Goonersphere's match preview page covering all first team matches. Previews include up to date injury lists, match facts, interesting stats, opposition analysis, head to head records as well as line-up and score predictions.
Jon writes weekend match previews for Goonersphere but you can catch his excellent regular blogging on http://woolwich1886.blogspot.com
Midweek matches are written by Goonersphere collaborators. Please get in touch if you would be interested in writing midweek match previews.
For the 15th season in succession Arsenal has qualified for the second stage of the Champions League and knockout round for the 11th consecutive season. They didn't make it easy on themselves but an assured performance on matchday five gave them a 2-0 victory over group leaders Borussia Dortmund.
I promised myself I would take the high-road for this fixture, staying above the fray and away from the muck, but I just can’t. It’s Stoke. These may not be the Pulis Potters anymore, but they still play a putridly prehistoric brand of football under Mark Hughes, as evinced by their league-leading 26.9 aerial duels won and 3.4 yellow cards per game. For a Gooner, it can be hard to find a club that offers a stronger contrast—or inspires deeper rage than Stoke.
It’s December and the fixtures, not to mention the fur, will be flying fast and furious, and this leaves us precious little time to process results or prepare for opponents. It’s perhaps fortunate then that recent results give us so much to work with—a gritty win for Arsenal and a dispiriting defeat for Southampton suggests that the bloom is off of the Saints’ rose. Or does it?
