By Bilal Zaidi
Today we are once again without Hleb, Fabregas, Diaby, Flamini and Van Persie. Any team missing these players is going to have trouble replacing the quality that they take bring to the team but our apparent strength in midfield means we have the likes of Gilberto, Denilson and Diarra to cover up. I got our line up prediction against Newcastle correct so let me have another go at it. Wenger said he wants to rotate so this could mean a few things….I have a feeling that if he plays 2 up front then Walcott might get a run out this afternoon:
Almunia
Sagna
Toure
Gallas
Clichy
Eboue
Gilberto
Denilson
Rosicky
Adebayor
Walcott
However, Walcott could be exchanged for Diarra if we play 5 in midfield….It is hard to predict exactly because Wenger said he will “see who is in the best condition” after so many tough away games. Our next three games out of four are at the Emirates including Chelsea next Sunday.
I want to see Eduardo play up front rather than on the left of a five in midfield…but without Fabregas or Hleb in the same team I don’t know if it is fair to judge him. Even though so far in recent times he hasn’t shown much to us, he hasn’t really had much creativity behind him. He has scored 5 goals in 9 starts in all competitions…lets just give this guy some “time to settle in properly” as Wenger likes to talk about. I don’t think Middlesbrough away in December is the best fixture to play him in but if he does then lets see what happens. I personally would like to see Walcott get a chance and perhaps even Bendtner.
Middlesbrough are 18th in the league but it is fair to say their performances have been better than their position shows. If we get down and play then there shouldn’t be much of a problem but without Fabregas or Hleb it is hard to see where a goal will be created from. Rosicky needs to stand up in these sorts of games as the “senior first team player” in midfield. Also I would like to see more from Eboue today if he starts again in midfield. He did provide the cross for Ade to score that goal against Newcastle last week but apart from that he didn’t show much creativity.
I have been to Middlesbrough before, it’s not so much of a “shit hole” as perhaps reported in the media. They said in the papers that it was the worst place to live in England and even though I can understand certain parts of that, I can also say that to be perfectly honest if that is the worst place to live in England then it’s safe to say England isn’t such a bad place to live in. I don’t think the newspapers have been to some of the places I have in London before they started saying that bold statement.
Good luck to the lads today and enjoy the live stream from this site (open in internet explorer):
Middlesbrough vs Arsenal - LIVE FOOTBALL STREAM
Enjoy.
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