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Wigan are prepared to take a leaf out of Everton boss Roberto Martinez’s book once more as Uwe Rosler aims to shock Arsenal.
The Gunners head to Wembley with their confidence shredded by a 3-0 defeat to Martinez’s Everton on Sunday, when the Merseyside outfit ruthlessly exposed Arsenal’s vulnerable side to blow open the race for fourth in the Barclays Premier League.
It was a loss which Rosler admitted provided him with “good pictures” ahead of his own side’s last-four meeting with Arsene Wenger’s team this weekend.
“There were good pictures for me to learn from and also take one or two things on board, like I did with Manchester City in the last round.”
Watch Arsenal v Wigan live on ITV and ITV.com/football
Or go to Wembley and watch it there!
Arsenal have two important games coming up – the semifinal on Saturday and a Premier League game against West Ham on Tuesday.
Wenger’s choice has been limited recently by injuries, but Ramsey, Gibbs, Ozil and Diaby are all just about ready to return. Saturday, however, may be too early for some of them to start a match.
There are likely to be some unfamiliar faces on the bench, and perhaps on the pitch too. Bellerín and Sanogo are young players; Viviano (28) and Källström (31) are more experienced.
Arsenal can still field a strong first team, but their confidence may be low after poor results recently.
Likely Possible Doubts
Fabianski
Sagna Mertesacker Vermaelen Monreal/Gibbs/Bellerín
Arteta Cazorla Ramsey Ozil/Källström/Diaby/Oxlade-Chamberlain/Rosicky
Giroud Podolski
I assume Szczesny is being rested for the cup tie. Flamini is suspended for two games.
Koscielny is injured, but could return on Tuesday. Wilshere, Walcott and Gnabry are still injured.
Substitutes; GK Viviano, Defender Jenkinson, Forwards Sanogo and Miyaichi. Miyaichi was in the Arsenal squad to play Bayern Munich, but was found to be ineligible. So Arsenal had only six substitutes.
I said;
So many players were recent arrivals. They didn’t know each others styles, and couldn’t anticipate what others might do. So it was difficult to build any flowing moves.
Or else they had all fallen out and were not talking to each other.
Team for satday :
1 Carson
3 Boyce 4 Ramos 5 Barnett
2 perch 6 MacArthur 7 Gomez 8 Maloney 11 boozy joe
9 Powell 10 macca
Subs
12 Maclean 13 fortune 14 kearnen 15 Ali 16 Maynard 17 holgersonI hope I’ve got the formation right.
At least Rosler has some choices available. Wenger has very limited options.
The semifinal may have come a week too early for Maloney, and Caldwell too. I think I’d put Maloney on the bench. The choice for replacement lies between McEachran, Collison and Fortune. Although McEachran would give a little more defensive cover, I think I’ll go for Fortune.
I expect Al Habsi to return in goal.
Subs; Kiernan and Maynard are cup-tied, and Holgersson hasn’t played for Wigan yet. I’d add Crainey, McEachran and Collison to the bench.
Black beak and legs. Trumpeter Swan – North American bird normally so what’s it doing over here??It’s on an exchange visit with a canary from Bickershaw colliery.
So many players were recent arrivals. They didn’t know each others styles, and couldn’t anticipate what others might do. So it was difficult to build any flowing moves.
On top of that, there were careless passes. It took half an hour for the team to establish any rhythm. Millwall were a goal up by then.
Like everybody else, Uwe could see this. He reacted with two changes at half time, followed by a third on the hour.
But they still couldn’t impose any authority on Millwall. Millwall deserved the points.
Tonight’s team;
Members of last year’s squad;
Boyce Beausejour Maloney (McArthur – 45′)Brought in by Coyle;
Carson Barnett McClean (Fortuné – 45′) and on loan (Powell – 63′)Brought in by Rosler;
McEachran (3/3 appearances) Waghorn (10) Collison (2/3) Maynard (9/3) plus Kiernan (4/4)(who played for Rosler at Brentford)The players didn’t know each other – there were five recent arrivals in the starting line up!
Against Manchester City, Rosler picked a team for that specific occasion.
Manchester City played 4-4-2; Wigan lined up 3-5-2.
Carson
Boyce Ramis McCann
Perch McArthur McEachran Gómez Crainey
McManaman FortunéMcManaman and Fortuné pinned back the two full-backs.
Arsenal don’t have the same threat as Manchester City, but they may well play 4-4-2 with both Giroud and Podolski. After Arsenal’s defeat at Everton, I’m sure Uwe will have a plan. He could pick;
Al Habsi
Boyce Ramis Barnett
Perch McArthur Gómez Powell Beausejour
McManaman FortunéA year ago, we were preparing to play Millwall in the semifinal at Wembley; the win at Wembley proved straightforward. Tonight we face them just before the semifinal.
Jackett, who preceded Martinez at Swansea, has moved to Wolves, where he has built a promotion-winning team, including Dicko.
Holloway, after taking Crystal Palace to promotion, is now at Millwall. Pulis has been able to put a new discipline into the Palace squad, but Holloway is in need of points to lift Millwall out of the bottom three. With a goal difference of -33, Millwall are struggling for their life in the Championship.
Millwall have had;
one win in January (home to Ipswich)
no wins in February
one win in March (away to Derby)
but started April with a win at Nottingham Forest.Millwall originated in the East End and seem to have a liking for East Anglian and East Midlands teams.
