Flash Past - Cardiff City v Arsenal

A very good morning gooners!

After a good win against Marseille mid week almost confirmed our berth in the  CL round of 16, we meet Cardiff for the first time in PL history today. As this is going to be first time, we directly move on to the current mood of both the teams.

Current Mood:

After the loss at OT, Arsenal bounced back with two good wins against the Saints and Marseille just like they were expected to be. Sitting at the top of the table with a comfortable 4 points lead over Liverpool and Chelsea, we are back with the confidence to beat any team in the league.

Cardiff on the other hand, have beaten City at home and drew against United at Old Trafford, and these results are never to be taken lightly. They will be super charged and try to get a good result out of the game.

Injury List:

Arsenal

Podolski(Hamstring), Oxlade (Knee), Diaby (Knee)

Predicted Lineup:

Cardiff City

Cardiff have had a week's rest since playing United and hence are expected to field pretty much the same team. 

Arsenal

Walcott played a minor part coming as a substitute against Southampton and Marseille. He might start this week though. Also, Wenger mentioned that he would like to rest some players before the team meets Napoli which means Jack might be rested, in spite of scoring 2 goals. However, we might see Jack starting with Walcott having an extended cameo in the second half or Ramsey getting rest for a change. That would be interesting and welcome too. That shirt row with the kit man might put Flamini on bench.

Talisman:

Cardiff City

Caulker, who has been at the heart of defense for Cardiff has been in fantastic form. They have conceded just 7 goals from 6 home games. Most of the credit will go to Caulker for his performance and Spurs must be kicking themselves for selling him and keeping Kaboul. I encourage you all to take a minute here to stop what you are doing and laugh at the Spurs and their stupidity :D

Arsenal

It's time for Cardiff to face the beast that they nurtured as a baby. It's that man Aaron Ramsey, who has scored goals, created assists, made tackles and most importantly made all gooners smile and believe. His goal run has dried up a little since Norwich though his performance on the pitch has still remained awesome.

 "Looking forward to going back where it all began for me" said Wenger's Welsh wizard.

Factos:

• Cardiff have allowed their opponents more shots on target against them than any other team in the top flight this season (75).
• Arsenal's former Cardiff midfielder Aaron Ramsey has made more tackles than any other player in the Barclays Premier League this season (57).
• Peter Odemwingie has scored in two of his three Barclays Premier League starts against Arsenal.
• Cardiff have won just one of their last six Barclays Premier League matches (W1 D2 L3).
• Only in 2007-08 and 2003-04 (30) have Arsenal had more points after 12 matches of a Barclays Premier League season than they have mustered so far this campaign (28).
• Only one of Arsenal's last 22 Premier League opponents has managed to score more than one goal in a game against the Gunners (Aston Villa, 3-1 in August).

Score line Prediction:

My last prediction against Southampton came good. And now, I go with a 3-1 win in favor of Arsenal

Come on you gunners!

My Reactions After - Arsenal vs Manchester United (EPL)

A victory against the old enemy makes us go crazy while a defeat brings our morale down a lot, especially when we knew this was one of the best chances we have had in recent times and we were in the middle of a good run. There was not a lot to write about and I am just going to keep this post pretty short.
The game didnt go as well as we all wanted. Like I had mentioned before the match, it was a 6 point match. United won thereby moving to the top half of the table. Only 5 points separate them from the leaders, Arsenal.
Coming to the match, our midfield looked ragged from the start. Ozil, Santi or Rambo could not influence the game in any way. Mertesacker didnt play the game because of a flu and that proved crucial as Judas (of all people) scored from a corner. He celebrated wildly after the goal, as if to say that he doesnt give a shit about Arsenal who made him the player he is today.
United sat deep after the goal giving us more of the ball. We dominated possession in the second half but United's defense was very solid. Smalling and Jones in particular were impressive as United managed to hold on to a 1-0 victory.
Overall not that bad a week for us as Chelsea and City dropped points too. Hopefully Theo will return after the international break giving us the much needed width on the wings. A dominating performance against an in form Southampton team could come handy before December when we face City and Chelsea back to back.

