Birmingham v Arsenal 27 March 2010 St. Andrew's Stadium 10:00PM EST Arsenal TV Online, Setanta Form... Arsenal -- W W W W W W West Ham -- W L W D L L Expected Lineups... Arsenal -- 4-5-1 -- Almunia, Eboue, Song, Silvestre, Clichy, Diaby, Fabregas, Denilson, Nasri, Arshavin, Bendtner West Ham -- 4-4-2 -- Hart, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Gardner, Bowyer, Ferguson, Fahey, McFadden, Jerome Ramifications... Arsenal -- up to 1st, stay at 3rd West Ham -- stay at 9th
Wenger is expected to run a back line of Eboue-Song-Silvestre-Clichy on Saturday and Sagna-Campbell-Vermaelen-Clichy on Wednesday if everything goes according to plan. Gallas is still a long shot to return for the CL fixture.
Bendtner still has to pass a fitness test for today's game, but Wenger has told Arsenal.com that he 'should be OK'.
Bendtner seems less optimistic about his twisted ankle but hopefully he can play. We're already a bit depleted for the match and we absolutely cannot afford to miss out on three points.
I'm not sure what the deal is with Sagna right now... Wenger seems to be favouring Eboue. Sagna has been a little inconsistent and his clearances have been wild. I don't know if it is just a matter of his form slipping or something nagging.
If we're running Song/Silvestre in the middle I think Sagna will probably start on the right, come to think of it. Better to have a more experienced defender than the offensive-minded Eboue. We'll see.
Or maybe it doesn't have to do with Sagna... It might be just because Eboue has been great the past coupe of games.
For some hellish reason Setanta has opted to show Crystal Palace v Cardiff City followed by Chelsea v Aston Villa tomorrow. SportsNet is showing Portsmouth v Tottenham. GolTV is showing Bayern vs. Stuttgart. Fox Soccer Channel is showing Pompy/Spurs as well. The ONLY channel in NA showing the game is Fox Soccer Plus but fucked if I know what that is. Guess I'm streaming tomorrow.
Birmingham could be difficult, but they seem to be losing steam down the stretch of the season. Hopefully Arsenal will be able to pick up three points and continue their climb to first.
1417: Birmingham v Arsenal line-ups: Birmingham: Hart, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Gardner, Ferguson, Bowyer, Fahey, Jerome, McFadden. Subs: Taylor, Larsson, Phillips, Benitez, Michel, Parnaby, Vignal. Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Campbell, Diaby, Clichy, Denilson, Song, Walcott, Fabregas, Rosicky, Bendtner. Subs: Fabianski, Nasri, Eduardo, Vela, Arshavin, Eboue, Traore. Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire) Diaby is playing CB... What - the - fuck?
Campbell + Diaby... bit of a surprise. If Campbell is playing today maybe Gallas really is coming back for Wednesday.