Gut Feeling: Warnock will have them fired up with giant killing aspirations and the first twenty minutes will be a bit spicy but I feel Arsenal have enough quality in the starting eleven to secure a victory. I have a feeling that van Persie may snatch a goal from a set piece and that the second goal will be scored by a surprising face such as Senderos or Baptista.
Warnock certainly had his team fired up be he needn't have wasted his energy. A pub side could have got a result against that Arsenal performance. And without wishing any disrespect to the home side Warnock all but fielded a pub side. It was certainly nowhere near their first string eleven.
Whilst I sat writing the predictions for this match I battled with the 'Arsenal-can't-play-away-from-home-in-the-North" fear from entering my consciousness, but I should have been more open-minded. It was another insipid and embarrassing performance, probably the worst I've seen under Wenger.
What Arsenal Need: They need to get through the match unscathed. There is quite literally no depth in certain areas of the squad at the moment and Wenger cannot afford any further losses to injury.
I guess the only positive from this match was the fact that no-one got hurt, apart I hope, from their pride. They should be ashamed of themselves and I for one would give my week's wages to charity if I'd been part of that shambolic display.
Arsenal also need a courageous and gritty performance in what looks like being poor weather against a team with nothing to lose. Once again three points are essential to the cause as Arsenal have to beat teams like Sheffield United to ensure they secure the crucial Champions League qualification.
Very little courage and no grit from the visiting side. I refuse to accept that the pitch or weather can be blamed and it was certainly a case of two points lost in the chase for second place. It was the 5th away defeat this season and it just isn't good enough especially when you look at who the defeats came against. Manchester City, West Ham, Fulham and Bolton... so no world beaters there then?
Are the Arsenal players a little bit dim? Why oh why oh why did it take nearly half an hour for them to get a shot in against a goalkeeper who isn't even a real one? As soon as the substitution was made someone should have been winding the team up and telling them to shoot from all angles.
Things To Watch Out For: It looks as though Baptista will start the match and I pray that he doesn't give another performance like the one he gave at Wigan. It will be the same kind of pitch against the same kind of battling and spirited opposition, so he should know what to expect this time. It will only be his third start in an Arsenal shirt even though it is halfway through the season. To date he has suffered with injury and high levels of competition to get in the starting eleven. This will be a big opportunity for him to shine.
My prayers were not answered and the Brazilian looks lost at sea, with a poor first touch, little composure under pressure and an aversion to sticking his foot in. Playing Baptista on the left wing was like buying a snowboard and going surfing with it... it just wasn't fit for purpose... Why does Wenger insist on buying players and playing them out of position? In some cases he has made diamonds out of lumps of coal as with the transformations of Henry, Lauren and Toure, but is there anything wrong with buying a player and letting him do what he can do?
I presume that Wenger will play Flamini on the right wing, in a position I feel uncomfortable playing him in, but I rest assured that he will run his socks off for the cause and he should support Hoyte in defensive positions. If the right side of the team is Hoyte and Flamini I see the majority of the inventive attacking play developing on the opposite flank with Rosicky and Clichy.
Oh no he didn't! I know it sounds a bit pantomime, but all we needed was a tubby guy in a girls outfit playing the dame and the Gunners could have put on their own theatrical farce yesterday. Wenger instead chose to play Baptista on the wing, as mentioned earlier and played Flamini in the middle of the midfield. The evening looked doomed as soon as I found that out! Playing Flamini as the creative engine in the centre of midfield was like taking the engine management system out of a Porsche and replacing it with one from my old mini. It was a terrible misjudgement and Arsenal ran around like a headless chicken for an hour until Fabregas appeared.
The left wing was as impotent as the right and the headless Arsenal looked armless(harmless) for the majority of the encounter. Rosicky looked out of position and out of sorts as did Hoyte, who struggled throughout.
It seems that van Persie could be one injury for Arsenal as I think he's cotracted Reyes disease. Whenever anyone got near him he fell to the ground like he'd been shot by a sniper. What is going on with him? In his defence he was punched by the coward marking him and got booked miraculously seconds later, but he needs to stay on his feet and play football.
Hopes For The Match: I hope Baptista silences his critics and puts in an impressive display, linking with Fabregas and Rosicky to initiate attacks. Equally, I hope that Senderos gives a commanding performance in the heart of the Arsenal defence and starts playing up to the level required of a number-6-wearing-Arsenal-centre-back.
There was no linking, no initiative and at times very little of anything from Baptista. I refuse to call him "The Beast" as I find it irksome to perpetuate such a ridiculous nickname. I dislike those ironic nicknames like calling a tall person "Tiny" and his nickname is so inappropriate that I find it comical. There is more of a reason to call him "The Breast" as he's a big bouncy harmless thing that could never do anyone any damage.
