Gunner Watch : Analyzing last night's match against Villa

Arsenal v Villa Blog notes

There was a lot to see last night as Arsenal took on Aston Villa at Villa park. Plenty of positives throughout the match and three important points in the context of securing a position for the Champions League.

So let's get to business. Wenger played Francis Coquelin as Right back after injury ruled out Djourou for the match. The rest of the back line remained intact. Frimpong took over instead of Song (Song was ruled out due to suspension). The rest of the midfield and the front three remained same.

Coquelin's excellent last minute tackles in the first half were impressive. He looked like a natural right back. But again, there were plenty of amateurish mistakes on his part. It won't take much time to realize the lad needs some more time in the first 11 to get a grip on his nerves. The defense played well throughout with players backing up for one another but Albrighton's goal was more of a defensive disaster. It is most important that the manager shows faith in his back four in times of such crisis to let them get settled. Mertesacker still looks a bit shaky, although, he has been performing increasingly well since his arrival.

Szczesny showed amazing form and his confidence going in to catch crosses aggressively looked most impressive. There's one department we might finally look upon with some sigh of relief.

Van Persie's penalty was good. It was sharp, crisp and unstoppable at that pace. With that, Captain charismatic went up to 34 for the calendar year and next Tuesday (Note Monday's match has been postponed by 24 hours) should be an exciting match with van Persie set to try and grab that record now.

Arsenal played a good pressing game and forced Villa to go back to Guzon on multiple ocassions. Walcott made well timed runs and significantly reduced on his tendency to run into offsides! van Persie looked in fluent form running back to build the play a number of times. After Albrighton's goal, we needed some patience and Rosicky and Bennayoun brought just that. There was a lot of resilience and determination - something we have had the privilege of seeing a lot off late. A minor observation should be to have Rosicky and Bennayoun play a lot more in the League.

Rosicky's passing game is typical Arsenal. His introduction helped us keep possession and pass around frustrating the opposition. Bennayoun's clever run in the Corner was well timed for a clinical finish with the head.

Up next, we have Wolves next Tuesday. I'll try to come up with a post looking ahead into the game later this week. Good 3 points won yesterday, particularly with Tottenham and Chelsea going in tomorrow. A draw should be best for us, with both teams losing out on 2 points each. It was important for us to bounce back and that we did. Kudos!

Gunner Watch : Time for a quick response

Arsenal went down on Sunday against a string of bad decisions and bad luck, to a resurgent Manchester City vying a comeback after their loss to Chelsea the week before.

The team played quite well, except long patches of no co-ordination between the wingers and the midfielders. Don't quite know why that happened but its the perfect opportunity for Arsenal to make a quick comeback and cement their position in the top 4 of the League, much to what they deserve after the strong run of form in the last couple of months.

van Persie's claim to the record breaking highest number of goals in a calendar year in the Premier League looks a little difficult now that he couldn't score against the Citizens on Sunday. The injury to Djourou has left Wenger little choice but to contemplate a loan move during the January window for a full back or two.

However, Villa pose a strong and a different kind of challenge to Arsenal tonight. We had scored a dominating 4-2 victory in last year's match at Villa Park. Villa lost their match on Sunday too but Arsenal will be more determined to kick-start their Christmas fixtures of four closely spaced matches with a winning start.

Song and Djourou both will be unavailable for the match, which means Arsenal will have to change their starting XI by a bit. Song has played an important role throughout the season as a Central Defensive player. It will be difficult to predict what Wenger will play as his midfield. Arteta and Ramsey are for sure. He might probably play Rosicky alongside Ramsey with Arteta playing the conservative role.

In defense, we might yet again see four center backs with Squillaci replacing Djourou. Chamakh and Arshavin will have an important role to play given Arsenal's busy fixtures ahead. Wenger will most likely rest some players by substituting them early on in the second half.

Darren Bent poses the single biggest threat to the back four. But with Vermaelen in enviable form, it won't be easy for Villa to break through. With 3 losses, 2 wins and a draw in the last six games, Villa will do good to claim whatever points they can. But 3 points is essential for Arsenal this week, since Chelsea and Spurs go head to head this weekend and one of them is sure to drop points.

At this moment, Arsenal look firm favorites. Here's hoping van Persie scores a brace and the others contribute in as well. 70-30 to Arsenal at the moment. A 2-0 scoreline should be just fine.

Gunner Watch : Gunners to visit the Citizens with an advantage!

Frankie Lampard's penalty on Monday night was a big goal.

Not only did it ensure Man City's fall and the end to their unbeaten record (and any chances of coming even close to the Invincibles), it also gave us a huge advantage going into Sunday's game.

If you recall, a couple of weeks back, Arsenal's youth team almost beat the Citizens in the Carling Cup. A midfield comprising of Frimpong and Coquelin with the experienced Bennayoun almost broke through the City midfield which had players like Nasri and our young defense fiercely resisted sharp runs by Aguero and co.

