Preview: Arsenal v. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves? Wolves.
Free use image via Wikipedia.

Emirates Stadium, London

Saturday, February 12

3:00 p.m. GMT, 10:00 a.m. EST

• Referee: Chris Foy
• This Match, Last Year: Arsenal 1 - 0 Wolves
• Reverse Fixture: Wolves 0 - 2 Arsenal
• All-Time in All Competitions: 55 Arsenal wins, 29 Wolves wins, 25 draws
• Arsenal's Recent Form: W-D-W-W-W-D
• Wolves' Recent Form: L-W-L-L-L-W

Predicted Line-Up

guesses in red

Szczesny

Sagna - Koscielny - Squillaci - Clichy

Denilson - Wilshere

Walcott - Fabregas - Arshavin

van Persie

Subs from: Almunia, Gibbs, Djourou, Song, Rosicky, Bendtner, Chamakh
Suspended: Diaby (first of three, violent conduct)

Out: Nasri (hamstring), Fabianski (shoulder), Vermaelen (Achilles)

Arsenal News and Notes

• Nobody is injured coming back from international duty! Hooray!
• Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie have recovered from their probably fictitious physical ailments that kept them off international duty.
• Alex Song (thigh) and Johan Djourou (knee) face Friday fitness tests and Arsene Wenger is optimistic that they will be in the squad. Song is supposedly at 90%. Could they be rested anyway, with Barcelona on the horizon?
• Denilson (does anyone remember what was wrong with him? thigh? hamstring?) is fit and back in the squad, and will have to start if Song doesn't, since Abou Diaby is suspended.
• Samir Nasri is back in training and is a week or two away from competition. Shame he'll miss the first leg of the Barcelona tie. And Thomas Vermaelen should be, what, three weeks away? So they say.
• Arsenal had a six match winning streak across all competitions snapped last week, but remain unbeaten in seven overall, unbeaten in eight league matches, and unbeaten in ten at the Emirates.

Wolves News and Notes

• Stephen Hunt (calf) faces a late fitness test, as does Dave Edwards (leg.)
• Defender Kevin Foley (ankle) will likely be recalled.
• Long term injuries include Michael Kightly, who has missed all year with a tendon problem in his knee, and Adlene Guedioura (broken leg.)
• Wolves have only picked up four points on the road this season, in 11 road matches. Wolves picked up a win at Liverpool Red and a draw at Liverpool Blue.
• They have been giant killers at Molineux, however, having beaten Manchester City, Chelsea, and most recently, Manchester United at home. But, Arsenal won there in November, so really, that's just nothing but helpul.

Match Facts

• Arsenal have beaten Wolves eleven straight times, across all competitions.
• Marouane Chamakh needed about 37 seconds to score against Wolves at Molineux in November. Then, Wolves controlled a lot of play for about 92 minutes before Chamakh scored again.
• In this match last year, Arsenal needed a billion minutes before Nicklas Bendtner headed in an injury time winner.
• Wolves' last win against Arsenal came at Highbury by a 3-2 score in 1979.

The Referee

• The referee is Merseyside-based Chris Foy.
• The last time Chris Foy was supposed to take charge of an Arsenal match, it was against Leeds in the FA Cup at the Emirates. Then, it turned out that the referee was actually Phil Dowd. For the love of God, if that happens again...
• Arsenal have won both matches worked by Foy in which they've played this year by 2-1 scores, first at Blackburn then at home against Fulham.
• Foy has not worked a Wolves match this season. His last was a 0-0 draw with Stoke in April.

Around the League

• These are the reverse fixtures of those played November 9-10.
• Saturday: Manchester United v. Manchester City; Old Trafford, Manchester
• Saturday: Birmingham City v. Stoke City; St. Andrew's, Birmingham
• Saturday: Blackburn Rovers v. Newcastle United; Ewood Park, Blackburn
• Saturday: Blackpool v. Aston Villa; Bloomfield Road, Blackpool
• Saturday: Liverpool v. Wigan Athletic; Anfield, Liverpool
• Saturday: West Bromwich Albion v. West Ham United; The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
• Saturday: Sunderland v. Tottenham Hotspur; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
• Sunday: Bolton Wanderers v. Everton; Reebok Stadium, Bolton
• Monday: Fulham v. Chelsea; Craven Cottage, London

Newcastle United 4 - 4 Arsenal: Absurdity

This is the moment my soul died. Pic via Guardian.

