Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Saturday February 20 2010
Time: 2:46PM
UK time is: 09:50:24
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Arsenal Line Up vs Sunderland
Arsenal's starting line-up against Sunderland takes on a decidedly different look from the team that lost so embarrassingly to Porto in midweek.
Whether this is down to injury or form, one can't quite tell, but notable inclusions are Theo Walcott for a rare start, and and an even rarer (is that a word?) start for Silvestre.
Ramsey and Eboue both make the line up, whilst the hapless Almunia take the place of the hapless Fabianski.
Arsenal team in full:
Almunia
Eboue
Silvestre
Vermaelen
Clichy
Song
Ramsey
Fabregas
Nasri
Walcott
Bendtner
Substitutes:
Fabianski
Sagna
Campbell
Traore
Denilson
Rosicky
Vela
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Your Comments
Is Sol injured? I thought he was our best player mid-week, bizare to see him benched if he isn't.
Rocky7
I'm guessing he's not quite ready to play the full 90 in such quick succession
TPowell
It's not like he could be burnt out on football this season. When Wenger signed him he said he was fit, two games in a week after "casual" football shouldn't really be a problem if hus fitness was assessed properly before hand. Silvstre scares me.
Rocky7
well that's just it rocky, he hasn't been playing competitive football all season, therefore he doesn't have the stamina to play two consecutive games (I guess). And you're not as scared of Silvestre as Sunderland's strikers will be!!..... (well at least I tried). speaking of which, they're starting 3 strikers? a lot of room in the midfield for us now?...
TPowell
Hmm a bit scary to see Silvestre in CB. Hopefully our mix of craft and pace will see us through, especially after the yet again encouraging result at yh Goodison. Very well done to Everton btw!!
GoonerLou
hit the bar :(
ajwb
NICKY B!!!!!!!!!
TPowell
YEEES!! Great play Eboue
ajwb
And of course the commentator I have says 'well it shouldn't have taken so long for them to score.' will the media ever be complimentary of Arsenal ever again?
TPowell
F*cking Cana. If Eboue's injured I'll be livid. There's aggresive, and then there's phycopathic.
ArsenalRob
TPowell, I hate pretty much all comentators, but this guy is one of the worst. He just sounds permanently grumpy and speaks a whole truckload of ****. The media just seem to hire these guys based on their Glaswegian accents.
ArsenalRob
Should be 1-1, we got extremely lucky there, poor play Ramsey. And why did no one shout MAN ON. We need to put this game to bed.
gronedrone
Sunderland trying to injure our Golden Boy.... Eboue!!
TPowell
I'm amazed that people find it diificult to explain why our players get injured so much more frequently. When the opposition's first tactic is to kick us into submission.
gronedrone
Emmanuel Ebouuee. Emmanuel Ebouueee.
gunnerkid107
top Eboue moment of the first half: reaching down for a ball rolling away out of bounds and picking it up whilst doing a dramatic forward roll
TPowell
what was you top Eboue moment of the half, GK?
TPowell
We've been pretty poor to be honest. Fortunately, Sunderland have been dreadful. I'd like to see Vela come on for Theo, whose performance has been, well... Walcottesque, and shift Samir to the right and allow him to move inside a bit more often, with Eboue overlapping. I still can't remember the last time Nasri has actually been tackled, he just hasn't been able to get into effective positions.
ArsenalRob
I liked how as soon as Bendtner scored, he ran straight over to celebrate with the fans
gunnerkid107
pretty sure that's Cesc's 5th yellow, right? he'll miss the next match if so
TPowell
I'm surprised Denilson didn't start this match, he had a very solid performance against Porto.
gronedrone
I think Nasri is doing well, running rings around the LB there. Eboue was our best player in the 1st half (who would have thot?). Theo is lacking confidence but I still think wenger should give him more games and he will soon deliver on his potentials. Rosicky will be right for this game.
Naijagunner
none of our passes will come off.... so frustrating
TPowell
none of our passes will come off.... so frustrating
TPowell
S'land seem much tighter in the 2nd half
ajwb
Sunderland have had to good chances to equalise. As long as its 1-0 Sunderland will be confident they can get something, and if we let them get another chance like they already had... well third time unlucky I suppose. Eboue is by far our best player.
gronedrone
You're right about it being his 5th yellow, but he won't get a suspension because it came after the New Year. I think it's 7 or 8 now to get a suspension.
gunnerkid107
Had a few good chances to make it 2-0,we need to take one
ajwb
don't know about taking samir off, theo has clearly let us down on much more occasions today
TPowell
Nasri off? he was great all match
ajwb
doesn't kwneye jones look like zoe saldana?
arseneknows
Rosicky and Sagna on for a much more defensive presence than their predecessors.
gunnerkid107
Steve Bennett is a f"£$%3 C"£$".
