The Soccer Blog: Arsenal - Everton Preview

Monday 31 January 2011

Arsenal - Everton Preview

Arsenal – Everton Preview - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Arsenal 2 – Huddersfield 1: 10-Man Arsenal Fortunate to Move on to 5th Round (UPDATED with Player Ratings) | Home | Arsenal – Everton PreviewBy: Martin | January 31st, 2011
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Everton

Position: 14th, 5-12-6 (27 points, -2 goal differential)

Away Form: 2-7-3 (-1 goal differential)

Recent Form: DLWDD

Last Meeting: Everton 1 – Arsenal 2 (November 14, 2010)

Arsenal right back into the fray tomorrow as we play Everton in what promises to be a very important league match.

Hard to know what to expect from Everton. Last year, we beat the bejeezus out of them at Goodison Park in the first fixture of the season. Then they came into the Emirates in January and thoroughly outplayed us — we were very lucky to get out of that one with a 2-2 draw. Everton are capable of getting results away — they beat Manchester City at Eastlands a few weeks ago, remember — but they’re also capable of crapping the bed against anyone, and sitting 14th in the table is a good indicator of just how crappy a season they are having.

They continue to struggle to score goals — for several consecutive seasons now, I’ve had the feeling if they could just get a talismanic striker that can put the ball into the back of the net, they would be okay. But they’ve continued to be a good side, an admirable side, a likeable side, but one that just doesn’t seem quite up to taking that next step. And they seem to be continuing that trend again this year. 14th is well below expectations for a side that expects to be in the top half contending for European places each year, but they always seem to start out slow and then finish the season as one of the division’s form sides, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they continue that trend again this season.

If you follow the English game you’re probably pretty familiar with the side. They’ve got one of the division’s top keepers in Twitchy Tim Howard. Their backline is anchored by one-time Arsenal target Phil Jagielka and Premiership veteran (Manchester City and Portsmouth) Sylvain Distin. Leighton Baines is a very good fullback on the left, and Phil Neville is . . . well, he’s Phil Neville, he plays on the right.

They’ve got what I consider to be a really good central midfield, with young Englishman Jack Rodwell (think he’s going to be really, really good) alongside playmaker Mikel Arteta and Marouane “Screech” Fellaini. All three are quality players that will give Arsenal’s central midfield all it can handle. They’ll probably start Seamus Coleman and Leon Osman out on the flanks, although Diniyar Bilyaletdinov could be involved, too. Up front is likely to be Louis Saha. I have to admit Saha was one of those guys I always thought was going to do better — thought he was a fantastic player in his time at Fulham, and thought he would do better at Manchester United. When he washed out there and came to Everton, I thought for sure he would finally turn into a star, but it wasn’t to be. He’s still a guy who worries me and I think can trouble our backline, despite the fact that he’s only tallied a single league goal this year.

I’m hoping that we catch a break and Everton do not have their best player and by far their leading scorer (he’s got 9 league goals . . . no one else has more than 3) Tim Cahill. He played in the Asian Cup final on Saturday for Australia. It went into extra time, he played 109 minutes, and he presumably had to travel back to Liverpool from Qatar (I presume that was not a direct flight) yesterday. Between the match fatigue and the jetlag, I suspect Moyes will hold him out of this one. If he does play, let’s hope he plays like a tired jetlagged zombie, because he’s a player that could cause us real trouble.

Everton did have a pretty tough FA Cup 4th round match against Chelsea on Saturday, and they fielded what was basically their first team, so hopefully we’ll be fresher than they are, too. They are a team that has caused us problems through the years, and they are fully capable of doing it again tomorrow.

In team news, Nasri is added to the injury list which includes Vermaelen, Frimpong, and Flaps. Sagna suffered a concussion on Wednesday, so it’s unclear whether he’ll be cleared to play or not. I’m generally a huge advocate of being very, very conservative on head injuries just because some of the research is so scary, but the medical staff brought Koscielny back very quickly, and my sense is that they’ll bring back Sagna, too. I think he’ll be ready for this one. Denilson picked up a knock towards the end of the Huddersfield match, looked to be a slight hamstring tweak, but hopefully nothing too serious. Although I’m not sure most fans will particularly miss his presence in the lineup, either.

