PREVIEW: ARSENAL VS. MAN CITY

MATCH PREVIEW - ARSENAL VS. MAN CITY

Once upon a time, Manchester City were fighting for survival in the Barclays Premier League, while Arsenal were battling to gain the title of "Champions" once again. THINGS HAVE CHANGED.

At the time of writing, Arsenal are equal on points with their North London neighbours Tottenham, while Man City are 5 points behind Man United, a negative result on Sunday almost certainly signifying the end of their strong challenge for the league during the 2011/2012 season. Once seen as a game with an easy 3 points, Arsenal have to welcome a strong team with over £200 million worth of talent on show. Man City will know that nothing but a win is acceptable for them in order to keep ground in the title race, which relieves Arsenal of that added pressure that can scupper us consistently. In order to get an indication of what is to come Sunday afternoon, we have to look at the past 5 games between the two clubs.

Manchester City 1 - 0 Arsenal

Arsenal 0 - 1 Manchester City

Arsenal 0 - 0 Manchester City

Manchester City 0 - 3 Arsenal

Arsenal 0 - 0 Manchester City

These games have spanned over the past few years and don't point in an obvious result for either team. I remember going to Arsenal vs. Man City (ironically my first ever game at the Emirates Stadium) and seeing us turn them over, goals from none other than the prolific goalscorer at the time, Emmanuel Adebayor. Like both clubs, star players come and go and there are going to be two key players in Sunday's game, who could make the difference.
                                               

ARSENAL: ROBIN VAN PERSIE

Robin van Persie has scored 26 goals in 31 Premier League appearances this season. The Arsenal captain is ever prolific in front of goal and will be key in getting Arsenal a much needed goal against Manchester City for the first time in over a year. He's been a bit quiet in recent weeks, but we all know that "he scores when he wants!"

SCORING ODDS AT ANYTIME: EVENS

MAN CITY: VINCENT KOMPANY

The Belgian centre back has really come into his own the past couple of years, become a key player and now captain in Manchester City's title chasing team. Kompany will have to be at his best on Sunday to try and stop Arsenal's goal scoring record at the Emirates Stadium; 18 goals in the past 5 Premier League games, showing a very impressive record.

SCORING ODDS AT ANYTIME: 12/1

PREDICTED ARSENAL LINE-UP:

                               SZCZESNY

SAGNA    VERMAELEN     KOSCIELNY     GIBBS

        ROSICKY          SONG           ARTETA 

WALCOTT                                       CHAMBERLAIN

                       ROBIN VAN PERSIE


PREDICTED SCORE: ARSENAL 2 - 1 MAN CITY


ARSENAL FC - BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM, THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN

KARMA....

MATCH PREVIEW: ARSENAL VS. MAN CITY


 THIS TIME - IT'S PERSONAL

Which English, Arsenal player deserves to go to Euro 2012 the most?

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STRIKER FEVER

STRIKER FEVER

As Arsenal fans, we seem to be the victim of a vast amount of transfer rumours, all under the presumption that the worst case scenario happens. Robin van Persie - all I have to say about that. However, the media have got something right, in that our attacking options, especially at the pinnacle of the strike force is weak. Arsene Wenger signed Chu Young Park from Monaco in the summer, going to extreme lengths in order to make sure that he came to Arsenal. A reported five million pounds down the drain. He has  been involved in a measly six games with only one goal to his name. That would put the problem down to him, if he hand't been put on for five minutes every time! Currently getting a run in the reserves (and scoring) it seems that one of our "bigger" summer signings is simply a commercialised shirt buying strategy by Arsenal. One that along with Marouane Chamakh, may have been a reason as to why our season has not maximised the rewards. When Robin van Persie tires in a game (which he does, believe it or not!) there is no one to pick up the pieces. Another summer signing, Gervinho, has also had mixed reviews on his debut season in English football. I can tell you right now that he is not good enough. Slow on the ball, running into nowhere - Gervinho may be skillfulled, but he is not a striker and not what we need at this club. Which brings me to the transfer window once more. We have been linked today with three strikers.

LUKAS PODOLSKI

Lukas Podolski is a done deal to Arsenal. Middle-aged, established international with Germany, he is the striker that we need. Cologne's "Lu Lu" can expand our squad and give us that piece of quality that can let us challenge on all fronts next year. Whether he is a replacement or back-up to van Persie, only time will tell.

