PL: Leicester City vs Arsenal | 06/12/03

[patrick42uk]

vieira is out, henry is doubtful. all those who think henry should be rested will get their wish. but lets see how we perform without two of the three players that make the spine of the team. Leicester are being way too undersestimated

 

[GoonerGurjit]

I really hope Henry is fit to play but I think Wenger will end up resting him even if he is ok to play with the Moscow game just a few days away. Leicester will by no means be a pushover at the Walkers Stadium. The Foxes have some proven Premiership players and It will be a very scrappy game. I hope Cygan doesn't get massacred by Ferdinand and Bent in the air and by Dickov's pace.

 

[gooner]

Just heard da bad news that Henry is out. I just hope he is fit in time for the Mosocw match on Wednesday. Anyway, this way we will get to see what Arsenal are really made of without the so called "One Man Team" player and the backbone of Arsenal in Vieira. I think Ali shouls start with Bergkamp up front, but I can see Wenger going with Wiltord or Kanu rather than Ali. We showed great bottle against Birmingham by beating them 3-0 with so many suspended players, but we had Henry, we will have to show that we can without Henry as well, and u can guarantee that if we don't perform well, it will be clearly indicated from on the premiership as well as on sports news how much Henry is needed by Arsenal and they are simply a one man team.

Come On You Gunners!!!

 

[leongsh]

I point you all in the direction of a Leicester Fansite.

http://www.filb17.fsnet.co.uk/ArspreNN061203.html

Come on, people. It's a standard wind-up article to cover their asses and if Leicester does pull a fast one, the article writer will then gloat all the way.

If that was actually posted in this forum, it would be called an uber-troll posting as it is there to elicit the angry "We'll trash them, and trash them so hard that they can't sit down for weeks"-type responses.

 

[Guns and Arses]

I point you all in the direction of a Leicester Fansite.

http://www.filb17.fsnet.co.uk/ArspreNN061203.html

We'll hammer them. 5-1 again.

That page is full of crap. They show no respect for Arsène Wenger.

 

[USArsenal]

are these people kidding me? gimme a break... i hope we just stomp on them from start to finish.... then again, i can deal with us winning 1-0.. as long as we win....

 

[nnn]

5. Thatcher – Ashley Cole should watch him closely…….this is a real full back

Thats pretty funny, Ash has proved this season he's the best full back in England, something I would'nt have said a year ago, he's been huge this year in the Champions League, as has Lauren incidently.

The team picks itself, except for up front.

Pick 2 of Kanu, Wiltord, Bergkamp or Ali.

IMO Ali is favourite to start, perhaps with Kanu as they linked up very well on Tuesday and the Iceman will start on Wedensday.

 

[quattro]

still no reason to believe that we wont win by good number of goals. this could be the real big break aliadiere is waiting for. hope he will deliver the goods. but i'm still expecting ljungberg and pires to score.

 

[orion]

Well I'm not expecting this match to be as easy ride as some other seam to belive, so once again we must show resilience at the back and be prepared to take our chances upfront when they come. I don't think resting too many players in the match is the right way to go about it, especially as Henry is out, the problem is to choose the front runner, the pick would seem be between Aliadere and Wiltord and you have to consider which one of them is ready and can pull of the job, I think Pires will be needed to decide the game for us, whether it be from the bench or starting 11. So I'm not looking for a big win, I'll be just as happy if we rip a win by one goal margin, it's the points that really count here.
Good luck Gunners!!!

 

[The Mini]

vieira is out, henry is doubtful. all those who think henry should be rested will get their wish.

We better, we'll definatly need him for the Loko game, we cant do without him then

 

[GoonerGurjit]

Arsène WENGER will be without his two talismanic French stars today as Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry both sit out the trip to Leicester.

Henry - whom the Arsenal boss last week declared would never be rested - has a muscle problem and misses his first Premiership game since the Gunners drew with Chelsea in September of last season.

Skipper Vieira misses the match despite inspiring Arsenal's 5-1 midweek Carling Cup defeat of Wolves because Wenger does not want to rush him after his return from a two-month injury lay-off.

The last time Arsenal went into a League contest without either player they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Everton THREE YEARS AGO in November 2000.

The Highbury boss, however, remains unruffled, particularly with Sylvain Wiltord, Kanu and 20-year-old wonder-kid Jeremie Aliadiere all scoring in the triumph over Wolves and ready to cause more trouble against Micky Adams' Leicester outfit.

Wenger said: "Patrick has been out for two months and against Wolves I only intended to play him for 70 minutes. Two games in four days will pull him down for a long time and I do not want to do that.

"I cannot go into a game like Leicester and think: 'I will only play him for the first half.' Suppose we are losing 1-0 and chasing the game. Then I will have to decide whether to keep him on or take him off.

