Hull City preview: in our hands

Hello everyone.

Tomorrow we take on Hull in what is probably the hardest game (on paper), that we have left. It is portrayed by many as a kind of warm-up leading to the cup showdown in May, but with a couple of slight alterations. First, our game tomorrow is an away one, while the final will basically be held at home. Second, Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic will be available today, a luxury Steve Bruce won't have a month from now, due to both players featuring earlier for their respective clubs.

For me, such parallels aren't that important. It's just media trying to give the game some extra edge, while I'm pretty sure the managers will only be focused on getting the points out of this game. Hull are currently 13th in the table, well above the relegation zone, so for them, this game is about building momentum and getting to experiecnce Arsenal's style of play. That's not to say the Tigers will be an easy team to beat, though. They have some very good players and, as Sunderland has demonstrated, even a team with little to fight for can show their teeth and cause problems to even the likes of City.

From our point of view, this game is a chance to further tighten our grip on the fourth spot. Everton plays United tomorrow, no easy feat, cause United themselves may have a Europa League place to fight for. Better still, the game at the Mersyside kicks off after the final whistle blows at the KC stadium, and this fact presents us with a chance to be four points ahead of the Toffees.

We should have some help, as Ozil and Monreal return from their respective injures. Flamini is also back from his two-game ban and should probably start in place of Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard played a lot of minutes recently and could use some rest, in my opinion. Kallstrom is another player, who can start alongside Ramsey in midfield, so it's a tough decision for the manager to make. Arsene definitely has more input on the condition of his squad and, whoever plays, will be utterly focused and will give his all. I just try to emphasise that we do have options in midfield and if someone is nearing that red zone, he can sit the game out.

Another Spaniard I think can benefit from a break, is Santi Cazorla. Here's another guy, who's put in quite a shift recently. When Ozil pulled his hamstring, Santi was called upon to fill that role of the playmaker and thus has been playing basically non-stop. His match-winning spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out against Wigan seemed to have injected some confidence into the Spaniard and that is backed by his game against West Ham. Cazorla was at the heart of all three goals, provided an assist for the first one and could have scored himself, only for his beautiful shot to swerve agonisingly close to the far post.

Anyway, the fact that Santi played week in week out remains and should, in my opinion, be addressed. Ozil's back, ha can play under Giroud once more and, if I remember correctly, one of the goals from the German happened to be against Hull. Maybe he can add to that tally.

I'd also be tempted to reshuffle our defence a bit, but it's hard to say, who can come in. True, Mert, Sagna and Vermaelen are in the same situation as the two Spaniards, but dropping any of them can prove risky.

Gibbs is still out, meaning Monreal is the only option for left-back. However, Nacho was terribly convincing there as of late, so I'd stick to Vermaelen. The skipper had a solid game on the flank against the Hammers, so no reason to drop him. However, I don't think Arsene will agree with me. After all, it's risky playing all your centre-halves at once and Monreal is still (unlike Vermaelen) a more natural left-back. So, if the Spaniard is fully fit, our skipper will probably find himself benched once again.

Jenkinson. meanwhile, can start on the right (he played there the last time we faced Hull), but it's unlikely he'll do so tomorrow. Arsene has stuck with Sagna all season long (for good reason, might I add), so Jenkinson will probably be only a bench sub. If Sagna's not dead tired, that is.

Apart from these (possible) changes, the starting line-up should look the same. Whoever the manager picks, I'm more than sure will be up for it and what is even better, we'll have a strong bench as well, something that can help Arsene influence the game if such a need arises. But I don't think we'll have a whole lot of problems with this one. Sure, nothing can be taken for granted in the league, where relegation-threatened Sunderland nearly snatches all the three points from title-aspiring City at the Etihad, but the Gunners seem to be on the way up and should, on their day, experience no problems with a team such as Hull.

Now to the easiest part. The win. Come on you Gunners

Arsenal 3-1 West Ham: we're back

Arsenal jump-started their campaign on Tuesday with a convincing win against West Ham, while also putting in an encouraging performance. What makes this win even sweeter, is Everton losing to Palace at home (!), which means we keep the fourth place and our destiny is once again in our own hands.

Arsene made quite a few changes to the side, that gave their all in the cup game, with Szczesny, Koscielny, Kallstrom and Rosicky playing from the very first minutes. The glaring omissions were Ozil and Gibbs, as both of them haven't completely recovered from their respective injures. Monreal also haven't made the bench, which meant Vermaelen started on the left. Apart from him, Sagna, Mertesacker, Arteta and Cazorla all played, despite featuring to the very last minute earlier against the Latics.

As is the tradition in recent games, Arsenal started slowly. West Ham looked more dangerous in the opening minutes, creating several half-chances, before the Gunners took hold of the game and pinned the Hammers against the wall.

