It feels like forever ago that Arsenal won the first leg in London, but it was really just three weeks. What once seemed like a formality has the possibility of being an instant classic when they play the return leg in Barcelona. Going into Camp Nou with a lead is a dramatic improvement over Arsenal's position when they visited last year and need to either win or draw at more than two to survive. Yes Barcelona has an away goal, but the onus is fully on the Spanish champions this time.
Another thing the Gunners have going for them is what appears to be a series of fortunate breaks on the injury front. Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, and Jack Wilshire all are rumored to be match fit, something that seemed out of the question only a week ago. Of these, Cesc is particularly valuable because he has a steady foot in possession and an ability, perhaps singular on this squad, to spot the kill pass scenario. The not so good news on in this regard is that Alex Song, probably their best ballwinning midfielder, is not in the squad list. Neither is Theo Walcott.
Barcelona have injury problems of their own as their starting central defense tandem will miss the game and Pep is a question mark on the sideline due to a herniated disc.
I believe the game will be a great one but it is likely to unfold in a predictable way. Arsenal will stick one man high and aim to deny the opponent of scoring opportunities. A lot of bodies around the ball and probably not too far back against their own goal. Barcelona will dominate possession of the ball as they always do and take advantage of the cautious Arsenal gameplan, at times overloading the flanks.
The outcome is far from set but I still believe Barcelona will advance.
The Roma Shaktar match that was never interesting to begin with is all but decided so...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment