City preview: pressure's on

Good evening.

It's City away tomorrow and I think it's the hardest game of those remaining: even Chelsea should be less challenging, as we face them at home. City, however, have only lost once at the Etihad (with nine wins in another eleven games) and, looking at how their squad is one of the most balanced in the league, you can't help but feel we will be the underdogs tomorrow.

And this role suits us perfectly fine: too often we failed to deliver under the weight of expectation. We've lost and drawn games in which we were the favourites, so playing second fiddle may not turn out to be as bad.

Team news update

Debuchy, Arteta and Wilshere can be scrapped out of the equation for now: Jack will probably be the first one to return, but his return won't happen before the end of February. Very unlucky, all of them could have come in handy, but it is what it is. I've long since gotten used to the thought we'll probably never have a fully-fit squad.

In other news, we'll take on City without Danny Welbeck:

"Danny Welbeck is not ready yet, he is still feeling some pain, so we will have to be patient. I think he has two more weeks before he’s back."

though Kieran Gibbs should be fine:

"He has a test today. He should come back into the squad."

Also, Ozil, Ramsey and Walcott are all fine and are now a week fitter:

"They were already available for last week and they are available for Sunday."

Which leaves us with a pretty big squad and quite a few selection headaches. Let's try figuring out who'll start.

The back five

I'm pretty sure Ospina will continue in goal. There's a reason he's replaced Szczesny, that reason hasn't gone away and, on top of that, Ospina didn't make any mistakes against Stoke. No reason to drop him.

At right-back we have two candidates to start: Bellerin and Chambers. The Spaniard has matured rapidly since his debut against Borussia early in the campaign and has also put in some very convincing performances against Newcastle and Stoke. However, I still feel Arsene will opt for Chambers, as he seems a more reliable choice.

Interestingly enough, this choice may depend on who plays at left-back: Monreal or Gibbs. As explained in this piece by Tim Stillman, Arsene likes to play with one conventional full-back, who sits back and basically acts as a third CB, while the other full-back bombs forward to help the attackers stretch the pitch. In the long run, we'll probably have Gibbs as the one going forward, so our right-back will have to be a more defensive-minded player. However, in the short-term, the simple truth is that Monreal is in better form right now. And, as Monreal prioritises his defensive responsibilities, the romping full-back position is up for grabs and Chambers doesn't fit the job description. But Bellerin does.

As Gibbs hasn't played for a while, I think Monreal will start tomorrow. Which, in it's turn, makes Bellerin the favourite to start at RB. It'll be interesting to see, how Arsene tackles this problem. At CB, meanwhile, we should see the usual Mertescielny axis of awesome.

The midfield

Will Arsene start Ozil? That's probably the main dilemma. I don't think he will, Ozil doesn't seem fully ready yet. Throwing him at the deep end won't do anyone any good, especially since Cazorla is on top form right now. So the Spaniard should get the nod.

At the base I think Coquelin and Ramsey will start. It's easier to start Ramsey than Ozil simply because the former didn't spend so long out of the game. As for Coquelin, he has been impressive recently, so it'll make little sense to drop him. Let's see how he fares against a big side.

But I also won't bat an eyelid should Arsene go for a safer Flamini-Coquelin base, especially if he opts to start Ozil ahead of them. This decision will surely drive Arsena's fan base crazy, however, you can't say it doesn't make sense if we decide to play second fiddle to City. I'd still pick Ramsey over Flamini any day of the week, though.

The attack

In Welbeck's absence, I'm pretty certain Giroud will lead the line once again. His physicality may be a problem for City, even more so if Kompany doesn't start. And, of course, no one said we are abandoning the target-man system with fast wings, so Giroud is a natural choice.

Alexis should once again play on the left, but there's another conundrum for Arsene to crack concerning the right wing. Walcott or the Ox? Theo has to start games at some point, however it's obvious he's not on top form right now and it may not be the best idea to risk playing him. It's not like we don't have options. So I'd start the Ox on the right, with Walcott making another appearance from the bench as the games goes on and City's defenders will fade away a bit. And then we can start Walcott all we like against Brighton, Leicester and Aston Villa. Not the hardest games on offer and they present a good chance for Theo to return to his peak.

