Man United Preview: Season decider part 2 of 4 30 January, 2010

What a massive game we have in store for us tomorrow. I still regard Arsenal vs. Manchester United as the biggest game of the Premier League season, fuck Chelsea – where were they five years ago? You can’t beat a rivalry that has extended since the 60s and 70s which still produces a top class, title-deciding match today. There will be millions of Gooners, United fans and neutrals tuned in tomorrow for a massive match in both our seasons. Many of them making history watching the first live football match in 3D.

Arsenal and United have both played 23 games and we’re just a point behind them, so a win tomorrow would give either side a great advantage in the title running.

Our main talking point going into the any game is our injuries. Vermaelen is thankfully not out for the season but is likely to miss tomorrow’s game and Eduardo is out for a week with a hamstring strain. It causes a bit of a problem because two players who haven’t got much football under their belt might have to start – Bendtner and Campbell. Here’s what Wenger said on our injury situation:

“The good news we have on Vermaelen is that there is no fracture. We have to assess his knee today [Friday], there is still a small chance that he will play on Sunday. We will do the maximum to get him fit but at the moment it looks unlikely. It should be a very short-term injury.

It looked to be a two-month problem, now at the latest he should be ready for the Chelsea game.

Bendtner looks at bit short, but I have not picked the team yet. To start Bendtner is going through my mind, but he has only one training [session] and 20 minutes of action in three months”

We’ve had no update since then and it doesn’t surprise me really, Wenger will want to keep his cards very close to his chest and won’t reveal his team until an hour before kick off tomorrow.

I do hope that Vermaelen makes it but if he can’t play then I don’t think it’ll be the end of the world. Sol Campbell has been very good in the two appearances he’s made since re-joining us and a bit of experience against Man United can’t be a bad thing. However it would be his third game in 7 days and if Wenger doesn’t feel he can last 90 minutes he might not start him.

Another option would be to drop Song back alongside Gallas. He returned from the African Cup of Nations this week and is set to play tomorrow. We would miss him in midfield but I would feel so much more confident with him in defence rather than Silvestre.

Man United have got problems of their own, Rio Ferdinand starts a four-match ban tomorrow. Vidic was on the bench on Wednesday night and is expect to return to the starting line up tomorrow to partner Johnny Evans.

It’s hard for me to guess the team when I don’t know the state of our players, but I’m going to have a good guess. I think Bendtner will be alright, he’s a fairly fit player, as for Vermaelen it’s anybody’s guess really:

Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen/Campbell – Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) – Rosicky
Bendtner – Arshavin – Nasri

I’d like to see us line up like that tomorrow. I’ve purposely left out Denilson who has not been in good form – we cannot afford slip-ups tomorrow. That team all depends on Bendtner and Nasri’s fitness though, if either or both are unavailable to start then Rosicky would be moved up top with probably Walcott and Ramsey or Denilson would partner Fabregas in the middle.

Enough speculation on the team, we’ll find out in 24 hours time. Whatever team is put out needs to know the task at hand, the draw on Wednesday was not an ideal result but we’re still in it. A win tomorrow would be a fantastic result and there’s no reason why we can’t do it. Looking around, we are the favourites too; the bookies have us slightly in favour, none of the pundits on Soccer Saturday today tipped United to win and looking around various websites, blogs and newspapers we look like we should be winning this.

They don’t have a great record at Ashburton Grove and we need to make the most of our home advantage. I’m not going tomorrow which I’m really gutted about but everyone there needs to raise the roof. Our atmosphere is gradually getting better and when it matters we’ve shown that we can make an incredible noise. I’ve no doubts we’ll do it again tomorrow.

We need a good performance from Fabregas, he needs to run that midfield. Arshavin needs to rise to the occasion like he’s done for us before. Almunia needs to show us the form of last season and want that clean sheet. If Song shows us why we’ve missed him so much we’ll be solid in midfield and keep Wayne Rooney quiet.

There’s been a lot of hype around Rooney recently and Wenger says he’s at his best age now. He’s playing well and has a good record against us so we need to defend well. Its all well and good saying Gallas can man-mark him but he’ll be looking to exploit our weaknesses and if Campbell plays he will be on his shoulder the whole game.

We have our own threats though and Man United know that. They’ve experienced what Arshavin can do earlier this season, Bendnter will be looking to come back with a bang and simply – we have Cesc Fabregas.

Come on Arsenal. I know you can do it if we play the way we can. Wherever you’re watching enjoy the game and cheer on the boys. Thanks for reading.