Who Would Wenger Take From Manchester United’s Team? The Final Word

The story so far: A Man Utd site,”Absolutely United” published its thoughts on which Arsenal players would make it in the current Man Utd team. Not surprisingly very few Arsenal players were selected.

Not to be outdone "Arsenal Analysis" replied with its own combined 11. Not surprisingly very few Man Utd players made the list.

Back came the two sites with even more analysis and opinion on the matter. In between, a lot of heated opinions were exchanged between the two sets of supporters on comments left on both sites.

Following our latest reply to Absolutely United’s I Spy he regrouped and came out shooting from the hip.

This is we hope a final reply!

By Eros, Arsenal Analysis resident season ticket holder at the Emirates (North Upper Stand Row Q)

I spy,

Glad to see I gave you some food for thought which, as you admitted, required some of your time in getting back to me.

You insist on questioning my mental health which is I suppose your way of showing some kind of respect. So as you would say ‘respect’

Football is a game of opinions and everyone’s opinions are correct to himself, so as I am sure you know by now we will never find enough common ground to come to a final decision.

That’s why after today we should agree to disagree on some of the pending matters.

Wes Brown for the combined 11. Are you serious?

I can not understand how you can keep a straight face arguing that Wes Brown is worthy of a spot in this team.

You admit that he is not a natural wing back. I will also add that his contribution going forward is almost non existent.

He is also not quick enough and in my opinion can be exposed against high quality wingers.

You also say that you like Sagna as a player and you are impressed by how quickly he adapted to the English game but you seem stuck on the fact he has only played a handful of games (something I pointed out originally anyway).

Granted Sagna did not have the best of games against Sunderland but his overall performances until now have been excellent.

It is obvious that Wes Brown should not have a place in the combined Arsenal/Man Utd squad. Sagna and Eboue should be left alone to fight it out for a place in the starting line up.

Transfer flops: Fergie leads the way!

You seem to like mentioning Francis Jeffers and what a big success he was in North London and I Iet you get away with until know, but no more.

Yes Jeffers was an 8m pound flop but I wonder how much Veron, Cleberson, Djemba-Djemba and Taibi all cost.

Surely one argument that you cannot win is the transfer market success Arsene Wenger enjoyed over the years. Your net outlay on transfers this year is close to 50m whereas ours is a positive –yes positive- 8m!

Clichy is more skilful than Evra

As for the position on the opposite side of the pitch you say that Clichy has nothing that Evra has not. I’m afraid you are wrong again! Apart from a superior level of skill and technique, Clichy has time on his side.

He is only 22 and has a long career in front of him. I am not saying that Evra is old – 27? – but if we are to use your argument that right now they are virtually of equal quality then surely Clichy should get the nod because of his unlimited potential.

Ferdinand is not better than Toure

I still do not consider Ferdinand to be better than Toure, for the reasons that I pointed out in my previous post. Basically what you are trying to say is that Ferdinand looks good next to a world class player like Vidic and I agree with you.

You rightly point out that Campbell had the same effect on Rio because he used to do all the dirty work for him.

As for the goal conceded by Arsenal against Sunderland I don’t think that Toure did anything wrong, it was the full backs that in my opinion were found napping for both goals.

As Sagna was walking back to his position Toure was forced to go out the right to cover which left Jones at the back stick against Clichy, not a real contest now is it?

It’s criminal to compare Rio and Toure in terms of concentration and an insult to use the media card on me for any mistake that is picked up from TV pundits. I do have opinions of my own and as I am sure you can read I am not shy about expressing them!

Robin Van Persie’s special quality

I know we agreed to disagree about RVP and Rooney, however I want to point out a quality that makes RVP special. His form is negatively correlated to the form of the rest of the team.

When everyone else is flying Van Persie usually has a quiet game almost as if he is saving energy for more important periods of the season.

If you look at the recent results you will see Van Persie does not usually score when the team wins comfortably, however when the team needs a goal you can bet that more often than not RVP is going to come up with the goods, like he did twice this week.

Van Persie is going to score the important goals, the goals that will lift the whole of the team when they are struggling. I’m not sure Rooney has that killer instinct in him.

Glad to see you dropped the Scholes vs Cesc debate so I will take that as a victory for us Gooners! It was not a real contest anyway.

Finally you point out that some of your squad players were involved in Saturday’s game and from what I read Anderson and Pique especially never put a foot wrong.

