January 9th, 2010 Emirates Stadium 10:00AM EST Arsenal TV Online/Setanta Form... Arsenal - W W D W W W Everton - L D D D D W Expected Lineups... Arsenal - 4-3-3 - Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Traore, Denilson, Nasri, Ramsey, Diaby, Arshavin, Eduardo Everton - 4-4-1-1 - Howard, Hibbert, Neill, Heitinga, Baines, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Fellaini, Pienaar, Cahill, Yakubu Ramifications... Arsenal - up to 2nd, stay at 3rd Everton - up to 10th, down to 15th
The good: we didn't lose, and Manchester United didn't win; many knocks but no injuries, it seems; Diaby continues to impress; The bad: Armand Traore was exposed repeatedly; Almunia is unreliable and unpredictable; Denilson didn't look up to it; crosses are pointless as we have no finishers up front; we gave up 2 points that might come back to hurt us later; Arshavin is still largely invisible; our team defense was appalling. Fellaini was fantastic. Wenger admitted Everton were the more dangerous team today.
How did Landon Donovan look? I was very surprised to hear that he started and was taking corners after being there for just a week.
Good work rate, made Armand Traore trip over himself a few times, but was a bit unselfish and didn't look like he really knew where to fit in. Before the game he was slotted in as second striker but at kick-off he was suddenly thrown on the right side so I'm not sure what they want from him or if he even knows. I don't think he has the makings of an impact player in the EPL but for the most part he did well today.
Sounds about right. He has the pace for England, but not the strength. On the bright side, this role confusion happened against the team that I would expect him to excell against because of their not-typically-English style of play. Hopefully that all gets squared away for him soon so getting run over is the only thing he is left wondering about.
Yes, hopefully Wenger gets this through to the players. We have to have Fabregas fit for all of these big games.
Yes, the whole team seems to transform when he gets on the pitch. It's such a shame we're missing van Persie up-front. He seems to complete our attacking plays but I still believe we can cope without him.