Here’s my best guess at a lineup for this one:

Wojo

Sagna-Koscielny-Djourou-Clichy

Wilshere-Song

Theo-Cesc-Arshavin

van Persie

Bench: Almunia, Squillaci, Eboue, Diaby, Rosicky, Chamakh, Bendtner

Pencil in Wojo as a starter. And Clichy. And if Sagna is cleared to play, I think he starts, too, although Eboue hasn’t been half bad the last couple of times out. Djourou will definitely start after being given the match off against Huddersfield (richly deserved, too), and Squillaci’s red card suspension (only 1 match, because the red card wasn’t for violent conduct) means that Koscielny will get another game as well.

In midfield, Wilshere got a much needed match off against Huddersfield, and Song at least got a half off, so they’ll both be ready to go. Cesc starts in the advanced position. We can pencil in Theo and van Persie, also both rested and ready to go, on the right and in the center, respectively. The big question then becomes who starts out left. There may be a school of thought that says to put van Persie out on the left and use Bendtner or Chamakh in the true center forward position. But that’s a bad school of thought. Really bad. van Persie is so effective in that role, and is playing so well there at the moment, that the system should be shifted to accommodate him, not the other way around. I think the debate comes down to whether to play Arshavin or Bendtner out there. I think both had decent matches against Huddersfield, and barring injury or sending off I expect to see both in some capacity tomorrow, but I think Arshavin, with his familiarity with that position/role and the fact that he’s really put his head down and worked hard lately, will get the nod. He did play quite a bit against Huddersfield and isn’t exactly a specimen of physical fitness, so don’t be surprised if he gets subbed out after 55-60 minutes if he does start.

Quite a few other interesting match-ups going on tomorrow, too. Chelsea travels to Sunderland for what could be a very tricky performance indeed, and Manchester United host Aston Villa, who are suddenly playing well (and who blew a 2-0 lead very late against United earlier this season). Manchester City travel to Birmingham, and Spurs travel to Blackburn. Given all those, you’d just about fancy us to pick up ground or pull away from one or two of those sides if we can pick up 3 points tomorrow, so we really do need to do it. We’re getting close to crunch time with our title bid. 5 points back with 15 to go is tough, but doable. But if we were to drop 7 or 8 points back with 14 to play . . . well, the odds start to get a little long at that point, even with us having the remaining head-to-head match-up at home and them having a tougher schedule the rest of the way than we do. We’ve got to keep them in our sights.

Television information — live in the USA on Fox Soccer, tape delayed at 7:00 p.m. EST in Canada (boo!) on Rogers Sportsnet One, and apparently not televised in the UK (although correct me if I’m wrong about that).

Otherwise, there isn’t too much to talk about. Today is, of course, the last day of the transfer window. If there are any Arsenal-related transfers, Sairax or I will update this page. But something tells me there won’t be, although there are still rumors floating around that Arsenal are trying to get a last-day deal done for Southampton starlet Alex Oxtail-Chamberpot. So that’s one to look out for. I suspect the big news is going to be to do with other teams — Torres to Chelsea, Carroll to Liverpool, etc. are the big ones flying around. As usual, it will probably all amount to much ado about nothing, but I will probably be dropping in on the comments section and leaving thoughts if anything does happen, and would be interested to hear your thoughts as well. I’ll sure as hell be staying off twitter — I just got on to check what was going on, and there were approximately 5000 tweets devoted to an unconfirmed report from somewhere that Fernando Torres was in a helicopter. I’d just as soon avoid that level of hysterial rumormongering, I’d rather be the last to know about anything once it is done.

Big, important match, so let’s get out there and take care of business and get those 3 points. Come on Arsenal.

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Category: Arsenal News, Everton, Fixtures, Premiership, Preview

Tags: Arsenal News, Everton, Fixtures, Premiership, Preview
Tweet « Arsenal 2 – Huddersfield 1: 10-Man Arsenal Fortunate to Move on to 5th Round (UPDATED with Player Ratings) | Home | Gigi_manEverton are a really good side, and the position doesnt reflect the quality of their players imo. Yes football is about scoring and thats how you win or lose, but we cant be fooled by their position, IMO they are an extremely quality side.
We cant play as if it was already in the pocket, and they can ruin the party, as you say, as in previous years.LangersGood Article. I like your logical style of thinkingZito_v2You know, you guys could throw a little mention of who West Brom is playing. I know that's asking for a bit much, but I'm just going to put those two cents on the table and if you take it, I wouldn't mind. Anyways, I really wish for Arshavin to get back to his spectacular best, he needs to stop doubting himself.

