Arsenal vs Bolton Preview

Hello Everyone !

Arsenal find themselves in a unfamiliar territory in the league table after the first 5 games of the 2011-12 season and this week we welcome fellow strugglers Bolton to The Emirates.

After a disappointing and frustrated defeat against Blackburn last week, Arsenal's second string side came from behind to defeat Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup midweek. Some of the youngsters like The OX and Coquelin shined in it but now the real test is back on in the form of Owen Coyle's men. Bolton are 19th in the table with 3 points and it would be foolish to think that they will come and roll over for us at The Emirates.

Bolton have completely changed their footballing style under Coyle (except Kevin 'Elbow' ) and so it could turn out to be a nice and open end to end game. Having said that, we are the Arsenal and we going through the whole game without a disastrous thing happening is as inevitable as a Kevin Davies booking. Onto the injury news, Arsenal welcome back Rosicky, Ramsey and Sagna but will be without Benayoun and Djourou. For Bolton, Gardner & Holden might return.

As I said earlier, Bolton under Coyle has seen a massive change. They no longer play the ugly and somewhat boring physical game. They have started playing the passing game and Coyle is one of the best manager who can bring the best out of his players. Since both the teams play open game, this could turn out to be a very good match. Given the poor start to the campaign for both the teams, it should be a fiercely fought battle for 3 points and that can only add extra spice to the game. One of Arsenal's main transfer target in the summer, Gary Cahill will come up against us and it will be really interesting to see how he performs.

Arsenal played a 4-4-2 against Shrewbury midweek but I expect them to switch back to 4-4-3 against Bolton. My lineup would be.....

                      Szczesny

Sagna    Koscielny  Mertesacker   Gibbs

Ramsey   Song   Arteta

Walcott   Van Perise  Gervinho

The partnership of Kosh & Per crumbled when put under pressure against Blackburn and we can only hope that it was only a temporary blip. Defending against a striker like Kevin Davies is literally a pain in the arse and Kosh and Per should be on top of their game tomorrow. It would be good to give some more game time for Santos but I would prefer Gibbs over him simply because of Gibbs good form and we should make sure we have our strongest back 4 out there.

The main problem with Arsenal along with the defensive woes is their sharpness in front of goal. We should be more clinical in front of goal and should try to convert every chance into a goal. If we do that regularly it will naturally reduce the pressure on our defenders. Van Persie is yet to really move on this season but he has too much quality to remain like that and the addition of Gervinho & Arteta can only make him better.

Our teams needs our home support more than ever and I hope the Gooners out there will act as the 12th man tomorrow. I am not expecting a highscoring game tomorrow simply because of the form of two teams but I do predict that Arsenal will grab all three points with a home victory.

Up The Arsenal !!

Blackburn vs Arsenal Preview

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We are back to the domestic tournaments after our successful Champions league trip to Germany and its Blackburn who welcome us to the Ewood Park this weekend. I consider our trip to Germany as a successful one even though we drew because Dortmund gave a tough test to us and we managed to pass that test and it  took  a one time wonder goal for them to gain a point. Our defensive performance was really solid and our offensive performance was also encouraging.

Moving on to the Blackburn game, we finally have Gervinho & Song back from suspension and we also will have Ramsey back from his injury. There was no news on Rosicky's fitness and I take that no news as a bad news. It's good to have Ramsey back. The midfield partnership of Arteta & Yossi was a bit shaky against Dortmund and I feel Yossi seems more comfortable playing on the flanks rather than in midfield. So its good to have Ramsey back in the mix and I predict he will start alongside Song ( who was brilliant and got MOTM against BVB ) and Arteta tomorrow.


Blackburn, who have only one point from their first 4 games will have late fitness tests to Dunn, Nelsen & Pedersen. They will have Samba & the tricky Hoilett back from minor injuries. I have seen a couple of Blackburn games so far and to be honest, they are really unlucky to have only point so far. Hoilett is a really tricky player. His moments are pretty good and he has decent pace too. Upfront they also have  Rochinna and Yakubu who may not sound as a big threat but since they are playing at their home, our defense needs to be really sharp.

Blackburn under Kean have changed their style a little bit. They do still play long ball but not as much as they did during the times of Big Sam. They are a physical team and so I feel this game will suit Mertesacker very well. Since Blackburn rely more on physical strength rather than pace, I expect Mertesacker to have a very good game alongside the ever improving and outstanding Koscielny.

