I’ve got a thumping headache right now so I’ve got no choice but to keep today’s match preview short.
Here goes:
- Sol Campbell has officially signed and will wear #31. He won’t be featuring against Bolton though.
- Cesc Fabregas will be back in the side, Gael Clichy at least in the squad while Aaron Ramsey is unlikely to be fit and Denilson is definitely out. The midfield absentees means the only real option is to play Fabregas with Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby and it will be interesting to see what roles they take on, particularly who gets the “Alex Song” position.
- The back five should be the same as against Everton while Eduardo, Andrey Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky should make up the front three.
- We really should win today and with Chelsea and Manchester United both posting impressive results we need to get the three points. Psychologically, a win today will make Wednesday’s rematch at home all the easier as well.
Simple as that really - I’m off to grab some Panadol.
Come on ARSENAL!
Have your say on Arsenal v Bolton by leaving a comment.
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
arsenal with that midfield should easilly destroy bolton.fab,diaby.rosicky,nasry.whoe needs dm if u have that.
..
Who needs DM if u have that ???? Urm….. Arsenal do… particulalry when you have that type of attacking midfield…. need somebody to put the effort in to boss the opposition….. how many times have we seen mediocre teams break us up in the midfield and prevent us from playing.
Fab will get the “Song position”
cultered left foot says nasri out after pulling muscle in training yesterday ffs
Diaby will play in the Song position. He’s played there before but he makes me nervous because he’s prone to the odd poor defensive decisions.
The side still looks good on paper and easily capable of dispatching Bolton. Don’t underestimate Bolton though because they’ve been a bogey team over the last 5 years but mainly at Bolton.
I still can’t believe AW couldn’t find a striker worthy of signing. Bentner is only average and won’t be the saviour up front that everyone thinks he’ll be.
Isn’t a bit late in the evening for Panadol Andy? An early start perhaps??
My prediction is 4-0 to the gooners. One for fab,one for sharva and a brace for eduardo
Nasri should play in Song’s role
sometimes when he is without the ball you will think he is a DM and Diaby he is more attack minded than Nasri he can not take duties more than attacking in that pienaar goal only nasri was running after him
The proper candidate is Francis Coquelin the boy works like an ox in the midfield.
nasri for dm?????no thank you,no strength,no hustle and iv never seen him slide tackle once since his arrival so,for me dats a definate no way jose
abou diaby will play the defensive role.
almunia
sagna gallas vermaelen clichy/traore
diaby
fabregas ramsey
nasri eduardo
arshavin
i had it with arshavin (short) playing as a striker!!!!! wenger sayd he will buy someone if bendtner doesn’t recover until friday. he is still injured and it is sunday!!!!!!!!!
whats with the news on lacina traore? please not him…he is too young.
c.cole, saha, zamora, j.baptista!!!! maybe zarate…but he is a bit short too. but would be still a good signing.
zamora is injured…sorry i didnt know….xD
craig eastmond to play the def role….goodluck to the lad,i hav faith in him
EASTMOND IT IS…
our squad is so thin at the moment…look at our subs
fabianski, vela, clichy, silverste, merida, coquelin, JET
Eastmond in for Nasri. Good luck to him.
I knew he’d get some time after his substitute performance a couple of games ago, but never though he’d start so soon!
Good luck to him.
……..sheer quality……..fabregas is just a legend
dirty bolton pigs we shud hav two pens,taylor shud off….nice to see rosicky gettin stuck in…lets hav more of it boys
not really convincing, fabulous goal nonetheless, quite a physical play, much up and down, but they need a second goal, otherwise …., Bolton is quite near a level and then…… it will be difficult, much confusion in the game,
We’ve got Cesc Fabregas!
Traore needs to step it up. He had a woeful first period.
get in merida ya little beauty
Spain double-up!
