Huddersfield Town head to The Emirates to take on Arsenal tonight. Here’s some useful information about Town’s opposition, including Arsenal’s recent form, likely starting XI, fan opinion, and history between the two clubs.
Arsenal’s season so far
Arsenal have won four of their last five games in the Premier League, Manchester City being the only game they’ve lost in that time. Their last game was a 1-0 win against Burnley at Turf Moor, with Alexis Sanchez scoring the games only goal.
While Arsenal are having a pretty decent season so far, I get the impression that fans are frustrated at the lack of progress recently and want to see their team competing for the league title. On top of their almost-but-not-quite league situation, there’s the ongoing drama over Sanchez and Ozil’s expiring contracts. Both seem likely to go soon, but are too good to leave out of the team while they’re still at the club.
High point: Convincingly beating Tottenham a few weeks ago, showing they’re still a potent attacking force.
Low point: The 2-1 defeat to Watford, where Troy Deeny suggested Arsenal didn’t have the “cojones”. He had a point too, at that stage Arsenal did look a bit like they’d collectively fallen out of love with football. I’d say things have changed since though, and they’ve recaptured a bit of form.
Likely starting eleven
Arsenal have been playing 3-4-2-1 system, which is similar to the formation Tottenham played when they beat Town 4-0 at the John Smith’s Stadium.
JustArsenal.com have predicted the following team to face Town tonight:
Cech
Koscielny Mustafi Monreal
Bellerin Xhaka Ramsey Kolasinac
Alexis Wilshere
Welbeck
They’re predicting Lacazette will be rested to keep him fresh for the game against Manchester United at the weekend. Ozil missed the Burnley game due to injury, and there’s a feeling he won’t be ready for Town’s visit either.
Man to watch: Alexis Sanchez
Having seen Manchester City last weekend field six or seven players that you could class as genuine stars, Arsenal aren’t quite as packed full of outstanding talent. Alexis Sanchez, for me, is by far the most exciting player on Arsenal’s books.
He’s got great vision, technique and skill. On his day I don’t think there’s much you can do to stop him. It wouldn’t surprise me if David Wagner instructs our right winger to drop in and double up on Sanchez to stop him getting one-on-one with Tommy Smith.
The manager: Arsene Wenger
I think Arsene Wenger gets an unfair amount of stick from a section of Arsenal’s fans. While it’s a while since they’ve genuinely competed for the league, he’s done a great job of keeping them in or around the top four.
While some Arsenal fans expect more, it’s quite unlikely that they’ll be able to compete for titles unless they spend the same kind of money as the Manchester clubs and Chelsea. Wenger can only do so much with the resources he had, and I think he’d done a pretty good job.
Arsenal fans view of the game
Jon from the Woolwich 1986 blog predicts a free-flowing, high-energy match with plenty of chances, but thinks Arsenal have the momentum and advantage. He reckons it’ll be a 3-1 victory to Arsenal.
You can read more of John’s thoughts and get some more perspective in his Arsenal v Huddersfield match preview.
Huddersfield Town v Arsenal history
- The two teams have met 74 times, Town have won just 16, Arsenal have won 33 and 25 have been drawn
- The first meeting came back in 1913, where Town beat a team then known as Woolwich Arsenal 2-1
- The most recent meeting was in January 2011 in the FA Cup, where Arsenal won 2-1. Alan “Alan” Lee scored a memorable equaliser, only for Fabregas to convert an 86th-minute penalty to win the game for the Gunners
The Herbert Chapman connection
Both Huddersfield Town and Arsenal can attribute a lot of their former success to Herbert Chapman, who managed both clubs back in the twenties. Here’s a short bit I wrote for the Woolwich 1886 blog about the great man:
Herbert Chapman is still a hero to Town fans old and new. He won the league twice with us and an FA Cup (plus left us with a squad that won the league again in 1926).
I’ve heard other fans have a go at Arsenal for not winning anything recently. We’re still living off the glory days of the 1920s, brought about by Chapman. There isn’t a game that goes by that we don’t sing about winning the league times in a row.
Chapman is the only manager in Town’s history to have achieved more than David Wagner, in my opinion at least. There are parallels between the two. They both prefer their teams to play with a strong defensive base and to break forward with pace. They also both believe/d in physical fitness being important too, Wagner has a preference for double and triple training sessions when fixtures allow.
Town’s friendly with Arsenal a few seasons ago was named the Herbert Chapman Cup because of our shared affinity for the great man. This connection had always given me a soft spot for Arsenal, so I’ll be hoping for Arsenal to do well in the games where they don’t play Town.
You can read more about what Herbert Chapman means to Arsenal in the full article on the Woolwich 1886 blog.
What do you think?
This is a new feature I’m trialling, let me know what you think of it in the comments. Is it useful to get a bit more information about the opposition? Would you prefer if the blog stuck purely to Town matters? I’d appreciate any feedback. Cheers!
Great idea….I enjoy reading each of your blogs which is a rarity as there’s lots of dross out there. More on away teams for me!!
Thanks Nick. I’ll put one together for Everton in the next day or two.