As far as home openers go, this is (should?) be as easy as it gets. No offense to Blackpool, but a side that finished 6th place in the first division last season coming to Ashburton Grove should expect to lose heavily. In fact, straight after their 4-0 win away at Wigan in their maiden Premier League fixture, their gaffer Ian Holloway said as much.
This should be a rogering of epic proportions, but you just never know with this team sometimes.
For one thing, Blackpool are not all that good. Beating Wigan was a nice moment for everyone involved with the Tangerines, but take away the two comedy goals conceded by Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland, and give the Latics strikers a bit more luck with some of their chances, and that result could have been very different. Give them credit for being opportunistic and making no mistake when given a gift, but even our defense isn’t as bad as Wigan’s. Kirkland also makes Manuel Almunia look like Lev Yashin. I mean, this is an opponent whose big idea will be playing Marlon Harewood alone up top and hoping that he can bother Tommy Vermalaen. Yeah, good luck with that one, lads.
Then again, we are Arsenal which means the injury bug has hit hard again. Samir Nasri is now out for a few weeks after a minor knee surgery (made of fucking porcelain, that one), and of course Laurent Koscielny is suspended because last week’s referee was a twat. I believe Johan Djourou is still out, as is the rest of the usual suspects. So, who plays then?
Almunia has to continue in goal give Arsene Wenger’s failure to land Shay Given or Mark Schwarzer in the transfer market. Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna should man the fullback slots, though Kieran Gibbs may get a look in at left back. TV5 will play, and hopefully Alex Song will be recovered from injury enough to play. Should he not, or if he is preferred in his natural DM position, this is one fixture that I wouldn’t mind young Havard Nordveidt getting a game in. There’s always the worry of miscommunication or some kind of monumental fuck-up…if so, let’s hope it’s after we’re 4-0 up, eh?
The midfield almost picks itself right now. Song or Abou Diaby (please, Song…please please PLEASE let it be Song) and Cesc Fabregas in the center will likely be flanked by Emmanuel Eboue and Andrei Arshavin. Then again, the boss may want to use the occasion of playing this lot to try and build Theo Walcott’s confidence back up, which is the reason why I don’t advocate Andrei being benched. The Russian looked listless and disinterested in the Liverpool match, which is a worrying sign.
The rest depends on the formation. If we go with a 4-5-1 (not sure why given the opposition), it will probably be Marouane Chamakh up top with Tomas Rosicky in the midfield. Preferably, Rosicky will start on the bench, and Robin van Persie will join the Moroccan in the attack.
Either way, despite our injury problems I would say this one will finish 6-0 to the good guys.
COME ON, ARSENAL!