We have to put this defeat behind us and keep marching towards the title

Flash Past - Arsenal v Southampton [EPL]

Howdy Gooners J

Hope everyone’s fine. There were some really good performances by national teams in the Worl Cup qualifiers that took place during the week. While Ronaldo’s brilliance ensured that there’s going to be no Ibracadabra at Brazil, France managing to qualify against 10 men Ukraine in spite of Koscielny’s sending off in the first leg and the BFG’s header sinking England in a friendly at Wembley were news of interest for gooners. We are back to the premier league after that uneventful loss against United and this weekend we face Southampton. We literally ran over them last season and this is how the game happened J

Lineup Then:

Arsenal

Starting XI : Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen(C), Gibbs, Coquelin*, Arteta, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho*, Podolski*

Subs : Mannone, Koscielny, Santos, Ramsey*, Arshavin, Walcott*, Giroud*

Goal Scorers : Gervinho(2), Podolski, Walcott

Assist : Arteta

Southampton

Starting XI : Davis, Clyne, Hooiveld, Fonte, Fox, Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse, Davis, Puncheon, Lallana(C), Lambert

Subs : Gazzaniga, Yoshida*, Richardson, Chaplow, Ramirez*, Mayuka, Rodriguez*

Goal Scorers : Fox

*subbed players

Blast from the Past:

Before this game, Arsenal had their best defensive start in 88 years, having not conceding in their first 3 games. Good combination play from Podolski and Gibbs ten minutes into the game led to an own goal from the Saints. Podolski scored our second with a fantastic free kick which was his first home goal as well. Arteta found Gervinho with a wonderful ball and it was one of those days when Gervinho could do nothing wrong, scoring our 3^rd goal. Saints were buckling under pressure and Gibbs was playing superbly. A couple of minutes later, another cross from Gibbs led to an own goal by Clyne and the score read 4-0 with not even 45 minutes on the clock. Before the first half could finish, a defensive error by Szczesny who made his first start of the season led to the first goal Saints. Well into the 2^nd half, Ramsey received the ball from Cazorla and with neat skill, had a shot at goal which hit the bar only to be tapped in by Gervinho. In the end, Walcott scored his first goal of the season coming as a substitute. Having scored against his former club, he didn’t celebrate and the game ended with an emphatic 6-1 victory for Arsenal. You can watch the highlights here

Current Mood:

Arsenal have endured a difficult few weeks in which they have had to face Liverpool, Dortmund, Chelsea and Manchester United. Though we managed to defeat Dortmund and Liverpool, and lost to Chelsea in a not so important COC game, the loss against United was a bitter pill to swallow. It has reduced our gap at the top of the table to 2 points. Some of our players have got their much needed rest and with a week’s break, we need to start building the momentum again with a good win.

Southampton on the other hand have made a brilliant start to the season, having conceded just 5 goals in 11 games. They have lost just one game, against Norwich on the road while notching a victory at Anfield and creditable draws at Old Trafford and the Britannia Stadium. They are high on confidence and would be looking to get all the 3 points.

Injury List:

Arsenal

Oxlade Chamberlain(Knee), Diaby (Knee), Podolski (hamstring)

Walcott is expected to return to this week and Rosicky is expected to feature in the subs

Southampton

Cork(Ankle), Guly(Knee)

Predicted Lineup:

Arsenal

Flamini is suspended after receiving his 5^th yellow card of the season in last game. Walcott will be back and could be put into the starting XI directly. Wilshere and Rosicky could feature in the subs and we will be having a decent bench after a long time.

Southampton

Southampton will be fielding their strongest team to avenge their loss and repay what they got the last time they met us.

Talisman:

Arsenal

Walcott is returning back to the side after the injury that kept him out for over a month. His runs on the counter attack will be a huge boost to the side and there will be a lot more hunger to score goals.

Southampton       

Lallana is the man who can turn the game in Southampton’s favor and help them to a win. He has been in good form and he could even feature in the scoring list this weekend.

Score line Prediction:

As both teams play in a similar fashion which is beautiful football, the fans are in for a treat!

My prediction will be 2-0 to the Gunners, with Walcott and Giroud on the scoresheet.

Come on you gunners!

My Reactions After : Arsenal vs Norwich City (EPL)

Coming back from the international break, we needed a good start for our tough set of fixtures and to call that just a good start would be an understatement. We mauled Norwich City! Orgasmic football complete with beautiful goals, compact play and just too much class on display.

Though Norwich played some real good football in the first half and were looking solid at the beginning, we got our breakthrough from a breathtaking goal by Wilshere in the 18th minute. Everything happened with so much speed and precision that it resembled Bruce Lee in action, with the end result being beautiful and devastating at the same time. It was a goal for the purists and showed why we are called the neutrals' favorite.

 So, this is how it happened; Santi gets the ball and skips past a defender, passes to Wilshere and a return pass to Santi, then to Giroud, back to Wilshere, then to Giroud, back to Wilshere again, who just side footed the ball into the net, like knife through butter. And 6 passes within the matter of 4 seconds. Football at its best!

