After losing a seven game unbeaten record in Reserves League South two weeks ago to Chelsea, it’s back to basics for Neil Banfield’s side this evening as they travel to the Coast to take on a tricky Portsmouth team.
The team is arguably in better shape than it has ever been with experience and quality in abundance, yet still, the Gunners came up short against an average Chelsea side. The movement and flow saw Arsenal dominate at Underhill on match day one, but despite Mark Randall’s early goal, the visitors seemed much more comfortable as time ticked down.
Tonight Portsmouth will pose a similar sort of a threat to that of Chelsea, they are, in contrast to Arsenal, only a decent side, but will boast big name Premiership stars. David Nugent and former Gunner Kanu will lead the line, Glenn Little and Arnold Mvuemba will provide support from the midfield.
Turning the attention to the visitors, Henri Lansbury returns in place of Jack Wilshere who is with the first team in Kyiv. Kieran Gibbs was on the bench at the weekend, he has been replaced by Carlos Vela in the Champions League Squad – meaning he is back on Reserves duty.
Confirmed Starting XI
Mannone
Ogogo – Bartley – G.Hoyte (c) – Gibbs
Lansbury – Randall – Dunne – Mérida
Simpson – Fonte
Subs – Szczesny, Rodgers, Steer, Henderson, Murphy
Prediction – Arsenal 1-2 Portsmouth
The game is a 7pm kick of at Havant & Waterlooville’s Westleigh Park. Arsenal TV and Arsenal TV Online will be showing the fixture live, coverage starts at 6.30pm. A full Match Report will be available immediately after the full time whistle, live score updates from the game can be found in the comment section below.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Should be a good game looking forward to seeing kanu against hoyte etc.
J.Sanderson do you honestly believe that Ramsey is better than Merida Be Honest and this must be the end of Steer and Rodgers
J: To carry on a point from the last one, Vela wasn’t able to play in Spain until he was 18 or so though or am I mistaken? I thought all players moving to Europe have to be 18 or over. They can of course be signed younger, but to legally play is different. I could be wrong but I don’t think I am. Renken may be different because he’s already switched continents already, I don’t know.
to watch this or liverpool with my pool supporting flatmates? will it be worth watching j?
is not down to the country not the EU. we in the UK have rather strct laws on work permits where as countries like spain do not require this. with certain countries like brazil they won’t release players to other countries until they are 18, i believe many african countries and the usa are the same.
on the point of tonight, J how many players from this team can make it into the carling cup squad next week do you think?
hang on what i wrote is utter jibberish
JBM: Jibberish sure but I think I understand you. I know about the work permit thing but it comes down to some countries will release players pre-18 and some won’t, whereas I believed all non-EU countries waited till they are 18. I could google to see if there is a comprehensive list or write up on this, but I don’t care enough.
I know qute alot of non-EU countries won’t let players go before 18 but obviously vela has been an arsenal player sinc 2005 and so mexico is probably an exception. but it may be dwn to the type of contracts signed etc. he couldn’t play for us cos he could not qualify fo a uk work permit but such rules are not existant all over the continent so went sent him on oan til either he qualified for a permit or he became a spanish citizen. age does not matter here i believe.
Looks like a good team but i would like to see Merida and Lansbury played in central midfield at some stage this season as it is their best positions. they both excel there on international duty.
Trust them to put a reserve game on a champions league night lol
hope dey win
I am going to the match tonight. Look out for me. I am the stunningly good looking guy in the dark jacket.
Samuel – Mistaken, the rules don’t apply in Mexico as far as i am aware. Vela couldn’t come here for work permit issues.
Frank_Butcher – Ramsey probably just has the edge atm
ArsenalVito Mannone
Abu Ogogo
Kieran Gibbs
Gavin Hoyte
Kyle Bartley
James Dunne
Henri Lansbury
Mark Randall
Fran Merida
Jay Simpson
Rui Fonte
Substitutes Wojciech Szczesny
Paul Rodgers
Rene Steer
Conor Henderson
Rhys Murphy
no francis , or emmanuel thomas , or watt any injury news
J how do you rate James dunne (who’s playin not coquelin). he seems a hard worker but i question wheher he has a future especially as coquelin looks to be a good player
Rodgers, Steer and Dunne do not have a future here, they are all out of contract in the summer.
