Going to Glasgow

Morning Doug (likely my only reader),

we're at Celtic today in what could be an epic battle for Champions' League football this term. The Champions' League is vital for both clubs, which will make this tie very interesting. We've been in the competition for the last decade and beyond and likewise Celtic have been in and out of the CL for a very long time.

Ahead of the game we've got some injury worries. Diaby is back but Walcott and the rest are still out. They'll possibly be accompanied by Cesc, Denilson and Sagna. Sagna is obviously replaceable with a like for like swap with Eboue, but Cesc and Denilson are a different matter. You could say that Diaby will deputize for Denilson well but he may not have the discipline or possibly match winning clever awareness of the man/boy he's replacing. He does however bring some physicality and athleticism that Denilson doesn't have and he does have a good capability to get forward. Cesc will be a blow and should he miss, although he is the most likely of the trio in question to play, he will likely be replaced by Aaron Ramsey, who was impressive against Everton. Fran Merida may be on the bench even though I thought he'd be in Spain by now so should Ramsey flop we may have Fran to come in.

I'm certain we'll go with a 4 3 3 again with Bendtner, RvP and Arshavin up front. They'll have to be potent and work hard as Celtic will be playing with 12 men. The atmosphere will be unlike any other they've played against, but at the end of the day, these boys have played a lot of European football and are professional athletes and should be able to deal.

Celtic have been said to be likely to play a flowing style under Mobray tonight but Alan McGeady has other ideas,

“A lot of teams in the Premier League beat them last season by getting in and around them and not letting them play and that’s something we have to do.”

Should they play that nice football going forward and play that physical stuff getting back they'll be very difficult opposition indeed, but really, when they're getting men forward it'll be impossible for them not to leave space in behind and so I feel the game will be that much more open, which'll suit us very nicely. Our counter attacking was awesome against Everton and should we carry that on we'll have this one in the bag.

It'll be nice to have this one wrapped up after the away leg with Man U coming up 3 days after leg 2. Having said that, a draw or a 1 goal loss isn't the end of the world, particularly if we score an away goal because I really don't think Celtic will have what it takes to beat us at home.

Not much else to report, it's a bit scary that we're 1 game in and have 8/9 injuries, I suppose the mid week game makes the injuries seem worse as Cesc, Denilson and Sagna would all surely be fit for the weekend.

Right then, come on you Arsenal, the game is on Fox Sports Net at 2 ET and Fox Soccer Channel at 5:30 ET.

'Til Tomorrow

Highbury86


PS - doesn't Denilson look like the younger brother of Hull's Geovanni.

PSS - what's with Eboue working so hard to get in on the action when we celebrate goals