Friday, August 27, 2010

Bolton Mk II

Tomorrow Arsenal face Sam Allardyce's Blackburn at Ewood Park in the first test of the team's resilience this season. Blackburn is always a tough place to go but I do feel if we take an early lead, the test will dissolve into a canter and a 4-goal, drubbing to the Gunners.

So in reality the match will only pose problems if the team starts slowly and allow Blackburn to get on the front foot early on. Play with the same tempo as we did against Blackpool and I can't see anything other than our first away win in the league this season.

However as confident as I am, I'd be very surprised if Blackburn didn't overpower us from a set-piece at least once. And if the referee doesn't do his job we could be in for a long day at the office. What went on from Blackburn corners last year was a joke to say the least and I can't imagine such a refereeing screw-up happening again this time.

Moving on to team selection, the defense picks itself with Koscielny coming back in and Song moving back into midfield. After that its hard to know what Wenger will do because he really is spoilt for choice going forward. Walcott, Arshavin, Rosicky, Eboue, Fabregas, Van Persie and Chamakh will be competing and there isn't really a reason not to start any of them. Going on merit from the last game, I feel Rosicky and Walcott deserve a place. The manager has already said that Fabregas and Van Persie are fully fit so expect one to start at either Chamakh or Arshavin's expense.

So as long we play our game and remain fully focused we'll win this game. The alternative really isn't worth thinking about.

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