Senderos played reasonably well and for once it was Toure who made the unforced error to gift the home side the winning goal. A friend of mine remarked that he thought Toure preferred being the youngster in the centre back partnership as he was with Campbell and that he struggled leading the line and also keeping an eye on the youngsters at the same time. I guess this is a good point and I agree that at times he's beginning to look a bit wobbly.
Team Selection: It looks as though Wenger will have to play whoever is available and scrape together five to sit on the bench. With such a long unavailable list, it's a surprise that he can actually name 11 experienced players to start the match. I've suggested a 4-4-2 just because van Persie can't play on his own up front and Baptista is unproven.
Oh dear what did Arsene do here? He gave Aliadiere a start paired up front with van Persie and the young Frenchman was as dangerous as the Easter Bunny. He had little impact on the game and for long periods I was fortunate in forgetting he was on the pitch at all. Why is he still at Arsenal whilst Stokes is scoring for fun in Scotland and Bendtner is knocking them in and setting them up at Birmingham?
Once Fabregas was left out the team was doomed to struggle and I know that no team should be a one-man team but this year Arsenal are. He controls the match, sets the tempo and usually influences the outcome. He's like a policeman, a conductor and God all rolled into one. I believe he is the only irreplaceable player in the current Arsenal team, apart perhaps from Gilberto.
| My team selection for this game: van Persie, Baptista Rosicky, Gilberto, Fabregas, Flamini Clichy, Senderos, Toure, Hoyte Lehmann Subs: Almunia, Lauren, Denilson, Song, Aliadiere |
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The area that looks weak is the bench with Aliadiere, Song, Denilson and Lauren to sit along side Almunia.
The problem with having as no depth on the bench, is that once you're in trouble you have no-one to come on and make an impact. Poor Denilson was given ten minutes to try and win the match after the inclusion of Fabregas was ineffective.
My opinions of those five are as follows:
Almunia - I still haven't forgiven him for the second goal in Paris and I don't see him as the long-term successor to Lehmann. He wasn't used.
Lauren - I can't wait to get him back on the pitch. The sooner the better if you ask me and I think he should replace Hoyte for the last twenty minutes. It will be good to have someone competing with Eboue for the right back position. Was probably the last person Wenger would have used on the night. It just wasn't the kind of surface or game you make your comeback in.
Denilson - An exciting prospect and I keep hearing positive things said about him. It would be good to see him get ten minutes at the end. He got ten minutes and got one wild shot in, not much else.
Song - I'm still on the fence about this young man. He plays one good game for the reserves or in the Carling Cup, then follows it up with a poor performance. Unused, fortunately.
Aliadiere - I'm not convinced he's good enough to play for Arsenal. Started the match, sadly, and stayed on the whole 90 minutes too. Although I'm sure he had a rest for the middle hour or so.
Unavailable: My issue this week is the growing and might I say glittering list of injuries that the Gunners are having to cope with at the moment. To highlight my point I have added a goalkeeper (Mart Poom) and displayed the unavailable as a team selection. I have included Lauren as he has not played first team football in a year, even though he is on the way back to full fitness.
Arsenal cannot wait much longer for these players to return, the chance for third place is slowly slipping away.
| My 'unavailable' team selection for this game: Henry, Adebayor Hleb, Diaby, Ljungberg, Walcott Lauren, Djourou, Gallas, Eboue Poom |
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If Wenger started this team few would blink an eyelid at the team selection. Everyone keeps pushing Wenger to make purchases in the January transfer window, but when these ten players are back in the squad we'll start talking about not being able to keep everyone happy. I guess you can't have it both ways.
Walcott - Has a back injury that was sustained in training.
Hleb - Injured his shin in training and is waiting on the results of an x-ray.
Adebayor - Injured his thigh, bu shouldn't be out for long.
Djourou - Injured his hamstring in the first half of the Blackburn match. He was replaced by Senderos at half time.
Eboue - Injured his ankle against Portsmouth and played on for a good few minutes before being substituted. He should be back within a week.
Ljungberg - Injured his hamstring against Portsmouth and will be out for another two weeks at least.
Gallas - Injured his quadriceps muscle (front of his thigh) taking free kicks in training and has been out for few weeks. He's not expected to be fit for another 10 days at least.
Henry - He has a low back injury which causes him pain down his sciatic nerve. We've been given no indication as to when he'll be back.
Diaby - On course to return to first team training in January. He suffered a fracture-dislocated ankle last season.
Prediction: Sheffield United 0 Arsenal 2
Score: Sheffield United 1 Arsenal 0