The problem, however, was Giroud. He didn't look particularly tired, but still played like crap the entire half, failing to get onto the end of Podolski's low pass, not making contract with any of Sagna's (very decent) crosses and spurning a brilliant chance from a one-on-one.
The Frenchman tried to poke the ball with his left, instead of smashing it with his right, and Adrian saved easily.

Then, just when we seemed to be building some momentum, West Ham scored. Nocerino sliced through our defense on the left and produced a fierce shot that Szczesny saved. However Jarvis was first on the rebound (though Koscielny desperately tried to stop him) and this time Szczesny was powerless to stop the effort from going in.

Now, in retrospective, I'm glad that Jarvis was allowed to plant his header into the net. Had Koscielny stopped him, it would have been a foul and a red card for Laurent, so we would have been really hard-pressed to get anything out of the game. We got away with such dangerous play, but would someone please tell Koscielny not to do this again. We may not be so lucky next time.

A conceded goal sparked Arsenal and men started pouring forward in search of an equaliser. Kallstrom lashed a shot of his own, after making space in the box, but the keeper got down well to parry. In a few minutes he'd be unable to do so.

It all started with a throw-in deep in West Ham's half. Vermaelen returned the ball into play, Giroud lost it and a clearance followed. It fell to Cazorla, who lurked not far from the box and the Spaniard did brilliantly to dissect the Hammers defence. His pass found Podolski and the German buried his chance without pausing for thought. So the teams went into the dressing room with the scores level.

We started the second half energetically and it paid off almost immediately.

One of our corners was cleared, Vermaelen picked up the loose ball near the centre circle and sent it back in. Giroud got rid of two defenders, who desperately tried to hold the Frenchman back, got the ball down in one neat touch and smashed his effort home with his right foot. 2-1.

This was when I thought that now we're going to drop deep and defend our slender lead, but I was surprised. Arsenal continued threatening West Ham with endless attacks and it was obvious from the way we passed the ball that confidence was high.

We struck again in the 79th minute. Cazorla found Giroud on the flank, Olivier sent in a cross which fell to Ramsey (the Welshman came on for Rosicky mere minutes prior to that) and the header from our star midfielder sliced the Hammers defence open once again. And once again the pass picked out Podolski, whose first-time effort made the score 3-1.

We didn't fall back even after that and Cazorla could have made it 4-1, but his brilliant shot swerved agonisingly close to the far post. It was game over at that stage, but had the Spaniard got his name on the score sheet, it would have been a reward for all the hard work he's put in.

I didn't pay attention to this in the immediate aftermath of the game, but it turned out the manager fielded a group of players whose average age was above 29. It is our most experienced squad in over ten years, but then again, who cares? Arsene didn't have much of a choice in the light of all the injures and suspensions and it's not like the players haven't got the job done. Maybe their knowledge in how to grind out results in these games was what made the difference. That’s what the manager himself said on his team selection:

“It was a gamble but I said before the game as well that it was the oldest team certainly that I've ever played at Arsenal. I trusted the experience of the players because… tonight it was an unusual around-30 team, and that experience of course helps when you are a little bit backs against the wall.”

On the result as a whole:

“Yes, we were tested mentally, but I think we were strong. We were united, disciplined, determined, and despite being 1-0 down - I couldn't see where we could be 1-0 down - it was a big blow but we responded well. Overall you could feel that the team was absolutely focused from the first to the last minute. We built slowly a win that I think was normal.”

And on his temptation to go old-school with two strikers after Podolski’s brilliant performance:

“I am tempted but I have so many offensive players, who all want to go in the middle, and Lukas is the only one who is really a wide player. Rosicky is a central player, Cazorla is basically a central player, and when you don't have Walcott it's very difficult to do that.”

Overall, a very good game coupled with a very good performance. Cazorla seemed to have finally returned to his old self, Koscielny slotted back alongside Per as if he's never left, Kallstrom put in a reassuring 90 minutes.

A special mention has to go to the strikers. Podolski was brilliant, coolly putting away his chances and taking a beautiful free-kick in the first half, while Giroud demonstrated his mental toughness. After an atrocious 45 minutes during which nothing came his way, he worked hard in the second half and got himself a brilliant goal, perhaps his best this year.

Everton dropping points means we're fourth again and four wins will see us qualify for the Champions League however good the Toffees play in the last games. We have some experience pinching that last CL spot, so let's make sure we do it again.

Back later. Until then, enjoy the win and the fourth place that comes with it

West Ham preview: almighty scrap

Hello.

Tonight we face West Ham in yet another London derby and we have to win in order to put pressure on Everton.

The Toffees won their game in hand while we were having fun (just kidding) in the FA Cup, so they are two points ahead with a better goal difference. Everton still have to play both Manchester clubs, and at least City are going to give them a hell of a hard time, so fingers crossed we can take advantage of that.

