Arsenal vs Manchester City

Arsenal Vs Manchester City
Sunday 13th January 4 pm BST
Emirates Stadium
Referee: Bad Luck Mike Dean


The peak moment

There is not much to say really, struggling to find words on what to say this time round. I guess i can start by recapping the last few weeks in where we are unbeaten in the last 5 Premier league games while also doing pretty well in the FA cup match against a side who beat us comfortably at the Emirates. It is some sort of achievement even though we have another fixture in our hands which we definitely did not need. Also brings out the point that we should have done much better to hold on to the win against Swansea in the FA cup, and that i guess is a good area to talk about. It wasn't the first time that we did something that stupid. The defensive errors in this team are countless. It's just weird how from being comfortable and on top we can collapse so easily. A crappy pass can lead to opposition scoring like against reading away or just a routine clearance going horribly wrong leading once again leading to a goal. The point of this is that we really can't afford this anymore. At the start of the season, it's ok since you have plenty of time to catch up but now ? it's 17 games to go plus Champions league games. We are entering the peak moment. We have a game every 3-4 days from now till we get kicked out of the CL/FA Cup. This is where we need to draw the line and concentrate. This year the competition for the top 4 is more fierce than ever and we need to ensure we make the fewest errors and gain the maximum points

A blue affair

Much has been said about the tickets saga so no need to get into that. Even though Manchester City are missing few key players, we really can't take that for granted because they still have many other excellent players who can hurt us, specially with our weird home form. Adding to that, City are the champions for a reason and they certainly know how to be efficient and effective. Don't take the head to head record seriously either because that is pretty useless as it never really becomes an important thing before the game. Like our unbeaten home record in the CL for example.

In any case, We need to play like we did against Swansea in the 2nd half. That was vintage arsenal, creating chances, pressing the opponent and playing fluid football. I don't see a reason we can't beat city tomorrow if we play to our best. We are somewhat clicking as a team and 4 wins and 1 draw in the last 5 is a good example of that. Talking from the tactical point of view, our pressing should be our strength against them. They are without Nasri and Yaya, and therefore if we press high, they will struggle. Like the way we did against Swansea. We will have a lot of possession as well but that can be dangerous at times as Mancini will look to counter at every opportunity and that is why i said we need to stop making careless errors. We can make Dzeko ineffective by pressing higher up hence taking their danger infront of the goal away, but obviously it's never that easy for us. We will probably miss 20 chances infront of goal and let them score via a Vermaelen error... Hopefully it doesn't happen though

Team News

Arsenal's Olivier Giroud is a fitness doubt after suffering a cut knee in the draw against Swansea.
Midfielder Abou Diaby could be involved, having played for the Under-21 side during the week after three months out with a thigh problem.

Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero will be out for at least another week with a knee injury.
Samir Nasri is still suspended but Aleksandar Kolarov is available again after recovering from a groin injury. Brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure are at the Africa Cup of Nations along with reserve striker Abdul Razak.

Arsenal Probable Team

----------------------------------------------Szczesny----------------------------------------------

Sagna---------------------Mertesacker-----------------------Vermaelen--------------------Gibbs

------------------------------Arteta------------------------Wilshere----------------------------------

Oxlade-------------------------------------Cazorla---------------------------------------Podolski

-----------------------------------Walcott---------------------------------------------------------


Manchester City probable

----------------------------------------------Hart---------------------------------------------

Zabaleta--------------------Kompany----------------Nastasic-----------------------Clichy

-----------------------Barry--------------------------Garcia-----------------------------------

Milner-----------------------------------Tevez-------------------------------------Silva

--------------------------------------Dzeko------------------------------------------------

Match Facts (BBC)

Head-to-head

• Manchester City have gone 27 league matches without a win at Arsenal. Their last league victory came at Highbury in the old Division One on 4 October 1975.
  
• City have not scored on their last five league visits to Arsenal. The last City scorer was DaMarcus Beasley, who scored in the 3-1 defeat in April 2007.

Arsenal

• Arsenal have won four of their last five league games (W4, D1).
  
• The Gunners have picked up 34 points from 20 league matches - their least at this stage of the season since an identical tally in 2005-06.
  
• They have won nine matches - their fewest victories at this stage since 1998-99.
  
• Arsenal have scored 40 goals in this season's Premier League, more than they had at this stage last season when Robin van Persie was leading the line.
  
• They have won all five league games that they have led at half-time.

Manchester City

• City have six points fewer than at this stage last season.
  
• They are yet to lose a game after opening the scoring (W10, D1).
  
• No Premier League team has conceded fewer than City's 19 goals this season.
  
• Joe Hart is poised to make his 200th appearance in goal for Manchester City.

