The Soccer Blog: Leyton Orient

Saturday, 19 February 2011

Leyton Orient - Arsenal Preview

Leyton Orient – Arsenal Preview - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Back to Reality | Home | Leyton Orient – Arsenal PreviewBy: Martin | February 19th, 2011
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Back in action tomorrow as we travel across town to play against League One side Leyton Orient. It really has the feel of a classic FA Cup match — local derby, playing at a lower division side on a great run of form, in a small stadium (Brisbane Road seats less than 10,000).

Arsenal are obviously coming off a great win in the Champions League, and will be looking to keep our designation as the only team still alive in all 4 major competitions, and the seemingly impossible dream of 3 cup finals at Wembley alive. A win tomorrow puts us into the quarterfinal. Chelsea lost today, in what gave me a tremendous feeling of schaudenfreude, going out to Everton in a penalty-kick shoot-out, with Ca$hley and Anelka missing their kicks. It prompted the following amazing tweet from Szczesny: “Is it a plane? Is it an aeroplane? No, its just ashley throwing chelsea out of the fa cup ”. Tottenham and Liverpool are also out, and if we can get past Orient, Arsenal will believe we have a real chance of going on and winning it.

There are actually quite a few North London ties to this Orient team — defender Ben Chorley is an Arsenal academy product who was on the 2001 FA Youth Cup winning team, as is right-back Jason Crowe. Backup keeper Lee Butcher came up through the Tottenham academy, as did midfielder Charlie Daniels. They also have three players on loan from Tottenham at the moment — midfielders Tom Carroll and Paul-Jose M’Poku, as well as Harry Kane.
However, there isn’t that many direct history between the two sides — Arsenal and Leyton Orient have not played a competitive match since 1978, when Arsenal beat Orient in the FA Cup semifinal.

Leyton Orient are currently on a great run of form, and haven’t lost since January 1. They are 8-4-2 at home, with a +15 goal differential, so they will be liking their chances of getting a result in this one. They’re a combination of lower league veterans and loanees from bigger clubs, and the real danger man is striker Alex Revell, who has 11 goals so far this season. Pint-sized (5′4) young playmaker Dean Cox has 6 goals and 12 assists, so will be the guy the holding midfielders need to really keep an eye on. Irish midfielder Stephen Dawson, just 5′6 himself, has 11 assists as well. Left-back Andy Whing is supposed to be on the lower divisions’ best full-backs.

This is a neat piece about Leyton Orient striker Scott McGleish, who is a lifelong Arsenal fan and North London native who lives next door to Arsenal’s training ground.

They are the 5th highest scoring team in their division, and they are not a team of bruisers — they like to get the ball down on the ground and play it, and will probably try to beat us at our own game. While on the one hand that could be good for us, since we should have space to get in behind them and trouble them, on the other hand we may not be expecting them to jump on us and come after us and as we saw against West Brom earlier in the season, sometimes that’s something we really struggle with this in that kind of match.

In team news for us, the injury news has to do with mainly Djourou. On Thursday, Wenger said he had picked up a back injury against Barcelona and would definitely not play, which has us worried. Yesterday Wenger said that Djourou’s injury was not as bad as expected and that he would be in the squad. Today, Wenger said that Djourou will probably play if fit, because Koscielny is exhausted from being so omnipresent of late. As I said yesterday, games from here on out will only get more significant, so, not to take this match for granted at all, but if we’re going to rotate the squad to rest folks, this is our last best chance. The long-term guys — Frimpong and Vermaelen — are out. Diaby is still suspended, and probably injured, too (just speculating, but figured it’s a better than 50/50 chance). Walcott also also picked up some slight hamstring tweak. Here’s my best guess at a lineup for us tomorrow:

Here’s my best guess at a lineup:

Almunia

Eboue-Squillaci-Djourou-Gibbs

Denilson-Song

Bendtner-Rosicky-Arshavin

Chamakh

Bench: Wojo, Sagna, Koscielny, Wilshere, Cesc, Theo, van Persie

I think Almunia will get another FA Cup start to keep him match sharp — he played against Huddersfield Town in the last round. I wouldn’t be stunned if it’s Wojo, though. Even though Eboue played against Barca and Sagna is rested, I think Eboue will play again — Sagna will play against Stoke midweek and in the Carling Cup final, so we’ll want him thoroughly rested for those. Wenger has committed to Squillaci playing, and as I said, wants to rest Koscielny, so if Djourou is fit, he’ll start.