Newcastle United 4: Barton 68 (pen), 83 (pen), Best 75, Tiote 87
Arsenal 4: Walcott 1, Djourou 3, van Persie 10, 26

I'm not going to lie, I have no idea how to write this recap, because I still haven't really been able to completely wrap my head around what happened Saturday. I'll start by revisiting some things I said in the Everton recap from this midweek: "Do you know what worries me the most about the aftermath of this match? ... Arsenal have a knack of disappointing once the talk around them gets too hyped. ... We all know Arsenal isn't the most consistent side in the world. I guess that question will be answered Saturday on Tyneside."

Yes, yes it was. And I have the feeling that the ramifications of this match will be felt for a long time, in any number of possible directions.

Arsenal made two changes to the side that beat Everton on Tuesday (and my predicted XI was, again, correct) as Abou Diaby replaced the injured Alex Song in midfield and Andrei Arshavin, fresh off a goal and assist performance started as Tomas Rosicky dropped to the bench.

What a start it was, right? Andrei Arshavin put Theo Walcott through in the first minute and it was 1-0 Arsenal. Johan Djourou won a header in the box in the third minute and it was 2-0 Arsenal. A Walcott square ball found Robin van Persie in the tenth minute and it was 3-0 Arsenal. Then a Bacary Sagna cross found van Persie again, and it was 4-0 Arsenal. It was brilliant. Newcastle started mounting a threat after about half an hour, but on many plays in the box, Laurent Koscielny was there to clear. He was truly having a great match from the start, and everything was lovely at halftime.

It's quite astonishing how quickly a game can turn, however, and the big blow came immediately. Within five minutes, Johan Djourou was limping, having injured his knee; he could not continue and was replaced by Sebastien Squillaci, making for a much more unstable central back partnership. Then, Joey Barton's aggressive challenge on Abou Diaby made the Frenchman livid. He grabbed Barton by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground. Straight red card, all the way. Now, nobody is going to argue that what Diaby did deserved the red card. What is confusing is that Newcastle got away with a number of bookable offenses during the course of this match and Kevin Nolan once got away with doing exactly what Diaby did.

Those were two big reasons why Arsenal began to unravel. Now, I refuse to watch the highlights of this match, so my memory of the specifics in Newcastle's comeback are a bit hazy. The Magpies were given a penalty after the hour mark that was fairly soft, but was the type that you see given. Barton converted, then Wojciech Szczesny attempted to stall by picking the ball up first. This is when Nolan through him to the ground (and did not get sent off like Diaby) and somehow Szczesny was booked first. 4-1, and the tide was turning.

Newcastle certainly deserved their second goal as Best converted a cross, but the third was the most absurd. I'm not positive which player got the call, but it looked like either Laurent Koscielny or Tomas Rosicky were called for attempting to win a header. Barton converted again, as Szczesny this time got a piece of it, and things were getting painful. Then, a soft foul call on Rosicky, Arsenal clears the danger out to Tiote, who fires a wonder goal from 30 yards. Crushing. All the more crushing: Robin van Persie's injury time winner called offside (which I could not really tell from the camera angle but have heard it was a bad call.)

I don't really want to talk about this anymore. By now, you know what happened and you've made up your mind about Phil Dowd (who, FYI, has been dropped from this week's schedule.) It's time to move on.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: A convicted criminal, with some help from the officials

Preview: Newcastle United v. Arsenal

Fabianski is out for the season. "Club in crisis," says the Mail, ridiculously...


