Need win, must win

Now that our hopes of winning a trophy this season have all but vanished the best we can hope for from Saturday evenings game is that we regain some of the respect that was lost at the DW Stadium in ten minutes last Sunday.

Another outing for Arsène Wengers men resulting in anything other than victory will undo the positive steps that have been taken this season and will leave a cloud hanging over our squad as we will then have lost three games on the trot and will find ourselves in a fight for third and quite possibly fourth.

Since his arrival Roberto Mancini has often deployed 2 or more defensive minded midfielders in his team with a lack of passing nous. This in turn would lead me to think that we can expect Arsenal to again dominate possession in the middle third. That we are without Arshavin and Fabregas and only have a returning Robin van Persie you could also assume that we will continue to lack a cutting edge to utilise our possession.

It is now a well-debated argument on whether or not Theo Walcott is a winger or striker or even a top-level footballer at all. How nice it would be if someone were to pick up the baton and give Arsenal some real forward momentum. Rosicky and Diaby's current form have dipped alarmingly since the loss of Fabregas to injury. Song is not known for his exquisite passing and we can as always expect Nasri to put in a hard working shift. Bendtner will most likely be up front on his own and also have Vincent Kompany and Kolo Touré for company.

All of this would mean that we are running out of options. With Adebayor no doubt fired up to remind the Emirates crowd what they are missing since they stopped showing him some love and a rampant Carlos Tevez looking for more goals our back four, which will hopefully not include Mikael Silvestre at any stage, are likely to have their hands full. Without Eboue, Sagna or Clichy running forward and giving width at every available opportunity the onus is quickly falling to Theo to turn the tide and help keep Man City pinned back in their own half.

Were this to happen we could then use Nasri in a more forward position, take pressure off our back four and thus allow our full backs to get forward more often. With more ball in their third of the pitch Wenger might even surprise us all and hatch an alternative plan to confuse and beat the opposition. Eduardo and Carlos Vela have both endured very disappointing seasons. They have both also from time to time shown their capabilities around the opposition box when working with the help of a taller centre forward. With a transfer window just around the corner now might be a good time for them to remind Wenger that (a) they exist and (b) why it is he bought them in the first place.

I agree this might sound fanciful but imagine if Wenger actually put two wingers on the pitch and decided that we would attack as quick as we can rather than ensuring every outfield player gets a touch before someone can take a shot. Imagine if we played with two wingers AND two strikers. How refreshing it would be.

Almunia has joined the injury list and will not play for Arsenal again this season. It is almost inevitable that City will put a few high balls into the Arsenal box for Adebayor to get under. If Fabianski can galvanise himself for 90 minutes and give us an error free display then he will be on the way to resurrecting his career and our season. Confidence is key to being a top goalkeeper but it is easier said than done to rediscover it.

I hope for our sake and for the sakes of the players that they can pull this one out of the bag and head towards their summer holidays and world cup campaigns with a smile. IT wasn't so long ago that we were fighting for fourth with a real possibility of losing out. When things are going bad I always like to pick myself up with this simple mantra: At least we're not Liverpool.

User Comments

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments

Vs chelsea