‘Fashionable’ draw... Citizen Kane up next..

Arsenal vs AC Milan. It is a fashionable draw in every sense of the word. Two teams with great footballing history..Adept at demonstrating poetry on the pitch.. To me traditionally, AC Milan has meant the side of Nesta, Maldini, Cafu et al.. who made defending look artistic.. They were not the Terrys or the Carraghers of the world whose lack of ability to read the play early meant they do a lot of ‘brave’ defending. It would always seem a fortress and the beauty of the system amazed me. But AC Milan has moved on from then. They are not the same AC Milan but it is a good solid traditional team. Games such as these are what fans crave to be in the Champions League for. Lets make it a glory night, Arsenal!

Talking about traditional teams, we now contemplate the journey to the team with a proud tradition of about 1000 days and a team assembled at an average cost of a million pounds for each of these days. On a serious note they are playing good football, top of the table, but they are nowhere near the unwarranted hype around them. If you read the papers, you would think they are on the course for a treble but the hard facts are

·         They only have a two point lead at the top despite being the luckiest in the league in terms of injuries.

·         I decided to look at the fixtures that the club has had so far. To see which are the great footballing results that have created the legend. The victory over United stands in my mind. But what else? A victory over a second string Bayern Munich. A laboured victory over a second string Arsenal side (And we all know how second string our second string side is). Thats it. Period. The only thing that has stood out for them is the nature of their victories in the games they are expected to win. They have strolled to victories, which has created an aura about them.

·         After spending zillions of barrels of oil on improving their squad, Man City’s starting lineup continues to have players like Barry, Milner, Clichy and Lescott. I see four extraordinary players in the lineup who are sustaining them.- Aguero, Toure, Kompany and Silva. Hart and Balotelli quite good as well. The squad depth that people have been raving about is not there. A couple of injuries and the team would look completely different. I would really like to see if this City side can win without Silva and Toure. Not when they are rested, but when they are injured. I doubt it and so does Mancini.

After having laboriously proved that Manchester City can be beaten, I hope Arsene is sending the same message to his players today. Personally, I am happy with the four centre back defense that we have been forced to play. We looked quite solid in the last game and would be difficult for Man City. Particularly, heartwarming is to know that Vermaelen would be against Silva (though the Italian might most probably change his flank and put Nasri as a sucker against Vermaelen). If we keep Djourou’s wing clean, we should get the job done today.

Our central midfield trio has too much intellect for Barry and Milner. Yaya Toure is one to be wary of and I wont be surprised if the orders to Song are to mark Yaya Toure out of the game. At the wings, I would have loved if Clichy was not suspended and Walcott had to run at him. Zabaleta might be the most possible left back and being right footed should only add to his problems. Gervinho should have the beating of Micah Richards. I think the breakthrough has to come through the flanks. They look like the most possible source to me.

City is very beatable. It is upto the players to believe it. A victory here and the points difference with the leaders is down to 6 points. And we have a game at the Emirates against all the sides above us. Stranger things have happened in football. Come on, ye Gunners! Emirates above Etihad!