All I would say is Wigan at home is not the most testing of games to judge your ability on.

Try and throw them in at the deep like Wenger was forced to 3 years ago when a 16 year old Cesc and a 19 year old Flamini held Lampard, Makelele and Essien to a goalless draw at the Bridge.

Can’t wait until November the 3rd when I am sure we will cross swords again.

Wonder who will have the bragging rights then?



United Versus Arsenal: The Battle Intensifies

An open letter to Manchester United fans

Who Would Wenger Take From Manchester United’s Team?

An Open Letter To Arsenal Fans

Who Would Fergie Take From Arsenal’s First Team?

Who Would Wenger Take From Manchester United’s Team?

By Eros, Arsenal Analysis resident season ticket holder at the Emirates (North Upper Stand Row Q)

Some friends forwarded me a link to a Man United website that had a post comparing the two teams. After reading it I am convinced that all football fans are mentally unstable…. myself included!

Anyway here is my assessment of a player by player comparison of the two sides and my starting eleven of a combined Arsenal / Man Utd team.

Goalkeeper

Surprisingly both teams have goalkeeping problems. Jens is prone to moments of madness and after the start of the season he had I simply cannot make a case for him to be included in this team.

Almunia has been in good form but his errors during the Spurs game have made me lose some faith. I expect him to show more consistency with more games.

Van De Sar was beginning to show his age last season but so far has been consistent.

Selection : Has to be Van Der Sar

Right Back

Eboue is not our starting right back any more and Sagna has only a few League games under his belt so he is relatively untested yet. He has however shown that he is a natural and tenacious defender and also technically gifted like all Wenger’s players.

Justin Hoyte is good but not that good. The Neviller would have won this one by default but since he is not playing due to a long term injury with uncertainties about maintaining his standards when he returns Sagna gets the nod.

Selection: Bakary Sagna, I love lasagne!

Centre Back

Ask any Arsenal fan if they would change Kolo for any centre back in the world and I guarantee that very few would.

He is comfortable on the ball, links the defence with the midfield effortlessly and has pace to burn. I don’t care if Rio cost £30m he doesn’t get a look in, in this team.

Selection: Kolo Toure; the African Emperor

Centre Back

Gallas has not yet worked out how to make his partnership with Toure work, as they are both very similar players. Vidic is one of only a few United players that I would have no real problem in picking for my team.

He is an old school no nonsense defender and great in the air at both ends of the pitch. He is the type of player that could propel Arsenal to the title.

Selection: Nemanja Vidić

Left Back

The French national coach does not agree with me as Evra is in the French national squad and Clichy has not yet been called up. My feelings for Domenech can be summarised in two words; but 1970’s Gooner is too old to contemplate printing any swearing on this blog!

Anyway Clichy is fantastic going forward, has tremendous fitness levels and improving with every game on his defensive positioning. In my book he is the best in the league.

Selection: Gael Clichy; better than Ashley Cole

Left Midfield

Giggs and Nani are too old and young respectively; Rosicky started the season very well and scored some important goals for us.

His all round play especially his tracking back has vastly improved. He has finally settled well in his position on the left and if he manages to stay fit then he is in for a very exciting season.

Hleb is a "new" player this season with his ball skills and play making unmatched by the other players mentioned here for this position. But he is really more of a playmaker than a winger and his goal scoring ability is lacking.

Selection: Czechmate. Rosicky gets this hands down

Central Midfield:

I think central midfield are the two positions that will be most furiously debated especially since United have spent obscene amounts of money while Arsene spent the huge, for his standards, amount of £2m on Diarra!

No contest between Gilberto and Carrick as the Brazilian is in a whole different league in my humble opinion. Hargreaves is a good player, it’s a shame he’s gone to United but is he as good as Gilberto? I think not.

Gilberto has a tremendous sense of positioning, the ability to read the game exceptionally well and anticipates dangerous situations well before the begin to develop.

This is particularly useful when trying to prevent the opposition teams from counter attacking effectively.

He is the corner stone of the Arsenal way of playing as he frees everybody around him to go forward, especially the full backs.

This is essential for Arsenal as the wide midfield players tend to come in rather than hag the wings and it is the full backs that provide a lot of the width in this team.

Flamini has put in some fantastic performances for Arsenal culminating in his best so far in the demolition of Sevilla; but I would still put him behind Gilberto.