However, we should be more concentrated on our own games and, what's more important, on the level of our performances, rather than wait for a slip-up from Martinez side. We got the job done at Wembley, but the game was decided by the penalties. Had the game ended in normal time, it would have finished with teams level.

We also haven't enjoyed our free-flowing style of play for awhile now, the last time that comes to mind is an encounter against Sunderland. Late February, that was.

Another thing is that we've yet to win a league match since our North London derby. Three losses and two draws since then, not a single clean sheet. Is this somehow connected to the fact, that Koscielny is out? We haven't won anything with a pair of central defenders of Mertesacker and Vermaelen.

This is why I think we have to really get back to basics and start building the team from the back. We've done it last year against Bayern and then went almost a year with the best defensive record in the league. Just one defeat by a three-goal margin (City), everything else was manageable. This February saw our defence give way and we need to rebuild it again.

For now we have to take it game by game and West Ham is the most pressing matter of all, just because it comes sooner than any other game. We had some mixed news from the manager regarding player availability, let's dissect it.

First off, there are doubts regarding a host of first team players, who faced Wigan three days ago, but that's understandable. Ramsey, fresh back from an injury, played over 100 minutes, Oxlade played the full game, the same goes for Arteta, Cazorla, Sanogo and some others. All of them are likely to start the game on the bench and I'm fine with that.

However, it's going to be hard to scrap a decent starting eleven. Szczesny will regain his place between the sticks, Gibbs and Koscielny should start in defence, and I see little choice but to play Mertesacker again, probably with Sagna on the right. Jenkinson is a possibility, but seeing how the manager is reluctant to play the young right-back even in the cup, I doubt we'll see him today.

The midfield is going to be tricky. Assuming Rosicky and Ozil are fit (both took part in the training session) they should start. Rosicky in central midfield, alongside Kallstrom (you don't play Arteta and Ramsey after such a cup game) and Ozil under the striker. Not ideal, but then again, what's the alternative?

In attack, it's probably Podolski on the left (he's relatively fresh), Giroud (same here) and maybe Gnabry on the right. Oxlade looked dead tired, so he's a bench sub at best today.

It looks a decent squad to me, physically able to cope with West Ham and tactically astute to try and implement our style of play. The problem, of course, is getting these players mentally prepared to win this. Arsene should do his utmost to motivate the players to not only win this game, but all the remaining games as well. It's quite probable, that we are gonna need to get 15 points out of 15 points to finish fourth, today will show whether Arsenal is ready for a fight.

Hope they are

Wigan 1-1 Arsenal (2-4 on penalties): turning point

So, we're through to the final of the FA Cup with a win over Wigan, but it was by no way a pleasant ride. With nine minutes to go Arsenal were trailing and could have gone out. We didn't, luckily.

The manager made only four changes to the team, with Fabianski, Ramsey, Oxlade and Sanogo replacing Szczesny, Flamini, Giroud and Rosicky respectively. Gibbs made the bench, while Gnabry and Rosicky were left out due to their injures.

Arsenal started brightly enough, with Oxlade nearly putting us ahead in the first minute following an interchange with Sanogo. The Frenchman himself then tested the keeper, but his headed effort was saved.

Arsenal then fell into a kind of lull, enjoying lots of possession, but failing to create chances. We only had two more before the break, first when Podolski's effort from a free-kick went wide, then when Sanogo shot straight at the keeper from a one-on-one. But basically Wigan's defence worked like clock.

Little changed in the opening stages of the second half. Arsene made no changes and Arsenal continued to look like they were sleepwalking. Just when I thought we started to find a foothold in the game, Wigan scored.

McManaman stormed into the box, Mertesacker hacked him down and the ref pointed to the spot. Gomez stepped up and converted coolly, despite Fabianski going in the right direction.

This had shaken Arsenal out of their coma. They started to pour men forward, however nothing exciting happened until 80th minute. We had a succession of corners, Sagna hit the post from one, then Gibbs saw his effort cleared off the line. In the 82nd minute we equalised.

Vermaelen was first on the ball from yet another corner, his pass found Oxlade on the edge of the box. The Englishman's mis-hit shot fell to Mert and the latter tucked the ball away from 2 yards. That meant extra time was in order.

It came and went, but little happened during these 30 minutes. Oxlade hit the bar and some Wigan bloke (Collison?) planted a header just wide, but it was obvious the players were exhausted and so the game petered out towards the penalties.

And, despite all the misgivings, we came out on top. Fabianski saved the first two spot-kicks, giving us the platform to build on, Arteta and Kallstrom put away theirs and were were 2-0 up. After that, steely nerves from Giroud and Cazorla ensured we won.

The players were over the moon and I find the criticism, they received for celebrating the way they did, petty. It wasn't about the opponent or about the performance (cause both were below par), but rather about being through to the finals. And this I can understand completely.