St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Saturday, February 5

3:00 p.m. GMT, 10:00 a.m. EST

• Referee: Phil Dowd
• This Match, Last Time: Newcastle 1 - 3 Arsenal (March 21, 2009)
• Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 0 - 1 Newcastle
• All-Time in All Competitions: 65 Arsenal wins, 66 Newcastle wins, 36 draws
• Arsenal's Recent Form: D-W-D-W-W-W
• Newcastle's Recent Form: L-W-W-D-D-L

Predicted Line-Up

guesses in red

Szczesny

Sagna - Koscielny - Djourou - Clichy

Diaby - Wilshere

Walcott - Fabregas - Arshavin

van Persie

Subs from: Almunia, Squillaci, Gibbs, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner, Chamakh

Out: Song (thigh), Nasri (hamstring), Fabianski (shoulder), Vermaelen (Achilles)

Arsenal News and Notes

• Stay ready, Wojciech! Lukasz Fabianski is traveling to Germany for surgery on his injured shoulder. He's out for the season.
• Alex Song took an accidental kick to the thigh from Laurent Koscielny in the first half against Everton and could not walk on it after. He'll be short for this match.
• Samir Nasri will need about three weeks for his hamstring injury.
• And how long do we have left on Vermaelen's injury? Four weeks? Four months? Four years?
• Arsenal has won three straight in league play for the third time this season. The last time Arsenal entered a league fixture on such a streak, they lost to Newcastle.
• This is the first time this year that Arsenal has won six straight across all competitions.
• Arsenal has won their last two matches away from home, but at no point this year have they won three straight away fixtures.

Newcastle News and Notes

• As part of this week's transfer frenzy, which Arsenal watched from the sidelines, Newcastle sold Andy Carroll to Liverpool for a bajillion dollars.
• Newcastle signed Stephen Ireland on loan from Aston Villa. Turns out, he's hurt and will miss two weeks.
• Shola Ameobi's broken cheekbone further depletes the Magpies' attacking options.
• Ryan Taylor (ankle) has returned to training, but another four remain out: Dan Gosling (knee), Steven Taylor (hamstring), Alan Smith (ankle), and Hatem Ben Arfa (broken leg.)
• Newcastle are winless in four matches across all competitions, a run which started by crashing out of the FA Cup to Stevenage.

Match Facts

• In the reverse fixture, Andy Carroll scored just before halftime to give Newcastle a 1-0 victory at the Emirates.
• Arsenal has already won at St. James' Park this year, knocking Newcastle out of the Carling Cup with a 4-0 fourth round win.
• The Gunners had been unbeaten in nine against Newcastle before November's loss at the Emirates.

The Referee

• The referee is Staffordshire-based Phil Dowd.
• Arsenal's experience with Dowd has not been the best this season. He's taken charge of the 1-1 draw at Sunderland, the 3-2 loss to Spurs, and the 1-1 FA Cup draw with Leeds. Arsenal won both matches they played that were worked by Dowd last year.
• Newcastle's experience with Dowd has been highly pleasant, however. He's taken charge of their 5-1 derby thrashing of Sunderland and the 4-3 win at Stamford Bridge that saw Chelsea out of the Carling Cup.
• In 24 matches (20 league, 4 cup) he has shown 86 yellow cards and 8 red cards, one of which was to Alex Song.

Around the League

• These are the reverse fixtures of those played November 6-7.
• Saturday: Stoke City v. Sunderland; Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
• Saturday: Aston Villa v. Fulham; Villa Park, Birmingham
• Saturday: Everton v. Blackpool; Goodison Park, Liverpool
• Saturday: Manchester City v. West Bromwich Albion; City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester
• Saturday: Tottenham Hotspur v. Bolton Wanderers; White Hart Lane, London
• Saturday: Wigan Athletic v. Blackburn Rovers; DW Stadium, Wigan
• Saturday: Wolverhampton Wanderers v. Manchester United; Molineux, Wolverhampton
• Sunday: West Ham United v. Birmingham City; Boleyn Ground, London
• Sunday: Chelsea v. Liverpool; Stamford Bridge, London

Arsenal 2 - 1 Everton: Gut Check

CONTROVERSY!!!!! Pic via Guardian.

Arsenal 2: Arshavin 70, Koscielny 75

Everton 1: Saha 24

Do you know what worries me the most about the aftermath of this match, despite its status as a crucial win? The fact that I've already seen the media talking about how this is the kind of match that the title contenders win. While that's true, this is becoming a superstition for me. Arsenal have a knack of disappointing once the talk around them gets too hyped. That being said, without the injured Samir Nasri for another three weeks, this team is going to have to start winning ugly, and they did just that yesterday.

