Arsenal v. Man City Preview

There’s not a whole lot going on this morning folks, so I’ll just have a quick blog and be off. It’s full of the usual hyperbolic screeching and disconnected from reality musings, just packed into a smaller sphere of insanity today.

The last team to beat Arsenal in the EPL (17 games ago) come to town to face an Arsenal squad which will look nothing like the one they beat back in November — and that’s a good thing. First off, we’ve got a new captain who’s back from a 2 month layoff after suffering a knee injury that nearly ended his career from a deliberate attack by Xavi Alonso.1

That’s right kids and kittens, Cesc Fabregas is mostly ready to play and the boss is including him in the team. There’s some debate as to whether he’ll start given Arsene’s comments about him needing three games to get back to 100%. I’m firmly in the “substitute” camp but I’m always wrong about this sort of stuff so feel free to ignore me.

Similarly, Theo Walgod2 is available and ready to spread his message of love and end runs. Like Cesc, I think he’ll be used as a substitute. In fact, my gut is telling me that 10 players will come on as a sub, in the 12th minute.

Adebayor is scheduled to play and will almost certainly be the lone starter. He will headbutt Shay Givens in the 9th minute, then run over to the bench and kick Robinho in the balls (Robinho and Bellamy are question marks for tomorrow’s game). This will get him a stern ticking off from referee Andre Marriner. You remember Marriner, he refereed the Everton 1-1 Arsenal match: the one where Wenger played Diaby and Song in the middle and Denilson out wide.3

Where was I? Oh yes, Adebayor, Cesc, Walcott, and Arshavin are all healthy and ready to play. Well, Cesc, Walcott, and Arshavin are ready to play; we’re not sure if the Adebayor who’s ready to play will show up or the Adebayor who can’t be arsed will show up. I’m touching wood4 that it’s the latter former.

That’s about it, kickoff is 7am local time and the match is on Setanta. As usual, Doyle’s is showing the match live so come on down for some coffee and a sandwich and cheer on the Arsenal. The other telly will be showing Newcastle’s first completely demoralizing loss under the foolhardy Alan Shearer 8 game caretaker-ship, so if Arsenal gets boring you’ll have that disaster to watch. I’m saying Chelsea 4-1 Newcastle with Toon getting the first goal and then crumbling like a sack of relegation bound turds.

That would be a fantastic result, wouldn’t it?!?

In the mean time, if you want to see something truly fantastical check out a video of Tony Adam’s top 10 goals.

1. Hyperbolic screeching
2. Disconnected from reality
3. Hyperbolic screeching
4. True

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