Anfield. Arsenal do have plenty of memories at this ground. As with many things in this world, there are good memories and bad memories. Whether we were old enough to remember the 1989 game or know about it via watching old videos or reading articles about it, that last game of the season has to go down as one of the best moments in Arsenal’s history. There’s the disappointment of the Champions League exit in 2008, a match I distinctly remember because it completely brought down my mood on the first day of my new job.
I don’t think we have forgotten how we did there last season. Surviving the onslaught in the first half with some magnificent heroics from Wojciech Szczesny. Updates from twitter yesterday night, suggested that he might be missing from the squad again as he haven’t recovered from his injury just yet. The 3 people directly involved in the 2 goals we scored last season would also not be in the squad. Two of them have left while the creator of the first goal last season, Bacary Sagna is working his way back from the injury he picked up towards the end of last season.
For the opposition today, they have a new manager for the season in Brendan Rogers. A man who earned plenty of plaudits for his efforts while in charge of Swansea. His appointment represents a shift in the Liverpool hierarchy to introduce a different playing style and have a longer vision on things. Rogers have gone about implementing his ethos into the team by bringing Joe Allen from his old club and kicking out the players whom he thinks doesn’t fit his system (Kuyt, Carroll, Maxi Rodriguez).
Rogers will have Daniel Agger back from suspension to bolster his defence but will be checking anxiously on the health of his squad after their Thursday encounter with Hearts. That match ended 1-1 which took Liverpool into the Europa League but it was a hard fought draw and they were chasing the game right until the end of the match. Which left Rogers little chance to rest some of his key players ahead of today’s game.
The obvious one to look out for is Luis Suarez. Despite being a despicable human being on the field, he does have the qualities to trouble our defence. Quick and nimble footed, his close dribbling is something we have to be alert to. But he won’t be the only dribbler on the opposing should Rogers continues with his selection of Raheem Sterling. The nippy winger is unfazed to say the least, willing to take on defenders after defenders. While in the middle they are likely to parade loan signing Nuri Sahin alongside that of Allen and Steven Gerrard.
Apart from the aforementioned possible absence of Szczesny, we should have a clean bill of health from those that played against Sunderland and Stoke. As Lukas Fabianski is also recovering from an injury, it will be down to Vito Mannone again. He did well when called upon last week but was perfectly protected by the players in front of him. Another round of such protection is needed if we are to come away with points from this game. Despite a clean sheet at Britannia Stadium, it does still worry me a little to see the Italian in goal.
We will see the return of Laurent Koscielny into the squad and that is great news for us, not least because it isn’t a long term injury (yes, at Arsenal, we are a little paranoid). If his fitness permitting, I would rather see him in the team today ahead of Per Mertesacker (only because Thomas Vermaelen is the captain and we can’t drop him). The quicker game and ball on the ground tactics is better suited for Koscielny than Mertesacker to deal with. The German does read the game well but the close dribbling skills of Sterling and Suarez worries me.
Mannone
Jenkinson—Koscielny—Vermaelen—Gibbs
Diaby—Arteta—Cazorla
Oxlade-Chamberlain—Giroud—Podolski
I believe we will remain the same in midfield with Mikel Arteta being the central of the axis and playing in the deeper midfield role. Santi Cazorla will get another chance to showcase his talents and hopefully this time around, someone will make better use of his through balls. The battle in midfield will be interesting with neither side possessing a real ball winner (if Liverpool does go with the earlier mentioned trio). Who knows, maybe this game will be able to break the Premier League record in terms of the number of completed passes or attempted passes.
Up front, after the disappointment in the last 2 games, one have to wonder whether Arsene Wenger will be looking to make changes. Will the boss still persist with the ineffective Gervinho and pass the baton to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and give the English boy his first start of the new campaign? Or perhaps we will see the return of Theo Walcott back into the starting line-up. At this point, I’m willing to stick the youngest of the trio in and see what we get from him.
It will be a good game tonight and it will be an open game. The way Rogers like to set his team up, it does allow us the room to impose the game with our style of play. As we’ve seen in the away game at Liberty Stadium last season, when we wanted to go forward, there were gaps to be exploited. However, Liverpool are not Swansea and will be a tougher opposition. That said, I remained confident that we’ll pick up points today.
Time to find that first goal of the season. Up The Arsenal!