Arsenal are better than Birmingham.
They should win this game by one goal.
An organised side with good spirit, Birmingham don’t score a lot but their home record is solid : they are unbeaten at St Andrews in their last 11 games.
Joe Hart is a promising keeper who was far too easily beaten by a David Dunn near post header when they lost 2-1 at Ewood Park on Wednesday night.
Birmingham’s goal was scored from a free-kick outside the box by the left-footed James McFadden, who can score from distance in open play as well as set-pieces. Swede Seb Larsson, the right midfielder, is also useful at free-kicks.
Manager Alex McLeish is one of the good guys in football and I was surprised when he took them down. I’ve never met McLeish but I phoned him years ago when he was managing Motherwell. He was candid and helpful, as good as gold. Can’t remember why I called him.
He brought Birmingham straight back up and turned them into a decent mid-table side. He has done that by making them hard to beat. He signed midfielder Barry Ferguson, who played for him at Rangers. I thought Barry was over the hill after some bad injuries but he’s doing OK.
Captain Stephen Carr was a terrific right back for Spurs ten years ago. But he had a terrible knee injury and retired from Newcastle in December 2008.
Then he started training with Birmingham, signed a one-month contract, and is now their captain. How’s that for perseverance? He is 33 now.
On form it’s a straightforward bet : Birmingham have just lost twice and Arsenal have won their last six games against Liverpool (1-0), Sunderland (2-0), Stoke (3-1), Burnley (3-1), Hull (2-1) and West Ham (2-0).
Those stats suggest Arsenal can score two goals at Birmingham.
So the result really depends on how well they defend without Vermaelen.
If they defend badly they could drop two points.
Three points would give Arsenal their best EPL sequence since October 2007 : seven wins in a row.
Bendtner is said to be a slight doubt.
All the French boys will play against Barcelona. They always do. They’re always fit for the glamour games.
Yesterday I should have guessed that those Arshavin comments might be old quotes. They were not made on his quirky website, as I thought.
I’m going to the Chelsea-Aston Villa game tomorrow.
Hope Agbonlahor is playing. Gabby is not that skilful but I kinda like him. I see Chelsea from time to time but I haven’t seen them in a pressure game. It might be revealing. They dropped Anelka in midweek and won 5-0. Not coincidence !
I’ve posted a piece about Marrakech and underpants.