Now, it was more of luck than Man City deserving that win the other night, but well, what's gone is gone. My entire point on mentioning that night's match was to prove a simple point - Citizens are beatable. Chelsea did it this Monday and so can we. All we need is a good game plan and In Arsene, we trust. Now don't we?

Chelsea's modus operandi wasn't all that complicated. They pressed hard for the ball, poured men on counter attacks and kept doing so for large spells in the match. It won't be that difficult for Arsenal to keep the ball, given our style of play. Pressing is not a problem with van Persie's supreme run of form. However, all that said, it won't be a walk in the park either.

As we saw in the last match, having four center backs will obviously give us a much needed advantage in attacking and defending set pieces. With news coming in on Santos about his injury, it is quite difficult to not imagine Arsenal going in with the same makeshift back-4 similar to last week.

Now this game, given its gravity is sure to set Wenger thinking. As usual, don't expect Arsenal to man-mark. Wenger definitely won't let that happen and endanger Arsenal playing on the backfoot. Against their midfield threats of Nasri and Silva, the only change we might expect is both Song and Arteta playing a little deeper into our half. Dzeko, Aguero and Balotelli have all been in a good run of form recently and it might be a blessing in disguise to play 4 center backs.

Silva and Nasri play creative passes so we need a compact back line, something which center-backs do well. That was why I mentioned about the blessing in disguise. With a compact back line and Arteta and Song sitting on top of them, we will be better placed to hide gaps and prevent Aguero or Balotelli to make those threatening runs they made with a wide Chelsea defense on Monday.

Besides the defense, don't think there will be much change in the front four either. Lol, who can replace RvP at the moment? Gervinho and Walcott on either sides and Ramsey supporting RvP. With Micah Richards out and Gael Clichy suspended, they'll be forced to play second choice full backs. Don't expect them to stretch the game much and our wingers can take advantage of their lack of match practice. We might as well expect Chamakh playing a role this Sunday if scores are against us by the hour mark.

A likely replacement of Walcott with Rosicky / Arshavin and Gervinho with Chamakh might be on the cards. If Wenger decides to take it to City, we might see Song making way for Chamakh to play a nice little 4-1-3-1. Bennayoun might also be making yet another appearance in the later stages of the game.

Expect a match filled with crosses and we trying to stretch the game while preventing them from doing so. A lot of through balls - hope Ramsey weighs his balls to Walcott and Gervinho's runs better than against Everton. We won't probably see a spectacle like RvP's one against Everton, but it will take a GOOD goal to beat Joe Hart. Last year, same fixture we had won 3-0 and Bendtner was a surprise name in the scoresheet.

Here's hoping for a crushing Arsenal victory. 55-45 to Arsenal at the moment
My prediction : 2-1 or 1-0 for Arsenal.

Gunner Watch : 125th Year celebrations and 3 good points.

Wenger started the game with a formidable 11. Injuries to all four recognizable full backs meant Arsenal had to start with 4 center-backs. Predictably, Vermaelen switched over to the left and Djourou played down the right.

The game came against a backdrop of Arsenal’s 125^th anniversary celebration and the Gunners took to the field to a sea of red and white, including the big Gunner legends from the last four decades. As usual, Arsenal started the game pretty aggressively with Walcott and Gervinho making fine runs throughout the first 45. Ramsey saw a lot of the ball but wasted two golden opportunities with over-weighted through balls to both the wingers.

Robin van Persie, on the brink of smashing the record for the highest number of goals in a calendar year, was a disappointment in the first 45 but he did exactly what was needed when it mattered most.

On the whole, we played well and there were plenty of positives to be taken out from the match. A clean sheet never harms the confidence of the defenders. Besides that, both Gervinho and Walcott showed excellent form and sharpness throughout the match and is a great positive going into next weekend’s match against City.

Ramsey’s confidence on the ball was visible and good to see. Arteta performed well as usual against his former side. The Toffees  started the game confidently but were soon put on the backfoot as Arsenal pressed on. Despite the huge number of chances first half ended 0-0.

That was just the build-up to the second half as Arsenal pressed on the gas and shifted gears to a more attacking form. Both Ramsey and Arteta pushed up more and Song played considerably well infront of the center backs. He showed excellent presence of mind going up too.

On the whole, it was a good performance and 3 points undoubtedly, well deserved.

Some negatives did creep up. Crosses from the full backs or the wingers lacked quality. The occasional cross did catch the eye but they were either too close to Howard or were cut down by the first defender.

Despite Ramsey’s confidence, he did miss out on a few opportunities. Walcott’s decision making before the goal also came under sharp criticism from the commentary team when he let go of an easy opportunity trying to be provider in front of the goal, but made up for that with absolute brilliance in the early part of the second half.

