Arsenal vs Fulham 2011-12 Preview

With qualification and top spot ensured after the win against Dortmund in the midweek, we face an inconsistent Fulham at home today. o recap a bit, we played brilliantly against the German champions and I have to say, Alex Song's dribble for the assist for the first goal was magnificent. We rarely gave Dortmund a sniff at goal the whole match, though they were hampered by the injuries and subsequent withdrawals of Goetze and Bender it has to be said. We conceded a sloppy goal at the end but it didn't matter much as we already had two goals on board thanks to yet another brace by our captain Van the Man Persie.

My only concern is how much the game affected us physically and whether we'll be able to sustain our performance over 90 minutes in the hectic Premier League. And for this reason, it is imperative that we take an early lead tonight and consolidate the game from the start. We probably need to be two goals to the good just to be sure. I'm hoping the changes coming in tonight, Arshavin especially, are able to provide us the spark needed.

The team news is that Gervinho and Laurent Koscielny have been rested from midweek and Arshavin and Djourou come in their place. Diaby is also among the substitutes tonight.

Team Line Ups:

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

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Laurent Koscielny, Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Frimpong, Yossi Benayoun, Gervinho, Marouane Chamakh.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.


Fulham(4-5-1): Mark Schwarzer, John Arne Riise, Philippe Senderos, Brede Hangeland, Chris Baird, Moussa Dembele, Bryan Ruiz, Clint Dempsey, Danny Murphy, Dickson Etuhu, Bobby Zamora.

Substitutes: Neil Etheridge, Matthew Briggs, Kerim Frei, Aaron Hughes, Marcel Gecov, Pajtim Kasami, Andy Johnson.

Manager: Martin Jol.

Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund Preview

It's a big game for us tonight as we face the current German champions again in the Champions League. We were a bit lucky to come away with a point from Dortmund (though, you may well argue that we were also extremely unlucky to concede via a wonder goal in the 89th minute).

Dortmund have had a similar start to the season as us, and they have notched up six consecutive wins in the German Bundesliga (we are on a 5 win streak), which also includes a win over German giants Bayern Munich last weekend. I happened to watch the game out of interest as well as anticipation and they really stood out as a hard working, pressing team much in the mould of Barcelona. They press from the front and they like to squeeze players looking for a pass. It will be a big test for our defenders and our deeper lying midfielders tonight and I hope Arsene has a plan to counter Borussia's gameplay.

In terms of results, we need a win to guarantee progress from the group. While that is surely desirable, it is not going to be an easy task. We need to stay disciplined from the first minute to the last. Also, we must be defensively solid to cut out clear cut chances. Controlling Goetze and marking the runs of Kagawa would be crucial in this aspect.

The team news is that Tomas Rosicky is out with a thigh strain and (surprise surprise!) Abou Diaby has recovered well enough to make the bench. For Dortmund, they are missing Neven Subotic and I hope we can make the most of his absence.

Team Line Ups:

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

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Johan Djourou, Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Frimpong, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Marouane Chamakh.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.


Borussia Dortmund(4-2-3-1): Roman Weidenfeller, Marcel Schmelzer, Mats Hummels, Felipe Santana, Lukasz Piszczek, Sebastian Kehl, Sven Bender, Kevin Grosskreutz, Shinji Kagawa, Mario Goetze, Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Mitchell Langerak, Patrick Owomoyela, Moritz Leitner, Ilkay Gundogan, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ivan Perisic, Lucas Barrios.

Manager: Jurgen Klopp.

Norwich City vs Arsenal Preview

Match Preview


Whew! That's the last of the international breaks for this year and finally we can have proper football occupying us again for some time. And this time, it was a better experience going into the break as compared to the two previous occasions this season on account of our thoroughly professional win against West Brom in our last league outing.

Today, we travel away to play Norwich City who have started the season well. he Canaries are just two places below us and we would do well not to under estimate them. We need to be focused and disciplined, especially as Phil F***ING Dowd is the referee today, and we Gooners still remember how he robbed us of a victory against Newcastle last season. We should be careful not to make silly fouls as he'll brandish a yellow card for the most innocuous of challenges. Man I really hate that referee.

Also, Norwich have predominantly scored from set plays and we really need to be up for it. We need to be alert not just from the initial long balls but also from the second balls and knock downs. We'll need a disciplined performance if we are to keep a clean sheet.

Attackwise, we should look to continue from where we left off and I hope the others can also give a helping hand to Robin in scoring goals, not that I am complaining! I just think it would be good to see other names on the scoresheet, with the usual one of our captain's name appearing three times!