The verdict

“It is important that we keep calm, play with control and be committed as well.

We have to find that right balance between going for every challenge but also not going overboard - we have to respect the rules.

We want to win. What we want is to put the maximum effort in to give ourselves the best possible chance of winning."

That's Arsene reflecting on the upcoming game. Personally, I think we really can win this game. Despite injures we have a very good squad, a squad full of quality players. We have a lot of in-form players, guys like Cazorla, Alexis and Koscielny. We have those who have something to prove (Monreal, Bellerin, Coquelin). And we are on a rather good run, having won four games out of the last five, shipping in four goals and keeping two clean sheets in the process. So there are positive signs based on which we can win the game. It won't be easy by any means, but it's doable.

So come on you Gunners.

And I'll be back with a review as soon as I can.

Until later

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)

A little of this, a little of that

Good evening.

I've been away a bit longer than I expected and quite a few things happened in my absence. Starting with:

Transfers

Before you get overly excited, there's only one player we've bought and it's not someone in the Scnheiderlin's or Hummels's mould: it's a 17-year-old Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw. He's tall (6'2 feet), he's young and he's completely unknown. A perfect Wenger signing, though I'm reserving any judgement on the player until I've seen him in red-and-white. It would be overly unfair to criticise someone until you've seen him play. I'm not sure how much time will elapse until it happens, however, cause the Pole himself admitted he's not yet ready for first team football.

Elsewhere, we have two players in the "out" category. First is Yaya Sanogo, who's left on a loan deal till the end of the season. He'll be joining Crystal Palace, who are fighting the relegation battle under the management of Alan Pardew and I think it's a good move for all parties concerned. Sanogo will get his chances, he may get regular playing time in the Premier League and Palace's fight to stay up should toughen the Frenchman psychologically. Maybe Hull would have been a better destination, that with Hernandez and Jelavic out injured, but I don't know whether they were actually interested in Yaya's services. Case closed.

The other player to leave us (permanently, this time) is Benik Afobe. He's joined forces with Wolves after having a stormer of a season at MK Dons (19 goals in 30 appearances) and, while this transfer is a bit surprising, it's not entirely unreasonable. The man will soon turn 22 and he is very far behind in the pecking order for first team football at Arsenal. Both Sanogo and Akpom have leapfrogged Afobe, but it's not like these two have regular practice, isn't it? So all the best for Benik, I'll remember him as a guy who made a brace against United. Not too shabby.

The injures

The sun rises every day, Samsung's phones get bigger and bigger displays and Arsenal suffers one injury after another. It's the norm, the usual course of events and I think we won't see an injury-free Arsenal anytime soon.

After receiving horrendous news about Debuchy (the Frenchman had surgery on a dislocated shoulder and will spend another three months sidelined), it has now become known Mikel Arteta also was operated on. The Spaniard will spend further six weeks out of the game.

On Debuchy Arsene said:

"He is destroyed because he is such a keen player, so professional, so willing. It is his first year here and of course he is embarrassed. But it is not his fault. He was pushed. The push was not needed."

Wenger stopped just short of saying that Arnautovic is the most disgusting piece of meat to have ever walked this earth. Everyone knows there are more violent and less violent teams in the PL and the fact that the former suffer because of the latter is, frankly, embarrassing. On the FA, who hide behind rules, and on the referees, who are having the worst season in my memory (yes, collectively!). Fans are always willing to jump to the defense of their team and blame everything on external factors, but I honestly haven't seen such a poor level of refereeing ever before. If several years ago there were only selective games where referees were bad, this year they've all hit an all-time low.

Arteta, meanwhile, is the player we've missed most this season. Both Flamini and Coquelin cannot replicate what our captain brings to the team and this makes me wish we've signed Cabaye last summer. He was up for grabs for a reasonable sum of money and could have come in handy. However, Arsene is still looking at the defensive department, rather than at our midfield (can't he look at both?):

"He (Ilkay Gundogan, ladies and gentlemen) is not a defender. At the moment we are more looking for the defensive department."

Is Arsene just playing the cards close to his chest? Or is he waiting to snatch an ideal player in the summer, someone like Morgan Schneiderlin? I don't know, though sometimes I really crave to understand the manager thinking process.

