Arsenal’s biggest match of the season so far takes place today as the Gunners host Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium. Both sides are looking to displace front runners Chelsea, with United and Arsenal four and five points behind the Blues, respectively. A loss for either side today will severely dent their title chances, while a win will put the victor clear into second spot.  Aside from that, though, is the intense rivalry these sides have held. The matches between United and Arsenal during the time of Vieira, Henry, Keane and Beckham were the stuff of legend.

One man that was part of those historic clashes of years gone by is Sol Campbell. The Arsenal legend was surprisingly signed on a short-term deal after having left Notts County and being without a club for almost four months. In the two games since his return, the ex-England stalwart has thoroughly impressed. And with Thomas Vermaelen likely to be sidelined today, it is likely that Sol Campbell will be the man to deal with Wayne Rooney.

Joining Thomas Vermaelen on the sidelnes will be a whole host of Gunners players. Abou Diaby, Johan Djourou, Eduardo, Kieran Gibbs, Fran Merida and Robin van Persie are all out. It isn’t all negative news on the injury front though, with Nikclas Bendtner fit to start and Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue back from the African Cup of Nations. That leaves the most likely line-up for today’s blockbuster looking something like this:

Arshavin - Bendtner - Nasri
Denilson - Song - Fabregas
Clichy - Gallas - Campbell - Sagna
Almunia

BENCH: Fabianski, Silvestre, Eboue, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott, Vela.

As far as possible changes to that line-up go, Alex Song may be left out if deemed unfit and he will most likely be replaced with Aaron Ramsey or Tomas Rosicky. Rosicky or even Eboue may be preferred to Samir Nasri at right forward, but I think that is unlikely. There is also a chance that Wenger will go for a more  conservative formaton against such strong opposition, but I honestly doubt it.

Looking at that team sheet it is by far the strongest we’ve been able to muster in some months. The inclusion of Song is a massive boost while Bendtner’s return will mean we will have someone capable of leading the line up front, meaning Andrey Arshavin can perform in his natural position. The back line also looks strong, and even though I have my reservations about Sol Campbell’s fitness, the man’s experience is undoubted and he definitely won’t be over-awed by the occasion today.

The biggest threat to Arsenal’s chances today is obvious. Talismanic United striker Wayne Rooney has been on fire of late, and sits four goals clear at the top of the Premiership scorers chart having netted a massive nineteen times already this season. I’m confident that the experienced partnership of Gallas and Campbell will be able to deal with Rooney for the most part, however we will undoubtedly see flashes of his brilliance and that is what may cost us.

I don’t want to pick the outcome of today’s game, although I’m sure it will be on a knife edge. Given we are at home and welcoming back a host of first-team players, I think if anyone is going to take all three points it will be us, however the game could definitely go either way. A loss today will effectively rule us out of the title challenge, while a win will put us in good stead for the trip to Chelsea on Sunday. I’m just going to hope we come out of the match with all three points.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 1:28 AM and is filed under Arsenal, Match Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.