Everton had a few good chances of their own in the early part of the second half with Cahill and Phil Neville coming close but Vermaelen’s marking and Szszesny’s alertness saw us through the little phase of Everton’s dominance.

Having 4 center backs had its own advantage as we poured in the big lads for every corner and set piece. Another positive which came out of the match was the way the team dealt with the frustration of not being able to break the dead lock with patience and intense work rate.

Picture Courtesy - Yahoo! Sports UK

Come 70^th minute and a moment of sheer skill and ability saw Captain Fantastic seal yet another goal and the victory for Arsenal. Song turned provider and I don't think there was a better goal van Persie scored this season. With that he notched up 33 goals this calendar year and is 2 away from the elusive record!

With next week’s much important fixture in mind, this performance shall give us some indication of what we can look forward to. David Moyes had arranged a very attacking formation for Everton,  probably due to our apparent defensive weakness  but Djourou and Vermaelen filled in the void more than satisfactorily.

A 1-0 scoreline isn’t what you normally associate with Arsenal but we’ll take it. With those 3 points, we have broken into the top 4 for the first time this season. Just a small indication of the level of improvement, Arsenal had accumulated 7 points in their first 7 games and have since then managed an impressive 22 out of 24.

Up next, Man City away next Sunday. Predictions?

Gunner Watch : The Weekend game against Everton

Okay, so with this post, I shall be starting a new series of posts. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue posting whenever I get the time :)

Trending - Arsenal FC. There's no secret to my admiration of the North London team. Been following them for over a decade now. And I guess its time I can start commenting on them with utmost responsibility.

Right, down to business then. The midweek UCL fixture against Olympiakos brought out two big positives and two huge negatives. Given, it was a match which we could afford to lose, it would have made all the more difference had we clinched a victory. Of course, it would have been a hard fought victory - there was no hiding the fact that Olympiakos was playing for qualification, and irrespective of the huge injury list on their side, they would be desperate for a win.

Against a backdrop of such a scenario, we had the luxury of playing the youngsters. Ultimately, the team which did take to the field had a fine blend of both youth, and experience. Personally, I really thought the midfield combination of Frimpong and Bennayoun would be enough for the night. But, against a well determined Olympiakos side, it hardly went according to plan.

So, what were the negatives? First and foremost : Our susceptibility to a team which takes the game to us. We are known for the world class passing and possession, both in our and the opponents' half. But when Olympiakos started pressing and pressing hard, for the ball, the youngsters cracked up. One of the biggest negatives was to see a veteran like Squilacci still finding it hard to get in sync with a Permier League side.

The other negative was the lack of coordination between the experienced players. Bennayoun and Arshavin seemed to have been playing on different wave-lengths. Natural reason - lack of game time.

The positives, on the other hand was Alex Oxdale Chamberlain's amazing confidence and skill on the ball and what seemed like a good game for Marouane Chamakh. Sure, he didn't score, but he made some good runs and was at his best with his swift passing. Kudos.

Now, back to the game on Saturday.

Arsenal would probably start as favorites going into yet another game with their formidable unbeaten record in the Premier League now stretching to 8 games! That's really incredible, given the poor start to the season.

However, it will be wrong to take Everton any lightly. With 3 wins and 3 losses in the last 6 games, Everton sit firmly mid-table and have a chance to leap frog 2 teams up to 8th place with a victory and a game in hand. Among the last 6 games, is a narrow 1-0 loss to United. Everton showed tremendous resilience at home and it took SAF's team to grind a win out.

This will be yet another opportunity for The Toffees show their improvement under Manager David Moyes. Expect this Everton Side to put up a strong fight. Players like Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines and Johnny Heitinga are experienced campaigners at the back. We'll need sharp wing play from Walcott and Gervinho to stretch the back four. James McFadden and Marouanne Felliani will be their players to watch out for, apart from Drenthe and the obvious threats - Tim Cahill and Louis Saha.

With Andre Santos out for a while and Gibbs needing some time before his comeback, we might see four center backs playing the match on Saturday. Szczesny will take his position and it would probably be Vermaelen moving over to the left. Koscielny and Mertesacker would play center backs with Djourou down the right. Djourou's performance on Tuesday night against Olympiakos down the right wasn't all the convincing but its hard to believe Wenger will play him at the center with Koscielny available - and in superb form.

Arteta, Song and Ramsey should be just fine down the center. I would really want to see Bennayoun coming of the bench sometime after the hour mark. Ideally, if van Persie is being his usual self come Saturday, we might have the game sealed by the 70th minute and let Arshavin and Rosicky have some much needed game time. With a busy schedule coming up, it would be absolutely amazing to have such experienced players fit and ready to contribute.

Won't be surprised if Wenger plays Frimpong for a while too. There's a talent in the lad.

65-35 to Arsenal at the moment. Home advantage should seal it for us.