Arsenal v Sunderland; Match Preview

And so we start yet another new chapter in Arsenal’s 126 year-old history book. Tomorrow at 1500 GMT (1000 EST), the 2012/2013 Premier League campaign kicks off and it starts for Arsenal with a visit to the Emirates by Martin O’Neill’s  Sunderland.

A lot of us are all interested in how the new look Arsenal will line up. Will Arsene go with a front line of Walcott, Giroud, and Podolski. Or will Podolski lead the attack supported on the wings by Walcott and Gervinho with Giroud coming on later to change things up.

I don’t care (well I do but I have a point to make). I am just happy there is football, especially Arsenal football. With every new season there is always renewed optimism and glimpses of hope. And this season start is no different. Sure, a 30+ goal scorer is gone. But a player who carried his team to a title single-handedly is in, one of Germany’s most prolific international players has also lined up, and the best Spanish player who doesn’t play for Barcelona or Madrid is in the squad. Not a shabby set of additions.

The key for them will be how well they adapt to the rigors of the Premier League. It’s a fair comment to say Ligue 1, La Liga, and the Bundesliga are not on par with the physicality and speed of the Prem. Still, players from those leagues have flourished in England and there is nothing to suggest that the three additions to Arsenal’s attack will falter.

The excitement of the new season is here and Arsenal are set to take on a bogey manager in O’Neill who always sets his teams up to play Arsenal well. He worked wonders at Aston Villa. The lack of love between the two managers is shall we saw – noticeable. Their criticisms and barbs are well documented. They simply don’t like each other.  And with that backdrop, there is always a little bit of tension when they go head to head.

For Arsenal, the questions about the attack are few. Actually, there is only one – will they replace Van Persie’s goal quantity. The questions for the defense however, still remain.

Last season we shipped in 49 goals. For a club that wants to contend for titles that will win you absolutely nothing – and it did. This year however there seems to be a concerted effort on both the coaching staff and player’s part to fix this.

Newly promoted number 2, Steve Bould has set about the task of improving things in the defense department. And while the preseason tour to Asia showed there might be some concerns, its worth nothing that at that point the team had been practicing together with Bould for a week and none of the Asia games had a back four that looked remotely like our first choice.

The core defenders are raving about Bouldy’s influence with Kieran Gibbs being the latest:

“Steve has obviously brought a defensive emphasis to the team, because he was a defender too, and he’s bringing all his experience and knowledge of the game to us,” Gibbs told the Official Matchday Program.

“We conceded a few too many goals last year, so we obviously want to stop that,” he said. “I think most of the goals we conceded last year came from counter-attacking, so we’ll need to improve on that.

“That’s the sort of thing we have been working on, and everyone knows what we want to do in the team now, and how we can rectify the problems.

“We are looking at all areas to improve on really. So that could mean collective defending for example, but there are lots of elements we feel we need to work on.

I know we have a philosophy that the best defense is a killer offense but if you don’t have SOME defense the best offense isn’t going to matter – much. For Arsenal to succeed this season the defense must be the focus. I think the personal is fine. Gibbs and Santos on the left are good. Santos for the attack and Gibbs improves defensively every time I see him. On the right with Sagna injured Jenkinson will get the call up and that’s a bit of a question. He looks like he will come good but sometimes his positional awareness betrays him. The CBs are solid. I don’t care what the naysayers think, the personnel at CB are good and good enough to win silverware with. Kosicelny continues to rise to the occasion every time we  see him. Mertesacker reads the play better than most defenders and does a good job of marshalling the defenders. His growth prior to his season-ending injury was amazing. And then there is our new captain – Thomas Vermaelen.

My only critique if Tommy is that he sometimes can be overly aggressive and thus takes himself out of plays. The QPR loss last season sticks out in mind on this. No doubt about I think over time he will be considered one of our best defensive players. But that takes time. For now he simply is the Verminator and is our anchor. How he goes, so goes our defense.

With Sunderland Arsenal face a team that needs time to mature under O’Neill. He hasn’t been able to bring many players with the exception of Louis Saha. However, in the long-term I think he will do good by Sunderland and seeing them in the top 8 or so isn’t a far-fetched idea but I don’t think that’s this year. This is the club’s first full season under the Irishman. And he is still trying to put his blueprint into play.

O’Neill will likely roll out with a 4-5-1 at the Emirates. He lacks any real fire power up front with Fraiser Campbell likely leading the line hoping to get something through Arsenal’s high line and on the counter.  With Sessegnon now confirmed out and a lack of strikers Sunderland are going to be hard-pressed to get anything at the Emirates.

However, as we know, O’Neill always has his team prepared to play. They will likely be compact and look to block the passing channels with 9 men behind the ball. Arsenal will have to be creative and patient to get anything but in the end I think they well.

How the Match Should Play Out.

It’s the first game of the new season and Arsenal are basically a new look squad. Alex Song has a small knock (code for he is on his way out the door) so I expect the midfield will look like Diaby, Arteta deep with Cazorla in the CAM role. Cazorla should give the Gunners a means to unlock the compact defending of Sunderland.  In the pre-season warm up against FC Koln he barely ever put a pass out of place and if you watched his performance in Puerto Rico you know what he can bring to this game. Sunderland, as we mentioned before will look to hit Arsenal on the counter with McLean trying to get the ball up to Campbell or Saha. The key here in the game – has Arsenel defense of counterattacking football improved. If it has, we will see a very long day for Sunderland and Arsenal will extend their opening day unbeaten run to 13 years.

Players to Watch:

Arsenal. Cazorla. Podolski. Giroud. With three new boys in the lineup all eyes will be upon them to see if the form shown in Germany vs Koln was true to what we can expect from them.

Sunderland. Louis Saha. Without a wealth of strikers, O’Neill grabbed Saha off the transfer shelf. He hopes that the forward can add to his overall attack options, which right now look limited.

Projected Lineups:

Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal:  Frimpong (knee) Wilshere (knee) Sagna (ankle) Rosicky (tendon) Koscielny (calf) Oxlade-Chamberlain (ankle)

Sunderland: Sessegnon (ankle) Brown (knee) Vaughan (hernia) Bardsley (ankle)

Leading Scorers:
Arsenal:

Sunderland:

Last Meeting (EPL):

Arsenal: 2

Sunderland: 1

Goals For:

Arsenal (away): 0.0

Sunderland (home): 0.0

Goals Against:
Arsenal (away): 0.0

Sunderland: (home): 0.0

Last Five:
Arsenal:

Sunderland:

Goal Difference:
Arsenal: 0

Sunderland: 0

Match Official:
Referee: Chris Foy

Broadcast Information:

US: Arsenal Player 1000 AM EST

UK: Arsenal Player 1500 GMT

GAMEDAY CHAT: It’s Open!!!!!!

www.youaremyarsenal.com/gamedaychat

YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 3

Sunderland: 0

Until next time – Stay Goonerish!

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