Arsenal Will Beat Stoke Today

Saturday, 27 February 10

It seems like an eternity since Arsenal last played a game, but it's in fact only been a week. That ends today when we make the trip to Stoke for a league game that is an absolute must win game for Arsenal if we are to keep our dream of a league title alive. It's a ground where we have yet to win since Stoke's return to the Premier league last season.

We lost there in the league last season when Stoke's dirty tactics really annoyed our boss. We lost three players to injury in that 2-1 defeat but incredibly Stoke only got four yellow cards and we got one, but RVP also saw red for kicking out at their keeper after being taunted by him.

We got our revenge in the last game of last season with a 4-1 victory over them at the Emirates. The scorers for Arsenal in that game won't be repeating the feat as RVP and Diaby are both injured and the scorer of the o.g. (Beattie) is persona non gratia at Stoke theses days.

They paid us a visit this season in December and we beat them 2-0 with Arshavin and Ramsey scoring and Cesc missing a penalty. Again we will be missing one of those scorers as Arshavin is injured and it's anybody's guess if the boss will select Ramsey or not. We went to them in the fourth round of the FA Cup last month and the boss played a very much weakened side as he  had our run of games against the other top clubs to consider.

The mixture of young and old players played alright I suppose and after going 1-0 after only one minute we fought back to be level by half time. As the game entered the last quarter the boss introduced three first team players to try to win the game for us but it had the opposite effect as we went on to lose 3-1.

Fabianski was very poor for the first goal that day and Clichy and Denilson were found wanting for the other two and we will have to be a lot stronger today.

There has been a lot on the club site about Rory Delap and his long throws and how we will cope better with them this time. If we are to get the win we need we will have to do just that and the first tactic is not to put the ball out for throw ins in the danger area if it can be helped.

However, Stoke are bound to get a few of those throw ins and we have to make sure that our defenders attack the ball when it comes into our box.

The goalkeeper has to be able to decide when to come and when to stay and that's my biggest fear as Almunia never seems sure of what he's doing. We have a habit of bringing every single player back to defend when the opposition have a set piece around our area and I think we should be keeping at least one player on the halfway line to give us a chance to break quickly if we cut the ball out and also because it means Stoke will keep at least two players back to mark him. 

There is no way they will allow a one-on-one situation at the back to develop and it will probably mean one of their centre backs will stay back.

A few years ago Arsenal were masters of a tactic called the third man running and we tore teams apart with the speed of our breaks from their attacking situations against us. The idea was that the ball was played to the man on the halfway who held it up and played it back to another player who hit a first time pass to a player sprinting from our half into theirs and he ran on to face the keeper in a one-on-one situation.

That player was the third man and we had Ljungberg, Pires, and Henry doing it to the opposition at every chance they got. That sort of move should suit the likes of Walcott, Arshavin, and Vela but I can't remember when I last saw Arsenal use it. 

Back to the game and our chances of getting the win we need. Besides getting our defending right we also have to play our football when we get the chance and keep the ball for as long as possible. I would like to see Bendtner in the box when we're attacking rather than out on the wing crossing the ball into the box with nobody in there capable of winning it.

I would also like to see our players taking on defenders in the final third of the pitch and committing them to making tackles that they don't want to make. Eboue showed us how to do it last week and if we can get players to the end line and cutting the ball back it forces defenders into mistakes and creates chances for us.

We cannot over commit our defenders when we are going forward as we have a tendency to do at times and we have to have at least one centre back in defence at all times(except corners).

The full backs have to be ready to cover in the centre when it's needed and we also have to be able to make tactical fouls when it's for the good of the team. There's nothing wrong with fouling the opposition in their half if it stops them breaking quickly and if it means a player taking a yellow card well so be it. 

I'm sure Almunia will be our keeper and the back four will consist of Clichy, Campbell and Vermaelen with one of Sagna or Eboue on the right. In midfield we should see Song and Cesc for sure and the other spot should be taken by Ramsey although the boss may opt for Denilson. Bendtner will play up front with the wide positions being taken by Nasri and Rosicky more than likely although Walcott might get a start, too.

There's always a chance that the boss will play Eboue as the wide right player in front of Sagna to offer us more defensive stability. Personally I'd like to see Walcott get a chance on the left at some stage to see how well he can finish coming in from that position with the ball on his right foot and the whole of the goal open to him.

I'm predicting a 2-1 win for Arsenal with Cesc scoring one of the goals although I'm sure he will be targeted by Stoke for some of their usual strong-arm tactics. I hope the referee is strong enough to stand up to them and issue them with yellow cards when they are deserved. If he can do that I'll be surprised to see Stoke end the game with 11 players on the pitch.

On to matters other than football and on the day that Portsmouth went into administration it was announced that Arsenal made a shed load of money in the 6 months to the end of November. With Liverpool's and Manure's debt spiralling we have managed to cut our overall debt by over £100 million to a total of £203.6 million and we made a profit of £35.2 million.

That profit was of course helped by the sales of Toure and he who shall remain nameless with only Vermaelen coming in the opposite direction. Mind you all the lovely new contracts for the rest of our players must be costing a penny or two in wages and I'm sure the removal of the two of them from the wage bill has helped in that matter.

We have a shiny new stadium to play our beautiful football in and a match day income higher than any other English club as a result. The debt was reduced by sales of property in Highbury Square and with more to come there will be more money to invest in players and wages over the next two years as well as reducing our debt further and investing in the stadium and it's surrounds.

I'll be there next week to see how all that investment is shaping the stadium so far and I'll be taking plenty of pictures and putting them on my blog. I'm meeting some good friends and fellow Arsenal bloggers for a drink or two before and maybe afterwards too and I have to say I'm really looking forward to it.

As for today's game, it looks like I'll have to compromise and go out to watch the rugby at four with my wife before going on to watch Arsenal at 5.30 in the supporters club in The Strand in Bray.  I'm sure that will mean an extra few beers for me and I'm certainly not complaining about that.

With Chelsea entertaining Man City in the early kick off we can hopefully go into the game happy in the knowledge that a riled up Man City will have fought very hard for the honour of Wayne Bridge and taken some points from Chelsea. Of course City will also be looking to bounce back from their midweek FA cup exit to our opponents Stoke and hopefully that result will be of use to us as Stoke are now in the last eight of the cup and face a tough trip to Chelsea next week.

Hopefully that will be on their minds and they will put in a below par performance as we become the first team to beat them this season. That's it for today.

Here's a good tribute to our captain.

See You Tomorrow