A hard fought win against Manchester City in the Weekend, biting through we are plagued with injuries ahead of this game.
So First European Home game, in the return leg of the Champions League Qualifier. It's
Ten facts about Sparta Prague
* Sparta Prague were formed in 1893 under the name Athletic Club Královské Vinohrady.
* From their formation in 1893, Sparta Prague's used to wear black jerseys with a big "S" on the front. Then, in 1906, the club president Dr. Petrik was in England where he saw Arsenal play in their original deep red jerseys and decided to bring one set back to Prague. Sparta Prague adopted this dark red strip and have played in it ever since.
* In 1927 and 1935 the famoous "Iron Sparta" side won the Central European Cup (also known as the Mitropa Cup), an early forerunner of today's Champions League. The club won the trophy for a third time in 1964.
* Sparta Prague suffered their only relegation from the top-flight in 1975. Up to that point they had been the only club to have never been relegated to the second division. The club spent just one season there before gaining promotion.
* Current champions Sparta Prague have won the Czechoslovakian title 24 times and the Czech title on ten occasions, making them the most successful team in their country.
* Sparta's best Champions League performance came in the first season of the revamped competition, in 1992/1993. Sparta defeated Rangers and Olympique de Marseille to get to the semi-final group with FC Barcelona, Dynamo Kiev and Benfica. Sparta finished second in the group making them unofficially Europe's third to fourth best team.
* Sparta Prague visited Highbury in the Champions League of 2000/01. Ray Parlour and Lauren put Arsenal 2-0 ahead after seven minutes. Lee Dixon added another but Vladimir Labant reduced the arrears before the break. Kanu got Arsenal’s fourth but Tomas Rosicky concluded the scoring as the game ended 4-2.
* Thierry Henry scored his 186th goal for Arsenal in a 2-0 win at Sparta Prague on October 18, 2005. This was the goal that finally beat Ian Wright's goal-scoring record for the Club.
* Former players of note include Pavel Nedved, Petr Cech, Jan Koller, Karel Poborsky, Tomas Repka and our own Tomas Rosicky.
* Sparta Prague have played two games of their league season so far, a 1-0 win at home to Slovan Liberec, and a 0-0 draw away to Viktoria Plzen.
Courtesy of Arsenal.com Fact Files
Though we have 2 away goal advantage but with the current injuries that's getting through us in the back four defense, we have to hang on to our lead and if I understood correctly a 0-0 sufficient enough to see us through this qualifiers and into the Group stages.
The Manchester City game was a hard fought game, we won, bagging 3 points and that's what matters in definitely. Defense was understandably shaky with two of our defenders replaced by midfielders. But we spurred on and hang on to that lead. We kept them at bay, we stood our ground, despite our shaky out of place formation.
So ahead of this game, I can only predict this line up :
Not quite sure if Eboue will be back for this game, if he is, then I doubt he'll start, at the moment I'm not opposing to the fact if Hoyte plays he at times could be solid. Sagna is out it seems, but likely he would be back in the next Premiership game fixture. Hopefully though. There's no complete confirmation about Sagna and Senderos whether or not they will play this Wednesday even though after Post match Interview from Arsène said they should be fine come Tuesday. I doubt Arsène will rush both of them back, but under circumstances, there will be possibility.
At the moment, I'm sticking to that formation, even though Gilberto plays out of position there. Who else we have at the moment? Even though 0-0 is sufficient for this game to see us throuh, I'm looking for us to score and win this game. Without a new additions in the injury tab.
We survived a decent side - Man City with a couple of players playing out of their natural roles, surely we can survive this. We have been scoring the very last minutes in the second half. Something I don't personally favour. Why? Currently when we pass pass with no end product. taking that kind of risks every game is something than can make any cardiologist a millionaire. Literally. But I am loving this never say die attitude coming from the lads, and the fact of their team spirit seemed to be the one that spurred them to march on.
I'm going for a win here lads. Wrap it up. No more Mr. Nice guy.