However, I'm not particularly worried we haven't brought any senior player in yet. We all know the market is more mobile in the last couple of days of the window and I expect this one to be no different.

Though I do expect us to sign some players this time.

That's it for now. Back tomorrow with a preview of the City clash.

Until then

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)

Arsenal 3-0 Stoke: justice served

Good day to you.

Well, what a stark contrast this game was compared to the one in December. We took the game to the Orcs straight away, scored an early goal and never looked in any kind of trouble. Were it not for Begovic and a couple of near misses, we would have won by a far greater margin.

The squad

The team sheet emerged an hour before kick-off and it answered many questions: Ospina started in goal, Coquelin kept his place despite a fully-fit Flamini making the squad and Giroud came straight back in. While definite conclusions still can't be made concerning some players (I'm pretty sure Ramsey, Ozil and Walcott are all guaranteed starters when 100% ready), it was interesting to see Szczesny and Flamini omitted. By doing this Wenger basically said that he won't tolerate recurring breaches of discipline (Szczesny) and cannot guarantee anyone a place in the starting XI should an understudy do better (Flamini). Other omissions included Sanogo (the Frenchman is already at Palace on loan, it seems), Chambers and Gibbs (both weren't fully fit). Bellerin got a place on the bench and boy am I glad he did.

The first half

Just like the manager, the team wasn't messing around. Sanchez made his mark on the game in the 2nd minute already, only for Begovic to palm away Chilean's curled effort. Three minutes later Rosicky stormed into the box and Begovic was again called into action. A corner ensued.

Alexis crossed the ball to the near post (just stop doing that!), some Orc cleared and the ball fell to Koscielny, who returned it to Sanchez. Alexis waited for the Frenchman to get back into position and then his laser-like cross found Kos unmarked some 8 yards out. A thumping header and Begovic was left flailing his arms at thin air. 1-0.

We were deservedly in front, but minutes later the attention of all Arsenal fans was diverted by not the most wonderful thing that could have happened to us: an injury to Debuchy. However, it's not the injury itself, but the manner of how the Frenchman got it and the referee's reaction to it that sent the Arsenal's fan base into overdrive. With a ball going out of play from a Stoke player, Debuchy protected it with his body and, as he was hanging in mid-air following the ball's trajectory, the Frenchman received the most cynical of shoves in the back from Arnautovic. There was no intention of getting to the ball, no "the usual run of play" thing: it was a deliberate and dirty action from the Stoke player. Debuchy dislocated his shoulder as a result and it took full five minutes to get him on a stretcher. He'll be out for the minimum of six weeks.

But was Arnautovic punished? No. Not even a foul was called by the joke of a referee that is Jonathan Moss. Moreover, the FA Committee decided to not punish Arnautovic retrospectively, hiding behind the rule "that the referee saw the incident". That's incompetence at it's finest. During the game it led to several more dirty challenges from Stoke, because they knew it could go unpunished. In the longer run, we are left without our best right-back, Arnautovic walks free and Moss will continue refereeing games. I have no words for this. The whole thing was brilliantly broken down by @7amkickoff, so give it a read.

Thankfully, our dynamic wasn't affected by the injury. Bellerin came on for Debuchy, who was carried off to a round of applause, and we continued attacking. Moments after the substitution Oxlade's shot fizzed just wide. It took us some minutes to create another clear-cut chance, but when we did, it went in.

The attack started on the left flank. After losing the ball Sanchez immediately got it back, played a one-two with Rosicky, stormed into the box and powered a shot into the bottom corner. 2-0.

The second half

We sealed the game three minutes after the restart. Oxlade was hacked down near the box by Sidwell and Moss whistled for a free-kick. Alexis stepped up and his low shot flew between the defenders' legs and into the bottom corner. 3-0 and game over.

The game settled into a routine, with both teams realising there could be no doubts over the result. We still could have added to our tally through first Cazorla, whose chipped effort went over and then substitute Walcott blew a brilliant chance after Alexis has sent the Englishman one-on-one with Begovic. Ozil then also had a half-chance, only for his right-footed shot to go over the bar. 3-0 it ended.

The aftermath

Arsene later said:

"We moved well without the ball and moved the ball well, which is the basis of our game. Overall, we created chances, were mobile and the speed of our game created problems for Stoke. We took advantage of that."