Nasri's injury meant Arsenal could not start their usual "A Team" XI and the change was the return of Tomas Rosicky to the starting line-up. Arsenal had, in fact, made ten changes from the side that started the FA Cup tie with Huddersfield Town. Only Laurent Koscielny started both matches. His involvement in this match would turn out to be huge in many, many ways.

The first 10 to 15 minutes or so were all Everton as Arsenal failed to get out of second gear from the opening whistle. Jack Wilshere picked up an early booking within five minutes, as the match showed from the start that it would get a little feisty. Arsenal finally got a few quality chances going after a quarter of an hour. Robin van Persie had a free kick blocked. RVP's beautiful back heel pass to Cesc Fabregas was fired wide by the captain. Tim Howard made a big save on Theo Walcott. The chances were coming for Arsenal.

But, you can't say Everton didn't deserve a 1-0 lead based upon their dominating more than half of the match's first half hour. They got that lead on 24 minutes, but did so exceedingly controversially. Seamus Coleman tried playing a through ball to Louis Saha, who was at the time of the pass standing in an offside position. During the ball's flight, Laurent Koscielny attempted to block and clear the pass, but only got a touch on it, and knocked the ball into Saha's path. The linesman's flag never went up, Saha finished clinically, and Everton led 1-0.

To tell you the truth, there is way too much of a gray area in the wording of the offside law, to the point where I'm almost 100% positive that the wording for this situation says something along the lines of it being totally "up to the referee's discretion" instead of actually having a firm black-and-white answer for it. Saha was offside when the ball was played, so that should have made him offside. Both managers agreed. So, after all of the sexism controversy last week when Andy Gray said women don't understand the offside rule, I'm pretty sure this proves that nobody understands the offside rule.

Arsenal needed to shake things up at halftime; a loss would have put Manchester United eight points clear in first place. Alex Song had to be removed with injury after taking an accidental kick from Koscielny; he was replaced by Abou Diaby, who was solid. Everyone at the Emirates not wearing blue felt cheated by the officials. It was gut check time.

Tomas Rosicky was pulled in the 63rd minute for Andrei Arshavin, and the move worked within seven minutes. Cesc Fabregas's chipped through ball found the head of Everton defender Jack Rodwell, who could only nod a deflected header behind him, into the path of the Russian, who fired it in to equalize. It was Arshavin's first goal since December 29, a huge spark for the out-of-form Russian, and a huge lift for the team.

Arsenal celebrates Koscielny's winner. Pic via Daily Mail.

From there, Everton capitulated. Five minutes later, a Robin van Persie free kick was saved excellently by Howard, tipping it over the bar for a corner. On the set piece, several Toffee defenders covered Nicklas Bendtner, who had just come on for Jack Wilshere, leaving Koscielny wide open to knock a powerful header into the net. 2-1 to the Arsenal. And all that controversy from earlier became moot.

This match was quite a nasty affair, seeing eight yellow cards (five to Everton) and most recaps you read on this one should probably mention the fact that it was stunning nobody was sent off. Which brings me to Everton manager David Moyes's comments after the game, claiming that Cesc Fabregas said something so vile to referee Lee Mason while walking through the tunnel at halftime that he should have been shown a straight red card. Arsene Wenger has categorically denied that this happened. Quite honestly, Lee Mason did have a terrible game with the whistle, but Moyes's anger should be directed to him and not Fabregas.

Can you remember the last time Arsenal conceded the first goal in a league match and went on to win? It's only happened one other time this year, and it was October 16 against Birmingham. Arsenal passed that halftime gut check. There's no doubt about how much a win like this means for the team. But my fears still stand, as we all know Arsenal isn't the most consistent side in the world. I guess that question will be answered Saturday on Tyneside.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Andrei Arshavin

Preview: Arsenal v. Everton

Tomas Rosicky equalized late for Arsenal last year to deny Everton three points. Pic via Daily Mail.