In midfield, Denilson will certainly come in, and the question is whether or not it will be Jack or Song partnering him. Jack doesn’t appear to get too tired, but has never played anything like the games he has played this season and will play between now and May. Since Song got subbed off relatively early on Wednesday and Jack played 90 minutes, I say it will be Song starting. I think it will be Rosicky playing in the advanced role.

And I think we’ll see the second XI guys up front, too — Arshavin, Bendtner, and Chamakh, with the first XI guys getting some rest for the important matches coming up. We’ll see.

So that’s about it in terms of a preview — I think it could be a much tougher match than anyone expected, between their home record, their good form, our squad rotation, and a hangover effect from the Barca match. I’m really expecting a tight one, unfortunately, but hopefully we’ll do enough to see us through.

Also, in what may be a “fun” little preview of what we’ll be talking about all frakking summer, Leo Messi has opined about Cesc Fabregas possibly moving to Barca:

“Let’s hope so. In the end he will do what he wants and what the people at Barca want. It doesn’t depend on us, but I think his inclination is to be at Barcelona because there is nowhere he will be better off than here.”

Sigh. That just about sums up the mindset perfectly, doesn’t it? Particularly that second sentence — they don’t even acknowledge that what a player’s current club wants may have anything at all to do with it — it’s all about what Barca wants and what the player wants, anything else is irrelevant. I don’t really feel like getting dragged down this rabbit hole in the middle of important matches, but felt compelled to at least point it out. So much for my self-imposed Barca blackout.

In loan news, the rumor is that Cardiff City and Arsenal are in talks to make Aaron Ramsey’s loan a season-long deal. His present deal is set to expire next week. I have mixed feelings about this. I want to see Aaron back in an Arsenal shirt, and it’s not like we are flush with options at his position — Jack and Song have pretty good injury records and have been stellar, but beyond them it’s Denilson, who is okay and has occasional injury problems of his own, and the perma-crocked, unreliable Diaby, who, the reality is, cannot be relied upon to be a regular first-team player for any significant length of time. Having Ramsey around would make me feel better about our depth.

But on the other hand, from what I’m hearing, Ramsey is nowhere near the level needed to play for Arsenal at the moment. I can’t personally attest to this as I haven’t seen him play, but if he’s as far behind as people seem to think he is, then bringing him back to Arsenal isn’t going to do anyone much good, and it’s just as well for him to spend the rest of the season getting competitive action. We’ll see, but it does seem increasingly likely that we shouldn’t be counting on getting anything from him this season.

Elsewhere, young goalkeeper James Shea (although if you read the official site James is apparently his middle name — his first name is apparently “Islington-born goalkeeper”), currently third-choice, has gone to Southampton on a month-long loan because they’ve been hit with injuries. Great chance for him to get some playing time, as thus far he’s only been able to get into the Reserves. That leaves young Argentine Emiliano Martinez as the third-choice/reserve goalkeeper for the next month.

And that’s just about it. Have a great weekend. Back with matchday stuff tomorrow.

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Category: Arsenal News, FA Cup, Fixtures, Preview

Tags: Arsenal News, FA Cup, Fixtures, Preview
Tweet « Back to Reality | Home | ForeverzidaneSamir and Gael are missing on the bench! The line up you got is alright. I would prefer Jack with Denilson for this match.DjlazercatChelsea knocked out of FA! Maybe, just maybe, it's beginning to fall into place.MartinIt's a great result for us, for at least 3 reasons:

1. They're a good team who have won the FA Cup two years in a row, so it gives us a better chance of winning the competition.

2. It will allow them to focus on the league more, especifically beating Manchester United (hopefully twice).

3. It's funny as shit when Chelsea lose, especially when they lose because Anelka & Ca$hley cock up their penalties. Honestly, how many penalty shootouts have Chelsea lost the last 3-4 years? If they were any good at penalty shootouts, how many more trophies would they have won?Brian in BrooklynAccording to Opta Twitterers, Chelsea have lost seven of their last eight penalty shootouts in all competitions. I had fun explaining to my wife why it was a good thing Cole missed.MartinThanks for that stat. It's pretty amazing, especially considering some of the guys they have should in theory be good penalty takers.SeanMartin -- Do you know if the Arsenal game is broadcast in the US?blog comments powered by Disqus