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!