Written by Mean Lean on Wednesday, 05 January 2011 13:40

After the elbows, studs and stamps from Birmingham on the weekend, it is time to go again in another big game. Manchester City roll into North London on the search for revenge after our victory at the City of Manchester earlier in the season.

This time round our opponents are likely to keep the full eleven on the pitch for longer than five minutes, longer than they managed back in October.

All eyes will initially be on the team sheet before the kick off, supporters scrambling to see which of their heroes will be starting the game. My money will be on many of the faces that put both Birmingham and Chelsea to the sword. I suppose the only major decisions will be to replace either Djourou and Van Persie for Squillaci and Chamakh. The question will be if they are ready to play more than one game a week. I am guessing that the importance of the game and the four day gap between today and our last match will see both continue down the spine of the side with team mates likely to replace one or two of them late in the second half depending on the score and direction of the match.

Jack Wilshere has played many minutes of late and had our opponents have been of lesser quality then I suspect that our young prodigy would have taken his place amongst the substitutes covering themselves up in an Arsenal blanket.

The other obvious ace Arsene has tucked up his sleeve is in the form of Andrey Arshavin. His last start included a spectacular goal and an assist at Wigan so he makes a great case but given the way the team played as a defensive unit against Chelsea you get the feeling that if we are playing against a dangerous team on the break then Arshavin may well be demoted to the bench, replaced by Theo Walcott who has improved considerably on his defending.

Mean Lean's Predicted Line Up

Manchester City are likely to play a very narrow midfield trio and cut off the spaces for Cesc and Nasri to exchange passes. Theo Walcott will be important if he can stay wide, which may allow him a few chances to go one on one with whichever left back that is selected for our opponents.

I suspect that Manchester City will look to hit us on the break and slide balls through to Carlos Tevez.

One to watch: Laurent Koscielny

I imagine that Koscielny will be detailed to stop Tevez once in possession, leaving Johan Djourou as the spare man. It should be a good battle as both players are very tenacious and give everything they have. If Koscielny can handle Tevez then Manchester City's attacking threat will be greatly reduced.

Adam Johnson cutting inside on Clichy's weaker right foot will also be interesting and potentially dangerous. It could also be another reason for Nasri to start ahead of Arshavin as his defensive ability may be called upon on more than one occasion.

Mean Lean's Match Prediction

Arsenal 1 (Nasri) Manchester City 0

Last season, Mancini brought a very negative Manchester City to London and bored their way to a 0-0 draw, without the creative talents of Silva and the skill and goals of Balotelli, both players absent through injury, I can see Manchester City trying to keep the game as tight as possible. They felt no way in strangling the game to death against their Manc rivals at home, so do not expect them to be expansive and adventurous.

I expect Arsenal to have most of the ball in their half but still keep our shape and discipline, just as we did against Chelsea. The game could be goalless in the first half, if so, hopefully we can find the back of the net in the second half.

All I hope for is the same collective determination to win the ball back when we do not have it and for our ball players to pass quickly when we are in possession, the rest should take care of itself.

COME ON THE ARSENAL.

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Comments (18)

• 05-Jan-2011 14:22 | | London  - So Boring
  

  Your post bored me sooo much, wheres the humour??? SO SO SO SO bland.

• 05-Jan-2011 14:24 | | MeanLean
  

  Google comedy or jokes website, I reckon you will find plenty of sites that suit you.
  
  Kind regards

• 05-Jan-2011 14:31 | | TheBoyInRed&White
  

  It's a match preview, not a comedy club.....
  
  Anyway, got to be the same team as the chavs and Brum games and I'm going for 3-1 to The Arsenal (I have been saying 2-1 but I'm feeling more optimistic today!)

• 05-Jan-2011 14:33 | | Jordan  - Tonights team
  

  We need to keep the same 11 that played against Chelsea and at Birmingham them 11 in that formation can win us the league! Song needs to stay back and let Fabregas push forward, we need Walcott to make his runs down the wing and give Kolarov a run for his money and If Van Persie can play like he did vs Chelsea and Birmingham we will win! My prediction is 2-0 Arsenal!

• 05-Jan-2011 14:37 | | Green Gunner  - All the way
  

  Arsenal must be on form again tonight and if we pull out a display like we did against brums n chavs then i see a win and a great 3 points it will be so COME ON YOU GUNNERS sink that money ship

• 05-Jan-2011 14:37 | | Boris Godunov  - Birds drop dead from the sky
  

  This line-up is too predictable. Almost every other blog comes up with it. Italian pervert will be expecting it, so I hope Wenger comes up with a surprise. I'd love to see Arshavin and Nasri instead of Jack, who hasn't done much more than Denilson as of late. Having said that, it'd be nice to have two strikers because their defense is a mean one. Bendtner for Walcott it is then. 2-0 to Great Arse.

