‘Boro preview: Injury situation…better 3 February, 2007
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Premiership.trackback
At 5.15 today we kick off at the Riverside in the Premiership again after a run of cup ties. I think we lost there last year but this time round we need to win. We have a game in hand now, a position I always like to be in. The Merseyside derby is currently underway and if Everton can somehow get a result we could be 1 point away from Liverpool. Charlton play Chelsea and the only thing I can see there is an away win I’m afraid. It’s scum vs. scum tomorrow as Spurs take on Man United at the shithole. There can’t be a lot of teams changing places this weekend but we need to start closing the gap on Chelsea.
We’ve been very unlucky with injuries recently but it looks like we’re over the worst of it and players are slowly coming back. Adebayor is fit after getting a knock on Wednesday but Diaby will miss out and is back on the injury list again however his knee injury isn’t as bad as first thought and he’ll only miss a couple of games. Johan Djourou is back after a hamstring problem; he might come in for Big Phil who probably needs a rest. Emmanuel Eboue, William Gallas, Freddie Ljungberg, Alex Hleb and Julio Baptista are all out but not for long, all those names will hopefully coming back this month. Also don’t forget Van Persie who’s out for the season pretty much.
Jens Lehmann returns to the squad after his domestic cup rest and Denilson who was simply brilliant on Wednesday has been included. The young Brazilian deserves this and more and if called upon I’m sure he’ll impress. So I think the team will line up something like this: Lehmann, Hoyte, Djourou/Senderos, Toure, Clichy, Rosicky, Fabregas, Gilberto, Walcott, Henry and Adebayor. The only one there who looks a bit edgy is Theo Walcott who’s going through a bit of a dip. Possibly Denilson will play left wing but I doubt it. I know Theo can play well and I have confidence in him today.
Earlier in the week it looked like it might be Aliadiere partnering Henry today and Arsene has been saying how he nearly joined today’s opposition. Due to our sudden injury crisis Jeremie was kept at Arsenal and he will almost certainly leave in the summer. I do like the boy and has shown in the League Cup that he can play. It’ll be a shame to see him go, he’s been an Arsenal player for something stupid like 9 years but I don’t think he’ll ever challenge for a place here. Another player who might be off at the end of the season is Jens Lehmann. Last year he hit his peak and had a great Champions League run that ended in him claiming the no.1 jersey off Oliver Kahn for the World Cup. This is the last year of his contract and the German is unsure where he wants to be next season. He’s proved this season he’s still a great ‘keeper but if he wants to go we can’t stop him, here’s what Mr. Wenger had to say:
“I had a little meeting with him. At the moment, we have to sit down again to decide about that. Ideally, I would like him to stay. But I do not know yet. You have to wait. He will not get more than one year. What can change is somebody can offer him three years. What we talk about is between him and me, but we have not really sat down yet and spoken about a contract. We spoke about how the year went, what I expect of him for the rest of the season and we will speak about a contract in a few weeks.”
When the German joined as Seaman’s replacement he looked shaky and had a lot of fans to win over but now I have all my belief in him and I’ll always remember him as one of the great Arsenal players. If the defence didn’t let Eto’o through in the Champions League Final when Lehmann tripped him to be sent off I think we probably would’ve won the cup.
The other news is Wenger talking about the possibility of making a move for Gareth Bale in the future. Also he’s been talking about Gallas’ injury and guess how long he says he’s out for…
Right I’m off now. The game’s on PremPlus at 5pm, enjoy.
I am a bit concerned about this game. However the good things is that our players have got a lot of rest and they should be up for this game. I am expecting a big performance from Thierry Henry.
It’ll have to be a very patient game. They’ll play much the same at home as they did at Emirates. An early goal could make all the difference. I wouldn’t fancy going down by one, I think the squad has had enough character building for one season…
A goal for Aliadiere would be great for him and the squad – again convince each player that every man beside him is capable of doing the business.
Draw for the Pool. Gives us the chance to overtake but to be honest, I’d have sooner we both won so as to keep up the heat on the top two. We can always overtake Liverpool later in the season. Them dropping points is a nice boost for Chelsea before their game. Charlton have had a couple of decent results of late. Doubt they’ll keep it up today but it’d be handy.
Plus why waste money on Gareth Bale? I’m not saying he’s not a good player but we have Clichy and Traore already and the former is defintely good enough for Arsenal and the latter looks he will be too. Bale probably suffers from the British syndrome of over-hyped and over-priced. Although he was smart enough to turn down Spurs.
Correction… forgot Pool won midweek so couldn’t overtake them today anyways…
I think we will come third this season but 2nd is more than a possibility. Today we need to put the pressure on Liverpool but you’re right, more importantly Chelsea.
Arsene hardly sign a player before he talk about it. Also Gareth Bale comes across as too boyish for my liken, even Theo comes across as a more matured player. Gareth Bale won’t be an Arsenal player because he won’t get into the first team of Arsenal. He isn’t better than Clichy, he isn’t close. Gareth Bale is just ‘freekick’, and we are blessed with great dead ball specialist. Gareth Bale won’t be an Arsenal player.
pool drew haha
my team for today would be
—————–crazy jens
Hoyte——-Toure———Senderos——-Clichy
——————-Gilbo
——Denilson——Fab4———Little Mozart
———Aliariariardiere—–TH14
le bench: Almunia, Djourou, Flamini, Theo, Adebayor
Denilson deserves to start against boro more that Theo (supersub) and flimflam (not that he hasn’t been brill). While I think Aliardiere should be given a shot with the first team and we all have seen what Adebayor can bring as a late sub (portsmouth anyone?) Plus he has just come back from a (minor) injury, but in my opinion having strains lead to tears.
Come on the Gunners!
knew AW would play flimflam and ade b4 Denilson and Ali
Goals from the game
Our set pieces are really poor. With the ammount of corners we had, you’d like to think at least one dangerous ball in would be played. This is where we are really missing those “RVP whipped in with a shitload of curl” corners.
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Disappointing result overall but in the circumstances, it wasn’t a disaster.
From the second I saw Flamini on the right wing I was worried – like many Arsenal fans I guess – and he was absolutely rubbish. He wasted possession frequently, was constantly drawn out of position and was completely unable to perform the basic function of a winger, to get the ball into the box. Now that Diaby and Denilson are pushing to get into the team, I find it very hard to understand why they could not have done better jobs than the hard working but technically very limited Flamini. Such is the problem of losing three right sided players in quick succession.
Riley’s decision not to send off Viduka was a joke. He even made it clear to him that he was being booked for elbowing which was a straight red. It was inevitable that controversy would be compounded by an Arsenal red card! Riley had no trouble sticking to the rules there. It was a definite red, he made contact… but Lucas Neill committed similar offences in both games against Arsenal and got yellow cards. In the context of Viduka, leniancy could have been shown.
Not a great performance yesterday. Extra time seemed to have taken its toll on some players, like Gilberto who seemed a bit off the pace, while Fab could do with a few days off I think.
Oh well. A week off before Wigan when we should get back on track.
Arsene’s Army, that is the funniest site I have ever seen… …did you read the comments of the manure fans hahaha can’t they see it’s a massive pisstake… …loved the comment, “I started supporting the London Arsenals because they soun militaristic and I wanted to support the war!” looooooooooooooool
Oh regarding that supposed takeover bid from the Arabs, I cant say i’m a fan. I’d rather we beat the Chavs and Manure on our own without a sugar daddy. But hey i dont run the club so whatevers best for the club i suppose
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