Talking about pace, it's very good to have Gervinho back from his suspension. From what I have seen, Blackburn's week link is their fullbacks and we should target that with the pace of Theo and pace & trickery of Gervinho & Arshavin. It will be interesting to see how Samba & Dunn, both who were heavily linked with Arsenal perform against RVP and others.

My predicted line up is

                      Sczcesny

Sagna   Mertesacker   Koscielny   Gibbs

Arteta   Song   Ramsey

Walcott   Captain Vantastic    Gervinho

It will be really interesting to see how Arteta performs. He looked a bit tired against Dortmund and unfortunately we have too many midfielders out injured to give him a rest. He hasn't really got used to playing twice in a week so lets hope he can cope with it. Arshavin might start in place of Gervinho and I feel both are more or less same kind of players. Personally, I would like to see Arshavin starting as a AM but I don't think Arsene is fond of doing that.  Van Persie has an incredible scoring record against Blackburn and I can feel that he will continue it tomorrow too.


We played pretty well against Swansea and should improve a bit more against Blackburn. We have a run of easy games ( on paper at least) so we should use it and collect the maximum points from it. Chelsea will be playing against Manchester United and Liverpool are up against Tottenham, so there is a very good chance that three of our main rivals ( You  need a new brain if you think Spurs are one of our rivals ) will drop points and that makes our game a must win one. We need to hit the ground running from now on to make up for our very bad first 3 games of the season.

Although we are playing away from home and with the team still gelling, I feel we have enough technical excellence over Blackburn to nick a victory tomorrow. The big advantage I can see for Blackburn is that they will have their players fresh whereas we might me a bit tired because of our midweek game, but I expect Arsenal to cope with it though. I predict a 2-1 away victory for us.

Come on you Gunners !!

Arsenal vs Swansea Review

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Finally our Arsenal is back, not fully but still it's back.  We finally finished a game with all 11 men on the field, we finally scored a goal in our home in EPL and more importantly, we finally took all three points from a game. It was not a really convincing, no nonsense normal Arsenal victory. It was a close one, we weren't fluid, our passing wasn't on form, but at this point of our season, three points is all matters and I am really glad that we got it.

As expected Mertesacker & Arteta made their Arsenal debut. I expected Benayoun to start too but Arshavin kept his place in the starting line up. Arsenal started well. Arteta settled with the Arsenal way without any fuss and it was he who created our first chance of the game. His beautifully weighted pass set up Ramsey but he somehow fired it over. That was the start of a disappointing game for Ramsey. Swansea, well known for their beautiful football started to settle in now. Szczesny was called up to make a stunning save from Graham's header. Arteta was simply awesome for Arsenal in the first half. He was linking up with Van Persie like he has played with him week in week out. At the back, Mertesacker & especially Koscielny (The Birthday boy) were bossing the defense. I am a big fan of Koscielny since his debut for us last year and I am glad that he is catching everyone's eyes now. Mertesacker, as expected covered his lack of pace with his very good positioning.

After Szczesny's save, Arsenal almost went ahead with Theo's shot which was cleared on the line by the very good Caulker. Arsenal had further chances with Frimpong & Walcott. Swansea also had some good chances. Then came the pivotal moment in the game. Theo took a shot which went well wide of the goal and Vorm gathered it safely. Vorm tried to release the ball quickly and unfortunately for him, it hit the heels of Rangel and the lively Arshavin was on hand to put the ball in the empty net to give Arsenal the lead. First half ended 1-0 with the two debutant's performing admirably for Arsenal.

Theo & Ramsey had a poor first half & it continued in the second half too. Theo's final ball & his finishing were really poor. Ramsey was taking too much time on the ball which not only slowed our game but also meant that he was in danger of getting dispossessed often. Swansea on the other hand hit a free kick onto the bar. Robin, the Arsenal captain was having one of his disappointing game. His first touches were beautiful but his finishing was poor. He did use his technique to take a beautiful right foot shot in the second half but unfortunately it clipped the outside of the post & went out. Robin & his love for the post...sigh. Arsene took off Arshavin and a bit later Robin for Benayoun & Chamakh. Benayoun was lively and Chamakh almost made a immediate impact. Gibbs, who had a very good game put in a beautiful cross but Chamakh's well taken header was saved comfortably by Vorm. Arsenal almost bottled it at the 90th minute. A high ball was sent into the Arsenal box and Szczesny went for it & missed it. The ball fell kindly for Graham but with the a open goal in front of him, he somehow shot over. Arsenal saw out the injury time safely and 1-0 it finished. Arsenal got their first victory of the season.

