Palace Draw & Blackpool Preview

Image Credit: Arsenal..com

Okay here we are, we all knew that the Arsenal’s winning train was going to come to a halt soon at some station soon. Later than sooner we all hoped but the gunners couldn’t make it the twelfth in a row. The tea leaves showed ominous signs, Arsenal on a purple patch, Palace yet to win or even score at the park, it was all too good to be true. Anyway, the gunners scrappy 2-2 draw at Palace wasn’t all that bad, granted we dropped two points we probably shouldn’t have but hey we don’t always get what we want now do we?

As expected Zaha was the main threat for Palace, hitting the post and dragging a couple shots off target. Palace pulled a page right out of Wengerball playbook with some sleek one-touch football Townsend really should have put the Eagles ahead at the end of the move. Their loss was Arsenals gain as he left his scoring boots back in the dressing room as Leno had already bought the dummy. The half ended with the Gunners a goal down via a penalty following Mustafi’s hack on Kouyate….again Ominous again (we have lost both games we went in down at half time). This wasn’t to be though; the gunners came back into it. Two quick fire goals from Xhaka and Auba the lucky one put the gunners in the driving seat. Arsenal couldn’t preserve the lead though, Xhaka made sure of that with his left leg sticking out leaving the referee no choice but to point to the spot for a second time in favour of the eagles…. Bummer!! A point gained, or two points dropped, take your pick. Well, I’m a glass half full kinda guy.

Moving on to the next game, Arsenal host Blackpool at the Emirates on Wednesday in a Carabao cup 4^th round meeting.  All due respect to Blackpool, the gunners has no excuse if they fail to win. Bigger team, playing at home, bigger stars. Absolutely no excuse, the bar has been raised and its up to our boys to step up to the plat by doing the needful. A win against Blackpool also gets us back on the confidence momentum run. The gunners need to show crystal palace draw was just a blip. It’s not like it was a terribly bad result, it was just not the best of results simple. The best way for Arsenal to show that is to go on and win the 4^th round match. We all know the Carabao cup hasn’t got the lustre of the EPL trophy or even the rich history of the FA cup but its still a trophy and Emery wants to win it. For all of Arsene’s achievements (which were many despite…) he never won this domestic trophy, tried as he might. 2 finals and the gunners came up short on both occasions. This is a new era, I want to believe, so lets go out there and win it by giving it our best shot. A trophy and top 4 would be a decent start to Unai Emery’s reign as Arsenal Manager. #touchwood!

Team news has the usual suspect out, Monreal kolasinac, Koscielny, El-Neny, Mavrapanos, Maitiland Niles. Bellerin joined that list during the first half at Palace, a thigh strain they say. This makes the squad light in the middle of the park and at the back. Xhaka at left back isn’t working for me, decent but definitely not something the gunners would want to persist longer than necessary. Cech is back in goal, so the gunners would likely field a similar backline to the game at Palace. Midfield should see Mikhi, Rowe and probably Ramsey combine alongside Torreira to give Guendouzi a rest. The attack choses itself with all options available for Emery to pick from. Whatever combo the manager goes with, its imperative the gunners start the game fast out of the blocks else Blackpool may grow in confidence and make life more difficult than it should for Arsenal, that won't be nice at all. Anyway, those are our thoughts, let's know yours in the comment section and also our facebook page here….do enjoy the game wherever you are….ciaooo