Arsenal vs Montpellier [Champions League]

Arsenal Vs Montpeller
19:45 BST
Emirates Stadium


Winning is Vital

We are not in a bad state in the Champions league. 2 matches left and we can easily qualify for the next round. This could happen in a number of ways. If we win our home game and Olympiakos lose theirs, or we win our game and Olympiakos draw theirs. The main thing is to win tomorrow night. If Olympiakos beat Schalke and we lose or drop points. It will be a huge task to go to Greece for 3 points, specially when our record there is horrendous. We should be winning tomorrow though, Montpellier are in poor form, and has been in poor form all season. We just won our derby on Saturday and our morale should have improved and the lost spirit may have been revived.

Tactics against Montpellier

With the return of Gibbs and Gervinho, our team is getting stronger with each week. We have lost theo however the options we have atm are really good. We can start Oxlade on the right who was impressive in his cameo, or we can throw Gervinho in however he is pretty poor at the right so the best thing atm will be to start Podolski-Giroud-Oxlade upfront. We can change the midfield a bit though, I think Arteta deserves a rest and it won't be a huge deal to start Coquelin as the DM. A midfield of wilshere-Coquelin-Santi will be good enough to beat them. As for defence, I think Koscielny will be dropped however we all know who should be dropped instead. One has been poor for the past month and the other delivered a beastly performance against Tottenham. Gibbs back will be a huge boost.

Team News

As i mentioned earlier, Walcott is out as a pre-caution and should be fine for saturday. Gervinho and gibbs are back. Diaby is still 10 days away.

No injuries for Montpellier.


My preferred Arsenal team


----------------------------------------------Szczesny-------------------------------------------

Jenkinson----------------------Mertesacker----------------Koscielny-------------------Gibbs

-----------------------------------------------Coquelin------------------------------------------
-------------------------------Wilshere----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------Cazorla-------------------------------------

Oxlade-----------------------------------Giroud--------------------------------------Podolski------


Probably Montpellier team

--------------------------------------------Jourden--------------------------------------------------

Congre--------------------Yanga-Mbiwa----------- El Kaoutari-------------------------------Bedimo

------------Cabella----------Estrada------------- Belhanda---------------------------Saihi

-----------------------------Charbonnier--------------- Camara-------------------------------------

Match Facts-Uefa

• In the 2-2 draw at FC Schalke 04 on matchday four, Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead in the UEFA Champions League for only the second time.

• The 2-0 loss to Schalke on matchday three was Arsenal's first in the group stage at home since September 2003.

• Vito Mannone, Thomas Vermaelen, Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla have played every minute of Arsenal's group stage campaign.

• Montpellier made their European Cup bow on matchday one. They are one of three clubs making their debut in the group stage this season, along with Málaga CF and FC Nordsjælland.

• Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa is the only player to have featured in every minute of Montpellier's group stage campaign.

• Souleymane Camara serves a one-game ban having collected his third group stage yellow card on matchday four.

• The sides had not met before matchday one and the reunion gives Arsenal the chance to register their first win in the competition at home to French opponents.

• In four previous games Arsenal have lost two and drawn two, in stark contrast to their record in all European competitions away to French teams where they are unbeaten in nine games, winning six and drawing three. Arsenal's overall home record against French visitors is W3 D3 L2.

• Montpellier, Ligue 1 champions for the first time in 2011/12, had faced only one English side before this season. That came in the 1990/91 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final when they earned a 1-1 first-leg draw at Manchester United FC but went down 2-0 at home.

• The Schalke defeat was Arsenal's first against non-English opposition in 45 home UEFA Champions League outings since a 3-0 defeat by FC Internazionale Milano at Highbury in September 2003.

• Wenger faced René Girard twice in Ligue 1 during his time as a defender with RC Strasbourg. Girard played for Nîmes Olympique SC in 1979 against Wenger, the game ending goalless, and in FC Girondins de Bordeaux's 2-1 win in 1980.

• John Utaka faced Arsenal four times while at Portsmouth FC between 2007 and 2011. Portsmouth suffered three defeats, scoring two goals and conceding ten; the other game ended scoreless.

Final Say

It should be an Arsenal win. I hope it's a comfortable win as well but that's unlikely as, we are Arsenal afterall.

A must win game!!! We should win this easily

btw you meant Greece not Portugal

lol my bad

Nice work RG. Thanks for doing preview at such late notice

Vital game. Must-win to be honest. Would hate to be heading to Greece needing to avoid defeat or win. Montpellier are terrible this season, and even though they maybe deserved a point against us when we beat them earlier in season, they are struggling, 14th in France.

Looking at the team news, i suspect we might see some changes:

Should win with this formation, but need not to concede first

I miss keeping a clean sheet

Montpellier coach Girard: "This game aganist Arsenal? It's a great match for us. It's an absolute priviledge." - http://ind.pn/UROOzG

@Established1886

Team News: Gibbs and Gervinho back involved. Chamberlain starts. 1 change to Saturday's back four. Will leave the full news. #Arsenal

Good job with the preview RG!

