please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Team News: (To Be Updated) Form Guide: please log in to view this image Three Key Match-ups: please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Overall Record vs Crystal Palace: Played: 35 Wins: 20 Draws: 10 Losses: 5 For: 72 Against: 32 GD: 40 Last 6 Matches: Arsenal 5 - 1 Crystal Palace Crystal Palace 1 - 1 Arsenal Crystal Palace 1 - 2 Arsenal (FA Cup) Arsenal 1 - 0 Crystal Palace Arsenal 0 - 0 Crystal Palace (FA Cup) Crystal Palace 0 - 0 Arsenal [video=youtube;DdvtWuNTp7M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdvtWuNTp7M[/video] Manager's Views: (To Be Updated) My Team: please log in to view this image
Vermaelen for Kos, give him a break, and Gnarby for Wilshere, also possibly Monreal for Gibbs, time to rotate a little, we're not playing the greatest team out there.
After this game, the first team should get a week's rest as we only have the League Cup in midweek. Would not take any major risks. Having said that, Gnarby instead of Wilshere does sound good, based on the German giving us some much needed pace and width, but Wenger is probably saving him for Chelsea.
Back 5 Flamini Rambo Ozil Gnabry Giroud Cazorla vs. Chavski Mid Week Fab/Vivi Jenkinson BFG Verm Monreal Flamini (Replace with Jack if Jack plays less than 30 minutes on Saturday) Arteta Rosicky Gnabry B23 Ryo
I'd rest a few, because Palace are awful, and Wenger was complaining that the team was tired. Ramsey should be dropped for that abysmal showing against Dortmund
Woj Jenkinson Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs Flamini Arteta Ozil Cazorla Gnabry Giroud I cant be the only one who saw how important a role Arteta did for us on Tuesday night? He was awesome at making that transition between defense and midfield. When Cazorla came on for Wilshere, Ozil instantly moved out to the right hand side and this makes him very hard to mark as the full back will not want to drift inside with him as it'll then give our full back the space to whip the ball in. Wilshere and Rambo need to rest! Both of them but especially Rambo has been playing out of his skin and the amount of ground he covers each game means that he needs a rest. Wilshere went off with a knock on tuesday, so why take a risk when we have other options. I prefer Jenkinson to Sagna in my team as he puts in one heck of a shift and Sagna was at fault for the dortmund goal. if you watch the replays, he is just back inside our half when lewandoski shoots. Then rotate in mid week against chelsea but also being wary that this will be a difficult game so a mixture of youth and experience.
Both full backs were to blame. Its pretty basic stuff that one of them stays back when the other is attacking, especially against the better teams For this game I don't want to see us rest too many players, who knows what sort of performance Palace will pull out after sacking Holloway
In my opinion, the league is by far the the highest priority. We should distribute our resources accordingly. 3 points against Palace would keep us at the top of the league and keep the momentum going. If we had drawn a lesser team in the league Cup I think people would be far more amenable to just playing the kids and seeing how they do. Because it's Chelsea there seems to be the attitude that we have to take the fixture very seriously. I say play a weakened team midweek and preserve our top players for the visit of Liverpool. If we beat Palace and Liverpool I wouldn't care much that our second team went out of the League Cup.
Wow, that Arsenal team really had some swagger back at Highbury. They weren't half good to watch. It's noticeable how high up the pitch the midfielders were so it was easy to find a man in behind, or arriving into the box. Not sure if its teams playing deeper, or higher now but you don't seem to see that kind of openness. (other than in the last 5mins vs Dortmund)
I hope Flamini takes one for the team and gets a yellow.He can serve his ban during the League Cup game then
Looking at Palace's defence, I seriously can't believe that they did not buy any decent players with PL experience to shore up that ****ty defence in the summer, instead they spent £8 Mil on some kid from League 2. Bonkers.
Palace to start brightly, force a corner, Arsenal to counter and score 7 minutes into the game. They'll win by a fair amount. The gulf in class between these sides is scary. Was never that bad in 04/05 despite the Premier League lowering in quality.
It's official, Flamini is back for this game. Wilshere will have a fitness test. http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/team-news-who-s-fit-to-face-palace-
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Flamini, Ramsey, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud. Subs: Fabianski, Monreal, Vermaelen, Wilshere, Rosicky, Gnabry, Bendtner.