Emirates Stadium, London

Tuesday, February 1

7:45 p.m. GMT, 2:45 p.m. EST

• Referee: Lee Mason
• This Match, Last Year: Arsenal 2 - 2 Everton
• Reverse Fixture: Everton 1 - 2 Arsenal
• All-Time in All Competitions: 95 Arsenal wins, 58 Everton wins, 41 draws
• Arsenal's Recent Form: W-D-W-D-W-W
• Everton's Recent Form: W-D-L-W-D-D

Predicted Line-Up

guesses in red

Szczesny

Sagna - Koscielny - Djourou - Clichy

Song - Wilshere

Walcott - Fabregas - Arshavin

van Persie

Subs from: Almunia, Eboue, Gibbs, Denilson, Diaby, Bendtner, Chamakh
Suspended: Squillaci (one match, professional foul)

Out: Nasri (hamstring), Fabianski (shoulder), Vermaelen (Achilles)

Arsenal News and Notes

• Samir Nasri is out for two or three weeks with a hamstring injury. Ouch. He'll probably miss the first leg against Barcelona on the 16th.
• Lukasz Fabianski may need surgery on his injured shoulder and his season might be done. Welcome back to the conversation, Almunia.
• Denilson picked up a knock to his hamstring on Sunday as well, but played through the injury with Arsenal on ten men and out of substitutions. He's technically a doubt for this match, but do you think he would start anyway?
• Sebastien Squillaci will serve a one match ban, but he wasn't going to start this one either.
• Bacary Sagna returns from a concussion suffered last midweek.
• Arsenal did not concede a goal in league play in the month of January (four matches.)
• Arsenal have won five straight across all competitions for the second time this season and are currently unbeaten in nine at home.

Everton News and Notes

• Tim Cahill has been out on international duty, as Australia lost the Asian Cup Final to Japan 1-0 in extra time this weekend. He returned to England yesterday and will be rested today.
• Victor Achebe is a doubt with a groin strain. Tony Hibbert may miss through illness. Both face late fitness tests. Ross Barkley has a broken leg.
• Everton are in the bottom half of the table but have only lost once since November, a stretch of eight league matches.
• The Toffees have 12 draws this year, more than any other side in the league.

Match Facts

• Arsenal needed a late deflected equalizer from Tomas Rosicky to pick up a point in this fixture last year. The match ended 2-2.
• Earlier this season, Arsenal built up a 2-0 lead at Goodison Park, then turned off the accelerator and hung on through a close finish for a 2-1 win in November.
• Everton's last win at Arsenal was in 1996 and the Gunners are currently unbeaten in their last seven matches against the Toffees.

The Referee

• The referee is Lancashire-based Lee Mason.
• This is Lee Mason's first Arsenal match of the season. He would have taken charge of Arsenal's home fixture with Stoke City that was called off due to snow.
• For Everton, he has taken charge of two matches this year, both at Goodison Park: a 1-1 draw with Wolves and a 4-1 loss to West Brom where both sides had a man sent off.
• In 18 matches this season (12 Premier League, 3 Championship, 1 League Two, 1 League Cup, and 1 FA Cup), Mason has shown 73 yellow cards and 5 red cards.

Around the League

• These are the reverse fixtures of those played November 13-14.
• Tuesday: Sunderland v. Chelsea; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
• Tuesday: Manchester United v. Aston Villa; Old Trafford, Manchester
• Tuesday: West Bromwich Albion v. Wigan Athletic; The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
• Wednesday: Birmingham City v. Manchester City; St. Andrew's, Birmingham
• Wednesday: Blackburn Rovers v. Tottenham Hotspur; Ewood Park, Blackburn
• Wednesday: Blackpool v. West Ham United; Bloomfield Road, Blackpool
• Wednesday: Bolton Wanderers v. Wolverhampton Wanderers; Reebok Stadium, Bolton
• Wednesday: Fulham v. Newcastle United; Craven Cottage, London
• Wednesday: Liverpool v. Stoke City; Anfield, Liverpool

FA Cup: Arsenal 2 - 1 Huddersfield Town: Way Too Close

Samir Nasri got hurt. EVERYONE PANIC! Pic via Guardian.

