Pre-match Talk Arsenal V AZ Alkmaar

Hello Gunners fans!

Well, none of us really expected Arsenal to have any trouble beating spurs, did we? Of course not, but we at least expected to work for it, not have it gift wrapped like they did but what do you expect from a wannabe gunners team like spurs.

We face AZ in the champions league and already there has been bad news in terms of injury regarding left back Clichy; it is not particularly clearly how long he will be out for with this stress fracture in his back but I would not expect us to see Clichy play till the new year; but hopefully the scans tomorrow will reveal some unlikely good news.

For tomorrow, I'll expect Manuel Almunia to continue in goal; he wasn't troubled much by spurs and did make a good save from the Bentley free-kick; so I'll expect him to continue in goal. It's a shame Fabianski wasn't fit and available to capitalise on Almunia's absence; would have been very interesting.

Gibbs will take over the left back role in the absence of Clichy; he can use this period to give Clichy nightmares as well as make a strong and unlikely push to deputise for Ashley Cole at the World cup. Sagna should continue his impressive form at right back ahead of Eboue; he really has learned how to cross a ball it seems; long may it continue. Gallas and Thomas Vermealen would continue in defence.

In midfield, Captain Cesc Fabregas should retain his place and so too should Alex Song who has really been impressive this season. I think back to some seasons back and his performance at Fulham and all the abuse he got; he really has come a long way. For Diaby though it's not quite so straight forward; he performance at the weekend wasn't uplifting and I would expect the manager to give either of the returning duo of Nasri or Rosicky a start here. I really like Diaby, I have been one of his fervent supporters in the face of the heavy criticism he receives; unlike song he seems a player who is growing more unpopular than when he first arrived; his problem comes from inconsistency, Arsenal can't afford to have player, that's not at least better than average more than 70% of the time, in the first eleven.

Upfront we have injury problems as well; Bendtner is out for a month with a groin problem; Eduardo should come in or indeed Rosicky could be used in this position as well. Van Persie should resume his role as top goal getter for the team, while we'll be hoping for a more, err, inspired performance from our favourite Russian, Arshavin.

I would expect a big victory here 3-0 4-0; AZ were a team that scored loads of goals when previous coach Louis Van Gaal was there, caution wasn't in their dictionary, well it shouldn't they speak Dutch but you get my point. With Koeman, they are a more pragmatic side.

I'll expect Van Persie to get on the score sheet - hopefully from a free kick - and hopefully Arshavin would shake his recent bad patch and come to life. I hope the lacklustre defending that cost Arsenal the victory in the final moments of the last encounter would not be on display again.

Away from Arsenal; events at the San siro should be make for interesting viewing tonight with Kaka coming up against his former club. I wonder what the reaction from the San Siro faithful would be. Taking into account the cracker of a game both teams gave us 2 weeks ago, this should be a good.