It was probably the best performance from Arsenal this season. We created opportunities, took them and all the while haven't let Stoke anywhere near our goal. Their only moment of danger happened deep into injury time and Ospina dealt with it well. The dark spot we have from this performance is Debuchy's injury. I'm honestly starting to worry about Calum Chambers in this context. The young man has featured in 28 games this season, only just got a break and now Debuchy's out again.

Fortunately, Bellerin seems to be maturing really quickly and the manager also confirmed we are in the market for a defender:

"We were in the market anyway. Monreal and Debuchy can play centre back, but if Gibbs is not here Monreal cannot play centre back and if Debuchy is not here he cannot play centre back. This is a position where we are short."

Fingers crossed we'll get through without Debuchy alright. On the bright side, we have Ozil, Ramsey and Flamini all back, with Walcott nearing full fitness and Welbeck due to return before our clash against City. And so the manager should have options on his hands.

That's it for now, back on the 15th most likely with a fresh batch of news.

Until then

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)

Stoke preview: a little revenge, please

Good evening to you.

It's Stoke City tomorrow and we finally have some good news on the injury front going into the game.

Team news update

"Ramsey is back in training, Ozil is back in training and Flamini is back in training. We’ve got three players back. Welbeck is still not available for Sunday because he is a bit short. Maybe next week he will be available. Giroud is back from suspension."

Apart from Welbeck we also have Arteta and (obviously) Wilshere out, but it's peanuts compared to even last week when we had Maitland-Niles on the bench and Alexis as a lone forward. Not that I have anything against the Chilean playing there, I'm just not sure he would if we had one of Giroud/Welbeck/Sanogo fit.

However, most of our problems seem to be in the past. With Welbeck and Arteta edging closer to full fitness we'll soon have to omit really good players from the bench, despite loaning out Podolski and having plans in place for loaning Campbell and Sanogo.

All of this finally gives us the opportunity to pick a proper squad.

The back five

The main question is who'll play in goal. I'll break the pros and cons of each choice down:

Playing Szczesny/Ospina:

1. The Pole will work very hard and will do his best not to disappoint. Especially after being backed by Arsene
2. Wojciech has more experience playing in the Premier League, let's not forget that

However:

1. Chezza's performance is going to be scrutinised should he start. If he makes another mistake, there'll be calls for his and the manager's heads
2. So it can probably be beneficial to all parties concerned to take Szczesny out of the firing line. Rest him, play Ospina and when the Colombian will have a downfall in form, people will be more condescending to Szczesny and will look at the young Pole through a more forging prism

I'm pretty sure we'll see Szczesny in goal tomorrow, as you wouldn't normally expect Arsene to drop a player after one bad performance, however, it remains to be seen just how important that smoking incident is for Wenger's decision.

As for the back four, I'm expecting our strongest one to start. That means a Debuchy-Per-Kos-Gibbs quartet. Keeping my fingers crossed they'll fare better tomorrow.

The midfield

Despite three midfielders returning from injury, it doesn't look like Wenger is drowning in options. That's why I'll be pretty surprised if we don't see a Ramsey-Flamini-Cazorla trio tomorrow.

While Ramsey for Rosicky is understandable (and kind of obvious), I'd still play Coquelin ahead of Flamini on the basis of what I've seen from Francis so far. However, I'm also pretty sure the manager has more faith in Flamini.

As for Cazorla/Ozil decision, it's the Spaniard for me. There are two reasons:

1. Wenger generally eases players back into action, don't see why he might change his mind with Ozil. We aren't in dire need of creating opportunities right now, no point in risking our best playmaker immediately upon his return from injury
2. It's Stoke we are playing. Not the most gentle of sides. Some of these enterprised individuals like to do this. For this reason alone I won't let Ozil anywhere near that lot

However, I'm also curious whether Arsene will want to revisit his 4-1-4-1 experiment, now that he has more midfielders at his disposal. Him not doing so tomorrow will mean nothing, however, so moving on.

The attack

Giroud and Alexis are guaranteed starters tomorrow, though it's intriguing who'll complement them. Walcott or Oxlade? Guess it'll depend on whether Theo is fully ready. Then again, he never will be unless he plays.