Very happy for Conor Henderson to be in the team, he’s got a fantastic future here.
Watt is injured, Emmanuel-Thomas played for the Under 18’s and i have no clue where Coquelin is.
Well Le Coq doesn’t have the best injury record does he? It’s not hard to put two and two together.
wow rodgers has no future , he looked so promsing so you would say ogogo is ahead of rodgers in the pecking order
Samuel – It’s easy to put two and two together, but it’s easy to come up with 5. He might be away with his country like Ozyakup is.
realistically who of the squad does have a good future. randall and gibbs i know signed new contracts but still have a lot to prove i think.
Randall was excellent last week, probably the best player for Arsenal, so i don’t think he has anything to prove. He had a poor pre-season, but is now back to his best.
randall plays well with the reserves granted and he had a good cameo against sunderland last season under no pressure but it seems to me he hs the ability to come onto a football pitch with his head screwed on backwards. It is clear he has plenty of ability but i wonder if it would be better for him to move on and do what bentley’s done.
I’d like for Banfield to switch Lansbury and Randall. Play Lansbury in the middle like he does for England.
Lansbury must play central midfield as he’s one our best talents unless he is to learn something on the right like Diaby. Winning the reserve league doesn’t matter it’s the development so why would Dunne play. He doesn’t need to add defensive balance so the coaches may have seen something in him and want him to show his full potential before they decide to let him go.
Ramsey is better than Merida at the moment as he is more ready for the Prem. I think Merida shud have went on loan to Salamanca again. Anyway u say Henderson has a big future at Arsenal. Do u think he can brake in and what are his main qualities.
Thanks
Why is Henri Lansbury on the wing yet again
why has james dunne got no future, any time i see him play he is a lot better than randall. it is he who should have no future
Let’s get on the winning route again. I’m glad to see that Bartley starts but I have to say I’m surprised to see Ogogo in there instead of Rodgers. I would also like to see Murphy start instead of Fonte. The Portuguese is decent but I like Murphy better and I believe he can become a leading English goalscorer, for Arsenal or other team. It’s hard to see why Le Coq is not playing, unless he got some national team stuff going on. Dunne is so short of talent that he is miles away. The rest of midfield is good, although I would like to see Lansbury play in the centre as he is the best prospect of those three, in my opinion.
Is Henderson born in ’92?
does anyone know when they show a replay of the reserve game or highlights as fogor to record it!
Is conor henderson better playing on the left hand side or central his he a fast player?
I’ve never heard of Conor Henderson until recentley. You seem to rate him, do you think he is a better player then say Frimpong?
as far is i knew henderson is a left winger, frimpong is a centre mid. better to compare him with the likes of gibbs. but i don’t know for sure.
He is better in the centre. He is a tall lad, quite elegant and a very good passer.
He can play on the wing, but he is a centre midfielder by trade.
As far as i’m aware, conor henderson is more of a playmaker who can play all over the midfield. So he’s a completely dfferent type of player to frimpong who is more of a desroyer. He’s not amazingly pacy but his movement is good.
The preview on Arsenal.com suggests Lansbury will play in the middle, so let’s wait and see. Also, centre-mids are often played out wide in order to aid their development and allow them to be versatile in time of need.
No composure at the back, sideways passing in midfield and awful movement in the team. Just shocking, i hope all them are not thinking about next week CC, cuz on this showing, none of them should get a sniff, i am truly pissed off
Very poor first half, 0-0 at half time, Simpson has been shocking.
Lansbury’s playing out wide to develop his positioning so he can be a versatile player and will therefore have more chances.
It’d be easy for Wenger/Banfield to play Lansbury in the middle and Randall on the right considering Randall has played on the right in the past quite a lot but he wants Lansbury to become a better player so he is doing this. Remember that this level is more about developing players than winning.
Where is Mineiro?
meridas been by far the best player on de park
goooool j simpson !!!
SIMPSON!!!!!!
1-0 Arsenal
how longs left?
jay simpson is a powerhouse m8 !! lol, Bartley and Hoyte look to be building a solid unit @ da back
3 mins left of stoppages
full time 0-1 to us
i hope Henderson’s injury is not serious
Joe, i hope so to, bcuz he was just starting to play well for the U18s