By Myles Palmer
The African boys will be key players tonight.
SAMUEL ETO’O is Cameroon’s Ian Wright – electric, brave, two-footed.
A very lively striker who tests defenders and keepers to the limit.
I like Eto-o and his young partner Albert Luque, 21, is useful too.
KANU will need to play well to make 4-3-3 viable.
LAUREN played in midfield for Real Mallorca for two years before joining Arsenal and is a hero on the island.
Having made Overmars into a striker, and Petit into a midfielder, Wenger is taking great delight in turning Lauren into a good right back.
It’s working well so far because Lauren is so solid, so reliable. He does a lot of good things but none of them are flamboyant or flashy things. He is an easy man for Wiltord to play with, and that partnership is starting to blossom.
George Graham has said the secret of success in Europe is to make sure you are not outnumbered in midfield. So George would not play 4-3-3 in this away game.He is a belt and braces man.
But Wenger has a fresh Vieira, reports on Mallorca’s midfield, and videos of them.He might go for it.
It’s the first of six games and Arsenal will get three points for winning any game. But Wenger would love to take the pressure off his team by winning this first game, as he did last season, when Artsenal won their fierst four games in the group.
He knows that keeper Leo Franco had a blinder in Bilbao on Saturday, when Mallorca won 1-0 with a good goal by Eto’o, a left foot shot which went in off the post.
Can the ageing Nadal, a magnificent centreback in his prime, handle the wiles of Kanu and the pace of Henry? Possibly.
Nadal may have one more season left in him, or one more great game left in him, and this could be the one.The best centrebacks are usually thirtysomethings, especially in key games like this.
Naturally, Wenger hasn’t said whether he will continue to play 4-3-3. He does not like to tinker with his system and I fancy Kanu to start up front with Henry left and Wiltord right
This game in Palma is the start of a six-match series that might be a 17-match journey to Hampden in May.
Wenger said the right thing yesterday. Or, at least, something that expressed my own aspirations and doubts about the so-called Champions League.
He said, “We could win it – but, just as easily, you can go out in the first round.”
Will Arsenal win tonight? I think so. But I have not seen enough of Mallorca to make an informed prediction.
The only Champions League prediction I’m making is Juventus.
If Roma don’t beat Real Madrid in Rome, Juventus will beat them. And Juve will beat Manchester United and Bayern too.
It’s wonderful to watch Perez spend 47 million quid on Zidane and create a problem.I said Zidane would not fit in. I said they did not need him.
Real Madrid have not won a league game yet. They needed a centre forward. They did NOT need Zidane.
I really, really hope Totti rips them to shreds and supllies the ammunition for Batistuta and Montella.
Generally speaking, I love the Champions League.
Who will win it? The team who can show the best balance and collective appetite over 17 games, of course.
It might be Arsenal.But a good start is needed. And a good start is a win.
11th September 2001.