Football is back so enough
with the political rhetoric, whether its about the crashing Naira or the rising dollar, the ground breaking Yuan or the rebounding Brexit-bruised Pound. Trump or
Hilary, Buhari and/or the Nigerian economy, league football takes center stage
this weekend so we have something interesting to savour & relish, not
some political doom or economic gloom. Besides celebrating the return of footy
weekends, we celebrate with one of Arsenals finest in Mesut “Can I assist U” Özil
who celebrates his birthday today clocking the young age of 28 years, we hope
he gets to cap his celebration with a fine brace & an two assists against them.......No penalty taking please!!
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| #Happy Birthday Özil |
Unto Arsenal, A quick fire
preview as the swans come to town. This contest pitches up the premierships
longest serving manager against the newest manager in the premier league.
Arsene Wenger who has just clocked 20 years as the gunners coach doesn’t exactly
have fond memories of Swansea, especially at the Emirates, 2 losses 1 win and 1
draw isn’t exactly something to cheer. Added to this is, back in 2001, when
Stuart Pierce was newly appointed as Nottingham forest Manager, the gunners
ended up on the losing side by a 2-1 margin, the other time Arsene Wenger met
another EPL debutante coach was in 2015 against Slaven Bilic who got his Westham side
leaving the Emirates with all 3 points via a 2 nil win. So one isn’t surprised
that Arsene Wenger has preached caution and pragmatism in the approach to this
match. Putting all these into context of timing of the international break, except
against Burnley, Arsenal has so far enjoyed a stellar Manager of the month
nomination ride of 5 consecutive league wins in terms of performance. Swansea
on the other hand got the international break at a time when they needed such
breather based on the winless streak they had been on. In fairness to Swansea their
lack of winning hasn’t been down to not churning out the right performances, cuz they have, pushing Man City and Liverpool all the way to deserve something from both matches but results are what counts. As most players just coming back from the break, I expect a cagey affair Swansea trying
not to lose in continuation of the form
that saw the end of their former coach Francesco Guidolin while arsenal will be
looking to improve on the home record against the swans. A lot has been talked
about on Bob Bradley’s appointment and what he brings to the Swans in terms of work
ethic, Organisation in defending, a lot of high pressing. Well I am hoping
those lessons haven’t yet sunk in properly and Swansea make the mistake of
allowing Arsenal to settle in their stride.If the gunners are allowed, it will be over before we even
start but that’s just me wishing, nothing personal against Bradley at all. If
the gunners can maintain that defensive discipline that has ensured the clean sheet
keeping run of 4 in a row, then we can definitely take all 3 points. It will be Cech’s
250th clean sheet in the EPL, here is hoping he too gets it in a win…..touch
wood.
All in all, it’s a match that
asks a lot of questions of Wenger’s experience, what has change, have learnt
anything since our last meeting against them which pretty much killed of any
title ambition last season. 90 minutes shall tell us a whole lot, hoping its gonna be positive. My preferred line
up sees Alexis making way for Perez as the point man in the attack, hoping his
hunger is built up and raring to go, plus the Chilean as always would only just
be returning to London Colney on thursday after playing full 90 minutes in both Chile’s
world cup qualifiers. So here is how my 4-2-3-1 line up looks
Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Oxlade, Alexis, Coquelin, Elneny
Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Oxlade, Alexis, Coquelin, Elneny
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| Swansea Line Up: Courtesy Lineup Builder.com |
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