Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Can Arsenal get a win against Bolton tomorrow?  The answer of course should be a resounding yes and it is the most likely outcome.  But the way this season has gone so far and the morale sapping time the club has endured make anything possible.

The win against Shrewsbury was pleasing, with Oxlade-Chamberlain and others showing their potential.  But beating Shrewsbury Town isn’t really what we’re here for.

A lot of fans are calling for AOC to be drafted straight into the first choice line up now and I’m sure he’s going to get games this season.  But let’s not forget the story of Jack Wilshere who clearly played too often last season and now we’re waiting on his return to fitness.

Kevin Davies and Tuncay Sanli will be the biggest threats to deal with, Ivan Klasnic is out on suspension after headbutting a Norwich player.

So who will play tomorrow?

For most of last season this is the point where we would dive straight into a debate about Almunia, Szczesny and transfer speculation.  Later adding Lehman to the debate.

At least we have this spot sorted now.  Wojciech Szczesny still has stuff to learn, particularly about distribution, but he is now the first name on the team sheet without hesitation.

Who is definitely out?  Vermaelen, Squillaci, Diaby, Benayoun, Rosicky and Wilshere are not fit.  So Arsene Wenger’s options are still limited.  Plenty of jokes mid-week about Yossi Benayoun’s true Arsenal style start – he scores his first goal, he’s out injured!  But I don’t think we really expected him to start every game.

The debate really is the same as last week: who will play either side of Robin Van Persie; and who is our first choice left back?

Santos didn’t have a dream debut last week, playing a Blackburn player onside before a goal, but I can’t believe he’s here as back up.  I’m guessing that he starts.

I also believe Gervinho will start, so it comes back to Walcott or Arshavin?  Last week Arsene Wenger opted for Arshavin and I think he will do again, though its a bit if a guess really.

Walcott is making more noise these days about playing a more central role. But he won’t get in against RVP.  Unless Arsene Wenger is about to tinker with formation, that leaves him out wide.  Just hope he doesn’t get his head in the same place as Bendtner did.

Anyway, unless Arsenal are holding something back on injuries, and we’ve not heard much about Rosicky or Sagna, I guess we’ll see a team like this:

_______ Szczesny _______
Sagna _ Merte _ Kos _ Santos
________ Song _________
___ Arteta ___ Ramsey ___
Arshavin __ RVP __ Gervinho

What do you think?

Arsenal 3:1 Shrewsbury

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Arsenal B 3:1 Shrewsbury
Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Benayoun the scorers.
First starts for Park & Oxlade-Chamberlain.
First appearances for Chuks Aneke, Oguzhan Ozyakup & Ryo Miyaichi.

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Every game counts.  Well of course they always did, but you know what I mean.  The bad start, being the media’s fashionable target, the fact that Man City have joined the top table.

Anyways, trips to places like Blackburn matter just as much as anywhere else, even when they are rooted to the bottom of the league.

Steve Keen is under pressure from the media and Blackburn fans after a weak start to the season:

Premier League:
Wolves (h) – lost 2:1
Aston Villa (a) – lost 3:1
Everton (h) – lost 1:0
Fulham (a) – drew 1:1

Cup:
Sheffield Weds (h) – won 3:1

Steve Keen and club captain Chris Samba have appealed to fans to show unity and support the team, but some are planning a demonstration before the game tomorrow.  Blackburn are hoping to have Junior Hoilett and Chris Samba back from injury tomorrow but could be without David Dunn, Ryan Nelson and Morten Gamst Pedersen.

So what about the Arsenal?

Definitely out of course are Vermaelen, Diaby, Squillaci and Rosicky.  Ramsey is doubtful too, leaving Arsene Wenger with the same midfield dilemma as the Dortmund game.  Back from suspension of course are Song, Gervinho and Jenkinson.

So will we see the team from Tuesday night run out again tomorrow lunchtime?  Without Ramsey and Rosicky, Wenger has to chose between attack: Arteta, Song and Benayoun; or defend: Arteta, Song and Frimpong.  I’ve given up suggesting that Arshavin could be tried in the middle as it never seems to happen.  I guess there has to be a question about how frequently thirty-one year-old Benayoun starts as well.

Blackburn is exactly the sort of team we have tripped up against in the past and we are still surely in grinding recovery mode.  So my hunch is that Frimpong will start.

The other selection issue that is getting aired around the blogs is whether Walcott would benefit from a bit of obvious competition for his place.  Arsenal now have a wealth of wide options with Arshavin, Gervinho, Miyaichi, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Park.  Chamberlain has been doing brilliantly for the England under-21s and will surely play in the cup game against Shrewsbury next week, but could he get a start this weekend?

I’m guessing not.  Walcott hasn’t been that impressive, but he has scored three of our seven goals this season and got some assists too.

When does Santos start?  Wenger hasn’t said a lot about him and he’s only come on a sub so far.  It’s a bit hard to know what’s going on there.  Is the Brazilian with 20 caps just there to cover Gibbs?

