Arsenal vs Everton: 1st of 3 Finals

The reward for sending out one team from Merseyside is getting another team from Merseyside. It’s like you smack a teenager and he goes to get his elder brother to come beat you up and you end up smacking him too, and yes , I realize that the analogy implies that Liverpool are the younger brother in this instance and Everton the better bigger team but I am not going to change it. They can gather and do the Sturridge dance for all I care. Have you ever imagined how it would look if all Liverpool fans in the stadium decide to do that dance all together in a synchronized manner? They would look like a huge set of moving worms, that’s exactly what it would look like.

Not in a Liverpool loving mood at all, firstly they embarrassed our lives at Anfield, then they are now square on points with us in the league and like that wasn’t bad enough their player Daniel Agger decides to knock Wilshere out for 8 weeks in a needless international friendly. Ok, maybe it wasn’t really Agger’s fault but I usually need to find someone to hate on and him and Liverpool fit the bill perfectly for now.

In complete contrast if there was a competition for the most liked man in Football I am pretty certain the Everton Manager would win it. How many coaches fight relegation almost every year, finally get the team relegated and still get to be described in superlatives by the owner of the club. I don’t hear too many nice things about Chris Hughton at Norwich and he hasn’t relegated them yet. Everybody in football loves Martinez and it’s largely due to his philosophy of how football should be played and the fact that he didn’t resort to any Stoke City handbook and play ugly to get his teams out of battles. He stayed true to his ideology of what football should be like and he truly deserves whatever praises he gets.

Everton’s bright start to the season seems to have faltered a bit especially after falling to Liverpool but with the return of Lukaku to the team they have got in him a player that is capable of threatening Premier league defences again and we should be wary of him tomorrow.

This post is titled 1^ST of 3 finals as that’s exactly how I see the FA Cup this season. One game to Wembley, 3 games to the Cup with only Manchester City to beat should we scale this Everton hurdle. For some reason we have had the luck of the draw to always play at home during this competition and this would have played a part in our success thus far.

That this competition is our best route to a trophy is now a cliché and it’s evident to see how much the fans want it. The FA Cup might have lost a bit of its past glory but you can’t tell someone that has slept for 8 years on a bench that a Spring bed is not the best thing since sliced bread. We want this cup so bad and to be sincere Arsenal needs this cup just as much. That feeling of having won something together would just be the added spice that this team needs to get to that next level. The ingredients for success are there for us to see and to add some form of success would be that huge spring that the players need.  Imagine how players like Szczesny and Koscienly would feel knowing they have won a trophy with Arsenal after the combined to make us lose the last one against Birmingham. The FA Cup is the world’s oldest trophy and is very British and historical in its nature, how would Wilshere, Gibbs, Ramsey and Jenkinson feel holding it during a bus parade?

All this thoughts hopefully should filter through their minds when they line up to play against Everton and especially through the mind of Wenger when he picks his team for the game especially with the champions league game in mind. If a survey were to be conducted amongst Arsenal fans I am pretty certain a larger percentage would prefer that we field our strongest possible line up this weekend and worry about the champions league later.

In my opinion our strongest line up would see Ozil, Oxlade, Flamini, Sagna and Giroud on the pitch. I know there is a new found love between Sanogo and Arsenal fans but he is still very raw and this are early days in his development hence Giroud would offer a better outlet for us, if he doesn’t get the nod I’ll rather have Podolski upfront. With Wilshere out due to injury, Oxlade can fill that space he has created in the middle with Flamini and Ozil and we would still dominate with that set up. Ozil loves to work with runners and his pass for Oxlade to create Podolski’s goal against Liverpool underlines why such a relationship should be recreated against Everton.

Another player I would really love to see start would be Gnabry, it was his industry that saw us beat Spurs and with his forward thinking approach, hunger of youth and pace he would do well to keep Leighton Baines back a little. Sagna has suffered due to lack of protection from anyone in front of him and Serge has already shown us this season that he is well advanced with the defensive side of his game. Hopefully he gets a rare start tomorrow, he seems to fade off late in games and we can always have Rosicky come on should that reoccur.

In goal whoever is behind the sticks is worthy of being there, also in Centre back Koscienly is out and Vermaelen is billed to start. Show me someone that can point a better 2^nd choice goal keeper and 3^rd choice central defender than Fabianksi and Vermaelen in the league and I’ll show you a huge liar. What I am worried about though is having Jenkinson on the pitch as he not only would have to deal with Baines and maybe Mirallas the whole defensive set up would have changed should he and Monreal play. We are forced to make a decision in Centre back as Kos can’t play but to have Monreal, Vermaelenm, BFG and Jenkinson lining up in front of Fabianski is a huge risk as organization in defence  is just as important as individual skill and I don’t think that possible line up would have played together before to form any cohesiveness.

Everton play lovely football now and they have already shown us this season at the Emirates how hard they are to beat. We play at home and we should be beating Everton, hopefully we will and take that step closer to achieving what will be a massive trophy for us should we win it. Cheers friends

P.S : We would be giving out an Arsenal scarf and an Arsenal face cap to the first person to correctly predict the scores for the game. This is courtesy www.jerseynmore.com and is open to only Arsenal fans in Lagos, Nigeia. If you play our prediction league you are also exempted from participating.

Have a great weekend friends.

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