As feared from the Spurs game, the knee injury Senderos suffered is not one that can be ignored which means he won’t be available against Villareal. Bad that is. He & Toure have certainly mustered a sound central defensive partnership amongst themselves. The two along with Eboue and Flamini have been the rock solid defense marshaled by Lehmann, which has given us a record breaking run of nine consecutive clean sheets in Europe this season. In fact the report here suggests that not only will he will miss the match against Villareal but unfortunately it appears that he has finally played his last match this season.
Hence ahead of the match the manager has elected Sol to play in place of Big Phil. While Sol is short of match fitness Wenger has preferred him to Djourou to start the game on the base of experience. Wenger sees this as the best opportunity for Sol to show his strength and capability by making a strong comeback. He explains: “I decided to go for Sol Campbell because he has that kind of experience. I had Johan Djourou but he is 18. I feel Sol may be missing a game or two but can compensate with experience. Wenger defends his selection by drawing attention to the fact that it was Sol who was at the helm of our defense the year when we won the premiership unbeaten.
This could be a gamble in terms of our defensive solidarity. Experience is vital but match-fitness is too. Going by the look of past performances I personally think that he should have selected Johan Djourou ahead of Sol because we have seen Johan Djourou playing well before and Sol is some way short of match fitness but the manager understands his selection better than us and this is a gamble which Arsene Wenger is ready to take. Sincerely speaking Wenger had not much to choose from. He had Djourou & Sol to choose from and he has chosen experience over fitness. I as a fan have no complaints over the selection if whoever the manager brings gives his best and helps us maintain our solid defensive wall.
Reyes will be available again after serving his one-match European ban while Adebayor remains cup-tied. Meanwhile there is good news therein that Gael Clichy has recovered completely from the stress fracture in his foot and is back in the squad. That and the complete squad list you can find here.
Though by the look of it appeared that Villareal seem content with the result at Highbury the matter of fact remains that they have to at least score twice today night to win. And two goals are all that The Gunners have conceded in the entire competition until now. The last time someone got past our defense was Markus Rosenberg of Ajax on 27 September. After that we have produced a record breaking nine consecutive clean sheets. So we do have the defense required on big nights such as today and we have shown it before against Real, Juventus and Villareal at Highbury. As for the attack, its there to see how lethal Henry has been banging exquisite goals week after week. In the midfield Reyes, Hleb, Fabregas, Pires, Ljungberg and Gilberto they all have been fantastic. So no doubt that we have what it takes on nights like this. It’s down to our determination and thirst to win.
Wenger is clear upon the strategy to use for this match. He has decided to go for goals rather then defending the match. That Villareal have to come out to score is for sure. We need to capitalise on that. And the best way Wenger feels to tackle that is score ourselves. He says: “The best way to deal with that is to score [ourselves]. That would be ideal and that's what we'll try to achieve. We are a team who can always score goals. But as well I think that for us it’s most important to go there, form a good defensive base every time we go forward and try to win the game.
Even if we score one goal then they will have to score 3. A single goal from us can put the game beyond the reach of Villareal and we can book our place in the Final. As such it’s obvious that Wenger expects an attacking and exciting game tonight when he says “I feel the pace of our game will be the key, we will try to play at a high pace. I think they'll try to up theirs as well so you should see a much more exciting game in the second leg.”
So while we certainly have the defense in place that can take care of Villareal when they have the ball its important that we make the most of it when the ball is with us. But CAUTION!! It’s important that we remain alert. It’s not going to be an easy task. Though we managed to take care of their key players especially Riquelme very well, he will not be the same figure as in Highbury where he was on a leash as the whole team came there to defend. Their players would be up for it in front of their crowd and will try to throw everything at us that can give them a break. Their potential is apparent from the list of Clubs they have knocked out until now. The atmosphere would be cracking so it’s vital that we don’t crack under pressure.
The time has arrived for us now when a place in the finals of the Champions League is just one game away. Having come so far and making it to the finals would be a great reward for the mammoth effort Wenger and the lads have put in recently in Europe. We have really strived to get till here and truly deserve our position. Now, though is the most crucial time. Just one game and we shall then see from there how to take on the final from there.
One can say that our entire season has boiled down to two matches. One, that which we played with Spurs on Saturday and the second with Villareal in Spain. Losing the match with Spurs would have certainly left us with no chance of automatic Champions League qualification via the premiership route. A draw has at least kept us alive in the battle for the fourth position even though we don’t have anything in our hands now. We now rely upon on Bolton & West Ham to steal something from Spurs that could reduce the deficit between them and us. However small it may seem but nevertheless the chance that still remains with the draw has made it possible for us to harbour hopes in contrast to forgetting the fourth place in case we would have lost. So we didn’t pass out of this game with flying colours but still the race is not over and has given us something to salvage from this season in the premiership. Now, the second game. The second game is the Champions League game in El Madrigal today night! On this match hang our European aspirations. Kolo Toure gave us that important lead of one goal in Highbury on Wednesday. A lead of one goal is slender but it is a lead that counts. We have been running in this race for so many years now but never have we been so near to achieving this dream. Let the gunners make this a historic night.
The Gunners have Tourepedoed the Yellow Submarines at Highbury. Arsenal waits for them to sink in El Madrigal.
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