Selection: Gilberto Silva; the Brazilian samba king

Central Midfield

I have the utmost respect for Scholes but at 32 he is not exactly in his prime. He had a fantastic season last year but even so the young Spaniard maestro just had to be in the team.

There is very little difference between the two players, Scholes used to get more goals than Cesc but not any more and the Spaniard has the edge in spotting and making a killer pass. He is also the better tackler of the two.

For a comprehensive qualitative and statistical analysis of the two players check out the excellent post: “Fabregas is a more effective player than Scholes” by 1970’s Gooner.

There are signs this year that finally Cesc has found his scoring boots.

If he manages to get around 15 league goals that will go along way in relieving the pressure from the strikers and also keeping Arsenal in the title frame.

Selection: Cesc Fabregas. The best midfielder in the world. Did you really expect me to go with anyone else?

Right Midfield

I have been trying to find an angle not to include Ronaldo in the team however it’s impossible. Hleb would run him close but he has the strengths and weaknesses mentioned above.

Eboue on the other hand has not played in this position for long and he has not shown yet that he can put in consistent performances of high quality.

I hate to say it but I would pay good money to go and watch Ronaldo play, the best right midfielder in the world.

Selection: Christiano Ronaldo

Front Striker

Adebayor is largely unchallenged as one of the two forwards as Saha is always injured and Rooney and Tevez are similar players who are essentially fighting for the same position, that of a support striker not as front strikers.

So Adebayor’s only real competition is em …. Bendtner? Adebayor is a transformed player this season with improved ball control, distribution and especially finishing.

Saha is just as good but considering he is unreliable due to being injury prone I would choose Adebayor in my team.

Selection: Emmanuel Adebayor; the African lion

Front (Support) Striker

This is a race between Van Persie, Tevez and Rooney. How do you work this one out?

Let’s just start by saying that Rooney is a very good player. But – and this should not be a surprise to United fans – he is not as good as the media make out he is. He is still a great talent but he has not developed as we all thought he would.

That might be because of frequent injuries or simply because he lost his focus and needs to find his way again. It might be however that this is as good as he is ever going to get, which is still very good.

He nevertheless has tremendous pace and extreme power, is technically very good and that’s why I am baffled sometimes by the long spells he goes with out scoring.

Tevez has had a slow start to his United career but that is mainly the midfield’s fault as in the games I have watched the distribution going forward was abysmal.

He has the potential to be a great player; however I’m not sure how he and Rooney will get on as a pairing.

Finally, Robin Van Persie.

I was at Highbury when he got himself sent off against Southampton, with that silly challenge, I was sitting on the North Bank and for the first time I saw Wenger turn on one of his players in public.

I thought then he was gone. He got his head down however and improved his discipline and temperament on the pitch.

He scores memorable goals like the one against Southampton at Highbury, the volley against Charlton at the Valley last year and the goal against Inter in the Emirates Cup.

He also scores important goals like the one he got at the Emirates against United.

He has a hammer of left foot shot, which if it connects clean is very difficult to stop. Out of the three he is probably the most natural finisher.

Selection: I will go for Robin Van Persie; the new Bergkamp. But Tevez runs him close.

Bench

On the Arsenal bench you can usually find, Diaby, Denilson, Eduardo, Bendtner, Walcott, Eboue, Hoyte, Diarra, Gilberto/Flamini and Senderos.

These go up against Eagles, Fletcher, O’shea, Brown Sylvester, Park, Carrick, Nani and Anderson.

If it wasn’t for the last three then I’d say that Arsenal have the much better bench, hands down no argument. They did after all cost £60m!

But even so we still have the better bench! Eagles, Fletcher, O’shea, Sylvester, Park and Brown would not get anywhere near our squad.


Arsenal/Man Utd combined eleven

Van De Sar

Sagna Toure Vidic Clichy

Ronaldo Fabregas Gilberto Rosicky

Adebayor Van Persie

Substitutes: Lehmann, Gallas, Carrick, Roonie, Tevez,

Going through the two squads it is frightening to see that both teams have the same glaring strengths and weaknesses.

They both need to find goalkeepers they can rely upon and also strikers to compliment their main goal scoring threats.

Wenger’s way is to place his trust in youth, what’s Sir Alex’s excuse?


This is a personal view. What is your opinion? Who would you pick from Man Utd to play for Arsenal?


“Fabregas is a more effective player than Scholes”

Last night’s performance means that Arsenal will win trophies this year

Arsenal battling with Manchester United to become the richest club

Who Would Fergie Take From Arsenal’s First Team?

