Hello Everyone,
This weird season which was equally filled with greatness and disaster is about to come to an end. This weekend, we welcome Aston Villa to our final home game of the season. After that painful defeat against Stoke last weekend, its a must for the Gunners to bounce back. A victory will not only offer something for the fans to cheer about, but will also help us to keep ourselves secure from Manchester City who are right behind us. Now it felt really awful for me to write the above sentence because only some three weeks before we were fighting for the top spot with Manchester United, but now we are not even guaranteed to finish in third spot.
Moving on, We have some very welcome news in terms of injury. The Verminator is finally set to start a game for the Arsenal first team after nine long months. Gael Clichy, who missed the game against Stoke with a injury is also set to return. However Koscielny and Rosicky are ruled out with thigh strains and Diaby is also yet to recover from his calf injury. Cesc and Nasri are both doubtful and will have late fitness tests. For Aston Villa, midfielder Makoun (who is a good friend of our own Alex Song) is set to return from injury, but defender Ciaran Clark is set to miss out.
Last week against Stoke, we started the game very brightly but faded away very quickly. We should make sure that we are not going to repeat it. Djourou and Gibbs had a terrible game defensively and I expect Djourou to come good against Villa because he will have the Verminator to partner him. Vermaelen is the kind of a defender who communicates and commands his area a lot, so I expect him to alert his defense whenever he sees lapse in concentration. Having said that, our defenders needs to take individual responsibility and perform consistently. They don't need to look any further than Sagna for inspiration. Bacary Sagna is by far, our consistent performer and he is one of the very few defenders who gives their all in every single game.
Villa have some really pacy players like Young, Downing and Agbonlahor, so we have to be very careful in our defensive positioning to avoid getting suffered by Villa's counter attacks. Their record signing Darren Bent is also in amazing goal scoring form (7goals in 7 games for Villa) so our center backs should also be on their toes all the time. Its not a secret that we really struggle to defend set pieces, so I am sure Villa will try and attack us on set pieces with the likes of Young, Bent, Collins and Dunne. This is where Vermaelen should use his experience and leadership qualities. Having been on the side lines for the last nine months, I am sure he would have noticed what we lack defensively and I hope he will pass on those information to other members of our defense.
On the attacking front, we continue to rely heavily on Van Persie for our goals. This one particular thing really surprises me, because Arsenal always comes across as a team who share their goals amongst all their players. We started this season in a similar way, but once Nasri, Chamakh and Theo's goal scoring form faded away, we have really struggled for goals. Van Persie stepped up nicely for helping the team in that way. He is simply in an astounding form having scored 19 goals from 21 games in 2011. I can't help but feel that, If Nasri or Theo or any other player were able to continue their early season form, we would not have found ourselves in this position. I am not saying that lack of goals is our main problem, infact our silly defensive mistakes were the main reason which cost us the title this year, but the goal distribution is one aspect we need to look into and correct for next season.
Assuming Cesc starts, I expect our line up to be
Szczesny
Sagna Djourou Vermaelen Clichy
Cesc Song Ramsey
Theo Van Persie Arshavin
Yes, I would rest Jack Wilshere and replace him with Ramsey. Jack has played in 33 out of our 36 league games so far and it has surely started to show in his performances of late. He is just 19 years old and on his first full season as a first team player, so we can easily understand why his form has dipped lately. The game against Villa is an ideal one to give him a breather. Ramsey has come back very well from his injury and he is more or less a similar kind of a player to Jack, so I would start him alongside Cesc and Song. The rest of the team basically picks itself. Nasri could take Arshavin's place if he recovers from his injury, but I expect Arshavin to start anyway.
As I said before, we should try and avoid our defensive lapses and also should be aware of Villa's threat on the counter attack. Aston Villa are also in a really terrible run of form. They have only won 2 of their last 6 league games, dropping to 14th in the league table in the process. If we play to our full potential I can see us easily dispatching them, but will we, that's the question. We should also be clinical and make sure that we take the chances that come our way . Shooting in a football pitch is not a crime unless you do it like Ashley Cole, so sometimes we should shoot instead of keep on passing the ball.
Our fans have been really great this season and Arsenal should look to pay them back with a very entertaining and comfortable victory in our last home game of the season.
I am predicting a 3-1 home win for the Gunners.
Here's some interesting facts about both Arsenal and Aston Villa
Arsenal
- Robin van Persie has scored 19 goals in 21 games for Arsenal in 2011.
- The Emirates is the only stadium yet to see a Premier League goal scored from outside the penalty area this season (according to Opta).
- Maroaune Chamakh has not scored a Premier League goal since netting in the Gunners’ 4-2 win at Villa Park on 27 November, a run of 12 top-flight matches.
- According to Opta statistics, 57% of the Premier League goals Arsenal have conceded this season came from set-pieces – the highest proportion in the top flight.
Aston Villa
- Villa have dropped 26 points from winning positions this season, more than any other Premier League side.
- They have not kept a top-flight clean sheet away from home since winning 2-0 at Hull on 21 April 2010.
- Gabriel Agbonlahor needs one goal to reach 50 in the Premier League.
