We failed to win the match and we slipped to third place.
Although our title bid seems to fade right now,but if we compare our result with Chelsea’s and Liverpool’s game at Villa Park,that’s quite good considering Chelsea and Liverpool got away with no points.Villa should have won the game if not for Almunia’s alertness throughout the game.
The worst news is however,the Vermalen’s injury.He injured his fibula and will be definitely out for Devils clash this weekend.We are now not sure how long he will be out.Hopefully the injury will be the light one.
Let’s see Wenger’s comment about this match:
On Aston Villa…
“They play a very efficient English game, with long balls and it is very physical. They are a good side at counter attacking. When we took the gamble to go forward and they won the ball, they are quick and that is why it was always us managing to create chances and score, or them catching us on the counter attack or playing on Agbonlahor or Heskey with long balls.”
He’s correct.What’s caught the other Big Four was the sudden counter-attack by O’Neil’s squad.Even Devils succumbed to a defeat at Old Trafford because of such a play.Villa’s tactic against the big teams is to play solid at the defense and try to score through counter-attacks.
On if he would be happy to replace Vermaelen with Sol Campbell should he need to on Sunday…
“Sol has not played for six months and just in three days he had two big games, so I will have to see how he recovers.”
The phrase he in “how he recovers” seems to refer to Vermalen,although I think he refers to Campbell himself.Campbell should be good enough against smaller teams but our next three games seem like too heavy for him to take after carrying 6 months of dust.Perhaps if he can clean all those dust in this three days he can make something.
Live Streaming Links
1.Myp2p.eu
2.Livefooty
Even if Arsenal wins this match,I don’t think Arsenal will go top since Chelsea will be likely to win its match this night with higher margin than us.Considering that Chelsea will play Birmingham at home,it’s more likely that Chelsea beat Birmingham with a better margin than Arsenal beat Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Anyway,the most important thing is that Arsenal win this match;this match will symbolize the beginning of the terror schedule that will define our BPL season.
Let’s start with players.There’s good news of players coming back.Bendtner could feature in this game as substitute and if all goes well,he should be fit to play against Devils next weekend.The best part of all is no more players are injured now.All of our players who play in Bolton game are available tonight.
Villa’s fight for Champion League games has not gone well since Emirates defeat and Villa should utilize this chance to take revenge and gain their fight for Champion League spot.
I expect more physical plays from this game and this game is definitely 50:50;both teams can win the game.Last time at The Grooves,Villa made a mistake of going too passively and therefore conceding the play to us.I don’t think O’Neil will go for the same strategy again since Villa plays at home and Villa needs to utilize their home advantage to its fullest.
However,with most of our players start to get in shape,we should play better and we can really lift the title if Wenger knows to utilize this fact.
Source:Arsenal.com
“It was a game that was more physical than technical and physically they were stronger than us today. We had a fantastic attitude and at 1-1 we looked like we were on top in the last 20 minutes and it was important not to make a mistake. We got caught on the counter attack on the second goal and that was an important moment in the game. “
I hope the same would not happen in BPL games.In yesterday’s game,it was FA Cup match so it was probably matter less compared to our BPL games.But we will play Stoke too next month for BPL.But of course we couldn’t really judge our performance yesterday since we too didn’t give the best.
Sol Campbell’s performance…
“He did for me very well. For a guy who has not played for five months he had a very good performance. Maybe in the last 20 minutes he was a bit fatigued but surprisingly fit for a guy who has not played for such a long time. He is motivated, works very hard in training and you could see that today.”
It looked more like Wenger’s defense of Campbell’s poor play rather than a compliment.
Anyway,it’s time to focus on our remaining matches and forget this game.May be we were taught a good lesson yesterday.
Perhaps this result is not too bad,and it’s not surprising that we lost the game.
I only watched Stoke’s first goal in the second minute.It’s quite the same story with our 2-1 defeat last year.Delap’s powerful throw was converted into a goal when Fuller utilized his chance to make Stoke in front in just two minutes.
That’s the only stuff I could write right now.I will watch the highlights later.
Live Streaming Links
1.Myp2p.eu
2.Livefooty 1
3.Livefooty 2
This is FA Cup match,therefore I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we lose this match.Of course we will love to win this game,but losing this game isn’t a big deal since we got better stuffs to focus to.Our next four matches will determine whether Gunners are competant enough to challenge for the title.In fact,the worst thing to come out from this match is a draw which means an extra match to play.
We will be likely to feature second-teamers.Arsenal.com confirmed that Campbell,Silvestre,Wilshere will play in this game.Other players include Eastmond,Sunu and Coquelin.Looking at the list of players that will play in this match,I don’t think Wenger places a lot of priority in this match.
The BPL title race just gets hotter now;Man. United is the new leader now with 2 points ahead of us.But of course we have a game in hand Blues got 2 games in hand.
We know the game in Britannia will not be easy.In fact,we know how Stoke will play as mentioned in Arsenal.com.But can we counter their style??This match will tell….
