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Arsenal has been a club of up and down form all season in the English Premier League if there has been one. The Gunners host EPL second placed Manchester City and defending league title holders Manchester City on Sunday Jan. 13, 2013, at the Emirates Stadium in London and will hope for a much better result than they have seen in their last two league fixtures.
The loss of Robin van Persie to Manchester United in the summer continues to be a massive thorn in the side of Arsenal as their manager Arsene Wenger mentioned in a recent interview quoted by ESPN:
I don't need anyone to tell me how good he is. We knew when we sold him to United that that would be the case. He is one of the best strikers in the world, so you know he will score goals for them. He scored 30 for us last year.
Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud are doing their best to combine to replace the missing Dutch forward but it is just not the same, and the game changing ability that RVP once had at the Emirates is sorely missed. Walcott is the favorite to start at the front of the line in hopes of his pace allowing the Gunners to break and score on the counter attack.
Having trounced Newcastle 7-3 just over two weeks ago many would think that a performance like that would have boosted the club’s form. However, it failed to do so as the club then dropped two points against Southampton and were held to an FA Cup replay by Swansea City.
With Manchester City coming to town the fans will hope to see their Gunners prevail but it will be a tough matchup for the home side as the Citizens have won four of their last five EPL fixtures in all competitions.
Projected Arsenal First Team: Wojciech Szczesny: Bacary Sagna, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Kieran Gibbs; Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski; Theo Walcott.
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