Fabregas, Clichy and Gilberto shine as Arsenal click into gear to thump Spurs. L'Equipe: Gallas trains lightly

By Eros, Arsenal Analysis resident season ticket holder at the Emirates (North Upper Stand Row Q)

I know it’s wrong as it’s too early but I am getting very excited by the prospect of what this team can achieve THIS year. Some passages of play against Portsmouth were a joy to watch.

When our forwards begin to get it together even more, then we are due a very big score soon, very soon. Spurs beware.

First the team ratings vs. Portsmouth

Manuel Almunia

He was not tested very often but commanded his area well, hugely improved from the player that played against Man U a couple of seasons ago, but still needs to improve his handling.

Although 1970’s Gooner does not agree with me, I am not convinced he is number one material. He is a very competent number two - 6

Mathieu Flamini

If you read this blog on a regular basis you will know how highly I think of Mattie! He is the Joker in our pack; he can cover any position requested of him with ease, and was superb once again yesterday.

He kept Taylor very quiet and joined in to help Hleb going forward. A bit naïve at times especially in the second half when we were a man down; he was often the most advanced player on the pitch!! – 7

Kolo Toure

Excellent display by the skipper for the day, throwing his body around to block any attempt on goal.

He changes his style of play when Gallas is not in the team, curbing his attacking instincts so that he makes sure that the defensive line is solid. He is solid– 7

Philippe Senderos

Played well until the sending off dealing comfortably with anything Pompey threw at us. Should have scored with a header at the beginning of the second half. If he had he would more than likely have not been sent off.

A bit harsh on Big Phil but he was out of position (one of his weaknesses) and the challenge was clumsy. He was the last man however and the letter of the law says he had to go. - 5

Gael Clichy

Started the game slow but got up to speed quickly. I have watched almost every home game Clichy has played for us and I am still amazed by his fitness levels.

The guy never stops running. Defenders have to realise that if you dwell on the ball when he is around you are going to concede a goal – is that the third goal we score like that this year? -

Once more he pinched the ball – after losing it on the left wing – passed to Cesc who played in Van Persie for the penalty. Made one mistake all game, being too far forward to stop the cross to Kanu for the goal.

Comfortable defensively and excellent going forward, I doubt we’ll see a better ball all season from the one that he put on Diaby’s head! – 8

Alex Hleb

Started the game brightly and under obvious instructions to play the early ball in to take advantage of the space created by Adebayor and showed he can add this type of play to his arsenal.

As usual his close control was excellent and made defenders look silly! Faded away in the second half which was understandable because of his illness – 6

Gilberto Silva

It’s amazing how much difference he makes to the team, everyone looks calmer, more assured and infinitely better when he is around (especially Cesc next to him).

His positional awareness is second to none and makes it almost impossible for opposition midfielders to find space to play.

Muntari was almost anonymous and he starved Utaka and Kanu of any decent service.

I always think that he speeds our game up significantly making us dangerous on the counter attack.

Also covered very competently as a centre back after the sending off – 8


Cesc Fabregas

No words can describe the young Spaniard maestro, now the complete player!

Excellent movement on and off the ball, sublime distribution.
He is now always looking for the goal.
No one can live with him in this sort of mood.
Man of the match - 9

Tomas Rosicky

One of the best games for the Czech in the Arsenal colours. Valuable outlet in the second half when we were a man down and scored the all-important 3rd goal.

He is starting to settle in his new left wing role and looking more dangerous every game. If only he could stay fit… -7

Robin Van Persie

Different player since he missed the penalty against City, badly needs a goal to boost his confidence. Worked tirelessly but never looked threatening. International break will do him a world of good – 5

Emmanuel Adebayor

Run himself into the ground as usual, and scored a very confident penalty, his link up play however was shocking. If Henry was playing with him he would have had an earful.

Needs to improve his passing and start finding RVP, Cesc, Hleb and Rosicky consistently when they make runs for him. – 6


Gilberto may be missing for the derby!

The bad news for the Spurs game is that Gilberto may not be available as Brazil called him up for more meaningless friendlies in the States, unbelievable, meaning that there are two spots up for grabs for the derby! Centre back and central midfielder.

Gallas is also doubtful. He might be back depending on how well he responds to the treatment he is receiving.