I miss his first few months.SairaxWest Brom will be playing Wigan :)Zito_v2I predict a hattrick for the left foot bomber, but that's just being modest.Illinois GoonerWhat has happened to the It's Up for Grabs Now Podcast? It has been, by far, my favorite Arsenal podcast and it's been replaced by something else on iTunes. Does anyone know anything about this?MartinYeah, I think they had a lot of disagreements with Playback Media, who had been hosting it, so they stopped doing it for a month. It's now called The Tuesday club, and you can find it online (or follow them on Twitter = @yellowbootson), although I still haven't been able to find it on iTunes.Illinois GoonerThanks. Tuesdays at work will now go back to tolerable levels.SairaxReally? Try this http://thetuesdayclub.libsyn.c...
MartinLiverpool have agreed a 35 million fee with Newcastle for Andy Carroll. I would just remind you what a very wise, prescient man said back in November:

"But it was well-taken by Carroll (who looked extremely impressive — he seems destined for big things, and it’ll be interesting to see whether he stays at Newcastle or moves on. But I’ll say that if I were John Henry/Roy Hodgson and looking to make a splash at Liverpool, I’d be VERY interested, because I think he could form a pretty great big/little striker combo with Nando.)"

http://arsenal.theoffside.com/...Homey_MillsI haven't commented lately due to a pretty bad illness that's kicking my butt. Anyway, some thoughts about the transfers... How upset are Newcastle's fans going to be for selling their top scorer on the last day of the window? So in other words, with no time to re-invest the money (as Wolfsburg has done).
And comparing Carroll with Torres, of course Torres is the much bigger name. But I could see a team rather having a guy (Carroll) who is 4 years younger, healthier, and scoring at a better rate this year for a lesser team. If Liverpool sells Torres today for a gigantic fee, it seems to me they've done a good piece of business. And frankly, I don't see how they DON'T sell him, after making two big-money signings at that position.Gigi_mantoo much. I dont wanna sound Wengerish, but even though Carroll is good, he is not that good and, really has not prove things still, I mean thats what Barza offered for Cesc right?Perry S.Sorry one more note. I think the fact that Arsenal did not sign a single defensive player is also the other extreme. Honestly, Wenger needed to step up on this transfer and get us some respectable cover. It leaves me a bit agitated to say the least, to see what we have 0 transfers coming in.Gigi_manYep, it is frustrating, I havent yelled my usual yet (mainly because I like the team this year, wheras in previous years I tought we lacked something) but will at some point, because this year we simply lack depth: we ve seen that with 2 or more injured the squad seems short, real short. And we cant fight on 4 fronts like that.MartinLast sentence is not technically true. Wellington and Miyaichi deals both formally happened in the January window.

Your main point stands, though, but it's Wenger -- he's done the exact same thing for how many years now? We can't exactly say we're surprised at this point.Perry S.I think I'm more surprised due to: 1.) Wenger's own admission that not having Verm available makes his options thin + knowing Verm is out for extended time. 2.) Wenger taking the trophy challenges this season more seriously than I've seen in quite some time.

Given all that, I think we've got a good shot with at least one trophy this season regardless of the cover, but if we want a 1st class trophy, this makes it all the more harder to attain. I'm just ranting more than anything after looking at the transfer list to date of all clubs and seeing Arsenal with "IN: " and just a big blank.Perry S.True, I meant more of a 1st team player, or at least some solid cover in case of further player injury.Perry S.I agree with your assessment on Carroll, but 35 mill? Christ, what is happening in the EPL. That is more $$ than Barca paid for Villa. You'd think Liverpool would take that 50 mill and spend on 3 good signings, but they've basically gone and dumped it away. Wenger & Arsenal look so much better than these clubs ever will.SairaxTwitter is going mental.

No Arse news though, but I'll let you know if there is (probably won't be anything)Darren_VTwitter is a waste of time todaySairaxGreat preview Martin! I'm interested to see how big of a difference it makes when we swap out Nasri since Theo van Nasregas has been so effective for us. We should be ok though (I hope) especially with Jack-Song doing so well together.

Come on Arsenal!!OrionHighAsFuckis it the Wilshong you're referring to?blog comments powered by Disqus