"So he is not in the squad at all. Instead we will sharpen him up and get him fitter."

With Chelsea and Manchester United both likely to strengthen their squads in the January transfer window, Wenger admitted that the return of his inspirational captain will feel like signing a new player.

He said: "The problem you have in some big clubs in England is that sometimes the big players do not get the rest that they need. So yes, it will be like signing a new player.

"Patrick is never happy when he does not play. He wants to play in every game and for him it has been an unwanted rest but I am sure he can take advantage of that for the rest of the season.''

Foxes chief Adams is worried his men could be made to pay for Arsenal's 0-0 draw against Fulham last week. He said: "Perhaps after the Fulham game they are due to give someone a spanking.

"There is no point looking at how Fulham approached the game - it might have ended 0-0 but it could have been 14-0 with Arsenal's chances.

"We need all the same sorts of things Fulham had. We need luck, our keeper must play well and we need good defending."

Source: The Mirror

 

[GoonerGurjit]

PATRICK VIEIRA has been ruthlessly dumped from the Arsenal team to face Leicester today as manager Arsène Wenger bids to prevent his Captain Marvel suffering burn-out.

Vieira, 27, returned for the Gunners in their 5-1 Carling Cup romp against Wolves on Tuesday after a two-month injury lay-off.

But the French midfield superstar will not even travel to the Walkers Stadium.

There is also a doubt over whether Thierry Henry will feature. The hitman is struggling to recover from a muscle injury picked up against Fulham last Sunday.

Wenger said: “Patrick has missed eight weeks with his thigh problem and I planned to give him only 70 minutes against Wolves.

“He played the full 90, so there is no way I could give him two full games inside four days. That would bring him down too much.

“Vieira didn’t like it when I told him he was not playing — he wants to play every game and feels he has missed too much of the season as it is.

“But my job is to make these decisions and then explain to the player why. Patrick was unhappy but that’s part of his competitive nature.

“One of the problems is I can’t say I will play him for only one half against Leicester because you don’t know how the match will go.

“We could be 1-0 down against a team who will be efficient, direct, highly competitive and very determined — then the temptation would be to leave him on.

“It’s far better for him to work on his fitness at the training ground than it is for me to take an unnecessary risk that could rebound on the team.”

Wenger is keeping Vieira in reserve for the crunch Champions League clash against Lokomotiv Moscow at Highbury on Wednesday.

Victory over the Russians will see the Gunners win Group B when — at one stage — it looked as if they would struggle to make even the UEFA Cup after picking up just one point from their first three games.

Henry, 26, underwent extensive fitness tests late yesterday afternoon in the hope he could lead the Gunners’ attack today.

Jeremie Aliadiere has been drafted in should Monsieur Va-Va-Voom fail to make it.

Wenger will show no hesitation in giving him a start after the 20-year-old rookie hit a sensational solo strike against Wolves.

Source: Thesun.co.uk

 

[quattro]

seeing as henry can take an extensive fitness test, im sure he can play against loko. wenger is not taking any chances with henry and vieira... he wants this champions league chance real bad. i just hope too much thought on the cl doesn't take off the focus from the prem.

 

[n_henry]

seeing as henry can take an extensive fitness test, im sure he can play against loko. wenger is not taking any chances with henry and vieira... he wants this champions league chance real bad. i just hope too much thought on the cl doesn't take off the focus from the prem.

Nah, don't think it will. It is only *one* game....we're 3 points ahead of Man U, so the worst that could happen is that we'll be level with them on points (but probably ahead on goald difference ).. but of course, we can't give Chelsea too much of a lead :evil:

Make sure the boys are ready for the Loko game, I say.

 

[GoonerGurjit]

This is how I think we'll line-up today:

Lehmann

Kolo Sol Cygan Ash

Fred Gilby Edu Bob

Bergie Aliadiere

Subs: Stacky, Clichy, Keown, Kanu, Wiltord

 

[lewdikris]

Agreed. This is a big day for Ali

 

[flotz]

ARSENAL: Jens Lehmann, Kolo Toure, Sol Campbell, Pascal Cygan, Ashley Cole, Freddie Ljungberg, Gilberto, Edu, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Jeremie Aliadiere. SUBS: Graham Stack, Martin Keown, Gael Clichy, Sylvain Wiltord, Kanu

you were right!

 

[Andrew]

I think Ali and Bergkamp would team up well. Bergkamp and Kanu doesn't really work, while Wiltord and anyone else doesn't really work at the moment. I think Ali is the obvious replacement for when Henry is injured.

 

[pome]

anyone know if the game can be heard anywhere on the net cos its not on the box here this week

 

[Andrew]

Wow, we seem to have started really bad according to the text commentary. Leicester already had 3 good chances in the first 10 minutes.