West Ham Open Thread
By: Martin | October 25th, 2009London derby time. Lineups are in:
Arsenal: Starters: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Eboue, van Persie, Arshavin. Bench: Almunia, Eduardo, Nasri, Ramsey, Silvestre, Gibbs, Bendtner.
West Ham: Starters: Green, Spector, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami, Parker, Noble, Collison, Cole, Franco. Bench: Kurucz, Kovac, Faubert, Da Costa, Diamanti, Hines, Stanislas.
A couple of things worth noting. First, Mannone is, for the moment, our first-choice keeper. As I’ve said, I think this is the wrong move if Almunia is fit, but I hope he repays Wenger’s faith by keeping up his recent run of good form. Elsewhere, it’s a good sign that Wenger feels comfortable enough with the health of the players to put most of them in the first-team–Eduardo, Nasri, and Bendtner are all back in the squad, although all are on the bench. It’s hard for me to really see a scenario absent injury where Nasri or Bendtner gets on the pitch today. Could be a tough match-up, but with Sunderland and Spurs losing and Villa picking up a draw, it’s a great chance to pull away from the mid-table teams. And, of course, with Manchester United losing, it’s a great chance to close in on the top. A win today would put us 3 points behind Chelsea and 2 behind United, with the home game against Bolton in hand, and goal differential superiority to both squads. So there’s that.
Hopefully the disappointment against AZ mid-week will light a fire under the players about the dangers of taking opponents lightly and the importance of finishing games off. I can’t quite explain it, but I’ve got a feeling this is going to turn into a really tough fixture, and it may take everything we’ve got for 3 points today.
Come on Arsenal.
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