Arsenal 2: P. Clarke 21 (og), Fabregas 86 (pen)

Huddersfield Town 1: Lee 66

So, there we were. Ridiculously early on a Sunday morning. It was the 85th minute, it wasn't even 9:00 a.m. in New York, and Arsenal were five minutes plus added time away from needing a replay against League One Huddersfield Town. The Gunners' B team, on ten men, not only could not put the Terriers away, but at times looked dangerously close to crashing out. And yet again, in the FA Cup at home against lower level competition, Arsenal managed to find a get out of jail free card. And..... exhale.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes were obviously necessary again because of Arsenal's jam packed fixtures list. The Gunners will host Everton at the Emirates tomorrow, making this FA Cup tie the first match of two in about 60 hours. Manuel Almunia returned, thanks to rest for Szczesny and Fabianski's shoulder injury. Sebastien Squillaci returned to center back, playing along with Laurent Koscielny and giving Djourou a rest. Sagna and Clichy dropped to the bench for Emmanuel Eboue and Kieran Gibbs, as expected. Abou Diaby returned from injury to start in a holding role with Denilson. Samir Nasri started in the middle with the captain's armband, joined by Andrei Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner, and Marouane Chamakh. So, in total, two members of the normal starting XI got the start.

Arsenal had a few chances early to take the lead, but with them being taken by Arshavin and Bendtner, they did not come to anything. Bendtner, in fact, had one absolutely terrible miss when he attempted to one-time a volley shot, but missed the ball completely, much to the delight of the traveling Huddersfield support. He did, however, shut them up a few moments later. He struck a low drive to the corner of the net that would have gone wide, but a favorable deflection and a Huddersfield own goal later, it was 1-0 to the Arsenal.

The problem is, Arsenal got a little too comfortable with that lead immediately afterward. This problem became even worse when Samir Nasri picked up a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Tomas Rosicky. Nasri will be out for at least two weeks, so everyone hold your breath for the next three league matches. Just before halftime, Arsenal found themselves in even more trouble when Sebastien Squillaci was caught keeping too high of a line and obstructed the path of Huddersfield's Jack Hunt, who was through on goal. Straight red card all the way.

Squillaci's red card meant Alex Song had to come off the bench to play at center half and Arsene Wenger went defensive, pulling off Chamakh. Through the second half, you could tell Huddersfield's equalizer was coming. It arrived in the 66th minute, shortly after a brilliant diving save from Almunia had kept the lead intact. The Terriers won a corner and it was 6'3" Alan Lee who won the header in the box. So, it was time to bring on the big guns, and Cesc Fabregas came off the bench for Diaby.

The tie was in the balance, Arsenal settled a little, but play still went back and forth. Did Arsenal have a winner in them? Turns out, yes they did, thanks to more help from the penalty spot. Nicklas Bendtner was hauled down in the box by Jamie McCombe (who should have been sent off) and Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot. Cesc Fabregas stepped up, stutter-stepped twice, and sent Ian Bennett the wrong way. Arsenal were back on top with four minutes of regular time to play, then held on for the win.

All in all, another unnecessarily stressful match caused by the apparent lack of cohesion in the back-up squad. They are an individually talented squad that just doesn't get the chance to find form due to a lack of playing time. Their reward for sneaking by Huddersfield is a London derby with Leyton Orient. Let's pray Nasri gets well soon and that Arsenal can back to doing their thing in the league.

Preview: Arsenal v. Huddersfield Town, FA Cup 4th Round

On-loan Benik Afobe has extended his stay with Town for the rest of the season.
Pic via Sky Sports.

Emirates Stadium, London

Sunday, January 30

12:00 p.m. GMT, 7:00 a.m. EST

• Referee: Mark Clattenburg
• Last League Match: Arsenal 1 - 0 Huddersfield Town (January 22, 1972)
• All-Time in All Competitions: 32 Arsenal wins, 16 Huddersfield wins, 25 draws
• All-Time in FA Cup: 2 Arsenal wins, 0 Huddersfield wins, 0 draws
• Arsenal's Premier League Form: W-D-W-D-W-W
• Huddersfield's League One Form: L-D-W-W-W-D

Predicted Line-Up

almost all guesswork

Szczesny

Eboue - Squillaci - Song - Gibbs

Denilson - Diaby

Bendtner - Rosicky - Arshavin

Chamakh

I have no intention of guessing the bench for this one.
Doubts: Almunia (ankle), Rosicky (illness)

Out: Sagna (concussion), Fabianski (shoulder), Vermaelen (Achilles)

