please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Arsenal take on Schalke at that Emirates this Wednesday evening as the Champions League resumes after a three week break. Arsenal go into this vital clash on the back of a defeat to Norwich City at Carrow Road. It was without a doubt, Arsenal’s worst performance of the season and Norwich took advantage. Grant Holt scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal suffered their second defeat of the season. While Arsenal had a miserable Staurday evening, Schalke were celebrating their best result of the season. Schalke managed to beat their fierce rivals and German Champions, Borussia Dortmund in the Westfalenstadion. Ibrahim Afellay and Marco Hoger scored the goals for Huub Stevens' side, who emerged triumphant in the 141st derby encounter between the two sides. The game between Arsenal and Schalke is seen as the game between the two strongest sides in the group and a clash that will determine who will finish in top spot. Arsenal have made the perfect start in the Champions League in terms of results having won their first two games, away to Montpellier HSC and at home to Olympiacos. Schalke were minutes away from also making the perfect start, but a late goal from Souleymane Camara meant that Montpellier took a point from the Veltins Arena and has left Schalke two points adrift of the Gunners in group B. A win at the Emirates against the Gunners will change all that, though. But that is easier than done. Since their defeat to Inter Milan at Highbury in 2003, Arsenal have lost just the one home game in the Champions League. But, Schalke come to the Emirates in confident mood and Arsenal are anything but after the result at Carrow Road. Arsenal will have to improve ten fold from their performance against Norwich to get anything against Schalke because if they can win, then it will take them one step closer to qualifying to the last 16. Schalke have made an impressive start to the season under the management of Huub Stevens and it has seen them climb to third place in the Bundesliga and they have opened up a five point gap on their fierce rivals, Borussia Dortmund. But winning the Bundesliga is going to be a very difficult task because despite making a very good start, they still trail Bayern Munich by seven points. Bayern have made the perfect start and have won all their league games. Schalke did not invest heavily in the summer and their team is more or less the same one from the previous season. But they did make one shrewd one move in transfer window and that was to get Ibrahim Afellay on loan from Barcelona. The talented Dutchmen has seen his career disrupted by injuries but his talent is not in question. An attacking player who can play through the middle as well out wide has the pace and trickery to cause any team in the world problems and on his day he can be a match winner. Afellay scored against Dortmund last Saturday and should be in confident mood. Up front, Schalke have one of the most lethal finishers around in Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Last season he scored an amazing 44 goals in all competitions and he was hailed as one of the best centre-forwards In Europe. While, Huntelaar does not posses the all round game of our top forwards in Europe he does know a thing or two about goals and that makes him as dangerous as any player in Europe. Since leaving Ajax in 2008, Huntelaar has played at three different clubs and finally at Schalke he seems to have found his place. The Dutchmen already has five goals to his name this season and he will present the biggest threat to the Gunners, especially in and around that penalty area. Schalke also have two of the more highly regarded young players in Germany in Julian Draxler and Lewis Holtby. Draxler scored against Montpellier in the last round of Champions League fixtures and in doing so he became the youngest German player to score in the competition. Holtby has scored three times from midfield this season and he has provided Schalke a goal threat from midfield. Draxler is in a race to be fit for this game having injured his wrist against Montpellier. Arsenal and Schalke were drawn in the same Champion’s League group in 2001 and that was the last time the two teams met. Both sides won their respective home games against each other and while Schalke recorded a more comfortable win, the Gunners were pushed close at Highbury. A Thierry Henry goal gave them all three points in the end. Schalke and Arsenal have both reached the sem-finals in this competition in the last three years but they are clearly not teams who are amongst the favourites in this competition. Schalke’s last game in England was against Manchester United at Old Trafford and after missing out on last year’s Champions League, they are back and pose a serious threat to the Gunners. Arsenal have a lot of injury worries and against Norwich they lost Alex Oxlade Chamberlain who picked up an injury after coming on as sub. That leaves the Gunners very short and they might have no choice but to field the same front three from the game against Norwich. In midfield, Francis Coquelin could be in line for a start and in defence Andre Santos is expected to carry on deputising for the injured, Kieran Gibbs. Serge Gnarby made his Premier League debut against Norwich and the young German could also feature. Gnabry is German born but has roots in Ivory Coast and can play for either Germany or Ivory Coast. He is a powerful attacking minded midfielder who can play on the right or behind a main forward but CM is his best position. Arsenal will have to respond this Wednesday to appease their fans and a performance as well as a result will be greatly welcomed. But getting a result against an inform Schalke team is not going to be easy and the Gunners can’t afford to be as lethargic as they were against Norwich. A win here will put them in the perfect position one that will see them take a firm grip on Group B. Team News: Arsene Wenger: Three Key Match-ups: please log in to view this image - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar please log in to view this image - Roman Neustädter please log in to view this image - Atsuto Uchida please log in to view this image First Round of Results: Montpellier HSC 1 - 2 Arsenal Olympiacos 1 - 2 Schalke 04 Second Round of Results: Arsenal 3 - 1 Olympiacos Schalke 04 2 - 2 Montpellier HSC Third Round of Fixtures in Group B: Arsenal vs Schalke 04 Montpellier HSC vs Olympiacos Managers Views: Arsene Wenger on how Podolski's and Mertesacker's experience has helped the squad: My Team: please log in to view this image
We're either going to suffer a tight loss, or we're going to thrash them. it's just one of those games. They're a bit like Porto, you never know what Schalke is going to turn up.