The French sports newspaper L'Equipe is reporting that Gallas did not participate in the training session but had very light training with some floor exercises yesterday, Thursday. It's considered highly unlikely that he will make it for the Italy game on Saturday.

However I have a feeling that Domenech out of spite towards Wenger is going to use a half fit Galas maybe for the Scotland game making him almost certainly unavailable for the next couple of weeks.

The good news for us is that some of our players have not been called up. Flamini, Clichy, Almunia and Denilson are not with their national squads so they have a few days off and should be well rested for the big game next week.

Flamini especially deserves it having played every minute of every game so far this season.

The players that have been called up on international duty are as follows:

Eduardo
Croatia v Estonia, September 8, Andorra v Croatia, September 12

William Gallas, Bacary Sagna
Italy v France, September 8, France v Scotland, September 12

Philippe Senderos
Switzerland v Chilie, September 7, Switzerland v Japan, September 11

Jens Lehmann
Wales v Germany, September 8, Germany v Romania, September 12

Tomas Rosicky
San Marino v Czech Republic, September 8, Czech Republic v Republic of Ireland, September 12

Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue
Gabon v Ivory Coast, September 8

Theo Walcott
Montenegro Under-21 v England Under-21, September 7, Bulgaria v England Under-21, September 11

Abou Diaby
France Under-21's v Wales Under-21, September 7, Malta Under-21's v France Under-21s, September 12

Gilberto Silva
USA Vs Brazil, September 9th (Chicago), Brazil Vs Mexico, September 12th (Boston)

Enjoy your international week, if you can.


Gilberto’s international call up may leave a huge gap in Arsenal’s defence to face Spurs

Walcott and Clichy should be the wide players against Blackburn

By 1970's Gooner

This away fixture at Blackburn is the equivalent of a real fitness test for this young but maturing Arsenal side.

All the football pundits are expecting Arsenal to return to their old ways. Their first away fixture in the North with rain gushing down, a partisan crowd and an opponent prepared to stick it up your nose. This is where titles are won or lost.

And there is some merit in this logic.

Yes they battled hard against a physical Ajax in the Amsterdam tournament but that was a friendly after all;

Yes they came back to beat Fulham at the death; but Fulham surprisingly didn’t park the Fulham Broadway bus in front of them and it was a home game after all, in nice London summerish weather.

Yes they had to man the barricades against an intimidating Sparta and Tomas Repka in Prague which indicated that they are up for the physical type of games; but having watched the game live, Sparta did not produce the quality of football as say Blackburn could pose on Sunday.


So if Wenger’s babes can also pass this test then the football world will really sit up and take notice.

Hell, the players themselves will sit up and take notice!

So if you are Mr Wenger and you realise the enormous up side potential that an away win at Blackburn at this juncture will give to this side how should you approach this game?

I say this because injuries to Eboue, Rosicky, Diaby and Eduardo are likely to deprive the team of key players especially its wings. Without wings no one can fly. And fly is what Arsenal need to do if they are to have a chance of winning this game.

How Wenger decides to replace the loss of Eboue and Rosicky will, more than any other decision he makes for this game, go a long way in deciding its outcome. And there are two reasons for this.

The first is the need to have penetrating wide midfielders as this will be the only way to bypass what is likely to be a congested midfield; made even more congested by Hleb’s insistence to drop deeper than he should. May be on Wenger’s orders.

The second reason is that Blackburn themselves look likely to play with two wingers who like to go forward. The dangerous Pedersen and old boy Bentley. Exploitation of the spaces left behind them may prove their Achilles heel.

One way to (partly) solve the winger’s crisis is to change the formation and play 4 4 2 by bringing Bendtner or Eduardo in to partner RVP. The result will be that Hleb will move to one of the wide midfield positions.

But I don’t think that Wenger will want to change a winning team’s formation. And as he has said, Eduardo will probably be deployed from the bench. Bendtner he considers not yet ready to start.

The only viable solutions available to my mind are to play Clichy as a left sided midfielder with Hoyte brought in at left or right back.

Clichy impressed during pre season when he was tried in this position and also showed, during these first two competitive games, how dangerous he is going forward.

For the other wide midfield position the choice is between Denilson, who is now fit, and Walcott.

Walcott impressed when he came on against Fulham and he will be adding real penetration, an ingredient necessary if Arsenal are to exploit the wide areas.

The rest of the team picks itself.

