Bradford City vs Arsenal: Match Thread.

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Arsenal travel to Valley Parade this Tuesday night to take on Bradford City in the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup. The Gunners ended a four game winless run against West Brom last Saturday and they will hope that the result gives them that much needed confidence. Referee Mike Jones played a big role in Arsenal’s win after he wrongly awarded the Gunners a penalty when Santi Cazorla dived inside the box. Mikel Arteta stepped up and converted the penalty and in the second half he scored another penalty to double Arsenal’s lead after this time, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain was taken down in the penalty area. The Gunners could count themselves lucky but they needed a win badly and it did not matter how ugly it was. Bradford City also go into this game on the back of a league win. The Bantams beat Torquay at Valley Parade last Saturday. That win saw them climb to fourth place in league two. Arsenal entered the League cup in the third round and got to this stage by beating Coventry at home and beating Reading away in a thriller. Bradford City have had to play more games to get to the quarter-finals of the league cup and they had to work very hard to get here. They had to go to extra time in three of their last four games in this competition and in the fourth round; they knocked out Wigan at the DW stadium. A famous scalp, but if they beat Arsenal, it will overshadow that result. Arsenal last met Bradford City eleven years ago and that was in the premier league. Since then, Bradford have dropped to league two and they are now trying to work their way back up the leagues. Having not won anything for seven years, the Gunners should see the league cup as a competition they can win to end that run. With the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United already out of the competition, the Gunners have a real chance to win it.

Bradford City have had a very good season so far. Under the management of Phil Parkinson they have progressed to the quarter-finals of the league cup and are just three points off third place in league two. Nahki Wells has been without a doubt their main man this season, the young forward has been banging in the goals for fun this season. In the league, he has eleven goals to his name and he has scored fourteen goals in all competitions. He will without a doubt pose the biggest attacking threat to the Arsenal defence. Wells has formed an excellent partnership alongside James Hanson and if the Gunners defend like they did against Reading in the previous round of this competition, then they will get punished. For Bradford this game is going to be a massive occasion and they will give everything they have to produce one of the biggest upsets in this year’s league cup. If the Arsenal players are not fully focused then they could easily slip up against one of the best teams in league two. Arsenal have scored thirteen goals in the two league cup games they have played this season, and Theo Walcott has scored five of those goals. The Englishmen has been in lethal form in this competition and Arsenal fans will hope that he can overcame a minor injury in time for the game against Bradford City.

Arsene Wenger has spoken about resting only a few players for the game against Bradford, so the Gunners could still line up with a pretty strong team. The likes of Lukas Podolski, Thomas Rosicky, Aaron Ramsey and Carl Jenkinson should get starts after only being on the bench against West Brom last Saturday. Thomas Rosicky started his first game in six months when he lined up against Olympiacos last week and he showed something that has been missing from the Arsenal team in the last month. He showed his ability to move the ball quickly and the ability to drive the team forward from midfield by committing defenders and opening up the pitch. He came off the bench against West Brom last Saturday but is expected to get his second start in six months on Tuesday night. As well as experienced players like Rosicky, the likes of Thomas Eisfeld and Serge Gnabry could also feature. Eisfeld has been in great goal scoring form for the under 21’s and has caught the eye of many Arsenal fans. Gnabry started against Reading in the last round of the League cup and like Eisfeld he has shown plenty of potential.

When they were trailing Reading by four goals in the fourth round of league cup, not many Arsenal fans thought that they would see their team feature in another league cup game this season, but the Arsenal players refused to give up and their comeback against Reading was stunning. Arsenal now have a great chance to book their place in the semi-finals of a cup competition and after not winning a trophy for seven years, Wenger will know the potential importance of this cup. A win will here will give Arsenal fans something to look forward to in the new year, so it is an important game. For Bradford this game is huge and they are going to give everything they have and the Arsenal players must earn the right to play their football. After a couple of weeks of doom and gloom, the Arsenal players can raise the spirits of their fans by getting through to the semi-finals of the league cup. Let’s hope that they deliver against Bradford City on Tuesday night.


Team News:

Arsene Wenger:

Three Key Match-ups:

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Naki Wells

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James Meredith

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Rory McArdle


Overall Record vs Bradford City:

Played: 25
Wins: 11
Draws: 5
Losses: 9
For: 33
Against: 27
GD: 6

Last 6 Meetings:

Arsenal 2 - 0 Bradford City
Bradford City 1 - 1 Arsenal
Bradford City 2 - 1 Arsenal
Arsenal 2 - 0 Bradford City
Arsenal 2 - 0 Bradford City (FA Cup)
Arsenal 3 - 0 Bradford City (FA Cup)

[video=youtube;GHv9JW9wP24]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHv9JW9wP24[/video]


Managers Views:

Arsene Wenger on Bradford City:

My Team:

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Final Score:

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Come on Arsenal.

 

With all due respect to Bradford this is a match we should win if we take it seriously and not muck about.

 

Team News:

Arsene Wenger:

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/team-news-giroud-walcott-and-mannone

 

I'm really looking forward to this game. Despite the gloom, we're 2pts from 4th, in the last 16 of the Champions league and we could be in the semi final of a domestic cup too I think it could generate a lot of momentum for our season if we win

 

we need to go and destroy them from the get go.

None of this " we need to show them respect " sh1te , like fabregas said before we played Ipswich.

 

Showing a team respect means that our own team take the game seriously and we put out a strong side

 

Its just easy to show a team too MUCH respect as too little , and that will bite you in the ass very quickly.


With the money they cost us , and the wages we pay , i would expect nothing less.

Coz if you get beat by Bradford ,with their resources. you may as well pack up ,and start a bowls team .

 

We've got the better squad, but you can only turn up and try and beat the team in front of you on the day

 

I can remember us being champions and playing a team in a cup competition who the previous season had finished 92nd in the league.We all know what happened in that game.

 

Anybody watching Fulham v Toon ?

Really good game

 

No

 

exactly.

We need to SHOW them who we are .

NOT let them get a look in .

Give them NOTHING .

cometh the hour , cometh the man .

 

Nice article about the last time we faced Bradford City at Valley Parade.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20633812

 

We should win by at least 3 goals. Any less and we've seriously underperformed. They're league 2, we're Champions League.

EDIT: Hang on, it's us.

1-0 will do.....

 

They also have nothing to lose and are playing in front of their own fans. And they will everything they have. If our players turn up half-arsed then I could easily see them beating us.

 

I think we will see a strong team with the addition of a couple of youth players. I think oxocube and Podolski will start, maybe gervinho as well since Giroud is out - if Walcott wasn't injured he would be starting in the middle.

I'm looking forward to seeing Gnabry and Eisfield and hope they feature in some way.

I'll be happy with any win as long as we get through to the semi-final. Seeing the teams left we should be looking to win the league cup, so provided we go through i don't care if its 1-0 or another 7-5. That said i really hope we put in a strong performance. The run of games we have comming up are very winnable and a big scoreline against bradford will help build some momentum.

If we play a team like the one against Reading i expect a small scoreline, but if we play a stronger team (and i think we will as the players still have time to rest before our next fixture) i think we could be in for a treat in atacking football.

 

Newcastle are deep in the ****ter this season. Some fans are already calling for Pardew to be sacked.

 

That's just stupid, they have clearly had too many injuries. Losing Cabaye was a massive blow for them.

 

But it is Pardew's 3rd season in charge, and he always gets fired in his 3rd season. It's spooky. Also, Cabaye isn't that good. He's good, but not irreplaceable.