This weird season which was equally filled with greatness and disaster is about to come to an end. This weekend, we welcome Aston Villa to our final home game of the season. After that painful defeat against Stoke last weekend, its a must for the Gunners to bounce back. A victory will not only offer something for the fans to cheer about, but will also help us to keep ourselves secure from Manchester City who are right behind us. Now it felt really awful for me to write the above sentence because only some three weeks before we were fighting for the top spot with Manchester United, but now we are not even guaranteed to finish in third spot.
Moving on, We have some very welcome news in terms of injury. The Verminator is finally set to start a game for the Arsenal first team after nine long months. Gael Clichy, who missed the game against Stoke with a injury is also set to return. However Koscielny and Rosicky are ruled out with thigh strains and Diaby is also yet to recover from his calf injury. Cesc and Nasri are both doubtful and will have late fitness tests. For Aston Villa, midfielder Makoun (who is a good friend of our own Alex Song) is set to return from injury, but defender Ciaran Clark is set to miss out.
Last week against Stoke, we started the game very brightly but faded away very quickly. We should make sure that we are not going to repeat it. Djourou and Gibbs had a terrible game defensively and I expect Djourou to come good against Villa because he will have the Verminator to partner him. Vermaelen is the kind of a defender who communicates and commands his area a lot, so I expect him to alert his defense whenever he sees lapse in concentration. Having said that, our defenders needs to take individual responsibility and perform consistently. They don't need to look any further than Sagna for inspiration. Bacary Sagna is by far, our consistent performer and he is one of the very few defenders who gives their all in every single game.
Villa have some really pacy players like Young, Downing and Agbonlahor, so we have to be very careful in our defensive positioning to avoid getting suffered by Villa's counter attacks. Their record signing Darren Bent is also in amazing goal scoring form (7goals in 7 games for Villa) so our center backs should also be on their toes all the time. Its not a secret that we really struggle to defend set pieces, so I am sure Villa will try and attack us on set pieces with the likes of Young, Bent, Collins and Dunne. This is where Vermaelen should use his experience and leadership qualities. Having been on the side lines for the last nine months, I am sure he would have noticed what we lack defensively and I hope he will pass on those information to other members of our defense.
On the attacking front, we continue to rely heavily on Van Persie for our goals. This one particular thing really surprises me, because Arsenal always comes across as a team who share their goals amongst all their players. We started this season in a similar way, but once Nasri, Chamakh and Theo's goal scoring form faded away, we have really struggled for goals. Van Persie stepped up nicely for helping the team in that way. He is simply in an astounding form having scored 19 goals from 21 games in 2011. I can't help but feel that, If Nasri or Theo or any other player were able to continue their early season form, we would not have found ourselves in this position. I am not saying that lack of goals is our main problem, infact our silly defensive mistakes were the main reason which cost us the title this year, but the goal distribution is one aspect we need to look into and correct for next season.
Assuming Cesc starts, I expect our line up to be
Szczesny
Sagna Djourou Vermaelen Clichy
Cesc Song Ramsey
Theo Van Persie Arshavin
Yes, I would rest Jack Wilshere and replace him with Ramsey. Jack has played in 33 out of our 36 league games so far and it has surely started to show in his performances of late. He is just 19 years old and on his first full season as a first team player, so we can easily understand why his form has dipped lately. The game against Villa is an ideal one to give him a breather. Ramsey has come back very well from his injury and he is more or less a similar kind of a player to Jack, so I would start him alongside Cesc and Song. The rest of the team basically picks itself. Nasri could take Arshavin's place if he recovers from his injury, but I expect Arshavin to start anyway.
As I said before, we should try and avoid our defensive lapses and also should be aware of Villa's threat on the counter attack. Aston Villa are also in a really terrible run of form. They have only won 2 of their last 6 league games, dropping to 14th in the league table in the process. If we play to our full potential I can see us easily dispatching them, but will we, that's the question. We should also be clinical and make sure that we take the chances that come our way . Shooting in a football pitch is not a crime unless you do it like Ashley Cole, so sometimes we should shoot instead of keep on passing the ball.
Our fans have been really great this season and Arsenal should look to pay them back with a very entertaining and comfortable victory in our last home game of the season.
I am predicting a 3-1 home win for the Gunners.
Here's some interesting facts about both Arsenal and Aston Villa
Arsenal
- Robin van Persie has scored 19 goals in 21 games for Arsenal in 2011.
- The Emirates is the only stadium yet to see a Premier League goal scored from outside the penalty area this season (according to Opta).
- Maroaune Chamakh has not scored a Premier League goal since netting in the Gunners’ 4-2 win at Villa Park on 27 November, a run of 12 top-flight matches.
- According to Opta statistics, 57% of the Premier League goals Arsenal have conceded this season came from set-pieces – the highest proportion in the top flight.
Aston Villa
- Villa have dropped 26 points from winning positions this season, more than any other Premier League side.
- They have not kept a top-flight clean sheet away from home since winning 2-0 at Hull on 21 April 2010.
- Gabriel Agbonlahor needs one goal to reach 50 in the Premier League.
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