City Preview

Evening all,

Tonight's game is huge for us. It dosen't seem to be getting hyped up like our game with Chelsea was. Even some Arsenal fans seem to be taking it as just another game and reckon we should beat City with ease if we play like we did against Chelsea. But that's just the thing. Can we play like we did against Chelsea? Do the players know this game is just as big and City are equally if not more of a threat than Chelsea? I for one am very confident going into this game but I'm also wary.

City have done very well against the top sides since Mancini has taken over. I wouldn't say he's got his tactics spot on against the big teams but he certainly knows how to contain them. Last year he came to the Emirates looking for a 0-0 draw, he got it. This season they kept clean sheets against Chelsea and United at Eastlands by sitting back for the whole game and looking to hit them on the break. We have to be very careful. If we give them a sniff on goal, they will punish us. They have the quality in Johnson and Tevez to do so.

A lot of people are expecting City to come to the Emirates and make a game of it. I've seen predictions such as 3-2 and 5-3. I mean come on people. This is City we're talking about. Mancini is Italian. The Italian way is to first make sure your opponent dosen't score. Despite City being incredibly hard to break down, we're also very hard to contain as many teams have found out this season. Van Persie is finding his feet again, Nasri is on the form of his life, Fabregas appears to have overcome his injury problems and Walcott is eager to keep Arshavin out of the team. If the Arsenal team we all know show up, we could be in for a very pleasant game of football.

Here is how I expect the teams to line out beginning with ourselves of course:

Fabianski

Sagna - Djourou - Koscielny - Clichy

Fabregas - Song - Wilshere

Walcott - Van Persie - Nasri

Yes, its the same team that brushed aside Chelsea and Birmingham so I can see no reason as to why Arsene would make changes. My only worry is Djourou. That boss has, in the past voiced his concerns about the durability of his knee. We still have to be very cautious with him. Its not often he has played a game at the weekend and then again midweek but hopefully he will do this week because he has become a very important player during Vermaelen's absence. Apart from that, I'm quite confident we'll see all the others line out as listed above.

Now for the City side I assume we'll see:

Hart

Boateng - Toure - Kompany - Zabaleta

Milner - Toure - De Jong - Barry - Johnson

Tevez

Don't expect to see free flowing football from this side. Toure, Barry and De Jong will do all they can to frustrate us and that includes kicking lumps out of the likes of Cesc and Nasri. Those three will cap outside our box with Barry and Toure taking turns in aking the odd run forward to see if they can sneak a goal on the break. Some of you may be surprised to see I put Zabaleta at right back rather than Kolarov. Well anyone who watched City host Blackpool on Saturday will know why. Some average player tore gave Kolarov are a torrid time and he was hauled off before the hour mark. Defending clearly isn't his strong point and I can't see Mancini throwing him in there against Walcott tonight. Toure should return to partner Kompany despite his little bust up with Adebayor on the training ground during the week which I found highly amusing. As for the wingers, they do pose a threat but I'm pretty sure Mancini will be drilling it into them that they're first priority is to defend. Up front you have Tevez who we all know is one of the best finishers in the business but I can't see him getting much service tonight. Still, our defenders will need to be on they're toes.

Now I know a few of you have been going crazy about a tweet from Cesc yesterday when he told us not to be surprised if we saw a new player in the team. Well it was directed at Song who seems to have come up with a new funky hairstyle. As far as I know its red and looks crazy. We'll have to wait a couple of hours to see the full extent of the damage.

Aaron Ramsey is back at the club after his loan spell at Forest expired. He didn't get as many games under his belt as we would have liked due to postponements but he will continue his quest to get back to his best with us. A lot of people reckon he's going to come straight back into the squad and do miracles. Sadly, that's not the case, the boss even said today it could take him around two months before he's anywhere near his best and understandably so.

Finally, it looks as if Carlos Vela could be off to Bolton. There have been several rumours floating around regarding his future, including some saying he's set for a permanent move to Spain. Those rumours are complete nonsense. Wenger has high hopes for the Mexican and will only allow him to leave on a loan deal.

That's all for today folks. Back tomorrow with a positive match report I hope.
Till then.