Northwest Passage.....to Bolton

The Gunners visit the Reebok stadium tomorrow for that always challenging fixture with Bolton. In the past few years I always dread this fixture - generally because in the past few years Bolton, under Sam Allardyce, was a top 8 team and difficult to beat on most days but also because Arsenal just seems to suffer in the Northwest. It doesn't help that Man United are there but Blackburn are usually a challenge and City certainly can have their days. The trip to Greater Manchester rarely yields a result the likes of trips to say, Craven Cottage or White Hart Lane, for example.

I'm not sure precisely why Arsenal struggles so much navigating through the city that spawned the industrial revolution but there are some commonalities of the teams that have played there in recent years. One of the reasons is the physicality of teams that play ther3e. Bolton and Blackburn often kick the crap out of Arsenal leaving they many softer Gunner's less effective. These teams also just air the ball down the field and hope for a flick-on more often they some of the southern English teams and this obviously reveals Arsenal's vital weakness - balls in the air. Finally, it almost always seems to be absolutely terrible weather when the Gunner's visit the Northwest. These are poor excuses on their own ,but taken collectively it helps to explain some of the reason for Arsenal's struggles.

Tomorrow's game is as critical as they come for Arsenal this season. As my previous post indicates, I do think Arsenal's title aspirations are all but finished after last week's heart-breaker at Stamford Bridge, but it's important for this club to find it's form in the run-up to the massive tilt with Liverpool in the CL this week. Arsenal's recent form is really nothing short of abysmal. In the league, they have taken just four of 15 possible points that brought them from a 5 point lead to a 6 point deficit atop the EPL in that time. Now, I'd be less harsh if this five game run had been against the likes of United, Liverpool, etc but short of Chelsea last week Arsenal have dropped the remaining points against teams in the bottom quarter of the EPL. Furthermore, the 4-0 thrashing at the hands of United in the FA cup which was just a couple weeks after the 5-1 humiliation at White Hart Lane in the League Cup have left this team with basically one good result in the past two months - a 2-0 win at Milan in the CL. This is the kind of run that you would expect to see from Newcastle or Derby - not a big club like Arsenal. So, getting a solid, confident win tomorrow will do loads for the team in preparation for Wednesday's game with Liverpool.

As for a prediction for tomorrow's match, well my confidence is so rattled right now as a fan I can't bring myself to predict a win. I see a 1-1 draw tomorrow with Arsenal falling a further behind United and Chelsea and very little confidence being restored. For what it's worth I also predict a 3-0 victory for United over Villa.