Wilshere's goal.

Flamini, whose was included in this game so that it would be the COC game and not the Liverpool game that he would have to miss in case he got another yellow, collided with a Norwich player and had a concussion. His substitution around the 35th minute bought Rambo in and changed our game as we started looking weak in midfield. We managed to hold out till the end of the first half without giving away any goals.

The second-half began, Norwich were very positive in approach, pushing Arsenal back. They continued their momentum they had left at the half time break. Arsenal weren’t sitting back either and Arteta had a shot, that earned a corner but nothing fruitful came off it. We finally got our second goal from a counter

Koscielny gets the ball outside the box and passes it to Ramsey, who picks Santi making a run between Norwich players. Santi gets the pass, dribbles and finds Giroud in the right. Giroud puts in a cross to the centre of the box. Ozil who was running like a steam engine finds the cross and heads the ball from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. GGGOOOAAALLLL!!!!The cross was so perfect, that height didn’t matter. Arsenal had a comfortable two goal lead by the hour mark.

Ozil's goal.

Santi was off and replaced by Rosicky minutes after the second goal. Norwich were pushing to find a goal, had a few attempts missed. However, did find their first goal at 69^th minute.

Olsson who had missed a better chance earlier got a chance to assist for their first goal. Though it wasn’t a dangerous cross from Olsson from the left flank, Per cleared the ball a bit poorly. Jonathan Howson who was making a run found the ball which was laid perfectly to be shot. A right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. If only Gibbs had shut Howson down, we wouldn’t have conceded the goal.

Norwich got some hope after the goal. Exchange of shots between the two teams and some good football too. Well, the last 10 minutes of the match, Arsenal were too good to be handled by Norwich. Two goals by Ramsey and Ozil had put the match in rest for Norwich.

82^nd minute, Ramsey header pass to Bendtner. A simple pass to Gibbs by Bendtner, in turn a simpler pass to Wilshere who found Ramsey asking for the ball. Ramsey picks up the ball, and starts fooling defenders, not once, not twice but 3 times to score a brilliant right footed shot into the bottom right corner. Grounded, Norwich defenders could’ve been any more devastated by this sheer brilliance? I don’t think so! They say a picture says a 1000 words and the one below says more that!

Ramey's goal.

Arsenal added a fourth less than five minutes from their previous one through a quick attack. Bendtner made a run with the ball towards the left flank, found Rosicky at the left edge of the box who picked Ramsey at the far post with his cross. Ramsey with good presence of mind passes the volley to Ozil instead of taking a shot from an acute angle. Ozil just tapped in the ball to back of the net. 

Ozil's second goal.

Arsenal made a couple of attempts after the fourth goal which didn’t find the back of the net though. After the full time whistle it was Arsenal 4 – 1 Norwich on the scoreboard  Norwich had a good game except for conceding the goals. They weren't too bad to be overlooked on their performance. It was Arsenal, who were just too much for Norwich to contain.

Arsenal created goal scoring opportunities from through balls, counter attacks, wing play. Norwich lost the possession very often and also many individual errors which have cost them dearly. Hard to pick the best man of the match, Ozil and Giroud were the best amongst the gunners. Gary Hooper and Snodgrass were the ones who didn’t step up for Norwich, very poor performance from them.

Despite the mesmerising football and superb result, we did have our low moments in the match. With the big games coming up, Arsenal need to work harder to produce the same result week in and week out to stay on the top of the table. Let’s hope for the best.

Come On You Gunners!

Flash Past - Man Utd v Arsenal [EPL]

Sunshine folks!

After the morale boosting victory against Dortmund at Iduna Park, Arsenal travel to the North-west and for the first time in 'I don’t know how long', they have a realistic chance of getting more than a point from this fixture. Let’s skip to the part of analyzing last season’s fixture between the sides.

