Standard Liege Vs Arsenal Preview: Champions League

Standard Liege vs Arsenal

Wednesday 16 September 2009,

Maurice Dufrasne - Liege

Kick-Off: 20:45 CET (19:45 UK time)

Standard Liege

Standard Liege are off to a somewhat sluggish start as they set out to defend their title for the second year running.

Through six games, Standard has won two and drawn four. The latest match, played on Saturday, was a 3-0 convincing victory over Mechelen, which might just indicate that Standard are on the move.

The young stars were on display as midfielder Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez scored a brace for the hosts, before 18-year-old French midfielder, Eliaquim Mangala, added a third to make it three in 12 minutes for Standard.

Dieumerci Mbokani, who may be remembered by Englishmen for his performance against Liverpool in qualifying of last season’s Champions League, has been in form recently. He’s now scored 31 goals in 61 appearances for Standard Liege since his move from Anderlecht in 2007.

Arsenal

Arsenal will make the trip to Belgium after receiving a crushing blow from Manchester City on Saturday.

Arsene Wenger will not want to be making any holiday plans to visit Manchester as the city has been cruel to him. His club have now lost two straight, after a high flying start to the season, both suffered in Manchester.

The match was quite even for the majority of the match, and for a large period in the second half, Arsenal were pressing to break the 1-1 deadlock. Then, with just over 15 minutes remaining, the game completely opened up after a Craig Bellamy goal made it 2-1.

Emmanuel Adebayor added a third to add insult to injury and make it 3-1 and Shaun Wright-Phillips made it three goals in 10 minutes to make it 4-1.

Tomas Rosicky brought one back in the 88th minute, but by then it was done and dusted.

Andrei Arshavin missed the match through injury and will be unavailable against Standard Liege. Theo Walcott is still out, as well.

Tomas Rosicky’s return to action is a big positive for Arsenal and to have him on the scoresheet will only boost his confidence.

Another boost came for Arsenal on Monday with the news that Eduardo will feature for the Gunners, after UEFA overturned their initial two-match ban for diving against the Croatian striker.

Prediction

Standard Liege are a team that tries to play positive, attacking football, which will come as a surprise to teams expecting an easy three points.

This won’t matter on Wednesday, though, as Arsenal’s class should outshine Standard’s in a pretty obvious light.

Standard Liege vs Arsenal Prediction: Standard 1 - Arsenal 4

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