Today's match is a big game, like an oversized boar. As the King in the North (London) goes warring beyond the wall, he faces many a hold and many a battle conspiring to plot his fall. Allow me to ignore the rigour of painstaking research and dish out some facile analysis of what could decide the battle today at the Etihad stadium:
1. Koscielny vs Aguero: Aguero vs Kos would be an interesting battle to watch for they are evenly matched, with each of Aguero's strengths finding a counterpart in Koscielny's defensive capabilities. I am confident that Aguero's movement, pace and agility will find a just and able opposing force in Koscielny's astute positioning, game-reading and quick interceptive powers.The pint sized Aguero doesn't pose much of a threat in the air and the air has never been Kos's dominant area anyway , so that's one less thing to worry about. In Man City vs Chelsea it was Aguero who dropped deeper to collect the ball, turn and dribble away from two defenders on the left flank to cut in and pass the ball to why-always-me Balotelli. Then it was Cole and Terry's lax positioning that was at fault, with Terry in no man's land after being drawn out so far outside his area. I feel Kos would do a better job of tracking the ever mobile Aguero and be at home even when dragged slightly deeper into midfield. Whether Per Mertesacker provides good cover whilst his defensive partner tracks Aguero, keeping Balotelli at bay and preventing the final balls from the Man City midfield remains to be seen. I am inclined to think Kos wiill win this battle.
2. Ramsey vs Yaya: On the departure of Cesc it was Ramsey who took up the mantle as it were to be the chief creative guy in our midfield. While he lacks Arteta's defensive solidity and Cesc's vision, he is what we have and he seems to be enough. He is comfortable on the ball and adept at finding his team mates in tight angles when pressed quickly, but is prone to look for the hollywood pass thereby cheaply conceding possession. He faces a experienced player in Yaya, a lumbering donkey with some Barca blood still in him, aided by Gareth Barry, quintessential no nonsense English midfielder. Once again, the creative duties will need to be spread out and Songinho might be required to save the day. I feel Ramsey might not quite match up to the task today, but with good performances from Arteta and Song, the battle in midfield can be won.
3. Walcott vs. Zabaletta: Clichy did us a disservice by getting himself banned for this game. His absolute defensive wasteness and moments of brainfreeze are worth a goal or two. Clichy's unavailability would mean that Mancini would probably play Zabaletta in his stead. This season whenever Arsenal have struggled to find any penetration through the centre with all their cute passing resulting in no end product it has been Walcott's 100m dashes that have proved to the difference. He had a spectacular game against Chelsea, ripping a certain Ashley Cole apart. If we get stuck in midfield I feel the game might shift to the flanks with us trying to expolot the pace of Walcott and tricks of Gervinho. Gervinho vs Richards I expect boy-giant Richards to dominate the wiry ivory coaster, with Gervinho winning us a few corners perhaps (which we duly waste by hitting it straight to their their first man). It has to be Walcott vs Zabaletta which looks to me like the more winnable battle. Ramsey's keen eye for the floating ball over defence onto the path of beep beep roadrunning walcott should pay us a few dividends. Ramsey to Walcott to assist RVP to put it in. Going all Narzidamus there, but I am more Tazijinx so probably expect Ramsey to score an own goal while RVP and Walcott collide on pitch suffering multiple concussions.
Hope the big game doesn't turn out to be a massive bore though.
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