Anyway, with no great wisdom or even guesswork to impart over the leftback, I think were going to see little change from Tuesday:

_________ Szczesny ________
Sagna __ Merte __ Kos __ Gibbs
_____ Song _ Frimpong _____
_________ Arteta __________
Walcott _ Van Persie _ Gervinho

What do you think?

The two clubs haven’t played in the same division since 1983, so there is no recent history to consider and when the Swansea team is announced there could be a few shouts of “whooooo?”.

We’ve seen Wayne Routledge, Leroy Lita and Scott Sinclair before but there’s not a lot of Premier League experience in the Swansea squad and they’ve got three regular’s from last season out at the moment.

They haven’t got off to the best of starts, but heh, who are we to criticize?

Swansea in the Premier League:
A Man City – lost 4:0
H Bolton – drew 0:0
H Sunderland – drew 0:0

They have already been knocked out of the Carling Cup, by Arsenal’ next opponents Shrewsbury Town, losing 3:1.

Should be a doddle shouldn’t it? But how many times….  Let’s hope this isn’t another Hull City experience.  After the Old Trafford game and the flurry of new players, tomorrow is effectively a relaunch of our league campaign.

So who will play for Arsenal?

Well start with the easier list of who won’t play.

Suspended – Gervinho, Song & Jenkinson.
Injured – Vermaelen, Squillaci, Wilshere, Diaby.

Sagna returned to action during the week with ninety minutes for France. Walcott missed the second international but is apparently fit to play now.  Gibbs is back training, but probably isn’t ready yet.  Question is though, where does the arrival of Andre Santos leave Gibbs anyway?

Normally I would speculate that with newly promoted opponents and a tough Champions League fixture days away, some key players would be rested.  But these are not normal times.  We’ve dropped eight points in our first three games, conceded ten and scored two and confidence needs to be restored.  So I’m expecting the strongest possible side, even though most will need to play twice in five days.

This is my guess:

________ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Merte _ Kos _ Santos
_______ Frimpong _______
____ Ramsey _ Arteta ____
Walcott __ RVP __ Arshavin

What do you think?

Benayoun, Miyaichi, Park, Arteta, Mertesaker and Santos  are will be keen to make their first appearance for Arsenal.  With six games in the next three weeks, including a Cup game against Shrewsbury Town, the chances are that all of them will have done so by the end of the month.  But who will we see on Saturday?

I think that there are two definite debut starts and a possible third.

With Vermaelen out, Mertesaker has to start.  Injuries allowing, I expect Arsene Wenger to rely on two from Koscielny, Mertesacker and Vermaelen through the season. So with the Belgium recovering from surgery, Mertesaker is bound to start.

The second definite debut is Arteta.  With no Wilshere or Song, the Spaniard has to play.

For the others it’s less certain. For those in the attacking half of the team it depends on the condition of Walcott and Arshavin on their return from national squads. I can’t see Wenger making wholesale change just for the sake of it.

Which just leaves – Gibbs or Santos?  My hunch, because he is coming back from injury and because I’m not sure he’s ready yet, is that Gibbs will miss out and we will see three new Gunners on Saturday.

If Santos does play I hope we’re going to make a bit more noise than usual. Arsenal v Swansea at the Emirates could seem a bit quiet after playing in Turkey.

So that’s the window closed and good riddance to it.  One or two seem to be missing it already with comments about what we should do in January.  But now that job is done and it’s time to concentrate on how our ‘new’ squad will be turning things around on the pitch.

Yesterday we had a look at how well Arsenal did in the transfer dealings and how the new team is likely to line-up on the pitch.

Now though we have the international window and we must keep ourselves busy for a week.  For the club this it actually good news with several players’ fitness to work on and some hard thinking about how the new players will fit in.

Then it’s six games in three weeks for the rest of the month.  Save for one, these are not against the toughest opponents.  But, given the disastrous start to the season, our reshaped squad has something to prove.  If we don’t win the all, or nearly all, of the following the pressure will build up again.

PL Swansea (a)
CL Dortmund (a)
PL Blackburn (a)
CC Shrewsbury (h)
PL Bolton (h)
CL Olympiacos (h)

On past form the two Champions League games should be our hardest and easiest fixtures of the group stage.

But before that, sixteen Arsenal players must safely negotiate the International fixtures.

Szczesny – Poland – two friendlies
Sagna & Koscielny – France – two Euro Qualifiers
Mertesacker -Germany – one Euro Qualifier & one friendly
Vermaelen – Belguim – one Euro Qualifier & one friendly
Song – Cameroon – one Africa Cup Qualifier
Ramsey – Wales – two Euro Qualifiers
Arshavin – Russia – two Euro Qualifiers
Walcott – England – two Euro Qualifiers
Van Persie – Netherlands – two Euro Qualifiers
Rosicky – Czech Rep – one Euro Qualifier & one friendly
Gervinho – Ivory Coast – one Africa Cup Qualifier
Park – South Korea – two games
Benayoun – Isreal – two Euro Qualifiers
Djourou – Switzerland – one Euro Qualifier

Oxlade-Chamberlain played last night in the England under 21 game, there is another next Monday.

Good luck to all and hopefully no injuries!