Boro Preview: A weakened side will face a weaker side
Add comment April 26th, 2009
Arsene Wenger is, for my money, the brightest and most erudite manager in the Premier League. Can you think of another football manager who could discuss the economic downturn and its potential effects on football with such articulacy and accuracy?
However, in the football world, a working knowledge of the global economic crisis is worth next-to-nothing alongside The Champions League trophy, and that’s what Arsene will be chasing between now and the end of the season. His focus on the upcoming Champions League tie with Manchester United will go some way towards determining the side he picks to face Middlesbrough today.
Manuel Almunia is likely to make a welcome return to the side to get some match practice ahead of midweek, and the same could well be true of Johan Djourou. The rest of the defence (Sagna, Toure, and Gibbs) probably picks itself. Ahead of that there are many options – the only certainty is that Andrey Arshavin will start (mind you, I said that ahead of the FA Cup semi-final), and I also expect Nicklas Bendtner to play. Emmanuel Adebayor is fit again, but with Robin van Persie definitely out of the midweek game, I’d be very surprised if he were risked.
The incentive tomorrow is simple – with Villa and Everton failing to win yesterday, victory tomorrow would put us within just three points of ensuring our place in a Champions League qualifier. I don’t expect us to have it all our own way, though – ‘Boro are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table, and a point would be invaluable to them.
Finally, a couple of things I never thought I’d see: Alex Song climbing aboard The Showboat (1:15 seconds in), and Arsenal preparing to take the field in a green shirt once again. I don’t know about you, but I can’t see that it’s a wise decision to get players to wear shirts that are green when they will be playing on pitches that are, almost invariably, green.
I’ll hopefully muster a few twitter updates before/during/after the game. After taking part in the Arseblog 5-a-sides yesterday (my team came second) I was absolutely knackered, but my good friend Tom will learn the true meaning of exhaustion when he runs his first marathon today. I’d just like to take this opportunity to wish him the absolute best of luck. I’ve told him I expect him to win.
I expect Arsenal to win against ‘Boro too. Come On You Reds.