The game was not pleasing to the eyes but that's expected when you have many debutants and players returning from International break. Three point is all matters and we should feel happy that we got it. The fluidity will return once the players gel more and this victory will surely raise our confidence ahead of our trip to Germany. Arteta & Mertesacker had very good debuts and that was good to see. Yossi & Chamakh were bright when they came on and that's another plus. The game against Dortmund should be a cracking one and I can't wait for it.

Until then, Take care everyone !

Curtain Raiser

Hello Everyone !

It's been a long time now since I wrote my last piece, so it feels good to be back again writing about Arsenal.

The title of the post might be a little bit odd but that's how I am seeing it. I have decided to forget about our previous 3 league games and going to treat this weekends game as our curtain raiser for the new season.

Going straight into our game against Swansea, we already have lost Jack Wilshere & Vermaelen to long term injuries, Diaby is yet to recover from his surgery and also there is some concern regarding Rosicky's fitness & Ju's VISA. Arsene also said that Gibbs will return from his injury and Walcott should also be fine. Jenkinson & Gervinho are suspended

We are off to one of our worst start of the season in our history so its really important for us to get going asap. Now that the long running sagas of Cesc, Na$ri, the transfer rumours, the new signings, etc, etc are over, we can properly concentrate on Football & Football only. Swansea, the newly promoted team are well known for their proper way of playing Football. The first thing Arsenal should avoid is naivety but considering the manner with which we have started our season, I dont think it will be a problem.

We always play well against the teams which play in a similar style to us & also since this game is at our home, I am pretty confident about a Arsenal victory.

I have no idea about the players of Swansea, so I am not going to waste space on talking about their team news.

I expect the Arsenal team to line up as...

                    Szczesny

Sagna   Koscielny   Mertesacker   Gibbs

Frimpong   Arteta   Ramsey

Theo    Van Persie    Benayoun


Arsene said in his presser that Santos is a little bit short of game time, so I have a feeling that Gibbs will get the nod. Also there will be debuts for (The BFG) Mertesacker & Arteta. I also expect Benayoun to make his Arsenal debut & take Arshavin's place.

Arsenal are yet to complete a league game with all 11 men on the field. There are many reasons for our poor start of the season but I think getting a man sent off in all those games is one of the main reason. We need to correct our on field disciplinary record and should start it from tomorrow's game.

As I mentioned already, Swansea like to play Football and pass the ball around and this should play into Arsenal's hand. Now that Vermaelen is out for a month at least, it's a priority that Kosh & Mert form a understanding at the centre of our defense asap. Arteta, although he is not Cesc will provide the much needed creativity along with Ramsey. We were really poor offensively in our 3 games so far, so its great to have a offensive & proven premier league player like Arteta in our side. Frimpong has got enormous potential and I hope he plays himself in a disciplined way tomorrow.

Up front, I expect Theo & Captain Vantatsic  to retain their places. Arshavin, although he tried a lot against Man United, was poor on that day. So I think its good to give him a much needed break and start Benayoun on the left. Benayoun may not be a marquee signing but he is a very good player when he is injury free and his stint at Liverpool proves that. He was simply amazing in the 4-4 draw that we played out with Liverpool a couple of years ago and I really hope he stays away from our physio room this season. Benayoun & Theo can switch flanks at any time during the game and that's a big plus is well.

Van Persie, although he is a world class player, needs support from his midfield for him to shine. Now that we have added Arteta ( & Benayoun), I expect Robin to get going with goals from now on. We also have added much needed depth to our strike department by singing Ju ( Park Chu-Young), the South Korean.  Now that Chamakh is looking at the Football like a bomb, the addition of Ju is very much welcome ( Hope he clears his VISA issues asap).


We should alao have a strong bench with the likes of Djourou, Arshavin, Rosicky (if he is fit), Chamakh & The OX.

The only slight worry for Arsenal tomorrow could be that our players might be a bit tired due to their midweek international commitments unlike Swansea players. Its not a main concern though and I expect Arsenal to kick start their season with a 3-0 victory.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS