A Win For Arsenal Today Should Guarantee Third Place.

Almost a week after our embarrassing defeat to Wigan the players get the chance to make amends of a sort today in the evening kick off at home to Man City. It's a huge game for both teams as City look to qualify for the Champions league and we look to cement our hold on third place in the league. Ideally I would love Arsenal to have a full strength team available today as I think our strongest team would be too good for City. Unfortunately we will have nowhere our full strength team out as Gallas, Vermaelen, Cesc and Arshavin are all definitely out and Song and RVP might not be in the starting team as they are still recovering from injuries. Added to that we have our second choice goalkeeper playing and even the first choice one isn't even particularly good.

The boss had his press conference before the game yesterday and he had a few things to say for himself. When asked about City potentially trying to sign Cesc in the summer he said that the only players available at Arsenal for anyone to sign are the ones out of contract at the end of the season. He named Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell and funnily enough they are all centre backs as is the one he forgot - Senderos. He did admit that the club are still talking to Gallas but no agreement has been reached yet. Campbell may well be staying next season too but I have never heard any talk of Silvestre being offered a new contract. I hope that he hasn't been offered a contract and I will be glad to see the back of him. I could get over the fact that he is an ex "Manure" player if he was any good but unfortunately he is so far past his best that it's scary.

Every single Arsenal fan knows that we have a severe problem in the goalkeeping department and despite the boss coming out in favour of Fabianski I would be surprised if he was our first choice next season. I would also be surprised if Almunia was our first choice keeper next season too which means that we will be buying a new keeper or Szczesny will make the step up that he already feels he is capable of. The boss said that Szczesny is a future first choice goalkeeper for Arsenal but he also said that goalkeepers at our level need some experience and you cannot only go with young goalkeepers.

Various players have been mentioned in the media all week long as potential transfer targets for Arsenal this summer. When asked about potential targets this summer the boss said  "Let's finish the season first, we do not want to go on the transfer market before a big game which we have tomorrow."He did say that he read the papers and that all the names mentioned are wrong. He wants the team to do as well as possible in the final three games of the season and that's all he's focusing on or now.

On to the game itself and our chances of getting the result we need. With our very much weakened team we will still have enough good players out there to beat City if they can show a level of desire and commitment that was missing against Wigan last week. With our chances of winning the league gone completely after only one point in our last two games our grip on third place is now not so secure either. Regardless of what happens in the early kick off between "Manure" and the Spuds we will be as good as guaranteed a top four finish if City fail to beat us and and a victory over them will make certain that they cannot catch us. 

The big worry of course is our defence with Silvestre at the heart of it and Fabianski in between the sticks. City have some very good attacking players but I think they will play a little bit on the safe side unless of course the Spuds get that win at "Manure" which would then probably force City's hand. I watched a fair deal of their game against "Manure" last week and I wasn't particularly impressed with them as they seemed very tentative at times. I hope they play the same way against us today because if they do they will be there for the taking. We have a very good home record in the league with 14 wins in 17 games and only the top two teams in the league have beaten us at home. 

The team almost picks itself with Fabianski deputising for the "injured" Almunia and a back four of Sagna, Campbell, Silvestre and Clichy. As long as Song starts he will anchor the midfield with Nasri and Diaby in front of him and the front three will probably consist of RVP, Bendtner and possibly Rosicky too. After the boss said yesterday that Song was not ready for a centre back role in the team yet it leaves us with Campbell and Silvestre as the only two fit centre backs for the rest of the season. It will be interesting to see what positions RVP and Bendtner take up if they both start today's game and I hope that Bendtner stays in the central role with RVP playing on the right as he does for his country. I also hope that Diaby has had a good talking to from the boss and he picks up the pace at which he does everything on the pitch.

I'm hoping that the players rediscover the tempo that was sadly missing last week and take the game to City. If we can get the first goal I think we will go on and win but if City score first it will be very hard to chase the game. I'm looking forward to RVP's set pieces as he should take the free kicks and corners from our right side and it's a part of our game that has not been up to scratch since he has been out. I'm predicting a 2-1 win for Arsenal in a hard fought game with RVP bagging a goal for himself. 

Speaking about the ex Arsenal players at City the boss said that he expects Vieira to get a great reception from the Arsenal fans and if Toure and Silvinho play too I'm sure they will get a good reception. Vieira was the last Arsenal captain to lift a trophy and if he plays it will hurt to see him in an opposition team at the Emirates against Arsenal. A player who won't receive that reception is the striker we sold to them and  the boss called for calm when it comes to the fans reaction to him. He wants the fans to get behind Arsenal and he also expects them all to behave properly no matter what their feelings about the player are. The boss said he has forgiven him for his antics in the away fixture back in September and he felt it was a bit unexpected from a player who Arsenal had done so much for. 

That's it for today except to say that wherever you're watching the game today I hope you enjoy it and enjoy a great victory for Arsenal. The players owe us a performance and I really hope that today is payback day.

Here's a little more of what we've being missing with RVP out of the team.

And to finish today's title track from Steel Pulse. A certain bad man will