• 05-Jan-2011 14:42 | | raj
  

  They i think are going to be so negative, nightmare senario is us to have all the play cant' finish and they catch us on the break..But being positive 2-0 to us...keeping the spine of the team fit and we will be challenging to the end

• 05-Jan-2011 14:45 | | Jordan  - Boris Godunov is talking crap
  

  Boris Godunov is talking crap, Wilshere has been one of our best players, yeah we could have Arshavin instead but Arshavin is a winger we have Nasri and Walcott who have recently been our top two wingers we should leave him on the bench and bring him on at a later stage and as for Bendtner he is a total waste! Everytime apart from his tap-in he scored against wigan everytime he'd get the ball he'd lose it just let him go, he's a waste of time!

• 05-Jan-2011 14:52 | | Goonerfish
  

  I'm hoping Djourou does start tonight, not necessarily for the performance he'll give but more for the fact that it will show he is finally regaining fitness and Arsene believes at least a little bit of the cotton wool can be removed. Djourou will become epic for Arsenal once fully fit and match sharp.
  
  I don't know about anyone else but I like that our line-up is almost predictable. It means we have very few injury worries, after all, if your best team is fit you play them....... or is that just me?
  
  Tonights game will depend on how quickly we can break City's defence. If we get an early goal I can see this being really open and a great game, obviously ending in an Arsenal win, if not it could be a long and frustrating night - but still ending in an Arsenal win.
  
  Keep up the good work ML.

• 05-Jan-2011 15:35 | | Zama
  

  Can't argue with your line up. Spot on about their tactics too. We'll need to be at our pressing best for the first period atleast, because their central midfield will tire later one (Yaya & de Jong have played all the games over the festive period). Probably thats when Theo could rip them apart, but I see no reason why he can't do it from the start as well.

• 05-Jan-2011 16:09 | | Goonzilla
  

  Tonight's game is all about arsenal. Don't be fooled by the man city hype. for the first time in ages we are able to field thesame 11 (with our strongest players - per TV5) for 3 of our last 4 games (with the changes made at Wigan being by choice and Fab4's suspension).
  
  How many times have we seen teams come to the emirates and play negative for 90 mins (doesn't sound like something new to me). What matters tonight is that we try to keep up the tempo of our play and take our chances when we get them. We cannot afford to be wasteful in front of goal.
  
  Like i said, the result of this match depends on the arsenal that shows up tonight. Going by recent performances against the Chavs and Birm, you would expect confidence to be high, plus there is also the extra incentive of going up to second tonight to keep the pressure on the Mancs.
  
  With a win tonight, we could go top of the league with a win at West Ham with the Mancs going down to Seven Sisters (or Wankers) to test their unbeaten run (a game I cannot see the Manc;s winning). This makes tonight's game even more crucial for us, though it would'nt be the end of the world if we get a draw.
  
  I predict 3-1 (Nasri, Fab and VanP)

• 05-Jan-2011 16:16 | | Bala
  

  My prediction.Ars 2 ManC 1

• 05-Jan-2011 16:18 | | MeanLean
  

  Inspirational stuff GZ, you have had a recent habit of settling my nerves. Having our match winners on a regular basis makes a big difference and you could see that against Chelsea and those dirty Brums.
  
  We will certainly have to take our chances tonight. An early goal would be fantastic.

• 05-Jan-2011 16:42 | | Goonzilla
  

  Dont mention it ML. I have taken more than my fair share of stick for being an AKB (most especially over the last 5 years). My Chav mates used to laugh when I complained about injuries to first teamers (It was my turn to laugh during their slump, hearing them complain about their missing stars this time around).
  
  My point is, everyone knows that if Arsenal can stay fit, we can challenge the best in world including Barca. People seem to have a little fog blocking their eye sight to see this nowadays (hiding behind recent season slumps - amidst using second teamers for large chunks of the seasons gone bye).
  
  We have too many match winners/ goal scorers in our squad not to be taken seriously (especially when they are fit, as is the case at the moment). Only sp*ds could possibly match us fro strength in depth in terms of quality and quantity.
  
  I think tonight could be the night that we shut our critics up for good. Whisper this very quietly but this has a similar feel to Barca v Real of this season. Slightly Conservative v Extravagant, Flair v Brawn, Home team trailing Away team in the table, All the prematch big-game hype etc etc , 5-0 anyone? Now wouldn't that be special

• 05-Jan-2011 18:08 | | Badaab  - v. Citeh
  

  While I'd love to see this as a romp for the Gunners, I think it'll end up being a hard-fought midfield battle.
  As expected, Citeh will come out and look to hit us on the break with Tevez running straight at our defense, and the big men like Kolarov and Yaya Toure running down the channels.
  If we can play our game, and stifle them playing the spoilers, I think this game will run out similarly to Birmingham. However, Citeh have better players that BC, and our pitch is considerably better. So really, it all comes down to which Arsenal team shows up tonight: the side that beat Chelsea, or the side that capitulated against Wigan.

• 05-Jan-2011 19:12 | | Feeno
  

  It must be a right chore for that lad, having to read through a whole ten or so paragraphs with nothing wacky to keep him amused.

• 05-Jan-2011 21:53 | | arthur3sheds  - ....
  

  Well said Mean. I would have simply said eff off.

• 05-Jan-2011 21:54 | | arthur3sheds
  

  Absolute injustice that draw. But not the worst result in reality.

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