yeah, I thought I'd add "with his mouth taped and hands tied".

I hope Mancini plays Silva on the flank, but as many of you seem to think I too think Silva will play in front of Toure and Barry.

I actually don´t mind if City have more possession than us in this game. Going forward I think our biggest chance will be if we can hit them on the counter, and then it will only help us if they try to play in our half. Defensively we should be able to match them on set pieces, and we need to keep working hard.

You know their fans are convinced they're going to thump us 4-1 or so.
Surprised how much they hate us too.

I actually think that plays to our advantage if Man City go into the game thinking they are the better team and looking to out play us. And they will.

I feel fairly good about us! This Arsenal team won´t be bullied on the pitch. This Arsenal team has height, power and strength to match City, and in Theo and Gervinho we have pace to hurt them. And we have RVP.

They score a lot from set pieces, so we have to be careful. And I think they can be very dangerous on the counter.

However, they have been leaking goals and actually have two fewer clean sheets than we do so getting a goal shouldn't be impossible.

They ARE strong from set pieces, but we will most likely play TV, Kos, Mertesacker, Djourou, Song and RVP at the same time. I have faith in all of them, and we have been functioning quite well as a unit for a while.

I don´t think City will get that many chances to hit us on the break. They will have a fair share of possession, and we actually haven´t given away too many chances like that lately.

They've only conceded 4 goals at home in the PL this season and never more than 1 in any game.
Having said that Wolves, Villa, Norwich and Newcastle were the teams that managed it - we can definitely better their efforts.

I agree with you all. If I were Mancini, I would go with Silva, Toure, and Barry in the mid, with Milner out wide. That would give us lots of trouble.

I just get the feeling, though, that Mancini might opt for De Jong for this. In which case we would take the midfield no problem.

I have that feeling that he'll go with De Jong as well.
Think Mancini might retreat a little into defensive mode for this.

I think Nasri will start.

If Mancini goes for the draw, we'll probably get a draw. If he tries to beat us, almost anything could happen. Should be an exciting game if that's the case...though I expect us to squander a truckload of sitters and great chances.

JKreffer wrote:

Ever so excited about this. It would be wonderful if we won for so many reasons.

Why did I imagine you saying that in a really camp sort of way?

No offence meant. Just an observation.

Sirius wrote:

JKreffer wrote:

Ever so excited about this. It would be wonderful if we won for so many reasons.

Why did I imagine you saying that in a really camp sort of way?

No offence meant. Just an observation.

Hey, that's an old school A-M alum you're talking, show some respect!

(tbf it did sound pretty 1940s disney camp, like.)

Expected City starting lineup: Hart, Savic, Lescott, Kompany, Zabaleta, Yaya, Nasri, Silva, Johnson, Balotelli, Aguero.

Dangerous but beatable.

Don't think that'll be it. More likely:

----------------------Hart---------------------------
Richards------Kompany---Lescott---------Zabaleta
-----------------Barry----Toure--------------------
------------Aguero-----Silva-------------------Milner
--------------------Balotelli---------------------------

Richards is due to be fit for the game afaik and no way he'll drop Aguero for either of Nasri or Johnson.

Must feel nice being kept out of the team by Milner

I've never been a fan of Milner but tbf to him he's played well this year so far and I can see Mancini favouring his work ethic in helping Zab deal with Theo.

I suppose you could be right there Cill, but Barry, Toure and Milner is a mess of a midfield even with the talent in front of it.

Think Cill´s line up looks plausible. Think Nasri may start for Milner though. Just hope Mancini feels that he needs a win after the Chelsea game and plays 4-4-2!