City Preview: Bigger Than Chelsea
5 comments January 5th, 2011
It’s like climbing one mountain only to discover there’s another one on the other side. Granted, at least you’ve climbed one – you know you’re capable of it. But there’s still a mountain.
Beating Chelsea was heralded as the banishing of a hoodoo and the birth of a newfound self-belief in the side. Tonight we’ll get a far better idea on the permanence of that change. Was it a one-off, inspired by the occasion and augmented by a Chelsea side in a dreadful run of form? Or is this team ready to go out and beat their major rivals on a consistent basis?
There’s a huge challenge ahead. City, unlike Chelsea, are in fine form. They have the meanest defence in the Premier League. Until United’s victory against Stoke last night, Arsenal had the most prolific attack. It’s the old immovable object vs unstoppable force conundrum.
The good news is that there are no immovable objects and cannot be any, as even a minuscule force will cause a slight acceleration on an object of any mass. An immovable object would have to have an inertia that was infinite, and therefore infinite mass. Such an object would collapse under its own gravity and create a singularity and a black hole. And there is nothing I would like more than for City to disappear in to a black hole.
The bad news is that an unstoppable force would require infinite energy, which does not exist in a squad that contains Andrey Arshavin.
Saying that, the Russian may well not be involved. Our line-up should be the same one that started against Birmingham and beat Chelsea. That means Koscielny and Djourou at the back, and Walcott and Nasri wide of Robin van Persie. City will be without their key playmaker, David Silva, as well as Mario Balotelli. The latter’s absence means there could be a place in the squad for Emmanuel Adebayor, who further alienated Arsenal fans this week by scuffling with the still well-regarded Kolo Toure at the City training ground. It’ll be interesting to hear the contrast in their receptions tonight.
Arsenal have won their last two home games. They’re yet to win three in a row this season. Time to put another bogeyman to bed.
Come On You Gunners.
