We might see Eduardo Da Silva making his English debut today when the Gunners travel to Blackburn. The last time they met a strike by Benni McCarthy halted their FA Cup progress and prompted Cesc to trash talk Mark Hughes.
Da Silva was the biggest Arsenal purchase this summer and he will partner RVP up front. An Arsenal concern is the lack of width on the right. Emmanuel Eboue is still transitioning into a wide midfielder and Walcott although he has great pace and good ball skills has some difficulties translating that into meaningful ball service. Arsenal has a number of players operating through the center including Fabregas, Rosicky, and Hleb. Clichy is coming along fantastically well on the left and he has really provided a spark up that flank.
Blackburn’s strength is its defence and Andre Ooijer, Ryan Nelsen, Aaron Mokoena, and Brett Emerton will try and bottle up the middle from where the Arsenal attack will flow. Wenger might again think of using Bendtner whose aerial presence and quiescent goal attacking capabilities might be a better match up against a physical Blackburn defence. He provided some highlight moments against Fulham.
The Blackburn attack will center around new transfer Roque Santa Cruz, the Paraguayan international who scored on debut in the UEFA cup. Benni McCarthy might make an appearance recovering from concussion. Hughes also has the highly rated Euro U21 top scorer Maceo Ritgers who can provide a lift to the attack. David Bentley will be hoping for a big match against his former club giving the attack extra width on the right.
The encouraging sign is that Arsenal has so far found ways to put the ball into the back of the net. And it has been done by players not known for goalscoring. But we will take what we can get and in the end that is what counts.
One comment on “Eduardo da Silva to make his Arsenal debut”
Absolute dire the final result, we got out of jail in the first week, now we lost a good opportunity to distance ourselves from man u. Might as well give almunia a chance to prove himself, as long as he keeps his legs shut.