Braga Preview: Injuries & Opportunities

It’s a funny weekend in the Premier League when Man United, Man City, Liverpool, Villa and the Totts all drop points.  In fact only two of last season’s top ten clubs recorded wins this weekend as us and Chelsea continued to build on very good starts.

So poor have some of our apparent “rivals” been to date that Alan Hansen even predicted a safe top four finish for Arsenal on Match of the Day on Saturday.  Okay, I know he was intending to discount our title challenge (four games in to the season let’s not forget), but what he actually said was we would finish top four.  Cheers Al, just take it one step at a time, eh?  Maybe if we are still unbeaten after visiting Chelsea next month you can upgrade us to dark horses?

That visit to Stamford Bridge on the 3rd of October is beginning to look like a top of the table clash.  It’s certainly going to be one hell of a test for Arsenal.  We go into it off the back of a trip to Belgrade in the Champions League, while Chelsea will have played Marseille at home.  And we will be missing Robin and Theo, and who knows who else.  Maybe Diaby.

I’m getting ahead of myself though, in the more immediate future we have a our Champions League opener against Braga to look forward to tomorrow evening.  I can’t pretend to know much about Braga, but the noises coming from their camp suggest they are confident, and will look to hit us on the counter attack.  Their striker Matheus has spoken to the press in the build up, saying:

[Reaching the Group Stage] is not enough. Braga are not just going into this as tourists.  Now we want to travel across Europe and win. Arsenal are the favourites to win the match and the group, but we can spring a big surprise.  Nobody thought we could beat Sevilla either.

Which is quite true, they have beaten Celtic and Sevilla to get this far, and finished second in the Portugese league last season, so they are not to be taken lightly at all.  I can see us putting out a strong team from the start, and looking to withdraw a few key figures around the hour mark to keep legs fresh for the weekend.  We can only do that if the game is going to plan though, and a good quick start to the game is essential. 

We haven’t got many early goals so far this season, only Walcott’s 12th minute strike against Blackpool, but I think if we get one tomorrow Braga could find themselves overwhelmed.  Don’t get that early lead and they will look to frustrate us as much as possible and land a sucker punch, knowing that our defence is always capable of a mistake.

For that reason I think we will see a lineup full of attacking intent.  Sagna and Clichy will return after their weekend off, Wilshere should keep his place.  But the injury news from this afternoon’s press conference was not good Diaby is ruled out for the foreseeable future, and Vermaelen won’t make it back as promised either.  That being the case I would like to see:

Almunia

Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Clichy

Cesc – Song – Wilshere

Vela – Chamakh – Arshavin

Denilson must be pushing for a place though after a very tidy cameo against Bolton, and he could be swapped in to give Song a rest. Nasri should get a run out as he is eased back from injury, and I’d love to see Emmanuel-Thomas get some minutes as a replacement for Chamakh later on.  Rosicky I would save for another day, and give Vela his chance to impress against what should be less physical opponents than he might face in the Premier League.

I love the Champions League, but we have had some horrendous experiences in this competition in recent years.  A narrow loss to Liverpool in 2008, the crushing semi-final defeats to Manchester United in 2009, and our eventual capitulation against Barca last year have left us demoralised and licking our wounds.

A new campaign means a new opporunity to right some of those wrongs, whether that means knocking out Barcelona or United at some point, or coasting through an easy draw to beat FC Zilina in the final at Wembley I don’t mind.  I would like to be able to look back on this year’s competition without it being a painful and bitter memory.