Hull’s last trip to Emirates has been a memorable one;Hull came from behind to beat Gunners 2-1 in The Grooves,and Gunners suffered their second defeat in Emirates back in that time.
From that game,Gunners’ season onward was nothing to shout about.We suffered more draws and defeats and finished fourth last season.
Heated word exchanges
Even before the match,there’re already exchange of words between managers Arsene and Brown.When Wenger complained about the fixtures schedule,Phil Brown quickly blasted Wenger and told Wenger to stop complaining about fixtures schedule.
Players
Our captain Fabregas is ruled out for 10 days and is unavailable for this match.He will most probably unavailable for Aston Villa game too.But the good news is Denilson is back again.Other than Denilson and Fabregas,no one is listed nor delisted in our injuries list.
Gunners hard struggled for this game just to score a goal,but they finally get their precious three points to keep fighting for the fourth place.Continue Reading For Highlight Video
Although we get our three points,but we need to improve much more to keep pace with Villa.Our attacks is boring and predictable.We missed couple of chances and fortunately Pompey’s counter-attack wasn’t really that good.So,the chances of us lost the game is minimal but with our style,we could only get away with a point for the most.
By the way,Portsmouth’s target in this game was only a draw I think.Their play was weak,their attack was dead and they also parked a bus in front of their goal.
We must know how to handle these type of trouble to excel in EPL.
Ex-Gunners Aliadere disappointed us again with his equaliser at 29th minute.It seems that our title challenge is almost over.Highlight video here
Highlights
Game Comments
It seems that our title challenge is almost over,but fortunately Liverpool and Manchester United too dropped points and Scolari can be very happy over this news,since Blues can take this chance to step into first place in EPL.
Talking about the game,the same stories went again this time just like our previous games in Riverside.We attacked,dominated the game but struggled to score and failed to defend against Boro’s counter-attacks.
We could lost 2-1,we could win 2-1 but overall Boro really played well against us.We were not creative enough in the game and the fact that both goals were scored by a cross-header showed that both teams were lucky to score a goal in that case.
Our game is not open enough to let the our passes work perfectly and that is why we struggle to score in recent games.Persie seemed to lose his scoring boots and could not show up in critical times for the excepting in Chelsea game.
We must have a player like Steven Gerrard who could save us during critical times.Our leader Fabregas must be good enough to command 11 players including himself and create the winning factor,or confidence to win games.
Gunners’ recent lost to Porto had made the fans worried and our critics’ voice rise again.We once more fear Gunners will suffer from inconsistencies and poor away game record.Moreover,our record in Riverside has not been good in recent years.
But for this game,five Arsenal’s first team players will be playing after recovering from their respective injuries.Our leader Cesc Fabregas are among the returnees.Read the article
Fabregas,Sagna,Clichy,Adebayor and Persie could return for this game.Middlesbrough on the other hand,should have no injuries to report.
Technical Details
Either 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 is workable in this game,depending on the course of the game.There is very high chances of us winning ugly,if we manage to win this game.
I certainly think that Bendtner should feature as a substitute only,for his form as striker is bad and he plays better as a substitute.But I still trust Eboue on this game.Gallas seems to be leaving on January with his current form.He should be stop playing for us but we have no choice because we need some strong and experienced player to stand and defend against violent teams in BPL.
Overall
I really hope that we could get 3 points from this game,as every points lost will put us further from our title that we dreamed for 4 years.Secondly,a win will boost further our confidence to play the remaining tough and tight December schedule.
Gallas abd Eboue could miss the game,and I think they will unlikely to feature in this game.All other players are OK for this game.
Technical Details
Since we are at home,have lots of striking and strikers options available,we could play our usual 4-4-2.Again,we should be more and more careful against their corners and free-kicks.
Wigan could park a bus in front of their goal,so we must keep the game open and we should try one-timer kick instead of dribbling the ball into the net.Chelsea stroke a lot of one-time header and shot and we should be very lucky to concede only one goal.This one-timer kicks and heads is one skills we should master to enhance our football.We can’t pass all the time and play only one style of football all the time.We can’t eat breads only all the time,right??
Overall
Again,home pressure is here but I really hope Gunners could pick more points against smaller teams and this game must and should a 3 points for us.It’s infuriating to see us beat all giant team and yet getting beaten by all small teams.
