With 15 games to go, we are currently placed in 7th position with 37 ponts and 5 points behind Chelsea at fourth place. The margin for error keeps shrinking every game and the two points dropped in midweek against Bolton may yet come back to haunt us. We created at least two clear cut chances in the first half alone and had we taken them, we would have at least kept up the pressure on those ahead of us. No more dropped points should be the mantra now if we are to finish fourth.
Theo Walcott has really not got going this season and he needs to buckle up and start proving his worth. He was clean through on goal in the last game and he once again failed to score when one on one with the keeper. Similarly, Aaron Ramsey was offered a golden chance but he lacked composure at the vital moment and toe poked the ball harmlessly to the opposition goalkeeper. We simply cannot afford to be profligate anymore and as I so frequently say, we need to take our chances. As Mikel Arteta said post game, we're not going to get 15 chances to win every game and we need to convert whatever few chances we get. This fact is even harder to bear when most of the time, the opposition scores with their first(and sometimes only) shot on goal.
Against Bolton, we started brightly and the home side's defence was at sixes and sevens during the opening period. This was also the period where we created the best chances. as the game progressed, their defence tightened up and it became more difficult to find space. I hope that we come out in full force against Blackburn today, when hopefully their defence is disorganized, and convert some of our chances to goals early.
Arsene Wenger has made two changes from the side that played in midweek,
with Francis Coquelin and Tomas Rosicky coming in for Bacary Sagna and
the jaded Aaron Ramsey. Surprisingly, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is in the
starting line up despite injury concerns about his knee. Blackburn are without Chris Samba and Yakubu for the match.
Here's to an Arsenal win(with the usual "without any injuries" wish of course)!
Team Line Ups:
Arsenal(4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Tom.as Rosicky, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.
Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Bacary Sagna, Aaron Ramsey, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park, Thierry Henry.
Manager: Arsene Wenger.
Blackburn Rovers(4-5-1): Paul Robinson, Martin Olsson, Gael Givet, Scott Dann, Jason Lowe, David Hoilett, Steven Nzonzi, Radosav Petrovic, Morten Gamst Pedersen, David Dunn, Anthony Modeste.
Substitutes: Mark Bunn, Bradley Orr, Ruben Rochina, Mauro Formica, Simon Vukcevic, Grant Hanley, David Goodwillie.
Manager: Steve Kean.
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