Sunday 18 December 2011
Kick Off: 16:10
Venue: Eastlands
This Sunday sees our very own Manchester City face Arsenal in an important Premier League clash as the fourth in a quadruple-bill of games. Before we kick-off, QPR face our nearest challengers Manchester United at high noon, Aston Villa host Liverpool at 2.05pm and Tottenham entertain Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland at 3pm.
Pre-Match Talk
City go into the clash with talk in the media and by so-called ‘respected’ pundits that this match is our biggest test of the season so far and that now we will see what City are made of. A fraction of this talk is true in that it is an important game but surely now is the time for this hype before every game with one of the SKY 4 or Tottenham as though it were an exam of life and death proportions to come to an end. In the build-up to Tottenham away the discussion reverberated around how attacking we would be; United away – similarly, how could we handle playing the Champions in their own back yard; Liverpool away – this suddenly became our biggest game of the season, harder than Old Trafford according to Gary Neville; Chelsea away – this was our biggest game of the season and so, yes you guessed it home to Arsenal is now our biggest game of the season.
Looking at our last outing, away to Chelsea, City were excellent for 25-30 minutes, were one up and should have been further ahead via either a stonewall penalty that was not given or several other chances. Chelsea equalised and whilst it was 11 v 11 until the 55th minute a draw would have been fair. Clichy was then red-carded and subsequently with less than 10 minutes to go, Lescott conceded a penalty and our unbeaten league record went up in smoke. Alas it is not a disaster, not even a blip on that one result but these things happen and we were against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. I am sure we would have all taken 7 points out of 4 games on our travels at Tottenham, United, Liverpool and Chelsea before the start of the season.
Turning attention to our visitors, Arsenal have reacted superbly since an awful start and huge credit must be given to Arsene Wenger for steadying the ship. After 7 league games they had won two, drawn one and lost four with the embarrassing 8-2 mauling by United and subsequent 4-3 loss at Blackburn still fresh in the memory. Their difficult start to the season had been predicted by many after a troublesome summer where they lost Cesc Fabergas to Barcelona following a long-running transfer saga for many seasons and also Samir Nasri in the final days of the August transfer window to City.
The additions of Mikel Arteta and Gervinho have been welcome to the fans at the Emirates, Per Metesacker, Chu Young Park and Yossi Benayoun less so. Without doubt though the star of the show has been their captain, centre forward and talisman Robin Van Persie who has been the most clinical finisher in the league this season. His record reads 15 goals in as many league games this term and 33 goals this calendar year. Suffice to say, if City are to be victorious on Sunday then Van Persie’s threat needs to be minimised as much as possible.
Form
City go into the game on the back of their first league defeat of the season at Chelsea but will be looking to maintain their 100% record at home – currently played 7, won 7. Going back further, City have not lost at Eastlands since 20 December 2010 when Everton were 2-1 victors and this was one of only two league defeats suffered all season with the other being at home to Arsenal (0-3) when Dedryck Boyata was red carded in the 4th minute.
Arsenal’s reaction to defeat by Tottenham in the North London derby at the beginning of October has been emphatic having won 7 of their last 8 league matches with one draw. This run includes a memorable 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge. In addition to this they have qualified for the Champions League knockout stages but did exit the League Cup to City at the Emirates following a late Sergio Aguero winner.
Recent Previous Meetings
2011-12 season
League Cup: Arsenal 0-1 City
2010-11 season
League: City 0-3 Arsenal
League: Arsenal 0-0 City
2009-10 season
League: City 4-2 Arsenal
League Cup: City 3-0 Arsenal
League: Arsenal 0-0 City
2008-09 season
League: City 3-0 Arsenal
League: Arsenal 2-0 City
2007-08 season
League: Arsenal 1-0 City
League: City 1-3 Arsenal
Good memories from our 4-2 win over Arsenal at Eastlands in September 2009 including Adebayor’s mad moment in the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22BtVb3hLjw
Will Roberto recall Samir Nasri to face his old club?
The teams
Gael Clichy serves his one match suspension against his former club whilst Samir Nasri will be pushing for a start to appreciate the expected lively reception from the visiting supporters. City have not kept a clean sheet in the league for 8 matches since the 4-0 away triumph at Blackburn back in October. With this in mind, Roberto Mancini may bring back Nigel De Jong to offer the back four more protection and deny the likes of Van Persie the space to operate in. Kolarov is injured but Micah Richards should return at right back with Zabaleta switching to left back.
My side to face Arsenal
----------------------------------------Hart
Richards--------------------Kompany---Lescott---------------Zabaleta
-------------------------------De Jong------Barry
Silva----------------------------Yaya Toure---------------------Aguero
----------------------------------Balotelli
Arsenal have problems in the full back areas with Sagna, Jenkinson, Santos and Gibbs all injured meaning that they will play with four central defenders. In midfield, with Jack Wilshire still missing for another month, it will be the usual trio of Arteta, Ramsey and Song with Walcott and Gervinho supporting the free-scoring Van Persie. The Russian Andrei Arshavin, who Arsenal supporters often championed about being delighted to have him rather than Adebayor will be on the bench after a torrid last 12 months has seen his confidence and form desert him.
Predictions:
I do not like predicting City games but I think that a sell-out crowd will roar us on to a narrow victory against a much improved Arsenal, maybe 1 or 2-0 to City. For the visitors, I think ultimately they will miss out on qualifying for the Champions League as they over-rely on Robin Van Persie remaining injury-free too much. Arsenal to finish 6th.
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