Arsenal will look to continue their impressive form when they travel to St.James Park to take on a struggling Newcastle side on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners return to the Premier League after being knocked out by Monaco in the Champions League in the midweek, but the mood around the Emirates would be very high after their inspiring performance in France where they almost knocked out a 3-1 1st leg deficit, eventually loosing the tie on away goals.
We have been in some excellent form in the last month or so, winning 5 on the trot in all competitions. Apart from our disastrous performance against Monaco, we have been pretty solid in all departments and its hard to see why we cannot that form against Newcastle.
The Magpies are currently struggling with injuries and only have one win in their last 6 games, but they have always managed to give us a fight in the past few years, so we can expect the same. We have won each of the last six games and although the stat looks heavily in favour of Arsenal, there have some close contests between the two sides in the recent past.
Coming to Arsenal, as mentioned above the confidence is very high in the camp having lost only one in the last 9 games in all competitions. Giroud has been going great guns since returning from the injury and the Frenchman will look to continue the same on Saturday. The defence has also been very solid expect for some minor blips, thanks to the ever improving Coquelin.
The games are coming thick and fast, so Wenger will look to rotate some players with Sanchez being the first name on that list. He has been wonderful since signing in the summer and has been a regular feature for the Gunners since the start of the season, but the Chilean is struggling and needs a rest to return his touch.
However the manager won’t be able to make many experiments with the race for the top four heating up. We are currently the favourites to make the top four apart from City and Chelsea, so we cannot afford any more slip up’s. With Liverpool taking on United on Sunday, it’s a great opportunity for us to increase the gap to the chasing teams. I am pretty confident that we will come out of the game with all 3 points, but you never know in football.
I am now more interested in watching Arsenal challenge for a top 2 place than a the regular battle, which many might argue about, but it all depends on which way you see, up or down?
My prediction for the game is 3-1 in favour of Arsenal. What your’s?
