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Arsenal’s reserve left back Keiran Gibbs has proved to be an able deputy to Gael Clichy. The young Englishman has had to fill in at a crucial time of the season and has not disappointed.
Gibbs admits it is a dream come true to be in the Champions League and FA Cup finals. When asked whether he would even have imagined to go so far in the two competitions the Frechman replied “No!”
“It has been a dream. I love the club and it has been a great experience for me and I’m looking forward to what is to come.
“It was a brilliant moment [against Villarreal], Obviously it is a dream to play in one of the best competitions in the world and I enjoyed it.
“I thought the team did really well. We were all fired up. Everyone was well up for it and I think we showed that in our performance.
“The way we passed it, the way we went forward… we could easily have sat back and let them bring the game to us but we took it to them again and got a great result.”
Regarding the FA Cup semi final against Chelsea tonight Gibbs said:
“It is another big game. Everyone is excited again. We need to forget about Villarreal now. We need to switch on and get focused on Saturday’s game.”
First featured on Setanta.
Arsenal will travel to Wembley with their defence down to bare bones but for Chelsea, only Bosingwa and Joe Cole will be missing. Advantage Chelsea on that.
But Arsenal won 3-0 against Villareal with a very similar defence to that which will feature today so no worries! Particularly birthday boy Fabianski was brilliant that day.
Arsenal list of injured players includes first-choice goalkeeper Manuel Almunia (ankle), central defenders Johan Djourou (knee) and William Gallas (knee), full backs Gael Clichy (back) and Sagna (virus) and possibly reserve left back Kieran Gibbs (groin) who will have to face a late fitness test to decide his availability for the match.
So if Gibbs fails the test, the defence would look like:
Fabianski
Eboue Toure Song Silvestre
That certainly is not a defence any fan would have wanted in the FA Cup semi final. But there isn’t a lack of desire. Fabianski is exceptionally talented. Eboue’s best position in my opinion is at right back. Toure is world class. Song has started to put up very solid performances. The only weak link would be Silvestre but his experience might prove an asset in such a crunch high level match.
Up front van Persie and Adebayor should start. The two’s partnership looked superb against Villareal. Arshavin, Fabregas, Denilson and Nasri to complete the attack and that completes a formidable side. I bet/hope it will put up a performance much better than people expect.
The form favours Arsenal. Unbeaten for 5 months says it all with 10 consecutive wins in the last 10 matches.
On the other hand Chelsea’s form is not as good: LWWWD.
Arsenal have let in 3 goals in the last five matches, whereas Chelsea have conceded an astounding 9, 7 of them in the last two matches.
This is the second of a string of big matches for Arsenal. First Villareal, now Chelsea, then Liverpool and a week later Manchester United. These games will make or break Arsenal’s season. Lets see can this side do it and make us all proud…
Prediction: 2-1 to Arsenal! But Arsenal have to watch out for Drogba and Lampard.
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