So welcome to Wednesday and a very important match day for us.
We play Bayern Munich tonight at the Alianz Arena with a defeat really putting us in danger. I wouldn’t call this a must win game, more like a must not lose game.
Sigh
In terms of history, we haven’t done too badly over there. We haven’t lost in our last two games at the home of the Bavarians. We won 2-0 a couple of years ago when Giroud and then Koscielny scored and then the second time around we grabbed a draw with Podolski (who scored yesterday btw) thwacking one in at Neuer’s near post.
In terms of form, we aren’t too bad either. Barring that terrible result against Sheffield Wednesday in the league cup, we have been winning and playing relatively well. The Bavarians are mowing everything in front of them and so far we are the only blemish on their record and you reckon they’d want to put that right tonight. We surely have the form to defeat them, we’ve done it already this season, so it certainly in our locker. Remains to be seen if we do it.
The only worry is the team itself. We have been plagued by injuries ever since our win at the Emirates and you wonder if it isn’t some sort of retribution for winning the match. Like Arsene went to a medicine man and traded a bunch of injuries for an Arsenal win. That would make a good story no?
Anyways, the news is that Hector Bellerin (The Flash) isn’t going to make the game. About the state of our team, Arsene had this to say:
“The team news is that, from Saturday’s squad, we lost Bellerin, who will not be available tomorrow night. We have nobody else back, so that means he has been replaced in the squad by Jeff Reine-Adelaide.”
“We have to wait a little bit. It’s not a big problem but it’s a small groin problem.”
Courtesy Arsenal.com
So…The Jeff will be the man to take his squad place
But how about the man who takes his place in the first team Matthew Debuchy? He hasn’t inspired much confidence has he. I won’t go ahead and say he’s no good, he’s an experienced international with loads of caps for his country. He was quite good for us till injuries befell him.
Normally this wouldn’t worry me too much, but in his current form and disposition and the quality of opponent we face, we could find ourselves in some hot water. Bellerin was in charge of Douglas Costa and even for the powers of the Flash it took a bit to handle the tricky Brazilian. Against Debuchy. it doesn’t look too good does it? Debuchy isn’t the paciest player you’ll ever meet and against someone as pacey and skilful as Douglas Costa, he will be facing an uphill task.
He is who we have in that position and I back him to do well.
Beyond that, I don’t see any other changes in the starting lineup and this is another chance for Joel Campbell to shine. He could be a trump card in this game as he’s the only one in the squad with an unknown quality. The opposition don’t know enough about him to fully exploit his weaknesses. So he could do quite well for us, let’s hope he can.
If there’s any game for Alexis Sanchez to come alive and destroy, it’s this one. He has been a little quiet in recent games, let’s hope he was saving all his ‘love’ for this game.
Fingers crossed we have something to shout about ahead of the North London Derby.
COYG!!!
