Sunday 6 October 2013

Arsenal's Premier League Trip To West Brom Previewed

It's back to Premier League action for Arsenal today with a trip to West Brom after their fantastic midweek display against Napoli. As it stands Arsenal are second in the league but should go back to the top as long as they don't lose today. They are also on a run of eight away league wins in a row and confidence is very high.

In team news all of the players who were available against Napoli will be available again with the exception of Bacary Sagna who has picked up a hamstring injury. His absence should see Carl Jenkinson get another chance to show what he can do at right back. Jenkinson is making excellent progress and has done very well when has been called upon.

Besides Jenkinson I can't see too many other changes to the team which played on Tuesday night. There is always a possibility of Serge Gnabry coming back into the team, but I think the team were so good that the same players will start again. The fluidity of the players in front of the midfield axis of Mathieu Flamini and Mikael Arteta was fantastic on Tuesday night and I can't see any of them being left out.

West Brom had a great result themselves last week when they won 2-1 away to United and their confidence will be high. They had a very slow start to their season , but have climbed the table with two wins in a row. They did lose their first two home games though and their only home points came in the 3-0 win over bottom club Sunderland. 

West Brom will create some problems for Arsenal and are more than capable of playing good football. However, Arsenal have been by far the best team in the Premier League so far this season and will create an awful lot more problems for West Brom. Once Arsenal are up to the task and prepared to work as hard as they have done in every other game they have to be clear favourites to win.

The combination play between Aaron Ransey and Mesut Ozil was a real feature of Arsensl's play against Napoli and the understanding they are developing is superb. On current form there is no better player in the league than Ramsey and I am convinced Ozil will be the best player in the league over the course of the season. His capture may well have been the spark that was needed to make Arsenal real challengers again.

It's very early in the season to predict great things for this Arsenal team, but all they can do for the moment is keep performing well and winning games. They have some very tough games coming up in the next couple of months and their performances in those games will give a better indication of where they might finish this season. For the moment though they need to amass as many points as possible to give them some breathing space in case of later lapses.

I think Arsenal have more than enough to take the three points today and I think they will win. It won't be easy for them but they have shown the will and desire to put this current run together and I can't see the players easing up today. They are creating plenty of chances in every game they play and it's just a matter of putting some of those chances away.

After today's game there's another two week break for internationals and hopefully Arsenal will go into that break on top of the league. If all of the Arsenal players can come back injury free from those games they should be joined by a few others returning from injury. With all of their players fit this Arsenal squad looks like it could have a real chance this season. When you consider the quality of the players to return other teams have a lot to be worried about.

In midfield in particular Arsenal's options seem absolutely fantastic. In addition to Arteta, Flamini, Ramsey, Ozil, Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere we will see Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and maybe even Abou Diaby available again. With Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski to be added to the attacking options there won't be enough room on the bench for all of those players every week. It looks like the future could be very bright and hopefully that future will be in the red of Arsenal.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow. 

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