What: UEFA Champions League – Group B
Who: Arsenal vs Schalke
When: Wednesday 24th October, 2012, at 19:45 UK Time
Where: Emirates Stadium, London, England
Familiar Woes Haunt Arsenal
After an encouraging start to the new season, Arsenal’s campaign has taken a familiar turn for the worse. At the weekend Arsene Wenger’s side suffered a morale-sapping defeat at Norwich City and looked bereft of ideas as they struggled to create chances.
Whether it was a symptom of a deeper problem or simply an off night, it is too early to say, but already 10 points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea, Arsenal’s title hopes are looking shaky once again this year. Injuries have not helped, as usual and the absence of Abou Diaby has had an impact at both ends of the pitch for the Gunners. With that in mind, Europe becomes even more important for Wenger as he looks to find an end to the club’s years without a trophy.
The Champions League has been something of a safe haven for Arsenal in recent years – at least until December. While domestically the Gunners suffer from inconsistency, in Europe only Barcelona and Real Madrid can match Wenger’s team for consistently reaching the latter stages of the Champions League over the last decade. Season after season, the Frenchman’s troops cruise through the group stage, but like last year, they have been placed in a winnable yet tricky group. Schalke are no pushovers and have the quality to give the Londoners a bloody nose and win this section. Arsenal will have to raise their spirits quickly.
Bringing Bundesliga Form into Europe
Last season Arsenal were pinning their hopes on keeping a prolific Dutch striker whose contract was coming to an end, and this year it is Schalke who have to deal with that problem. Amid an impressive start to the campaign for the German side, they have announced that talks on a new deal have been put on hold with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The player has been linked with Liverpool, Juventus and Lazio, and with Wenger thought to be looking for another striker too, Huntelaar might be keen to catch his eye.
Nonetheless, the Huntelaar distraction has not prevented Schalke from making a hugely encouraging start to the season, and the Ruhr giants are now sitting third in the Bundesliga, five points ahead of champions Borussia Dortmund after winning away to their fierce rivals at the weekend. Huub Stevens’ side have been solid and showed plenty of flair too, but in Europe they will have been disappointed to concede a late equaliser against Montpellier in the last round, a result which means they are playing catch up with Arsenal, two points behind the group-topping Gunners.
Schalke have yet to lose an away match in Europe or the Bundesliga this season and their counter attacking ability will be a real threat to Arsenal here. Jefferson Farfan and Ibrahim Afellay possess the skill and pace to cause problems for Arsene Wenger’s side, while Huntelaar is deadly.
Recent form
Arsenal:
Arsenal 3-1 Olympiacos (03/10; Champions League)
West Ham 1-3 Arsenal (06/10; Premier League)
Norwich 1-0 Arsenal (20/10; Premier League)
Schalke:
Schalke 2-2 Montpellier (03/10; Champions League)
Schalke 3-0 Wolfsburg (06/10; Bundesliga)
Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Schalke (20/10; Bundesliga)
Key absences
Arsenal: Bacary Sagna; Abou Diaby; Lukasz Fabianski; Tomas Rosicky; Kieran Gibbs; Theo Walcott; Wojciech Szczesny; Laurent Koscielny; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Schalke: Julian Draxler
Players to watch
Arsenal – Lukas Podolski: Podolski has been withdrawn in some of Arsenal’s recent games domestically, but has been prolific in Europe of late. He has scored twice in as many matches in the Champions League and has proven Arsenal’s most consistent finisher this season. The only problem has been a lack of goalscoring opportunities. The reason the German has been better in Europe is possibly because of his tendency to struggle to get into games against deep defensive sides such as Norwich at the weekend. But against more attacking outfits in the Champions League, like Schalke, he may have more space to attack and cause problems.
Schalke – Ibrahim Afellay: The Dutch attacking midfielder has the pace and skill to cause Arsenal’s defence nightmares, particularly given the absences of Kieran Gibbs and Laurent Koscielny. The solid Arsenal backline of earlier this season seems more vulnerable now and the sight of an in form Afellay, on loan at Schalke from Barcelona, running at them directly will be a key part of this match.
Match Prediction
Arsenal will, as is their way, look to dominate midfield and dictate proceedings, but will not find it easy to do that. With Holtby so impressive in midfield for Schalke, he can go some way to preventing Arsenal weaving their triangular patterns around the German side.
It will be important that Wenger is able to get his full-backs forward as much as possible to stretch the Schalke defence. Arsenal struggled to pull Norwich out of position and will need to get the ball into wide areas quicker to do that here.
However, if Schalke set up with a tight and rigid defence, they could well spring a surprise here. The Bundesliga outfit have superb counter attacking ability and can expose an Arsenal team who have struggled to keep clean sheets in recent weeks. Arsenal should score, but the firepower of Farfan, Afellay and Huntelaar is good enough to breach the Gunners defence. Wenger will be aware of the danger that Schalke pose and may instruct his team to be patient after criticising them for not showing enough of that particular quality at the weekend, which may well mean this one ends 1-1.
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