Arsenal v AC Milan – At home, on our pitch, playing our game. Why Not?

At home, on our pitch, playing our game. Why not?

Seriously why not? Well, you don’t have to answer that for me because I know why not. AC Milan are playing incredible football domestically and on the continent. They took it to a team that never even got off the airplane in Italy. They are one of the four teams I could see winning the whole tournament (next to Barcelona, Madrid and Bayern.)

If we are honest we acknowledge we got spanked. If I am honest, I know that the fight back will be hard. But not impossible. Unlike other teams in recent Arsenal memory, this team comes back from losing positions. They’ve done it more times this season than in any other. The last two weeks should show you that. On the Emirates pitch they have scored 12 goals in their last two matches. In one of them they were down 2-0 in the first 30 minutes.

At the San Siro the Italians used their shoddy pitch to their advantage to take away the superior skill and speed of the English side.  Wenger, in his pre-game presser didn’t mince words – “you can tell Milan that tomorrow we will play on a football pitch, a real football pitch.” The better pitch will allow Arsenal to play their game and use their speed advantage. It is that speed and the goal deficit (as well as some untimely short-term injuries) that is forcing Wenger to re-think his formation and who he starts.

In the same press conference Wenger hinted at the possibility of starting 4 forwards – Gervinho, Van Persie, Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain. That would amount to Wenger throwing all caution out the door and just going for it. I feel like he is probably thinking – if we are going to go out let’s go out giving it everything we’ve got.

And maybe there is something to that. Of course there is a lot of well-found skepticism that Arsenal can achieve a turnaround. The thing about this Arsenal squad is – that when the weight of the world is off their shoulders, they rise to the occasion.

In the most recent memory, Arsenal were not the favourites to do anything against their North London rivals. In the build up to the match the focus was on a power shift in London. There was also a lot of harping on about the loss to Milan and a whole slew of other negative press. Well, we all know what happened don’t we? Arsenal came in with a North London derby for the ages. Even down 2-0 it wasn’t as if they looked out of the match. The goals came from a fluke deflection and a Gareth Bale audition for the Barcelona’s diving squad. From there on in it was all Arsenal. They were relentless on that pitch and scored five goals and looked good for another 2 at least.

Of course Milan are not Spurs. And in the Champion’s League, all it takes it is an away goal. So not only would Arsenal need to be impressive offensively they’d need to be impressive defensively. And while they’ve not been outstanding, the Emirates has been a fortress of success for the Gunners. They’ve been prolific scoring and they’ve held opponents to less than 1 goal per game (0.7). They will need to be damn near impregnable to get anything from this match.

The point is, that the players can now play freely because no one expects anything from them. Not the press, not the pundits and not a lot of fans. Hopefully, they can approach this match with a sense of abandon. Looking for something but not harping on it if they get nothing.

As a fan I go into this match not expecting much and I feel an ability to just sit back and enjoy it. If we come out this with something – more’s the better. If this is another epic European night in the making I will literally not sleep for days. But if the inevitable falls upon us then I won’t get that frustration that has been known to swell up from time to time. No, I will be ready for us to get some rest and get ready for our league run in with Newcastle on Monday.

It’s disappointing where we find ourselves. But I love this team. As do all supporters and no matter our feelings right now, I might suggest you just sit back without any preconceived notions of the outcome and just enjoy the match. If you can’t well – I understand that too.

With all that in mind, I keep a flicker of hope and just say to myself – At home, on our pitch, playing our game. Why not?

Players to Watch:

Arsenal: Robin van Persie. Robin Van Priceless, Robin Volley’s Perfectly or whatever he simply is the best forward in the game right now. He really does score when he wants to. Without so much as a sniff in the entire Liverpool match the two chances he was presented with – he buried.

Milan: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. I’m fairly confident we’ll keep possession well and run the midfield, so I’m not overly concerned with the likes of Boateng. Ibrahimovic though, will be a worry – he’s the only player on their side who can make something out of nothing. We never know which Ibra will show up, we could be lucky and find the completely disinterested one tomorrow. However, one half-chance could easily be turned into a goal, so Vermaelen and Koscielny need to be on their A-game.

Projected Lineups:

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song,  Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Gervinho, Van Persie

Milan: Abbiatti; Abate, Mexes, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Nocerino, Van Bommel, Emanuelson; Aquilani; Ibrahimovic, Robinho

Injuries and Suspensions:
Diaby (hamstring) Frimpong (knee) Wilshere (ankle) Santos (ankle) Mertesacker (ankle) Arteta (back) Benayoun (groin)

Leading Scorers (UCL):
Arsenal: Robin Van Persie (4)

Milan: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (5)

Last Meeting (UCL):
Arsenal: 0

Milan: 4

Domestic Form (last 5)
Arsenal: WWWWD

Milan: WDWWL

Head to Head Tournament Stats:

Match Official:
Referee: Damir Skomina
Assistant referees Primož Arhar  Marko Stančin
Additional assistant referees Matej Jug  Slavko Vinčić
Fourth official Mitja Žganec

Broadcast Information:
US: Fox Soccer Channel 2:30PM EST

UK: SkySports 2 1945 GMT

YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 3

Milan: 0

MORE FOR THE ARSENE WENGER PRESS CONFERENCE:

“We will have, of course, our drive forward,” he said. “The best way is to ignore the first game and do what we did against Tottenham. We were 2-0 down and we just kept going because we wanted to win the game. That is what we want to do again tomorrow.

“We can score goals, in the last two home games we scored 12. So we know we can score goals. That is the target tomorrow.

“The target is also to find a good balance between attacking and defending because our double target is not to concede as well.

“But I know my players well, I know they have been hurt by the first result and I know they have their pride. They will come out tomorrow and give a performance.

“There is a real possibility that we can go through, of course. Football is football, you know? We lost 4-0 at Milan but they had five shots on target and we had 55 [per cent of the] possession when we did not play well at all.

“Two things that can change: if they can score four then we can as well, why not? We will try. We know we can put a better performance in and you can tell Milan that tomorrow we will play on a football pitch, a real football pitch.”