Lineup Then:

Manchester United

Starting XI :  De Gea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Valencia*, Carrick, Cleverley*, Young, Rooney, RVP

Subs : Lindegaard – Wooton – Anderson* – Nani* – Scholes – Powell - Hernandez

*subbed players

Arsenal

Starting XI : Mannone, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Santos, Ramsey*, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla, Podolski*, Giroud

Subs : Martinez, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Walcott*, Coquelin, Arshavin*, Chamakh

Blast from the Past:

The time had finally arrived for Arsenal to face the monster they created and it didn't take too long for the Red Devils jerseyed Judas to score. Our captain, Vermaelen in a momentary act of madness passed the ball to a player in the form of his life at the edge of the box and all that judas had to do was slot it home. 3 minutes on the clock, 1-0 to United and the OT faithful couldn't have asked for a better start. The day could have become much worse, in fact similar to 8-2 defeat, if not for Mannone. He was in brilliant form that day and repelled almost every shot which was aimed at him. And a goal came out of nowhere in the end to make the scoreline 2-1. Cazorla showed his moment of brilliance and scored a blinder. But the game was long dead to react any more. It was an overwhelming victory for the Reds army. Please watch the highlights here..

Current Mood:

The Gunners are in a rich vein of form, unbeaten in the last 9 PL games, with their only defeat this season coming way back in August. Their away record this year is even more impressive-14 wins in 15 games. On the contrary, United have struggled this season and are 8 points behind the leaders after only 10 games. United, though, can take comfort from the fact that they have been unbeaten in the last 8 matches in all competitions but they should have their work cut out against a marauding Arsenal team who have currently become favorites for the league title.

Injury List:
Manchester United

United will be hoping that Carrick is fit to start this match. They desperately need the tough tackling midfield enforcer in their ranks especially against Arsenal's fluid passing play.

Carrick(Achilles), Rafael(Ankle), Evans(back), Welbeck(Knee), Cleverley(Concussion)

Arsenal

Arsenal, as is their tradition, have plenty of injury problems with Wilshere, Theo, Ox and Poldi still not fit enough to start. Flamini is back for this fixture which is excellent news for the Gunners because the French, arguably the buy of the summer, is adept at breaking opposition play and is very much required to negate United's primary threat, Rooney. 

Walcott (Abdomen), Oxlade (Knee), Podolski (Hamstring), Diaby (Knee)

Predicted Lineup:

Manchester United

Manchester United are doing well with their new found hero and the old one (Read as Januzaj and Rooney). They are sure to be on the starting XI and along with RVP up front. Jones and Fellaini in the centre to mark out Ramsey and Özil.

Arsenal

Arsenal will deploy the same side that played against Dortmund with just one change. Flamini will come into the starting XI replacing Rosicky and provide a solid cover for the defense with Arteta and Flamini as double pivot.

Talisman:
Manchester United

Rooney, in particular is in wonderful form this season, single handedly dragging United to the top half of the table. Adnan Januzaj is another player to watch out for. He has been the find of the season but will have a job on his hands  When he goes up against Bacary Sagna who has looked solid at the back for Arsenal and it should be a fascinating contest.

Arsenal

Aaron Ramsey has been the player of the season in the PL so far this season and much of Arsenal's chances for a win will depend on this wonder kid (who famously chose to sign for Arsenal instead of United). Per Mertsacker and Koscielny will also be very crucial as they will be up against one of the best striking partnership in the PL- Rvp and Rooney.

Factos:

· Manchester United have lost only one of their last nine encounters with Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League (W6 D2).

· Arsene Wenger's men have won at Old Trafford three times in the Barclays Premier League and have won the title in two of those seasons (97-98 & 01-02).

·  Robin van Persie has scored in the last four Barclays Premier League encounters between these two sides (two for each club).

·  Arsenal are the only side to have scored in all 10 of their Barclays Premier League matches this season.

· Wayne Rooney's first Barclays Premier League goal, his first Barclays Premier League goal for Man United and his 100th Premier League goal all came against the Gunners.

· Aaron Ramsey has scored six goals and provided three assists in his last seven Barclays Premier League appearances.

Score line Prediction:

It is still early days, but the way this Arsenal team churns out results in their favor even when they are not playing at their best shows their true strength and character. It makes the fans believe that they will lift the crown this season and what better way to show that by beating the champions in their own backyard. In United's defense, they are playing under a new manager which usually is not easy and takes time for the squad to settle down (then again tell that to their derby rivals!). They have started to find their feet and we could have a superb battle on our hands this Sunday. A victory against Arsenal would be a real statement from United that they are genuine contenders for the title. A defeat could leave them 11 points off the top after only 11 games. Arsenal have not won at United since a hard fought 1-0 victory in Sep 2006. Form favors Arsenal whereas history favors United. But form and history will go for a toss when these two heavyweights collide in their toughest test yet.

This fixture usually provides for plenty of drama and we can expect nothing short of a spectacle. So will United finally start to show their true ambitions for the title or will Arsenal deliver a death knell to United's title hopes. It all boils down on Sunday at the theatre of dreams

My prediction would be 2-1 to the Gunners with an emphatic win over the Red devils!

