FA CUP SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW: Reading v Arsenal; It’s All In How You Start
Playing at Wembley is becoming a rite of passage for Arsenal. Okay maybe not a rite of passage but it is nice to be back at this point for the 4th time in a year. It’s always been said arsenal need to be challenging for silverware and while this is not the league or European title, winning the world’s oldest and most prestigious cup competition will do very nicely.
Did you see what I did just there?
I got ahead of myself. I said winning before we’re even through the semi-final. It’s something we shouldn’t do and it’s something the Arsenal players shouldn’t do, regardless of the opponent. When Arsenal have played this season , it has almost come across as they expected it that match to be easy. Or at least easier.
You can even look back to the semi-final win against Wigan and the final win against Hull and see that either they were overwhelmed by the occasion or they simply didn’t expect the other team to show up. Likely it was somewhere between the two.
The facts are this – our European endavours died early and while our league trials continue, Chelsea are but within touching distance of the league title. That means winning the FA Cup again will be the only real chance at silverware this team have. It is set up nicely for the club, but they have to play this match as Danny Welbeck suggests – playing to the game and not to the occasion.
Simply put we can’t get caught up in the hype and the predictions of success. We can’t let the fact that we are favorites at least in this tie do us in. Arsenal need to come out on the front foot and apply immediate pressure to Reading.
A lot of speculation is swirling around who will start. We know for sure that Wojciech Sczcesny will get the nod in goal. I suspect that there will be changes in the back 4. If I am a betting man, this will be a match Wenger uses to bring Debuchy in the fold and spell Monreal a well-deserved rest by turning to Gibbs. The good thing there is both are quality players and it doesn’t affect our game as much. The gamble is what happens in CB.
You can make a case for the speed of Gabriel and Koscielny together and you can also have Mertesacker in there for his calming, stable influence. Me I am thinking its more likely the Gabriel/Koscielny pairing. As for our attack, with a near full squad at his disposal Wenger will have a plethora of talent to choose from. With a week between our last match and our next match, a strong case could be made for leaving the attack exactly as it has been.
Wenger is a creature of habit. He likes to ride his in form players. At this point none of the players are showing any signs of poor play or exhaustion. There is Alexi Sanchez but as Wenger has said previously, its hard keeping him out because he just wants to play. We’re predicting an unchanged attack as you can see by the lineup below. However, we won’t be surprised if he does change it up and give other players a chance. Keep this in mind though, if he wants to win this cup, he’ll go with form (we suspect – how’s that for caveating)
Arsenal are going to be up against a stingy set up as Steve Clarke has tipped his hand. In pre-game interviews he suggested that he knows his side won’t have the ball, so he will set up to defend and hope to hit Arsenal on the counter. (Another reason for the Gabriel/Koscielny pairing perhaps.) That would mean feeding the balls to the wings and looking for Pogrebnyak to attack the middle. Arsenal have to look out for that.
The best way to combat this is to hit Reading early and open the game up forcing them to come out of their defensive shape and and opening up gaps for the midfielders to exploit. It seems all elementary to say this but the fact remains we do have a penchant for starting slowly. We can’t do that.
Another day in the sun at Wembley beckons. Silverware is within the grasp of the team and would be nice to become the winningst team in this competition.
PROBABLE LINEUPS:
Click to enlarge
MATCH OFFICIAL:
Referee: Martin Atkinson
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
UK: BBC ONE from 17.20 GMT
US: FOX from 12:20 EST
YAMA PREDICTION:
Reading 0 – 2 Arsenal
