North London Derby Preview: Lets Claim That Fourth Place Trophy and March On

Happy Sunday everyone.Happy birthday Theo Walcott! Down at the Equator, we are a happy bunch. The rains are here and we break back on the farm. Dependence on rain fed agriculture is a definite no no this day in the 21st century,but we do our best for bountiful harvests. In the premier league, the harvest season is fast approaching and today could be the day Arsenal claims its first trophy

NLD day it is. On a larger scale, it is show-me what-you-got-to-be-champions day. Liverpool face the Manchester United of Moyes David (David? What on irony at the moment. Hopefully, the Liverpool that turns up today is Goliath and not Uriah’s wife) in the curtain raiser event this super Sunday. What a match day it was yesterday.  What a title race this is turning out to be.

The Swahili people say Hayawi hayawi huwa. The improbable comes to pass; though you cannot say that of Mou-reen’s tantrum yesterday day. Probably thanks to his success, we tend to smoother Mourinho’s uncouthness as some variant of genius flowering it with terms like ‘mind games’, ‘psychological edge’ et.al. Let’s face it people, the man is a c*nt.

Chelsea’s debacle though utterly a joy to watch, piles up the pressure on the lads tonight. Not only do dropped points and game in hand bode well in Arsenal’s title chase, the spanner of Chelsea missing their two best midfielders, Ramires and Willian, through suspension means that if we beat Tottensh*t today, there is every chance of at least 6 points from the trio of hell games that end with Manchester City at home.

We could as well dream of a perfect nine which surely will build the confidence and momentum needed at this time.  Manchester City though presents a different prospect given that they now have only the league to go for from a possible quadruple a fortnight thereabouts ago. Their win against an unimaginative Hull was to paraphrase the commentator, “the type to build a title campaign on.”

A comfortable win having played with 10 men for 80 minutes, David Silva back to his best, six points behind the leaders and with three games in hand, it is City’s title to lose. For Arsenal, it seems rather odd timing for baby the steps approach: Today’s North London Derby should be about securing a top four finish, the Chelsea game should be about vying for second or third while for Manchester City, the aim should be at least stalling the Citizens run away with the title then we can dream.

What this means is that irrespective of what goes down with the Liverpool- Manchester united match where a Liverpool loss and an Arsenal win could see us go second, the objective today ought to be the infamous fourth place trophy. No undue pressure on the lads today, if Liverpool win, that shouldn’t cloud our win with title permutations.

 More than ever, we should do the Wenger and focus on ourselves. This is the time for a press moratorium on the players if possible. Apart from whoever Wenger chooses to accompany him on the press conferences, the happenings there should remain in that room. Wenger should also play his part and be at his charming philosophical best. It is a time to divert pressure, not build it up. I find this important and underline it as the reason why a usually vocal Mourinho chose to play bubu game with the press yester night.

I believe that it wasn’t about the assumed repercussions of a full monty tantrum, but rather a decision made in cognizance of the storm that pundits, bloggers and columnists would brew from Morinho’s words. You and I know what could have been had this been the 9^th, 15^th or even 21^{st game} of the season.

For the fourth place trophy, I’d like it for Cazorla to assume the number 10 duties in the absence of Mesut Ozil. Rosicky should start too and share the creative duties with the Spaniard. Little Mozart seems to enjoy the games against Tottensh*t having scored against them in each of his last couple games or so.

It being an away game, and given the spirited display by Flamini in his debut against Tottenham at the Emirates, the double pivot of Flamini-Arteta should form the base in midfield. Given his form, I suppose Oxlaide Chamberlain is currently the first name on the Arsenal team sheet. This means the excellent Podolski could miss out again as Wenger may choose Rosicky’s ball retention skills over the German’s raw threat.

Giroud should get a chance to correct his poor return against the League’s top sides while a fit Monreal or Gibbs should replace captain Vermaelen who did so well against Bayern. Szscensy should return to goal given that he is the designated Premier League keeper. The rest of the team picks itself. We are therefore likely to see

Sagna-BFG-Koscienly-Gibbs-Flamini-Arteta- Rosiky <-> Cazorla-Alex Chamberlain-Giroud

SUBS: Monreal, Vermaelen, Fabianski, Sanogo, Kim Kallstrom, Podolski, Jenkinson? (Or some other kid like Zalalem)

p.s This weekend, Syria marks three years of conflict, hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions displaced and many more traumatized  and robbed of life from womb to tomb. #PrayForSyria

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