If there's anything to like about the way we played though, it's that we showed some character. Arsenal fought from being 1-0 down and showed they are the better prepared side mentally after getting the win in the penalty shoot-out. If there's a point, which can turn the tide, it's this.

To be more exact, it's the goal itself. A goal, which demonstrated we're ready for a fight, and the players can draw confidence and even inspiration from their fighting spirit.

Arsene, meanwhile, will stay with us a little longer.

Back tomorrow for a preview.

Until then

Wigan preview: get at it

Good evening everyone.

It's been a long and not very pleasant week, with all sorts of things happening. From Cazorla's controversial interview to some wild theories regarding Arsene's possible successor, we've had it all, but little of it has been positive. I sincerely hope we can come out of it on top and Wigan present us with a chance of doing just that.

Many portray this game as a make-or-break for Arsene, but to me Wenger looks like the only man, who decides when to move on (or retire). I've seen suggestions that the contract for our manager has been done and dusted and only awaits Arsene's signature. As I gather, the contract will be offered even if we fail to win the cup and end up outside the CL zone and if that's the case, well, then Arsene is the only man who can prevent this plan from coming to fruition. He looks like the man of honour to me, and I hope he retires if things go terribly wrong this season. He's done a lot for the Club, thus he shouldn't remain at the helm long enough to become a villain.

However, this game is of paramount importance not only to Arsene, but to the players as well. Win, and we'll have the confidence to climb the table and win the Cup. Lose, and our downward spiral continues and there's no telling how it will affect our chances for the top four spot.

What makes this game harder still is our almost depleted squad. Gibbs, the Ox and Rosicky are all 50/50s, while some of the others need to be dropped in order to keep things fresh and change the mindset of the team as a whole. (UPDATE: all three took part in the training session this afternoon, so should, at the very least, make the bench).

The manager has confirmed Fabianski and Ramsey will start, but Arsene shouldn't restrict himself to these two. In fact, I'd play a squad that is as far away from the one which took on Everton as possible.

Starting with dropping Arteta and Monreal entirely. These two were the weakest links against the Toffees and we do not want to become exposed because of them in a match where the stakes are so high.

Arteta, for one, was slow. Slow on the ball, slow to track runners, slow to get stuck in in tackles. Did I mention he was slow?

I don't know, whether it's down to fatigue (our vice captain made 36 appearances in all competitions) or just because his age is starting to tell, but letting the Spaniard sit this game out will most likely benefit both parties.

Monreal, meanwhile, was way below par against Everton. Lukaku mocked our left-back again and again and I'm sure Rosler will try to exploit this weakness, if given the chance. We should not present him with one.

Coupled with Flamini's suspension and with injures to Ozil, Wilshere, Walcott and Koscielny, we're pretty stretched both defensively and offensively. If we add Giroud as another possible bench sub, things get really hot. Good news is, Ramsey will definitely start (as I've already mentioned), so we should even scrape a decent (though, exhausted) bench.

If we are to drop Arteta and Monreal, I suggest pushing Vermaelen out wide (if Gibbs cannot start, that is) and pairing Mertesacker with Sagna. Vermaelen was found wanting alongside the German, playing him as a full-back can benefit us and him. The Belgian will be able to make his forays forward and helping out offensively, while we'll get a defender who won't stand being bullied by anyone.

Should Arsene do this, Jenkinson will have to be introduced on the right. Personally, I have nothing against it. I've expressed my reservations about Vermaelen playing as a centre-back and I don't want to see us crack right down the middle again. Unlikely that Arsene will look at it the way I do (and that's alright, he has more input on players' form and abilities), but from what I see Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Sagna and Gibbs/Vermaelen is the best defense under current circumstances.

In midfield I'd like to see Kallstrom, Ramsey and either Rosicky or Cazorla. It'll be an energetic trio, capable of shielding the back four better, than Arteta and Flamini + Rosicky/Cazorla. At least Kallstrom and Ramsey will be full of energy and that can benefit all aspects of our play. It was blindingly obvious how much our game improved when Ramsey was thrown on late on Sunday, bringing Kallstrom into the mix will make it even better.

Up front, I'd play anyone (Podolski, Oxlade, Gnabry, Cazorla/Rosicky) on the flanks, but I'd drop Giroud. The Frenchman is knackered, all the games he's played are catching up on him and a little rest can't hurt. Sanogo wants blood, he'll be hell-bent on scoring after his goal on Goodison was disallowed, so he can, at this point in time, be of more use than Giroud. The manager may want to plough on with the experienced guy here, though, so it's a close call.

All in all, it's a game we have to win for numerous reasons and, as much pessimistic as things are going right now, I just can't see us losing. We are Arsenal, we just cannot lose the game of this stature to such an opponent. If we do, it will be a shock like I've never experienced.

And I don't want a shock. I've had enough of them this season. So let's go get the goddamn win