What Is Your Starting XI at Ipswich on Wednesday?

In for the banned Sagna, Emmanuel Eboue is one of the only obvious selections.

Pic via This is Futbol.

Rotation, rotation, rotation. We've talked about it a lot lately and with Arsenal competing on three domestic fronts in the month of January, we're going to be talking about it a lot more this week. Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Leeds on Saturday added one more match to the fixture list, with very little break in between each match.

We've also noticed since the festive period a clear line between Arsenal's usual starting squad and the squad of bench players who start when Arsene Wenger determines the need to rotate. The A Team started three of the four league fixtures during the holiday period, while the B Team started at Wigan and against Leeds (both draws.)

The A Team has established itself as: Fabianski; Sagna, Koscielny, Djourou, Clichy; Song, Wilshere; Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott; and van Persie.

The B Team isn't quite a full XI on its own and usually requires about two players from the A Team to overlap, thanks to injuries to Diaby and Vermaelen. Reports indicate that Squillaci picked up a hamstring injury on Saturday, which will force Wenger's hand to buy in the transfer market. The B Team list, therefore, includes Szczesny, Eboue, Gibbs, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner, Arshavin, and Chamakh, plus Aaron Ramsey close to a return and the occasional smattering of reserves like Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Craig Eastmond, and Ignasi Miquel. And it took me a reread of the article after posting it to realize I had completely forgotten Carlos Vela, who is likely going to be loaned somewhere anyway.

In the coming weeks, the fixture list is a little complicated. Arsenal plays the first leg of the Carling Cup Semi-Final at Ipswich Town on Wednesday night. Then, three days later, it's back to league play against West Ham United, at Upton Park. Three to four days later, depending on the not yet determined replay date, they'll travel to Elland Road for the replay against Leeds. Three or four days later, it's back to the Emirates again to host Wigan in the league, then three days after that, they host Ipswich in the second leg of the Carling Cup Semi.

Five matches in thirteen days.

My question to you: in which matches do you start the A Team, in which matches do you start the B Team, do you mix-and-match the squads at any point, and who do you send out at Ipswich on Wednesday?

Remember, if you play the B Team on Wednesday, then it will be ten days since the A Team's last start by the time Arsenal plays West Ham at the weekend.

Tricky, isn't it?

Arsenal v. Stoke Match Off Due to Snow

You mean to tell me they can't play in this? Pic via Arsenal.

Fixture Congestion or: Why It's Crucial to Win on Wednesday

Click to enlarge. Red fixtures are at home, blue fixtures away.
Update: The Wigan Carling Cup fixture was moved to Tues, Nov. 30 after this post's publication.

Arsenal travels about 1700 miles east to Donetsk in the Ukraine this week to play their fourth Champions League group match, having already picked up three wins in three matches thus far. A win would mean many things for the Gunners: they would most importantly be six points clear of both Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga (if the Portuguese side also wins) with two matches to play, ensuring not just qualification to the knockout phase, but essentially winning the group as well. It would also mean less pressure on their remaining group fixtures, which is crucial given the layout of Arsenal's fixtures this month.

If Arsenal wins on Wednesday, they would have 12 points from four matches with two to play in the group phase. In terms of tie-breakers, the first is head-to-head and the second is goal difference. Braga can finish with no more than 12 points and Shakhtar would finish with no more than 12 if this scenario plays out. Arsenal would have the tie-breaker over the Ukrainian side, having beaten them twice. If Braga finishes with 12 and even with Arsenal, that means the Gunners would have lost in Portugal on the 23rd, splitting the points in two matches. But, Arsenal has a +19 difference compared to Braga in the second tie-breaker at the moment.

So, an Arsenal win on Wednesday almost certainly ensures winning the group regardless of what Braga or Shakhtar ends up doing down the line (unless Arsenal starts losing by ten) and 100% seals the deal if Braga drops points in Belgrade. This is crucial, because Arsenal has a tricky run of fixtures in the league towards the end of November.

Arsenal's trip to Braga is on a Tuesday night, three days after what will be an intense home fixture against rivals Tottenham Hotspur and four days before an always tough trip to Birmingham to play Aston Villa. These two league fixtures follow tricky road trips to Wolves (where Manchester City lost on Saturday) and Everton.

The next four weeks will see Arsenal play seven times; the next five weeks see Arsenal play nine times. Among their next six league fixtures, the Gunners took 16 points out of the possible 18 the last time they were played (five last year and Newcastle two years ago.) This doesn't mean they're not tricky. Mid-table Fulham at home in early December might actually be the easiest of the six; Wolves away would be second easiest because it comes just three days after another match. Of course, as we've learned over the past few seasons, no fixture is easy.

The two week span which sees a midweek trip to Braga in the middle will be crucial to Arsenal's season. Chelsea during the same time has Sunderland at home, Birmingham away, and Newcastle away. While Arsenal has Everton away, Spurs home, and Villa away. Since one cannot count on Chelsea dropping points often, Arsenal can't take their foot off the accelerator. The Gunners have already lost at home to West Brom, they can't start dropping points elsewhere too.

The best way to make sure Arsenal will be fully devoted to league play through what is always a difficult month (they lost twice in November last year and three times two years ago) is to reduce the importance of that mid-month trip to Portugal by taking all three points on Wednesday.

Matches Moved for UK Television

This is a television. Free use image via Wikipedia.

Four Arsenal fixtures in December and early January have officially been moved for broadcast slots on British television. All matches are normally scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. in England (10:00 a.m. here in New York City) but can be moved if a television network in the UK decides to air it live. Matches are usually moved either earlier or to Sunday/Monday for Sky Sports and are moved to later on Saturday for ESPN. This also alters which television network airs the match in the United States.

