Happy New Year everybody, the Kid is finally back after much needed break over the holiday season. Didn’t catch the matches over the holiday season but it is a good feeling knowing that we managed to get 7 points from the 3 matches played over the last week. It would have been better if we had beaten Wigan but I suppose the wins over Chelsea and Birmingham made up for much of the disappointment.
We have quite often faltered when coming up against out title competitors so I hope the Chelsea results will mean that we have turned the corner with regards to playing the big teams. Today’s match against the Citizens is no doubt a big match. We certainly need a win to keep up with United at the top of the table. As Arsene said, the title is there for us to take and we need to grasp this opportunity by its horns.
After this match, we would have completed half of the fixtures against our main title rivals with only a visit to White Hart Lane and epic clash with United at the Emirates still to come. I know it is still too early to talk about title run-ins but if you look at United and Chelsea, they still have to play each other home and away which will mean either one or both will drop points.
Therefore, it is supremely important that we win this match against the Manchester City. We have shown that we can beat them with the 3-0 thrashing we gave Roberto Mancini’s side in October. The opposition are on a winning streak but I don’t think they have been playing all that well. Their victory over Blackpool was labored and they still have not found a way to play Tevez and Balotelli in the same line-up.
As for us, the win over Birmingham was impressive and I believe Arsene will stick to almost the same line-up with a few changes notably Arshavin for Walcott and Squillaci for Djourou or Koscielny. Other than that I think the team pretty much picks itself. We may have lost a couple of games at the Emirates earlier in the campaign but the victory over the Blues last time around shows we are back to the good old days at the Emirates.
Submitted by The Arsenal Kid
