Right, its the big one Tonight. Regardless of the fact that's its only the Capital one cup, there's no question about the fact that both teams want this win badly. Not only will confidence be boosted if either team eliminates the other in this 4th round tie, their respective managers will also be looking to get one over the other as well. Whenever these two clash there's always so much at stake beyond the ordinary, such as pride,bragging rights, etc. Over the years, there have been many crunching battles but with the return of that attention seeking maniac from Portugal this one has the potential of being very interesting. The reward is a place in the Capital one cup quarterfinals and for us a good chance to set our sights on snapping up a trophy early next year.
Its hard to fully decipher how each team will approach this encounter. Both were engaged in difficult fixtures at the weekend, with Arsenal slightly at an advantage with an extra 24hrs rest. Squad rotation will no doubt be enforced and you have to say on that ground, the odds even out as Chelsea has the benefit of a larger squad than Arsenal. This competition has always been Wengers' testing ground for his young hopefuls. In the good ol' days when Trophies were part and parcel of our lives(*sigh ) nobody raised eyebrows when young guns filed out to showcase their talents on the Carling cup stage. It was tailored for them to gain much needed exposure and experience. A great way to judge how well the younger players were developing viz-a-viz who is ripe for promotion to the 1st team and who is not.
For us this season, we have had to stretch the playing resources at our disposal no thanks to long term injuries to key players. A lot of the first team players would be rested for this tie bar a few who haven't had enough playing time recently. So who are those faces we expect to see? : Vermaelen, Jenkinson, Monreal, Miyaichi,Bendtner,Rosicky,Fabianski, are dead certs to make up the starting line up while Gnabry if fit, Hayden,Akpom and other youngsters will complete the team. The boss expects Wilshere to be fit for the game while he looks to assess Flamini's injury extent. In addition, he revealed he would select a right balance of youth and experience to cope with Chelsea as they will look to also name a squad of experienced players for this fixture. Mata, Luiz, Demba ba, Mikel, Etoo,William, Betrand etc, are some faces that Jose Mourinho would like to give playing time considering their limited appearance on Sunday evening against Mancity. I'm sure we all remember that bruising final at the Millenium stadium in 2007, in this same competition against a different Mourinho led Chelsea. We had a team packed with Youngsters that began the game on fire but as the experienced Chelsea heads settled into the game Didier Drogba and co broke our hearts with a win that was as i recall quite difficult to swallow. Experience will have a huge factor in this one as well. I expect a back 4 with Monreal,Vermaelen,Mertasacker and Jenkinson. This morning, i read an article that flirted with the idea of playing Sagna and Mertasacker in defence whilst Vermaelen takes up a Defensive Midfield position. I have never seen him play there & its hard to say how ready the Boss is to experiment in that regard but my feeling is he'll be in his traditional position in Defense.
Mourinho has already began to unleash his mind games shenanigans about how the organizers are trying to help us out by giving us a 24hrs rest advantage. Jose ol' pal, we'll take that advantage all day long . Now zip it and rotate that massive squad you are always quick to boast about! I can't tell you how bad i want to knock him out of this competition. The man is such an annoying prick.
We'll have to have full concentration for 90 mins for this one, take our chances and most importantly score first! Chelsea are the type of team that can defend well and deprive you of chances but you get the feeling they are not the quickest on their feet. If the likes of Ryo can get in behind and make runs to the box we can make life pretty difficult for them. ''Best player in the world right now'' Torres would also need to be closely watched. His pace in close quarters is a weapon, therefore at no time should he be allowed any kind of freedom. It really should be a cracker, i would love a win but won't loose sleep if we lose. Why? we have bigger fish to fry and the season is still young....C'mon Arsenal!
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