Ahead of our FA Cup vs Arsenal, I was contacted by a site run by fans of our opponents on Sunday. They asked me to fill in a questionnaire featuring my thoughts on how we might do, and who I believed we were afraid of when it came to threats from the team from North London.
Below are the thoughts of Jon, owner of The Marble Halls blog. Let me know what you think, and whether we should do something similar for other opponent teams going forwards. My answers to their questions can be found here.
The Opponent’s View
Looking ahead at the game, are you feeling confident?
I haven’t been confident going into any game for years. Maybe it’s just not in my nature. I’m a born pessimist. But just lately that pessimism seems well founded. You just never know what Arsenal side is going to turn up. If we’re properly up for it and have a full team out we’re capable of beating anyone (just about). Unfortunately we’re usually neither of those things.
We go into this one on the back of three straight Premier League defeats, the first time that’s happened since 2007. And while we managed a win against Leeds in the third round of the Cup in between those games it was a less than convincing victory, relying on the return of an icon to put the Championship side to the sword.
We have a long list of injury problems which is testing the squad to the very limit and Le Boss has done nothing to ease those problems in the January window so far. It’s the usual joke – you could make a pretty decent starting XI from our injury list. But we won’t be laughing when we face Villa with no recognised full backs yet again.
Villa played well against us last month and I expect them to want revenge after we nicked a result late on. I think it will be tight.
How do you expect Arsene Wenger to approach the game?
The same way he approaches every game. There’s never been a Plan B. We’ll look to play our normal passing game in the hope that Villa will get tired or bored or both. It’ll be a 4-3-3 whether that appears to be working or not and whichever way Villa choose to line up. You can count on it.
The only real question is how strong a team he puts out. This being the FA Cup he does have a tendency to rest players. Unfortunately this is our best chance of silverware this season so we may be forced to take it more seriously. Plus we’re running out of alternative options.
In your opinion, who/what should we fear the most?
Well the obvious answer of course is Robin Van Persie. If he plays he’s usually lethal. But you knew that already so I’d also mention Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Arsene Wenger has been winding the fans up a treat by showing us glimpses of his talent and then hiding him away again, but after the furore surrounding his decision to replace him with Andrei Arshavin against United on Sunday I reckon he’s due another start.
He looks extremely dangerous. Great with the ball at his feet, great balance, can go past players either way and has the kind of end product that Theo dreams of. In short a full back’s nightmare. Of course he’s young so consistency may well be an issue but if he plays, look out!
It’s also worth mentioning Alex Song. Much maligned when he first joined the club I’m not sure everyone realises what a valuable midfielder he’s become. He was out suspended when we played you last and we missed him badly. Our midfield will be much stronger with him back.
Who in the Villa side do you consider the greatest threat?
I’ve seen Stephen Ireland a couple of times this season and he seems to be turning into a very decent player but Agbonlahor always seems to do well against us so I think he’s a danger. I remember how good he looked when he first burst on to the scene and have always been surprised that he hasn’t made more of an impact in the last few years. That pace up against whoever we manage to put out at full back is always going to be a touch scary.
What about villains? Which of the Villa players do you most despise?
There’s only one candidate for me and that’s Robbie Keane. Obviously that’s mainly to do with his Spurs background but I just can’t stand the man. The moaning, the arrogance, the stupid bloody goal celebrations… Sorry, I have to go and do a quick vomit.
With the Manchester clubs, and of course your North London rivals Tottenham, occupying the top three places of the league, is the FA Cup the only chance Arsenal have of winning silverware this season?
Are you trying to make me depressed? Well, we knew there was no chance of winning the league this season when we started it by selling two of our best players and nothing’s happened since to change our minds. If Jack Wilshere comes back on form and fighting fit we have a small chance in the Champions League but that’s all it is. A very small chance. We were one ridiculous RVP red card away from knocking Barcelona out last year though so anything’s possible.
But yes, realistically the FA Cup is our only chance of winning a trophy this year. Would we rather finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League again than win the FA Cup? Most Arsenal fans are divided. On the one hand we’ll struggle to attract players and make the finances work without the CL. On the other we’re all getting mighty annoyed that according to the press our name is no longer ‘Arsenal’ but ‘Arsenal who haven’t won a trophy in the last seven years’.
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