The following is the list of Arsenal's upcoming fixtures through January that have been moved for television and will not be aired at the standard Saturday time. This includes all mid-week league fixtures, whether or not they were moved in the first place. As a New York-based blog, all times are Eastern:

Manchester City (away) airs Sunday, October 24 at 11:00 a.m.

Newcastle United (home) airs Sunday, November 7 at 8:30 a.m.

Wolves (away) airs Wednesday, November 10 at 2:45 p.m.

Everton (away) airs Sunday, November 14 at 9:00 a.m.

Tottenham Hotspur (home) airs Saturday, November 20 at 7:45 a.m.

Aston Villa (away) airs Saturday, November 27 at 7:45 a.m.

Manchester United (away) airs Monday, December 13 at 3:00 p.m.

Chelsea (home) airs Monday, December 27 at 3:00 p.m.

Wigan (away) airs Wednesday, December 29 at 2:45 p.m.

Birmingham City (away) airs Saturday, January 1 at 12:30 p.m.

Manchester City (home) airs Wednesday, January 5 at 2:45 p.m.

UPDATED: For the sake of completeness, here's the list of matches that are at the standard Saturday 10:00 a.m. time:

Birmingham (home) on October 16.

West Ham (home) on October 30.

Fulham (home) on December 4.

Stoke (home) on December 18.

News Roundup 7/7/10 - The Controversially Onside Edition

This ridiculous shot put Holland up 1-0 yesterday. Pic via Guardian.

• International Gunner Watch - Van Persie: After shocking Brazil on Friday, the Netherlands advanced to their first World Cup Final since 1978 after a 3-2 win over Uruguay. Much debate surrounds whether Robin van Persie was offside for De Oranje's second goal, the goal which put them ahead for good. My opinion: RVP was offside by a hair's width and did interfere with the goalkeeper's vision. By the letter of the law, the goal should not have stood. But, it wasn't as blatantly obvious as some other goals that have counted (*coughTevezcough*). [Guardian]
• Speaking of van Persie, he has requested a squad number change that is awaiting team approval. Likely to #10, which is being vacated by Gallas. [Gooner Talk]
• International Gunner Watch - Fabregas: It looked like there was a chance Cesc would start for Spain in today's semifinal against Germany, but thanks to a shin injury, it looks like he'll be starting on the bench again. [Guardian]
• Speaking of Fabregas, Barcelona has had to ask for a £125 million bank loan to cover unpaid wages for players and staff. No wonder they won't "overpay" for him... even though they've overpaid for everyone else over the past couple of years. Everything about Barca just feels smarmy. [Guardian, Telegraph]
• The Laurent Koscielny transfer deal should be completed within the next 24 hours, at £8.5 million. I've heard a rumor that he'll be wearing #6, which makes sense as that number was vacated by Senderos. [Daily Mail]
• Koscieny's soon-to-be-"former" French team Lorient, have already signed his replacement. That was fast... [Sky Sports]
• Arsenal's opening weekend fixture against Liverpool at Anfield has been moved for television to Sunday at 4:00 (11:00 Eastern.) I've been saying that would happen since the fixture list came out, but I don't think I typed that here anywhere, so you're just going to have to take my word for it. What? You don't believe me!?! [Arsenal.com]
• Oh, and Bendtner's hurt. That's one injury already for the start of the season... Bets on who's next? [Telegraph, ESPN Soccernet]
• Pre-season training has begun in North London! And the first friendly is in ten days! Get excited! [Arsenal.com]

Premier League Announces 2010/11 Fixture List

Andrei Arshavin has scored 807 career goals in two games at Anfield. Pic via Guardian.

As reported by REDAction yesterday, Arsenal will indeed open their 2010/11 season with a trip to Anfield to play Liverpool. Considering this match is a prime candidate to be televised, that leaves it with about a 50/50 chance to be played on either Saturday, August 14 or Sunday, August 15. Arsenal opened in the late game on Saturday last year while Liverpool opened with the early game on Sunday.

Anfield has historically been a house of horrors for the Gunners. For example, before Arsenal's 2-0 win to dramatically clinch the 1988/89 league title on goals scored, Arsenal had not won in 13 tries. Before last December's 2-1 win, Arsenal's last victory at Anfield was in October of 2003, during the Invicibles season. Both sides played a thrilling 4-4 draw in April of 2009, with Andrei Arshavin scoring all four Arsenal goals.

Arsenal's first home match of rhe season will be the following the week against promotion playoff champion Blackpool. This is followed by meetings with Bolton, Sunderland, and West Brom before a trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the first weekend of October.

The North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur will be played on November 20 at the Emirates and February 26 at White Hart Lane. Arsenal will host Chelsea on Boxing Day and they'll host Liverpool on April 16.

Arsenal's first match against Manchester United will be at Old Trafford on December 11, then at the Emirates on April 30.

Arsenal will open group stage play in the Champions League on either September 14th or 15th, depending on the draw. They'll enter the Carling Cup in the third round on September 22nd and they'll enter the third round of the FA Cup on January 8th.

The fixtures list is available at Arsenal.com. All times are subject to change based on tournament draws and television selection.

REDAction Source: Arsenal to Open 2010/11 Season at Anfield

Actually, I'd like some time to myself, thank you very much.

According to REDAction, one of their sources have informed them that Arsenal will open their 2010/11 Premier League campaign with one of the more difficult matches on the list, Liverpool away at Anfield.

The fixture list is officially released by the Premier League tomorrow morning, at 9 a.m. BST, so we'll know then whether or not this rumor is true.

[via REDAction on Facebook]