There are so many options and choices for our manager to make both ahead of tomorrow’s league match and ahead, also, of our trip through Europe for Wednesday night’s game.
v Arsenal
 |
| Emirates Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).
Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 (3-7-0):
Further room for prediction error on this one comes in the form of whether returning players are deemed fit enough to start and whether Pep will want to reward good, midweek performances; asking those players to ‘go again’.
SO…
______________________________________________
Sterling_________________________________Mahrez
____________________Silva______________________
___________Foden___________Gundogan__________
____________________Rodri_____________________
Zinchenko______________________________Cancelo
_____________Dias__________Stones_____________
___________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Steffen, Walker, Garcia, Laporte, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Torres, Jesus, Aguero.
Ederson starts ‘between the posts’, is the simple one.
I’m fairly confident that we’ll see a return of both Oleksandr & John; likewise, Joao to return to his right-sided position. Ruben continues in the central and makes up that 4-man defence.
Rodders to ‘go again’, I would say, although, if Fernandinho has starting-game fitness back then we might just see the Brazilian take the captain’s armband for this clash; allowing the Spaniard to rest ahead of our trip to neutral-venue, Budapest 3 days later. However, I’m going for Rodri to start at the Emirates.
Now…here’s a twist, as you can see - I’ve just had a feeling for a few days now that we might…MIGHT start without a recognised striker tomorrow late afternoon (4:30pm KO GMT). Why? Well, it’s not that I’m thinking that Pep might be concerned enough to throw an extra man in midfield in fear of the home side repeating their tactics of the semi-final of the F.A. Cup last season; whereby they ‘packed in’ and then broke with devastating pace & efficiency against us. And neither are my still-recent memories of Gabriel Jesus frustrating his manager, teammates & fans by missing two really good opportunities to score in our last game colouring my decision to leave him out. I don’t know what it is really – I think it’s just that I get the feeling our manager might want to ‘mix it up’ and change it just ever so slightly; perhaps with a feeling that he might do this as he prepares to face a manager who knows him so well. We’ll soon see of course.
So…in my ‘no striker / 5-man attack’ (7 if you include the wing-backs), I’m going for a fluid, interchangeable Raheem on the left, Riyad on the right, Phil & a returning Ilkay in the middle and in the middle also, but likely to be more advanced and given extra license to roam, is Bernardo. I could be well wrong here but I’m going with my instincts, as should be the case.
Should my spider sense be working properly, then Steffen is the reserve keeper; Kyle, Eric & Aymeric make up the defensive change-options from ‘the 9’. Fernandinho, Kevin, who might be brought on for a few extra minutes [than he got in midweek] assuming he doesn’t start of course, Ferran, Gabriel & Sergio are the midfield / wing / forward reserves on a somewhat-impressive bench to say the least.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Not selected.
- Nathan Ake – Finally, we have an update…and it’s good news. The Dutch international has started training, albeit alone, and-so-is-making progress towards a return to first team contention.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? I’ve heard a lot of pundits on the radio in the last couple of days saying that they have a sneaky feeling that Arsenal might just squeeze a draw out of this one and I can’t say that’s not crossed my mind either. Some Arsenal fans themselves sent in messages of ‘good feelings’ too.
The Gunners are another weird animal – similar to what I said about our last hosts; they’re full of random, horror performances and unexpected, negative results. However, on the flip side, when they’re ‘on it’ they can be frighteningly good too; with dynamic, young players who can rip through the opposition.
Also, apart from Thomas Partey, they have a fully fit squad to choose from.
But they’re not 10th after 24 games for no reason of course and I, generally speaking, think that reason is - or, more accurately, reasons are - a combination of too many off-colour performances and misfiring strikers. Let’s hope that’s the case tomorrow…
I’ve spoken at some length in this piece about the possible line-up but I now-firmly believe that whatever side we put out; it can only be a very good one. That’s not just because we too have all but one player available but the confidence throughout the team is SO high and we’re in SUCH great form that I’m gonna brush aside any thoughts of a draw and go for yet-another City win tomorrow.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Draw
Result: Won
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: T-shirts & shorts? Perhaps not…but a starting temperature of 14C (57F) is no place for the recently-worn winter coat, that’s for sure. The higher-than-average, winter temperature comes with a southerly breeze and no ‘wet stuff’ either; leaving no issues for the players (perfect in many ways, in fact) and fairly pleasant for all those around the side of the pitch.
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