RvP is in; Diarra out; My hopes for tonight
1 comment January 9th, 2008
Robin van Persie will most likely start on the bench after being a surprise selection in the squad for the Carling Cup semi-final with Spurs. He’s joined by Gilberto and Bacary Sagna as Arsene augments his young charges with a few experienced heads. With Van Persie back, you can see why Arsene is so pleased with his selection of strikers.
Gilberto is the only one I’d expect to start, with Lassana Diarra again not in the sixteen. Newcastle and Lyon have both reportedly signalled their interest in the midfielder, and his omission appears to indicate that he could swiflty be heading towards the door marked ‘exit’.
OR… Arsene could be doing something he doesn’t often do for a wantaway player, and putting his foot down. In an interview with ArsenalTV filmed yesterday, he claimed that only Jens Lehmann had the opportunity to leave Arsenal in this window. Perhaps his exclusion of Diarra is a means of punishing the young midfielder for his mouthing off to the press.
You all know by now I want Diarra to stay, but I’m curious to see how this one will be resolved. I think a loan move might be best, but Arsene might just see that as delaying the inevitable.
Another man not in the squad is Fran Merida, who is edging closer to his loan move to Real Sociedad.
Lukasz Fabianski will play in goal, and Arsene insists he’ll take over from Jens Lehmann as Manuel Almunia’s deputy should the German leave. Theo Walcott will start on the flank, and Johan Djourou will play his first game since returning from Birmingham alongside Philippe Senderos at the back.
It’s hard to know what to expect tonight from such an inexperienced side. I get a feeling it could be a case of trying to outscore Spurs. Their strikeforce are technically superb and in rich goalscoring form – the same could be said of ours (Eduardo is our Player of the Month for December). But both defences lack experience. In many respects, I believe our backline to be strong than theirs. They cannot defend set pieces at all, and with Bendtner, Gilberto, Senderos and Djourou in the side, we might stand a chance of causing some real damage.
I don’t want to see Spurs celebrating at our shiny new ground. I don’t want to see their fans react like they’ve won the league when they’ve beaten our (albeit impressive) second string. These youngsters are more than capable of making sure that doesn’t happen.
COME ON ARSENAL.