Arsenal – Blackburn Preview

Blackburn

Position: 13th, 9-6-15 (33 points, -12 goal differential)

Away Form: 3-1-11 (-18 goal differential)

Recent Form: LDLLD

Last Meeting: Blackburn 1 – Arsenal 2 (August 28, 2010)

Thank the maker — the international break is over, and Arsenal is back.

After an international break that seemed much, much longer than 2 weeks, Arsenal square off against a Allardyce-less Blackburn. We faced them in the third game of the season back in August, and came away with a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Arshavin and Theo. Let’s hope for a repeat tomorrow.

Blackburn are in 13th, which is a mid-table position, but a closer look reveals they are in quite a bit more trouble than that. They are one of 4 teams on 33 points, and they are barely ahead of the other 3 on goal differential. And the 17th and 18th placed teams are on 32 points. So realistically, they are just one point clear of the drop, and are on a bad run of results since Allardyce was forced out. All indications are that they are in for a survival fight for the next couple of months. Hopefully we can make that situation a bit more desire with a good result tomorrow.

Blackburn have been uncharacteristically shaky at the back this season, particularly since the managerial change. There are only 2 teams which have conceded more this season. NO team has conceded more goals away from home than Blackburn. So they could be just what the doctor ordered for an Arsenal attack which hasn’t been able to get consistently on track the last month or so before the break. We will have our chances, we’ll just have to make sure and convert them.

On the other side of the pitch, Blackburn have actually scored a fair amount of goals, and gotten them from a lot of different sources. Not a single player from Blackburn has scored more than 5 league goals this season, but 8 different players have scored 3 goals or more. There’s no real secret to their tactics — they like to hit you on the counterattack, they like to hoof it long and lump it into the box, and they love to try to score from set pieces — they have some huge, strong players who can jump high and head it hard, and that could be a real danger for us. We’ll need to try to make sure not to foul anywhere near the box, and when we do concede set pieces, we’ll have to make sure and mark our man and put a body on him when he goes up for the ball.

In team news, the injuries are the big question. Our long-term guys — Flaps, Wojo, Vermaelen, Djourou, Frimpong — are still out. In better news, Cesc, Theo, Song, and Diaby are back in the squad. van Persie and Bendtner are probably out — we’ll find out about them today. We’ll also find out about Ramsey, who apparently has a groin injury from international duty. No word yet on Gibbs, who had to come back from the U21s with an injury. We’re not entirely sure how fit those guys are and whether they will start, which makes a lot of our lineup up in the air. Here’s my best guess at a lineup:

Almunia

Sagna-Squillaci-Koscielny-Clichy

Wilshere-Song

Nasri-Cesc-Arshavin

van Persie

Bench: Lehmann, Miquel, Gibbs, Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, Ramsey, Rosicky, Bendtner, Chamakh

Almunia has hardly been inspiring, but based on the fact that Lehmann has been out of the game so long and based on the shaky reviews he got from his appearance with the Reserves last week, I can’t see Lehmann starting this one. Koscielny and Squillaci will start, because we don’t really have any other options. I think we’ll see Sagna and Clichy start as well.

In midfield, I think a lot of it will come down to who’s healthy. Wilshere will almost certainly start. If Song is fit enough to start, we’ll probably see him alongside Jack. If not him, it will be (fitness-permitting) Diaby or Denilson. Arshavin and Nasri are healthy, so I have to think they’ll be starting this one. If Cesc is fully fit, he’ll start. I suspect we will see him play for at least 55-60 minutes. If he’s not, we’ll probably see Rosicky in that role. But we could also see Nasri slide over from the wing, or Diaby or Wilshere there.

Up front, I think it’s just a matter of health. If van Persie is fit, he will start. If he’s not, and Bendtner is fit, then Bendtner will start. If neither of them is fit, then it will be Chamakh.

Our defense and goalkeeping situation is still very shaky and worrisome, but other than that, we’re really starting to get back to health (knock on wood), and we should have the guns to open Blackburn up and get a couple of goals against them.

We’ve had a rough last month before the break. The only game we won in March was over third-division Leyton Orient, and it saw us knocked out of two competitions and put our league chances in much worse shape. But we’re still in with a shout. We’re still in control of our own destiny. We’ve got 9 games left in the season, and we are 5 points behind Manchester United with a match in hand. I think the name of the game for April is to stay within striking distance. They’re competing in two other competitions, have some injury problems of their own, and I think they will slip up at some point. The key thing will be taking advantage of it when they do and being in a position where we can take control of the league with a win over them at the beginning of May. It should be an interesting run in, but the fact is that this is probably as easy a match as we have from here on out, so 3 points is absolutely essential.

Game is at 12:30 p.m. EST, 5:30 p.m. GMT. TV Info: In the US, live on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Deportes, in Canada live on Sportsnet 1, in the UK live on ESPN.

Let’s get out there and do it. Come on Arsenal.

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Category: Arsenal News, Blackburn, Fixtures, Premiership, Preview