6 foot. I get the ompression that Wenger wants to ease him in- and maybe if we were 4-0 up against Sunderland, then that would've been the case.

Starting him against stoke wouldn't actually be a bad shout, imo. Height and physicallity is essential against those kind of teams. No chance that happening though

Samuelj29060 wrote:Some stats:

Park Ju-Young scored twice against Marseille in three seasons with Monaco!


Gervinho played seven league games against Marseille with Le Mans FC (two seasons from 2007/08) and LOSC Lille Métropole (two seasons from 2009/10) and failed to score, although he was twice on the winning side with Lille.

Gervinho needs to start producing, him and Walcott are so shit at the moment that i'd rather have Bendy on the wings

I've seen better end product from blind pottery makers than I have from Gervinho. The guy starts off with a rocket up his arse then fizzles out like a sparkler.

gunnerlistick wrote:

Samuelj29060 wrote:Some stats:

Park Ju-Young scored twice against Marseille in three seasons with Monaco!


Gervinho played seven league games against Marseille with Le Mans FC (two seasons from 2007/08) and LOSC Lille Métropole (two seasons from 2009/10) and failed to score, although he was twice on the winning side with Lille.

Gervinho needs to start producing, him and Walcott are so shit at the moment that i'd rather have Bendy on the wings

Gervinho was superb in the first 30 minutes on Sunday then went completely invisible. Was strange. He is clearly a player, as he proved in France, with great quality, and he did get the assist for RVP's goal on Sunday. He just needs time to adapt further.

As for Walcott, he is completely not a winger however he is playing very averagely at the minute. Time for Arshavin + Gervinho on wings for me.

Samuelj29060 wrote:

gunnerlistick wrote:

Samuelj29060 wrote:Some stats:

Park Ju-Young scored twice against Marseille in three seasons with Monaco!


Gervinho played seven league games against Marseille with Le Mans FC (two seasons from 2007/08) and LOSC Lille Métropole (two seasons from 2009/10) and failed to score, although he was twice on the winning side with Lille.

Gervinho needs to start producing, him and Walcott are so shit at the moment that i'd rather have Bendy on the wings

Gervinho was superb in the first 30 minutes on Sunday then went completely invisible. Was strange. He is clearly a player, as he proved in France, with great quality, and he did get the assist for RVP's goal on Sunday. He just needs time to adapt further.

As for Walcott, he is completely not a winger however he is playing very averagely at the minute. Time for Arshavin + Gervinho on wings for me.

Yes but Sturridge plays for Chelski on the wing and he does a decent job there, i know Theo is not a winger but he can do better this.....he is really bad at the moment.

His contract expires soon and he will prob leave because Wenger won't play him upfront

Really need Theo do some defensive work if he plays, Ayew & Remy have ability to roast Jenkinson down there. Our right flank is my most worried one this game.

Twoism wrote:Really need Theo do some defensive work if he plays, Ayew & Remy have ability to roast Jenkinson down there. Our right flank is my most worried one this game.

Walcott has to help Jenkinson out every game not just this game.

Great Preview Srigooner.

I have faith in our guys to win the game.

This game is a must win for our CL aspirations and may just give us that confidence boost we are so sorely lacking.

The way I see it, we bought Park as a third striker when we were ready to offload Bendtner. The idea was clearly to boost our market in Asia. He is doing well in training with AW saying he was "impressive". Yet, I think that he won't see much games till AfCoN time when Chamakh is not here. He is a good back-up striker who is getting used to England now, so that he is ready for action in Dec/Jan time.

RvP is doing well at the moment, but his injury record is dubious and his fitness fails to inspire confidence. Besides, we can't use him too much in our pursuit of top 4. I'd save him for PL/CL games and try to get more games for Park and Chamakh [who has been better lately]. I'm sure AW wants to have some rotation too.

Theo- would make a great striker in a 4-4-2 but this formation is not for him. I don't want to see him leave somehow, but I don't see him committing only to be a winger either.

SUPERCARTTS wrote:
I'm getting really annoyed with the whole Park debacle. It's getting beyond stupid now!

Hahahaha, we only signed him to attract more interest in our growing Asian fan base.


Really not feeling great about our chances. Ayew is a monster. Son of Abeddi Pele, Gahtdaaaamn

It's time to win and definitely get rid of !

@Srigooner great job ..ahh still the same sig ..trololol ( i was kidding my mate) u know..any my sig is better than everyones to be honest Let's WIN then...

RedEyesWhiteBeard wrote:dude, that doesn’t make sense, you have to play him to attract the interest. Him sitting on the bench wont do anything, if he plays, more Asian people will watch arsenal. All we are doing right now is angering the Asian people not attracting them.

It wouldn't make a huge difference if we had played him in the few games we've had him. Wenger has even spoken of how he wishes they could change the match times to suit the Asian audience. But yeah they should play him soon, he really isn't half bad, we don't have much to lose by putting him on the bench instead of Chamakh.

Wenger likes to take his time with new arrivals....Eduardo took time before he a part of a squad.... i read somewhere that Wenger gives people 6 months before he really integrates them into the team

imalegend wrote:Wenger likes to take his time with new arrivals....Eduardo took time before he a part of a squad.... i read somewhere that Wenger gives people 6 months before he really integrates them into the team

Still don't make any scene why Park not in the line up, the guy scores like nothing for his NT, he can play anywhere in the midfield also.