Arsenal News and Notes

• Sebastien Squillaci (hamstring) and Abou Diaby (calf) are expected to return to the side.
• Alex Song was rested during the week, meaning his ability to shift to center back in addition to Squillaci's return could finally give a rest to both Koscielny and Djourou.
• Bacary Sagna is out of the hospital and, despite his concussion, will likely start vs. Everton on Tuesday.
• There are possible returns for Tomas Rosicky (illness) and even Manuel Almunia ("ankle".)
• Wow, I included a lot of rotation in that predicted line-up... But, our B Team can surely beat a League One side at home, right? Right?!? Also, Arsenal plays a league match on Tuesday, so there'll be a lot of resting.
• Arsenal have won four straight across all competitions and have scored three goals in each of those matches.
• The Gunners are unbeaten in eight matches at the Emirates, after losing three of their first nine at home.
• Arsenal are on their fourth four match winning streak of the season. They have reached five straight wins just once.

Huddersfield Town News and Notes

• Benik Afobe, on loan from Arsenal, is not eligible to play (says Arsenal) or is eligible to play (says Huddersfield.) So, I have no idea. Sanchez Watt was given permission to play for Leeds, so I can't see why Afobe wouldn't as well.
• Top scorer Jordan Rhodes damaged knee ligaments in Town's 0-0 draw with Colchester United at the weekend, and is out for eight weeks.
• Also out are Damien Johnson (knee), Alex Smithies (knee), Liam Ridehalgh (mono), and Gary Naysmith (foot.)
• The Terriers are unbeaten in five league fixtures, but suffered a hard 4-0 loss to Carlisle in the first round of the Northern section Final of the League Trophy on January 18.

The disconcerting image of the Graf Zeppelin
above Wembley in the 1930 final.

Match Facts

• Arsenal beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 in the 1930 FA Cup Final. Arsenal also beat Huddersfield 1-0 in the FA Cup two years later. This is their first FA Cup meeting since.
• Huddersfield Town's last season in the top flight was 1971/72. Arsenal won both fixtures that season 1-0.
• The Gunners and Terriers have played three League Cup ties since their last league meeting. Arsenal won 1-0 in 1982, 3-1 on aggregate in 1986, and 6-1 on aggregate in 1993.
• Huddersfield's last win in North London was in 1954, winning 5-3 at Highbury.

The Referee

• The referee is Tyne & Wear-based Mark Clattenburg.
• Clattenburg has taken charge of three Arsenal matches this year, all big wins for the Gunners: 3-0 at Manchester City, 4-2 at Aston Villa, and 3-1 against Chelsea.
• Clattenburg's last Huddersfield Town match was on April 9, 2007 in League One. Huddersfield lost at home, 2-0 to Blackpool. Blackpool's goalkeeper in that match was on-loan Joe Hart.
• In 25 matches this year (18 Premier League, 2 League Cup, 1 FA Cup, 2 Europa League, 1 Champions League, and 1 Euro qualifier,) Clattenburg has shown 68 yellow cards and 3 red cards.

Other Fourth Round Ties

• Saturday: Everton v. Chelsea; Goodison Park, Liverpool
• Saturday: Swansea City v. Leyton Orient; Liberty Stadium, Swansea
• Saturday: Aston Villa v. Blackburn Rovers; Villa Park, Birmingham
• Saturday: Birmingham City v. Coventry City; St. Andrew's, Birmingham
• Saturday: Bolton Wanderers v. Wigan Athletic; Reebok Stadium, Bolton
• Saturday: Burnley v. Burton Albion; Turf Moor, Burnley
• Saturday: Sheffield Wednesday v. Hereford United; Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield
• Saturday: Stevenage v. Reading; Broadhall Way, Stevenage
• Saturday: Torquay United v. Crawley Town; Plainmoor, Torquay
• Saturday: Watford v. Brighton & Hove Albion; Vicarage Road, Watford
• Saturday: Southampton v. Manchester United; St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
• Sunday: Wolverhampton Wanderers v. Stoke City; Molineux, Wolverhampton
• Sunday: Notts County v. Manchester City; Meadow Lane, Nottingham
• Sunday: West Ham United v. Nottingham Forest; Boleyn Ground, London
• Sunday: Fulham v. Tottenham Hotspur; Craven Cottage, London