The Game

Many would say the timing of today’s game is perfect as we want to quickly forget what happened last Saturday against West Bromwich Albion.

In a way it is, but last weekend’s defeat should not be forgotten but analysed over and over again, something which hopefully our squad did before leaving for Serbia. Today is a strange game, we all know Chelsea is a much bigger game but at the same time we expect our lads to bounce back from Saturday’s horrible performance.

Lukasz Fabianski will start in goal as that is one of the hints Arsene dropped in his press conference, which I’m afraid means our hearts will skip a heartbeat every time the local side will push forward and approach our final third. Let’s just hope we see no big mistakes from him as I’m afraid that would be the end for him as an Arsenal player and I don’t want that to happen, not yet at least.

And, until you wait for kick-off, make sure to check what Arsene Wenger had to say about Lukasz Fabianski and what are Cesc Fabregas’ chances of recovering for Sunday’s game against Chelsea.

As always, please do join the discussion in our chat room which will also be active after the full time whistle. You will be glad to know that from this season, to provide a better chat experience to our readers, users can be banned if they post offensive comments.

Streaming Links

For those who don’t know where to watch the game, maybe we can help, follow this link for streaming options. Links are updated before and during the match.

The Line-Ups

Partizan Belgrade

Stojkovic, Stevanovic, Marko Jovanovic, Krstajic, Lazevski, Tomic, Medo, Petrovic, Sasa Ilic, Boya, Cleo

Subs: Zivkovic, Stankovic, Savic, Bogunovic, Kizito, Iliev, Smiljanic

Arsenal

Fabianski, Sagna, Djourou, Squillaci, Gibbs, Rosicky, Denilson, Song, Arshavin, Wilshere, Chamakh

Subs: Szczesny, Koscielny, Nasri, Vela, Clichy, Eboue, Lansbury

Half-Time Thoughts and Analysis

Let’s face it, the first half was not as bad as one would have predicted before the game, that is, I expect the home side to be more dominant but we showed good things.

It seems Andrey Arshavin decided to finally show how important he can be to us and together with Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, he was one of the best players in these first 45 minutes. Unfortunately, Alex Song and Johan Djourou are having a nightmare out there with the Cameroon International failing in almost everything he’s trying tonight.

All in all the result is a good one, if it stands. I’m not sure why Denilson opted to block the ball with his arm in our penalty area, I believe only he knows.

At half time, it’s Partizan one, Arsenal one.