Arsenal vs. Aston Villa Preview: Time to Turn Things Around

Same scoreline anyone?

When I opened the doors of my WaZoBia Gooners apartment yesterday night, I’m pretty sure that I had a quick glance at Batman with 1000 other bats leaving the premises because the enigma was “back in building”. There was also the issue of many cobwebs but I think I’ll live.

It’s been a long while since I blogged in the online community of Nigerian Gooners and I’m pretty sure that I cracked a few ribs with my match reports in pidgin English.

Like every other true Arsenal fan, the enigma has not been happy with what has been going on in the club he supports but the only thing we can offer Arsenal at this point in time is our support. I wrote a post in my blog about the Civil War between the AKBs and the AMGs and it’s fair to say that I’ve learnt a thing or two.

In recent times, Arsenal has been haunted with squad indiscipline, poor officiating, bad luck and injuries and it’s quite unfortunate to know that the demons of injuries have set up camp in the Red half of North London. Jack Wilshere was tipped to make a stunning comeback in the coming weeks but he has suffered a setback that might even put his Euro 2012 hopes in jeopardy.

The three defeats in a row suffered after the win against Leeds has been a very bitter pill to swallow but a win against Aston Villa today will go a long way in instilling confidence on the Wenger boys. In my opinion, the FA Cup remains Arsenal’s most realistic target of a trophy and the fact that the bullies from Manchester are already knocked out should give Arsenal an incentive to blaze all guns this evening.

We all know about the Scottish albino and how his Birmingham side broke our hearts in the 2011 Carling Cup final at Wembley. Wait a minute; we (Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny) broke our own hearts that night but I’m pretty sure the wounds have healed a bit.

Mine hasn’t healed fully though, because people that haven’t called me since the days Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua was the president of Nigeria remembered to call me just to taunt me. The mentions I also had on Twitter that night almost matched the mentions I had on my birthday on the 10^th of June the previous year. I don’t even want to write about the pings from my henemies.

Arsenal takes on Aston Villa knowing that a win will propel them to the 5^th round of football’s oldest knockout competition. I expect Arsene Wenger to tweak the squad a bit but with the injury problems the squad is facing and Wednesday’s match against Bolton in mind a few changes will be made.

I expect Lukasz Fabianski to be the custodian between the sticks. I’m a great fan of Wojciech Szczesny but I can only express my sympathy for the older Pole. After being second fiddle to Manuel Almunia for a couple of seasons, a shoulder injury paved the way for another player to make the Number 1 jersey his.

In the defensive line, I expect Wenger to give Nico Yennaris his first Arsenal start. That bloke was very impressive against Manchester United and I have to admit that I’ll be cross if I see Johan Djourou this evening. Ignasi Miquel would be given another shot at the left back position because Thomas Vermaelen still needs a breather. The impressive, ever-present and fit Laurent Koscielny would start in the heart of the defense alongside…Sebastien Squillaci. *sigh*

Arsenal is very thin bare in midfield so Alex Song will start as the holding midfielder, as Emmanuel Frimpong is currently plying his trade with bingos while Francis Coquelin is still recuperating from injury. I expect Song to be partnered by Tomas Rosicky and Yossi Benayoun. Its high time Aaron Ramsey gets some deserved rest.

The forward line will raise a lot of questions because the manager that has made 50,000 substitutions made one that made the Gooners go haywire last week Sunday. If he claims that the Ox wasn’t fully fit, I don’t expect him to start but I have a hunch that the Ox could be benched as a form of justification.

That leaves us with everybody’s favorite Little Russian whose confidence is presently hiding under a rock. There’s also the inconsistent Theo Usain Bolt to think about but it seems more likely that these men will play at the wings today. Robin van Persie will be important for a tie of this magnitude but the manager might want to hand a start to Arsenal’s Shaolin Soccer specialist Park Ju-Young.

My expected lineup should be:

FABIANSKI

YENNARIS  KOSCIELNY SQUILLACI  MIQUEL

SONG                  ROSICKY

BENAYOUN

WALCOTT                                        ARSHAVIN

CHINKO

This is my first WaZoBia Gooners post in English…Not bad huh?

If we win, expect a hilarious match report in pidgin. If we continue our losing trend, I’ll let Spiderman rent my WaZoBia Gooners apartment to continue his crime fighting chronicles.

Besides, I haven’t finished taking out all the cobwebs. He’ll feel right at home.

Arsenal, it’s time to turn things around.

Sayonara.

You can follow me on Twitter @enigma106. In your spare time, do check out my Arsenal blog Gooner Daily for your daily Arsenal digest.