Friday 3 April 2009

Arsenal vs Man City - Sat 4Th Apr 15:00 pm

After an International break the Premier League is back with a bang for City, with a tough game away to Arsenal up next for the blues.

I am hoping that we will go to Arsenal with the belief that we can win. It will be difficult to get a win though, Arsenal are unbeaten in 16 league games. The last time they were beaten though was when City gave them a masterclass at Eastlands, I am hoping we might have some sort of psychological edge over them.

This could be a really interesting game today, both teams like to play attacking football. I hope we sit back and wait for them to come at us, kind of like we set out to do against Aalborg away, this time I just hope we don't end up sitting far to deep. I think with the defencive capabilities in our midfield we should have enough to shut Arsenal's attack down, then with our attacking quality we will hopefully be able to counter attack.

I am not sure what team Hughes will pick tomorrow, if Bellamy is injured I would love to see Hughes play all three of our defensive midfielders with SWP, Ireland and then Robinho as a lone front man. That is quite a strange team to pick but I feel it could work and would love to see how Robinho handles the burden of playing down the middle on his own, maybe it is time to see if he can really stand up and be counted. I also think with Kompany, Zabaleta and De Jong in our midfield that we wouldn't have to worry about Arsenal's midfield to much, then with Ireland, Robinho and SWP attacking Arsenal's defence which can be calamitous at times, I think that we could break them down.

City team news:
Bellamy is likely to miss out after aggravating his knee injury whilst on International duty. Wayne Bridge should be fit after being out with a hamstring injury and Robinho should also be available despite picking up a knock while playing for Brazil. Valeri Bojinov picked up a knock when he was training with Bulgaria but should make the squad. Michael Johnson, Martin Petrov and Didi Hamann are all on the comeback trail but will not be ready to face Arsenal. Daniel Sturridge and Benjani are also returning to fitness and whilst they are still doubtful, there is a chance the pair may be available for the game at the Emirates. Update, it has been confirmed this morning that Stephen Ireland is likely to miss the game with an ankle injury.

Arsenal team news:
Robin Van Persie misses out with a groin injury picked up while he was away with Holland, Abou Diaby is struggling with a thigh injury and Eduardo picked up a groin injury on International duty. Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott return after knee injuries, Emmanuel Adebayor is back after a hamstring injury and Mikael Silvestre has recovered from a calf injury. Nicklas Bendtner is a doubt having picked up a knee injury and will face a late decision on his fitness, Samir Nasri has a virus and should miss out and Carlos Vela may be rested after only getting back from International duty late on Friday. Tomas Rosicky is still recovering from long term injury.

Possible Man City line up:
Given, Richards, Dunne, Onuoha, Bridge, Zabaleta, De Jong, Kompany, Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Caicedo.

Possible Arsenal line up:
Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Denilson, Arshavin, Bendtner, Adebayor.

My prediction: Arsenal 0 - 1 Man City

Worth a bet: I have a feeling about our scorer so here goes..... De Jong scores in a 0 -1 City win.

2 comments:

  1. Keep Hoping
    I say Arsenal 2 - 0 Man City

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  2. Well we pasted Arsenal at our place so I don't see why we can't go there and do it. Like you say there is always hope, it is part of being a City fan.

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