Jan 03
Match Preview: Arsenal v Plymouth Argyle (FA Cup)
Arsenal come into this match with the aim to qualify for the fourth round of the FA Cup by beating lower league opposition in the form of Plymouth Argyle when they meet at The Emirates Stadium.
For the record, under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal are unbeaten against teams outside the Premier League with their last FA Cup upset coming against Sheffield United way back in January 1996.
As for Plymouth, last season they were beaten by eventual winners Portsmouth and the season before they managed to reached the last eight of the competition.
However, they do not have a good record against teams from the top flight is not impressive with their last win coming against West Brom in the fifth round way back in 1984.
Arsene Wenger is likely to field a strong side here instead of a young side and that could mean Emmanuel Adebayor will start upfront since he did not feature in the high scoring 2-2 draw with Aston Villa as he was suspended.
Adebayor had Nicklas Bendtner as his striking partner for Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Portsmouth and they are likely to be retained although Robin van Persie could see action at some stage of the match. The likes of Eduardo or Carlos Vela could also be brought on if Wenger wants to give them a feel of the FA Cup.
Wenger could also give a rare start to Jack Wilshere who is a youngster in the team. However, the likes of Gavin Hoyte and Jay Simpson will not be available after they have been loaned out to Watford and West Brom respectively.
Norwegian defender Havard Nordtveit has returned to Arsenal after a poor loan spell with Spanish outfit Salamanca and he could find himself in Arsenal’s starting line up if Arsene Wenger decides to throw him on and rest his first choice defenders.
The likes of Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky all remain long-term casualties for Wenger while Denilson and Kolo Toure are unlikely to start this match after just recovering from small knocks.
Gooner Talk’s Predicted Starting XI
Fabianski (c)
Sagna – Gallas – Silvestre – Clichy
Eboue – Ramsey – Diaby – Wilshere
Adebayor – Bendtner
Match Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Plymouth Argyle – A comfortable outing for a mixture of fringe and first team players.
Gooner Streams will provide live stream links of this Premier League clash on GoonerStreams.com. Post-match highlights will be avaliable at midnight on Gooner Talk for those of you who were unable to watch the game.
Leave your views and predictions of today’s game – which kicks off at 15:00 BST time – in the comments section below.
I hope its the CC midfield and strike partnership with experience defence, otherwise Wenger should let them go on loan, they need games.
your predicted team looks good but i think vela may play on the left wing instead of Wilshere as vela has played and doen well there before.
you got any news on transfer mainly arshavin?
I just have a feeling Wilshere will start.
And no I haven’t, mate.
can i point out that in your transfer table you made a mistake as Amaury Bischoff came from werder breman not stutgart, i know it’s not really important but just thought id point it out
Yep, I didn’t put it on the site, thanks for correcting it.
i very much hope wilshere starts. arsene should let him loose in a game where he’s surrounded by seniors and whoever we play we should win anyway. i get the feeling once he’s started a few games he’s going to be difficult to drop (especially given current injuries!). cesc started at 16 and a half, so why not wilshere at 17?
do you really think Fabianski will captain the side even with clichy,gallas,eboue and adebayor all starting?
Yep, none of those have ever captained the side before other than Gallas – and he certainly won’t be skipper again.
Whats the deal with Dudu’s hamstring problem?
really im sure clichy has captained the side before and he was a contender for the captaincy after gallas was stripped
Clichy was captain a couple of times during pre-season and Fabianski played in those matches.
dudu pulled it when he was playing for the reserves but i dont think it was that serious
Eduardo article here – http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-eduardo-will-not-face-plymouth
I was talking about competitive matches, not pre-season friendlies.
Ah right, gotcha Chris. Thought you were talking about in general.
Gooner chris i know this is off topic but what do you think would have to happen for arsene wenger who lose his job, dont think i want him out of cource i dont i think he is a genius and is the best thing to ever happen to this club but he does seem to have more job secruity than anyone in world football and can seemly do anything without any risk of losing his job which isnt such a good thing
I think his job is safe for at least another season. The board seem happy with him and so do the majority of fans.
I’d like to see him stay on a couple more seasons, and if we don’t claim any silverware, maybe his time has come.
We must win. And I hope Nordtveit will play.
Gooner Chris, how long do you think it will be till Wilshere starts a game or 2 in the premier league?
RvP is the captain against plymouth
thanks for the stream gooner chris
when nasri hit the bar at the end i was so frustrated..his performance deserved a goal and i think that at home at least he should play in the middle because he was brilliant there today
Nasri was very good… De deserves a goal… against AS ROMA
heres some news
Rosina a Gooner? ‘No comment’
Saturday 3 January, 2009
Agent Beppe Bozzo revealed Simone Perrotta’s Lyon interest was all paper talk, but hinted Arsenal are close to Alessandro Rosina.
After Christmas there were reports that Roma star Perrotta was targeted by Olympique Lyonnais to join fellow 2006 World Cup winner Fabio Grosso.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone,” agent Bozzo told Goal.com. “Perrotta is very happy at Roma and intends to end his career at that club.”
However, the representative was less than categorical when asked about reports that Torino are ready to sell Rosina to Arsenal in January.
“I’d prefer not to comment on that,” was his only response.
What u think bout that chris
what we’ve seen of Nasri so far is just 60 percent of that guy’s quality Ive seen alot of Nasri when he was at Marseille and i always rated him very highly but he needs to play in the middle even when he first came to Arsenal and Wenger put him on the left side i new straight away he will struggle to show his real quality. When that guy plays in the middle and when hes at his best its honestly like watching Zidane the two are very similar but only when Nasri plays in his preferred position
Rosina looks top class very skillful player, definitely can see why hes earn that Brazilian name. For a Italian player hes got that Brazilian flare to hes game hes very strong and quick with a great eye for goal and a very good passer of the ball.he would be a great signing
Nasri’s quality at Marsielle was crazy, once he gets his position in the middle he will show off what hes all about, played fantastic today never the less.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1104793/Wenger-Russian-rift-Arsenal-board-Arshavin.html?ITO=1490
what do you think about the Dailymail article, chris?
Does it is a reliable source?
Or just speculation as always cause we didnt sign someone yet?
I knew Arsenal didn’t bid £20 million for him, my sources told me that it was around the £13-14m mark.
It’s a shame, but I can’t see Wenger pushing the bid up.
so lets get Rosina. Much younger and cheaper I think he would fit brillantly. For me I would prefer Arteta or Rosina over Arshavin. He will be to expensive and we need a holding midfielder, too. Narsi was just great. In the middle of park he plays much more effective.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/116498/IRELAND-IS-TOP-GUNNER.html
would be not so bad I think
I think rubbish rumours !!
The paper also wrote Walcott is disappointed