Can we dominate a game from the start and make it 12 against Palace? by Konstantin Mitov
Hello, lovely Arsenal people from wherever you may be! We are playing Crystal Palace in a huge game on Sunday which could see us extend our successive winning streak to 12 in all competitions. This run we are on puts more pressure on every upcoming game as people now expect us to win and the moment we don’t, “same old Arsenal” talks will be back on the table.
I am interested if we’ll be able to get to a fast start. We’ve not had the lead at half time in any of our PL games so far, with Fulham being the closest we’ve gotten and ironically Chelsea, which is the only game where we’ve scored two in the first half.
It’s very good that we manage to win in the second halves of games and it says something about our fitness and mentality but I’d love to see us win a comfortable game for once. Our rotation policy will be put to the test again.
Xhaka will likely return to CM as Monreal will hopefully pass the late fitness test. Up front I expect Laca to start with Ozil behind him and then I would put Iwobi and Auba on the two flanks. Of course Torreira will return in midfield, but the two CB will be interesting. I reckon we will go for Holding and Mustafi to ease Sokratis back in from his injury.
It is not clear though and this feeling of not knowing what the side will be excites me. Will it be Cech or Leno? Who knows? And since we don’t know, then our opposition will not not either, making it harder to prepare.
The main threat of Palace will obviously be Wilfred Zaha. We’ll need solid full backs, and I won’t be too happy to see Lichtsteiner or Xhaka having to deal with him. Up front I want to see Laca back with the goals as he did miss some chances lately.
All and all, I will take any win. Spurs welcome City on Monday and we should try our best to take advantage of that. I want focus on this game. We all know the big test is coming, but in a league where every game gives the same number of points, we should care only after we’ve done our job against Palace and Blackpool.