Tag Archives: Champions League

10 reasons why we will beat Marseille + predicted starting XI

1..Ozil, what a fantastic start to his time at The Arsenal, great assist for the first goal and seemed to have a hand in everything good about our play in the 1st half. The 2nd half like most of our players (apart from Ramsey) his performance dropped but still what a player he could and should be for us.

2.. Chesney, another fine performance by him Vs Sunderland. He didn’t stand much chance of the well taken penalty but again did nothing wrong, which is all that should be asked of a keeper.

3.. Marseille have had an ok start to the season, they are currently sitting 4th in the league having played 5 games; Won 3, drawn 1, lost 1, scoring 8 and conceding 4. But the draw and defeat have come in their last 2 games.

4.. Mertesacker is back after an illness. He was missed against Sunderland, especially in the 2nd half.

5.. Ramsey Ramsey Ramsey by far the best Welshman to be playing in London these days, if he can keep his form up it wont be too long before a certain Spanish team will be thinking they have signed the wrong man.

6.. Flamini is growing into the team, some are saying it might be hard for Arteta to get a starting place back when he is fit. So Diaby has no chance.

7.. We always seem to get out of the group stages of the Champions League, we probably have the record for number of consecutive times.

8.. Giroud is having a great start to the season, his work rate as well as goals is up. His strike rate in France isn’t too shabby either. Despite a knock at the end of the game Vs Sunderland he looks likely to start.

9.. Marseille managed to spend £35.5 million on players this summer. Lucky for us most of them are French.

10.. Wenger Knows, we have a hard group this year, the balls were not kind to us and an early win away will give us the confidence to hopefully top this group.

Predicted starting XI – Chesney, Sagna, Kos, Per, Gibbs, Flamini, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil, Giroud, Theoooo

COME ON THE ARSENAL !

Champions League – Dream and Nightmare Draw’s Revealed

For the 16th season in a row, Arsenal fans will be tuning in to the Champions League draw from around 4.30pm GMT – although by the time UEFA have aired their ego’s, it will be around 5.30pm before the balls are drawn. But who can Arsenal get?

Pot 1

Despite criticism, Arsenal deserve to be in Pot 1. Only 4 teams have made the Champions League final 16 in each of the last 5 years. Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Yes, we might not of won anything in 8 years, and our best performance in that period was a semi final. But it has taken Manchester United, Barcelona (twice), AC Milan and Bayern Munich to stop our progress. and 3 of the 5 times, our executioners have gone on to lift the trophy.

Being in Pot 1 means we avoid: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Porto & Benica

Pot 2

Pot 2, in recent years, has become a pot not to worry too much about. Filled more with average, consistent teams throughout Europe over the last 5 years, such as Schalke 04 & Marseille, then the top ’emerging’ teams in Europe such as Dortmund, Manchester City & Napoli. Whilst we wait for the latter teams to gain the coefficients to take their rightful place in Pot 2 (or Pot 1) we will continue to have lob sided draws. However, there is a couple of hand grenades in Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

Dream: Marseille or CSKA Moscow
Nightmare: PSG or Juventus
Best trip: Marseille in September? 25°C? Yes please!
Trip to avoid: CSKA Moscow in December

Pot 3

Whoever gets PSG or Juventus in Pot 2 will be dreading this pot. With Manchester City (Who we can not get), Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Leverkusen, Ajax and Galatasaray, there is plenty to be worried about. Expect for more teams from Pot 3 to make the last 16 then from Pot 2. Plenty of danger.

Dream: Olympiakos or Basel
Nightmare: Either German club
Best Trip: Borussia Dortmund – to experience that atmosphere
Trip to avoid: Galatasaray – no comment required

Pot 4

ABN. Anyone But Napoli. They are the threat. Anderlecht will take points off people, and Real Sociedad will be a threat at home, despite losing Asier Illarramendi to Real Madrid. Avoid Napoli and you should be alright.

Dream: Viktoria Plzeň
Nightmare: Napoli
Best Trip: Austria Wien
Worst Trip: Napoli

Keenos’ Dream Draw: Arsenal, Marseille, Dortmund, Austria Wien
Keenos’ Nightmare Draw: Arsenal, PSG, Galatasaray, Napoli
Group of Death: Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City, Napoli

Keenos

10 Reasons why we will beat Fenerbache

1. On Saturday Fenerbache lost to Torku Konyaspor. No, me neither…

2. Arsenal have made the Group Stage for every Champions League season since 1998/99. Do we get a trophy for that?

3. In 8 Champions League Qualifier ties, Arsenal record reads: Played 8, Won 8, For 24. Against 3:

Full record: 06/07 v Dinamo Zagreb (3-0, 2-1); 07/08 v Sparta Prague (2-0, 3-0); 08/09 v Twente (2-0, 4-0); 09/10 v Celtic (2-0, 3-1); Udinese (1-0, 2-1).

4. The last time we travelled to Fenerbache, Arsenal had Almunia, Eboue, Silvestre, Denilson, Diaby & Adebayor in the starting line up. We won 5-2.

5. The pride of Jack wilshere et al will come through and ensure we bring home a 1st leg lead.

6. Because things couldn’t get worse for an Arsenal fan right now. Unless one of us decides to release an Arsenal version of #OneClub

7. Because £100m buys a lot of referees in Turkey. Allegedly.

8. Fenerbache will play Joseph Yobo in defence. We once scored 6 against him when playing against Everton.

9. We have mental strength.

10. And if all else fails, lets spend £100m on top lawyers to get them kicked out.

Prediction: Fenerbache 0 – 2 Arsenal

Likely line-up
Szczesny
Jenkinson Koscielny Mertersacker Gibbs
Ramsey Wilshere Cazorla
Walcott Giroud Podolski

PG