Arsenal - Wigan Athletic Match Preview

Hopefully today will see a return to winning ways. Yes I know we won on Wednesday, but that doesn't count. I mean a nice win that was earned out of playing well, outplaying the opposition, and not letting in stupid goals. Arguably we have been the better team in every game this season, however the last 3 have seen us concede sloppily where quite clearly we should have dealt better. One excuse, albeit an exceptionally weak on, could be to say that we were away in those 3 matches. This excuse will not stand today. We are at home for the first time since the 26th of last month. The fact we are at home will hopefully mean Wenger will put out a slightly offensively minded and exciting first eleven.

There are still copious injuries. Walcott, Arshavin and Vela are 'days away', but will all miss out today. I find it slightly worrying that Wenger has been saying Walcott is 'days away' since the Man Utd match, but I hope that is more down to our Boss' notoriously bad judgement on sideline length rather than the injury itself being one of those nasty recurring ones. Denilson continues to be out, although again this is said to be for only a brief stint. Apparently Almunia is recovering from his illness but isn't match fit(?!) so he won't feature either, but should be back soon. Other than these, Fabianski, Djourou and Nasri are the ones we've got used to seeing on the sideline, and should expect to stay there for some while longer. Fran Merida is also unavailable, and annoyingly will be unavailable for the Carling Cup match on tuesday, because he's off to meet up with the Spain squad for the Euro Under 20s tournament. The most pointless international tournament in football, including the Confederations Cup. There are both an U19s and an U21s tournament (incidently both of which are more prestigious) so why on earth should there be an U20s? Merida's absence made even more ridiculous by the fact that only a few months ago, he competed in the Euro U19s tournament. Give the poor lad a break. With all these 'rising star' tournaments, he'll struggle to ever get into his squad's first team.

I've decided today, instead of predicting what the starting XI will be, I will choose what I want it to be. And, what I think will work best. As stated earlier, the fact we're at home, coupled with the fact that we've been the better team in all our away matches, I've gone for an attacking side that'll hopefully rip Wigan to shreds.

Mannone

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Gibbs

Song

Fabregas (c) Rosicky

v.Persie Bendtner Eduardo

Now the first thing that may stand out to you is the inclusion of Gibbs rather than Clichy. I felt that Clichy played so utterly dreadfully on Wednesday (the worst I think I've ever seen him play) and to be honest hasn't been that great since I don't know when, the inclusion of Gibbs should give him a right kick up his posterior. And what better game to include young Gibbsy, than a home game against a team who are clearly weaker than we are.

Secondly, you'll notice there's no Diaby. Yes, I can hear you cheering, but remember this is only my fantasy XI from who we've got available, not who I think will actually play. Regrettably I think Diaby will play. Maybe either instead of the potentially not match fit Rosicky, or maybe the recovering van Persie. Wenger will see Diaby's assist on Wednesday and applaud him for it, but conveniently miss everything else he did in that match, and thus reward him with a start against Wigan.

Lastly, I have van Persie and Bendtner on the same team, but this time Nik B playing in the centre. Bendtner's massive frame will do well against the likes of Bramble, and this way we should see a return to what seemed to be the weekly delight of RvP cutting in off the right and whipping in a ferocious curling left footed effort into the far corner. However, should RvP start (and there's no knowing, as he has only just been passed fit), Nik B will surely play on the right of the front 3.

Well that's all. Let's hope Wenger's comment of 'the Liege match will underline our season' was only for the press, and in reality he gave the players a right old bollocking after the match. A nice fired up team, wanting to score loads, but keeping a clean sheet will be much appreciated. I think Gooners deserve it after what we've been put through these last 3 weeks.

All that's left to say is check out the Guardian football page where they've predicted Arsenal's starting XI (they've gone for a 4-4-2), and also what now seems like the weekly link to Dara O'Briain's column.

Right, here's to a 4-0 win Gooners.