The team news is that Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs are both ruled out for 3-4 weeks and 5-6 weeks respectively because of their injuries. Laurent Koscielny will deputise at right back for the game in Sagna and Jenkinson's absence.

Team Line Ups:

Norwich City(4-4-2): John Ruddy, Marc Tierney, Leon Barnett, Russell Martin, Kyle Naughton, Anthony Pilkington, David Fox, Bradley Johnson, Andrew Crofts, Steve Morison, Wesley Hoolahan.

Substitutes: Declan Rudd, Elliott Bennett, Aaron Wilbraham, Adam Drury, Andrew Surman, Simeon Jackson, Grant Holt.

Manager: Paul Lambert


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

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Johan Djourou, Francis Coquelin, Tomas Rosicky, Yossi Benayoun, Andrei Arshavin, Marouane Chamakh.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal vs West Bromwich Albion Preview

Arsenal welcome West Brom today in the final game before the final international break for this year. We all remember last season how this fixture panned out and we would do well to avoid a repeat of that. And given how we have performed in games before international breaks this season, we really need to get a good result today.

We've been brought down from flying high after beating Chelsea last weekend after the scoreless Marseille game. Though we can say the midweek Champions League performance owed to fatigue, we need to be on our toes and firing on all cylinders for this one. Roy Hodgson's teams(apart from Liverpool!), are always well organised and we need to be at our clinical best today, not to mention solid in defending set pieces. Let's hope the players have recovered well enough and regained their full fitness for this game.

The team news is that the Boss has opted to pair Vermaelen and Koscielny for the game and rested Mertesacker. Carl Jenkinson also starts at right back and apart from that the team is as usual with Robin van Persie returning to the starting line up having made the bench for the Marseille game in midweek.

Team Line Ups:

Arsenal(4-3-3): Wojciech Szczesny, Andre Santos, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Carl Jenkinson, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, Gervinho, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Per Mertesacker, Johan Djourou, Yossi Benayoun, Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.


West Bromwich Albion(4-5-1): Ben Foster, Billy Jones, Jonas Olsson, Gareth McAuley, Steven Reid, Jerome homas, Chris Brunt, Graham Dorrans, James Morrison, Simon Cox, Zoltan Gera.

Substitutes: Marton Fulop, Nicky Shorey, Somen Tchoyi, Youssouf Mulumbu, Craig Dawson, George Thorne, Marc-Antoine Fortune.

Manager: Roy Hodgson.

Arsenal vs Olympique Marseille Preview Plus a Brief Chelsea Review

Chelsea Review:


What a game that was! I was on the edge for the whole game as I tried to follow the game with a really slow internet connection and I have to confess I could breathe a little easy only when Robin van Persie netted in our fifth to give us a two goal cushion in the second minute of extra time! The celebrations that followed were cathartic and to see the reaction of the Gooner fan "Bully" after he received RvP's shirt was really endearing. Salute to a fellow Gooner!

Ooh to be a Gooner!

It is moments like this that make you believe in Arsenal, as this gem of an article points out. And oh did I mention that John Terry slipped and fell on his face as RvP scored the goal that gave us the lead? Man, that was pure awesome karma! Walcott, Ramsey and Koscielny had a great game, and who needs Batman when we have Robin? It doesn't happen often that we beat Chelsea away, let alone 5-3, and I've been soaking up the win for the past three days. We still have a long way to go in the season but a win like that will do wonders for the team spirit and confidence, and I hope we are able to take away all the positives from this match in our future endeavours.

Marseille Preview:

And hence we arrive at the present where we welcome Marseille for a crucial Champions League group stage match. If we win this match, then we are sure to qualify no matter what happens later. And with the Boss resting key players in van Persie and Koscielny, I hope we can put out a good performance and get the required win. Marseille will most likely look to hit us on the counter attack and we need to do well in the transition from attack to defence. We will as usual also need to be smart from set pieces and not concede soft goals.

Team Line ups:

Arsenal(4-3-3): Wojciech Szczesny, Andre Santos, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Carl Jenkinson, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, Gervinho, Ju Young Park, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Laurent Koscielny, Johan Djourou, Tomas Rosicky, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Robin van Persie.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.


Olympique Marseille(4-5-1): Steve Mandanda, Jeremy Morel, Julio N'Koulou, Souleymane Diawara, Rod Fanni, Dede Ayew, Benoit Cheyrou, Alou Diarra, Mathieu Valbuena, Jordan Ayew, Loic Remy.

Substitutes: Gennaro Bracigliano, Cesar Azpilicueta, Djimi Traore, Morgan Amalfitano, Charles Kabore, Lucho Gonzalez, Andre Pierre Gignac.

Manager: Didier Deschamps.