darragh murray

The English football media have been consistently stating that this Saturday’s match against Manchester United is the defining test of Arsenal’s resolve to lift the premiership trophy this season. It’s fairly early in the season to be making such bold statements, but many believe that if Arsenal can beat United tomorrow, they will lift the trophy come May 2007. Many believe this match will grant Arsenal the right to truthfully claim to be a title contender, a statement that begins to grate after numerous (and constant) iterations. Considering that Arsenal did the double over United last season even when Arsenal were not playing their best football means that, arguably, United face a sterner test this coming weekend especially when you consider that Arsenal are currently playing the best football since their ‘invincible’ years in 2004/2005.

So what is the key to defeating Manchester United on Saturday?

Well, defensively, I believe the key to preventing United from scoring is to make sure that the Arsenal can shut down the passing between Tevez and Rooney. I watched the highlights of the match between Middlesborough and United from last weekend and the fluidity of movement between the two United strikers was the salient factor in putting ‘borough to the sword. Arguably, with Gallas back, Arsenal boasts a formidable and speedy defence, that haven’t really made too many mistakes all season. There is no reason to expect they will perform any differently on Saturday. The swiftness and movement of Clichy and Sagna, and perhaps even Eboue, should be able to neutralise the effectiveness of Ronaldo and Nani/Giggs. Perhaps even. Despite these concerns, I don’t think the Arsenal defence have to worry too much, particularly if Flamini is able to help out in his holding role in midfield. I expect that Wenger will have Gilberto at hand if he needs to boost the defence and I wouldn’t be surprised if he deployed the Brazillian if Arsenal manage to grab the lead during the second half, substituting a forward player to play a true 5 man defensive midfield layout (though, I believe this scenario will only occur if Wenger desperately feels the need to grind out a win). I imagine United will believe Almunia the weak link in the Arsenal defense, and fair enough, he isn’t as experienced as his opposite number, Van Der Sar, but I think he should do a fine job. At least his performances have been consistently good, some bordering on outstanding.

In attack, Arsenal will have firepower in spades. I have some concern that Arsenal are not as sharp without Van Persie in the fold, especially with his potency from set plays. I noticed that against Middlesborough, United had some troubles defending headers. Indeed, former gunner Aliadière scored his first goal in the premiership with a header against United, and then almost notched another goal minutes later again through attacking the United defense in the air. Many will remember Henry’s screamer that won the game for Arsenal last season against United. For these reasons, I think Arsenal should experiment with getting the ball high into Adebayor to either produce a shot on goal, or for him to lay it off to the support players like Hleb and Fabregas.

On the topic of Adebayor, I still have question marks over his finishing ability despite his positive start to the season, particularly his ability to control the ball in the six yard box (I get really frustrated when his on-target shots are simply pummelled straight into the keeper with seemingly little thought on placement). Then again, Adebayor is not really used by Wenger in this fashion, and Wenger usually has the likes of Van Persie and Fabregas for scoring the more ‘attractive’ goals (Adebayor’s stunning strike against Tottenham a few weeks ago an obvious exception). I expect Fabregas should have another great game with plenty of room to move about and play his natural game, as I don’t believe United’s midfield to be as strong as say Liverpool’s, in terms of defence, especially when Paul Scholes isn’t playing (Hargreaves is tremendously overrated!). While I expect Sir Alex’s orders will be to mount a lot of pressure on Fabregas, I’m not sure if Hargreaves will be able to wholly contain him, especially considering Fabregas’s slick passing abilities and the presence of a in-form Hleb beside him. While Ferdinand is a superb centre-back, and Vidic only slightly less so, I’m not convinced by Wes Brown or Evra. I sincerely hope that previously injured captain, Gary Neville is not in the side when they walk onto the pitch as he has the abilities to shut down the flanking attacks in a much more determined fashion than the likes of Brown.

In terms of formation, if Arsenal play a traditional 4:4:2, I’d like to see Bendtner partner Adebayor up front, due to his height and strength. In this scenario, I’d expect Bendtner to be replaced by Walcott or Eduardo later in the game to take the steam out of a presumably tiring United defense. However, I believe Wenger will use the same formation as he did last weekend against Liverpool, Adebayor as the lone ‘true’ striker, with Hleb and Fabregas in the hole behind him and feeding through passes.

My colleague Spanish Fry over at Arsenal FC Blog shares many of my sentiments, and I suggest you also check out his post in regards to this match.

Whatever the result, I have high hopes for this to be one of the best games of the season if both teams come out to play attacking football. While, in the case of Arsenal, attacking and entertaining football is a give, United can occasionally play very defensively when coming against quality opposition. I predict a 2-1 victory to the Gunners. I plan to hit up my local drinking establishment in full ritualistic Arsenal teamstrip and bare witness to Manchester United’s ‘re-education’ in the ways of modern football.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Arsenal, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.