Arsenal vs AZ Alkmaar preview: My bet is on Eduardo to hit two + favourite line-up
I’m more than sure you all heard it by now. Gael Clichy will be out for a month and Kieran Gibbs will need to take his place this November, including of course the big game at home against Chelsea in the Premiership. Is this injury crisis a curse? I don’t know, but I’m sure it would be interesting to analyze it a little deeper as we suffer way too many injuries, many more when compared with other teams.
But anyway, Gael is not the only one, Nicklas Bendtner is also out and it’s a shame considering he did well against Liverpool and Spurs, in the few minutes he was on the pitch.
I predict an easy game for tomorrow. I wasn’t impressed by AZ when we played in Holland, it was more our mistake that helped them equalise rather than their determination, but no game should be taken lightly, right?
AZ Alkmaar
We all know they are nothing special from the game in Holland but also that they never give up. They needed a late strike from Jeremain Lens to win their last game in the Eredivisie but are still a long way from the top, trailing FC Twente by 14 points.
Favourite line-up
Now yes. This is a good time to start with Samir Nasri. It’s been a week since he was last in action and 45 minutes against AZ will be important to determine how fit he is. Of course, Kieran Gibbs will start on the left and to stand by what I said earlier this week, I would give Andrey Arshavin a rest and start with Emmanuel Eboue on the right.
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Song
Eboue – Fabregas – Diaby – Nasri
Van Persie
Tomas Rosicky is back but as always, I prefer not to see a player returning from injury starting straight away. At a later stage in the game, I would also like to see Eduardo, who will be dying to find the net after missing easy chances on Saturday. The reason why I prefer not to see his start is that I still believe he’s not 100% fit yet, but he should be fit enough to play the second half and yes, find the net twice if you ask me.
Pre-match Interviews
Arsene Wenger is determined to end first in the group and the first step to achieve that is to beat the Dutch side tomorrow evening.
The Frenchman said:
We want to finish first in the group and that will not be done on Wednesday but we can make the first step, to win and qualify.
That will be a big step but you know we were warned at Alkmaar that this team has quality, that, in my opinion, they focus highly on the Champions League.
The Gunning Hawk Coverage
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Your lineup is bollocks.
Eboue and Diaby in the same MF?
laughable.
Goons_with_guns will you stop, Who else are we going to play?
I dont rate diaby that highly but other than ramsey & sami(already on the wing) there is nobody else to play in midfield at the moment
Gunning Hawk is picking his fav line but with a bit of thought and not just shouting for Thomas, vela, wilkshere and the like
we would all have our own fantasy line up if everybody was fully fit and mature enough to play first team for the big guns but thats just not the case now, so when picking your fav line up you have to consider the sensible pick rather than the dream one
oh and eboue is class well not really but is ok for cover, will try hard, stick a foot in and sometimes come up with a good run, pass or goal!
Rant over its just i’m sick of seeing posts saying wilkshere, vela and co should be playing week in week out. The fact is they are just not ready yet! In Arsene we trust and all that
Cheers mate
Speaking of great passes, eboue’s first touch through ball to put edu through on goal last game was frkn phenomenal!
I like the line up, but I’d start edu instead of RVP and only bring robin on if we’re in trouble. The way I see it rvp needs time off while edu needs match time. It would be nice for fab to come off relatively early for one the youngens, and nasri to swap with rosicky soon after half time as well.
I agree.
I can’t imagine an Arsenal without RVP lately but you’re spot on. If Eduardo is fit to play 75-90 minutes, he should start up front.
I disagree slightly with your line up, I definitely think stick to the 4-3-3. I have this in mind
Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Eboue / Diaby – Fabregas – Song
Eduardo – RVP – Nasri
I would love to see Sami make a start, but would understand perfectly if he is rested, or given 20 at the end. As for the LB position, I think that this is a superb opportunity for young Gibbs. He was awesome against liverpool last week, for me one of our best. I think with the World cup next year he will see this as a big opportunity to impress, and forget about a certain incident last year.
I have faith that Eduardo will find form very soon, and he will return to his clinical self. I think he needs a start to do it though.
I may aswell give mine instead of just complaining
Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Nasri – Fabregas – Song
Eboue – RVP – Eduardo
Eduardo should get a go cos i too think he is clinical and just needs a goal to set him off so no better than tomorrow night, Narsi could cover him allowing us to float between 433 & 442 with eduardo getting more chance at goals
I would like to see Nasri start cos he looked sharp against Liverpool and after a weeks rest should be fine for an hour, thomas taking his place with a nice 2/3 goal lead!
It would also be nice if cesc or rvp could get a rest but i like to start strong and take them off if we are winning, also i wonder if Arsene might rest one of the CB, I hope not but the SS will need some game time in case gallas or V get the current Arsenal bug!
A little strange playing Song on the left?
I’d opt for this line-up:
Almunia
Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs
——————Song—-
——-Cesc ——Nasri———–
——Arshavin—-RvP—–Dudu
Despite Arshavin’s below-par performances lately, I’d opt for him any day over Diaby and Eboue. He seemed a little a tired, so maybe at half time replace Arshavin with Ramsey. Sammy regains Arshavin’s right wing and Ramsey plays next to Cesc.
I’m sure Gibbs will come in and this is a great oppurtunity to see him develop. Clichy may have needed a rest, he has been inconsistent of late. If we get in a pinch Vermaelen can play left back. I hope we make an example of AZ show everyone what we are made of.
almunia
sagna verma gallas gibbs
song
cesc nasri
arshavin eduardo
v.persie
nasri should be in center whit cesc because he is not goin to in perfect conditions to attack and return into the midfield.
arshavin is goin to play becuase wenger trust in him. and really he dosent need any rest because he hasn t run as diaby or song and because eboe isnt better in that position.he plays well in the defense he isnt confortable in midfield.
eduardo is fast and he win a place in the team.
sorry if i dont write well is because i dont know inglish very well.
———————almunia—————–
sagna——-gallas——-verma——-gibbs
———————-song—————-
—————cesc——-nasri—————
———arshavin———–eduardo————
———————–v.persie———————–
Hey i fully agree with the line up….edu.with Song behind the creative midfield of Nasri Cesc, eduardo n Rvp can do the finishing all supported by Arshavin.PERFECT.
i agree with your line-up, but i think we might see eduardo starting on the right. I would prefer to see ramsey start in the middle, but i agree it will probably be diaby. This would be a great game for rambo to get a start, as arsene has targeted him 15-20 starts this season.
would like to see nasri/rambo start instead of diaby with eboue/nasri on the right wing.
I would really love to see Eduardo start as if RVP gets injured we need Eduardo to be at his best and the only way we can have that is if he is starting matches and scoring goals rather than just coming in for a 5 minute cameo appearance
I would like to see merida involved at some point in this game. I would give Sagna a rest and play eboue at right back.
Let’s have Nasri and Rosicky on the wings.
Rosicky is fit so he should start.the combo of him, Cesc,AA and RVP will be enough class on the pitch.The defence should stay the same except Gibbs for Clichy. Eboue,Ramsey and Diaby will feature and Eduardo may start but I think he will be on the bench.
Full commitment required,and let’s put this to bed.
where is arshavin,is he injured also??
In my line-up?
Rested
yeah do your lineups one thing for sure is AW is full of surprises, i have a feeling today it’ going to be a shocking line up !!!!