Arsenal vs Juventus

Pepe LeFrits

Paddy's return isn't far off now...

Team news for the 28th:

Arsenal - Sol Campbell and Freddie Ljungberg join long termers Cole, Clichy, Cygan, Lauren and Gilbert on the injury list. Adebayor is inelligible.
Juventus - Pavel Nedved is suspended for the first leg, while Alessandro Del Piero is injured.

Probable line-ups:

Arsenal - Lehmann, Flamini, Senderos, Toure, Eboue, Pires, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb, Reyes, Henry.
Juventus - Buffon, Chiellini, Thuram, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Mutu, Emerson, Vieira, Camoranesi, Ibrahimovic, Trezeguet.

On paper and on league standings, Juventus are clearly better, but that didn't stop Werder Bremen pushing them all the way in the previous round and Arsenal shouldn't have beaten Madrid based on paper or league standings either. A lot of Juve fans seem to be quite wary of this game, particularly considering what Liverpool did to them at the same stage last year. Nedved and Del Piero missing takes a way a lot of their creative force, while a lot of Juve fans seem to be distinctly unhappy with the form of Vieira and Ibrahimovic as of late.

Not sure how this will go, it should be very tight though. It's going to be hard seeing Vieira at Highbury again, hopefully he won't rub salt in the wounds with his performance on the pitch. Arsenal will need a bit of magic from either Henry, Reyes or Van Persie if they are to score I think, Juve will play deep and keep l'Arse in front of them.

Lemlin

Arsenal need a good result tomorrow and then to shut up shop in Turin.

Mr. Presentable

Arsenal need at least two to bring with them. Juve in Turin, remember Celtic?

Juventus to go through, controversially.

mike65

Looks like Arsenal have too many important players missing to me.

Mike.

KdjaCL

mike65 wrote:

Looks like Arsenal have too many important players missing to me.

Mike.

Story of their season really. Done well in CL but this is stretching it, still think they will win 2-1 morrow.


kdjac

PHB

I honastly can't see anything but a comfortable Juve win. They are on amazingn form as always, and are stronger in all areas. Thuram could keep Henry in his pocket if he plays well. I think this is a huge huge test for Arsenal, particuarly Henry, but I don't think they can beat this Juve team.

It's gona be a fun match though

andrewie

This will be a very close game imo with Henry causing lots of problems. I think it will be 1-1.

county

2-2 draw imo,dont know why,just feel it in my water

ErinGoBrath

1-0 Arsenal's my guess.

I'm just heading to the airport now to catch my flight to the game. Should be great athmosphere with Paddy's return to Highbury. :cool:

county

ErinGoBrath wrote:

1-0 Arsenal's my guess.

I'm just heading to the airport now to catch my flight to the game. Should be great athmosphere with Paddy's return to Highbury. :cool:

nice one,hope you enjoy

Shaque attack

form would suggest a juve win, and a comfortable win at that, but i don't think the italians travel well. whenever they go to places like england they seem to shut up shop and play negatively which invites the home team on to them. milan never looked to win the game against utd last year imo it was handed to them and the same could be said about juve against liverpool last year.
if arsenal put juve under pressure from the start and manage an early goal they could well win this game. 1-0 arsenal me thinks

Nike_Dude

Arsenal are goin to need something special to progress if juve play like they have been all season. Though that said I wouldnt completely write them off stranger things have happened

Roddy23

Arsenal to win 2-1. Juventus are missing two of their most creative players in Del Boy and Nedved. Pepe I thought Reyes was injured also. I hope van Persie starts, as he looks a big game player, and he could be the moment of magic that we long for. I think Capello will have Henry marked out of the game. Vieira coming home just adds to this match, as there are many many interesting aspects to it. The whole spine of the juventus team was moulded by Wenger into the players they are today: Thuram, Vieira, and Trezeguet all stated their career's with Wenger. It will also be interesting to see Henry come up against his old club who played him as a winger. This will not have been the first time as we played them a few years ago, and beat them 3-1 at home, but lost away and were knocked out of the group stages.

mchurl

I see Juve sitting back and trying to soak up the arsenal pressure because, with nedved out, they arent the creative force that they normally are. I reckon arsenal may sneak this one 2-1 but will go out overall.

iregk

mchurl wrote:

I see Juve sitting back and trying to soak up the arsenal pressure because, with nedved out, they arent the creative force that they normally are. I reckon arsenal may sneak this one 2-1 but will go out overall.

Nedved is not the creative force in Juve's midfield. Thats Emerson. He is on fire of late as is Paddy so with the two of them in the middle, Ibrahimovic and Trez up front they are a great side. I fancy Juve all the way here.

Juve are great at the back and (ok dodgy decisions aside) are also one of the best going forward. Camroneisi will slot into the left hand side where Nedved ususally resides and well he is another class act.

Vokes

Yeah, Juve still have plenty of creativity in Mutu and Camoranesi. Trez and Ibrahimovic should dominate in the air, and Zambrotta and Chiellini (if he plays) like to attack from the full-back positions.

The key for Arsenal is whether Henry can deliver going up against Zambrotta and Thuram.

Kingp35

I can see Juventus sitting deep in this game and trying to catch Arsenal on the break. For me this is the way to play against Arsenal because they are one trick ponies and try to walk the ball into the net. If the likes of Henry and Reyes do not get space to work in then they become largely ineffective in a game. I think Arsenal will struggle big time to break down the Juve defence but if they can somehow grab an early goal to bring Juve out of their shell a bit then I feel they can do well.

It will be an interesting game.

Davei141

I can see a 1-1.