OLIVER GIROUD

Pretty much a prime example of why you should never believe everything you read in the papers. A player who, although consistent with 22 goals so far this season for his club Montpellier, is being valued at around 50 million pounds. We can rule this signing out, as there is no way that Arsenal Football Club will ever! ever! spend this money, especially on someone that inexperienced on the big stage.

STEPHANE SESSEGNON

The name won't go away will it? To be fair, I've seen little of Sessegnon this year, purely because I am forever focused on Arsenal. When I have seen him however and what I have heard about the forward, is that he is "World Class." Sharp on the ball, quick and skillfulled, this seems like the calibre of player Arsene Wenger would jump upon in an instance. However, as well as big money signings, we like to rule out Premier League players as well, bar the last day of the transfer window last summer. 


So three strikers already today and I'm sure a lot more rumours will follow. Just remember, not everything you read in the newspapers or read online is true. Look at the trend and you will see that the big money signings aren't always the best - our friend Andrey Arshavin being a high profile example recently. There is no need to worry though - a Thierry Henry-esque signing may be in our midst soon - and we all know what happened there.

ARSENAL FC - BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM, THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN

THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY

THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY

When someone mutters the name "Emmaunel Adebayor," the room goes silent. Men at pubs stop 

drinking their pints, kids at school start to ponder, looking into space, thinking of a comment to respond to the mention of "Ade" as he has been nicknamed. Nicknamed not only by Arsenal - but also Manchester City, Real Madrid and most recently...Tottenham Hotspur. Those two words previously hurt me. I had always heard those rumours on the BBC gossip column regarding "Adebayor to join Redknapp revolution. It had always seemed like some kind of failed April fools joke, or maybe a journalist trying to sell a couple more newspapers. It hit me however, the most recent time it happened in summer 2011, that this was not a rumour. Fast forward a little bit of time and you have Emmanuel Adebayor, posing in a Tottenham Hotspur shirt!

My mind flashed to one moment in our history. Our ex-captain Cesc Fabregas lashing the ball across the pitch, for Adebayor to flick up and volley into the top corner past the ever conceding against Arsenal, Paul Robinson. This was at a time where "Ade" was a hero at the Emirates Stadium, prompting fans to regularly believe that if you, "give him the ball, he will score." I was recently watching the Spurs game against Swansea with some mates, two of their (bad quality of course) goals being scored by the man himself. When my friend started to sing that song, I thought about how fickle football fans really are. It was, forget you not, not even a year ago, when those same fans were singing racist lyrics aimed at him. That's not to say all Spurs fans are like that, but it's funny how a villian turns a hero just like that - and vice versa. The reason I thought about that goal Adebayor scored against Spurs, is because those magic moments are what us football fans watch for. At that time, this tall Togolese striker was at the peak of his game and a hero to all of us. Despite the foul way in which he left the Arsenal and the disrespect he has shown us after leaving, we should all take a moment to appreciate what he did for us. Despite the disloyalty that he clearly has, "Ade" gave us some great moments that, maybe not all of us, will remember for a very long time. Robin van Persie has since taken over as our main man in attack and has now become even more prolific than our ex hero. Football goes on. We have to accept that loyalty in football is rare nowadays and that this same sort of situation could happen again in the near future. Emmanuel Adebayor was the one that got away, but I'm sure like we have experienced in the past and the present, a new hero will emerge in the future.

ARSENAL FC - BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM, THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN

IS THIS THE SORT OF PLAYER WE WANT AT ARSENAL?

Marouane Chamakh from Morocco signed from Bordeaux in 2010 on a free transfer. Despite a great start to life at Arsenal, scoring regular goals and looking like the signing we needed, Robin van Persie came back and has not looked behind him since. The past 2 years has been painful for Arsenal fans, having to watch the now lethargic and somewhat disinterested Chamakh come onto the pitch with 10 minutes to go, getting a couple of touches of the ball, while picking up a nice little wage packet (60,000 pounds small to be precise!) After Arsenal's 2-1 defeat to QPR on Saturday afternoon, our friend Marouane decided to go to a shisha bar with his fellow countryman Adel Tarrabt, who scored the opening goal against the Gunners this weekend. The point of my thoughts are not the health negatives of shisha, but for an Arsenal player to go out, especially after a humiliating loss AND when performing this pathetic, should not get away with it. Chamakh had the potential to be an Arsenal great, an amazing header of the ball most notably in his days in France. However, his slow decline has left me, a young fan and many die-hard supporters disgraced, appalled and quite frankly fed up. Marouane, thank you for the (lack of) good times, it's time to go!

ARSENAL FC - BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM, THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN