We get back to the serious business of Arsenal’s title chase this weekend as the Gunners play Bolton at the Emirates.
Arsenal Injuries
Arsenal are without Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott, who both have ankle injuries. With Nasri not fully fit yet and Bendtner still out, Arsenal are facing an early season injury crisis.
Good news is that Sebastien Squillaci, came through a reserve match recently and is ready to make his Arsenal debut against Bolton as Thomas Vermaelen (Achilles) is expected to miss the game.
Recent History
Arsenal have won their last eight games against Bolton but the Trotters took a 2-0 lead on their last visit to the Emirates in January before the Gunners stormed back to win 4-2.
Match Day Notes
- Arsenal have lost only once at home in the League in 2010.
- Arsenal have also kept seven clean sheets and conceded just one goal in their last eight Premier League games at the Emirates Stadium.
- Arsene Wenger’s side needs three goals for 1,000 in the Premier League during his tenure.
Possible Arsenal Line-Up
Arsenal (Possible, 4-3-3): Almunia; Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy; Song, Fabregas, Diaby; Rosicky, Chamakh, Arshavin.
Prediction
I expect nothing less than an Arsenal victory here as the Gunners try and keep pace with Chelsea and their easy early season schedule. Arsenal 3 Bolton 1.
What do you think the score will be?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Arsenal will trash Bolton 4 nil
Love to see Gibbs instead of Clichy and JET or Wilshere in place of Rosicky (who plays better on the left of midfield), but you’re line-up looks reasonable.
Big loss Vermaelen.
As for the score – predicting is a mug’s game. With Squillaci in there could be errors at the back. Also Bolton will hardly come to the Emirates to play open football so we’ll have to break down two banks of four and the game could get rough. It’s the kind of match-up that often ends up won by a single corner-taken header. Cahill and Davies against Chamakh and Squillaci. This is where we might really miss RVP and Vermaelen.
Still, I’d expect us to boss possession and create a bagful of chances/near misses. On paper you’d expect the scoreline to be close. Right now I’d settle for a clean sheet and see what happens at the other end. Bolton isn’t the same as Wigan or Blackpool, so a one-goal win would be nice. Remember this is a team that’s unbeaten: two home draws and an away win. (Fulham 0-0, Birmingham 2-2, West Ham 1-3).
As I say it could be a game of mistakes (penalties even) and headers and these sorts of game are a nightmare to predict.
I tink wenger rather use eboue in place of theo ahead of rosicky. I expect a lot of creativity unlike ur wat u tink.wit rosiky,vela & probably nasri i believe u’l enjoy d money used 4 tickets or tv subscription. Wit d 433 formation i xpect less goal attempts n more assists n creativity 4rm chamakh.goals 4 wingers or fab wil do
It is a complete shot in the dark, but I think it is more likely to end 2-0. With Walcott and Van Persie missing, we are lacking both that special technical skill and pace that are provided by those two players. So I tend to think we won’t score as many goals as we might have if our front line was a little stronger. But I also don’t think that Bolton have proved that they can score goals against a team or our caliber. So I think that the game will probably be more about possession than about goals. But I would love to be proved wrong by Chamakh or Fab, or even Vela, should Wenger give him the chance.