Wolves vs Arsenal preview: Let’s take advantage of the Chelsea-ManU clash + favourite line-up
On a weekend when Manchester United and Chelsea will clash at Stamford Bridge and drop points – in a way or another – it’s up to Arsenal to take full advantage of this and secure all three points against struggling Wolves.
And, having lost twice at Manchester, won unconvincingly at Fulham and disappointed against West Ham, it’s time for the Gunners to put on show a confident performance away from the Emirates in what is the last game before the International break.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
The last win for Mick McCarthy’s side was in September. After that 2-1 win over Fulham at home, they failed to grab all three points in the Premiership and will therefore be hungry to get back on winning terms. I have to admit I’m yet to see them in action so I can’t go in detail on how good or bad they are. Feel free to help me in this via the comments section, of course.
Favourite line-up
For maybe the first time this season, picking the first eleven is an “easy” task. Samir Nasri confirmed he’s back and on fire with the goal against AZ, reason why I believe he’ll start on the left, with Arshavin moving on the right. Also, Arsene Wenger declared he will not rotate at the back, so I believe we’ll go out there with the following:
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Song
Arshavin – Fabregas – Diaby – Nasri
Van Persie
In the second half, Eduardo, Tomas Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey may all feature, just as they did last Wednesday. Finally, I’m told Alex Song needs to be booked to skip the away game at Sunderland and be available for Chelsea. It will therefore be interesting to see whether he’ll pick an intentional yellow.
Pre-match Interviews
Park the bus? It’s not in the intentions of Mick McCarthy and Wolves, who want to have no regrets at the end of the ninety minutes. They will attack, so hopefully it will be an open game.
He said:
I won’t be complaining on Saturday that ‘we didn’t have a go at them. I won’t be sat with a beer in my hand thinking ‘we just let them just roll us over and tickle our belly’.
I watched AZ Alkmaar at Arsenal [in the Champions League on Wednesday], who over the last few years have won their league, have been fabulous and have some great footballers.
Yet they got slapped completely when playing one up front, sitting back. They got played through, round, over, they just got mullered completely. We will try and play on the front foot.
Has the best team always turned up and won? No. I live in hope all of the time.
Arsene Wenger, on the other hand, believes November can be an important month for the Gunners, thanks to the return of Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott.
The Frenchman said:
I believe there is a period in November when you have a little more injuries than before.
But we have a special case because we have some players [coming back] who have nearly not played this season.
If you take players like Rosicky, like Walcott, like Nasri, it is a period where they can come into the team.
Nasri played against Alkmaar, it was basically his first game, Rosicky has played three games and Walcott has basically not played this year.
The Gunning Hawk Coverage
As always, tune in for team line-ups, streaming links, half time and full time reports, post-match thoughts, video highlights and what the press is writing. And of course, do contribute if you want to by making use of the comment box available at the bottom of the post as it’s always nice to hear your opinion. And as a final note, if you want to go one step further than just leaving a comment and want to have your articles published on our website, take a look here for more information.
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Perfect oppurtunity to gain some points on the leaders !
I said we’ll be leaders when we face Chelsea, and still believe it
amen brother!
oh man… that rilly sucks with song if he misses either sunderland or chelsea…both games are very hard… luckly denilson will begin training after the first week of international break…hope theo will be fit for chelsea too… if we pass the next 3 games with at least 7 points i can bet that this season the trophy will be ours!
Diaby on fire?
According to the article, Samir Nasri is
I would prefer Wenger to rest Arshavin and start with Rosicky and Nasri out wide and i have a feeling he wont start with Arshavin but Rosicky and quite frankly i hope he does that coz we need Arshavin Fresh for the Sunderland game coz that game will be a tough one as witnessed from Man Utd’s visit there.
Agreed, Arshavin should be rested, he’s looked knackered lately.
If Tomas is fit to start, then I also agree, although Andrey looked very lively last Wednesday.
It will be interesting to see us play without Song when that day comes. We’ve been able to withstand the injuries we’ve faced as luckily they have hit in places we have great depth. It’s the Gallas-Vermaelen-Song-Fabregas group (and now you can probably add Van Persie to that group) that we cannot afford a long term injury from. If we were to miss Song at this point I would think Wenger would put Ramsey there first, but can also try Nasri or Rosicky. Eventually Denilson will be back, but I dread the day of a Denilson-Diaby partnership.
I am glad to hear McCarthy say they’ll try and play us more straight up. Should be an open game. If we can just get through November within shooting distance of Chelsea and start to get players back I think we will be in great shape heading into the winter with the absences they will face (Drogba and Essien).
Chris thanx for the preview am alwayz lookin forward to reading your articles. Lads believe me Song is the unsung hero of this free scoring Arsenal side it would be devastating not to see Song in the Chelsea clash so he must do wat he has to do in order to be available in that game another great chance to cut the lead of the top two this is how titles are won so am keeping the faith.
As 4 us we will only loose Eboue and Song while chelsea will lose Drogba,Essien and Kalou.Now thts where Man utd have the edge over both team coz they wont lose anyone to ACN.People as you may have noticed Craig Eastmond is in our travelling team.I think Wenger Wants to start Moulding him early enough to take up Song’s place during the ACN.For the sake of Arsenal i hope Cameroon dont go far in the competition because last time song played in that competition he came back with an injury that sidelined him for one and a half months (I stand corrected).That said i would like to wish the team the best of luck against wolves.Again i still insist that Nasri will be the one to make the difference for us in the coming weeks.
I think arshavin should be deployed on the right wing before Walcott prove himself. If you watched our last game closely, arshavin played more on the right and gave the second half assists from the right. I will like to see nasri play today. We can’t settle for anything other than a WIN.
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Rosicky & Eduardo to start, Arshavin & Nasri to be rested …
Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs
Fabregas-Song-Diaby
Rosicky-Van Persie-Eduardo
I would like to see Nasri play in for Diaby … though I understand that wont happen
I hope for a comfortable 3-0 with Edu bagging a brace & Rosicky hitting the third
I’ ve heard that van nistelrooy wants to leave from real and arsenal is interested…
lemme guess
such crap comes from:
a. tribalfootball
b. goal.com
c. justarsenal
d. dailymail
did i guess?
Manuel, let’s try not to mention websites by name in the future, it’s not very “elegant”.
Thank you.
no…i’ve saw this in my local sport newspaper… I’m from romania… it’s just a rumour but I found it interesting to mention it…
and if arsenal must buy someone i don’t think that will be an offensive player cause we are full…my opinion is a gk,dc or dfm…
There is no such thing as an easy game in the Pl, so Wolves shouldn’t be under estimated.having said that they have only once kept a clean sheet and we are oozing class and confidence at the moment and I fully expect us to win.Interesting Eastmond has travelled. I never predict line ups,but I don’t foresee many changes from last Wednesday.
……………………………………………..Almunia……………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………..Gallas………………………..Vermaelen………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……….Sagna………………………………Song………………………………..Gibbs…….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………….Diaby……………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………….Nasri……………..Fabregas………….Arshavin…………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………Van Persie………………………………………….
Subs
Mannone
Senderos
Eastmond
Eboue
Ramsey
Rosicky
Eduardo
in the library and eager to get home to watch the match,though its in 75 mins time
some hard thumping of the wolves today will do. someone for a hat trick today 