Chelsea vs Arsenal 2011-12 Preview

And so we visit the blues today in the early kick off at Stamford Bridge. Last season, we fell a bit short in the corresponding fixture but a lot has changed since then. It will be interesting to see if Chelsea retain their strategy of playing a high defensive line as they have done this season(as pointed out by ZonalMarking). If it so happens, then we maybe in for a very open, attackin g game from both sides with chances galore and possibly end-to-end football.

The team news is that Vermaelen makes it to the bench and Djourou is in the starting line up. The Swiss will most probably take up the right back spov and I hope he does well against the trickery of Juan Mata and surging runs from Ashley Cole. Alex Song or Mikel Arteta should help out Djourou as the right back area appears to be the weak link in our side and Andre Villas Boas will try to target it. the good news for us is our nemesis Drogba is suspended from the game!

Team Line ups:

Chelsea(4-3-3): Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Jose Bosingwa, John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Ramires, Juan Mata, Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge.

Substitutes: David Luiz, Oriol Romeu, Florent Malouda, Ryan Bertrand, Raul Meireles, Romelu Lukaku.


Manager: Andre Villas Boas


Arsenal(4-3-3): Wojciech Szczesny, Andre Santos, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscienly, Johan Djourou, Alex Song, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Gervinho, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Carl Jenkinson, Thomas Vermaele, Emmanuel Frimpong, Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.

COME ON ARSENAL!

Arsenal vs Stoke City 2011-12 Preview

I HATE STOKE CITY!!

Team Line Ups:

Arsenal(4-3-3): Wojciech Szczesny, Andre Santos, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Johan Djourou, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, Gervinho, Marouane Chamakh, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Emmanuel Frimpong, Yossi Benayoun, Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park, Robin van Persie.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.


Stoke City(4-4-1-1): Asmir Begovic, Marc Wilson, Matthew Upson, Ryan Shawcross, Andy Wilkinson, Matthew Etherington, Glen Whelan, Rory Delap, Dean Whitehead, Jonathan Walters, Peter Crouch.

Substitutes: Thomas Sorensen, Ryan Shotton, Robert Huth, Wilson Palacios, Salif Diao, Kenwyne Jones, Cameron Jerome.

Manager: Tony Pulis.

Olympique Marseille vs Arsenal Preview

Match Preview:

The Champions League enters a vital stage as we square off against French giants Marseille away tonight. Though a win would do wonders for our confidence and our group standing, a draw can also prove handy. Arsene has made just two changes from the side that saw off Sunderland in the weekend and it'll be interesting to see hoe he uses the subs and when.

Marseille seem to be a lethal counter attacking side as they beat the German champions Dortmund in their last Champions League match 3-0 despite conceding 20 shots and having only 8 shots themselves. Their attack seems stronger on paper than their defence and I reckon it will be a close game. They also seem to score more goals from set pieces and we have to be really alert from all dead ball situations.

Team News:

Olympique Marseille(4-3-3): Steve Mandanda, Jeremy Morel, Julio N'Koulou, Souleymane Diawara, Cesar Azpilicueta, Benoit Cheyrou, Alou Diarra, Lucho Gonzalez, Dede Ayew, Loic Remy, Mathieu Valbuena.

Substitutes: Gennaro Bracigliano, Djimi Traore, Jean-Philippe Sabo, Gerard Roland, Charles Kabore, Morgan Amalfitano, Andre Pierre Gignac.

Manager: Didier Deschamps.



Arsenal(4-3-3): Wojciech Szczesny, Andre Santos, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Carl Jenkinson, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Johan Djourou, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Yossi Benayoun, Gervinho, Marouane Chamakh.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.

Hope to get a win, though a draw wouldn't be bad if we win the reverse fixture.

Arsenal vs Sunderland 2011-12 Preview

Team news:

Arsenal(4-3-3): Wojciech Szczesny, Kieran Gibbs, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Carl Jenkinson, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Gervinho, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Andre Santos, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Frimpong, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.


Sunderland(4-5-1): Simon Mignolet, Kieran Richardson, Wes Brown, Michael Turner, John O'Shea, Sebastian Larsson, Lee Cattermole, Jack Colnack, David Vaughan, Ahmed Elmohamady, Stephane Sessegnon.

Substitutes: Kieran Westwood, James McClean, Louis Laing, David Meyler, Craig Gardner, Connor Wickham, Ji Dong Won.

Manager: Steve Bruce.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal 2011-12 Preview

So, we have the first North London Derby of the season today. And maybe for the first time I know, our rivals look almost as strong, if not stronger, than us. They'll be pumped up for this as we will be, and their home crowd will not make things any easier for us. Passions are gonna run high this day!

And to add more spice to the match, Mike Dean happens to be the referee for today's match. I just hope that he does not get pressured by the home crowd and give away big calls against us, though recent history has shown we really do poorly in matches officiated by him. I really hope the outcome of the match is not decided by a refereeing howler.

Tottenham come into this match with good form and a strong line up. You could argue that they have probably more game changers than we have right now, with van der Vaart, Bale, Modric and Adebayor at their disposal. And with them having the better of us last season and with our two stars gone, they'll feel confident going into this game. Our newly assembled side will have its task cut out tonight.

For us, we haven't hit anywhere near top gear this season yet but we are building well towards it. We have won three games in succession after quite a long long time and the group seems to be gelling better. Injuries as always haven't helped matters but we've fought to victory in all these matches. Our top gun Robin van Persie was rested for the midweek game against Olympiacos and I hope he fires today. Still, it'll need a huge team effort and I'll be satisfied with a point for today's match, even though I yearn for a win as always.

Team Line ups:

Tottenham(4-4-2): Brad Friedel, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Ledley King, Younes Kaboul, Kyle Walker, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Scott Parker, Rafael van der Vaart, Jermain Defoe, Emmanuel Adebayor.

Substitutes: Carlo Cudicini, Sebastien Bassong, Vedran Corluka, Sandro, Jake Livermore, Giovani Dos Santos, Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Manager: Harry Redknapp.


Arsenal(4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Song, Per Mertesacker, Bacary Sagna, Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Gervinho, Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Andre Santos, Carl Jenkinson, Emmanuel Frimpong, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.

COME ON ARSENAL!!!