Final words

With Chelsea, liverpool, West Ham, Swansea all to come thick and fast, we need to start picking as many points as we possibly can. So Go get em lads!

With Chelsea, liverpool, West Ham, Swansea all to come thick and fast, we need to start picking as many points as we possibly can. So Go get em lads!

Good luck guys

Great Preview RG

as you said with that average central midfield we should press them and win it higher up as without yaya they will struggle to keep it

Also
*City have conceded a higher proportion of goals from outside the box than any other team in the Premier League (26%).

Arteta and Godolski

and despite them talkin about our set piece weakness


*Roberto Mancini's side have conceded 58% of their goals from set plays, a divisional high.


*Man City have allowed the opposition just 56 shots on target against them this season, the fewest in the top flight.

important we take chances we get i fear not that many but you never know


*Arsenal players have made 12 individual errors leading directly to goals this season, more than any other team.

need our defenders at their best esp Verm if we want to win

but i expect another negative approach from Manco
would be great if they come at us
another key stat is how either team can win or at least avoid defeat when scoring first

Lets do this!

Great work RG.

The return of the unreturnable

I died laughing at this.

It feels like so long since I watched Arsenal play, a must in game. I dont care about transfer window for few hours and hope for a good win. Knowing City they will come and defend and this might frustrated out players and could coast us.

City are a dangerous team and will score goals if we sleep on them and defense must be on top of their game.

I dont think its a good idea starting Mert.


- - - - - - Szczesny
Sagna - Koscielny - Vermaelen ---------------Gibbs
- - - - - - - - - - - - Wilshere - - Arteta
- Oxlade - - - - - - - - - Cazorla - - - - - - - -Podolski
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Walcott

I have strong feeling Ramsey will start this game.

With all of their absentees and the fact that we're playing at the Emirates, I might go so far as to say that I expect us to win

Spoiler:

Raptorgunner wrote:I have strong feeling Ramsey will start this game.

If true I have a strong feeling we won't win. Will be stuck hoping for a draw.

Great preview man, really hope we can get a win, we will are likely to never play such a depleted City XI again and have to take advantage of that and put some points on the board as we've got an extremely difficult run coming up.

julias wrote:Great preview man, really hope we can get a win, we will are likely to never play such a depleted City XI again and have to take advantage of that and put some points on the board as we've got an extremely difficult run coming up.

Please tell me you are going to the grove for the game.

January is the make or break month for us. Its hard to see us making amends like last year from february with a player like RVP missing from the squad.
Even with the injuries the predicted man city line-up looks quite strong.

srigooner wrote:

julias wrote:Great preview man, really hope we can get a win, we will are likely to never play such a depleted City XI again and have to take advantage of that and put some points on the board as we've got an extremely difficult run coming up.

Please tell me you are going to the grove for the game.

Unfortunately not I've got a cup game with my team :/

julias wrote:

srigooner wrote:

julias wrote:Great preview man, really hope we can get a win, we will are likely to never play such a depleted City XI again and have to take advantage of that and put some points on the board as we've got an extremely difficult run coming up.

Please tell me you are going to the grove for the game.

Unfortunately not I've got a cup game with my team :/

Damn.

The best for your cup game though!

Nice work RG. Expecting the same XI's too.

Important we don't lose.

THIS SUNDAY...

It's Class Vs. Money
It''s Honour Vs. Greed
It's Tradition Vs. Upstarts
It's The right way of doing things Vs. Taking shortcuts

It's ARSENAL Vs. Manchester City...

*
How is this for an Introduction...?
never lost at home to city for the last 37 years... but now..

Wilson37 wrote:THIS SUNDAY...

It's Class Vs. Money
It''s Honour Vs. Greed
It's Tradition Vs. Upstarts
It's The right way of doing things Vs. Taking shortcuts

It's ARSENAL Vs. Manchester City...

*
How is this for an Introduction...?
never lost at home to city for the last 37 years... but now..

Underdogs vs. League Champions.

Missed that one?

Arteta is struggling tomorrow, calf muscle. Abou Diaby is in the squad. Olivier Giroud has a fitness test in the morning. (Geoff arsenal)

That's bad

Hope you win. Would be nice to see Wenger continues his CL run against the odds at season debut.

And I would hate to see the oil money winning back to back the Premier league.

On another note, Walcott is now a main striker?

2-1 arsenal ,arteta and walcott

OLpower wrote:Hope you win. Would be nice to see Wenger continues his CL run against the odds at season debut.

And I would hate to see the oil money winning back to back the Premier league.

On another note, Walcott is now a main striker?

i would prefer oil money winning than seeing a c*** like RVP winning anything..