We have to win this one but as we know nothing is easy when it comes to Arsenal. With Gibbs comming back and Giroud in form i think we can win this.

nice job mate

i dunno
we cant afford to drop any points by but we need some rotation in this match or villa game
very hectic schedule

Great job RG.

We need a win and hope its a big one. Our team is getting healthy, I can see Giroud scoring again, his confidence is growing at the right time.

The only way we would struggle to score is if Ramsey is on the wings again, the game will be a 10 vs 11 if he starts. I would not trust him even if we up by 2, maybe by 4 with few min he can come on.

----------------------------------------------Szczesny--------------------------------------

Jenkinson---------------Vermaelen---------Koscielny-----------------------Gibbs

-----------------------------------------------Arteta--------------------------------------

-------------------------------Wilshere------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------Cazorla---------------------------------

Oxlade---------------------------Giroud----------------------------------Podolski-----

I can see Wenger going with this line up.

I will try to watch the game during class, but doing so will mean ignoring the girl I sit next to who I'm currently pursuing. I will try to work a miracle and balance the two, but unfortunately, I may have to put the more important thing first: Arsenal

lol eman, I usually just skip class and head to a bar cause I can't bear watching a game without sound lol.

I believe we'll win this game by at least a 2 goal margin, but for me its extremely important we get an early lead to get Cazorla/Arteta or Podolski off for rest. These guys have been overworked these past couple of weeks and we need them for Villa away to get some consistency going in the league.

Btw great preview RG

Great preview RG..
I took my duties yesterday and got freed today night to watch the match..
Must win match.. Have a feeling that we will win this easily and convincingly..
Hoping that Arteta gets rested.. And would love to see Jenko starting.. Ox should start on right.. But i wouldnt be surprised if Wenger goes for Ramsey.. I dont want to see Gervinho starting again.. The maximum he can do is as a supersub, to use his pace and runs against tired defenders...

Rather than scoring early,I would like see the goals being scored around the hour mark,which'll mean we will have less defending to do.When we score early goals,AW thinks he can win by parking the bus(which was unsuccessfully tried against Schalke).Also its imperative we get a clean sheet.Like RG said,its been ages since our last clean sheet.It would give both the defence and Szczesny a confidence boost.

BTW,I am for resting BFG as he has started in all but one of Arsenal's game,I think.But he is riding a wave atm,with his first goal et al. And with Gibbs returning,AW will try to bench Kos,who is in his BOSS mode...

I would like to see Sagna/Carl---Boss---TV---Gibbs{If Gibbs is fit to start}

Won't be able to watch the match... Feck so pissed about it.

But anyways, we should be rolling Montpellier over tonight. Our destiny is in our own hands, we cannot afford to feck that up. Hopefully things will go great in these last two group stage matches and we end up in first place.

Come On You Gunners

looool Eman

Cazorla: "I feel valued here & the manager gives me confidence and within the team I have a responsibility that I love having"

Cazorla: "Its incredible, even when I played for Spain against Belarus there were a large number of #Arsenal fans there, they were always singing my name"

Why players want to leave Arsenal.

Great prview RG ....glad to hear that giboss is back also gervinho lol and no injuries for Montpellier !trololol

@ Eman ...a true gunner("" )!lol ,but ignoring a girl..that's sooo ..do not even try man !loool...Arsenal win anyway..soo..u know !

@Raptor..coz of the lack of imo

Well @topic...A must win...that's it.

I dont know about you guys but I hope Schalke vs Olympiakos ends as a tie. I want Arsenal to finish first tired of facing Barcelona.

Raptorgunner wrote:

Cazorla: "I feel valued here & the manager gives me confidence and within the team I have a responsibility that I love having"

Cazorla: "Its incredible, even when I played for Spain against Belarus there were a large number of #Arsenal fans there, they were always singing my name"

Why players want to leave Arsenal.

Players who have played longer in smaller or less known clubs from other leagues know how big is Arsenal and how popular they become once they sign for Arsenal.. ask Arteta, ask Giroud,...
its only after some years when they get used to the fame at Arsenal, they opt for money or trophies and leave us...

Wilson37 wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:

Cazorla: "I feel valued here & the manager gives me confidence and within the team I have a responsibility that I love having"

Cazorla: "Its incredible, even when I played for Spain against Belarus there were a large number of #Arsenal fans there, they were always singing my name"

Why players want to leave Arsenal.

Players who have played longer in smaller or less known clubs from other leagues know how big is Arsenal and how popular they become once they sign for Arsenal.. ask Arteta, ask Giroud,...
its only after some years when they get used to the fame at Arsenal, they opt for money or trophies and leave us...

Because they think they will get the same love at other clubs, look at those who left us?

"Play for the name on the front of the shirt and they will remember the name on the back" -Tony Adams

Nice find Raptor.

Anyway..can't see us losing today.

We're high on confidence, some players are in good form scoring wise,while our defending, even if a bit iffy, showed improvement against Spurs.

Btw RG, who would be the captain in your preferred line-up?
Szczesny? Wilshere?

Mertesacker

I would make Podolski the captain if both Verminator and Arteta were not to play.