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 !!