In a very strange turn of events, we face Liverpool three days before Christmas on a Friday night, thanks to Sky TV as we attempt to stop a rather large gulf opening up between us and the top sides.
We ran out 1-0 winners last night over West Ham in the League Cup, you may remember in the last round West Ham knocked out Spurs but there was no fairy tale last night as we ground out a result thanks to Danny Welbeck’s bundled home winner.
So it’s back to league action this weekend with a game against our old enemies Liverpool, a game given more importance by the return of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Not many people giving us a prayer at the moment and in the Arsenal vs Liverpool betting odds there’s plenty to choose from if you’re feeling confident.
The Ox left us in the summer for a huge sum and despite not really impressing for the last 3 months, he’s starting to show glimmers of form and was handed the Man of the Match award last weekend, so should he start he can expect a warm welcome from The Emirates faithful (a warm smattering of polite applause and a couple of boo’s no doubt).
Olivier Giroud pulled up injured in the win last night, and Arsene Wenger failed to play down the hamstring injury he picked up and it’s thought the Frenchman could be out now until January (which is literally 11 days away) but we could have certainly used him over the festive period, with Palace and West Brom away along with Chelsea at home following the Liverpool game.
It remains to be seen whether Mustafi and Koscielny play as Wenger shuffles his pack after the League Cup game, but they’ll certainly have their work cut out with the pacey forwards which Liverpool will unleash on Friday.
Eek!
