The Gunners head into tomorrow’s match hoping to avoid their third loss in eight days and their second consecutive defeat at the Emirates. To say that the Gunners are in a bad spot at the moment is an understatement. The chorus of boos that rang in the stadium after last weekend’s defeat definitely does not help but every single fan has been feeling the agony of defeat once too often this season.
While I do not support the booing of the players, I understand the frustration they must be feeling because the team just isn’t playing well at all. Tomas Rosicky really hit on the head when he said that the team is so low on confidence that they are afraid to pass the ball forward. If you have watched the games recently, you would know how right he is. For many of the players it is just side or back passes and that in itself creates more problems for the defense. The second Swansea goal last weekend was testament to this fact. The lack of forward passes is also caused by the lack of movement up front. Everyone is just moving in very small spaces which makes it easy for the opposition to defend against. The fact that we lack pace up front is another concern because our attacking buildup is so slow that when we want to attack, the opposition has already set up shop in front of their goal.
I guess the first thing Arsene Wenger must do is to get the confidence back to the players. With each defeat, the confidence level falls lower and it will take something special to get back into the groove. A good win against the fourth placed side in the League currently will be a start. Another is to be brave and drop the players that have not been performing. Players like Gervinho, Ramsey and Arshavin should not be in team as long as they do not regain their form. In their place, let’s put some faith in the younger ones like Gnabry and Eisfeld.There is no harm putting the young ones to play because their seniors are not getting the job done.
As reported earlier, Arsenal will be having major injury problems with Walcott and Podolski among the players absent. Luckily for us, we have ready made replacements in Oxlade-Chamberlain and Rosicky to come into the team. I would like to see Rosicky in the center with Arteta and Wilshere while Cazorla moved into Podolski’s inside left position. I think the team would benefit from the penetration of Cazorla on the left and Rosicky’s creativity down the middle.
So for my prediction, I want to believe Arsenal will turn the corner in this match but I fear that the best result we can expect is a draw.