I would say it was hard work, Bolton had many good chances which they didn’t take, but in the end deserved
quality win away from home, eastman and merida were good fabs and rosicky aswell. diaby did very well later on in the more defensive role. traore had a bit of a shocker in his defensive duties, but his attacking skills are certainly an asset.
Again it was not the best performance but It doesn’t matter, we won and that’s all, good goals, now at the emirates!! I’m looking forward for it!
fabregas and vermaelen different class…
great game by the lads..get in!!
couldn’t have expected too many shots on target seeing how that talentless bolton side approached the game..we took our chances and that’s the best part
and yeah that first goal was pure “only-at-arsenal”..i’ll be watching it more than once!!
bring on bolton (again)
shambo, ref yesterdays comment, are you saying i aught to come out!!
bolton tried to get physical but that didnt work,some good stuff from the lads and a great 3pts, once again capt fantastic led by example with a terrific goal.
Boys how did the game go. I ave been working 2day and have viewed no football at all. How solid was the middle defensive role, who took that position.
Shambo im so appy de ammers somehow fashioned a point out of villa. Greenie was the don. Franco Zola said he thought we could have stole it at the end. Were on your trail now Gooners and some players are coming back. Where like a steam train, smoaking so you better get off the tracks or will role right over you. sorry……just finished my dinner and ive had far too much Merlot Veneto.
When is Jay Emmaneul “Thomas” going to get a chance Arsene. E would twine the middle of midfield.
@ ice – The game was interesting. We didn’t dominate Bolton – they actually had quite a number of chances – but it had a shootout sort of feel to it and we made more. Almunia had a good game while at the other end Fabregas was quality and we deserved to win.
@Andrew ta mate, do you think you can do it then, win the league that is……will it be a major disappointment if you dont.
hey ice,
yeah ur boys played very wel today and a win wouldnt hav flattered you…..we put in the type of shift you need to away to bolton if you want to win a league.almunia did perform when called upon
cesc and vermaelen were the stars for me,id even say it was a masterclass from our captain,covered every blade of grass,hustled and shook steinson with a cracking tackle at the start of the second half…aswel as providing his usual game.is there anything the guy cant do?wot a leader and he laid down a marker today that we wernt going to be outfought and this in turn inspired gallas,verm and rosicky who didnt shy away from the physical stuff…..rosickys tackle set up our first and vermaelens cruncher in our box set up the counter for our second,also did you notice rosickys zero tolerence approach after diaby had been tripped by klasnic and he flattened klasnic????that and the 2 goals got me off my seat!!love seein that…rowin in for each other
diaby was much better when moved DM,he looked tired at times before that i felt…eastmond acquitted himself very wel i thought altho u cud see his nerves at time he impressed with his decision making
merida didnt look like a guy who wants away when he celebrated his goal in front of the fans,and the boss hasnt given up on him yet either
now for the ‘negativity’ or reality dependin on your disposition; eduardo isnt a central striker and was isolated today against the cahill/knight combo,they were too strong for him and he fed off scraps….we need muscle to compliment him/rvp/arsha,etc, a big target man would open up so many other avenues of attack for us and even draw these big centre halves away from our playmakers
happy out toni tho….wel done boys!!
Hey Shambo you’re happy! Good to see it!
ha ha ha,i think iv misrepresented myself at times in ere andy,im not that negative,im nearly always happy mate,shur im irish!!!
on a serious note tho guys,that was a gutsy TEAM performance and without song,deni,nasri,rvp,ramsey,nic,eboue,etc…..i dont care if we dont actually win the league this season now because you can see the desire and team ethic is there now and the future will be great if we can keep these fellas together…
It was gutsy. Players like Fabregas, Rosicky, Arshavin – they’re little but they’ve got balls. Nasri and Ramsey are the same even though they didn’t play. There’s a toughness to most of the players that are in the squad that wasn’t evident a season or two ago.
hi all, it nice to see the boys putting a foot in but that job would be done better by a bigger man. The smaller players will only pick up injuries because of it.