Arsenal ready for Lazio

Adebayor should be back for the game against Lazio

Update: The Arsenal squad for the Amsterdam Tournament has been named. You can find it here. Eduardo has been included but to my knowledge he won’t be playing the first game against Lazio but should feature against Ajax.

Amsterdam Tournament set to begin

Arsenal take on Italian side Lazio tonight in the first match of the Amsterdam Tournament. Arsene Wenger’s side won the tournament the last time it competed back in 2005 and will be looking to add a second pre-season trophy after already winning the Emirates Cup last weekend. Perhaps more importantly, with the start of the Premiership season just under two weeks away, Wenger will want to ensure his side puts in some good performances in their two games against Lazio and the Dutch hosts, Ajax.

There’s been little in the way of a match preview from Arsenal.com and after Wenger gave English youngster Kieran Gibbs a start against Inter Milan, it would be ridiculous to predict a starting line-up. Eduardo da Silva will still be unavailable for the match as he appeals against his previously unsuccessful bid for a work permit. Wenger previously stated that Eduardo would be allowed to play the tournament because it is being hosted outside of the UK, but he will more likely feature against Ajax. Emmanuel Adebayor and Tomas Rosicky should both be returning from injury so I would expect both of them to start as well.

Fabianski wants to be Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeperHow will Arsenal line up?

To be perfectly honest I don’t know too much about Lazio, but a quick look at their current squad suggests to me that they are not the team they once were. The only player of real note is ex-Italian international Simone Inzaghi and even he is getting on a bit. Arsenal’s young team will surely be up for the game and I am expecting nothing less than a win to get the tournament off to a perfect start. It will be interesting to see whether Wenger continues using Alexander Hleb in behind the striker where he performed so admirably against PSG and Inter Milan on the weekend. It will also be interesting to see whether Emmanuel Eboue continues to play as an attacking winger on the right. Personally, I hope he does both. I also hope he gives Lukasz Fabianski a start in goals for the sole reason that I’m yet to see him play yet. He definitely seems like he wants the chance to prove that he will be Arsenal’s future number one after some tasty comments made earlier this week:

“I know that Lehmann is in a better position than me but it doesn’t worry me at all. I just want to focus on hard work and I know that the results will come. I know that I will have my chances. I just need to prove that I am good enough.”

Good for him. I will be posting a match analysis after the game and I look forward to hearing your opinions about what went well and what didn’t. And if you want to watch the game and don’t have pay TV then I encourage you to sign up for Arsenal TV, an excellent service which streams all of the club’s pre-season matches live as well as providing interviews and the like to keep you busy between games. And no, I’m not being paid to say that, I just think it is very, very good.

Finally, it might be worth noting that I have just introduced a Fixtures page on the blog. It includes match reports for the games that Arsenal have already played and the dates and fixtures of all matches they are yet to play. If you haven’t already seen Arsenal’s fixtures for next season then get in there and check it out. Who knows, you might enjoy yourself.

Have your say on Arsenal’s upcoming match against Lazio by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. I’m reaaly happy with the lineup against Inter and PSG. that Hleb and Eboe got their natural places and they showed that they are the vital instrument this season to challenge for title. I also really surprised with the performance of Gibbs who as to me will be the next Pires.

    What I guss a problem is centeral defences height. As we saw last season and the game agaist inter, William Gallas and Toure are not good enough in iar.

    in summary, our right side is untachable this season but let side has still lacks windiness and the centeral defence and the keeper has some problems.

  2. “What I guess a problem is central defence’s height.”

    What about Senderos? He looked mighty impressive against PSG; sharp and quicker than ever. He might yet be the answer if it is height that we lack.

  3. arsenal are now on the right track and as an arsenal die hard am looking forward for arsenals best season this having being proved by the 2 1 defeat of inter Milan also the words by prospective captain William gallas

  4. I think the Amsterdam tournament will be a good test for our fitness levels and it will give our manager a picture of first eleven if he has not yet made up his mind.
    It will as well give him the last chance to reinforce if necessary. Thanks
    Arsenal champions this coming season: Suprise

  5. SF – He may still be able to play, the hearing would be in London and not Amsterdam, so I assume he doesn’t have to turn up if he is with the team. I just don’t know how these things work.

    Is Ade in a wind tunnel for the picture?

  6. I think the forming we used against Inter Milan was outstanding esp in the midfield and forward, I hope AW test that again, definitely will have a fantastic output at the end of the match.

  7. am predicting a goal by ade (header), a goal from ebuoe,a classic one from RVP and one from walcott 🙂 anyone wanna bet on that?

  8. I’ll bet against it 🙂 I can’t see us bagging four tomorrow. And even if we did, what are the chances of that lot all scoring? Tell you what, if it happens I’ll buy you a beer sometime.

  9. ”Arsenal do play the best football in the premiership.”
    How much can we read into comparisons between the results of Arsenal and Man Utd against Inter Milan this week?
    I think anyone who watched the two games will agree that Arsenal played the better football by far,Offering Inter barely any of the ball and looking organised and solid in defence.
    Admittedly,Inter Milan raised their game against United,but I still feel these two results demonstrate that Arsenal will certainly compete this season.

  10. SF,For Da Silva doesnt go through?Will that mean he will have to go back to D.Zagreb!
    I’m not happy.

  11. SF, I’m thinking about it. I have a very shitty connection now. So I’ll have to improve that first. I can easily get a 2mbps connection. Will that do?

    Joshua,
    The work permit rule says a player should be granted wp if they feel he can contribute well/improve standards of the team. And if Anderson can get one why can’t Dudu. I don’t have any doubts about his wp. He’ll get thru the appeal.

  12. It looks like Arsene might turn to Kanoute if the Eduardo deal falls through. Im even more unhappy!

  13. hello people, am here in sunny dubai, getting sun burnt.

    anyways whats with the work permit, how can they deny him, when u get illegal immirgants getting permits for jokes.

    anderson has played less then eduardo, but the thing is brazilian footballers can get it easily….

    what about corluka man city bought him, how comes he aint having troubles

  14. from arsenal.com… AFC can confirm that this afternoon striker Eduardo was granted his work permit.

  15. Dont worry about Lazio, usually they are just a Mid-table team in the Serie A. They can beat the little teams, but usually cant compete with the bigger names. Arsenal shouldnt have trouble with Lazio, because well… they suck.

  16. We did indeed. Not quite the polished performance like against PSG and Inter Milan but the team was far less experienced. A good result and good to see Bendtner and Eduardo get the goals.

  17. Lazio came third last season! They did better than us! Don’t just call them a mid table team. Ok, if AC didn’t have a points reduction they would have came fourth and did as well as us.

    Anyone else bloody frightened that we’ve had like no clean sheets this summer? This close to the start the fact that our second-string defence is rub.

  18. Samuel: I woulndt read too much into the concession of some goals this pre-season. The few goals we have conceded have ben pretty soft. Chelsea is conceding, Man U has only played one real team this summer, and got smoked(Inter). Tottenham might as well not put someone in goal they are conceding so much, and I have to say i havent paid attention to L’pool. While I would prefer to not ever concede a goal, we are in pre-season and this is the time to concede them if we have to. Also, for what is worth, we really havent started with our proper 11(whoever that might be). Anyway, I agree that we have conceeded goals but I am not too concerned by it. I think we have a great back 4, and I expect us to have a great defensive record this year. Key is defending as a team…

  19. I’m a little concerned about conceding from a corner AGAIN. Pre-season or not, this is a habit that popped up all to often last season and it’s disappointing to see it happen again. However, it’s not the end of the world.

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