We also have to take into account the Ox played in every our game since the start of the season. Koscielny's return gave Chambers a chance to recover, with Ozil back Cazorla will also be able to take a break (maybe even tomorrow) and Alexis just seems to be superhuman. Out of 30 games he played in 29 (missed Gala away) and has 28 starts. I'll just stop saying Alexis needs a breather, he very obviously doesn't. But Oxlade is another story and Walcott's timely return may allow Arsene to rest the Ox.

The verdict

For me Stoke players are a bit like those pirates from the first part of the "Pirates of the Caribbean". At home they are ugly and undead (just like the pirates in the moonlight), away from home they are far less scary. And while our away record against them is truly atrocious, we have won our last six home games against the Orcs in a row. I'll be very surprised should we fail to get the three points tomorrow.

So come on you Gunners

And I'll be back with a customary review. Until then

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)

On Szczesny, transfers and brinkmanship

Good evening.

It's been a bit quiet in terms of Arsenal-related news for the last couple of days. And this probably shouldn't come as a surprise: the last game was won (so no introspection is required), our next FA Cup opponent is not Bayern Munich and the situation on the injury front is about to be drastically improved with the returns of Flamini, Ramsey, Ozil, Welbeck and Giroud. Still, there are bits and pieces I'd like to discuss. Starting with

Szczmoking habits

The story of our №1 goalkeeper having a smoke in the showers after the defeat to Saints has been all over the newspapers. Initially, some reports hinted at a row between the manager and Wojciech. A falling-out (if there was one) is understandable: a self-inflicted 2-0 defeat, with Chezza the main man to blame on one hand, and a dissatisfied Arsene on the other. These reports were consequently squashed by Arsenal's press team, but soon others emerged: these of Wojciech being punished for having a smoke in the showers. For that the Pole was allegedly fined £20 000 and there is no consensus reached on whether or not Wojciech would be dropped and if he would be, then for how long.

The bit about fining Szczesny doesn't worry me in the slightest: he's a wealthy guy earning £100k per week. It's pocket money for him, literally a day's work. The smoking itself also is of little concern to me. As long as it doesn't affect his performances, he can smoke three packs a day for all I care: he's a grown man who can decide for himself what's in his best interests.

But here we've come to the most important part: DOES smoking affect his performances? If this incident in the showers is a one-off, then definitely not. However, if Wojciech has made a habit of it and it's influencing the way he plays, then he should be dropped.

I think this particular "dropping" bit should be decided solely on the Pole's performances. As for me, I think a spell on the sidelines can do Chezza some good. The impression he's left this season is not particularly shiny: only 3 clean sheets in 24 games and a stupid red card against Galatasaray. Add the absolutely atrocious performance against Southampton on top and both Ospina and Martinez look better-placed to protect our goal right now. Damian has three clean sheets in four starts, Ospina has one in two.

So I'd drop Szczesny and give the Colombian a run in the side. He's had a solid performance against Hull (they didn't prove much of a threat, but still) and, as I've said, it can be highly educational for Szczesny. One such spell on the bench back in 2013 brought about the desired effect, so we can repeat the experiment.

Transfers

No, we haven't brought anyone in. Right now Bielik and Perrin seem our most likely transfer targets, but there are question marks over the latter, because, though he himself claimed to have been contacted by Arsene, Saint-Etienne denied receiving any bids.

However, I'm not too worried we haven't bought anyone yet: we always tend to close deals very late in the transfer window, so I don't expect any arrivals before the last week, most probably before the very last day. Yes, there are beautiful exceptions to us buying players early in the window (Sanchez, Giroud), but: a) I cannot recall us buying early in winter b) it's the exception, not the norm. The norm is Ozil, Welbeck, Arteta etc.

It's the game of brinkmanship Wenger plays and who would blame him? When Bony goes for £30 million to consequently sit on the bench or Falcao's loan is worth £20 million, Arsene is really trying to find value for the money he pays. As he often does just that, I see no sense in questioning the way he does things.

Finally, if you are still getting worked up because of Podolski's departure, check out this article. It explains why exactly losing Podolski isn't such a big loss after all.

That's it for now. Back with a preview on the 10th, most likely.

Until then

Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)