Come on you gunners!

First strong test of the EPL - Flash Past: Arsenal v Liverpool

Morning Gooners!

I am on cloud nine in spite of that loss that we experienced on Tuesday thanks to my new Xperia Z J. This new piece of beauty has made me conveniently forget that debacle and the poor performance on pitch which made many people realize how badly we require a quality back up striker and how important it is to give your talented youngsters more playing time. I am one of those people who are not affected by the outcome of the game as I believe the loss just means that we have 1 less competition to play in and in turn, less congestion in fixtures. We can concentrate on the more meaningful premier league, the prestigious FA cup and the elusive champions’ league, and our position in any of these would greatly affect our transfer dealings in January. Moving on to premier league action, the game against Liverpool will be the first real test for Arsenal this season. Last season, this game was extremely entertaining and fortunes literally changed in a matter of minutes. Let’s see how things went.

Lineup Then

Arsenal

Starting XI: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs*, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Walcott, Podolski, Giroud

Subs : Mannone, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Santos*, Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky

Liverpool

Starting XI : Reina, Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Wisdom, Henderson, Lucas, Gerrard, Downing, Sturridge*, Suarez

Subs : Jones, Enrique*, Skrtel, Allen, Shelvey, Sterling, Borini

*subbed players

Blast from the Past

This game took place at a time when Arsenal were struggling to defend well on the pitch, often committing individual mistakes and being prone to committing errors, leading to goals for the opposition. Suarez was more than happy to make use of these mistakes and scored as early as 5 minutes in to the game. A similar blunder from our defenders in the second half gifted them another goal which Henderson literally walked into and the score was 2-0 to Liverpool. Though we were 2 goals down, we were never out and the players kept pushing. A couple of goals, first from Giroud and then from Walcott just 7 minutes after the 2^nd goal from Liverpool meant that the score was 2-2. Though both teams tried hard for a winner, neither could score one and that's how things ended.

Current Mood

Arsenal

Our difficult period began with the games against Dortmund and Chelsea and we lost both, in contrasting fashion. The fact that the players have been playing so many games have been playing games in so little time is pretty evident on their performance on the pitch, especially on Ramsey and on Özil. I, for one, expected Ramsey to be rested for the game against Chelsea and hope he doesn’t burn out as we need him and the rest of the team to be at their best for the rest of the difficult period. Arsenal are still at the top of the league, 2 points clear of Chelsea and will look to maintain the gap or may be even hope to increase it with a home win. Another interesting fact in our favor is that no team has managed to keep a clean sheet against us in the premier league. So watch out ye scousers! J

Liverpool

Suarez and Sturridge (SAS) are scoring goals at will, from wherever they want to and from whichever angle they want to. This has made them the most devastating duo in the league and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they are the reason why Liverpool are doing so well in the league right now. Keep SAS quiet and you can win the game. Give them space and time, and you will see Liverpool at the top of the table with us falling below.

Injury List

Arsenal

Walcott (Abdomen), Flamini (Groin), Oxlade (Knee), Podolski (Hamstring), Gnabry, Diaby (Knee – he is going to be a regular fixture in this list till March 2014L)

Liverpool

Enrique(Knee), Aspas(Thigh)

Coutinho is back to full training and may feature against Arsenal.

 

Predicted Lineup

Arsenal

There will be only one change to the team from the last game against Crystal palace in the league. As Flamini is injured, Wilshere will step in. Arteta and Ramsey will be playing in the center with Santi, Ozil and Wilshere behind Giroud. Gibbs, Per and Sagna will be back to join Koscielny at the back along with Chesney in goal.

Liverpool

The playmaker of Liverpool, Coutinho, is back from injury which kept him out for a month and he is back at the right time. His inclusion which strengthen the side and he might replace Henderson.

Talisman

Arsenal

Cazorla assisted and scored his 1st goal for Arsenal against Liverpool last season. He was showing his magic against Chelsea 3 days before and he will look to replicate the magic against the scousers again. He will be in the spotlight for Arsenal this weekend and like all you guys I am looking forward to him combining with Ozil, Ramsey, Giroud and Jack.

Liverpool

Suarez. That one name in their line up takes the team a level higher. Apart from his antics, he is a truly gifted player and he will create havoc against our defenders. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he might end up being the difference between the 2 teams  

Score line Prediction

This is going to be an interesting match altogether and it will end as a close 2-2 draw, similar to what happened last season.

Come on Arsenal!!