please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Venue: Emirates Stadium Monday, December 21st 2015 KO TIme: 20.00 BST please log in to view this image Head to Head Against Manchester City: Played: 166 Wins: 85 Draws: 40 Losses: 41 Goals For: 279 Goals Against: 185 Goal Difference: 94 Last 6 Meetings: Manchester City 0-2 Arsenal Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City (Community Shield) Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City Manchester City 6-3 Arsenal Manchester City 1-3 Arsenal (Pre-Season Friendly) please log in to view this image Arsène Wenger revealed the following team news ahead of the Manchester City game: on the latest... We are quite far from the game but at the moment, everybody who played against Aston Villa is available for Monday night and there are one or two possible comebacks. Maybe there is a slight chance for Alexis to be in the squad again but it is too early to be sure about it. on Alexis… He is running but not participating in full training. on Alexis wanting to play… I believe that is normal that he wants to play. You want him to be keen to play. He respects all the decisions I make and that is what I want from him. on trusting Alexis to be honest about his fitness… It is not trust in a negative way. Some of them are so keen to forget that they have pain somewhere that they say they are alright when they are not. You know the players and their psychological profile, you take that into account, then you get scientific advice and you trust your gut as well and then you make a decision. on it being a compliment… It’s a compliment. You want everybody to absolutely want to play. We have shown again recently with Olympiacos and with Villa that we have fantastic mentality in the team and that these players are something special on the human front. I hope that in the longer term, in the championship, that will come out. I’m sure [it will]. on him making the decision rather than Alexis… Yes, because he says he’s always ready. please log in to view this image
Big, big game. Obviously nothing is won or lost at this stage, and to be honest, even if City do win, they'd only go 2 points ahead, but these are the games where we've been questioned over the years and we need to show to everyone that we mean business if we want to win the title. Naturally we should be going for the 3 points, but so long as we don't lose, it'll be a decent result. We drew 2-2 last season, in a game where I felt we should have won on the merits of our second-half performance, but some sloppy defending in the final minutes cost us. City don't have the greatest record away to us; in the league, I think they've only won once in the last 30 years or something crazy like that, so that suggests that they don't like coming to north London too much! I know AW said he's unsure about whether to include him in the matchday squad, but Sanchez being brought back in would be a huge boost, even if he's on the bench. Also, and I know this is thinking quite further ahead, but having checked our fixtures from Mid-Feb to the end of March, it looks like that could be our season-defining time period. We play so many games in such a short space of time and I think it is imperative to try and add an extra body or two to the side, even if it's on loan, in January: Arsenal v Leicester Sat 13 Feb 15:00 Arsenal v Barcelona Tue 23 Feb 19:45 Man Utd v Arsenal Sat 27 Feb 15:00 Arsenal v Swansea Tue 1 Mar 19:45 Tottenham v Arsenal Sat 5 Mar 15:00 Arsenal v West Brom Sat 12 Mar 15:00 Barcelona v Arsenal Wed 16 Mar 19:45 Everton v Arsenal Sat 19 Mar 15:00
Yeah I wouldn't start Sanchez but I'd swap Iwobi on the bench with him. Even at not full fitness he still has the X-Factor to change the game.
I'm assuming between the Leicester and Barca (1st leg) game we'll have an FA Cup game? That is a tough run I've got to say. We definitely need bodies, even IF we can get Wilshere, Welbeck, Rosicky, Coq, Santi and Arteta back and fit before that run we will still need a few extra bods!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35111688 Typical, ey? I ****ing **** myself when this guy has the ball and is running at our defence. Hopefully City's defence isn't at the races.
Also, and I know he has not had much to do so far, but I do worry about Flamini in midfield against a team like City. The issue with Flamini was never really in the smaller games against the so-called 'lesser' sides that we should be beating anyway, it was about how he would fare against the big teams. I just think that he may get overpowered and outmuscled at the heart of midfield and they will try to take advantage of that. If we had someone more mobile in the middle of the park, I'd be a lot more confident of winning, but this is a game where I really do think that having someone that isn't as strong or as positionally-disciplined will cost us.
Hopefully Aguero isn't fully up to pace either - sometimes it takes him awhile to become lethal again...
That's good - except for the glaring gap at DM we've got good options all over the park, with Campbell playing well RW isn't such a weakness but we've got OXO or Theo who can play RW/LW if needed plus now it seems we'll have Sanchez on the bench and maybe starting as well. Defence is at full strength and we've got the option of Theo or Giroud upfront (depending on if Oxo/Sanchez start). Just fingers crossed that Aguero, Yaya and Kompany are off their game...
He normally needs a run of games to really get back to his best, because he tends to start off slowly when returning from one of his many injuries, I back Kos to shut him down.
I think you're right. Aguero is lethal when he's up to full match fitness, but I think this game might come a bit to early for him. They are though, a much more dangerous outfit with him in the team.
Hart Sagna Kompany Otamendi Kolorov Fernandinho Delph DeBruyne Yaya Silva Aguero I believe Kompany is a probable starter as well so that's how I think we'll start
Going into this game Wenger really needs to make sure our players have no fear factor, City have looked distinctly average for several weeks and even last week were lucky to nick a win right at the end, so we have nothing to really fear even with all of City's world class players on paper, they're not clicking at the moment, and are very much there for the taking if we play our game and play with no fear.
I know it's a cliché, but the battle will be won/lost in midfield. Ramsey and Flamini have to stay compact and not meander out of position, otherwise that will open up acres of space in midfield and City will have a field day. Wenger needs to drill into Ramsey's head that his defensive contributions in this game have to be prioritised over his forays forward. Flamini, likewise, has to be at his energetic best, putting in tackles and harrying City's players, but without recklessly fouling them. Irrespective of the result, generally, we always seem to put in a good shift against Manchester City and I hope we do again, but we're going to have work our bollocks off all over the pitch if we want the 3 points.
Totally agree with you on this one. Flamini and Ramsey are on a fresh run together but have looked decent so far. But City have a lot of power in the middle of the park and we will need to show a lot of discipline to keep them honest. We are on better form and Ozil is on a purple patch at the moment. We have most of our attacking players back, so as long as we keep it tidy in defense, we've got a great chance of grabbing 3 points.
Team: Cech, Monreal, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Bellerin, Flamini, Ramsey, Ozil, Campbell, Walcott, Giroud City's: Hart, Kolarov, Otamendi, Mangala, Sagna, Fernandinho, Toure, Delph, De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero
I'm not confident of getting anything from the game, having had a look at the starting XI's. Fernandinho, Toure and Delph will eat Flamini and Ramsey alive. To make it worse, Aguero is starting and Sanchez isn't even in the squad. Our bench doesn't give me much hope either.
We are definitely light on numbers and they have a powerful and energetic midfield with good options on the bench. It's going to be a difficult game and will require a top performance. What gives me hope is that in recent games with city we have played well and got decent results. Excited about the game despite injuries meaning we don't have a full strength starting eleven or subs.
Normally when we play City at home, I am always confident of getting a result. But I just don't think we have enough steel in midfield or game-changers on the bench to win this. I think we'll get a draw at best, which I would take right now if you handed it to me.