Dr Galen

2-1 to the arse i think

Pepe LeFrits

iregk wrote:

Nedved is not the creative force in Juve's midfield. Thats Emerson. He is on fire of late as is Paddy so with the two of them in the middle, Ibrahimovic and Trez up front they are a great side. I fancy Juve all the way here.

Odd, the Juve fans I've come across are nearly all agreed that Vieira's form is pretty dreadful. I don't think I've ever heard Emerson being described as a creative force. What's Nedved's job then?

I want to see:

................. Lehmann

Eboue ..... Toure .... Senderos .... Flamini

........... Fabregas ..... Gilberto

... Hleb ......... Reyes ........ Pires

................... Henry

Pires instructed to protect Flamini (it's not like he can run anymore anyway), and to link up with Henry whenever he can. Hleb to continue his burgeoning understanding with Eboue. Reyes to work his socks off (as he always does), supporting Fabregas & Gilberto, harrassing Vieira and Emerson, and to break forward to support Henry whenever he can.

Pighead

Scoreless draw for me. Henry and co to be frustrated all evening by some classic italian defending. I think Ljunberg missing is a big blow for Arsenal as he and Henry link up very well when they're attacking the opposition. Reyes has a tendency to play the wrong ball or to drift out of games .Juventus to win the tie with a classic 1-0 home win.

Royale with Cheese

Cescccccccccccccccccccccc

Mossy Monk

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL

well taken

gandalf

Great Goal

Gangsta

GET IN THERE!!!!! It walked by Buffon!

Aquos76

Arsenal are playing well and deserve their lead. As the half was going by they were getting better and better...

Pepe LeFrits

That'll do.

Ruskie4Rent

Arsenal are playing the game inch perfect. If they keep playing the same, they could go into Turin as the favourates.

Kingp35

Game of very few chances so far but Arsenal are on top. The main reason is because of the sheer determination and passion the Arsenal players are showing. They are chasing everything and putting in the tackles. Just look at Pires for the gaol, brilliant tackle to win the ball back. Arsenals desire is second to none and for that alone they deserve the lead.

Mossy Monk

pity the 1st half ended when it did and Fabregas should have had another one earlier on aswell

Mossy Monk

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal

gandalf

2-0 Joy Joy Happy Happy

Davei141

Arsenal going to go through, cant see them over turning this.

gandalf

Yellow Card, Paddys not playing in Turin !!!

Chucky the tree

Arsenal are destroying them. Its amazing.

eirebhoy

I like Arsenal but they are the most likely to force Celtic into playing a qualifier next season so go Juve!

Töpher

Juve down to 9.

PHB

Holy ****, Juve are gona finish with 9 men!
Fabregas just gave out to the ref for sending off the second player, quality lad.
Juve look very tired, woeful preformance from them. Juve are gona be short of men in midfield in the leg in Turin.

Arsenal are playing just unreal, best I've ever seen them play. A victory for football atm

county

two sent off for juventus in 2 minutes:eek:

kaimera

pld pld pld.

Well done Arsenal

If anybody believes yee can do it in Europe now, should be a pool fan.

Think I'll check odds this weekend when I get home

Chucky the tree

2 players off.


I'd hate to be in the juve dressing room after the match.


P.S cant believe i would say this, but the commentators on tv3 are better then utv. Parry's a muppet.

Mossy Monk

Capello willblow the heads off them, thats for sure

wtf was going through Camoranesis head when he was walking off

FT 2-0

Hobart

All I can say, as a distraught LFC fan, is fair fecking play to Arsenal. Great to see them playing the way they are. Onwards and upwards lads!!

Dont be at yourself

What are the odds on Arsenal to win the tournament at the moment? They'll be tough to beat playing like that.

Devious

Only caught the second half, but what I saw from Arsenal was phenomenol. Completely deserved victory, Juve are in big trouble for the second leg.

Chardee MacDennis

as a liverpool fan i would love to see arsenal win it.

Raskolnikov

Wow, Juventus were absolutely terrible tonight, especially in the second half when they looked no better than a Championship side. Arsenal were a delight to watch on the other hand, their movement, passing and creativity, not to mention the fact they worked their socks off. Juventus looked unfit and lazy, giving Arsenal far too much room to do damage. The two red cards were just deserves, they couldn't play football so they resorted to just kicking the Arsenal players at the end.

Ruskie4Rent

Juve are awful away in the CL. There was not one person on the team willing to step up a gear. I can think of plenty on the arsenal team. Unless Juve impress me greatly in Turin i'm win or lose, I hope they don't go to the final. Thank you Arsenal for deservidly stuffing them. I'm a ManU fan.

PHB

The second leg is going to be unreal imo.
Don't forget Juve were missing Del Piero and Nedved tonight, and that they also lost the first leg against Bremen.
Its gona be a tough test, but ****ing hell, what a night for Arsenal.

You could really see the difference in fitness between the two teams tonight, I think Arsenals game getting rained off was great for tonights game, but obviously it'll be bad at the end of the season run in.

But I'm happy Arsenal won, a victory once again for fast attacking football.

Ruskie4Rent

Call_me_al wrote:

as a liverpool fan i would love to see arsenal win it.

I disagree. For once I would like to see a good team win it.

okidoki987

OMG it's great to an Arsenal fan
Super stuff, deserved result.
Not if we could only play like that every week?
Current odds on Betfair are
Barcelona 15/8
Arsenal 5.6/1
AC Milan 6/1
Inter Milan 6.4/1
Juve 16/1

5.6/1 good value?
They'll beat Inter if they play them.

Come on Barca Paris 15th May