After the craziness of the holiday season it feels like we haven’t played for ages. There is a plus side to this, apart from getting the boys back to full health, and that is lots of comments from the gooners. This week a lot of them appear to have a ‘funny feeling’ that things are going to be OK on Sunday. Not sure what is causing this feeling, it could just be something in the water darn sarf or it could be wishful thinking. Loads of comments about Yaya being missing, but very little mention of Fat Frank. My own personal feeling is that we will turn up for a big game at The Etihad.
Now COME ON CITY !!!
Team Selection
Ospina
Debuchy Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs
Coquelin Ramsey
Walcott Cazorla Sanchez
Giroud
My Favourite
We have had such inconsistency this season its hard to predict which arsenal team will turn up – the team fully committed team that out played and out worked Stoke last week or the non committal airy fairy arsenal that shirks the challenge and ultimately hands the game to the other side on plate
And the rest…
Can’t wait for this one. The last game was so enjoyable to watch
We really need a win against a top team. It feels like so long ago.
We can win this, but if Aguero starts, we will be in trouble.
Genuinely feel that we will win this one. Probs by a 2 goal margin. City are formidable, but their missing players added to our returning ones will cause them more trouble than us.
I don’t think City have lost by more than one goal this season. They have Aguero back, so not really hopeful. Would be great to get a point off them though!
Don’t expect us to win an away game against a big team with our current defence. City will be up for this one after dropping points against Everton. Shouldn’t get over-excited by today’s win, it was always expected at home.
I’d start with Ox over Walcott. Walcott is way too rusty to start such a big game.
About time we beat one the big teams away and I think Man city away is our best shot, less of a mentality problem than against man utd and chelsea, we have a few big names back and players finding form while city will be missing a few to injuries and AFCON.
I refuse to allow myself any sort of hope going into these big matches. I’m expecting a loss, would love a draw. We’re capable of doing something in this games but so often we fall short.
We usually do okay against City. It’s United and Chelsea that we falter against. We can grab a draw. I think we will, which is fine for us but kinda hands the title initiative at Chelsea’s hands unless we beat them too at the Emirates, which is unlikely.
This game arrives too soon for Ozil and Ramsey to start and Theo is clearly not sharp. All three can and should be utilized from the bench depending on how the game is going; for once it’s nice to have a near complete squad available….Upset incoming, 2-1 to us.
Aguero vs Alexis …Interesting to watch
I think Welbeck Should start as it’s an away game and his hardwork and defending from the front will help, maybe marking out Zabaleta
Re starting with Welbeck…The problem with that is it restricts Sanchez since he’d be playing with two center forwards (even if one is shoved to the wings). Wouldn’t want any player coming in the way of Sanchez.
It’s tempting to bring the likes of Ozil and Ramsey back into the side but for such a big match we should stick with those who’ve performed well recently and are match fit.
We’ll lose if Ozil and Ramsey play this. Rosicky and Cazorla is the way to go.
Another Community Shield performance would be lovely.
A draw is definitely probable for us and even a win is possible if we play on the counter instead of trying to play them out of the park.
I hope Wenger doest consider Chambers on the right, he must stick with Bellerin, him and Walcott on the right will be interesting. I dont want to see Ozil start, keep it the same as Stoke but possibly start Walcott over Ox and switch later if necessary.
I don’t know why I feel confident about this. Hope Chelsea drop points to Swansea as well. If we beat City and Chelsea win, we’d be handing Chelsea a 5-point head start.
have people gone mad? do they not remember our recent results against the 2 manchester clubs and chelsea?
would gladly take a draw in this one
Have to deal with these blue nose twats on a daily basis. Fancy us smashing them at the weekend. Keep your eyes on Sanchez else you’ll probably miss a goal..
I dont care about aguero, he will get injured anyway
Wenger’s choice of position and formation for this will be very interesting. I probably won’t like it but we’ll see.
Can we please just take our chances, we always have a spell in big games most come in first 20-30 minutes where we are in complete control but usually it ends up that we go a goal down from a counter attack against run of play and our tempo drops. 2-0 in first half hour
If we beat one of the top teams I’d bet on it being City. We also seems to do well or at least score against them. The home game was one of the most frustrating this season, had them on the ropes after Alexis’ goal, if only Ramsey had taken his chance…
have a good feeling about this one….Sanchez can do real damage.
I’m feeling confident about this one, dunno why. I just hope they play with Mangala in the centre of the defence, he’s terrible. Lukaku destroyed him last week and if it wasn’t for a couple of good saves from Hart, he’d of bagged in a couple of goals. Having said that, Giroud is not really the type of striker who’d cause him many problems, mainly because he hasn’t got the pace to hurt him in behind. Zabaleta and Kolarov/Clichy bomb forward quite a lot and with Alexis and Ox on the wings, we can really hurt them on the break. I’m sure they will pay special attention to Alexis and that hopefully will leave gaps to the likes of Rosicky and Ox to exploit. Fernando and Fernandinho aren’t anything special and they’ve struggled a bit with Yaya out of the side. They commit too many mistakes. We can get something out of this game if we tight up at the back and make our chances count, even though we all know how self-destructive we are when we play against big teams, especially away from home.
Here’s hope Aguero doesn’t start.
