Arsenal v West Ham 20 March 2010 Emirates Stadium 12:30PM EST ESPN, Setanta Form... Arsenal -- L W W W W W West Ham -- L W W L L L Expected Lineups... Arsenal -- 4-3-3 -- Almunia, Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy, Song, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Bendtner, Arshavin West Ham -- 4-4-2 -- Green, Spector, Upson, Gabbidon, Daprela, Ilan, Parker, Kovac, Behrami, Dyer, Mido Ramifications... Arsenal -- up to 1st, stay at 3rd West Ham -- up to 15th, down to 19th
Song is back from suspension, Rosicky and Fabregas are available but may be rested, and William Gallas' never-ending calf strain continues. To stay in the title chase nothing short of a win is needed.
Per BBC: Arsenal will welcome back captain Cesc Fabregas for the visit of West Ham following the midfielder's return to training this week. Alex Song will be available after suspension and Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky is also set to return. West Ham duo Herita Ilunga (tendon) and Mark Noble (arm) returned to training this week and could be in line for a recall at Arsenal. Fit-again Benni McCarthy and Guillermo Franco also hope to be involved. Arsenal Injured: Djourou (knee), Gallas (calf), Gibbs (foot), Ramsey (leg), Van Persie (ankle) West Ham Suspended: Da Costa (two matches) Doubtful: Ilunga (tendon), Noble (arm) Injured: Boa Morte & Hines (both knee), Faubert (hamstring)
Really looking forward to this game as I feel like it will be end-to-end unless we control the game from the get-go. West Ham can be brutal if our defending is slack and they definitely have the firepower to finish their chances. I would love to see Walcott start this one but I can't see Wenger putting Nasri on the bench after his recent run of form. Walcott has been fantastic in the last couple of appearances but I think Wenger wants him to fight for his place in the squad, instead of just handing him a first-team position. Right now it's a tight one between Nasri and Walcott, but I'm tipping Walcott for a start. Bendtner needs to keep scoring and prove that he can finish because I'm still not convinced and I'm sure many others aren't. Can't complain though, to be honest. He did give us a vital goal against Hull and scored a hattrick a game before that. Besides van Persie, Bendtner is the only striker that we can rely on and that doesn't make me feel all warm inside. Lets hope all these "contract agreed" rumors with Chamakh are true, I'd rather have van Persie, Chamakh, Bendtner, Vela and Eduardo in rotation (in that order). Our main hole today will be in the heart of the defense but I'm confident Vermaelen can take control of the situation. I wouldn't say West Ham are the "paciest" club so Campbell should be able to cope but I will be scared if we have to play Barcelona with a Vermaelen-Campbell pairing (then again, he did score in the final last time we met!). Are there any updates on Gallas? It seems that his pull is more serious than I first thought, he has been gone for what? Three or four games now? Not sure if we'll see Fabregas start today, but we'll definitely see Song. Up the Arsenal!
Well, that's some nice drama. We opened the scoring in the fourth minute with Denilson finding the back of the net. A nice piece of build-up play by the Gunners (when haven't we heard that?), Bendtner strokes the ball to Denilson who calming drills the ball into the back of the net. We dominated the half with some great tackling, especially by Alexandre Song. Seeing as we're the Arsenal, something had to take a turn for the worst. Everything was going so full until West Ham are awarded a penalty for Vermaelen's debatable foul on Franco. It gets better, Diamanti steps up to the spot and Almunia makes the save. Arsenal go into halftime one goal up but one man down. Game on.
Well, if this game doesn't show our ambitions to win the title, I don't know what does. We held West Ham for the whole second half with ten-men and absolutely dominated. Every player played out of their skins (except Arshavin, he has been woeful!). Song has been phenomenal since the get-go and took the centreback role after Vermaelen's dismissal. We were rewarded a penalty in the second-half thanks to a blatant Upson handball. Fabregas deftly slotted it in to kill off the game. By the way, that goal now puts him fifth in the top goal scorers chart (two goals behind Defoe, but ten behind Rooney). That's another three-points which puts us on top of the table (for a day at least!).
Got to see the game this morning. Good composure from our team going down a man and managing to score again. Losing Vermaelen for the away fixture at Birmingham will hurt if our appeal doesn't hold up. They are playing pretty well this season. Barcelona is right around the corner. Can't wait!
Should just be one game if Arsene's appeal doesn't help. However if the appeal is deemed frivolous the suspension could be extended to four games.
Yeah, we will miss him but I can trust Song will take the centreback role well (I believe Wenger hinted that will be his selection in the post-game conference). Freaking about the Barca game after I read that Messi has scored eight goals in three games. Perhaps it's a better idea to just take the one-match ban? I guess it's too late.
Zola - Arsenal are better than Chelsea Looks like Zola is a big fan of the Arsenal. Must mean something seeing as he's an ex-Chelsea player.
Chelsea drawing with Blackburn demonstrates how tight the race is getting. They have a game in hand but at best can get ahead of us by one point. They trail Manchester regardless.
