Arsenal line-up for Villa

By Boris Mellor
August 19 2006

It is increasingly likely that Thierry Henry will play today against Villa, and no doubt his sense of history will be titillated by the thought that he could be the first goalscorer for Arsenal at the new stadium. It will complement his record of being the last Arsenal goalscorer at Highbury.

 Although Zagreb should be a formality on Wednesday, nothing can ever be taken for granted, Wenger has the option of playing his strongest line-up today and resting senior players for Wednesday. Although some senior players may be tired from the round of pointless International friendlies midweek.

Villa players are claiming they are much inspired by the arrival of O'Neill, alternatively they may play hard because they want to keep their place in the team. O'Neill is a good manager and is quite capable of frustrating a team that plays football; indeed his Leicester team often bored the pants off us on a Saturday afternoon. Nonetheless they often shipped goals against Arsenal, and I can remember him going to the Clock End to apologise to Leicester fans for yet another pathetic performance.

Today's Team?

 But it is important the Arsenal have the best possible start at the new stadium and the probable line-up will be Lehmann, Toure, Djourou, Eboue, Hoyte, Fabregas, Gilberto, Van Persie, Hleb, Adebayor, and Henry. It is possible that Ljungberg could be picked instead for one of the wide men. Walcott and Aliadiere will be on the bench and it would be good to see them both get a good run out.

 It's going to be very interesting to see how it will work out at the new stadium, Arsenal usually beat their opponents on the first day of the season. Also last year was one of their finest performances ever, at Highbury, against Villa. Let's hope the Gunners can find a gear suitable for this historic occasion.

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