Match Preview: Mancity vs Arsenal (It feels like that Dangerous trip to Medusa's evil dungeon)

So we have a real battle on our hands later today. Its almost half way through the EPL season and although we have certainly done well as a team to get to where we are now, Mancity away at the Etihad provides perhaps the most dangerous of all our games so far. You think United away was hard? Just look at  what City did to them at the Etihad. At home those guys in blue are a merciless bunch of killers who show no mercy as they snuff the life out of their opponents.  29 goals scored and only 2 conceded in 7 games tells a frightening story comparable to the movie theme above, where it was told to Perseus (no relative of our own Per) that no-one  had ever come out alive after daring to visit the Island of death. *gulp*

In terms of  team form going into the encounter, Mancity happen to be in slightly better shape than us over the last 5 games. They have a WWWDW, while ours is WWWDL. There is of course that last result against Bayern for them in Match day 6, which was a bit of a surprise. They won at the Allianz arena despite being down by 2 goals early in the game. We are in a position more than anyone else to understand the kind of motivation that achievement can give a team, so it just makes things all the more interesting. Conversely our own Match day 6 exertions didn't have a happy ending as we succumbed to Napoli under rather deflating circumstances. Some interesting reactions from players have been sampled with respect to finding the prognosis of that defeat. Mertasacker was said to have admitted that the team eased off a bit mentally in the 2nd half, in apparent  belief that the job was done..obviously  that almost proved a costly venture, because there was no warning that Arteta would be sent off making things  very difficult for us. I think essentially, the defeat against  Napoli has served a reminder on us just how important it is to concentrate whilst on the pitch for 90mins. At this level to not do so, will invariably get you punished! Our team news on the injury front isn't bad. No one got injured Wednesday night but there will be late tests for the returnee Sagna before the game and frankly if he can be passed fit my confidence level will go up a notch.  In tight away fixtures like this one, his experience can prove invaluable.

So in conclusion, yes they may have the better form going into this one, better rested players, and of course that intimidating home form. But we have a good record up there against them and i think we stand a good chance of getting a good result. We just have to deliver a better performance than Wednesday and trust our game to unravel them. I'll be looking to Wilshere and Walcott to have great games ditto for Ramsey... whose mobility and tireless running in midfield won't please Yaya nor Fernandinho. It'll be a massive 3points if we WIN, a prized scalp it'll be just like the severed head of Medusa on a platter! However i'll take a point though if that is what we can get our hands on at the end of the day..C'mon Arsenal