Arsenal clinch their place in the Champions League knockout stages for the 13th consecutive season with a 2-0 win over Montpellier. City crash out of the group stages again after drawing with Real Madrid at the Etihad, though still stand a chance of making the Europa League. Elsewhere, Brendan Rodgers intends to play a strong side against Young Boys this evening, while the injury news eases a little for Tottenham…
Arsenal 2 Montpellier 0
Arsene Wenger made just one change from the side that thrashed Spurs last weekend. His alteration was an enforced one; with Theo Walcott missing out due to a shoulder injury, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain started on the right. Jack Wilshere claimed his first goal since returning from long-term injury, while Lukas Podolski scored for the third consecutive game in all competitions, slamming home a superb left-foot volley for the Gunners’ second. Olivier Giroud continued his impressive recent form by providing assists for both Arsenal goals in a night that also saw Kieran Gibbs and Gervinho return from recent injury spells to take their place on the hosts’ bench. The latter replaced Giroud with five minutes left on the clock, while Cazorla was also subbed off towards the end of a comfortable win.
Crucially for Wenger and Fantasy managers alike, Schalke’s win over Olympiakos means Arsenal are already through to the final 16 ahead of their trip to Greece on December 4. With the next three Gameweeks coming thick and fast, rest and rotation can come into his European thinking as the domestic schedule picks up pace over the festive period.
Arsenal Starting XI: Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen; Wilshere, Arteta; Oxlade-Chamberlain (Ramsey 70), Cazorla (Coquelin 84), Podolski; Giroud (Gervinho 85)
Man City 1 Real Madrid 1
Roberto Mancini started with a three-man backline last night, with Gael Clichy missing out after picking up a foot injury in Saturday’s win over Villa. Gareth Barry and Carlos Tevez also dropped out, with Aleksandar Kolarov fielded on the left of the midfield five and Edin Dzeko partnering Sergio Aguero up top. The City boss changed things round in the second-half; Javi Garcia replaced Kolarov at the break and Tevez came on for Nasri on the hour mark but, although a late Aguero spot-kick earned a draw, Mancini’s men are now out of the Champions League.
A point behind Ajax at the bottom of their group, City still have a chance to clinch a spot in the Europa League , though, meaning rest and rotation looks highly unlikely as Mancini looks to get a result in Dortmund that would prevent them facing the ignominy of crashing out of Europe altogether. Ahead of Sunday afternoon’s trip to Chelsea, Tevez’s owners will be happy with a 30 minute run-out and while Aguero played all but two minutes, a record or five goals in his last four in all competitions highlights just how much Mancini can ill-afford to drop him right now.
Post-match reports indicate Vincent Kompany is a doubt for that trip to the Bridge after sustaining a knee injury last night. The Belgian left the field for treatment and although re returned to the action and managed to finish the game, is thought to have left the Etihad on crutches.
City Starting XI: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic; Maicon, Toure, Silva, Nasri (60), Kolarov (Garcia 45); Aguero (Milner 88), Dzeko
In Other News
Brendan Rodgers has revealed he plans to name a strong Liverpool side for tonight’s Europa League game against Swiss outfit Young Boys. If results in the group go the Reds’ way earlier on, a victory at Anfield would clinch the Merseysiders’ place in the knock-out stages – a fact the Reds boss acknowledges:
“Out there, we never took Steven Gerrard and one or two other players but they’ll all be involved tomorrow night. We’ll have a strong team. I will make changes in the game – I have to respect that we’ve got a really busy schedule now over the course of the next 10 days. From tomorrow we’ll have four games in 10 days, and that’s a big ask to keep the same group of players playing in all of those. But it’s an opportunity for us tomorrow night, all being well we’ll get the result and if the other result goes with us, we’ll be able to navigate our way through the group. That’s always been our intention – to qualify. We’ll put out a team that we feel can win the game. I know what my priority is but I also respect the competition.”
Rodgers had rested virtually all of his first-team players for the previous European match away to Anzhi, with his decision to rest and rotate proving beneficial to the Reds’ league form. Now unbeaten in seven, Liverpool travel to Swansea on Sunday afternoon and, while the fixtures begin to pile up, a clash with his former club gives Rodgers the chance to atone for a recent Capital One Cup defeat. Despite his protestations over the fixture schedule, a full-strength XI looks on the cards for the Liberty showdown.
Spurs received some encouraging news on the injury front yesterday after Scott Parker returned to “light training” with the first-team squad after missing out on the season so far with an Achilles injury. Steven Caulker was included in the squad for the Europa League trip to Lazio and is expected to recover after missing out with a knock last weekend, while Andre Villas-Boas also gave an update on the fitness of Mousa Dembele:
“Made good progress with Mousa. We are building on his fitness. We included him in training. But too early for him to play tomorrow.”
Last night’s games were somewhat overshadowed by the announcement that Rafa Benitez has been named interim Chelsea boss until the end of the season. While there’s little doubt the former Liverpool boss will continue with the 4-2-3-1 system favoured by Roberto Di Matteo, his penchant for rotation will have Fantasy managers fretting – he famously altered his first XI for 99 consecutive matches when in charge at Anfield. Benitez’s brief will be to somehow rekindle the confidence of Fernando Torres and reinvigorate a side that has scored just a single goal in each of the last three.
The main worry is the attacking midfield trio of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar could have increased competition for places, though Benitez can surely ill-afford to do without the former two, given their form so far. Oscar, on the other hand, has kept his best displays for the European stage and has returned just two assists in the league; bearing in mind Di Matteo had handed Daniel Sturridge and Victor Moses one and two starts respectively, while Marko Marin has failed to feature, Benitez has plenty of under-utilised options at his disposable if he chooses to freshen things up for City’s visit this Sunday.
