Arsenal vs Cardiff City: Statistical Preview, Form Guide, Injury News & Head-To-Head

Arsenal start 2014 top of the Premier League and would guarantee themselves to remain in that position with a victory at home to Cardiff City on New Year’s Day.

The Gunners head into this fixture off of back-to-back wins over the Christmas period; 3-1 at West Ham followed by 10 victory at Newcastle. It’s less than five weeks ago since Arsenal thrashed Cardiff on their own turf.

Cardiff come into this match after squandering a late 2-0 lead at home to Sunderland to draw 2-2 last time out. That was their first point in three games and remain managerless following the dismisall of Malky Mackay a few days ago.

Form

Arsenal WWDLD

After a tough run of games that saw them face Everton then Manchester City then Chelsea, Arsenal fans have every reason to be optimistic in January when they start the month with Cardiff (home), followed by Aston Villa (away), Fulham (home) and Southampton (away). They did enough to gain a 1-0 victory at Newcastle last time out which wasn’t the easiest of fixtures so shortly after an away game at West Ham.

Theo Walcott has 4 goals in his last four Premier League starts and Olivier Giroud was able to find the back of the net over the weekend, ending his drought of 7 Arsenal appearances without a goal. The French striker will however miss this game through injury. Carlton Cole is the only player to beat Wojciech Szczęsny in Arsenal’s last three games.

Mesut Özil, Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and Kieran Gibbs have all recently added to the injury list for Arsène Wenger to deal with.

Cardiff City DLLWL

Malky Mackay had picked up just 9 points from his final 12 games before he was dismissed following a 3-0 drubbing at home by Southampton on Boxing Day. An inital result following his dismissal looked to be on the cards when they led 2-0 over bottom-of-the-league Sunderland on Saturday before conceding a stoppage time equaliser.

Steven Caulker’s been pretty solid at the back this season but goalkeeper David Marshall leads the league in most saves meaning the defence isn’t doing enough to prevent shots flying in. Jordan Mutch is joint-top scorer from midfield with 4 goals, along with striker Fraizer Campbell. Craig Noone has looked a decent threat from midfield without a great deal of final product in his few matches so far.

Cardiff have been blessed with very very injuries to deal with this season.

Head-to-head

Arsenal thrashed Cardiff City in the Welsh capital at the end of November. Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring in the first half in a game that Arsenal were in control of but did not see it off until Mathieu Flamini finished the game off in the 86th minute. Ramsey scored again in stoppage time to give the Gunners a 3-0 victory.

Premier League stats

Absentees

Arsenal
Abou Diaby (injury)
Kieran Gibbs (injury)
Olivier Giroud (injury)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (injury)
Mesut Özil (injury)
Aaron Ramsey (injury)
Yaya Sanogo (injury)

Cardiff City
Craig Bellamy

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