Credit goes to RC8 aswell.
So First European Home game, in the return leg of the Champions League Qualifier. It's
Ten facts about Sparta Prague
* Sparta Prague were formed in 1893 under the name Athletic Club Královské Vinohrady.
* From their formation in 1893, Sparta Prague's used to wear black jerseys with a big "S" on the front. Then, in 1906, the club president Dr. Petrik was in England where he saw Arsenal play in their original deep red jerseys and decided to bring one set back to Prague. Sparta Prague adopted this dark red strip and have played in it ever since.
* In 1927 and 1935 the famoous "Iron Sparta" side won the Central European Cup (also known as the Mitropa Cup), an early forerunner of today's Champions League. The club won the trophy for a third time in 1964.
* Sparta Prague suffered their only relegation from the top-flight in 1975. Up to that point they had been the only club to have never been relegated to the second division. The club spent just one season there before gaining promotion.
* Current champions Sparta Prague have won the Czechoslovakian title 24 times and the Czech title on ten occasions, making them the most successful team in their country.
* Sparta's best Champions League performance came in the first season of the revamped competition, in 1992/1993. Sparta defeated Rangers and Olympique de Marseille to get to the semi-final group with FC Barcelona, Dynamo Kiev and Benfica. Sparta finished second in the group making them unofficially Europe's third to fourth best team.
* Sparta Prague visited Highbury in the Champions League of 2000/01. Ray Parlour and Lauren put Arsenal 2-0 ahead after seven minutes. Lee Dixon added another but Vladimir Labant reduced the arrears before the break. Kanu got Arsenal’s fourth but Tomas Rosicky concluded the scoring as the game ended 4-2.
* Thierry Henry scored his 186th goal for Arsenal in a 2-0 win at Sparta Prague on October 18, 2005. This was the goal that finally beat Ian Wright's goal-scoring record for the Club.
* Former players of note include Pavel Nedved, Petr Cech, Jan Koller, Karel Poborsky, Tomas Repka and our own Tomas Rosicky.
* Sparta Prague have played two games of their league season so far, a 1-0 win at home to Slovan Liberec, and a 0-0 draw away to Viktoria Plzen.
Courtesy of Arsenal.com Fact Files
Though we have 2 away goal advantage but with the current injuries that's getting through us in the back four defense, we have to hang on to our lead and if I understood correctly a 0-0 sufficient enough to see us through this qualifiers and into the Group stages.
The Manchester City game was a hard fought game, we won, bagging 3 points and that's what matters in definitely. Defense was understandably shaky with two of our defenders replaced by midfielders. But we spurred on and hang on to that lead. We kept them at bay, we stood our ground, despite our shaky out of place formation.
So ahead of this game, I can only predict this line up :
Not quite sure if Eboue will be back for this game, if he is, then I doubt he'll start, at the moment I'm not opposing to the fact if Hoyte plays he at times could be solid. Sagna is out it seems, but likely he would be back in the next Premiership game fixture. Hopefully though. There's no complete confirmation about Sagna and Senderos whether or not they will play this Wednesday even though after Post match Interview from Arsène said they should be fine come Tuesday. I doubt Arsène will rush both of them back, but under circumstances, there will be possibility.
At the moment, I'm sticking to that formation, even though Gilberto plays out of position there. Who else we have at the moment? Even though 0-0 is sufficient for this game to see us throuh, I'm looking for us to score and win this game. Without a new additions in the injury tab.
We survived a decent side - Man City with a couple of players playing out of their natural roles, surely we can survive this. We have been scoring the very last minutes in the second half. Something I don't personally favour. Why? Currently when we pass pass with no end product. taking that kind of risks every game is something than can make any cardiologist a millionaire. Literally. But I am loving this never say die attitude coming from the lads, and the fact of their team spirit seemed to be the one that spurred them to march on.
I'm going for a win here lads. Wrap it up. No more Mr. Nice guy.
Credit goes to RC8 aswell.
