Morning everyone.
Today we play Villa away from home and should be looking to pick up the three points.
The thing Arsenal excels at this season is getting the right results against lesser opposition. We have dropped only a couple of points against such teams and this achievement catapulted us to the top.
We didn't take anyone lightly and anything for granted and showed up fully motivated for every game. Because of this attitude we have been able to succeed thus far. And we should continue in this vein, because we know all too well how every team in the league can punish mistakes and lack of concentration.
We go into this game with a relatively clean bill of health. Sure, Walcott is out for long and Bendtner is, like, three weeks away, but everyone else has a chance of at least making the bench. There are doubts over Vermaelen, Gibbs and Ramsey, but they definitely are on the fringes and, in worst-case scenario, are only a couple of days away.
Even without them, we can put out a strong squad. I think we should try and play as competitive a side as possible, given we'll have five days after the game to recuperate.
Should Ramsey and Gibbs make it, I assume they will only be used from the bench. Oxlade-Chamberlaine is another player unlikely to start, so we'll probably see Gnabry or Rosicky on the right and Cazorla on the left. Wilshere will be, most likely, deployed alongside Arteta, seeing as Villa isn't much of a threat in the middle of the park.
Who will play on the right is the most interesting thing for me. The experienced Czech, who had a brilliant game or an exciting new talent, who had an even better game? We'll see.
It's good to know that, regardless of who starts, we'll have a strong bench. Should the aforementioned trio be given a green light, someone won't make the squad. Gnabry seems the weakest link, but he's also one of the few natural wingers we have and is clearly on top of his game right now. Another puzzle for the manager to solve and it's a puzzle of a pleasant kind.
In other words, we have more than enough to win the game and should do exactly that. With Chelsea and City winning their respective games we now sit third and have to get three points to return to the summit.
Which, I sincerely hope, we can accomplish without too much trouble.
Till tomorrow