Arsenal play Blackburn this weekend in the last game before the international break and hopefully we can end this little block of matches with a victory.
Manuel Almunia is back in training and close to returning but not quite ready for a first team return so Vito Mannone will continue in goal this weekend. The young man has been excellent so far and I just hope he can end his little spell in the first team positively with another good performance and a clean sheet.
Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner are both expected to be back in the squad but Eduardo is missing. He aggravated a thigh muscle injury the other day against Olympiacos.
I expect Sagna to replace Eboue and I think we may actually see an unchanged side with the exception of that.
Two things I will be hoping for on Sunday which have been slightly missing from recent games despite the good results. The width of the team is an issue that needs to be addressed. On Tuesday it wasn’t until Vela came on that we actually played with some width. A problem with this formation is that it is very narrow and we have many players who are more comfortable playing through the middle. I don’t know if the manager wants the full backs, or Diaby and Fabregas or the two wide forwards to provide the width but something must be done to use the width of the pitch to give us an alternative option now and then.
The other problem is something I have touched on in the past, and that is the work rate of the team and the work rate that is required when using this formation. We started the season well in this respect but in a few games recently, and especially against Man City, we have fallen below what is required for this system to work. Again I think the main problem is in the wide areas, namely covering for the full backs. If the full backs are encouraged to attack then adequate cover needs to be provided when they inevitably are caught out of position. Whether this is provided by the midfield or the wide forwards is up to the manager but something needs to be done.
We all know how Blackburn will play, just like all Sam Allardyce’s teams over the years, with ugly, physical, aggressive football so we will need to be up for a scrap to get the three points. Hopefully RvP can continue his little run of scoring and we can put our feet up over the international break with another three points in the bag.
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