Despite putting Giroud as my CF, I am think about now changing it and playing Gervinho. All his goals and best performances have from that position and I feel that Schalke's CB's will deal with Giroud better for some reason.
No. I'd bring him on as a sub, but definitely not start him. The kid is 17, talk about being thrown in at the deep end. look at liverpool relying on Sterling, we shouldn't be in the same boat.
With the injuries to AOC and Walcott, we have little options. Gervinho has been utterly **** on the wings this season. Arshavin despite his goals and assists against mighty Coventry was his usual lazy self and we can't carry him on the wings especially not with Afellayand Farhan playing for the opposition. The other option is to put Ramsey on the right like we did against Man City. Good old Ramsey.
That could work. As long as Arshavin is not as careless on the ball as he was when playing on the wings. Like Walcott, Arshavin does get goals/assists when he is on the pitch.
Right, my team for this game (barring late injuries) would be: Mannone Jenkinson Mertesacker Vermaelen Santos Arteta Coquelin Arshavin Cazorla Gervinho Podolski
Should be a good game, one of the more exciting ones on Wednesday anyway... A little preview for anyone interested. Bit of a betting twist. I'm feeling a draw for some reason. A win would be fantastic, though.
i agree with the team you've put up 100%. Schalke are a good team though they beat dortmund this weekend and have quality players like holtby and huntelaar while ive heard good things about uchida too.
I'd definitely play Cazorla in the middle, not saying that he can't do a great job on the right or left, but we need a strong creative playmaker in the middle to feed our forwards.
Team News: Only Koscielny is back in the squad. http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/45522/team-news-oxlade-chamberlain-koscielny
So Kos will be back on the bench but AOC is definatly still out. This leaves us with Gerv, Pod, Arsh, Gnabry, Cazorla able to play in the wide positions. Because of midfield injuries we have Arteta, Ramsey, Coq, Cazorla, Arsh, Gnabry able to play centrally - also Wilshere but he won't start. I agree with others that Arshavin should play some part in this, either to push Cazorla out wide, or just playing on the wing. He was good against Coventry and looked more likely to make something happen against Norwich than the rest of them did! If he turns up he is a world class player, and when he doesn't he usually still gets a goal or an assist! If he is out wide then we will need to play Coq alongside Arteta to give us a good amount of cover when Arshavin doesn't track back
FC Nordsjælland vs Juventus Shakhtar Donetsk vs Chelsea BATE Borisov vs Valencia Lille vs Bayern Munich Spartak Moscow vs Benfica Barcelona vs Celtic Galatasaray vs CFR Cluj-Napoca Manchester United VS Braga Today's CL games. Probably going to watch either the Chelsea/Shakhtar or Barca/Celtic games.
I wouldnt have Gnarby and Coq playing, too little experience for a big game like this. You might be able to get away with one starting but I think both for 90 minutes would get found out. How about Szcz Jenko Per TV Santos Arteta Coq Cazorla Arshavin Gervinho Podolski
