Everton Preview: Back to 4-4-2? 28 December, 2007

The big news going into tomorrow’s game is that Gallas is fit but Eboue and Walcott don’t travel. Van Persie still hasn’t recovered, he’ll miss West Ham too. With Wenger announcing that Theo and Eboue are rested it looks like Hleb will go back to right midfield and we’ll probably revert to 4-4-2.

There’s a number of options Wenger could be thinking of for tomorrow, he could still stick with a five man midfield with one of Diaby, Diarra, Denilson or Gilberto starting. Or maybe Eduardo’s going to start on the wing but I’d guess it’ll be Hleb.

Up front Bendtner might get a deserved start. He’s done really well when he’s come on recently and a lot of fans believe that his efforts merit a starting position. Adebayor will play tomorrow but if we are going to go with a 4-4-2 formation then I’d pick Nicklas ahead of Eduardo as the second striker. I know that typically Bendtner and Adebayor wouldn’t be started together as they play in similar styles but so what. If Nick doesn’t get the start I’ll be quite disappointed but we can still use him from the bench.

It’s too hard for me to guess what Wenger’s thinking for tomorrow’s starting line up, but this is what I’d do if it were up to me:

If the Bendtner + Adebayor problem is too much then I’d suggest even putting Eduardo up top as his partner. Not that I have anything against Ade but I really believe in Nicklas at the moment.

Wenger could still go with a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 if he wants, Diaby or Eduardo would start on the wing in place of Eduardo. Things haven’t clicked in the last couple of games and a change would be welcome, that’s why I think the 4-4-2 should be brought back.

Everton is a must win game in my eyes. The draw against Portsmouth was only an alright result if we pick up wins in our other games; we can afford a draw now and again. The game’s at 5.15 and live on Setanta.

And finally, Wenger’s said he wont be adding to the squad in January which is a bit of a shame but you can’t be surprised. There probably will be some one on their way out though and Arsene won’t stand in the way of Jens Lehmann if he wants to go. I’ll talk more about this transfer window soon.

Thanks for reading.