Hello Everyone !
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 !!
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