Braga Preview

Good afternoon readers,
Well Tuesday has come before I knew, it feels like only yesterday we crumbled at the hands of the yids. I haven't really been focusing on this game much in the past few days mainly because of Saturday's painful unexplainable defeat. It's proving very difficult to get that game out of the system and we it probably won't completely leave until we obtain revenge but for now we have a much bigger job to do in terms of domestic and Champions League games.

It's Braga tonight as you might have guessed and the players cannot afford to dwell on the Spurs game any longer. Let the past be the past, there's nothing we can do about it now as much as it pains me to say. There are 3 crucial points up for grabs tonight and if we take them back to North London it will ease some of the recent pain. We have never won in Portugal but records are there to be broken and this is as good a chance as we're going to get in my opinion. Braga are a side of 11 average players who work extremely hard for one another which pays off. Thats why they are in this competition, hard work and determination so perhaps our players could take a tip or two from them. Hopefully they don't show us what we're missing tonight but we should have too much quality for them in the end. That dosen't mean it's going to be a stroll in the park, it means if we give our all then class will tell unless we are struck my a severe does of hard luck.

The team news isn't as positive as we might have liked. Clichy, Arshavin and Van Persie haven't travelled with the squad. Gael is thought to have picked up a back problem, Arshavin is being rested and Robin is staying in London so he can work on his fitness for three days solid instead of coming all the way out to Portugal and then only playing a handfull of minutes. It's sensible work on Arsene's part to be fair. Chamakh is in the squad but I reckon he will be rested because he has played a lot of football lately and Bendtner can come in and be just as effective. Arsene said he would wait until this morning to see how Cesc is, no word on that yet. Heres how I think we'll line out:

Fabianski

Sagna - Squillaci - Koscielny - Gibbs

Rosicky - Song - Wilshere

Walcott - Bendtner - Nasri

That's a pretty strong looking line-up. Should Cesc not come true I think Rosicky deserves a start, he is one of our hard working players and will be handy in a tricky game like this. I'm also expecting to see Jack, he hasn't played since the Everton game so he should be welcomed back in. Walcott has had to be patient and sit on the bench recently because of Arshavin but he will probably get a chance tonight and like Bendtner he has to take every opportunity he gets to shine.

This is a bigger game than some might think. A defeat and the media will begin to stir all sorts of bullshit claiming we're in a crisis and so on. It is happening to Chelsea at the moment, lose a few games and Ancelotti is supposedly on the brink of leaving. It's a crazy world we live in but lets not give the sly cunts any reason to write such crap. A win would guarantee us qualification, put us in a great position to finish top of the group and go a small way to easing the anger and pain that came with Saturday's defeat. I think I speak for everyone in saying I expect a backlash from the team.

In other news and the Arsenal reserves are also in action today as they take on Wolves. In fact they are playing as I'm writing this blog, Aaron Ramsey put in a good shift and came off at half-time, he's still finding his feet but it is progress. Manuel Almunia has started in goal and has done nothing wrong as of yet as the scoreline is currently 0-0.

Elsewhere Wenger has spoken about this years title race being the most open yet since he took charge. I'm not sure if it will remain that way, it's far too early to tell but nobody has made a real statement yet that they will lead the way. When Chelsea pick up a few injuries their squad suddenly looks depleted. United although unbeaten have drawn far too many games andyou know the story with ourselves.

He also said in his press conference that he thought our centre-backs had a good game on Saturday. Some people will read this and question whether or not he is high but they should really think about it. I know everyone tends to try and pick the bones out of every player's performance when things aren't going right but fans like myself will always look for the positives and so does Arsene. Think about it, was the defence at fault for any of the goals? The first was due to poor covering from the full-backs and Denilson while Kos and the Squid went forward, the second goal was courtesy of a moment of madness from Cesc and the winner came about from poor marking by Van Persie. I'm sick of people yelling critisism at each player without being able to back it up, some fans are just as fickle as the media it's such a shame to see. Denilson was the victim of a barracade of abusive comments on Twitter the other night. In my opinion Denny was one of our better players Saturday. I don't enjoy picking out individual performances after a defeat. We win together so we'll lose together. To be fair there are quite a few of you out there who have never lost faith in this team and it is great to see.

Speaking of Denilson he has welcomed the competition within the squad. Himself and Wilshere have been battling it out recently for that final spot amongst the midfield trio. Both have impressed me lately but they will have incredibly stiff competition for places as the season goes on as Ramsey and Diaby close on returns to action aswell as Rosicky's presence. Hopefully it will bring out the best in every player.

Finally for today it has been confirmed that Henri Lansbury has joined Norwich City on a 28-day emergency loan. Personally I think he is capable of playing at a much higher level but it is only for this month and hopefully he catches Wenger's eye while out there.

Thats about it for today, a great night lies ahead...I hope.
Till next time.