Arsenal is back to the scene of the crime, a Carling Cup Preview.

I think I can speak for many Arsenal writers and bloggers when I say it is getting increasingly harder to write about this club. Not that there aren’t a plethora of different stories and angles to cover. Its just that right now there is so much angst and anxiety around the club that those of us that write and are fans are finding it harder (at least I am) to find an angle that doesn’t turn into an outright rant on an issue (pro or con).

But there is a match and a cup tie at that. And maybe, just maybe there is a modicum of hope to be had. (see what I just did there – that just happened). Yeah, I know its false hope and likely fool’s gold. But as a fan I need more than just the angst. I need to watch them play and I will continue to root them on and hope for a positive outcome. Its why its called – supporter.

By the looks of it, we are set to roll out a team made up of mostly benchers and reserve players. But frankly maybe thats not a bad thing. Not only is the first team looking like crap, but their confidence level is shot. Imagine if they started on the wrong foot with Shresbury Town. The London suicide hotlines would be cramped with Arsenal supporters. No, it has to be the reserves.

Don’t be fooled though. The reserve team is hungry and capable. They tore through their pre-season like butter and they have yet to lose in the reserve league. There are some impressive players in the reserves most notably Ju Young Park. The North Korean Captain could make his Arsenal debut leading the line along with Marouane Chamakh.

Wenger in his pre match presser had this to say about Park:

“Park is good in the air, good technically, he is mobile. That’s why he is an  adaptable striker who can play up front, behind the striker. That’s why we went for him. What I like with him is that he is very mobile and that’s the basis of our game.

We’re wondering could the duo of Chamakh and Park mean that Wenger could abandon the 4-3-3 in favour of a 4-4-2? The two forwards as a pair certainly would benefit from it. But we’ll see. It would be a dramatic step for a manager who has tied his boat to the 4-3-3 formation.

Seeing the reserves also means that Arsenal fans get to see the likes of Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Francis Coquelin, Ryo Miyachi and others you may not normally get to see. The match also means that Carl Jenkinson and Emmanuel Frimpong will get a chance to play as well.  All in all, even in our current state it is more than enough squad to send Shrewsbury Town on their way.

And maybe that’s whats needed to get rid of this bad karmaic run we’ve been under. Maybe to dispel the demons of the first team from our woeful exit at Wembley last season a win in the Carling Cup is needed. And maybe, just maybe, it needs to be an emphatic one which is what I expect. (There it is again unrivaled optimism).

That’s the cruxt of it though – as a supporter, even a realist, I tend to always believe we will win. Even in spite of the train wreck that is unfolding. Some of you may think I am crazy and you are entitled to that opinion. But as a supporter, going into every match I hope and expect the best.

And now for some Arsenal facts courtesy of the BBC. (I still can’t be bothered to write an in-depth pre-game review for the Carling Cup. Wenger has ruined me.):

• This is only the fourth meeting between these clubs, and the first in the League Cup. The previous three matches were in the FA Cup, with Arsenal winning 2-0 at home in a third-round replay in 1968 and also triumphing at Shrewsbury in
  a fifth-round tie in 1991.
• Arsenal have won the League Cup twice (1987 and 1993) and been runners-up on five occasions.
• They have reached at least the quarter-finals in each of the past eight seasons.
• The Gunners have never been eliminated by a bottom division club in the League Cup.
• On Saturday, Arsenal became only the fifth team ever to concede as many as  14 goals in their opening five Premier League matches

Projected Starting XI

Fabianski, Jenkinson, Djourou, Miquel, Gibbs, Frimpong, Coquelin, Benayoun, Park, Chamberlain, Chamakh

YAMA Predictions:

Arsenal: 4
STFC: 1

Until Next time . . . Stay Goonerish!!!!

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