I hate these lazy referees
gronedrone
2 straight awful decisions
TPowell
Terrible Ref,I hope he doesnt ruin this game for us
ajwb
about *****inh time we got a pen
gronedrone
OMG, we got a penalty!!!!!!!!! holy *****, someone forgot to give Bennet the memo
TPowell
OMG, we got a penalty!!!!!!!!! holy *****, someone forgot to give Bennet the memo
TPowell
AS:DAS:DAS:DAS:D:ASD
ajwb
Worse Ref ever LOL
ajwb
Cescy scores! 2-0 solid game
ajwb
I didn't care how we did it. I'm just glad we did.
gunnerkid107
That was aweful. Only Eboue and Song played to their potential - excluding the defence, who didn't have to do much. It's not that the others were bad individually (bar Walcott), but it's worrying how much less fluid we are now than at the start of the season. If Sunderland had turned up like that in September they would have been absolutely crushed. It just seems to me that we have too many players under scrutiny - so that everytime each one gets the ball they seem to have just doing something acceptable at the forefront of their minds, rather than playing to the natural flow of the game, and this means that those who are playing more freely have trouble being played into good positions.
ArsenalRob
I don't know AR, I saw a bunch of last ditch tackles from Sunderland... I think we played well overall, 24 shots indicates that
TPowell
Oh, and today also highlighted why I think we actually have more of a chance of winning the PL than the CL. We were blunt today, and if yet again our defence, who were fine for 89 mins, stood static to let Kenwyne Jones through. In the CL that would have been punished, as would our lack of a final ball. I honestly think we have a great chance of winning all of our home matches until the end of the season, and if we can get good results from Stoke, Hull, Birmingham and ****e hart lane, that should be enough. Of course, that is a big if...
ArsenalRob
Im not convinced TPowell, I think a lot of those shots would've been very hopeful, or from unrealistic angles. Yes there were quite a few last ditch tackles from Sunderland, but that's largely to do with our hesitancy in front of goal, allowing them to get back from their terrible positioning. If we were sharp and confident we would've had 6-7 today. Having lots of shots and being on top of the game but losing isn't exactly unheard of with us - it's just lucky Sunderland were even worse and less confident than us.
ArsenalRob
I think you are being way too harsh AR, we kept the ball well and got plenty of opportunities and even rested a few players, eventhough we were lucky on a few occasions. btw Eboue was man of the match right?
gronedrone
Yes, Eboue did everything we could ask for of him:.... the silky yet decisive dribbling, the diving, the theatrics, his forward roll to grab the ball for a throw in, the assist, the fighting with an opposing player, the celebrations.... a simply magnificent afternoon for the Great One
TPowell
Definitely Eboue MOTM. I know it gets said a lot, but what a year it's been for Emmanuel Eboue, aka Tinkerbell. February 8th 2009, he gets himself sent off at White Hart Lane. I thought there was no way back after that. I'm so pleased for him.
gunnerkid107
He was my MOTM, but that annoying Setanta guy gave it to Cesc. I'd normally just be pleased we got 3 points, but our next game is Stoke away, and we're going to have to be A LOT more solid and clinical than we were today if we're going to get 3 points there. With Sunderland offering so little today I just feel it was an opportunity missed to really get back into our strie and build our fluency. Now we're going to have to rely on stepping up a gear very abruptley. We didn't play badly in the conventional sense of the word, but we look like an accident waiting to happen, on the brink of another bad result. Sorry to sound so pessimistic, I'm usually far from it, but this is a time where we have to start building into a run of form, and we've missed an opportunity to really hit the ground running.
ArsenalRob
I hate to admit it, but you lot actually have a pretty decent chance of winning the league this year!
xypher
Missed the first half. Seemed Booboo did well. MotM for me! Hope the players will take encouragement from our result and ManU's and push on from here. They WILL drop points, though it's slightly harder to wait for it to happen to Chelsea. Absolutely incredible we're still in with a shout!
GoonerLou
It is crunch time in the season, when only minds of steel get the results; this is the point when our "kids" usually capitulate, but not this time, I feel. Ordinarily, after a loss in CL, midweek, we go into a free fall. This season, the boys play with (just that) more determination like they do want to win something. They have made mistakes, but hardly against the weaker teams. I think we will have our run of wins and lets see what our top 2 rivals do by the end of May.
Naijagunner
One thing I'm particularly looking forward to is seeing the return of Arshavin. Having finally been given a break from his injury he could give us real drive going forward and live up to the standard everyone expects of him and, fingers cross, play a major part in our hunt for silverware.
ArsenalRob
Thye keeper had loads of work playing a very mediocre side at your place my South London friends.. ;-)
1AaronLennon
1AaronLennon. At least you're not as Arsenal-obsessed as some other sp*rs 'supporters', because you clearly didn't watch the game. Almunia had about 2 fairly comfortable saves to make, one rush out of goal for a clearence and a couple of catches from crosses. Not exacrlt overworked.
ArsenalRob
*exactly
ArsenalRob
wonder why you lot vote him motm then..
1AaronLennon
Front page poll is open to everyone - even spuds. Of course that might be the best way to follow Totteringhams long ball game - that or teletext but it's usually worth watching the gooners for yourself.
Amos.
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