I don’t have the good feeling about this one, like most of you guys have. It is going to be very difficult to get something out of the game. I won’t look too much into our performance vs Stoke, it was our 13th consecutive win against them at home. Also we are very good at home vs mid table teams. I hope this game doesn’t blow away the positivity of the people here. Would take some result rather than performance from this fixture.
Can’t see Rosicky starting in this one. Also Ox should definitely start, played very well vs Stoke.
I honestly think few good results are clouding peoples judgement here. First of all Arsenal is half the team they are away than at home. Look at the last few games and you think this team can cope with the best team in the league away from home? West ham awayy, southampton away and Stoke away. I think they will hammer us and I actually hope they do. Its the 15th of January and half of the window is gone and arsenal once again si slacking. Anyone who want us to make signings this window should hope we dont win here, ebcause our window is decided in this match. A nice 4–0 with a couple of injuries would be great
Awful analysis….If you think losing 4-0 away to City and picking up injuries along the way, will force Wenger to buy a CB then you must be joking, the man is stubborn and ruthless, we’ve gone 5 months of the season with 2 CB’s so what makes you think losing to the champions away will force him to buy
Jesus christ, can we just not get beat in this one. As good as they can be, they’ve been very vulnerable all season, and if we don’t sh!t the bed (fairly big ask), we can come away with something. Welbeck should be available, but I’d opt for Giroud in this away game as he looks due… Gibbs wont be ready, so Monreal is a big worry at LB. Flamini is fit again and will be available, but why drop Coq for him? Woj deserves more punishment for now.
I always feel oddly confident about games against City. I think they’re the only top team in the league we have a chance against. 1-2. I think it’s because they’re not really pragmatic against us and will more often than not play their game against us in the confidence that they will beat us because they have superior players.
I’ve got a good feeling about this game and I don’t usually have a good feeling about most of our games.
We do okay against Citeh, I reckon we may surprise a few people and win this one. Going for a 1-2.
Just had a scan of the bluemoon forum, classless fans, probably not been fans long and probably aren’t match goers mind you
4-0 City….I’d go with Chambers over Bellerin, he’ll probably be up against Milner or Nasri and they’re hardly lightning. I’d possibly go Alexis-Rosicky-Santi in front of Ramsey and Le Coq.
Anyway, been doing some research, crunching numbers, analysing data etc – City haven’t won a league game since April without Yaya, who is out of this fixture due to the African nations.
2-0 City
Bony is away to AFCON and Dzeko doesn’t really worry me. Aguero was on the bench, though, this weekend. Hopefully he won’t start. Think it will be a close game, but we’ll most likely lose.
You watch Mangala have an unbelievable game, will be indomitable.
As for this game I think the key relates to some of our other players stepping up. I see man city kicking the **** out of Alexis because as we all know for some strange reason the league allows this against Arsenal. If some of our other top players step up then we can really punish them, if we proceed to watch Alexis get stifled then we will definitely lose. A sharp Theo would have been nice.
Real nerves just thinking about this one. I believe we can do City, but we’ve been let down with awful performances so many times before. Players back, top players at that, and we have Alexis. Starting to believe we can be a top team again. The nerves are more my reluctance to show faith again and end up disappointed. Excited to watch is play again. Although massively beneficial to the squad, this game every Sunday thing is killing me!
Worried about their Brazilian twins in the middle of the park, think they’ll dominate there.
Worried about their Brazilian twins in the middle of the park, think they’ll dominate there.
Yeah he’s a big miss for them, Yaya can dominate the best midfields on his day, never mind our relatively soft centre. Fernando and Fernandinho are a good partnership though, particularly the latter who’s been in good form.
I fancy us this weekend, I really do. Citeh can be got at, they’ve been giving goals away all season Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday have scored goals at The Etihad recently, we can definitely score a couple this weekend.
With the way Zabaleta bombs forward, if we win the ball back quickly enough we can exploit that. For that reason I’d start Theo, got a brace there last season, he could be the difference… And of course, our red hot Chile pepper.
Well if there’s ever a chance for Arsène to get the fans back on his side and for THIS team to show that it can compete with the best then it’s this game.
This City team is:
(a) Minus Kompany
(b) Minus Yaya
(c) Minus a fully fit Aguero.
Although they’ve been on a real good run and unbeaten in a while, their defense is not at it’s strongest and they’re missing a fully fit striker up front plus Yaya’s presence in midfield. It might be a step to far for us to win this but I feel we can share the spoils if we play to our potential.
Key will be how we cope in the midfield and how we manage to keep Silva under wraps.
City problem is they dont have organized team defense. we need to attack them, put them under pressure, use counter attacks..Thats why I would, if he is fit, play Welbeck up front, so we have more pace. I am optimistic flamini wont play as Wenger likes to stick to winning team and players in form, and Coq is that. Might be a big game for him, but he’s been in England for a while and played some big games, I am sure he wont have problems with it
I think we’ll struggle against Fernandinho and Fernando in midfield anyway, so the absense of Toure won’t be as heavily recognized I’m afraid.
Yeah definitely run at them, Wilshere caused them problems for them when eh doen it earlier in the year. A big performance form Sanchez is necessary so we need to make sure we give him the opportunity to shine by getting him the ball.
West Ham dominated us with Flamini-Coquelin as the midfield base, imagine what Man City would do.
