Villa Preview And Last Chance To Win The Opus
Feb 29th, 2008 by 'holic
Of all the players ruled out for the trip to St Andrews it looks as though only Abou Diaby will be returning for the home clash with much-improved Aston Villa.
Prior engagements mean that this preview is being prepared on Thursday night, and I have been caught out by the Friday press conference before, but I think we can take an educated guess about the make up of the side and the destination of the ‘holic pound!
Had Mike Dean not gifted Birmingham a penalty equaliser last weekend I have a feeling that we may have seen a couple of new faces in the side to face Martin O’Neill’s men ahead of the trip to Milan on Tuesday. However, the cutting of the lead at the top of the Premiership to just three points will perhaps have concentrated Arsene Wenger’s mind on his primary target.
There is no real reason to toy around with the back five so in the absence of Kolo Toure we will probably see Manuel Almunia behind a four of Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Phil Senderos, and Gael Clichy.
The make up of the midfield will depend on where Wenger opts to play Theo Walcott. Having grabbed his first two Premiership goals last weekend the lad could be promoted to a striking role alongside Emmanuel Adebayor. There is an option though that may not be quite as popular with the Gunners faithful.
I can imagine Wenger opting to play Theo on the right of a five with Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini, Abou Diaby, and Alex Hleb in a floating role. It is a formation he has used against stronger opposition before, and could provide a dress rehearsal for his plans to get a result in Milan.
Given that possibility I’m placing my much-maligned quid on a narrow win. 2-1 looks attractive, particularly if I can persuade my friendly neighbourhood bookie to match the 8/1 on offer at Extrabet.
Last Chance To Win An Arsenal Opus with O2
Get over to the O2 blueroom today (click here) for your last chance to land your own copy of the magnificent Arsenal Opus.
All through February you have had the chance to vote for your favourite from the final eleven photographs in this superb competition.
The final shot to be featured here is from Nicole and titled ‘Pure excitement at Emirates first experience!! 2007’.
Good luck to all eleven finalists, and those of you who have voted in a bid to get your hands on this special prize.
The Last Word
Full marks to Martin Samuel in the Times for this. Nothing needs to be added.
9 Responses to “Villa Preview And Last Chance To Win The Opus”
Haha, first this time!
Check the new summer range Arsenal catalogue, there’s a photo for you there!
Doesn’t count, Ollie. You need to say first drink…
+drink
I dreamt it was 2- 1 and Cesc scored the winning goal! I hope it was a premonition!
if you’re listening to martin samuel to get support over the tackle on eduardo then you are seriously demented 🙂
We will win.
Not sure how many, but high scoring.
I will go as far as say 5 – 0.
A_n_E — James Lawton (who routinely criticizes Wenger and Arsenal) had the same sentiments as Samuel.
I don’t always agree with Samuel but he’s a far more serious, thoughtful pundit than the idiots who write for the Sun and Mail, or the jokers who pontificate on skysports.
Perssistent sod, I’ll say that for him.
Think you might be right about the five ‘holic.
R U superstitious on a rare occasion across the pond when . when the gooner march is in fulls swing we he spurs were relegated to tape delay. the fun is I have stopped watching arsenal games cos you seem to score just when I switch you on.. anyway to cut a long story short I finally gave up listening radio london at the third goal.. I honed in on fox sprts world (us) on the 90th minute of yes U guesses it.. Bugger was it me again!