Hleb is top scorer, Robin needs a Batman and Fabregas is the real captain

Fabregas has added a “Peter Storey” attitude to his vast arsenal of talents

Arsenal look ready to hit the ground running, more so than the others

By Arsenal Analysis season ticket holder at the Emirates, South Stand: Row 5

The two pre-season tournaments that Arsenal participated in proved the perfect vehicle for fostering team spirit and bonding between the players. And this involved playing time for all the active members of the squad.

The excellent work done on and off the pitch at the Emirates and in Amsterdam culminated in that performance against Ajax.

Arsenal proved to everyone watching, but more importantly to themselves, that they can cut it against tough tackling and intimidating teams.

I was impressed by the way the players fought against a team that had pretty clear instructions to kick them off the park in order to unsettle their rhythm.

Throughout pre-season Arsenal played as a team and look ready to hit the ground running, more so than the other contenders.

Their pre-season was mainly centred in different geographical zones with strange and hard surfaces. The result is that players are fatigued with injuries creeping in.

Also they played against relatively weaker opposition whereas Arsenal had to face tougher opponents from Europe. When compared to Arsenal they do not seem to be as battle ready.

In addition Arsenal made some important "discoveries"

Gael Clichy:

Has achieved consistency and maturity in his play. He is extremely important as he will be providing the width from the left, releasing the likes of Rosicky to play more of a free role. Potentially player of the season.

Denilson:

Have you ever seen anyone get the ball off him? Amazing balance, extremely quick feet and a passing range rivalled only by the very best. He is only 19 but showed that he can be trusted in any kind of game.

The Sagna & Eboue combination:

These two have gelled well together very quickly and they compliment each other very well. Eboue is far more dangerous going forward and Sagna has the pace and power to cover any empty space left behind.

Defensively Arsenal are now more stable and against Ajax the back four showed for the first time they can form a formidable unit.

Bendtner:

He has bags of talent and tremendous self-belief. Did you see the boy claim the penalty against PSG; nobody challenged him.

He scored a couple of un Arsenal like goals and will provide a different option up-front. Wenger will have his hands full to keep him happy.

Diaby:

No words needed; the guy is awesome, a powerhouse, he is going to help our counter attacking style by winning the ball and setting up attacks with his powerful running and robust frame

Not sure about Dudu yet simply because I haven’t seen enough of him. I have a feeling he is going to score a few for us this year. He is a good finisher and moves very well without the ball, Cesk and him will link up very well

Hleb showed during the last few weeks how dangerous he can be when deployed centrally. I fully expect to see him playing there this season.

For all the positives however some of the old problems persist. If a serious challenge is to be mounted then the silly defensive errors, especially from crosses have yo be eliminated.

On the other hand we haven’t seen anything new from the other top three.

They haven’t assimilated their new players in, to the extent that Arsenal have done; they haven’t introduced any new youngsters with any success and to me they looked as though they have not reached the same level of fitness as Arsenal’s.

This was pretty evident during the Charity Shield where both teams looked out of sorts and disjointed; still going through their paces.

United have still to bring in Hargreaves, Scholes, Neville, Saha and Tevez. All have to get fit and taught how to play together. But time is running out. I am not mentioning Anderson and Nani as I think until at least December they will be restricted to cameo appearances.

Chelsea have still to get Drogba, Terry, Ballack, Shevchenko and new signings Pizzaro and Alex fit. They still have to assimilate Malouda in his new surroundings and they still have to buy a new right back let alone get him battle ready!

Liverpool, well what can you say! So many new players in and such a short time to assimilate all of them in the team. The players need to play consecutive games together in order to learn each other’s way of playing and find the time to gel.

Benitez is good tactically but, like Houllier, I think he will end up wasting a lot of money with little to show for it.

I hope that this is not me being over optimistic, but I think we will surprise a lot of people this year.

I think that the team will gel defensively and because of our pace teams will find it difficult to get in behind us. And defensive efficiency will give confidence to the attacking players to perform more freely.

I am not saying we will win the league, I am not saying we will not. It’s too early. As usual the team with the least amount of injuries will be the most consistent team. And we all know that the most consistent team wins the League.

But for now just bring on Fulham, I have a feeling we will score a bagful on Sunday.


Who will win the title? Arsenal against the odds?
Salzburg v Arsenal 1-0. Diaby is the new Vieira and even better
Bendtner makes a case for starting against Fulham.

Ed: You can leave a comment on what you think and also vote on the poll we have set up "who will win the title?"