Can Arsenal win without Fabregas? Mystery Virus?

Sheffield are ninth in the current form table, with only one loss in six games, and they have won three, only one less than Arsenal, who are second behind Manchester United. However its worth noting that Sheffield have conceded less goals in the same period, but scored less than half than the Gunners did. So a tough defence with a low scoring ability. So assuming Arsenal give a goal away, they nearly always do, they will need to score at least two.

Now we know that Adebayor is injured, but also that Fabregas looked a little tired against Watford and will have to be rested sometime. So can Arsenal score without him? They have clearly struggled to make chances when he is on the bench. No Henry and no Adebayor is a big loss, without a, possibly, resting Cesc things could be a lot harder. As long as Rosicky and Hleb are sharp it shouldn’t be a problem. There again the second goal against Watford was a route one effort, Gilberto cleared to Walcott, Theo brought ball out of defence and gave long pass to RvP .. goal!!!

This was more reminiscent of 1998 Gunners than 2006; the triangle game works against the Liverpools, Man Us and Chelseas, but against those who play the direct physical game the 1998 game plan will do better. A team can attack too much (not me, not Myles Palmer, but Herbert Chapman’s quote), and it is no surprise that Arsenal score when the other team attacks more, as Blackburn learnt to their cost. So get the formation right and the Gunners should score.

Arsene stopped tinkering for Watford, but now he has no choice, with injuries and a need for rotation. Nonetheless he will need the strongest team possible. Whether that means Walcott or Baptista to partner RvP will be an important call.

Warnock always plays mind games before a big match, earlier in the week he claimed he was thinking of resting his first eleven. He now says that was tongue in cheek, but a mystery virus has now hit two or three players and that his squad is down the bare bones.  Very mysterious indeed. The best thing is to ignore everything he says and dig in for a hard game.

Sheffield Utd: Kenny, Davis, Morgan, Jagielka, Nade, Kozluk, Armstrong, Bromby, Tonge, Gillespie, Webber, Hulse, Kazim-Richards, A Quinn, Montgomery.

Arsenal: Lehmann, Hoyte, Eboue, Toure, Djourou, Senderos, Clichy, Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Rosicky, Baptista, van Persie, Almunia, Walcott, Flamini, Aliadiere, Song, Lauren.