Arsenal Vs Villa Match Preview + New Look CTSTA

Afternoon Gooners!

Tomorrow we play host to Alex McLeish’s Aston Villa and I for one am looking forward to it with both great anticipation and indeed anxiety at the same time.

There is good news on the Injury front with the return of Sagna to full team training and with Thierry Henry and Mikel Arteta also close to return the squad is starting to look a little less thread bare …

Its vital that Arteta is back into the squad soon otherwise we have very little to be coping with in the creativity department. There is also a desperate need for players that can keep hold of the ball and have a high passing accuracy. Its been all too plain to see that we have been lacking in that over the last few weeks.

Don’t expect anything that different to what happened last weekend as regards the set up and philosophy. Le boss seems more than happy to sit back and make very few changes:

“I will live forever by the values I think are right in football. One or two lost games, or one or two bad reactions will not change that.”

Source: Herald

There is a lot of talk suggesting that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be starting again tomorrow and I would guess that pretty much everyone agrees that he SHOULD start. Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen. (I wouldn’t put it past Wenger after last weekend…)
If he does start it would probably be fair to say, anyone that likes a flutter would fancy him to net at least one tomorrow after his performance against the Mancs and lest we forget, he was “Ill” during that game!

This could be the perfect opportunity to re-start our season. A healthy win tomorrow would send a message that, with the squad recuperating we are once more a force to be reckoned with !  Though on the flip side, a loss in the last game of January would cap off what has thoroughly been a miserable month.

And so to a prediction ! 

- The Ox will have a stunner again and be substituted around 60mins …again…

- There will be more than 3 goals in total tomorrow. Neither side has looked particularly good at the back. Though with Sagna, Verminator, The Sac and Kos as a back four i am much more confident than i would have been 2 weeks ago!

- Overall I feel its not going to be easy but its a game we should still win. We are after all, at the Grove so it would be a disgrace to lose outright !

- A replay would be worse than a loss. The League is more important right now, top four should be a priority over the FA cup.

-Ryo Miyaichi will play a part at some point, not necessarily a start but maybe a sub at some point.

-Almunia could feature. It is, after all, a cup match! But that’s thankfully quite unlikely!

- Overall Score prediction: Not sure really though I get a distinct ‘Late winner’ feeling as in december.  Arsenal 2 – 1 Villa

Expected Lineup -

                                        Szczesny

Sagna   –   Mertesacker   –    Koscielny   –   Vermaelen 

                                        Song 

             Ramsey                -                Rosicky/Arteta

    Walcott      -           Van Persie         –          AOC

On a more specific Cometoseethearsenal note. You may have noticed that the page has changed somewhat! The change was something I had been meaning to do for a week or so now ! Finally got around to it ! I feel it looks a bit more tidy and professional compared to the old design. Let me know your thoughts!

Until tomorrow for a match report !

Don’t forget to comment!
Forward!

AJ

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