[Archived] Arsenal V Blackburn Rovers

[JAL]

Best thing to do Arsenal is pack the middle of the park and force them to go wide.

Then make sure your set pieces are spot on.

Therefore no room for Pedersen.

If the Centre-backs are fit play them all. 3 Centre mids and 2 full-backs. 2 up front. 5-3-2 then??

I'll be interested to see out approach after Sam "threw" the games against last seasons top 4.

If we aren't even willing to try to get any points against these we will struggle badly all season. Lets try to get to 30 minutes at 0-0 and at least kick a few in the air.

Seems decent, agree regarding Pedersen.

Dunny on Fabregas, NZonzi on Arshavin, and this were it might fall down Keef on Song, win these three battles and Rovers are on for it. Easier said than done you create your own luck in this game can Rovers.

[m. waddington]

have some optimism lads. surely as blackburn fans u should go into every game believing that we can nick a win- i do anyway or else i wouldnt be making the long journey down to london.

[Alan75]

have some optimism lads. surely as blackburn fans u should go into every game believing that we can nick a win- i do anyway or else i wouldnt be making the long journey down to london.

Rovers fans have optimism removed at birth

[gumboots]

Rovers fans have optimism removed at birth

Until recently we did genuinely feel that we could at least make a game of playing any team. Even when we got beat we always felt that the opposition would know they'd had to win the points rather than be gifted them. The problem is it's no longer like that. We don't seem to have the "bully boys" who loved nothing better than bruising a few southern softies or the skill on the ball to conjure our own bit of magic. It means there is very little room for optimism. We all still hope for the upset but we know that it's increasingly unlikely. And Arsenal in particular seem to be the team that really undoes us. We always let van Persie score. So that's one goal we are always chasing to start with. Then we seem to turn into gibbering wrecks at the sight of Fabregas and let him walk through our fragile midfield. Hope for a point but very much feel it will be a tonking.

[Paul Mellelieu]

A huge loss.

[cletus]

I`m not confident at all today.

Hopefully we wont get a tonking of Bumley proportions.

Just keep the score down lads & hope to knick a draw

[jonv]

Rovers are 13/1 outsiders for the win. Have not seen such a figure in quite some time

[Inta Beaver]

Rovers are 13/1 outsiders for the win. Have not seen such a figure in quite some time

Bet365 is 14/1!! I've put a massive £2 on! Come on Rovers

[sweet]

I just want a good performance, if we lose, then fair enough - as long as we don't lay down and die. Hopefully we can keep it to just a one goal difference, we can take heart from that at least.

[Plastic Head]

Just noticed our record at the Emirates is 2 goals for and 12 against.

4-1 on average then......?

[thenodrog]

Hey all you doom merchants please rem that the best thing about football is it's unpredictability. Lighten up will you and rem in the world of football absolutely anything can happen.

The only truly predictable things today are that

a. it will go dark this evening.

b. we will see a full moon.

c. the earth will continue to spin on it's axis

and

d. Bloody RVP will score.

[Mike Graham]

what are the odds we will be 1-v-0 down inside 5 minutes?

[grizfoot]

For the life of me I can't see us getitng anything from this game. The only thing we've got in our favour is that Big Sam has rattled Wenger in the past when he was as Notlob.

What I would like to see is an improved performance on last year's sorid attempts against the 'big four'. I'm going for 3-1 Arsenal, Van Persie hat-trick and Diouf for us.

[modes98]

what are the odds we will be 1-v-0 down inside 5 minutes?

We normally don't last that long do we?

Hate playing Arsenal thesedays RvP will score if he plays, always does against us.

[Blueandwhitemike]

Obviously it will be a tough game, but we do have a chance, especially with their two cantre backs being only just 6 foot, and we might have 3 players of at least 6ft4 with Di Santo, Samba and Nzonzi so if Dunny can get the ball occasionally and he can draw some free kicks, we'll get chances.

[gumboots]

Obviously it will be a tough game, but we do have a chance, especially with their two cantre backs being only just 6 foot, and we might have 3 players of at least 6ft4 with Di Santo, Samba and Nzonzi so if Dunny can get the ball occasionally and he can draw some free kicks, we'll get chances.

Unfortunately it's hard to remember the last time one of our strikers took one.

[67splitscreen]

Samba and Nelson out. Oh poo.

ROVERS: Robinson ©, Jacobsen, Chimbonda, Givet, Olsson, Emerton, Andrews, Nzonzi, Diouf, Dunn, Di Santo.

Subs: Brown (GK), McCarthy, Pedersen, Kalinic, Hoilett, Salgado, Jones.

[hollowsr]

Oh dear no Nelsen or Samba

Robinson, Jacobsen, Givet, Chimbonda, Olsson, Emerton, Andrews, NZonzi, Diouf, Dunn, Di Santo

Bench: Brown, McCarthy, Kalinic, Junior, Salgado, Jones, Pedersen

Still no Reid???

[Blueandwhitemike]

Oh dear, Nelsen and Samba out and Olsson in, even my optimism is fading

[Bobby G]

We're done. Olsson at left back and Chimbonda in the middle. Andrews back in...

Arsenal to win 3-0.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Looking at that defence + andrews we might see a higher score than 3-0.

[den]

Yep, that defence is a worry, particularly Olssen. It will take a miracle to keep Arsenal at bay.

[LeChuck]

I'm going to stick my neck on the line and predict that Givet and Chimbonda at centre back could be a blessing in disguise...Arsenal pose no threat in the air so two centre backs more comfortable on the ground could work to our advantage.

I'd be terrified if Walcott was on the right wing against Olsson, but as it is they don't seem to have put out a right winger so we might just get away with that. Andrews and N'Zonzi is a weak midfield partnership though.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Delighted that Roberts and Pedersen are out. Good to see Emerton and Di Santo remain. Andrews/Olsson and Chimbonda in CB however could spell disaster. Olsson esp. Couldnt handle Lennon 12 months ago, doubt he's going to be able to cope with Arshavin. This could get very very messy.

[Plastic Head]

Samba and Nelson out. Oh poo.

ROVERS: Robinson ©, Jacobsen, Chimbonda, Givet, Olsson, Emerton, Andrews, Nzonzi, Diouf, Dunn, Di Santo.

Subs: Brown (GK), McCarthy, Pedersen, Kalinic, Hoilett, Salgado, Jones.

An extremely dull, unadventurious selection. We have to do something different against the better teams. If they know how we will play them they will be confident to play their own game and beat us.

The fact that Ollson is selected above Salgado is frightening when you consider his wages.

Also scary is the fact that no-one is thought to be a better option than out most expensive player.

5-0 i'm afraid. Hope i'm wrong but can't see it.