Everton arrive at The Emirates this afternoon knowing that a point will secure them European football next season following Aston Villa succumbing to Wigan yesterday. With that in mind, it will be no surprise if they string five across the midfield in an attempt to secure a repeat of last season’s draw at The Emirates.
In this morning’s Observer, they produced a raft of statistics that showed the various top passers, scorers, etc., by team and individual. It is no surprise to read that United had the most shots on goal both on and off target. What might surprise people is that Adebayor is marginally more accurate than Ronaldo, Arsenal are only just shy of United in shot conversion.
What is evident though is emphasising everything you knew about Arsenal; five of the top ten passers are from the club with Fabregas, Clichy and Flamini occupying the top three slot, Hleb at five and Sagna ten. That he has been offered a new contract already by the club is good news on two fronts. Firstly, it is recognition of his season. He has been so consistent that at times it is difficult to remember this is his debut season for the club. More importantly though is the fact that the club are being proactive in retaining the services of key players. This is a change from recent seasons when they have tended to focus on the top names. It needs to be more focussed on the whole of the squad, not just the relative few.
Back to the stats. They give the overall impression that United pose more of a threat to the opposition, rightly or wrongly. It also creates an impression that United put opponents under more pressure. They are the top tacklers in the country, Arsenal not registering in the top six. They have scored more and conceded least. Most of this will be derived from their home form; United have been pretty much phenomenal at Old Trafford, dropping just five points all season. The Emirates has yet to inspire capitulation in the same way Old Trafford does. An undefeated season would help that but there is still a perception that Arsenal can be blocked out in a way that United do not allow opponents to. That will improve over time but it is a slow process.
Arsene yesterday moved to quash speculation about Alex Hleb’s future stating that he was not for sale. As rebuttals go, it was not convincing simply for the fact that if Hleb does decide to leave then it will be his decision not the clubs, using the provisions of FIFA Article 17. Nothing that Arsenal can do about it yet it is worth provoking the player into a response by perhaps starting contract negotiations. Any reluctance upon Hleb’s part should be viewed with suspicion in those circumstances. Yet we all assume that Wenger wants to keep him. Perhaps a more accurate reflection might be that he wants to keep him right now.
One area of doubt has to be the lack of goals. For all of the appreciation I have of him as player, and he is hugely talented, I do wonder if he has reached his plateau? It seemed at the start of this season he might have addressed the issue but he slipped back into old habits of spurning shots to pass to a team-mate. Hleb freely admits that this stems from his youth when it was drilled into him that he had to “pass, pass, pass” but he needs to free himself from those mental shackles if he is to improve his performance level. Undoubtedly he has been destabilised by his ice cream in Milan but the question yet to be answered is that why a happy player would have attended such a meeting in the first place? He had to be unsettled to even consider it given the situation surrounding his tutti-frutti.
Back to Everton. There seems little room for Arsenal to juggle the squad. Fabianski ought to continue in goal, it is all good experience. Denilson in the centre of midfield will find Everton a different kettle of fish to woeful Derby. However if he is to develop into the player that he has the potential to then this is the sort of game where he has to learn to impose himself upon. The only possible experimentation would be to put him on the left, Gilberto in the centre and Walcott as support striker to Adebayor, dropping Bendtner to the bench. There seems little point in that to me but you never know what weaknesses Arsene has seen until the match unfolds.
Apologies for the lack of links to The Observer article but this is being typed in a well-known coffeehouse on the way to the game and with their charges for the twenty minutes I have for typing, it is pushing it a bit. Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it. ’til Tomorrow.
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Tags: Arsenal, Everton, Football, Premier League, Soccer, Transfer Gossip
kind of difficult but who knows.
